Reliability-based congestion pricing model under endogenous equilibrated market penetration and compliance rate of ATIS

A reliability-based stochastic system optimum congestion pricing(SSOCP) model with endogenous market penetration and compliance rate in an advanced traveler information systems(ATIS) environment was proposed. All travelers were divided into two classes. The first guided travelers were referred to as the equipped travelers who follow ATIS advice, while the second unguided travelers were referred to as the unequipped travelers and the equipped travelers who do not follow the ATIS advice(also referred to as non-complied travelers). Travelers were assumed to take travel time, congestion pricing, and travel time reliability into account when making travel route choice decisions. In order to arrive at on time, travelers needed to allow for a safety margin to their trip.The market penetration of ATIS was determined by a continuous increasing function of the information benefit, and the ATIS compliance rate of equipped travelers was given as the probability of the actually experienced travel costs of guided travelers less than or equal to those of unguided travelers. The analysis results could enhance our understanding of the effect of travel demand level and travel time reliability confidence level on the ATIS market penetration and compliance rate; and the effect of travel time perception variation of guided and unguided travelers on the mean travel cost savings(MTCS) of the equipped travelers, the ATIS market penetration, compliance rate, and the total network effective travel time(TNETT).

Optimal Procurement Management by Reverse Auctions for a Price-Setting Newsvendor

In this paper, we study the optimal procurement management by reverse auctions for a price-setting newsvendor(retailer) in a single period setting. The retailer facing price-dependent stochastic demand first designs a procurement contract and then invites the suppliers to bid for this contract in the reverse auction. The winning supplier produces and delivers the demanded quantity.The retailer obtains the procurement quantity and simultaneously determines the retail price. By using the price elasticity of the lost-sales rate, we show that the retailer’s expected profit(excluding the procurement cost) is a concave function of the purchased quantity, which can be used to obtain the optimal procurement and retail pricing decisions for the retailer. Further, when the underlying random term of demand function is normally distributed under left-truncation(at 0), we get the analytical expressions of the purchased quantity and expected profit function for the retailer. Moreover, some numerical examples are given.

Analysts Unfazed by Price Jump

Despite consumer inflation figures hitting 5.6% in July - a 1o-year high - few analysts are showing major concerns. Most analysts whom CIB spoke with said that the moderately high rates of bank loans and fixed asset investment are better signals of the overall health of the Chinese economy than the inflation rate, which is largely cyclical.