Annals of Operations Research最新文献

{"title":"Advances in statistical modelling for social science: part 1—measuring and structuring social complexity","authors":"Leonardo Salvatore Alaimo, Susanna Levantesi, Andrea Nigri","doi":"10.1007/s10479-026-07360-1","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s10479-026-07360-1","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":8215,"journal":{"name":"Annals of Operations Research","volume":"363 1","pages":"1 - 7"},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2026-07-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148695363","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Advances in statistical modelling for social science: part 2—longevity, risk, and the socio-economic structure","authors":"Leonardo Salvatore Alaimo, Susanna Levantesi, Andrea Nigri","doi":"10.1007/s10479-026-07361-0","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s10479-026-07361-0","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":8215,"journal":{"name":"Annals of Operations Research","volume":"363 2","pages":"1017 - 1022"},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2026-07-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148699724","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Technology-resource interaction innovation decisions in small and medium-sized manufacturing enterprise alliances: A dynamic biform game model","authors":"Xiaowei Ma,&nbsp;Weimin Ma","doi":"10.1007/s10479-026-07317-4","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s10479-026-07317-4","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Manufacturing small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) often struggle with innovation because of resource and technology constraints. To address this challenge, in this study, a dynamic biform game model is constructed to analyse the formation and stabilization mechanisms of innovation alliances. A synergy hub that employs a dual-cost allocation strategy and greedy matching algorithm is a key model component. In each cycle, firms first determine their technological investments noncooperatively on the basis of the expected returns. The synergy hub then prioritizes matching the most efficient resources within the alliance to the technologically weakest firms, while costs are allocated according to the principle of group incentive compatibility. Simulation results demonstrate that this mechanism significantly stimulates innovation among heterogeneous firms. Specifically, by accessing synergistically empowered resources, technology- catch up firms increase their technology capacity more than 40% faster than through independent innovation. Resource-dependent firms, provided that they activate the pathway from resource empowerment to technological advancement, may achieve up to a 30% rebound in utility. However, synergistic effects exhibit notable industry heterogeneity. The empirical analysis indicates that more than 76% of the innovation performance improvement within the alliance is attributable to increased resource efficiency. This effect is most pronounced in the pharmaceutical industry, whereas in process-driven sectors such as those involving chemicals, diminishing returns may lead to suboptimal outcomes. This study confirms that an innovation alliance embedded with an incentive-compatible allocation mechanism not only improves innovation performance through resource pooling but also promotes dynamic stability by reshaping innovation pressure. The findings provide a clear theoretical foundation and quantitative reference for SMEs in terms of selecting innovation pathways and for policymakers in terms of designing industrial collaboration platforms.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":8215,"journal":{"name":"Annals of Operations Research","volume":"363 3","pages":"2165 - 2251"},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2026-07-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148710332","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Integrated super-efficiency models for network systems: from slack-based measure to unified analysis framework","authors":"Chixiao Lu,&nbsp;Ali Emrouznejad,&nbsp;Xueyi Wang,&nbsp;Marios Dominikos Kremantzis","doi":"10.1007/s10479-026-07330-7","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s10479-026-07330-7","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>As an extension beyond the conventional Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), non-radial efficiency assessment methods, particularly the Slack-based Measure (SBM) model, have garnered significant attention for their enhanced discriminant power in evaluating black-box systems. Building on this, the Super-SBM (Sup-SBM) model has emerged to rigorously assess the performance of efficient Decision-Making Units (DMUs). While recent extensions of SBM have addressed two-stage or network structures, a systematic framework for Super-SBM in general network systems remains unexplored. This study presents the first comprehensive methodology for Sup-SBM analysis within network systems, introducing innovative models to compute overall and division-specific super efficiency across diverse configurations, including parallel, series, and general networks. To overcome critical challenges in non-radial Super-efficiency measurement, such as reliance on two-stage computational processes and non-Pareto efficient projection points, we develop a Mixed Integer Linear Programming (MILP) model that streamlines efficiency evaluation. Additionally, by integrating a multiplicative analysis framework with the unified super-efficiency approach, we resolve computational complexities arising from ratio-based data and unbounded efficiency scores. The practical applicability and robustness of our models are rigorously validated through numerical experiments and a case study of the European railway industry, demonstrating their effectiveness in real-world settings. This research not only advances the theoretical foundations of efficiency analysis in network systems but also provides actionable insights for policymakers and industry practitioners seeking to optimise complex operational structures.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":8215,"journal":{"name":"Annals of Operations Research","volume":"363 3","pages":"2121 - 2164"},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2026-07-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s10479-026-07330-7.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148710298","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Two-person two-dimensional coopetitive game","authors":"Jiachun Li,&nbsp;Hao Sun,&nbsp;Panfei Sun,&nbsp;Guangjing Yang","doi":"10.1007/s10479-026-07343-2","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s10479-026-07343-2","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>In coopetitive games where cooperation and competition coexist, analyzing the intricate interrelationships between strategies and equilibrating the factors influencing these relationships represent significant challenges. This paper investigates these by proposing a novel two-person two-dimensional coopetitive game model. The coopetitive equilibrium of this game is defined as a dual-layered construct encompassing both internal and external equilibria. Specifically, the internal equilibrium balances the competitive and cooperative strategic portfolio of a player, while the external equilibrium characterizes the strategic interactions between players. Furthermore, the model is applied to a dual-market Cournot scenario. Our research reveals a strategic decoupling mechanism driven by internal capital constraints. The findings suggest that capital sufficiency enables independent strategic optimization, whereas capital deficiency triggers a resource siphoning effect. Additionally, while symmetric equal-split allocation provides a higher ceiling for cooperative payoffs, it may lead to diminished investment incentives. Conversely, input-ratio-based allocation incentivizes competitive behavior within the cooperative activity itself, which potentially triggers an internal arms race.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":8215,"journal":{"name":"Annals of Operations Research","volume":"363 3","pages":"2031 - 2072"},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2026-07-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148710394","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Actor-critic algorithms with an acceleration scheme","authors":"K. Lakshmanan,&nbsp;Amrita Chaturvedi","doi":"10.1007/s10479-026-07345-0","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s10479-026-07345-0","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Policy parameterization is commonly used in reinforcement learning problems to deal with large state-action spaces. Typically a gradient search is done on the parameterized policy space to find better policies. Policy gradient search is known to be very slow in practice. Here we use Nesterov’s accelerated gradient search to fasten the search. This method initially developed for convex optimization, has a faster convergence rate than plain gradient search, has recently proven to have good performance in the stochastic setting. In this work, we consider two different ways of getting the gradient: first is the using the direct gradient (first-order) from the REINFORCE method and the second is estimation using the Simultaneous Perturbation Stochastic Approximation (SPSA) scheme (zeroth-order). We study different actor-critic algorithms for the discounted cost criterion in which the actor uses this accelerated Nesterov method with both constant and time-varying momentum. Our main result is to show the convergence of this algorithm using stochastic approximation theory. To the best of our knowledge this is the first work to address the convergence issues for accelerated actor-critic algorithms with linear function approximation. We have also given experimental results to show that the accelerated algorithms perform better over plain methods on many different test domains.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":8215,"journal":{"name":"Annals of Operations Research","volume":"363 3","pages":"2011 - 2030"},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2026-07-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148710393","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Maximising Entertainment in the Score Reveal Problem","authors":"Aric Fowler,&nbsp;Richard Booth","doi":"10.1007/s10479-026-07329-0","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s10479-026-07329-0","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>In many elections or competitions, a set of voters assign scores to the candidates in a way that indicates their preferences, with the winning candidate being the candidate with the highest total score. When it comes to revealing the result after all votes have been cast, some competitions proceed by having a roll call where each voter announces their vote in turn. This is often done for entertainment purposes, leading to the introduction of the score reveal problem: Which ordering of the voters should be chosen to maximise the entertainment utility of the roll call? We define several entertainment measures and consider their properties, motivated by considerations such as avoiding early resolution of the outcome, focusing attention on the leading candidates, and catering towards preferences for surprise or suspense. We compare several approaches for finding optimal solutions, demonstrating that entertainment measures can be applied and solved effectively in a realistic context and comparing the hardness of optimising different entertainment measures on various voting formats. We also identify cases where instances are degenerate, meaning that all solutions according to a given measure have the same score.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":8215,"journal":{"name":"Annals of Operations Research","volume":"363 3","pages":"1919 - 1957"},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2026-07-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s10479-026-07329-0.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148710313","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"On different failure mechanisms of random weighted coherent systems based on a new structure-based performance measure","authors":"Tanmay Sahoo,&nbsp;Nil Kamal Hazra,&nbsp;Narayanaswamy Balakrishnan","doi":"10.1007/s10479-026-07316-5","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s10479-026-07316-5","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>The basic structures of many real-life systems match with random weighted coherent systems. The performance of such a system is normally measured by its total capacity. However, the major drawback of this measure is that it does not take into account the structure of a system. To circumvent this drawback, we introduce a new structure-based performance measure, namely, the failure capacity. Based on this measure, we subsequently define three different failure mechanisms for random weighted coherent systems. Further, we investigate the optimal active redundancy allocation policy and the optimal strategy for assembling random weights in a random weighted coherent system. Moreover, several numerical examples are provided to demonstrate the theoretical findings of this paper.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":8215,"journal":{"name":"Annals of Operations Research","volume":"363 3","pages":"2387 - 2417"},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2026-07-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148710336","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A multi-attribute reverse auction design for manufacturing-as-a-service with private information","authors":"Wenchong Chen,&nbsp;Ying Wang,&nbsp;Jiehui Qi,&nbsp;Wenqing Chen,&nbsp;Qing Zhou","doi":"10.1007/s10479-026-07320-9","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s10479-026-07320-9","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Manufacturing-as-a-service (MaaS) has emerged as an innovative mode, creating a new service supply–demand matching (SDM) problem. Currently, demand-side free searching and scheduling-based service recommendations are leading SDM solutions. The complex auction-based service selection and recommendation (ASSR) has been overlooked. This study proposes a non-cooperative multi-attribute auction method to solve the SDM problem from MaaS platforms, covering attribute combinations, auction information broadcasting, bidding decision, and bid evaluation. The Bayes–Nash equilibrium bidding strategies for risk-neutral service providers are derived by considering different attribute combinations and attribute-related cost parameter distributions, namely uniform, triangular, and trapezoidal. These distributions are private information of service providers, and their effects on Bayes–Nash equilibrium bidding strategies are studied for the first time. The effects of attribute combinations and bidder crowd size on auction rules are explored, and the condition for a platform to collect and broadcast cost parameter distribution information is identified. The computational study shows the effectiveness of the proposed multi-attribute auction in winner determination and optimal bidding decision-making.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":8215,"journal":{"name":"Annals of Operations Research","volume":"363 3","pages":"1867 - 1917"},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2026-07-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148710302","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Two-Stage semi-oriented radial measure network DEA model for decision-making units with negative data","authors":"Jacob Muvingi,&nbsp;Arshad Ahmud Iqbal Peer,&nbsp;Josef Jablonský,&nbsp;Mehdi Toloo","doi":"10.1007/s10479-026-07322-7","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s10479-026-07322-7","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Data envelopment analysis (DEA) is a method for identifying the best practices among peer decision-making units (DMUs). Early DEA models were suited for a production possibility set of positive inputs and outputs. In real setups, some inputs and outputs may be negative. Several past studies have provided methods of dealing with negative data in DEA. Furthermore, the premise of early DEA models was that DMUs are homogeneous, though DMUs may exhibit a network structure with negative input and output values in practice. In this study, we presented semi-oriented radial measure (SORM) network DEA models to assess the system as a whole as well as the first and second Stages. The proposed method was compared with a network bi-directional SORM (DSORM) model. The targets obtained from the SORM network model revealed an improvement from the observed values, whereas some of the Stage 2 targets from the DSORM model revealed reductions from the observed values. An integrated SORM model was used to analyse the overall system at once; a higher discrimination of the DMUs was observed in the model. The models were applied to data from 13 insurance companies in Mauritius. The premium collection Stage (Stage 1) was observed to be the dominant Stage of the insurance companies.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":8215,"journal":{"name":"Annals of Operations Research","volume":"363 3","pages":"2291 - 2317"},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2026-07-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148710333","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}