{"title":"Technology choices for polluting firms in China: the synergy between digital transformation and green transformation","authors":"Qianxiang Zhang, Boqiang Lin","doi":"10.1007/s10479-025-06642-4","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s10479-025-06642-4","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Optimizing technology management for polluting firms is crucial for pollution control and climate change mitigation. In contrast to the extensive research on green innovation, technical renovation has often been overlooked, and the influence of digital technology remains ambiguous. Using a dataset of Chinese polluting industries, we employ the panel fixed effect model. Our findings are as follows: (1) When confronted with local environmental governance pressure, firms tend to rely more on technical renovation. Nevertheless, small-scale firms and those located in the eastern provinces demonstrate a markedly weaker response; (2) In exploring the underlying causes, we find that local environmental governance pressure exacerbates the financing constraints of small-scale firms. For firms in the eastern provinces, empirical evidence suggests that they have embarked on the path of independent innovation by accumulating the achievements of technical renovation; (3) Further analysis reveals a synergistic effect between digital transformation and green transformation, which implies that the integration of digital technologies can accelerate the green transformation process of polluting firms. Our findings provide targeted policy implications for optimizing technology management for polluting firms.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":8215,"journal":{"name":"Annals of Operations Research","volume":"350 3","pages":"1363 - 1383"},"PeriodicalIF":4.5,"publicationDate":"2025-05-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145165968","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":"Optimal selling price and replenishment time with a limited-time free trial","authors":"Lin Feng, Konstantina Skouri, Ya-Lan Chan","doi":"10.1007/s10479-025-06564-1","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s10479-025-06564-1","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Nowadays, online stores have become the choice markets for consumers. However, a main disadvantage of this choice is that consumers hardly have opportunities to inspect the product. So, a free trial period could be used as a marketing tool giving prospective customers the ability to evaluate and inspect the products before making their orders. Hence, the disadvantage of lack of product experience diminishes, contributing to sales increase. In addition, pricing is a well-known powerful and effective marketing tool towards increasing sales. As a result, pricing and free trials are two of the most powerful and effective marketing tools to increase sales and profitability. Nevertheless, in inventory management literature, the studies on the joint impact of free trial and selling price are rarely seen. Within the EOQ framework, we propose a model, in which the seller has the ability to determine whether to offer free trials or not, and then to decide the optimal selling price and replenishment cycle so that the total profit is maximized. Furthermore, we establish several theoretical results and try to answer the following important and relevant questions: (1) the conditions under which the seller should offer a free trial to prospective customers, (2) the impact of a free trial offer on the replenishment cycle and selling price, and (3) the influence of price elasticity on the selling price and order quantity. Finally, through sensitivity analysis we study the effect of several parameters on the optimal solution.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":8215,"journal":{"name":"Annals of Operations Research","volume":"349 3","pages":"1639 - 1661"},"PeriodicalIF":4.5,"publicationDate":"2025-05-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145164947","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":"An extrapolation trust-region alternating least-squares algorithm for triple decomposition of third-order tensors","authors":"Xuejuan Zhang, Jinling Zhao","doi":"10.1007/s10479-025-06614-8","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s10479-025-06614-8","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Triple decomposition, which is a novel decomposition for the third order tensors, decomposes a third order tensor into a product of three third order low rank tensors. Alternating least-squares (ALS) is one of the most commonly used algorithms for tensor decomposition. In this paper, we combined the trust region method with the ALS algorithm to establish an extrapolation trust-region alternating least-squares algorithm for triple decomposition (TD-ETRALS). Different from the fixed regularization parameters in the modified alternating least-squares method (EMALS), TD-ETRALS adjusts the trust-region parameters in each iteration to achieve the preset accuracy of triple decomposition faster and more accurately. Theoretically, we prove that the sequence generated by TD-ETRALS converges to a critical point. Numerical experiments show that TD-ETRALS preforms better than EMALS in triple decomposition for the tensors generated by a uniform distribution in the relatively narrow interval and the tensors with Gaussian noise. In the example of image processing, TD-ETRALS also shows some advantages in low rank decomposition.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":8215,"journal":{"name":"Annals of Operations Research","volume":"349 3","pages":"1933 - 1955"},"PeriodicalIF":4.5,"publicationDate":"2025-05-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145165183","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}
Alfredo Lima, Luiz Satoru Ochi, Bruno Nogueira, Rian G. S. Pinheiro
{"title":"Biased random-key genetic algorithms for the weighted minimum broadcast time problem","authors":"Alfredo Lima, Luiz Satoru Ochi, Bruno Nogueira, Rian G. S. Pinheiro","doi":"10.1007/s10479-025-06609-5","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s10479-025-06609-5","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Broadcasting is an essential operation in distributed systems, with a wide range of applications. This study is focused on solving the Weighted Minimum Broadcast Time (WMBT), a problem that extends the classical Minimum Broadcast Time problem (MBT) by incorporating costs associated with each communication operation. We propose five contributions to the WMBT: (i) an integer linear programming model, (ii) two greedy algorithms, (iii) two Biased Random-Key Genetic Algorithms (BRKGAs), (iv) a lower bound algorithm, (v) a reduction rule to decrease an instance size, and (vi) a method to create instances with known optimal solutions. Our novel approaches are compared with state-of-the-art methods using large-scale synthetic instances. The experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of our proposals. The greedy algorithms attains the best known solutions in a significant number of instances, while the two BRKGAs further enhance this performance, surpassing the greedy algorithms in many of the tested instances.\u0000</p></div>","PeriodicalId":8215,"journal":{"name":"Annals of Operations Research","volume":"349 3","pages":"1749 - 1783"},"PeriodicalIF":4.5,"publicationDate":"2025-05-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145163569","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}
Valentin Bouquet, François Delbot, Christophe Picouleau
{"title":"Partition of graphs with maximum degree ratio","authors":"Valentin Bouquet, François Delbot, Christophe Picouleau","doi":"10.1007/s10479-025-06615-7","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s10479-025-06615-7","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Given a graph <i>G</i> and a non trivial partition <span>((V_1,V_2))</span> of its vertex-set, the satisfaction of a vertex <span>(vin V_i)</span> is the ratio between the size of it’s closed neighborhood in <span>(V_i)</span> and the size of its closed neighborhood in <i>G</i>. The worst ratio over all the vertices defines the quality of the partition. We define <i>q</i>(<i>G</i>) the degree ratio of a graph as the maximum of the worst ratio over all the non trivial partitions. We give bounds and exact values of <i>q</i>(<i>G</i>) for some classes of graphs. We also show some complexity results for the associated optimization or decision problems.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":8215,"journal":{"name":"Annals of Operations Research","volume":"351 1","pages":"563 - 574"},"PeriodicalIF":4.5,"publicationDate":"2025-05-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145162922","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":"Reliability management with applications in smart information systems","authors":"Cheng-Fu Huang, Ping-Chen Chang","doi":"10.1007/s10479-025-06639-z","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s10479-025-06639-z","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>This special issue of <i>Annals of Operations Research</i> is dedicated to the 10th Asia-Pacific International Symposium on Advanced Reliability and Maintenance Modeling, held on October 21–24, 2022, in Hsinchu, Taiwan. The main focus of this special issue is Reliability Management with Applications in Smart Information Systems. This volume presents international research on theoretical advancements and practical applications that address contemporary challenges in reliability management within smart information systems.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":8215,"journal":{"name":"Annals of Operations Research","volume":"349 1","pages":"1 - 2"},"PeriodicalIF":4.5,"publicationDate":"2025-05-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145162403","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":"On the k-maximally-disjoint weighted spanning trees problem: variants, complexity and algorithms","authors":"Walid Astaoui, Youcef Magnouche, Sébastien Martin","doi":"10.1007/s10479-025-06592-x","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s10479-025-06592-x","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Let us consider a connected undirected graph <span>(G = (V, E,d,w))</span> with a set of nodes <i>V</i>, a set of edges <i>E</i>, an edge distance vector <i>d</i>, and an edge weight vector <i>w</i>. For a given integer <span>(k ge 2)</span>, we investigate the problem of finding <i>k</i>-maximally weighted edge-disjoint spanning trees <span>(S_1,S_2ldots S_k)</span>, where <span>(S_isubseteq E)</span>, <span>(iin {1,dots , k})</span>. Given <i>k</i> root nodes <span>(r_1,ldots r_k in V)</span>, we also impose additional constraints, leading to two new variants: (1) <span>(S_1)</span> must be a shortest-path tree, with respect to <i>d</i>, rooted on <span>(r_1)</span> and 2) all trees must be shortest-path trees, with respect to <i>d</i>, rooted on <span>(r_1,ldots r_k)</span>, respectively. We consider two different objective functions: (1) the weight of <span>(S_1)</span> is minimum, and (2) the total weight of <span>(S_1,dots , S_k)</span> is minimum. We show that each variant belongs to <span>(mathcal {P})</span> class for some values of <i>k</i>. This leads to exact polynomial matroid-based algorithms. We present and discuss the numerical results for every variant, and analyze the properties of the trees returned by the algorithms.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":8215,"journal":{"name":"Annals of Operations Research","volume":"351 1","pages":"849 - 881"},"PeriodicalIF":4.5,"publicationDate":"2025-05-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145163037","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":"Column-and-constraint generation approach to partition-based risk-averse two-stage stochastic programs","authors":"Jongheon Lee, Kyungsik Lee","doi":"10.1007/s10479-025-06617-5","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s10479-025-06617-5","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Typically, two-stage stochastic programs have been modeled and solved based on the finite support assumption, but the large number of scenarios makes it hard to solve, and there also are potential risks of inaccurate estimation of underlying distribution. In this paper, to mitigate the drawbacks, we present a novel risk-averse two-stage stochastic program with finite support, which we call <i>partition-based risk-averse two-stage stochastic program</i>. In the program, a set of scenarios is partitioned into several groups, and the second-stage cost is defined as the expectation of risk levels for all of the groups. In particular, the conditional value-at-risk is considered as a risk measure for each group, and so the risk level of the model is affected by a quantile parameter or a partition of a given set of scenarios. In order to solve the model exactly for a given partition, a column-and-constraint generation algorithm is proposed. In addition, a scenario partitioning algorithm to enable the risk level of the model to be close to a given target is devised, and partitioning schemes for combining it with the proposed column-and-constraint generation algorithm are proposed. Extensive numerical experiments were performed that demonstrated the effectiveness of the proposed partitioning schemes and the efficiency of the proposed solution approach.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":8215,"journal":{"name":"Annals of Operations Research","volume":"349 3","pages":"1717 - 1747"},"PeriodicalIF":4.5,"publicationDate":"2025-05-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s10479-025-06617-5.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145162759","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":"A generalization to networks of Young’s characterization of the Borda rule","authors":"Daniela Bubboloni, Michele Gori","doi":"10.1007/s10479-025-06593-w","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s10479-025-06593-w","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>We prove that, for any given set of networks satisfying suitable conditions, the net-oudegree network solution, the net-indegree network solution, and the total network solution are the unique network solutions on that set satisfying neutrality, consistency and cancellation. The generality of the result obtained allows to get an analogous result for social choice correspondences: for any given set of preference profiles satisfying suitable conditions, the net-oudegree social choice correspondence, the net-indegree social choice correspondence and the total social choice correspondence are the unique social choice correspondences on that set satisfying neutrality, consistency and cancellation. Using the notable fact that several well-known voting rules coincide with the restriction of the net-outdegree social choice correspondence to appropriate sets of preference profiles, we are able to deduce a variety of new and known characterization theorems for the Borda rule, the Partial Borda rule, the Averaged Borda rule, the Approval Voting, the Plurality rule and the anti-Plurality rule, among which Young’s characterization of the Borda rule and Fishburn’s characterization of the Approval Voting.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":8215,"journal":{"name":"Annals of Operations Research","volume":"349 3","pages":"1501 - 1552"},"PeriodicalIF":4.5,"publicationDate":"2025-05-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s10479-025-06593-w.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145161186","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 using fuzzy clustering for detecting the number of states in Markov switching models","authors":"Edoardo Otranto, Luca Scaffidi Domianello","doi":"10.1007/s10479-025-06585-w","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s10479-025-06585-w","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>An open problem of Markov switching models is identifying the number of states, generally fixed a priori; it is impossible to apply classical tests due to the issue of the nuisance parameters present only under the alternative hypothesis. In this work, we show, by Monte Carlo simulations, that fuzzy clustering is able to reproduce the parametric state inference derived from the Hamilton filter and that the typical indices used in clustering to determine the number of groups can be used to identify the number of states in this framework. The procedure is very simple to apply, considering that it is performed independently of the data generating process and that the indicators we use are available in most statistical packages. Furthermore, the proposed approach appears to be sufficiently robust to perturbations in the data generating processes. A final application of real data completes the analysis.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":8215,"journal":{"name":"Annals of Operations Research","volume":"349 3","pages":"1855 - 1890"},"PeriodicalIF":4.5,"publicationDate":"2025-05-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s10479-025-06585-w.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145161187","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}