THE OPTIMAL LOCATIONS OF BRANCH FACILITIES AND MAIN FACILITIES WITH CONSUMER SEARCH*

ABSTRACT. This paper examines the socially optimal locations of branch facilities (or small stores) and main facilities (or large stores) on a finite linear market that is uniformly populated from position 0 to position 1. Each consumer has a probability w of finding the desired service (or product) at a branch facility, and a probability 1 of finding the desired service (or product) at a main facility. Two types of consumer search are considered: phone search and visit search. Different assumptions are made about the numbers of branch facilities and main facilities (each involving one or two facilities of each type). Under visit search, the socially optimal locations of branch facilities tend to be closer to main facilities than under phone search, and this tendency is more pronounced for smaller values of w.     

旅行社产品的双重属性及最优广告策略

旅行社产品具有搜寻品与经验品的双重属性,其旅游线路属于搜寻品,其服务属于经验品。信息性广告适用于搜寻品,劝说性广告适用于经验品。由于旅行社产品中的服务是不确定和不可观测的,用劝说性广告来显示其质量是不可置信的。再加上旅行社广告在旅游产业链上的纵向外部性,旅行社的最优广告策略是对旅游线路提供基本信息的信息性广告。     

An Evolutionary Algorithm for Site Search Problems

The goal of solving a site search problem is to allocate a contiguous set of land parcels such that the total land acquisition cost, or other objectives, are optimized. This article describes the design and implementation of an evolutionary algorithm (EA) that can be used to solve site search problems. In this article, a graph representation is used to define the spatial structure of solutions to the problem. By using this representation, the contiguity of a site is maintained during the initialization, mutation, and local search operations of the EA. The effectiveness of the EA in finding optimal or near-optimal solutions is demonstrated by testing it on a series of problems whose optimal solutions are known.     

A Decision-Making and Search Model For Intraurban Migration

Most of the research on the intraurban migration attempting to develop models of the mobility process has presented intuitively appealing statements about the residential decision process, but stopped short of a formal development of these concepts. If it is to be possible to predict the mobility pattern within the city, both the search and selection process must be more clearly specified. In this paper, a preliminary theoretical model containing decision rules similar to those found in optimal search models is developed. The model explicitly incorporates the spatial and temporal aspects of residential choice and has the potential to predict the probability that a prospective migrant will search for a new residence in a given area of the city, the time when the search process will come to a conclusion and, by implication, the expected location of the new residence. The preliminary results from the model suggest a major elaboration of the spatial and temporal aspects of residential choice under conditions of uncertainty in terms of a set of empirically measurable determinants, relating to a household's preferences, beliefs, and degree of risk aversion.     

Migration,Frictional Unemployment,and Welfare‐Improving Labor Policies*

Abstract. Studies have suggested that there exists job search and recruiting friction in urban areas. This paper constructs a two‐sector (rural and urban) model involving this factor and investigates how it affects migration and what the optimal policies should be. An analysis shows that frictional urban unemployment brings about intersector wage differentials and that an economy almost always has distortion in the absence of government intervention. Tax and subsidy policies that remove the distortion are explored. Setting urban wages appropriately is also shown to attain the optimum. Finally, we explore the criterion to judge whether changing urban wages as a policy, such as the minimum wage law, enhances social welfare.     

POLLUTION MOBILITY,PRODUCTIVITY DISPARITY,AND THE SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION OF POLLUTING AND NONPOLLUTING FIRMS

This paper first develops a model to characterize the equilibrium distribution of polluting and nonpolluting firms and then turns to the larger question of whether the equilibrium distribution is socially optimal. We find that the equilibrium distribution of polluting firms differs from the social optimum when they generate a large amount of stationary pollution and have much higher or lower productivity than clean firms. In these cases, conventional pollution control approaches generally do not bring about an optimal distribution. Consideration of transport costs along with productivity and pollution changes some of the classic results of the new economic geography literature.     

The Gmelin Factual Databank A modern information source in chemistry and physics

Abstract

In chemistry especially, it is becoming increasingly difficult to survey the large amount of material published if poorly defined search strategies are employed – in 1991 and 1992, Chemical Abstracts cited over 500 000 publications, including reports and patents. Traditional comprehensive literature searches require a suitable perspective, a great deal of time and patience, and access to all relevant information sources. The Gmelin Factual Databank can offer improved search strategies for the scientific literature in the area of inorganic and organometallic chemistry.     

Rational versus Heuristic Decision Making during Residential Search

The decisions of seventy household members during a residential search for a new home for owner-occupancy were measured in a search simulation game. Their decisions both to inquire about homes during the search, and to select a new home at the termination of the search, were more accurately predicted by a heuristic decision-making model than by a rational model.     

OPTIMALITY OF RECYCLING AND THE LOCATION OF A RECYCLING CENTER

ABSTRACT. Consider a community investigating the integration of recycling into its waste management program. Even if (1) the county's citizens do not gain utility from recycling, (2) landfill space is plentiful, and (3) the market price for recyclables is zero, recycling can still be optimal for a local government. By determining the relationship between the amount of recycling and the location of a recycling center, conditions are identified under which recycling will reduce total waste management costs enough that municipal recycling will be optimal. In addition, it is shown that the likelihood of municipal recycling increases with the size of the city.     

The information effects of origin on migrants' job search behavior

"Migrants are generally assumed to gather specific information about the destination primarily through physical contact, or through family, friends, and acquaintances. In this paper, I propose an additional source of information: similarities between origin and destination labor markets. Data from the 1983-1987 PSID [Panel Study of Income Dynamics] are used in a two-stage least squares model of postmove search duration in the U.S. Rural-to-urban migrants (except for rural Southerners) exhibit significantly lower search duration than other groups, controlling for productivity-related characteristics and postmove earnings. In addition, employment growth differences between origin and destination are found to be better predictors of search duration than are differences in average earnings."     

Management of Historic Shipwrecks Through a Combination of Significance and Conservation Assessments

Abstract

Corrosion modelling of decay rates of the iron wrecks in Port Phillip Bay, Victoria, has enabled an estimation of the speed at which the historic resource of iron shipwrecks is disappearing. Use of the significance ranking of the iron wrecks, based on the Australian National Standards for significance assessment, provides a useful guide to decision-making, but decisions based solely on these criteria can lead to less than optimal results. From the corrosion rates and the amount of residual metal thickness in structural elements it is possible to determine a conservation ranking that is based on the need for intervention and the chances of being successful in stabilizing the wrecks. The arithmetic product of the significance and conservation rankings defines the treatment score or ranking which forms the basis for rational decision making about deployment of resources.     

Shopping for Schools: How Do Marginal Consumers Gather Information About Schools?

The theory of the marginal consumer holds that a subset of better informed consumers can create a globally more efficient market through their purchase decisions. In the market for education created by recent school choice initiatives, these "market mavens" are essential to the successful functioning of the choice system given the empirically documented low quantity and quality of information possessed by the average consumer. Little is known, however, about the differences between how marginal consumers and average consumers of education search for information and make decisions about their children's schooling.     

Competitive Location and Pricing on Networks

In this paper we consider a location and pricing model for a retail firm that wants to enter a spatial market tvhere a competitor firm is already operating as a monopoly with several outlets. The entering firm seeks to determine the optimal uniform mill price and its servers' locations that maximize profits given the reaction in price of the competitor firm to its entrance. A tabu search procedure is presented to solve the model together with computational experience and an example.     

Competitive Location and Pricing on Networks

In this paper we consider a location and pricing model for a retail firm that wants to enter a spatial market where a competitor firm is already operating as a monopoly with several outlets. The entering firm seeks to determine the optimal uniform mill price and its servers' locations that maximize profits given the reaction in price of the competitor firm to its entrance. A tabu search procedure is presented to solve the model together with computational experience and an example.     

Geoinformation Modeling of Environments Favorable for Prehistoric Humans of the Altai Mountains

Geoinformation technologies are applied to an analysis of the living environments of Paleolithic people, using a territory along the route of a future gas pipeline planned for construction in the Altai Mountains as an example. GIS modeling of a paleoenvironment is based on the notion of a paleolandscape's geological and morphological framework. The SRTM digital model of terrain, and geological maps of scale 1: 200,000 were used. The main factors that control localization of sites have been selected: the presence of flat, even grounds suitable for settlement; proximity to sources of raw materials; good conditions for sun exposure; and water availability across the territory. Verification of known Paleolithic sites showed the adequacy of GIS-modeling and its suitability in the optimal search for new sites.     

城市广场休闲者空间行为特征研究——以无锡市太湖广场为例

以无锡市太湖广场为例,从时间距离与以行程时间乘以相应交通速度转换得到的间接空间距离两个角度分析了城市广场的休闲者空间行为特征。结果表明:时间距离上,休闲者的绝大部分都在30min以内,且呈不均匀分布;空间距离上,以1km为临界距离,该距离之内的休闲人数随距离出现波动,该距离之外的休闲者百分比随空间距离呈明显的衰减规律;距离衰减累计曲线比较结果表明不同类型城市休闲行业休闲者空间分布具有各自的衰减模式;另外,因交通方式的差别广场休闲者在空间距离上存在明显的圈层分异。     

Establishing discovery probabilities of lithic artefacts in Palaeolithic and Mesolithic sites with core sampling

This paper reports the results of a study into the effectiveness of core sampling for discovering Palaeolithic and Mesolithic hunter-gatherer sites in the Netherlands and northwestern Belgium. Earlier work established optimal sampling strategies for use in archaeological heritage management survey in the Netherlands. However, the statistical model used for this was based on a limited amount of data on the distribution of lithic artefacts in Palaeolithic and Mesolithic sites. For the current study we have analyzed the distribution of artefacts in a selected number of excavated sites, and estimated discovery probabilities of these sites through simulation. The simulation results indicate that discovery probabilities are lower than expected due to the effect of clustering of finds. Furthermore, the density of flints in Palaeolithic and Mesolithic sites is generally lower than the estimates that were used for setting up the optimal sampling strategies, and a substantial number of sites is very small. This means that, in order to discover Palaeolithic and Mesolithic sites with sufficient reliability, we will have to apply more intensive survey strategies than have been recommended up to now.     

Models of Space Searching in Urban Areas

City dwellers occasionally must seek jobs, dwellings, or particular services or goods. Two very different ways exist by which the individual may conduct such a search. Lacking prior information, the person may elect to visit perceived possible locations until an appropriate one is found. Alternatively, an address may first be ascertained and then visited by finding a path to it. Clearly, there is a substantial difference between these two methods in terms of the amount of spatial movement they require in order to satisfy the searcher's needs. In this paper, this difference is modeled for situations that vary in terms of the density of acceptable end points of the search, as well as in characteristics of the signs of these end points, their patterns, and the level of information with which the searcher may begin.     

Teaching Anti-Colonial Archaeology

Archaeology is deeply troubled, but students are unlikely to learn about it in their ARCH 100 class. Our experience with ‘World Prehistory’ and ‘Introductory Archaeology’ courses and reviewing common textbooks charts a discipline securely anchored in the 19th century ideological harbour that is science, evolution, imperialism and progress. This includes so-called ‘middle road’ and ‘post-colonial’ approaches, which reinforce the status quo by limiting political action. In our search for an alternative, we discuss here our attempts to teach an anti-colonial archaeology rooted in critical pedagogy, political activism and anti-oppressive practice. At its core are three tenets: archaeology is personal, political and all about the present. While we are gratified by the many students who relish this opportunity for critical enquiry, we are faced with this lingering problem: most people do not want to hear the “negative reality” of archaeology.