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Despite promising performance at ambient temperature, the development of aqueous zinc batteries is jeopardized by the freeze of aqueous electrolytes and deteriorative electrode‐electrolyte interphase at low temperatures. Herein, inspired by the cryoprotective mechanism of extracellular polysaccharides in biological organisms, a quaternized galactomannan polysaccharide (q‐GPA) is proposed as a cryoprotective additive for improving low‐temperature performance of aqueous zinc batteries. Mechanistic studies revealed that a multi‐hydroxyl galactomannan backbone can substantially attenuate the activity of water molecules through the reconfiguration of the hydrogen bond network, which inhibits ice crystal formation at subzero temperatures and thus depress the freezing point of the electrolyte. Meanwhile, the quaternary ammonium groups tethered on the q‐GPA skeleton are intended to neutralize the interfacial electric field through electrostatic repulsion, thereby accelerating Zn2+ deposition kinetics and prohibiting zinc dendrite growth. Impressively, the q‐GPA–modified electrolyte enables an extended lifespan of over 1700 h in Zn||Zn symmetric battery at a high current density of 3 mA cm−2 and an ultralong cycle life of 5000 cycles with a capacity retention of 99.2% in the Zn||Na2V6O16·1.5H2O (NVO) full battery at −30 °C. This work provides unprecedented possibilities for optimizing the electrolyte formulation of low‐temperature aqueous batteries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainability and flexibility are two main factors not being investigated explicitly by existing winner determination literature. From a fourth party logistics (4PL) provider's point of view, an innovative sustainable-flexible winner determination problem under uncertain demand is particularly studied in transportation services procurement auctions. Based on a multi-attribute decision-making method, a linear constraint related to each bidder's sustainability score and flexibility score can be constructed, and then we integrate an outside option policy to formulate a two-stage stochastic sustainable-flexible winner determination model. Subsequently, we develop an approximation approach to solve the model based on the principles of dual decomposition Lagrangian relaxation and the sample average approximation. Using an established generator to obtain random instances, the effectiveness and applicability of this research could be verified by conducting numerical experiments. Also, managerial insights can be obtained to provide decision support for running an efficient sustainable-flexible logistics system by using a Chinese 4PL firm's real data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the demand for cultural and recreational services grows, the mismatch between the supply and demand of park services significantly affects residents' well-being. Optimizing the spatial layout of park services is a focal point of urban park and green space research. Taking Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, as a case study, this research analyzes the spatial patterns and balance of park service supply and demand. Utilizing the Grey Wolf Optimization Model optimized by the K-Nearest Neighbor Model (GWO-KNN), this study proposes construction objectives for optimizing park services. The results indicate the following: (1) significant differences exist in the park service demands of residents in different residential environments; (2) there is a noticeable spatial disparity in park service supply among various residential areas with an overall positive correlation between park service supply levels and resident demands, yet an imbalance exists; (3) this study categorizes spatial types into low-service coordination, high-service coordination, low-service imbalance, and high-service imbalance; (4) the GWO-KNN Model is applied with optimization objectives being the innovative aspect of this study. Strategies for each park category are proposed: emphasizing suburban park construction by utilizing surrounding green resources and adding diverse facilities; introducing facilities friendly to vulnerable groups to meet the needs of diverse populations; enhancing the complementary advantages between "new" and "old" cities by moderately increasing park sizes and improving cultural and facility development levels; optimizing spatial structure with limited land resources to construct an urban park network system. This study aims to provide theoretical and technical support for optimizing urban park and green space systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Quantity discount is a frequently adopted scheme that has not been explicitly investigated in logistics service procurement auctions. This paper focuses on a revised winner determination problem under quantity discounts and demand uncertainty for a fourth-party logistics (4PL) provider in a combinatorial reverse auction. To characterize our research problem, a two-stage stochastic nonlinear programming model is constructed. Inspired by the idea of sample average approximation (SAA), the nonlinear model is reformulated as a deterministic mixed integer linear programming model by using a linearization technique with superior expressions. Since the reformulation has a large number of decision variables and constraints, we integrate SAA with a dual decomposition Lagrangian relaxation technique (DDLR) to develop a solution method called SAA-DDLR. Numerical experiments are conducted to illustrate the effectiveness and applicability of our model and method. Sensitivity analysis reveals that both the 4PL and 3PLs can benefit from the quantity discount scheme. Managerial insights are drawn for the 4PL to run a cost-effective logistics system in the presence of quantity discounts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the intensified environmental protection consciousness of enterprises and consumers, the green winner determination (GWD) considering environmental performance becomes very important for the 4PL transportation service procurement. In this paper, a new GWD method is studied, which considers different types of attributes including those related to environmental performance and the consensus reaching process (CRP). To characterize multiple types of attributes, linguistic terms, interval numbers, and crisp numbers are combined. To achieve an acceptable consensus level among linguistic evaluations given by different experts, a minimum adjustment consensus model is constructed. And on this basis, an interactive CRP is proposed. Integrating the heterogeneous information addressing process and the CRP, a HC-VIKOR method is developed to promote the 4PL's operational efficiency and service quality. Further, a numerical example is designed to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method. Sensitivity analysis reveals that both the acceptable consensus threshold and the weight of group utility have a significant influence on the winner determination result. Comparison analysis shows that the proposed method outperforms the existing methods. Our study not only extends the traditional winner determination but also provides decision support for the 4PL to provide transportation services efficiently. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the increasingly competitive nature of the global market, the capability of controlling delivery time is becoming a significant advantage for enterprises. A novel fourth-party logistics (4PL) network design problem with the objective of minimizing the overall cost under service time constraint and stochastic demand is proposed in the paper. To address this problem, a two-stage nonlinear stochastic programming model is proposed. The topological structure of the 4PL network is decided in the first stage, while the network flows are determined in the second stage. By using auxiliary variables to linearize the service time constraint and by adopting the sample average approximation (SAA) method to handle the stochastic demand, the two-stage nonlinear stochastic programming model is transformed into a mixed integer linear programming (MILP) model. To overcome the difficulties of solving the MILP model caused by a large number of demand scenarios and integer-valued decision variables, a variable separation (VS) strategy is presented to improve the dual decomposition and Lagrangian relaxation (DDLR) approach to propose a VSDDLR-SAA algorithm. Results of the numerical examples and a real-life case illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed model and VSDDLR-SAA algorithm. Comparison analysis of the 4PL network and the supply chain network shows that 4PL can deliver products within the prescribed time at a lower cost by cooperating with third-party logistics providers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The competitive preference of a retailer is an important factor for closed-loop supply chains (CLSCs), which have not been explicitly investigated by existing studies. This paper specifically considers the retailer's competitive preference and examines decisions with regard to three CLSC channel structures—the manufacturer recycling channel (M-channel), the retailer recycling channel (R-channel), and the third-party recycling channel (T-channel). To mitigate the negative impact of the retailer's competitive preference, revenue-cost sharing (RCS) contracts can be developed. An interesting result is that the manufacturer will choose the T-channel when the degree of the retailer's competitive preference is higher than a specified threshold. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the fast growing of the waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE), the business values of closed-loop supply chains (CLSCs) have been well recognized. In this paper, we investigate the performance of the CLSCs under different combinations of the recycling channel and the channel leadership when the recycling price is determined by the recycling party. Specially, we consider a CLSC consisting of two channel members, i.e., a manufacturer and a retailer. Each member acting as the channel leader has three different channels to collect the used products, and they are (ⅰ) the manufacturer (M-channel), (ⅱ) the retailer (R-channel) and (ⅲ) the third-party (T-channel). Given the recycling party determines the recycling price, mathematical models are developed to investigate the performance of the CLSC under different combinations of the channel leadership and the recycling channel. Through a comparison analysis, we find that M-channel is the most effective recycling channel. Moreover, once the M-channel be adopted, the retailer-led structure is as good as manufacture-led structure. We find that the recycling channel structure could be more important than the channel leadership in the CLSC. Finally, we illustrate that the CLSC can be coordinated by a two-part tariff contract. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, Content‐Centric Networking (CCN) has been considered as a novel promising paradigm for the future Internet, shifting from provider‐driven end‐to‐end communication mode to interest‐driven content retrieval communication one, which greatly depends on routing technology. In spite of this, CCN routing always faces two significant issues, ie, scalability and large‐scale deployment, which restrict the increasing development of CCN but can be addressed by introducing the ideas of Software‐Defined Networking (SDN) and community (domain) division. However, the current routing proposals on the integrating with SDN, community division or their combination, still have some limitations to be improved. Therefore, in this paper, we propose a novel and intelligent CCN Routing mechanism based on SDN and Community Division (CRSCD). At first, a community division scheme based on eigenvetor centrality and label propagation is proposed to help content retrieval. Then, for each divided community, we deploy an SDN controller which consists of two tables, ie, content index and community topology to help manage the global network view. Finally, a comprehensive routing mechanism including intracommunity routing based on Ant Colony Optimization (ACO) and intercommunity routing based on interaction frequency is devised. The proposed CRSCD is implemented over Cogent topology, and the experimental results demonstrate that the introduction of SDN and community division can accelerate content retrieval greatly and has better performance than the previous work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers decisions of bidders with bounded rationality in different thinking levels for a first-price sealed-bid reverse auction. To characterize the nonequilibrium strategic thinking, we construct a mathematical model that incorporates the "level-k decision rule" to iteratively derive closed-form solutions. Then the effects of bidders' heterogeneous beliefs of thinking levels on their bid prices and expected payoffs are investigated. We find that under some assumptions, bidders will exhibit oscillating behavior in their bid prices and expected profits in terms of thinking levels. When the thinking level tends to infinity, the bid prices and expected profits converge to those in the conventional analysis with perfectly rational bidders. An interesting finding from theoretical analysis verified by numerical experiments is that any bidder with a thinking level above two should bid according to level-2 bidder's strategy to achieve the highest expected profit, and in this case the buyer will pay no more than level-2 bidder's bid price. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Clean energy is an important source to mitigate the pressure of resources shortage and environmental effects. While multiattribute reverse auction is frequently adopted for the procurement efficiency of clean energy devices, the associated winner determination problem is explicitly studied for a utility company/buyer to select the most appropriate supplier in the clean energy market. Considering the buyer's loss-averse behavior with incomplete information and suppliers' conflicting attributes in different types evaluated by multiple experts, we incorporate an I U L O W A f (induced uncertain linguistic ordered weighted averaging) operator and a revised TODIM (an acronym in Portuguese of Interactive and Multi-attribute Decision Making) measure that is consistent with prospect theory into the "benefits, opportunities, costs and risks" (BOCR) framework to develop a novel BOCR-uRTODIM solution method for multi-attribute decision making. Numerical experiments illustrate the effectiveness and robustness of the proposed method by comparing it with some known methods. An interesting result indicates that the risk aversion degree of the buyer increases as the variance of suppliers' attributes expands. The BOCR-uRTODIM could be a useful tool for utility companies to avoid losses and for associated suppliers to improve their attributes for a win in the clean energy industry. • Reverse auction for the clear energy device procurement is studied. • Utility companies' loss-averse behavior and incomplete information are considered. • Prospect theory is integrated into analytic hierarchy process for decision making. • A novel, effective, and robust method is proposed for determining the winner. • Managerial insights are drawn for utility companies in the clean energy industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To investigate whether the Institute of Medicine (IOM) recommended gestational weight gain (GWG) range is optimal among Chinese singleton pregnant women.Methods: For the purpose of a retrospective observational study, data on 8209 mature singleton deliveries in Shanghai from January 2014 to December 2016 were extracted from medical records in terms of clinical performance. All cases were categorized as undergainers, appropriate-gainers, and above-gainers according to IOM recommended gestational weight gain range after stratification of maternal BMI and proportions of three categories were calculated. Comparisons of maternal and neonatal outcome were conducted among three categories and the associations of those outcome including risks of low birth weight (LBW) and macrosomia (MAC) with GWG were estimated by logistic regression analysis. To examine the applicability of IOM recommendation for Chinese pregnant women, the accumulated risk of LBW and MAC was displayed by stacked column chart and comparison was made among GWG category. The joint predicted risk (JPR) curve of both LBW and MAC in relation to GWG (continuous measurement) was plotted to demonstrate the relation of lowest JPR corresponding GWG with IOM range.Results: The IOM recommended weight gain was achieved only by 3502 (42.7%) pregnant women and 41.6% gained excessive weight during pregnancy, especially for the overweight and obese women, the proportions of above-gainers mounting to 65.7 and 75.9%, respectively. By multivariate analysis GWG significantly influenced the risk of MAC and caesarean section. Although the association between the risk of LBW and GWG was not significant, p value reached .051. The risk of delivering macrosomia and caesarean section doubled when GWG exceeded the IOM rang. Appropriate gainers did not always gain the lowest joint risk of low birth weight and macrosomia from stacked column chart and it is obvious that the GWG point according to the lowest JPR was always located left to the IOM recommended range for each BMI category from the JPR curve chart in relation to GWG.Conclusions: The IOM recommended GWG range is possibly too much for Chinese singleton pregnant population for each BMI category. It is necessary to build different gestational weight gain standards for specific ethnic population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Project procurement has two important attributes: cost uncertainty and failure risk. Due to the incomplete feature of such attributes, a novel mechanism incorporating contingent payments and cost sharing contracts is proposed for the buyer. Constructing models of bid decisions for risk averse and risk neutral suppliers, respectively, closed-form solutions of optimal bid prices are derived. By investigating the properties of bid prices in a first-score sealed-bid reverse auction, we find that when the degree of risk aversion or the variance of unpredictable cost is sufficiently small, bid prices of risk averse suppliers could be lower than those of risk neutral suppliers. Yet risk averse suppliers always bid higher than risk neutral suppliers in a second-score sealed-bid reverse auction. An interesting result verified by numerical experiments is that the classical revenue equivalence theorem no longer holds for the proposed mechanism if suppliers involve risk averse behavior. In this case, the buyer's best choice is to adopt a first-score sealed-bid reverse auction. We also provide decision support for the buyer to achieve optimal expected profit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a supply chain solution integrator, fourth party logistics (4PL) has become an important focus for improving the operational efficiency of the logistics industry in recent days. This paper addresses the mechanism design problem of the 4PL for selecting a third party logistics (3PL) provider who involves loss-averse behavior to form a longer-term strategic partnership in multi-attribute reverse auctions. Due to fluctuating costs of energy or labor and unintentional delivery failures like traffic jam or technology malfunctions, we consider two incomplete attributes, namely cost uncertainty and delivery risk. Integrating the loss-averse behavior of 3PLs, based on the prospect theory, the bid decision model is constructed to obtain 3PLs’ bidding strategies. The corresponding efficient and optimal scoring auctions that consist of cost-sharing contract and contingent penalty are developed to maximize the ex ante expected profit of the system or the 4PL depending on whether the 4PL is willing to cooperate or not. Theoretical analysis verified by numerical examples illustrates the advantage of the proposed mechanisms. Impacts of model parameters on the 4PL’s decision are also investigated and managerial insights are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Suppliers may experience emotional/behavioral consequences of anticipated regrets that consist of winner and loser regrets in first- and second-price sealed-bid reverse auctions. Constructing mathematical models that incorporate regret theory to derive closed-form solutions of regret-anticipated suppliers’ bid decisions, this paper theoretically examines the effects of anticipated regrets on suppliers’ bid prices, buyer’s expected procurement cost and auction format decision. Comparing with the no regret scenario, we find that winner regret has adverse effects on the buyer’s expected procurement cost in first-price sealed-bid reverse auctions with regret-anticipated suppliers. To mitigate the adverse effects, we propose using the reserve price strategy for the buyer with theoretical analysis and numerical supports. An interesting analysis reveals that as the number of suppliers increases, the optimal reserve price increases or decreases depending on the degree of winner regret is lower or higher than that of loser regret. Also, the classical revenue equivalence theorem no longer holds when the degree of winner regret differs from that of loser regret. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates a new winner determination problem with sustainable and responsive concerns under disruption risks for transportation service procurement auctions. In such an auction, a fourth party logistics (4PL) provider purchases transportation services from multiple third party logistics (3PL) providers. We develop a two-stage stochastic mixed-integer programming model that incorporates two features, including (i) a sustainable–responsive constraint to quantitatively describe the sustainability and responsiveness performance, and (ii) an effective hybrid mitigation strategy that combines the fortification policy with the temporary outsourcing service policy to mitigate disruptions. To determine winning 3PLs, a reduced scenario-based approximation approach is developed to solve the model and obtain a nearly optimal solution very quickly. Numerical experiments are conducted to illustrate the effectiveness and applicability of our model and method by using randomly generated instances as well as real data of a Chinese 4PL firm. Compared with existing studies, sensitivity analysis indicates that our proposed model can significantly reduce the 4PL's expected cost and improve the long-term competitive advantages. Managerial implications are also drawn for 4PLs to run a sustainable–responsive logistics system under disruptions in a cost-effective way. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Disruption risks and quantity discounts have not been explicitly studied in traditional winner determination problems. This paper investigates an innovative winner determination problem with accidental disruptions and quantity discounts for a fourth party logistics provider in a logistics service procurement auction. An effective hybrid strategy that integrates a fortification policy with an outside option policy is developed to mitigate possible disruptions. Integrating the hybrid strategy with a piecewise-linear discount function, a stochastic nonlinear winner determination model is constructed. Utilizing a linearization technique, such a nonlinear winner determination model can be reformulated as a mixed integer linear program. To obtain nearly optimal solutions, a scenario-based approximation method is developed, including a reduced scenario technique and a dual decomposition Lagrangian relaxation technique. Numerical experiments are conducted to illustrate the effectiveness and applicability of the proposed model and method. When the discount parameter decreases or the disruption probability increases, the fortification policy becomes more important for the logistics system. An interesting result indicates that both the auctioneer and bidders may benefit from considering the discount policy. Managerial implications are drawn for fourth party logistics providers to run a reliable logistics system in a cost-effective way. • A nonlinear winner determination (WD) with disruptions and discounts is studied. • Fortification and outside option policies are integrated to address disruptions. • The nonlinear WD is reformulated as a linear one by a superior expression method. • An effective approximation method is developed to obtain near-optimal solutions. • Managerial implications are drawn for 4PLs and 3PLs in the logistics industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the growing level of public environmental consciousness, sustainability has become an important issue in the area of supply chain management. This paper focuses on a channel coordination problem in a two-echelon sustainable supply chain involving one socially responsible manufacturer and one fair-minded retailer. Constructing mathematical models to characterize the problem, four particular contracts are developed to investigate the environmental performance and channel profit under the framework of two non-cooperative contracts: wholesale price and two-part tariff, and two cooperative contracts: Nash bargaining and Rubinstein bargaining. Theoretical analysis verified by numerical experiments shows that the wholesale price contract performs worse than the other three in terms of the carbon emission per unit product and channel profit. In addition, the two-part tariff contract can partially coordinate the supply chain, whereas both bargaining contracts can achieve perfect coordination to provide outcomes of the centralized decision. Comparing with the fair-neutral scenarios, we find that the fairness behavior promotes the retailer's profit, but reduces the manufacturer's profit under different contracts. Sensitivity analysis reveals that with intensified fairness concerns, the sustainability level and channel profit diminish under non-cooperative contracts, but remain the same under cooperative contracts. The Nash bargaining and Rubinstein bargaining contracts are robust to the degree of the retailer's fairness behavior and could be the best choice for the socially responsible manufacturer. • A channel coordination issue in a two-echelon sustainable supply chain is studied. • Four contracts are developed to examine the impact of retailer's fairness behavior. • Fairness behavior worsens wholesale price contract compared to two-part tariff one. • Nash and Rubinstein bargaining contracts are robust to levels of fairness concerns. • Both bargaining contracts achieve perfect coordination in reducing carbon emission. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The instability of zinc metal anode caused by zinc dendrite growth and severe parasitic reactions has significantly restricted the extensive application of rechargeable aqueous zinc-ion batteries (RAZBs). Herein, based on the strategy of dynamic hard domains, we develop an ion-conductive supramolecular elastomer consisting of Zn salts and the polyurethane-urea-polypropylene glycol polymer skeleton. This elastomer combines high mechanical strength, high ionic conductivity, decent hydrophobicity, and high adhesion to stabilize the electrode-electrolyte interface. In the elastomer system, this elastomer can dynamically adapt to the volume changes of Zn anodes during repeated zinc plating/stripping processes through the reversible dissociation/reassociation of hierarchical hydrogen bonds (H-bonds) formed by the polar groups of urea and urethane moieties. Meanwhile, the coordination of Zn 2+ with soft polypropylene glycol (PPG) segments contributes to fast ion transport. This hydrophobic elastomer can also effectively inhibit water-induced corrosion by shielding the active Zn metal from the aqueous electrolyte. Based on the above synergies, the surface-modified anode shows excellent cycling stability above 550 h at a high current density of 5 mA cm -2 and a capacity of 2.5 mAh cm -2 . Moreover, the assembled Zn//MnO 2 full cell also displayed an enhanced electrochemical performance. This work provides inspiration for the design of solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) layers in aqueous battery chemistry to accelerate the application of RAZBs.

The heterogeneity and continuous cracking of the static solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) are one of the most critical barriers that largely limit the cycle life of lithium (Li) metal batteries. Herein, we report a fatigue-free dynamic supramolecular ion-conductive elastomeric interphase (DSIEI) for a highly efficient and dendrite-free lithium metal anode. The soft phase poly(propylene glycol) backbone with loosely Li + -O coordinating interaction was responsible for fast ion transport. Simultaneously, the supramolecular quadruple hydrogen bonds (H-bonds) in the hard phases endow the elastomeric interphase with mechanical enhancement, while gradient H-bonds can dissipate strain energy via the sequential bonding cleavage. Such a design affords superior mechanical robustness, high ionic conductivity, gradient energy dissipation, and high Li + transference number. Besides, anion enrichment in DSIEI assists in situ construction of a lithium fluoride-rich inner layer upon cycling. The resultant biomimetic bilayer structure enables the symmetric cells with superior cyclability of over 600 h at a high current density of 10 mA cm -2 . Moreover, the DSIEI allows stable operation of the full cells under constrained conditions of limited lithium excess, a high-loading LiNi 0.8 Co 0.1 Mn 0.1 O 2 cathode, and a low negative/positive capacity (N/P) ratio. This work presents a powerful strategy for deigning artificial SEI and achieving high-energy-density Li metal batteries.

Aqueous zinc batteries are considered as a viable candidate for cost-effective and environmentally sustainable energy storage technology but are severely hampered by the notorious dendrite growth and parasitic reactions at the zinc anode side. Herein, we propose a bifunctional colloidal electrolyte design that utilizes upconversion nanocrystals, i.e., NaErF 4 @NaYF 4 , as a solid additive to provide the sustained release of functional metal and fluoride ions, which can effectively improve the reversibility of the Zn anode to inhibit dendrite growth and hydrogen evolution through forming an electrostatic shielding layer and in situ constructing a ZnF 2 -enriched protective interface. Experimental characterization and molecular dynamics simulation jointly confirm that the NaErF 4 @NaYF 4 additive could modify the Zn 2+ solvation environment in the vicinity of the NaErF 4 @NaYF 4 surface via the strong electrostatic coupling with Zn 2+ ions. As a consequence, the modified electrolyte enables stable zinc plating/stripping over 2100 h at a current density of 3 mA cm -2 and a capacity of 1 mAh cm -2 in symmetric cells. The assembled Zn||MnO 2 full cells with a modified electrolyte can operate stably for 1600 cycles at 2 A g -1 . This work thereby has great potential for the exploration of multifunctional electrolyte additives toward long-lasting aqueous Zn metal batteries.

We demonstrate in the present work through the utilization of classical Mie scattering theory in conjunction with a radiation damping and dynamic depolarization-corrected electrostatic approximation the significant effect that mechanical strain has on the optical properties of spherical silver nanoparticles. Through appropriate modifications of the bulk dielectric functions, we find that the application of tensile strain generates significant enhancements in the local electric field for the silver nanoparticles, leading to large SERS enhancements of more than 300% compared to bulk, unstrained nanoparticles when a 5% tensile strain is applied. While the strain-induced SERS enhancements are found to be strongest for nanoparticle diameters where radiation damping effects are minimized, we find that the surface plasmon resonance wavelengths are relatively unchanged by mechanical strain, and that the various measures of the far field optical efficiencies (absorption, scattering, extinction) can be enhanced by up to 150% through the application of tensile strain. The present findings indicate the opportunity to actively engineer and enhance the optical properties of silver nanoparticles through the application of mechanical deformation.