This paper presents a mathematical model of aggregate planning for the service division of vending machines, which determines its workforce size and the preventive maintenance level that may affect the failure rate. T...
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This paper presents a mathematical model of aggregate planning for the service division of vending machines, which determines its workforce size and the preventive maintenance level that may affect the failure rate. The unique aspect of this problem is that it exhibits two types of failures requiring different repair and preventive maintenance. The practice is to divide the service division into two groups, within which there are hierarchies according to these types of failures, and in each group, there are full-time workers with annual contracts and temporary workers hired only during the peak season. A case study based on actual operational data demonstrates how effective the introduced model and the policy are in reducing the total cost and improving the quality of service, and thus enhancing the overall system performance of the service division. We perform sensitivity analysis on key parameters, which helps us change maintenance strategies under diverse operating situations. Journal of the Operational Research Society (2012) 63, 1034-1050. doi: 10.1057/jors.2011.98 Published online 9 November 2011
Given a non-self mapping T : A -> B in the setting of a metric space, this work concentrates on the resolution of the non-linear programming problem of globally minimizing the real valued function x -> d(x, Tx),...
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Given a non-self mapping T : A -> B in the setting of a metric space, this work concentrates on the resolution of the non-linear programming problem of globally minimizing the real valued function x -> d(x, Tx), thereby yielding an optimal approximate solution to the equation Tx = x. An iterative algorithm is also presented to compute a solution of such problems. As a sequel, it is possible to compute an optimal approximate solution to some non-linear equations. (C) 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
The distributions of empirical data are often complex. Such complexity cannot be sufficiently addressed by the individual theoretical statistical distribution function. Furthermore, the selection of the distribution f...
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The distributions of empirical data are often complex. Such complexity cannot be sufficiently addressed by the individual theoretical statistical distribution function. Furthermore, the selection of the distribution function becomes more complicated when the empirical data present a multi-peak feature. In such a case, the multiple testing criteria and the mixed model must be considered during the selection of an appropriate distribution function. Aiming at this vague challenge, the present paper proposes a novel method for establishing a mixed model that can describe accurately the distribution characteristics of empirical data. Apart from combining the Akike and Bayesian information criteria to define the feasible solutions of the mixed model, this study also utilizes the root mean squared deviation, coefficient of determination, Kolmogorov-Smirnov test statistic, average deviation in cumulative distribution function, and average deviation in probability distribution function as the testing criteria. In addition, a non-linear programming is used to find the weighting factors of each criterion. The multi-criteria decision-making technology is adopted to comprehensively and objectively integrate these testing criteria into a synthetic indicator. Finally, an optimization algorithm is proposed to determine the optimal number of components in the mixed model. The illustrated results of the simulated data and measured signals confirm that this approach can estimate precisely the number of components as well as establish a highly accurate mixed model. (C) 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
This paper deals with the packing problem of circles and non-convex polygons, which can be both translated and rotated into a strip with prohibited regions. Using the Phi-function technique, a mathematical model of th...
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This paper deals with the packing problem of circles and non-convex polygons, which can be both translated and rotated into a strip with prohibited regions. Using the Phi-function technique, a mathematical model of the problem is constructed and its characteristics are investigated. Based on the characteristics, a solution approach to the problem is offered. The approach includes the following methods: an optimization method by groups of variables to construct starting points, a modification of the Zoutendijk feasible direction method to search for local minima and a special non-exhaustive search of local minima to find an approximation to a global minimum. A number of numerical results are given. The numerical results are compared with the best known ones. Journal of the Operational Research Society (2012) 63, 379-391. doi:10.1057/jors.2011.41 Published online 1 June 2011
Estimation of probability of default has considerable importance in risk management applications where default risk is referred to as credit risk. Basel II (Committee on Banking Supervision) proposes a revision to the...
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Estimation of probability of default has considerable importance in risk management applications where default risk is referred to as credit risk. Basel II (Committee on Banking Supervision) proposes a revision to the international capital accord that implies a more prominent role for internal credit risk assessments based on the determination of default probability of borrowers. In our study, we classify borrower firms into rating classes with respect to their default probability. The classification of firms into rating classes necessitates the finding of threshold values separating the rating classes. We aim at solving two problems: to distinguish the defaults from non-defaults, and to put the firms in an order based on their credit quality and classify them into sub-rating classes. For using a model to obtain the probability of default of each firm, Receiver Operating Characteristics (ROC) analysis is employed to assess the distinction power of our model. In our new functional approach, we optimise the area under the ROC curve for a balanced choice of the thresholds;and we include accuracy of the solution into the program. Thus, a constrained optimisation problem on the area under the curve (or its complement) is carefully modelled, discretised and turned into a penalized sum-of-squares problem of nonlinear regression;we apply the Levenberg-Marquardt algorithm. We present numerical evaluations and their interpretations based on real-world data from firms in the Turkish manufacturing sector. We conclude with a discussion of structural frontiers, parametrical and computational features, and an invitation to future work.
This paper applies a variable neighborhood search (VNS) to the difficult problem of packing unit radii spheres into the smallest cube (PSC). VNS identifies (near-) global optima by searching the neighborhoods of local...
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Industrial wastewater is one of the crucial environmental concerns. Biosorption is an effective method used to remove toxic heavy metals from wastewater. Biosorption utilizes the capability of biomass to remove metal ...
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ISBN:
(纸本)9781467329453
Industrial wastewater is one of the crucial environmental concerns. Biosorption is an effective method used to remove toxic heavy metals from wastewater. Biosorption utilizes the capability of biomass to remove metal ions from wastewater. The determination of operating conditions, namely, the type and the amount of biomass to be used in the process as well as the processing time, are the key issues in the process. This paper proposes an optimization model for removal of zinc from wastewater. A biomass marine alga, Gracilaria Corticata (GC), is used as biosorbent. Derivation of zinc absorption kinetics model is first provided. A non-linear optimization model is then developed to determine the optimal operating conditions subject to satisfying a desired removal percentage while minimizing the total cost. The experimental results show that GC can be used well for zinc removal and the proposed optimization model can effectively reduce the process cost. The proposed approach is illustrated through a simplified numerical example.
The objective of this paper is to address an industrially implemented economic dispatch (ED) function for cogeneration units, i.e. generating units with output in the form of both electric power and heat. The heat pro...
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ISBN:
(纸本)9781467327299
The objective of this paper is to address an industrially implemented economic dispatch (ED) function for cogeneration units, i.e. generating units with output in the form of both electric power and heat. The heat produced by the cogeneration power plants is used for desalination of sea water and the variation in demand for electricity and heat are therefore not correlated. This implies that an optimal loading of each generator can only be achieved if both of these two requirements are considered by the optimization model. The ED module solves the optimal dispatch problem considering both the electric load as well as the heat requirements provides the generation control thereby providing the operator important real-time decision support. Three different types of cogeneration plants are considered. The first plant configuration type consists of a gas turbine and a heat recovery steam generator that extracts heat from the gas turbine exhaust to produce steam. The second configuration type consists of a conventional combustion boiler and a steam turbine. The third considered plant configuration is what is also called combined cycle plants, i.e. a gas turbine with a heat recovery steam generator that produce steam for the operation of a steam turbine.
Center of Gravity (COG) analysis is an integral and cognitively demanding part of developing the course of action (COA) in military operational planning. However, the COG may be an abstract concept, or directly assaul...
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ISBN:
(纸本)9780769548647
Center of Gravity (COG) analysis is an integral and cognitively demanding part of developing the course of action (COA) in military operational planning. However, the COG may be an abstract concept, or directly assaulting the COG is not feasible. Therefore, the critical vulnerabilities (CV) which influencing the COG must be determined. To do so, this paper proposes a COG network model based on the improved ANP. The importance of this work is that it augments the ANP to support rapid decision-making and overcome the subjectivity of human, and it uses the coordination theory to identify the dependencies of targets. Finally, a case study is conducted to show how this model is used to analyze the COG and generate corresponding actions.
In order to effectively avoid risks that might result in loss of failure in software development process, based on the experiences of software development and project management, this paper identifies 4 potential risk...
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In order to effectively avoid risks that might result in loss of failure in software development process, based on the experiences of software development and project management, this paper identifies 4 potential risk factors specific to software development projects which are integrated with 6 stages in software development process, and proposes a non-linear programming model to optimize funds allocation to reduce the risks. The paper provides an example to validate the effectiveness of the model.
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