Search results for "OPTIMIZATION"

An approximate/exact objective based search technique for solving general scheduling problems

2018

Abstract In this paper, we analyze single machine scheduling problems under the following minimization objectives: the maximum completion time (makespan), the total completion time and the maximum lateness, including fundamental practical aspects, which often occur in industrial or manufacturing reality: release dates, due dates, setup times, precedence constraints, deterioration (aging) of machines, as well as maintenance activities. To solve the problems, we propose an efficient representation of a solution and a fast neighborhood search technique, which calculates an approximation of criterion values in a constant time per solution in a neighborhood. On this basis, a novel approximate/ex…

Two Job Cyclic Scheduling with Incompatibility Constraints

2001

The present paper deals with the problem of scheduling several repeated occurrences of two jobs over a finite or infinite time horizon in order to maximize the yielded profit. The constraints of the problem are the incompatibilities between some pairs of tasks which require a same resource.

Innovative systems based on optical nanoantennas for energy harvesting application

The purpose of this study is to outline the main guidelines for the design of arrays of optical rectennas aiming to harvest energy and for the optimization of the power transfer to an external load. In particular, the novelty of this study consists in introducing the concept of the integrated design between the array of optical rectennas and the harvesting circuit able to exploit the available energy. The design of the array represents the crucial point in order to optimize the power transfer between the antenna and the load and can influence the rectenna design. On the other hand, the maximum power transfer to the load has to be obtained under matching conditions between the array and the …

Successive Reduction of Arms in Multi-Armed Bandits

2011

The relevance of the multi-armed bandit problem has risen in the past few years with the need for online optimization techniques in Internet systems, such as online advertisement and news article recommendation. At the same time, these applications reveal that state-of-the-art solution schemes do not scale well with the number of bandit arms. In this paper, we present two types of Successive Reduction (SR) strategies - 1) Successive Reduction Hoeffding (SRH) and 2) Successive Reduction Order Statistics (SRO). Both use an Order Statistics based Thompson Sampling method for arm selection, and then successively eliminate bandit arms from consideration based on a confidence threshold. While SRH…

Staggering Periodic Replenishments

1999

The paper deals with the problem of staggering periodic replenishment orders associated to different frequencies. The particular multi-item, instantaneous replenishment case with known demand is considered. The practical interest for such a problem is twofold: staggering orders allows both a reduction of the costs incurred in holding goods and an efficient use of space in warehouses. Some specific models allowing staggering are considered and, for them, theoretical results and properties are provided.

A Deep Reinforcement Learning scheme for Battery Energy Management

2020

Deep reinforcement learning is considered promising for many energy cost optimization tasks in smart buildings. How-ever, agent learning, in this context, is sometimes unstable and unpredictable, especially when the environments are complex. In this paper, we examine deep Reinforcement Learning (RL) algorithms developed for game play applied to a battery control task with an energy cost optimization objective. We explore how agent behavior and hyperparameters can be analyzed in a simplified environment with the goal of modifying the algorithms for increased stability. Our modified Deep Deterministic Policy Gradient (DDPG) agent is able to perform consistently close to the optimum over multi…

Applications and numerical convergence of the partial inverse method

2006

In 1983, J.E. Spingarn introduced what he called the Partial Inverse Method in the framework of Mathematical Programming. Since his initial articles, numerous applications have been given in various fields including Lagrangian multipliers methods, location theory, convex feasibility problems, analysis of data, economic equilibrium problems. In a first part of this paper we give a survey of these applications. Then by means of optimization problems relevant to location theory such as single and multifacility minimisum or minimax location problems, we examine the main advantages of the algorithm and we point out its drawbacks mainly concerning the rate of convergence. We study how different p…

A brief overview on the numerical behavior of an implicit meshless method and an outlook to future challenges

2015

In this paper recent results on a leapfrog ADI meshless formulation are reported and some future challenges are addressed. The method benefits from the elimination of the meshing task from the pre-processing stage in space and it is unconditionally stable in time. Further improvements come from the ease of implementation, which makes computer codes very flexible in contrast to mesh based solver ones. The method requires only nodes at scattered locations and a function and its derivatives are approximated by means of a kernel representation. A perceived obstacle in the implicit formulation is in the second order differentiations which sometimes are eccesively sensitive to the node configurat…

A novel numerical meshless approach for electric potential estimation in transcranial stimulation

2015

In this paper, a first application of the method of fundamental solutions in estimating the electric potential and the spatial current density distribution in the brain due to transcranial stimulation, is presented. The coupled boundary value p roblems for the electric potential are solved in a meshless way, so avoiding the use of grid based numerical methods. A multi-spherical geometry is considered and numerical results are discussed.

An exact algorithm for preventive maintenance planning of series-parallel systems

2009

Reliability is a meaningful parameter in assessing the performance of systems such as chemical processing facilities, power plant, aircrafts, ships, etc. In the literature, reliability optimization is widely considered during the system design phase and it is carried out by an opportune selection of both system components and redundancy. On the other hand, the problem of maintaining a required level of reliability by an opportune maintenance policy has been poorly examined. The paper tackles this problem for a system whose major components can be maintained only during a planned system downtime. An exact algorithm is proposed in order to single out the set of components that must be maintai…