Search results for "Operation"
showing 10 items of 2969 documents
Lower and upper bounds for the mixed capacitated arc routing problem
2006
This paper presents a linear formulation, valid inequalities, and a lower bounding procedure for the mixed capacitated arc routing problem (MCARP). Moreover, three constructive heuristics and a memetic algorithm are described. Lower and upper bounds have been compared on two sets of randomly generated instances. Computational results show that the average gaps between lower and upper bounds are 0.51% and 0.33%, respectively.
A parsimonious model for generating arbitrage-free scenario trees
2016
Simulation models of economic, financial and business risk factors are widely used to assess risks and support decision-making. Extensive literature on scenario generation methods aims at describing some underlying stochastic processes with the least number of scenarios to overcome the ‘curse of dimensionality’. There is, however, an important requirement that is usually overlooked when one departs from the application domain of security pricing: the no-arbitrage condition. We formulate a moment matching model to generate multi-factor scenario trees for stochastic optimization satisfying no-arbitrage restrictions with a minimal number of scenarios and without any distributional assumptions.…
A fuzzy mathematical programming approach to the assessment of efficiency with DEA models
2003
In many real applications, the data of production processes cannot be precisely measured. This is particularly worrying when assessing efficiency with frontier-type models, such as data envelopment analysis (DEA) models, since they are very sensitive to possible data errors. For this reason, the possibility of having available a methodology that allows the analyst to deal with imprecise data becomes an issue of great interest in these contexts. To that end, we develop some fuzzy versions of the classical DEA models (in particular, the BCC model) by using some ranking methods based on the comparison of α-cuts. The resulting auxiliary crisp problems can be solved by the usual DEA software. We…
Non-dominated “trade-off” solutions in television scheduling optimization
2014
The main approaches for the television scheduling design are commonly based on the ratings or revenues maximization objective, and thus, only a single optimal solution can be obtained, corresponding to the best result for the considered objective. Therefore, these approaches lead up to the alternative solutions loss which, even if less effective from the ratings or revenues maximization viewpoint, may be more suitable for the decision maker because of better compromise in relation to factors influencing the decision process. Specifically, such a compromise could be achieved through a suitable “trade-off” between these factors, with reference to the decision context in which the decision mak…
General mathematical concept of compensation in sports science with quantitative analysis in the case of sprinting performance
1995
In many of the known sports disciplines, especially in athletics, the criterion which determines the positions of the competitors is a simple physical value, mostly a time or a distance, and the athlete with the minimum or maximum, respectively, takes the first place. Moreover, sports science explains this criterion by a set of the so-called basic abilities. Compensation means the balance of the inferiority of such a basic ability by the superiority of another one. In the following paper, a general abstract concept to analyse compensation in a quantitative way is presented first. It can be applied to any discipline with a measurable criterion, if, in addition, the performance can be describ…
GRASP and path relinking for the max–min diversity problem
2010
The max-min diversity problem (MMDP) consists in selecting a subset of elements from a given set in such a way that the diversity among the selected elements is maximized. The problem is NP-hard and can be formulated as an integer linear program. Since the 1980s, several solution methods for this problem have been developed and applied to a variety of fields, particularly in the social and biological sciences. We propose a heuristic method-based on the GRASP and path relinking methodologies-for finding approximate solutions to this optimization problem. We explore different ways to hybridize GRASP and path relinking, including the recently proposed variant known as GRASP with evolutionary p…
A comparison of different solution approaches to the vehicle scheduling problem in a practical case
2000
Abstract The Vehicle Scheduling Problem (VSP) consists in assigning a set of scheduled trips to a set of vehicles, satisfying a set of constraints and optimizing an objective function. A wide literature exists for the VSP, but usually not all the practical requirements of the real cases are taken into account. In the present paper a practical case is studied, and for it a traditional method is tailored and two innovative heuristics are developed. As the problem presents a multicriteria nature, each of the three algorithms adopts a different approach to multicriteria optimization. Scalarization of the different criteria is performed by the traditional algorithm. A lexicographic approach is f…
Hybridizing the cross-entropy method: An application to the max-cut problem
2009
Cross-entropy has been recently proposed as a heuristic method for solving combinatorial optimization problems. We briefly review this methodology and then suggest a hybrid version with the goal of improving its performance. In the context of the well-known max-cut problem, we compare an implementation of the original cross-entropy method with our proposed version. The suggested changes are not particular to the max-cut problem and could be considered for future applications to other combinatorial optimization problems.
Using a TSP heuristic for routing order pickers in warehouses
2010
In this paper, we deal with the sequencing and routing problem of order pickers in conventional multi-parallel-aisle warehouse systems. For this NP-hard Steiner travelling salesman problem (TSP), exact algorithms only exist for warehouses with at most three cross aisles, while for other warehouse types literature provides a selection of dedicated construction heuristics. We evaluate to what extent reformulating and solving the problem as a classical TSP leads to performance improvements compared to existing dedicated heuristics. We report average savings in route distance of up to 47% when using the LKH (Lin-Kernighan-Helsgaun) TSP heuristic. Additionally, we examine if combining problem-sp…
Construction and optimality of a special class of balanced designs
2006
The use of balanced designs is generally advisable in experimental practice. In technological experiments, balanced designs optimize the exploitation of experimental resources, whereas in marketing research experiments they avoid erroneous conclusions caused by the misinterpretation of interviewed customers. In general, the balancing property assures the minimum variance of first-order effect estimates. In this work the authors consider situations in which all factors are categorical and minimum run size is required. In a symmetrical case, it is often possible to find an economical balanced design by means of algebraic methods. Conversely, in an asymmetrical case algebraic methods lead to e…