Search results for "Operations Research"
showing 10 items of 1297 documents
Bayesian prediction inM/M/1 queues
1994
Simple queues with Poisson input and exponential service times are considered to illustrate how well-suited Bayesian methods are used to handle the common inferential aims that appear when dealing with queue problems. The emphasis will mainly be placed on prediction; in particular, we study the predictive distribution of usual measures of effectiveness in anM/M/1 queue system, such as the number of customers in the queue and in the system, the waiting time in the queue and in the system, the length of an idle period and the length of a busy period.
A two-slope achievement scalarizing function for interactive multiobjective optimization
2012
The use of achievement (scalarizing) functions in interactive multiobjective optimization methods is very popular, as indicated by the large number of algorithmic and applied scientific papers that use this approach. Key parameters in this approach are the reference point, which expresses desirable objective function values for the decision maker, and weights. The role of the weights can range from purely normalizing to fully preferential parameters that indicate the relative importance given by the decision maker to the achievement of each reference value. Technically, the influence of the weights in the solution generated by the achievement scalarizing function is different, depending on …
A penalty-based edge assembly memetic algorithm for the vehicle routing problem with time windows
2010
In this paper, we present an effective memetic algorithm for the vehicle routing problem with time windows (VRPTW). The paper builds upon an existing edge assembly crossover (EAX) developed for the capacitated VRP. The adjustments of the EAX operator and the introduction of a novel penalty function to eliminate violations of the time window constraint as well as the capacity constraint from offspring solutions generated by the EAX operator have proven essential to the heuristic's performance. Experimental results on Solomon's and Gehring and Homberger benchmarks demonstrate that our algorithm outperforms previous approaches and is able to improve 184 best-known solutions out of 356 instance…
Scheduling Multimodal Transportation Systems
2004
Abstract In this paper a Lagrangian based heuristic procedure for scheduling transportation networks is presented. The solution procedure schedules a single line at a time, possibly correcting the previous decisions at each step.
Large multiple neighborhood search for the clustered vehicle-routing problem
2018
Abstract The clustered vehicle-routing problem is a variant of the classical capacitated vehicle-routing problem in which customers are partitioned into clusters, and it is assumed that each cluster must have been served completely before the next cluster is served. This decomposes the problem into three subproblems, i.e., the assignment of clusters to routes, the routing inside each cluster, and the sequencing of the clusters in the routes. The second task requires the solution of several Hamiltonian path problems, one for each possibility to route through the cluster. We pre-compute the Hamiltonian paths for every pair of customers of each cluster. We present a large multiple neighborhood…
Optimal selection of the four best of a sequence
1993
We consider the situation in which the decision-maker is allowed to have four choices with purpose to choose exactly the four absolute best candidates fromN applicants. The optimal stopping rule and the maximum probability of making the right choice are given for largeN∈N, the maximum asymptotic value of the best choice being limN→∞P(win)≈0.12706.
A comparison of column-generation approaches to the Synchronized Pickup and Delivery Problem
2015
Abstract In the Synchronized Pickup and Delivery Problem (SPDP), user-specified transportation requests from origin to destination points have to be serviced by a fleet of homogeneous vehicles. The task is to find a set of minimum-cost routes satisfying pairing and precedence, capacities, and time windows. Additionally, temporal synchronization constraints couple the service times at the pickup and delivery locations of the customer requests in the following way: a request has to be delivered within prespecified minimum and maximum time lags (called ride times) after it has been picked up. The presence of these ride-time constraints severely complicates the subproblem of the natural column-…
Sufficient conditions for coincidence in minisum multifacility location problems with a general metric
1991
It is a well observed fact that in minisum multifacility location problems the optimal locations of several facilities often tend to coincide. Some sufficient conditions for this phenomenon, involving only the weights and applicable to any metric, have been published previously. The objective of this paper is to show how these conditions may be extended further and to obtain a more complete description of their implications, in particular, in the case of certain locational constraints.
On Optimal Solutions for the Optimal Communication Spanning Tree Problem
2009
This paper presents an experimental investigation into the properties of the optimal communication spanning tree (OCST) problem. The OCST problem seeks a spanning tree that connects all the nodes and satisfies their communication requirements at a minimum total cost. The paper compares the properties of random trees to the properties of the best solutions for the OCST problem that are found using an evolutionary algorithm. The results show, on average, that the optimal solution and the minimum spanning tree (MST) share a higher number of links than the optimal solution and a random tree. Furthermore, optimal solutions for OCST problems with randomly chosen distance weights share a higher n…
Optimal Impulse Control When Control Actions Have Random Consequences
1997
We consider a generalised impulse control model for controlling a process governed by a stochastic differential equation. The controller can only choose a parameter of the probability distribution of the consequence of his control action which is therefore random. We state optimality results relating the value function to quasi-variational inequalities and a formal optimal stopping problem. We also remark that the value function is a viscosity solution of the quasi-variational inequalities which could lead to developments and convergence proofs of numerical schemes. Further, we give some explicit examples and an application in financial mathematics, the optimal control of the exchange rate…