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Sample records for methods heuristic evaluation

  1. Comparative study of heuristic evaluation and usability testing methods.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thyvalikakath, Thankam Paul; Monaco, Valerie; Thambuganipalle, Himabindu; Schleyer, Titus

    2009-01-01

    Usability methods, such as heuristic evaluation, cognitive walk-throughs and user testing, are increasingly used to evaluate and improve the design of clinical software applications. There is still some uncertainty, however, as to how those methods can be used to support the development process and evaluation in the most meaningful manner. In this study, we compared the results of a heuristic evaluation with those of formal user tests in order to determine which usability problems were detected by both methods. We conducted heuristic evaluation and usability testing on four major commercial dental computer-based patient records (CPRs), which together cover 80% of the market for chairside computer systems among general dentists. Both methods yielded strong evidence that the dental CPRs have significant usability problems. An average of 50% of empirically-determined usability problems were identified by the preceding heuristic evaluation. Some statements of heuristic violations were specific enough to precisely identify the actual usability problem that study participants encountered. Other violations were less specific, but still manifested themselves in usability problems and poor task outcomes. In this study, heuristic evaluation identified a significant portion of problems found during usability testing. While we make no assumptions about the generalizability of the results to other domains and software systems, heuristic evaluation may, under certain circumstances, be a useful tool to determine design problems early in the development cycle.

  2. Heuristic Evaluation of E-Learning Courses: A Comparative Analysis of Two E-Learning Heuristic Sets

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zaharias, Panagiotis; Koutsabasis, Panayiotis

    2012-01-01

    Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to discuss heuristic evaluation as a method for evaluating e-learning courses and applications and more specifically to investigate the applicability and empirical use of two customized e-learning heuristic protocols. Design/methodology/approach: Two representative e-learning heuristic protocols were chosen…

  3. Establishing usability heuristics for heuristics evaluation in a specific domain: Is there a consensus?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hermawati, Setia; Lawson, Glyn

    2016-09-01

    Heuristics evaluation is frequently employed to evaluate usability. While general heuristics are suitable to evaluate most user interfaces, there is still a need to establish heuristics for specific domains to ensure that their specific usability issues are identified. This paper presents a comprehensive review of 70 studies related to usability heuristics for specific domains. The aim of this paper is to review the processes that were applied to establish heuristics in specific domains and identify gaps in order to provide recommendations for future research and area of improvements. The most urgent issue found is the deficiency of validation effort following heuristics proposition and the lack of robustness and rigour of validation method adopted. Whether domain specific heuristics perform better or worse than general ones is inconclusive due to lack of validation quality and clarity on how to assess the effectiveness of heuristics for specific domains. The lack of validation quality also affects effort in improving existing heuristics for specific domain as their weaknesses are not addressed. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  4. A Tutorial on Heuristic Methods

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Vidal, Rene Victor Valqui; Werra, D. de; Silver, E.

    1980-01-01

    In this paper we define a heuristic method as a procedure for solving a well-defined mathematical problem by an intuitive approach in which the structure of the problem can be interpreted and exploited intelligently to obtain a reasonable solution. Issues discussed include: (i) the measurement...... of the quality of a heuristic method, (ii) different types of heuristic procedures, (iii) the interactive role of human beings and (iv) factors that may influence the choice or testing of heuristic methods. A large number of references are included....

  5. PROOF OF CONCEPT FOR A HUMAN RELIABILITY ANALYSIS METHOD FOR HEURISTIC USABILITY EVALUATION OF SOFTWARE

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ronald L. Boring; David I. Gertman; Jeffrey C. Joe; Julie L. Marble

    2005-01-01

    An ongoing issue within human-computer interaction (HCI) is the need for simplified or ''discount'' methods. The current economic slowdown has necessitated innovative methods that are results driven and cost effective. The myriad methods of design and usability are currently being cost-justified, and new techniques are actively being explored that meet current budgets and needs. Recent efforts in human reliability analysis (HRA) are highlighted by the ten-year development of the Standardized Plant Analysis Risk HRA (SPAR-H) method. The SPAR-H method has been used primarily for determining human centered risk at nuclear power plants. The SPAR-H method, however, shares task analysis underpinnings with HCI. Despite this methodological overlap, there is currently no HRA approach deployed in heuristic usability evaluation. This paper presents an extension of the existing SPAR-H method to be used as part of heuristic usability evaluation in HCI

  6. Comparison of two heuristic evaluation methods for evaluating the usability of health information systems.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Khajouei, Reza; Hajesmaeel Gohari, Sadrieh; Mirzaee, Moghaddameh

    2018-04-01

    In addition to following the usual Heuristic Evaluation (HE) method, the usability of health information systems can also be evaluated using a checklist. The objective of this study is to compare the performance of these two methods in identifying usability problems of health information systems. Eight evaluators independently evaluated different parts of a Medical Records Information System using two methods of HE (usual and with a checklist). The two methods were compared in terms of the number of problems identified, problem type, and the severity of identified problems. In all, 192 usability problems were identified by two methods in the Medical Records Information System. This was significantly higher than the number of usability problems identified by the checklist and usual method (148 and 92, respectively) (p information systems. The results demonstrated that the checklist method had significantly better performance in terms of the number of identified usability problems; however, the performance of the usual method for identifying problems of higher severity was significantly better. Although the checklist method can be more efficient for less experienced evaluators, wherever usability is critical, the checklist should be used with caution in usability evaluations. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  7. Heuristic Evaluation on Mobile Interfaces: A New Checklist

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rosa Yáñez Gómez

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available The rapid evolution and adoption of mobile devices raise new usability challenges, given their limitations (in screen size, battery life, etc. as well as the specific requirements of this new interaction. Traditional evaluation techniques need to be adapted in order for these requirements to be met. Heuristic evaluation (HE, an Inspection Method based on evaluation conducted by experts over a real system or prototype, is based on checklists which are desktop-centred and do not adequately detect mobile-specific usability issues. In this paper, we propose a compilation of heuristic evaluation checklists taken from the existing bibliography but readapted to new mobile interfaces. Selecting and rearranging these heuristic guidelines offer a tool which works well not just for evaluation but also as a best-practices checklist. The result is a comprehensive checklist which is experimentally evaluated as a design tool. This experimental evaluation involved two software engineers without any specific knowledge about usability, a group of ten users who compared the usability of a first prototype designed without our heuristics, and a second one after applying the proposed checklist. The results of this experiment show the usefulness of the proposed checklist for avoiding usability gaps even with nontrained developers.

  8. Heuristic Evaluation on Mobile Interfaces: A New Checklist

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yáñez Gómez, Rosa; Cascado Caballero, Daniel; Sevillano, José-Luis

    2014-01-01

    The rapid evolution and adoption of mobile devices raise new usability challenges, given their limitations (in screen size, battery life, etc.) as well as the specific requirements of this new interaction. Traditional evaluation techniques need to be adapted in order for these requirements to be met. Heuristic evaluation (HE), an Inspection Method based on evaluation conducted by experts over a real system or prototype, is based on checklists which are desktop-centred and do not adequately detect mobile-specific usability issues. In this paper, we propose a compilation of heuristic evaluation checklists taken from the existing bibliography but readapted to new mobile interfaces. Selecting and rearranging these heuristic guidelines offer a tool which works well not just for evaluation but also as a best-practices checklist. The result is a comprehensive checklist which is experimentally evaluated as a design tool. This experimental evaluation involved two software engineers without any specific knowledge about usability, a group of ten users who compared the usability of a first prototype designed without our heuristics, and a second one after applying the proposed checklist. The results of this experiment show the usefulness of the proposed checklist for avoiding usability gaps even with nontrained developers. PMID:25295300

  9. Usability of a patient education and motivation tool using heuristic evaluation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Joshi, Ashish; Arora, Mohit; Dai, Liwei; Price, Kathleen; Vizer, Lisa; Sears, Andrew

    2009-11-06

    (median severity = 2), 4 violations for help users recognize, diagnose, and recover from errors (median severity = 3), and 4 violations for help and documentation (median severity = 4). We describe the heuristic evaluation method employed to assess the usability of PEMT, a method which uncovers heuristic violations in the interface design in a quick and efficient manner. Bringing together usability experts and health professionals to evaluate a computer-mediated patient education program can help to identify problems in a timely manner. This makes this method particularly well suited to the iterative design process when developing other computer-mediated health education programs. Heuristic evaluations provided a means to assess the user interface of PEMT.

  10. The use of systematic and heuristic methods in the basic design cycle: A comparative survey of students' method usage

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Person, O.; Daalhuizen, Jaap; Gattol, V.

    2013-01-01

    ) synthesis, (3) simulation, (4) evaluation, and (5) decision-making. The results of our study suggest that systematic and heuristic methods fulfil different roles for the students when designing. The students reported to use heuristic methods significantly more for synthesis, while they reported to use...... systematic methods significantly more for evaluation and decision-making. In understanding the potential origin of these use practices, we call for more in-depth studies on method usage in design, for instance related to the role of preference and knowledge on systematic and heuristic methods usage.......In the present paper, we study the reported use of systematic and heuristic methods for 304 students enrolled in a master-level course on design theory and methodology. What to teach design and engineering students about methods is an important topic for discussion. One reason...

  11. A health literacy and usability heuristic evaluation of a mobile consumer health application.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Monkman, Helen; Kushniruk, Andre

    2013-01-01

    Usability and health literacy are two critical factors in the design and evaluation of consumer health information systems. However, methods for evaluating these two factors in conjunction remain limited. This study adapted a set of existing guidelines for the design of consumer health Web sites into evidence-based evaluation heuristics tailored specifically for mobile consumer health applications. In order to test the approach, a mobile consumer health application (app) was then evaluated using these heuristics. In addition to revealing ways to improve the usability of the system, this analysis identified opportunities to augment the content to make it more understandable by users with limited health literacy. This study successfully demonstrated the utility of converting existing design guidelines into heuristics for the evaluation of usability and health literacy. The heuristics generated could be applied for assessing and revising other existing consumer health information systems.

  12. Heuristics methods for the flow shop scheduling problem with separated setup times

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marcelo Seido Nagano

    2012-06-01

    Full Text Available This paper deals with the permutation flow shop scheduling problem with separated machine setup times. As a result of an investigation on the problem characteristics, four heuristics methods are proposed with procedures of the construction sequencing solution by an analogy with the asymmetric traveling salesman problem with the objective of minimizing makespan. Experimental results show that one of the new heuristics methods proposed provide high quality solutions in comparisons with the evaluated methods considered in the literature.

  13. A heuristic evaluation of the Facebook's advertising tool beacon

    OpenAIRE

    Jamal, A; Cole, M

    2009-01-01

    Interface usability is critical to the successful adoption of information systems. The aim of this study is to evaluate interface of Facebook's advertising tool Beacon by using privacy heuristics [4]. Beacon represents an interesting case study because of the negative media and user backlash it received. The findings of heuristic evaluation suggest violation of privacy heuristics [4]. Here, analysis identified concerns about user choice and consent, integrity and security of data, and awarene...

  14. Forming a method mindset: The role of knowledge and preference in facilitating heuristic method usage in design

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Daalhuizen, Jaap; Person, Oscar; Gattol, Valentin

    2013-01-01

    Both systematic and heuristic methods are common practice when designing. Yet, in teaching students how to design, heuristic methods are typically only granted a secondary role. So, how do designers and students develop a mindset for using heuristic methods? In this paper, we study how prior...... knowledge (about heuristic methods and their usage) and preference (for using heuristic methods) relate to the reported use of heuristic methods when designing. Drawing on a survey among 304 students enrolled in a master-level course on design theory and methodology, we investigated method usage for five...... indirectly influenced method usage through a 'complementary' mediation of method preference....

  15. A Hyper-Heuristic Ensemble Method for Static Job-Shop Scheduling.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hart, Emma; Sim, Kevin

    2016-01-01

    We describe a new hyper-heuristic method NELLI-GP for solving job-shop scheduling problems (JSSP) that evolves an ensemble of heuristics. The ensemble adopts a divide-and-conquer approach in which each heuristic solves a unique subset of the instance set considered. NELLI-GP extends an existing ensemble method called NELLI by introducing a novel heuristic generator that evolves heuristics composed of linear sequences of dispatching rules: each rule is represented using a tree structure and is itself evolved. Following a training period, the ensemble is shown to outperform both existing dispatching rules and a standard genetic programming algorithm on a large set of new test instances. In addition, it obtains superior results on a set of 210 benchmark problems from the literature when compared to two state-of-the-art hyper-heuristic approaches. Further analysis of the relationship between heuristics in the evolved ensemble and the instances each solves provides new insights into features that might describe similar instances.

  16. Heuristic evaluation of online COPD respiratory therapy and education video resource center.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stellefson, Michael; Chaney, Beth; Chaney, Don

    2014-10-01

    Abstract Purpose: Because of limited accessibility to pulmonary rehabilitation programs, patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are infrequently provided with patient education resources. To help educate patients with COPD on how to live a better life with diminished breathing capacity, we developed a novel social media resource center containing COPD respiratory therapy and education videos called "COPDFlix." A heuristic evaluation of COPDFlix was conducted as part of a larger study to determine whether the prototype was successful in adhering to formal Web site usability guidelines for older adults. A purposive sample of three experts, with expertise in Web design and health communications technology, was recruited (a) to identify usability violations and (b) to propose solutions to improve the functionality of the COPDFlix prototype. Each expert evaluated 18 heuristics in four categories of task-based criteria (i.e., interaction and navigation, information architecture, presentation design, and information design). Seventy-six subcriteria across these four categories were assessed. Quantitative ratings and qualitative comments from each expert were compiled into a single master list, noting the violated heuristic and type/location of problem(s). Sixty-one usability violations were identified across the 18 heuristics. Evaluators rated the majority of heuristic subcriteria as either a "minor hindrance" (n=32) or "no problem" (n=132). Moreover, only 2 of the 18 heuristic categories were noted as "major" violations, with mean severity scores of ≥3. Mixed-methods data analysis helped the multidisciplinary research team to categorize and prioritize usability problems and solutions, leading to 26 discrete design modifications within the COPDFlix prototype.

  17. A heuristic approach for the evaluation of Physical Protection System effectiveness

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zou, Bowen; Yang, Ming; Guo, Jia; Benjamin, Emi-Reybold; Wu, Wenfei

    2017-01-01

    Highlights: • A heuristic approach is applied for the evaluation of PPS effectiveness (HAPPS). • Import 2-D engineering drawings into the analysis application, identify the information contained in the model. Use the HAPPS method as search algorithm to seek the vulnerable adversary intrusion and escape path under certain conditions. • Redesign the PPS by the evaluation results. - Abstract: Physical Protection System (PPS) is essential for each nuclear power plant to safeguard its nuclear materials and nuclear facilities from theft, robbery, illegal transport and sabotage. This paper presents a novel method (HAPPS) combined with Estimate of Adversary Sequence Interruption (EASI) method and heuristic approach (Ant Colony Optimization, ACO) for analyzing and evaluating the PPS effectiveness of NPPs. Import 2-D engineering drawings into the analysis application, identify the information contained in the model, and use the HAPPS method as search algorithm to seek the vulnerable adversary intrusion and escape path under certain conditions. The results of PPS effectiveness analysis will provide a detailed technical feedback for redesigning PPS.

  18. Heuristics to Evaluate Interactive Systems for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Khowaja, Kamran; Salim, Siti Salwah; Asemi, Adeleh

    2015-01-01

    In this paper, we adapted and expanded a set of guidelines, also known as heuristics, to evaluate the usability of software to now be appropriate for software aimed at children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). We started from the heuristics developed by Nielsen in 1990 and developed a modified set of 15 heuristics. The first 5 heuristics of this set are the same as those of the original Nielsen set, the next 5 heuristics are improved versions of Nielsen's, whereas the last 5 heuristics are new. We present two evaluation studies of our new heuristics. In the first, two groups compared Nielsen's set with the modified set of heuristics, with each group evaluating two interactive systems. The Nielsen's heuristics were assigned to the control group while the experimental group was given the modified set of heuristics, and a statistical analysis was conducted to determine the effectiveness of the modified set, the contribution of 5 new heuristics and the impact of 5 improved heuristics. The results show that the modified set is significantly more effective than the original, and we found a significant difference between the five improved heuristics and their corresponding heuristics in the original set. The five new heuristics are effective in problem identification using the modified set. The second study was conducted using a system which was developed to ascertain if the modified set was effective at identifying usability problems that could be fixed before the release of software. The post-study analysis revealed that the majority of the usability problems identified by the experts were fixed in the updated version of the system.

  19. Heuristics to Evaluate Interactive Systems for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kamran Khowaja

    Full Text Available In this paper, we adapted and expanded a set of guidelines, also known as heuristics, to evaluate the usability of software to now be appropriate for software aimed at children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD. We started from the heuristics developed by Nielsen in 1990 and developed a modified set of 15 heuristics. The first 5 heuristics of this set are the same as those of the original Nielsen set, the next 5 heuristics are improved versions of Nielsen's, whereas the last 5 heuristics are new. We present two evaluation studies of our new heuristics. In the first, two groups compared Nielsen's set with the modified set of heuristics, with each group evaluating two interactive systems. The Nielsen's heuristics were assigned to the control group while the experimental group was given the modified set of heuristics, and a statistical analysis was conducted to determine the effectiveness of the modified set, the contribution of 5 new heuristics and the impact of 5 improved heuristics. The results show that the modified set is significantly more effective than the original, and we found a significant difference between the five improved heuristics and their corresponding heuristics in the original set. The five new heuristics are effective in problem identification using the modified set. The second study was conducted using a system which was developed to ascertain if the modified set was effective at identifying usability problems that could be fixed before the release of software. The post-study analysis revealed that the majority of the usability problems identified by the experts were fixed in the updated version of the system.

  20. Investigating Heuristic Evaluation: A Case Study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Goldman, Kate Haley; Bendoly, Laura

    When museum professionals speak of evaluating a web site, they primarily mean formative evaluation, and by that they primarily mean testing the usability of the site. In the for-profit world, usability testing is a multi-million dollar industry, while non-profits often rely on far too few dollars to do too much. Hence, heuristic evaluation is one…

  1. Learning process mapping heuristics under stochastic sampling overheads

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ieumwananonthachai, Arthur; Wah, Benjamin W.

    1991-01-01

    A statistical method was developed previously for improving process mapping heuristics. The method systematically explores the space of possible heuristics under a specified time constraint. Its goal is to get the best possible heuristics while trading between the solution quality of the process mapping heuristics and their execution time. The statistical selection method is extended to take into consideration the variations in the amount of time used to evaluate heuristics on a problem instance. The improvement in performance is presented using the more realistic assumption along with some methods that alleviate the additional complexity.

  2. Forming a method mindset : The role of knowledge and preference in facilitating heuristic method usage in design

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Daalhuizen, J.J.; Person, F.E.O.K.; Gattol, V.

    2013-01-01

    Both systematic and heuristic methods are common practice when designing. Yet, in teaching students how to design, heuristic methods are typically only granted a secondary role. So, how do designers and students develop a mindset for using heuristic methods? In this paper, we study how prior

  3. Evaluating the usability of an interactive, bi-lingual, touchscreen-enabled breastfeeding educational programme: application of Nielson’s heuristics

    OpenAIRE

    Ashish Joshi; Douglas M Puricelli Perin; Chioma Amadi; Kate Trout

    2015-01-01

    Background: Usability challenges have to be met in an interactive computer program development and should meet all users’ needs. Objective: The study purpose was to conduct heuristic evaluation of an interactive, bilingual touch screen enabled breastfeeding educational program for Hispanic women living in rural settings.Methods: Two usability experts used Nielsen’s heuristics while reviewing the user interface in May 2013 using principles of Nielson’s Heuristics. Nielson’s heuristics are a se...

  4. Using scenarios and personas to enhance the effectiveness of heuristic usability evaluations for older adults and their care team.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kneale, Laura; Mikles, Sean; Choi, Yong K; Thompson, Hilaire; Demiris, George

    2017-09-01

    Using heuristics to evaluate user experience is a common methodology for human-computer interaction studies. One challenge of this method is the inability to tailor results towards specific end-user needs. This manuscript reports on a method that uses validated scenarios and personas of older adults and care team members to enhance heuristics evaluations of the usability of commercially available personal health records for homebound older adults. Our work extends the Chisnell and Redish heuristic evaluation methodology by using a protocol that relies on multiple expert reviews of each system. It further standardizes the heuristic evaluation process through the incorporation of task-based scenarios. We were able to use the modified version of the Chisnell and Redish heuristic evaluation methodology to identify potential usability challenges of two commercially available personal health record systems. This allowed us to: (1) identify potential usability challenges for specific types of users, (2) describe improvements that would be valuable to all end-users of the system, and (3) better understand how the interactions of different users may vary within a single personal health record. The methodology described in this paper may help designers of consumer health information technology tools, such as personal health records, understand the needs of diverse end-user populations. Such methods may be particularly helpful when designing systems for populations that are difficult to recruit for end-user evaluations through traditional methods. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  5. Intelligent process mapping through systematic improvement of heuristics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ieumwananonthachai, Arthur; Aizawa, Akiko N.; Schwartz, Steven R.; Wah, Benjamin W.; Yan, Jerry C.

    1992-01-01

    The present system for automatic learning/evaluation of novel heuristic methods applicable to the mapping of communication-process sets on a computer network has its basis in the testing of a population of competing heuristic methods within a fixed time-constraint. The TEACHER 4.1 prototype learning system implemented or learning new postgame analysis heuristic methods iteratively generates and refines the mappings of a set of communicating processes on a computer network. A systematic exploration of the space of possible heuristic methods is shown to promise significant improvement.

  6. The E-health Literacy Demands of Australia's My Health Record: A Heuristic Evaluation of Usability.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Walsh, Louisa; Hemsley, Bronwyn; Allan, Meredith; Adams, Natalie; Balandin, Susan; Georgiou, Andrew; Higgins, Isabel; McCarthy, Shaun; Hill, Sophie

    2017-01-01

    My Health Record is Australia's electronic personal health record system, which was introduced in July 2012. As of August 2017, approximately 21 percent of Australia's total population was registered to use My Health Record. Internationally, usability issues have been shown to negatively influence the uptake and use of electronic health record systems, and this scenario may particularly affect people who have low e-health literacy. It is likely that usability issues are negatively affecting the uptake and use of My Health Record in Australia. To identify potential e-health literacy-related usability issues within My Health Record through a heuristic evaluation method. Between September 14 and October 12, 2016, three of the authors conducted a heuristic evaluation of the two consumer-facing components of My Health Record-the information website and the electronic health record itself. These two components were evaluated against two sets of heuristics-the Health Literacy Online checklist and the Monkman Heuristics. The Health Literacy Online checklist and Monkman Heuristics are evidence-based checklists of web design elements with a focus on design for audiences with low health literacy. During this heuristic evaluation, the investigators individually navigated through the consumer-facing components of My Health Record, recording instances where the My Health Record did not conform to the checklist criteria. After the individual evaluations were completed, the investigators conferred and aggregated their results. From this process, a list of usability violations was constructed. When evaluated against the Health Literacy Online Checklist, the information website demonstrated violations in 12 of 35 criteria, and the electronic health record demonstrated violations in 16 of 35 criteria. When evaluated against the Monkman Heuristics, the information website demonstrated violations in 7 of 11 criteria, and the electronic health record demonstrated violations in 9 of 11

  7. Derivation of some formulae in combinatrics by heuristic methods

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kobayashi, Yukio

    2015-04-01

    Heuristic methods are more effective for students inlearning permutations and combinations in mathematics than passive learning such as rote memorization of formulae. Two examples, n! and 2n - 1Cn, of finding new combinatorial formulae are discussed from a pedagogical standpoint. First, the factorial of n can be expressed as ∑n - 1k = 0k . k!, which can be found by a heuristic method. This expression is comparable to representations of powers of r using geometrical series. Second, the number of possible combinations with repetition of n drawings from n elements is denoted 2n - 1Cn, which can be calculated from ∑n - 1k = 0nCk + 1n - 1Ck. The relation ∑n - 1k = 0nCk + 1n - 1Ck = 2n - 1Cn can be found by a heuristic method through a corresponding problem on mapping.

  8. Applying usability heuristics to radiotherapy systems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chan, Alvita J.; Islam, Mohammad K.; Rosewall, Tara; Jaffray, David A.; Easty, Anthony C.; Cafazzo, Joseph A.

    2012-01-01

    Background and purpose: Heuristic evaluations have been used to evaluate safety of medical devices by identifying and assessing usability issues. Since radiotherapy treatment delivery systems often consist of multiple complex user-interfaces, a heuristic evaluation was conducted to assess the potential safety issues of such a system. Material and methods: A heuristic evaluation was conducted to evaluate the treatment delivery system at Princess Margaret Hospital (Toronto, Canada). Two independent evaluators identified usability issues with the user-interfaces and rated the severity of each issue. Results: The evaluators identified 75 usability issues in total. Eighteen of them were rated as high severity, indicating the potential to have a major impact on patient safety. A majority of issues were found on the record and verify system, and many were associated with the patient setup process. While the hospital has processes in place to ensure patient safety, recommendations were developed to further mitigate the risks of potential consequences. Conclusions: Heuristic evaluation is an efficient and inexpensive method that can be successfully applied to radiotherapy delivery systems to identify usability issues and improve patient safety. Although this study was conducted only at one site, the findings may have broad implications for the design of these systems.

  9. The Design of Application-Specific Heuristics for the Usability Evaluation of the Digital Doorway

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Funmi Adebesin

    2012-06-01

    Full Text Available The Digital Doorway (DD is a joint initiative between the South African Department of Science and Technology (DST and the Meraka Institute of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR. The DD is a non-standard computer system deployed amongst underprivileged communities in South Africa with the objective to promote computer literacy. Since its inception, there has been no usability or accessibility evaluation of the software installed on the DD, mainly due to lack of usability engineering or interaction design expertise within the development team. The goal of the research presented in this paper was to design a solution to this problem by developing a suitable instrument that could guide DD application developers in the design and development of more usable DD software and interfaces. Design research was used as a research methodology. We first investigated the applicability of the standard usability and accessibility evaluation methods for evaluating the software installed on the DD. During the first cycle of design research, we established that a heuristic-like evaluation method would be an appropriate method for evaluating the usability and direct accessibility support provided by the DD. During a second cycle of design research, embedded in the first, we also developed a set of multi-category heuristics as the ‘instrument’ that could guide the developers during design of applications as well as in the first-level (formative evaluation thereof. To verify the heuristics, we conducted a usability evaluation of the DD and triangulated the results with a direct field observation at a natural environment of DD use, together with user-administered questionnaires.

  10. Discovery of IPV6 Router Interface Addresses via Heuristic Methods

    Science.gov (United States)

    2015-09-01

    NAVAL POSTGRADUATE SCHOOL MONTEREY, CALIFORNIA THESIS DISCOVERY OF IPV6 ROUTER INTERFACE ADDRESSES VIA HEURISTIC METHODS by Matthew D. Gray September...AND SUBTITLE DISCOVERY OF IPV6 ROUTER INTERFACE ADDRESSES VIA HEURISTIC METHODS 5. FUNDING NUMBERS CNS-1111445 6. AUTHOR(S) Matthew D. Gray 7...Internet Assigned Numbers Authority, there is continued pressure for widespread IPv6 adoption. Because the IPv6 address space is orders of magnitude

  11. Heuristic space diversity management in a meta-hyper-heuristic framework

    CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

    Grobler, J

    2014-07-01

    Full Text Available This paper introduces the concept of heuristic space diversity and investigates various strategies for the management of heuristic space diversity within the context of a meta-hyper-heuristic algorithm. Evaluation on a diverse set of floating...

  12. Generalized perturbation theory (GPT) methods. A heuristic approach

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gandini, A.

    1987-01-01

    Wigner first proposed a perturbation theory as early as 1945 to study fundamental quantities such as the reactivity worths of different materials. The first formulation, CPT, for conventional perturbation theory is based on universal quantum mechanics concepts. Since that early conception, significant contributions have been made to CPT, in particular, Soodak, who rendered a heuristic interpretation of the adjoint function, (referred to as the GPT method for generalized perturbation theory). The author illustrates the GPT methodology in a variety of linear and nonlinear domains encountered in nuclear reactor analysis. The author begins with the familiar linear neutron field and then generalizes the methodology to other linear and nonlinear fields, using heuristic arguments. The author believes that the inherent simplicity and elegance of the heuristic derivation, although intended here for reactor physics problems might be usefully adopted in collateral fields and includes such examples

  13. A heuristic method for simulating open-data of arbitrary complexity that can be used to compare and evaluate machine learning methods.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moore, Jason H; Shestov, Maksim; Schmitt, Peter; Olson, Randal S

    2018-01-01

    A central challenge of developing and evaluating artificial intelligence and machine learning methods for regression and classification is access to data that illuminates the strengths and weaknesses of different methods. Open data plays an important role in this process by making it easy for computational researchers to easily access real data for this purpose. Genomics has in some examples taken a leading role in the open data effort starting with DNA microarrays. While real data from experimental and observational studies is necessary for developing computational methods it is not sufficient. This is because it is not possible to know what the ground truth is in real data. This must be accompanied by simulated data where that balance between signal and noise is known and can be directly evaluated. Unfortunately, there is a lack of methods and software for simulating data with the kind of complexity found in real biological and biomedical systems. We present here the Heuristic Identification of Biological Architectures for simulating Complex Hierarchical Interactions (HIBACHI) method and prototype software for simulating complex biological and biomedical data. Further, we introduce new methods for developing simulation models that generate data that specifically allows discrimination between different machine learning methods.

  14. Heuristic methods for shared backup path protection planning

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Haahr, Jørgen Thorlund; Stidsen, Thomas Riis; Zachariasen, Martin

    2012-01-01

    schemes are employed. In contrast to manual intervention, automatic protection schemes such as Shared Backup Path Protection (SBPP) can recover from failure quickly and efficiently. SBPP is a simple but efficient protection scheme that can be implemented in backbone networks with technology available...... present heuristic algorithms and lower bound methods for the SBPP planning problem. Experimental results show that the heuristic algorithms are able to find good quality solutions in minutes. A solution gap of less than 3.5% was achieved for more than half of the benchmark instances (and a gap of less...

  15. H-Fuzzing: A New Heuristic Method for Fuzzing Data Generation

    OpenAIRE

    Zhao , Jinjing; Wen , Yan; Zhao , Gang

    2011-01-01

    Part 1: Session 1: Filesystems and Data; International audience; How to efficiently reduce the fuzzing data scale while assuring high fuzzing veracity and vulnerability coverage is a pivotal issue in program fuzz test. This paper proposes a new heuristic method for fuzzing data generation named with H-Fuzzing. H-Fuzzing achieves a high program execution path coverage by retrieving the static information and dynamic property from the program. Our experiments evaluate H-Fuzzing, Java Path Finde...

  16. Systematic Heuristic Evaluation of Computerized Consultation Order Templates: Clinicians' and Human Factors Engineers' Perspectives.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Savoy, April; Patel, Himalaya; Flanagan, Mindy E; Weiner, Michael; Russ, Alissa L

    2017-08-01

    We assessed the usability of consultation order templates and identified problems to prioritize in design efforts for improving referral communication. With a sample of 26 consultation order templates, three evaluators performed a usability heuristic evaluation. The evaluation used 14 domain-independent heuristics and the following three supplemental references: 1 new domain-specific heuristic, 6 usability goals, and coded clinicians' statements regarding ease of use for 10 sampled templates. Evaluators found 201 violations, a mean of 7.7 violations per template. Minor violations outnumbered major violations almost twofold, 115 (57%) to 62 (31%). Approximately 68% of violations were linked to 5 heuristics: aesthetic and minimalist design (17%), error prevention (16%), consistency and standards (14%), recognition rather than recall (11%), and meet referrers' information needs (10%). Severe violations were attributed mostly to meet referrers' information needs and recognition rather than recall. Recorded violations yielded potential negative consequences for efficiency, effectiveness, safety, learnability, and utility. Evaluators and clinicians demonstrated 80% agreement in usability assessment. Based on frequency and severity of usability heuristic violations, the consultation order templates reviewed may impede clinical efficiency and risk patient safety. Results support the following design considerations: communicate consultants' requirements, facilitate information seeking, and support communication. While the most frequent heuristic violations involved interaction design and presentation, the most severe violations lacked information desired by referring clinicians. Violations related to templates' inability to support referring clinicians' information needs had the greatest potential negative impact on efficiency and safety usability goals. Heuristics should be prioritized in future design efforts.

  17. Evaluating the usability of an interactive, bi-lingual, touchscreen-enabled breastfeeding educational programme: application of Nielson’s heuristics

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ashish Joshi

    2015-03-01

    Full Text Available Background: Usability challenges have to be met in an interactive computer program development and should meet all users’ needs. Objective: The study purpose was to conduct heuristic evaluation of an interactive, bilingual touch screen enabled breastfeeding educational program for Hispanic women living in rural settings.Methods: Two usability experts used Nielsen’s heuristics while reviewing the user interface in May 2013 using principles of Nielson’s Heuristics. Nielson’s heuristics are a set of usability engineering principles developed to identify issues in user interface design and involves analysis of the interface. The heuristic evaluations were carried out in the interface, program sections, and interactive educational modules. A total of 271 screens were evaluated and included: interface (n=5, program sections (n=223 and educational content (n=43.Results: A total of 97 violations were identified and were mostly related to interface (8violations/5screens and program components (89violations/266screens. The most common violations reported were recognition rather than recall (62%, n=60, consistency and standards (14%, n=14, and match between the system and real world (9%, n= 9. Majority of the violations had minor usability issues (73%, n=71. The only catastrophic violation reported was due to the visibility of system status in the assessment modules.Conclusion: The results demonstrated that the system was more consistent with Nielsen’s usability heuristics

  18. The heuristic-analytic theory of reasoning: extension and evaluation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Evans, Jonathan St B T

    2006-06-01

    An extensively revised heuristic-analytic theory of reasoning is presented incorporating three principles of hypothetical thinking. The theory assumes that reasoning and judgment are facilitated by the formation of epistemic mental models that are generated one at a time (singularity principle) by preconscious heuristic processes that contextualize problems in such a way as to maximize relevance to current goals (relevance principle). Analytic processes evaluate these models but tend to accept them unless there is good reason to reject them (satisficing principle). At a minimum, analytic processing of models is required so as to generate inferences or judgments relevant to the task instructions, but more active intervention may result in modification or replacement of default models generated by the heuristic system. Evidence for this theory is provided by a review of a wide range of literature on thinking and reasoning.

  19. A comparative analysis of meta-heuristic methods for power management of a dual energy storage system for electric vehicles

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Trovão, João P.; Antunes, Carlos Henggeler

    2015-01-01

    Highlights: • Two meta-heuristic approaches are evaluated for multi-ESS management in electric vehicles. • An online global energy management strategy with two different layers is studied. • Meta-heuristic techniques are used to define optimized energy sharing mechanisms. • A comparative analysis for ARTEMIS driving cycle is addressed. • The effectiveness of the double-layer management with meta-heuristic is presented. - Abstract: This work is focused on the performance evaluation of two meta-heuristic approaches, simulated annealing and particle swarm optimization, to deal with power management of a dual energy storage system for electric vehicles. The proposed strategy is based on a global energy management system with two layers: long-term (energy) and short-term (power) management. A rule-based system deals with the long-term (strategic) layer and for the short-term (action) layer meta-heuristic techniques are developed to define optimized online energy sharing mechanisms. Simulations have been made for several driving cycles to validate the proposed strategy. A comparative analysis for ARTEMIS driving cycle is presented evaluating three performance indicators (computation time, final value of battery state of charge, and minimum value of supercapacitors state of charge) as a function of input parameters. The results show the effectiveness of an implementation based on a double-layer management system using meta-heuristic methods for online power management supported by a rule set that restricts the search space

  20. HEURISTIC EVALUATION FOR MOBILE APPLICATION (STUDI KASUS: APLIKASI DEPO AUTO 2000 TANJUNG API API PALEMBANG

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Usman Ependi

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available Heuristic evaluation merupakan salah satu bentuk usability testing perangkat lunak yang dinilai oleh pengguna (evaluator. Dalam melakukan heuristic evaluation instrumen penilaian terdiri dari sepuluh (10 pernyataan dengan lima pilihan jawaban dalam skala severity ratings. Dalam penelitian ini heuristic evaluation terhadap aplikasi Depo Auto 2000 Tanjung Api-Api Palembang yang dilakukan oleh 4 evaluator.  Hasil dari heuristic evaluation dikelompokkan kedalam  masing-masing instrumen yaitu visibility of system status dengan nilai 0,75, match between system and the real world dengan nilai 0,25, user control and freedom dengan nilai 0,25, consistency and standards dengan nilai 0,75, error prevention dengan nilai 1, recognition rather than recall dengan nilai 1,25, flexibility and efficiency of use dengan nilai 0,25, Aesthetic and minimalist design dengan nilai 0,25, help users recognize, diagnose, and recover from errors dengan nilai 1 dan Help and documentation dengan nilai 0. Dari hasil heuristic evaluation yang dilakukan menunjukkan bahwa evaluator memberikan nilai 0 dan 1 aplikasi Depo Atuo 2000 Tanjung Api-Api Palembang. Hasil penilaian tersebut menunjukkan bahwa aplikasi yang buat tidak ada masalah usability dan hanya memiliki cosmetic problem sehingga aplikasi Depo Auto 2000 Tanjung Api Api Palembang  dapat dinyatakan layak untuk didistribusikan kepada pengguna akhir (end user.

  1. Engineering applications of heuristic multilevel optimization methods

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barthelemy, Jean-Francois M.

    1989-01-01

    Some engineering applications of heuristic multilevel optimization methods are presented and the discussion focuses on the dependency matrix that indicates the relationship between problem functions and variables. Coordination of the subproblem optimizations is shown to be typically achieved through the use of exact or approximate sensitivity analysis. Areas for further development are identified.

  2. A lifelong learning hyper-heuristic method for bin packing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sim, Kevin; Hart, Emma; Paechter, Ben

    2015-01-01

    We describe a novel hyper-heuristic system that continuously learns over time to solve a combinatorial optimisation problem. The system continuously generates new heuristics and samples problems from its environment; and representative problems and heuristics are incorporated into a self-sustaining network of interacting entities inspired by methods in artificial immune systems. The network is plastic in both its structure and content, leading to the following properties: it exploits existing knowledge captured in the network to rapidly produce solutions; it can adapt to new problems with widely differing characteristics; and it is capable of generalising over the problem space. The system is tested on a large corpus of 3,968 new instances of 1D bin-packing problems as well as on 1,370 existing problems from the literature; it shows excellent performance in terms of the quality of solutions obtained across the datasets and in adapting to dynamically changing sets of problem instances compared to previous approaches. As the network self-adapts to sustain a minimal repertoire of both problems and heuristics that form a representative map of the problem space, the system is further shown to be computationally efficient and therefore scalable.

  3. Heuristic methods using grasp, path relinking and variable neighborhood search for the clustered traveling salesman problem

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mário Mestria

    2013-08-01

    Full Text Available The Clustered Traveling Salesman Problem (CTSP is a generalization of the Traveling Salesman Problem (TSP in which the set of vertices is partitioned into disjoint clusters and objective is to find a minimum cost Hamiltonian cycle such that the vertices of each cluster are visited contiguously. The CTSP is NP-hard and, in this context, we are proposed heuristic methods for the CTSP using GRASP, Path Relinking and Variable Neighborhood Descent (VND. The heuristic methods were tested using Euclidean instances with up to 2000 vertices and clusters varying between 4 to 150 vertices. The computational tests were performed to compare the performance of the heuristic methods with an exact algorithm using the Parallel CPLEX software. The computational results showed that the hybrid heuristic method using VND outperforms other heuristic methods.

  4. Heuristic Evaluation for Novice Programming Systems

    OpenAIRE

    Kölling, Michael; McKay, Fraser

    2016-01-01

    The past few years has seen a proliferation of novice programming tools. The availability of a large number of systems has made it difficult for many users to choose among them. Even for education researchers, comparing the relative quality of these tools, or judging their respective suitability for a given context, is hard in many instances. For designers of such systems, assessing the respective quality of competing design decisions can be equally difficult.\\ud Heuristic evaluation provides...

  5. Evaluating the usability of an interactive, bi-lingual, touchscreen-enabled breastfeeding educational programme: application of Nielson's heuristics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Joshi, Ashish; Perin, Douglas M Puricelli; Amadi, Chioma; Trout, Kate

    2015-03-05

    The study purpose was to conduct heuristic evaluation of an interactive, bilingual touchscreen-enabled breastfeeding educational programme for Hispanic women living in rural settings in Nebraska. Three raters conducted the evaluation during May 2013 using principles of Nielson's heuristics. A total of 271 screens were evaluated and included: interface (n = 5), programme sections (n = 223) and educational content (n = 43). A total of 97 heuristic violations were identified and were mostly related to interface (8 violations/5 screens) and programme components (89 violations/266 screens). The most common heuristic violations reported were recognition rather than recall (62%, n = 60), consistency and standards (14%, n = 14) and match between the system and real world (9%, n = 9). Majority of the heuristic violations had minor usability issues (73%, n = 71). The only grade 4 heuristic violation reported was due to the visibility of system status in the assessment modules. The results demonstrated that the system was more consistent with Nielsen's usability heuristics. With Nielsen's usability heuristics, it is possible to identify problems in a timely manner, and help facilitate the identification and prioritisation of problems needing urgent attention at an earlier stage before the final deployment of the system.

  6. Heuristic methods for single link shared backup path protection

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Haahr, Jørgen Thorlund; Stidsen, Thomas Riis; Zachariasen, Martin

    2014-01-01

    schemes are employed. In contrast to manual intervention, automatic protection schemes such as shared backup path protection (SBPP) can recover from failure quickly and efficiently. SBPP is a simple but efficient protection scheme that can be implemented in backbone networks with technology available...... heuristic algorithms and lower bound methods for the SBPP planning problem. Experimental results show that the heuristic algorithms are able to find good quality solutions in minutes. A solution gap of less than 3.5 % was achieved for 5 of 7 benchmark instances (and a gap of less than 11 % for the remaining...

  7. Intelligent System Design Using Hyper-Heuristics

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nelishia Pillay

    2015-07-01

    Full Text Available Determining the most appropriate search method or artificial intelligence technique to solve a problem is not always evident and usually requires implementation of the different approaches to ascertain this. In some instances a single approach may not be sufficient and hybridization of methods may be needed to find a solution. This process can be time consuming. The paper proposes the use of hyper-heuristics as a means of identifying which method or combination of approaches is needed to solve a problem. The research presented forms part of a larger initiative aimed at using hyper-heuristics to develop intelligent hybrid systems. As an initial step in this direction, this paper investigates this for classical artificial intelligence uninformed and informed search methods, namely depth first search, breadth first search, best first search, hill-climbing and the A* algorithm. The hyper-heuristic determines the search or combination of searches to use to solve the problem. An evolutionary algorithm hyper-heuristic is implemented for this purpose and its performance is evaluated in solving the 8-Puzzle, Towers of Hanoi and Blocks World problems. The hyper-heuristic employs a generational evolutionary algorithm which iteratively refines an initial population using tournament selection to select parents, which the mutation and crossover operators are applied to for regeneration. The hyper-heuristic was able to identify a search or combination of searches to produce solutions for the twenty 8-Puzzle, five Towers of Hanoi and five Blocks World problems. Furthermore, admissible solutions were produced for all problem instances.

  8. User Interface Problems of a Nationwide Inpatient Information System: A Heuristic Evaluation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Atashi, Alireza; Khajouei, Reza; Azizi, Amirabbas; Dadashi, Ali

    2016-01-01

    While studies have shown that usability evaluation could uncover many design problems of health information systems, the usability of health information systems in developing countries using their native language is poorly studied. The objective of this study was to evaluate the usability of a nationwide inpatient information system used in many academic hospitals in Iran. Three trained usability evaluators independently evaluated the system using Nielsen's 10 usability heuristics. The evaluators combined identified problems in a single list and independently rated the severity of the problems. We statistically compared the number and severity of problems identified by HIS experienced and non-experienced evaluators. A total of 158 usability problems were identified. After removing duplications 99 unique problems were left. The highest mismatch with usability principles was related to "Consistency and standards" heuristic (25%) and the lowest related to "Flexibility and efficiency of use" (4%). The average severity of problems ranged from 2.4 (Major problem) to 3.3 (Catastrophe problem). The experienced evaluator with HIS identified significantly more problems and gave higher severities to problems (pusers' and patients' time, increase errors and finally threaten patient's safety. Many of them can be fixed with simple redesign solutions such as using clear labels and better layouts. This study suggests conducting further studies to confirm the findings concerning effect of evaluator experience on the results of Heuristic Evaluation.

  9. A human reliability based usability evaluation method for safety-critical software

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Boring, R. L.; Tran, T. Q.; Gertman, D. I.; Ragsdale, A.

    2006-01-01

    Boring and Gertman (2005) introduced a novel method that augments heuristic usability evaluation methods with that of the human reliability analysis method of SPAR-H. By assigning probabilistic modifiers to individual heuristics, it is possible to arrive at the usability error probability (UEP). Although this UEP is not a literal probability of error, it nonetheless provides a quantitative basis to heuristic evaluation. This method allows one to seamlessly prioritize and identify usability issues (i.e., a higher UEP requires more immediate fixes). However, the original version of this method required the usability evaluator to assign priority weights to the final UEP, thus allowing the priority of a usability issue to differ among usability evaluators. The purpose of this paper is to explore an alternative approach to standardize the priority weighting of the UEP in an effort to improve the method's reliability. (authors)

  10. The Role of Heuristic Methods as a Decision-Making Tool in Aggregate Production Planning

    OpenAIRE

    Mahmood B. Ridha

    2015-01-01

    This study aims to explain the role of heuristic methods in the decision making process and as a tool for knowledge capture. As a result, we conclude that heuristic methods give better support to the decision maker than mathematical models in many cases especially when time and cost are critical factors in decision making.

  11. PARTIAL TRAINING METHOD FOR HEURISTIC ALGORITHM OF POSSIBLE CLUSTERIZATION UNDER UNKNOWN NUMBER OF CLASSES

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    D. A. Viattchenin

    2009-01-01

    Full Text Available A method for constructing a subset of labeled objects which is used in a heuristic algorithm of possible  clusterization with partial  training is proposed in the  paper.  The  method  is  based  on  data preprocessing by the heuristic algorithm of possible clusterization using a transitive closure of a fuzzy tolerance. Method efficiency is demonstrated by way of an illustrative example.

  12. The afforestation problem: a heuristic method based on simulated annealing

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Vidal, Rene Victor Valqui

    1992-01-01

    This paper presents the afforestation problem, that is the location and design of new forest compartments to be planted in a given area. This optimization problem is solved by a two-step heuristic method based on simulated annealing. Tests and experiences with this method are also presented....

  13. A Heuristic and Hybrid Method for the Tank Allocation Problem in Maritime Bulk Shipping

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Vilhelmsen, Charlotte; Larsen, Jesper; Lusby, Richard Martin

    Many bulk ships have multiple tanks and can thereby carry multiple inhomogeneous products at a time. A major challenge when operating such ships is how to best allocate cargoes to available tanks while taking tank capacity, safety restrictions, ship stability and strength as well as other...... ship route. We have developed a randomised heuristic for eciently nding feasible allocations and computational results show that it can solve 99% of the considered instances within 0.5 seconds and all of them if allowed longer time. The heuristic is designed to work as an ecient subproblem solver...... and in such a setting with running times below e.g. 5 seconds, the heuristic clearly outperforms an earlier method by consistently solving more instances and eectively cutting 84% of the average running time. Furthermore, we have combined our heuristic with a modied version of the earlier method to derive a hybrid...

  14. A heuristic and hybrid method for the tank allocation problem in maritime bulk shipping

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Vilhelmsen, Charlotte; Larsen, Jesper; Lusby, Richard Martin

    2016-01-01

    In bulk shipping, ships often have multiple tanks and carry multiple inhomogeneous products at a time. When operating such ships it is therefore a major challenge to decide how to best allocate cargoes to available tanks while taking into account tank capacity, safety restrictions, ship stability...... finding a feasible solution. We have developed a heuristic that can efficiently find feasible cargo allocations. Computational results show that it can solve 99 % of the considered instances within 0.4 s and all of them if allowed longer time. We have also modified an optimality based method from...... the literature. The heuristic is much faster than this modified method on the vast majority of considered instances. However, the heuristic struggles on two instances which are relatively quickly solved by the modified optimality based method. These two methods therefore complement each other nicely and so, we...

  15. A Heuristic and Hybrid Method for the Tank Allocation Problem in Maritime Bulk Shipping

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Vilhelmsen, Charlotte; Larsen, Jesper; Lusby, Richard Martin

    In bulk shipping, ships often have multiple tanks and carry multiple inhomogeneous products at a time. When operating such ships it is therefore a major challenge to decide how to best allocate cargoes to available tanks while taking into account tank capacity, safety restrictions, ship stability...... finding a feasible solution. We have developed a heuristic that can efficiently find feasible cargo allocations. Computational results show that it can solve 99% of the considered instances within 0.4 seconds and all of them if allowed longer time. We have also modified an optimality based method from...... the literature. The heuristic is much faster than this modified method on the vast majority of considered instances. However, the heuristic struggles on two instances which are relatively quickly solved by the modified optimality based method. These two methods therefore complement each other nicely and so, we...

  16. An efficient heuristic versus a robust hybrid meta-heuristic for general framework of serial-parallel redundancy problem

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sadjadi, Seyed Jafar; Soltani, R.

    2009-01-01

    We present a heuristic approach to solve a general framework of serial-parallel redundancy problem where the reliability of the system is maximized subject to some general linear constraints. The complexity of the redundancy problem is generally considered to be NP-Hard and the optimal solution is not normally available. Therefore, to evaluate the performance of the proposed method, a hybrid genetic algorithm is also implemented whose parameters are calibrated via Taguchi's robust design method. Then, various test problems are solved and the computational results indicate that the proposed heuristic approach could provide us some promising reliabilities, which are fairly close to optimal solutions in a reasonable amount of time.

  17. Efficient heuristics for maximum common substructure search.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Englert, Péter; Kovács, Péter

    2015-05-26

    Maximum common substructure search is a computationally hard optimization problem with diverse applications in the field of cheminformatics, including similarity search, lead optimization, molecule alignment, and clustering. Most of these applications have strict constraints on running time, so heuristic methods are often preferred. However, the development of an algorithm that is both fast enough and accurate enough for most practical purposes is still a challenge. Moreover, in some applications, the quality of a common substructure depends not only on its size but also on various topological features of the one-to-one atom correspondence it defines. Two state-of-the-art heuristic algorithms for finding maximum common substructures have been implemented at ChemAxon Ltd., and effective heuristics have been developed to improve both their efficiency and the relevance of the atom mappings they provide. The implementations have been thoroughly evaluated and compared with existing solutions (KCOMBU and Indigo). The heuristics have been found to greatly improve the performance and applicability of the algorithms. The purpose of this paper is to introduce the applied methods and present the experimental results.

  18. Comparison of Heuristic Methods Applied for Optimal Operation of Water Resources

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alireza Borhani Dariane

    2009-01-01

    Full Text Available Water resources optimization problems are usually complex and hard to solve using the ordinary optimization methods, or they are at least  not economically efficient. A great number of studies have been conducted in quest of suitable methods capable of handling such problems. In recent years, some new heuristic methods such as genetic and ant algorithms have been introduced in systems engineering. Preliminary applications of these methods in water resources problems have shown that some of them are powerful tools, capable of solving complex problems. In this paper, the application of such heuristic methods as Genetic Algorithm (GA and Ant Colony Optimization (ACO have been studied for optimizing reservoir operation. The Dez Dam reservoir inIranwas chosen for a case study. The methods were applied and compared using short-term (one year and long-term models. Comparison of the results showed that GA outperforms both DP and ACO in finding true global optimum solutions and operating rules.

  19. Using tree diversity to compare phylogenetic heuristics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sul, Seung-Jin; Matthews, Suzanne; Williams, Tiffani L

    2009-04-29

    Evolutionary trees are family trees that represent the relationships between a group of organisms. Phylogenetic heuristics are used to search stochastically for the best-scoring trees in tree space. Given that better tree scores are believed to be better approximations of the true phylogeny, traditional evaluation techniques have used tree scores to determine the heuristics that find the best scores in the fastest time. We develop new techniques to evaluate phylogenetic heuristics based on both tree scores and topologies to compare Pauprat and Rec-I-DCM3, two popular Maximum Parsimony search algorithms. Our results show that although Pauprat and Rec-I-DCM3 find the trees with the same best scores, topologically these trees are quite different. Furthermore, the Rec-I-DCM3 trees cluster distinctly from the Pauprat trees. In addition to our heatmap visualizations of using parsimony scores and the Robinson-Foulds distance to compare best-scoring trees found by the two heuristics, we also develop entropy-based methods to show the diversity of the trees found. Overall, Pauprat identifies more diverse trees than Rec-I-DCM3. Overall, our work shows that there is value to comparing heuristics beyond the parsimony scores that they find. Pauprat is a slower heuristic than Rec-I-DCM3. However, our work shows that there is tremendous value in using Pauprat to reconstruct trees-especially since it finds identical scoring but topologically distinct trees. Hence, instead of discounting Pauprat, effort should go in improving its implementation. Ultimately, improved performance measures lead to better phylogenetic heuristics and will result in better approximations of the true evolutionary history of the organisms of interest.

  20. Divergence of Scientific Heuristic Method and Direct Algebraic Instruction

    Science.gov (United States)

    Calucag, Lina S.

    2016-01-01

    This is an experimental study, made used of the non-randomized experimental and control groups, pretest-posttest designs. The experimental and control groups were two separate intact classes in Algebra. For a period of twelve sessions, the experimental group was subjected to the scientific heuristic method, but the control group instead was given…

  1. Analysis of the iteratively regularized Gauss-Newton method under a heuristic rule

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jin, Qinian; Wang, Wei

    2018-03-01

    The iteratively regularized Gauss-Newton method is one of the most prominent regularization methods for solving nonlinear ill-posed inverse problems when the data is corrupted by noise. In order to produce a useful approximate solution, this iterative method should be terminated properly. The existing a priori and a posteriori stopping rules require accurate information on the noise level, which may not be available or reliable in practical applications. In this paper we propose a heuristic selection rule for this regularization method, which requires no information on the noise level. By imposing certain conditions on the noise, we derive a posteriori error estimates on the approximate solutions under various source conditions. Furthermore, we establish a convergence result without using any source condition. Numerical results are presented to illustrate the performance of our heuristic selection rule.

  2. Application of a heuristic search method for generation of fuel reload configurations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Galperin, A.; Nissan, E.

    1988-01-01

    A computerized heuristic search method for the generation and optimization of fuel reload configurations is proposed and investigated. The heuristic knowledge is expressed modularly in the form of ''IF-THEN'' production rules. The method was implemented in a program coded in the Franz LISP programming language and executed under the UNIX operating system. A test problem was formulated, based on a typical light water reactor reload problem with a few simplifications assumed, in order to allow formulation of the reload strategy into a relatively small number of rules. A computer run of the problem was performed with a VAX-780 machine. A set of 312 solutions was generated in -- 20 min of execution time. Testing of a few arbitrarily chosen configurations demonstrated reasonably good performance for the computer-generated solutions. A computerized generator of reload configurations may be used for the fast generation or modification of reload patterns and as a tool for the formulation, tuning, and testing of the heuristic knowledge rules used by an ''expert'' fuel manager

  3. Optimization of pressurized water reactor shuffling by simulated annealing with heuristics

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Stevens, J.G.; Smith, K.S.; Rempe, K.R.; Downar, T.J.

    1995-01-01

    Simulated-annealing optimization of reactor core loading patterns is implemented with support for design heuristics during candidate pattern generation. The SIMAN optimization module uses the advanced nodal method of SIMULATE-3 and the full cross-section detail of CASMO-3 to evaluate accurately the neutronic performance of each candidate, resulting in high-quality patterns. The use of heuristics within simulated annealing is explored. Heuristics improve the consistency of optimization results for both fast- and slow-annealing runs with no penalty from the exclusion of unusual candidates. Thus, the heuristic application of designer judgment during automated pattern generation is shown to be effective. The capability of the SIMAN module to find and evaluate families of loading patterns that satisfy design constraints and have good objective performance within practical run times is demonstrated. The use of automated evaluations of successive cycles to explore multicycle effects of design decisions is discussed

  4. Tuning Parameters in Heuristics by Using Design of Experiments Methods

    Science.gov (United States)

    Arin, Arif; Rabadi, Ghaith; Unal, Resit

    2010-01-01

    With the growing complexity of today's large scale problems, it has become more difficult to find optimal solutions by using exact mathematical methods. The need to find near-optimal solutions in an acceptable time frame requires heuristic approaches. In many cases, however, most heuristics have several parameters that need to be "tuned" before they can reach good results. The problem then turns into "finding best parameter setting" for the heuristics to solve the problems efficiently and timely. One-Factor-At-a-Time (OFAT) approach for parameter tuning neglects the interactions between parameters. Design of Experiments (DOE) tools can be instead employed to tune the parameters more effectively. In this paper, we seek the best parameter setting for a Genetic Algorithm (GA) to solve the single machine total weighted tardiness problem in which n jobs must be scheduled on a single machine without preemption, and the objective is to minimize the total weighted tardiness. Benchmark instances for the problem are available in the literature. To fine tune the GA parameters in the most efficient way, we compare multiple DOE models including 2-level (2k ) full factorial design, orthogonal array design, central composite design, D-optimal design and signal-to-noise (SIN) ratios. In each DOE method, a mathematical model is created using regression analysis, and solved to obtain the best parameter setting. After verification runs using the tuned parameter setting, the preliminary results for optimal solutions of multiple instances were found efficiently.

  5. KEY ELEMENTS OF HEURISTIC METHODS USAGE IN FOREIGN THEORY OF EDUCATION (ON THE BASIS OF GREAT BRITAIN

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Skvortsova Svetlana Valerevna

    2013-04-01

    Full Text Available Purpose: identify key elements of employing heuristic teaching methods in foreign theory of education. Methodology: a theoretical analysis of psychological and pedagogical literature on the issues of teaching creativity. Results: on the basis of theoretical analysis the main criteria of heuristic teaching methods are revealed: repeatability; absence of a single decision; need for group discussions; flexibility; wide variability; promotion of creative teaching; influence on the character of knowledge and relationships between the teacher and the students. Heuristic teaching methods have been divided into: methods of working with information, methods of working with problems, methods of research and methods of analyzing the decisions. The main characteristics of each group of methods are presented and certain recommendations for applying them in teaching creativity are given. Practical implications: the system of education.

  6. Heuristic evaluation of paper-based Web pages: a simplified inspection usability methodology.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Allen, Mureen; Currie, Leanne M; Bakken, Suzanne; Patel, Vimla L; Cimino, James J

    2006-08-01

    Online medical information, when presented to clinicians, must be well-organized and intuitive to use, so that the clinicians can conduct their daily work efficiently and without error. It is essential to actively seek to produce good user interfaces that are acceptable to the user. This paper describes the methodology used to develop a simplified heuristic evaluation (HE) suitable for the evaluation of screen shots of Web pages, the development of an HE instrument used to conduct the evaluation, and the results of the evaluation of the aforementioned screen shots. In addition, this paper presents examples of the process of categorizing problems identified by the HE and the technological solutions identified to resolve these problems. Four usability experts reviewed 18 paper-based screen shots and made a total of 108 comments. Each expert completed the task in about an hour. We were able to implement solutions to approximately 70% of the violations. Our study found that a heuristic evaluation using paper-based screen shots of a user interface was expeditious, inexpensive, and straightforward to implement.

  7. Prediction-based dynamic load-sharing heuristics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Goswami, Kumar K.; Devarakonda, Murthy; Iyer, Ravishankar K.

    1993-01-01

    The authors present dynamic load-sharing heuristics that use predicted resource requirements of processes to manage workloads in a distributed system. A previously developed statistical pattern-recognition method is employed for resource prediction. While nonprediction-based heuristics depend on a rapidly changing system status, the new heuristics depend on slowly changing program resource usage patterns. Furthermore, prediction-based heuristics can be more effective since they use future requirements rather than just the current system state. Four prediction-based heuristics, two centralized and two distributed, are presented. Using trace driven simulations, they are compared against random scheduling and two effective nonprediction based heuristics. Results show that the prediction-based centralized heuristics achieve up to 30 percent better response times than the nonprediction centralized heuristic, and that the prediction-based distributed heuristics achieve up to 50 percent improvements relative to their nonprediction counterpart.

  8. Case-Based Reasoning as a Heuristic Selector in a Hyper-Heuristic for Course Timetabling Problems

    OpenAIRE

    Petrovic, Sanja; Qu, Rong

    2002-01-01

    This paper studies Knowledge Discovery (KD) using Tabu Search and Hill Climbing within Case-Based Reasoning (CBR) as a hyper-heuristic method for course timetabling problems. The aim of the hyper-heuristic is to choose the best heuristic(s) for given timetabling problems according to the knowledge stored in the case base. KD in CBR is a 2-stage iterative process on both case representation and the case base. Experimental results are analysed and related research issues for future work are dis...

  9. A novel heuristic method for optimization of straight blade vertical axis wind turbine

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tahani, Mojtaba; Babayan, Narek; Mehrnia, Seyedmajid; Shadmehri, Mehran

    2016-01-01

    Highlights: • A novel heuristic method has been proposed for optimization of VAWTs. • The proposed method is the combination of DMST model with heuristic algorithms. • A continuous/discrete optimization problem has been solved. • A novel continuous optimization algorithm has been developed. • The CFD simulation of the optimized geometry has been carried out. - Abstract: In this research study it is aimed to propose a novel heuristic method for optimizing the VAWT design. The method is the combination of continuous/discrete optimization algorithms with double multiple stream tube (DMST) theory. For this purpose a DMST code has been developed and is validated using available experimental data in literature. A novel continuous optimization algorithm is proposed which can be considered as the combination of three heuristic optimization algorithms namely elephant herding optimization, flower pollination algorithm and grey wolf optimizer. The continuous algorithm is combined with popular discrete ant colony optimization algorithm (ACO). The proposed method can be utilized for several engineering problems which are dealing with continuous and discrete variables. In this research study, chord and diameter of the turbine are selected as continuous decision variables and airfoil types and number of blades are selected as discrete decision variables. The average power coefficient between tip speed rations from 1.5 to 9.5 is considered as the objective function. The optimization results indicated that the optimized geometry can produce a maximum power coefficient, 44% higher than the maximum power coefficient of the original turbine. Also a CFD simulation of the optimized geometry is carried out. The CFD results indicated that the average vorticity magnitude around the optimized blade is larger than the original blade and this results greater momentum and power coefficient.

  10. Heuristic decision making in medicine

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marewski, Julian N.; Gigerenzer, Gerd

    2012-01-01

    Can less information be more helpful when it comes to making medical decisions? Contrary to the common intuition that more information is always better, the use of heuristics can help both physicians and patients to make sound decisions. Heuristics are simple decision strategies that ignore part of the available information, basing decisions on only a few relevant predictors. We discuss: (i) how doctors and patients use heuristics; and (ii) when heuristics outperform information-greedy methods, such as regressions in medical diagnosis. Furthermore, we outline those features of heuristics that make them useful in health care settings. These features include their surprising accuracy, transparency, and wide accessibility, as well as the low costs and little time required to employ them. We close by explaining one of the statistical reasons why heuristics are accurate, and by pointing to psychiatry as one area for future research on heuristics in health care. PMID:22577307

  11. Heuristic decision making in medicine.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marewski, Julian N; Gigerenzer, Gerd

    2012-03-01

    Can less information be more helpful when it comes to making medical decisions? Contrary to the common intuition that more information is always better, the use of heuristics can help both physicians and patients to make sound decisions. Heuristics are simple decision strategies that ignore part of the available information, basing decisions on only a few relevant predictors. We discuss: (i) how doctors and patients use heuristics; and (ii) when heuristics outperform information-greedy methods, such as regressions in medical diagnosis. Furthermore, we outline those features of heuristics that make them useful in health care settings. These features include their surprising accuracy, transparency, and wide accessibility, as well as the low costs and little time required to employ them. We close by explaining one of the statistical reasons why heuristics are accurate, and by pointing to psychiatry as one area for future research on heuristics in health care.

  12. Evaluating Heuristics for Planning Effective and Efficient Inspections

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shull, Forrest J.; Seaman, Carolyn B.; Diep, Madeline M.; Feldmann, Raimund L.; Godfrey, Sara H.; Regardie, Myrna

    2010-01-01

    A significant body of knowledge concerning software inspection practice indicates that the value of inspections varies widely both within and across organizations. Inspection effectiveness and efficiency can be measured in numerous ways, and may be affected by a variety of factors such as Inspection planning, the type of software, the developing organization, and many others. In the early 1990's, NASA formulated heuristics for inspection planning based on best practices and early NASA inspection data. Over the intervening years, the body of data from NASA inspections has grown. This paper describes a multi-faceted exploratory analysis performed on this · data to elicit lessons learned in general about conducting inspections and to recommend improvements to the existing heuristics. The contributions of our results include support for modifying some of the original inspection heuristics (e.g. Increasing the recommended page rate), evidence that Inspection planners must choose between efficiency and effectiveness, as a good tradeoff between them may not exist, and Identification of small subsets of inspections for which new inspection heuristics are needed. Most Importantly, this work illustrates the value of collecting rich data on software Inspections, and using it to gain insight into, and Improve, inspection practice.

  13. Adolescents' perceived risk and personal experience with natural disasters: an evaluation of cognitive heuristics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Greening, L; Dollinger, S J; Pitz, G

    1996-02-01

    Elevated risk judgments for negative life events have been linked to personal experience with events. We tested the hypothesis that cognitive heuristics are the underlying cognitive mechanism for this relation. The availability (i.e., memory for incidents) and simulation (i.e., imagery) heuristics were evaluated as possible mediators for the relation between personal experience and risk estimates for fatal weather events. Adolescents who had experienced weather disasters estimated their personal risk for weather events. Support was obtained for the simulation heuristic (imagery) as a mediator for the relation. Availability for lightning disaster experience was also found to be a mediator for the relation between personal lightning disaster experience and risk estimate for future events. The implications for risk perception research are discussed.

  14. Heuristics for minimizing the maximum within-clusters distance

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    José Augusto Fioruci

    2012-12-01

    Full Text Available The clustering problem consists in finding patterns in a data set in order to divide it into clusters with high within-cluster similarity. This paper presents the study of a problem, here called MMD problem, which aims at finding a clustering with a predefined number of clusters that minimizes the largest within-cluster distance (diameter among all clusters. There are two main objectives in this paper: to propose heuristics for the MMD and to evaluate the suitability of the best proposed heuristic results according to the real classification of some data sets. Regarding the first objective, the results obtained in the experiments indicate a good performance of the best proposed heuristic that outperformed the Complete Linkage algorithm (the most used method from the literature for this problem. Nevertheless, regarding the suitability of the results according to the real classification of the data sets, the proposed heuristic achieved better quality results than C-Means algorithm, but worse than Complete Linkage.

  15. Heuristic Methods of Integer Programming and Its Applications in Economics

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dominika Crnjac Milić

    2010-12-01

    Full Text Available A short overview of the results related to integer programming is described in the introductory part of this paper. Furthermore, there is a list of literature related to this field. The main part of the paper analyses the Heuristic method which yields a very fast result without the use of significant mathematical tools.

  16. Automatic Generation of Heuristics for Scheduling

    Science.gov (United States)

    Morris, Robert A.; Bresina, John L.; Rodgers, Stuart M.

    1997-01-01

    This paper presents a technique, called GenH, that automatically generates search heuristics for scheduling problems. The impetus for developing this technique is the growing consensus that heuristics encode advice that is, at best, useful in solving most, or typical, problem instances, and, at worst, useful in solving only a narrowly defined set of instances. In either case, heuristic problem solvers, to be broadly applicable, should have a means of automatically adjusting to the idiosyncrasies of each problem instance. GenH generates a search heuristic for a given problem instance by hill-climbing in the space of possible multi-attribute heuristics, where the evaluation of a candidate heuristic is based on the quality of the solution found under its guidance. We present empirical results obtained by applying GenH to the real world problem of telescope observation scheduling. These results demonstrate that GenH is a simple and effective way of improving the performance of an heuristic scheduler.

  17. Evidence-based Heuristics for Evaluating Demands on eHealth Literacy and Usability in a Mobile Consumer Health Application.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Monkman, Helen; Griffith, Janessa; Kushniruk, Andre W

    2015-01-01

    Heuristic evaluations have proven to be valuable for identifying usability issues in systems. Commonly used sets of heuritics exist; however, they may not always be the most suitable, given the specific goal of the analysis. One such example is seeking to evaluate the demands on eHealth literacy and usability of consumer health information systems. In this study, eight essential heuristics and three optional heuristics subsumed from the evidence on eHealth/health literacy and usability were tested for their utility in assessing a mobile blood pressure tracking application (app). This evaluation revealed a variety of ways the design of the app could both benefit and impede users with limited eHealth literacy. This study demonstrated the utility of a low-cost, single evaluation approach for identifying both eHealth literacy and usability issues based on existing evidence in the literature.

  18. A meta-heuristic method for solving scheduling problem: crow search algorithm

    Science.gov (United States)

    Adhi, Antono; Santosa, Budi; Siswanto, Nurhadi

    2018-04-01

    Scheduling is one of the most important processes in an industry both in manufacturingand services. The scheduling process is the process of selecting resources to perform an operation on tasks. Resources can be machines, peoples, tasks, jobs or operations.. The selection of optimum sequence of jobs from a permutation is an essential issue in every research in scheduling problem. Optimum sequence becomes optimum solution to resolve scheduling problem. Scheduling problem becomes NP-hard problem since the number of job in the sequence is more than normal number can be processed by exact algorithm. In order to obtain optimum results, it needs a method with capability to solve complex scheduling problems in an acceptable time. Meta-heuristic is a method usually used to solve scheduling problem. The recently published method called Crow Search Algorithm (CSA) is adopted in this research to solve scheduling problem. CSA is an evolutionary meta-heuristic method which is based on the behavior in flocks of crow. The calculation result of CSA for solving scheduling problem is compared with other algorithms. From the comparison, it is found that CSA has better performance in term of optimum solution and time calculation than other algorithms.

  19. Local search heuristics for the probabilistic dial-a-ride problem

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Ho, Sin C.; Haugland, Dag

    2011-01-01

    evaluation procedure in a pure local search heuristic and in a tabu search heuristic. The quality of the solutions obtained by the two heuristics have been compared experimentally. Computational results confirm that our neighborhood evaluation technique is much faster than the straightforward one...

  20. Evaluating the performance of constructive heuristics for the blocking flow shop scheduling problem with setup times

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mauricio Iwama Takano

    2019-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper addresses the minimization of makespan for the permutation flow shop scheduling problem with blocking and sequence and machine dependent setup times, a problem not yet studied in previous studies. The 14 best known heuristics for the permutation flow shop problem with blocking and no setup times are pre-sented and then adapted to the problem in two different ways; resulting in 28 different heuristics. The heuristics are then compared using the Taillard database. As there is no other work that addresses the problem with blocking and sequence and ma-chine dependent setup times, a database for the setup times was created. The setup time value was uniformly distributed between 1% and 10%, 50%, 100% and 125% of the processing time value. Computational tests are then presented for each of the 28 heuristics, comparing the mean relative deviation of the makespan, the computational time and the percentage of successes of each method. Results show that the heuristics were capable of providing interesting results.

  1. Yet Another Method for Image Segmentation based on Histograms and Heuristics

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Horia-Nicolai L. Teodorescu

    2012-07-01

    Full Text Available We introduce a method for image segmentation that requires little computations, yet providing comparable results to other methods. While the proposed method resembles to the known ones based on histograms, it is still different in the use of the gray level distribution. When to the basic procedure we add several heuristic rules, the method produces results that, in some cases, may outperform the results produced by the known methods. The paper reports preliminary results. More details on the method, improvements, and results will be presented in a future paper.

  2. Modeling reproductive decisions with simple heuristics

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Peter Todd

    2013-10-01

    Full Text Available BACKGROUND Many of the reproductive decisions that humans make happen without much planning or forethought, arising instead through the use of simple choice rules or heuristics that involve relatively little information and processing. Nonetheless, these heuristic-guided decisions are typically beneficial, owing to humans' ecological rationality - the evolved fit between our constrained decision mechanisms and the adaptive problems we face. OBJECTIVE This paper reviews research on the ecological rationality of human decision making in the domain of reproduction, showing how fertility-related decisions are commonly made using various simple heuristics matched to the structure of the environment in which they are applied, rather than being made with information-hungry mechanisms based on optimization or rational economic choice. METHODS First, heuristics for sequential mate search are covered; these heuristics determine when to stop the process of mate search by deciding that a good-enough mate who is also mutually interested has been found, using a process of aspiration-level setting and assessing. These models are tested via computer simulation and comparison to demographic age-at-first-marriage data. Next, a heuristic process of feature-based mate comparison and choice is discussed, in which mate choices are determined by a simple process of feature-matching with relaxing standards over time. Parental investment heuristics used to divide resources among offspring are summarized. Finally, methods for testing the use of such mate choice heuristics in a specific population over time are then described.

  3. Heuristic method for searching global maximum of multimodal unknown function

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kamei, K; Araki, Y; Inoue, K

    1983-06-01

    The method is composed of three kinds of searches. They are called g (grasping)-mode search, f (finding)-mode search and c (confirming)-mode search. In the g-mode search and the c-mode search, a heuristic method is used which was extracted from search behaviors of human subjects. In f-mode search, the simplex method is used which is well known as a search method for unimodal unknown function. Each mode search and its transitions are shown in the form of flowchart. The numerical results for one-dimensional through six-dimensional multimodal functions prove the proposed search method to be an effective one. 11 references.

  4. Heuristic reasoning

    CERN Document Server

    2015-01-01

    How can we advance knowledge? Which methods do we need in order to make new discoveries? How can we rationally evaluate, reconstruct and offer discoveries as a means of improving the ‘method’ of discovery itself? And how can we use findings about scientific discovery to boost funding policies, thus fostering a deeper impact of scientific discovery itself? The respective chapters in this book provide readers with answers to these questions. They focus on a set of issues that are essential to the development of types of reasoning for advancing knowledge, such as models for both revolutionary findings and paradigm shifts; ways of rationally addressing scientific disagreement, e.g. when a revolutionary discovery sparks considerable disagreement inside the scientific community; frameworks for both discovery and inference methods; and heuristics for economics and the social sciences.

  5. Path-Wise Test Data Generation Based on Heuristic Look-Ahead Methods

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ying Xing

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Path-wise test data generation is generally considered an important problem in the automation of software testing. In essence, it is a constraint optimization problem, which is often solved by search methods such as backtracking algorithms. In this paper, the backtracking algorithm branch and bound and state space search in artificial intelligence are introduced to tackle the problem of path-wise test data generation. The former is utilized to explore the space of potential solutions and the latter is adopted to construct the search tree dynamically. Heuristics are employed in the look-ahead stage of the search. Dynamic variable ordering is presented with a heuristic rule to break ties, values of a variable are determined by the monotonicity analysis on branching conditions, and maintaining path consistency is achieved through analysis on the result of interval arithmetic. An optimization method is also proposed to reduce the search space. The results of empirical experiments show that the search is conducted in a basically backtrack-free manner, which ensures both test data generation with promising performance and its excellence over some currently existing static and dynamic methods in terms of coverage. The results also demonstrate that the proposed method is applicable in engineering.

  6. Combining heuristic and statistical techniques in landslide hazard assessments

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cepeda, Jose; Schwendtner, Barbara; Quan, Byron; Nadim, Farrokh; Diaz, Manuel; Molina, Giovanni

    2014-05-01

    As a contribution to the Global Assessment Report 2013 - GAR2013, coordinated by the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction - UNISDR, a drill-down exercise for landslide hazard assessment was carried out by entering the results of both heuristic and statistical techniques into a new but simple combination rule. The data available for this evaluation included landslide inventories, both historical and event-based. In addition to the application of a heuristic method used in the previous editions of GAR, the availability of inventories motivated the use of statistical methods. The heuristic technique is largely based on the Mora & Vahrson method, which estimates hazard as the product of susceptibility and triggering factors, where classes are weighted based on expert judgment and experience. Two statistical methods were also applied: the landslide index method, which estimates weights of the classes for the susceptibility and triggering factors based on the evidence provided by the density of landslides in each class of the factors; and the weights of evidence method, which extends the previous technique to include both positive and negative evidence of landslide occurrence in the estimation of weights for the classes. One key aspect during the hazard evaluation was the decision on the methodology to be chosen for the final assessment. Instead of opting for a single methodology, it was decided to combine the results of the three implemented techniques using a combination rule based on a normalization of the results of each method. The hazard evaluation was performed for both earthquake- and rainfall-induced landslides. The country chosen for the drill-down exercise was El Salvador. The results indicate that highest hazard levels are concentrated along the central volcanic chain and at the centre of the northern mountains.

  7. Heuristic errors in clinical reasoning.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rylander, Melanie; Guerrasio, Jeannette

    2016-08-01

    Errors in clinical reasoning contribute to patient morbidity and mortality. The purpose of this study was to determine the types of heuristic errors made by third-year medical students and first-year residents. This study surveyed approximately 150 clinical educators inquiring about the types of heuristic errors they observed in third-year medical students and first-year residents. Anchoring and premature closure were the two most common errors observed amongst third-year medical students and first-year residents. There was no difference in the types of errors observed in the two groups. Errors in clinical reasoning contribute to patient morbidity and mortality Clinical educators perceived that both third-year medical students and first-year residents committed similar heuristic errors, implying that additional medical knowledge and clinical experience do not affect the types of heuristic errors made. Further work is needed to help identify methods that can be used to reduce heuristic errors early in a clinician's education. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  8. Decision-making behavior of experts at nuclear power plants. Regulatory focus influence on cognitive heuristics

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Beck, Johannes

    2015-09-01

    The goal of this research project was to examine factors, on the basis of regulatory focus theory and the heuristics and biases approach, that influence decision-making processes of experts at nuclear power plants. Findings show that this group applies anchoring (heuristic) when evaluating conjunctive and disjunctive events and that they maintain a constant regulatory focus characteristic. No influence of the experts' characteristic regulatory focus on cognitive heuristics could be established. Theoretical and practical consequences on decision-making behavior of experts are presented. Finally, a method for measuring the use of heuristics especially in the nuclear industry is discussed.

  9. Hyper-heuristics with low level parameter adaptation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ren, Zhilei; Jiang, He; Xuan, Jifeng; Luo, Zhongxuan

    2012-01-01

    Recent years have witnessed the great success of hyper-heuristics applying to numerous real-world applications. Hyper-heuristics raise the generality of search methodologies by manipulating a set of low level heuristics (LLHs) to solve problems, and aim to automate the algorithm design process. However, those LLHs are usually parameterized, which may contradict the domain independent motivation of hyper-heuristics. In this paper, we show how to automatically maintain low level parameters (LLPs) using a hyper-heuristic with LLP adaptation (AD-HH), and exemplify the feasibility of AD-HH by adaptively maintaining the LLPs for two hyper-heuristic models. Furthermore, aiming at tackling the search space expansion due to the LLP adaptation, we apply a heuristic space reduction (SAR) mechanism to improve the AD-HH framework. The integration of the LLP adaptation and the SAR mechanism is able to explore the heuristic space more effectively and efficiently. To evaluate the performance of the proposed algorithms, we choose the p-median problem as a case study. The empirical results show that with the adaptation of the LLPs and the SAR mechanism, the proposed algorithms are able to achieve competitive results over the three heterogeneous classes of benchmark instances.

  10. Monte Carlo Method with Heuristic Adjustment for Irregularly Shaped Food Product Volume Measurement

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Joko Siswantoro

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Volume measurement plays an important role in the production and processing of food products. Various methods have been proposed to measure the volume of food products with irregular shapes based on 3D reconstruction. However, 3D reconstruction comes with a high-priced computational cost. Furthermore, some of the volume measurement methods based on 3D reconstruction have a low accuracy. Another method for measuring volume of objects uses Monte Carlo method. Monte Carlo method performs volume measurements using random points. Monte Carlo method only requires information regarding whether random points fall inside or outside an object and does not require a 3D reconstruction. This paper proposes volume measurement using a computer vision system for irregularly shaped food products without 3D reconstruction based on Monte Carlo method with heuristic adjustment. Five images of food product were captured using five cameras and processed to produce binary images. Monte Carlo integration with heuristic adjustment was performed to measure the volume based on the information extracted from binary images. The experimental results show that the proposed method provided high accuracy and precision compared to the water displacement method. In addition, the proposed method is more accurate and faster than the space carving method.

  11. Monte Carlo method with heuristic adjustment for irregularly shaped food product volume measurement.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Siswantoro, Joko; Prabuwono, Anton Satria; Abdullah, Azizi; Idrus, Bahari

    2014-01-01

    Volume measurement plays an important role in the production and processing of food products. Various methods have been proposed to measure the volume of food products with irregular shapes based on 3D reconstruction. However, 3D reconstruction comes with a high-priced computational cost. Furthermore, some of the volume measurement methods based on 3D reconstruction have a low accuracy. Another method for measuring volume of objects uses Monte Carlo method. Monte Carlo method performs volume measurements using random points. Monte Carlo method only requires information regarding whether random points fall inside or outside an object and does not require a 3D reconstruction. This paper proposes volume measurement using a computer vision system for irregularly shaped food products without 3D reconstruction based on Monte Carlo method with heuristic adjustment. Five images of food product were captured using five cameras and processed to produce binary images. Monte Carlo integration with heuristic adjustment was performed to measure the volume based on the information extracted from binary images. The experimental results show that the proposed method provided high accuracy and precision compared to the water displacement method. In addition, the proposed method is more accurate and faster than the space carving method.

  12. Evaluating common de-identification heuristics for personal health information.

    Science.gov (United States)

    El Emam, Khaled; Jabbouri, Sam; Sams, Scott; Drouet, Youenn; Power, Michael

    2006-11-21

    With the growing adoption of electronic medical records, there are increasing demands for the use of this electronic clinical data in observational research. A frequent ethics board requirement for such secondary use of personal health information in observational research is that the data be de-identified. De-identification heuristics are provided in the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act Privacy Rule, funding agency and professional association privacy guidelines, and common practice. The aim of the study was to evaluate whether the re-identification risks due to record linkage are sufficiently low when following common de-identification heuristics and whether the risk is stable across sample sizes and data sets. Two methods were followed to construct identification data sets. Re-identification attacks were simulated on these. For each data set we varied the sample size down to 30 individuals, and for each sample size evaluated the risk of re-identification for all combinations of quasi-identifiers. The combinations of quasi-identifiers that were low risk more than 50% of the time were considered stable. The identification data sets we were able to construct were the list of all physicians and the list of all lawyers registered in Ontario, using 1% sampling fractions. The quasi-identifiers of region, gender, and year of birth were found to be low risk more than 50% of the time across both data sets. The combination of gender and region was also found to be low risk more than 50% of the time. We were not able to create an identification data set for the whole population. Existing Canadian federal and provincial privacy laws help explain why it is difficult to create an identification data set for the whole population. That such examples of high re-identification risk exist for mainstream professions makes a strong case for not disclosing the high-risk variables and their combinations identified here. For professional subpopulations with published

  13. COMPARISON BETWEEN MIXED INTEGER PROGRAMMING WITH HEURISTIC METHOD FOR JOB SHOP SCHEDULING WITH SEPARABLE SEQUENCE-DEPENDENT SETUPS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    I Gede Agus Widyadana

    2001-01-01

    Full Text Available The decisions to choose appropriate tools for solving industrial problems are not just tools that achieve optimal solution only but it should consider computation time too. One of industrial problems that still difficult to achieve both criteria is scheduling problem. This paper discuss comparison between mixed integer programming which result optimal solution and heuristic method to solve job shop scheduling problem with separable sequence-dependent setup. The problems are generated and the result shows that the heuristic methods still cannot satisfy optimal solution.

  14. Stable and accurate methods for identification of water bodies from Landsat series imagery using meta-heuristic algorithms

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gamshadzaei, Mohammad Hossein; Rahimzadegan, Majid

    2017-10-01

    Identification of water extents in Landsat images is challenging due to surfaces with similar reflectance to water extents. The objective of this study is to provide stable and accurate methods for identifying water extents in Landsat images based on meta-heuristic algorithms. Then, seven Landsat images were selected from various environmental regions in Iran. Training of the algorithms was performed using 40 water pixels and 40 nonwater pixels in operational land imager images of Chitgar Lake (one of the study regions). Moreover, high-resolution images from Google Earth were digitized to evaluate the results. Two approaches were considered: index-based and artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms. In the first approach, nine common water spectral indices were investigated. AI algorithms were utilized to acquire coefficients of optimal band combinations to extract water extents. Among the AI algorithms, the artificial neural network algorithm and also the ant colony optimization, genetic algorithm, and particle swarm optimization (PSO) meta-heuristic algorithms were implemented. Index-based methods represented different performances in various regions. Among AI methods, PSO had the best performance with average overall accuracy and kappa coefficient of 93% and 98%, respectively. The results indicated the applicability of acquired band combinations to extract accurately and stably water extents in Landsat imagery.

  15. Heuristic decision making.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gigerenzer, Gerd; Gaissmaier, Wolfgang

    2011-01-01

    As reflected in the amount of controversy, few areas in psychology have undergone such dramatic conceptual changes in the past decade as the emerging science of heuristics. Heuristics are efficient cognitive processes, conscious or unconscious, that ignore part of the information. Because using heuristics saves effort, the classical view has been that heuristic decisions imply greater errors than do "rational" decisions as defined by logic or statistical models. However, for many decisions, the assumptions of rational models are not met, and it is an empirical rather than an a priori issue how well cognitive heuristics function in an uncertain world. To answer both the descriptive question ("Which heuristics do people use in which situations?") and the prescriptive question ("When should people rely on a given heuristic rather than a complex strategy to make better judgments?"), formal models are indispensable. We review research that tests formal models of heuristic inference, including in business organizations, health care, and legal institutions. This research indicates that (a) individuals and organizations often rely on simple heuristics in an adaptive way, and (b) ignoring part of the information can lead to more accurate judgments than weighting and adding all information, for instance for low predictability and small samples. The big future challenge is to develop a systematic theory of the building blocks of heuristics as well as the core capacities and environmental structures these exploit.

  16. Heuristic Evaluation of Ehealth Interventions: Establishing Standards That Relate to the Therapeutic Process Perspective.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Baumel, Amit; Muench, Fred

    2016-01-13

    In recent years, the number of available eHealth interventions aimed at treating behavioral and mental health challenges has been growing. From the perspective of health care providers, there is a need for eHealth interventions to be evaluated prior to clinical trials and for the limited resources allocated to empirical research to be invested in the most promising products. Following a literature review, a gap was found in the availability of eHealth interventions evaluation principles related to the patient experience of the therapeutic process. This paper introduces principles and concepts for the evaluation of eHealth interventions developed as a first step in a process to outline general evaluation guidelines that relate to the clinical context from health care providers' perspective. Our approach was to conduct a review of literature that relates to the examination of eHealth interventions. We identified the literature that was most relevant to our study and used it to define guidelines that relate to the clinical context. We then compiled a list of heuristics we found to be useful for the evaluation of eHealth intervention products' suitability for empirical examination. Four heuristics were identified with respect to the therapeutic process: (1) the product's ease of use (ie, usability), (2) the eHealth intervention's compatibility with the clinical setting, (3) the presence of tools that make it easier for the user to engage in therapeutic activities, and (4) the provision of a feasible therapeutic pathway to growth. We then used this set of heuristics to conduct a detailed examination of MyFitnessPal. This line of work could help to set the bar higher for product developers and to inform health care providers about preferred eHealth intervention designs.

  17. Knowledge discovery in hyper-heuristic using case-based reasoning on course timetabling

    OpenAIRE

    Burke, Edmund; MacCarthy, Bart L.; Petrovic, Sanja; Qu, Rong

    2002-01-01

    This paper presents a new hyper-heuristic method using Case-Based Reasoning (CBR) for solving course timetabling problems. The term Hyper-heuristics has recently been employed to refer to 'heuristics that choose heuristics' rather than heuristics that operate directly on given problems. One of the overriding motivations of hyper-heuristic methods is the attempt to develop techniques that can operate with greater generality than is currently possible. The basic idea behind this is that we main...

  18. State analysis of BOP using statistical and heuristic methods

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Heo, Gyun Young; Chang, Soon Heung

    2003-01-01

    Under the deregulation environment, the performance enhancement of BOP in nuclear power plants is being highlighted. To analyze performance level of BOP, we use the performance test procedures provided from an authorized institution such as ASME. However, through plant investigation, it was proved that the requirements of the performance test procedures about the reliability and quantity of sensors was difficult to be satisfied. As a solution of this, state analysis method that are the expanded concept of signal validation, was proposed on the basis of the statistical and heuristic approaches. Authors recommended the statistical linear regression model by analyzing correlation among BOP parameters as a reference state analysis method. Its advantage is that its derivation is not heuristic, it is possible to calculate model uncertainty, and it is easy to apply to an actual plant. The error of the statistical linear regression model is below 3% under normal as well as abnormal system states. Additionally a neural network model was recommended since the statistical model is impossible to apply to the validation of all of the sensors and is sensitive to the outlier that is the signal located out of a statistical distribution. Because there are a lot of sensors need to be validated in BOP, wavelet analysis (WA) were applied as a pre-processor for the reduction of input dimension and for the enhancement of training accuracy. The outlier localization capability of WA enhanced the robustness of the neural network. The trained neural network restored the degraded signals to the values within ±3% of the true signals

  19. On the suitability of fast and frugal heuristics for designing values clarification methods in patient decision aids: a critical analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pieterse, Arwen H; de Vries, Marieke

    2013-09-01

    Increasingly, patient decision aids and values clarification methods (VCMs) are being developed to support patients in making preference-sensitive health-care decisions. Many VCMs encourage extensive deliberation about options, without solid theoretical or empirical evidence showing that deliberation is advantageous. Research suggests that simple, fast and frugal heuristic decision strategies sometimes result in better judgments and decisions. Durand et al. have developed two fast and frugal heuristic-based VCMs. To critically analyse the suitability of the 'take the best' (TTB) and 'tallying' fast and frugal heuristics in the context of patient decision making. Analysis of the structural similarities between the environments in which the TTB and tallying heuristics have been proven successful and the context of patient decision making and of the potential of these heuristic decision processes to support patient decision making. The specific nature of patient preference-sensitive decision making does not seem to resemble environments in which the TTB and tallying heuristics have proven successful. Encouraging patients to consider less rather than more relevant information potentially even deteriorates their values clarification process. Values clarification methods promoting the use of more intuitive decision strategies may sometimes be more effective. Nevertheless, we strongly recommend further theoretical thinking about the expected value of such heuristics and of other more intuitive decision strategies in this context, as well as empirical assessments of the mechanisms by which inducing such decision strategies may impact the quality and outcome of values clarification. © 2011 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  20. Heuristic space diversity control for improved meta-hyper-heuristic performance

    CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

    Grobler, J

    2015-04-01

    Full Text Available This paper expands on the concept of heuristic space diversity and investigates various strategies for the management of heuristic space diversity within the context of a meta-hyper-heuristic algorithm in search of greater performance benefits...

  1. The use of systematic and heuristic methods in the basic design cycle : A comparative survey of students' method usage

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Person, F.E.O.K.; Daalhuizen, J.J.; Gattol, V.

    2013-01-01

    In the present paper, we study the reported use of systematic and heuristic methods for 304 students enrolled in a master-level course on design theory and methodology. What to teach design and engineering students about methods is an important topic for discussion. One reason for this is that the

  2. Job shop scheduling with makespan objective: A heuristic approach

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mohsen Ziaee

    2014-04-01

    Full Text Available Job shop has been considered as one of the most challenging scheduling problems and there are literally tremendous efforts on reducing the complexity of solution procedure for solving job shop problem. This paper presents a heuristic method to minimize makespan for different jobs in a job shop scheduling. The proposed model is based on a constructive procedure to obtain good quality schedules, very quickly. The performance of the proposed model of this paper is examined on standard benchmarks from the literature in order to evaluate its performance. Computational results show that, despite its simplicity, the proposed heuristic is computationally efficient and practical approach for the problem.

  3. Heuristic versus statistical physics approach to optimization problems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jedrzejek, C.; Cieplinski, L.

    1995-01-01

    Optimization is a crucial ingredient of many calculation schemes in science and engineering. In this paper we assess several classes of methods: heuristic algorithms, methods directly relying on statistical physics such as the mean-field method and simulated annealing; and Hopfield-type neural networks and genetic algorithms partly related to statistical physics. We perform the analysis for three types of problems: (1) the Travelling Salesman Problem, (2) vector quantization, and (3) traffic control problem in multistage interconnection network. In general, heuristic algorithms perform better (except for genetic algorithms) and much faster but have to be specific for every problem. The key to improving the performance could be to include heuristic features into general purpose statistical physics methods. (author)

  4. "A Heuristic for Visual Thinking in History"

    Science.gov (United States)

    Staley, David J.

    2007-01-01

    This article details a heuristic history teachers can use in assigning and evaluating multimedia projects in history. To use this heuristic successfully, requires more than simply following the steps in the list or stages in a recipe: in many ways, it requires a reorientation in what it means to think like an historian. This article, as much as…

  5. FocusHeuristics - expression-data-driven network optimization and disease gene prediction.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ernst, Mathias; Du, Yang; Warsow, Gregor; Hamed, Mohamed; Endlich, Nicole; Endlich, Karlhans; Murua Escobar, Hugo; Sklarz, Lisa-Madeleine; Sender, Sina; Junghanß, Christian; Möller, Steffen; Fuellen, Georg; Struckmann, Stephan

    2017-02-16

    To identify genes contributing to disease phenotypes remains a challenge for bioinformatics. Static knowledge on biological networks is often combined with the dynamics observed in gene expression levels over disease development, to find markers for diagnostics and therapy, and also putative disease-modulatory drug targets and drugs. The basis of current methods ranges from a focus on expression-levels (Limma) to concentrating on network characteristics (PageRank, HITS/Authority Score), and both (DeMAND, Local Radiality). We present an integrative approach (the FocusHeuristics) that is thoroughly evaluated based on public expression data and molecular disease characteristics provided by DisGeNet. The FocusHeuristics combines three scores, i.e. the log fold change and another two, based on the sum and difference of log fold changes of genes/proteins linked in a network. A gene is kept when one of the scores to which it contributes is above a threshold. Our FocusHeuristics is both, a predictor for gene-disease-association and a bioinformatics method to reduce biological networks to their disease-relevant parts, by highlighting the dynamics observed in expression data. The FocusHeuristics is slightly, but significantly better than other methods by its more successful identification of disease-associated genes measured by AUC, and it delivers mechanistic explanations for its choice of genes.

  6. A comparison of two analytical evaluation methods for educational computer games for young children

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Bekker, M.M.; Baauw, E.; Barendregt, W.

    2008-01-01

    In this paper we describe a comparison of two analytical methods for educational computer games for young children. The methods compared in the study are the Structured Expert Evaluation Method (SEEM) and the Combined Heuristic Evaluation (HE) (based on a combination of Nielsen’s HE and the

  7. Characterizing web heuristics

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    de Jong, Menno D.T.; van der Geest, Thea

    2000-01-01

    This article is intended to make Web designers more aware of the qualities of heuristics by presenting a framework for analyzing the characteristics of heuristics. The framework is meant to support Web designers in choosing among alternative heuristics. We hope that better knowledge of the

  8. Evaluation of usability of Spanish academic library web portals using a cognitive-emotional heuristic model

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Daniel Muñoz-Egido

    2017-03-01

    Full Text Available In this paper a cognitive-emotional usability analysis model based on heuristics was used to analyze eighteen academic library web portals. Starting with a review of existing literature on the subject, a set of seventy-one heuristic criteria grouped into six aspects was designed, to which the metrics developed by SIRIUS were applied. The result of the evaluation reveals that the average usability of websites of university libraries analyzed stands at 72.30 over 100 with a standard deviation of 5.57. The aspects with the lowest scores were Attention and Long Term Memory and Learning, which were therefore approached less satisfactorily from the user’s point of view.

  9. HEURISTIC METHOD FOR LOW POWER RACE-FREE STATE-ASSIGNMENT OF AN ASYNGHRONOUS AUTOMATON

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yu. V. Pottosin

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available The problem of race free state-assignment of an asynchronous automaton minimizing the switching activity of memory elements in an implementing circuit is considered. A heuristic method to solve this problem for an asynchronous automaton is suggested where the critical races between memory elements of the implementing circuit are eliminated.

  10. Managing Heuristics as a Method of Inquiry in Autobiographical Graphic Design Theses

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ings, Welby

    2011-01-01

    This article draws on case studies undertaken in postgraduate research at AUT University, Auckland. It seeks to address a number of issues related to heuristic inquiries employed by graphic design students who use autobiographical approaches when developing research-based theses. For this type of thesis, heuristics as a system of inquiry may…

  11. THE METHOD OF FORMING THE PIGGYBACK TECHNOLOGIES USING THE AUTOMATED HEURISTIC SYSTEM

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ye. Nahornyi

    2015-07-01

    Full Text Available In order to choose a rational piggyback technology there was offered a method that envisages the automated system improvement by giving it a heuristic nature. The automated system is based on a set of methods, techniques and strategies aimed at creating optimal resource saving technologies, which makes it possible to take into account with maximum efficiency the interests of all the participants of the delivery process. When organizing the piggyback traffic there is presupposed the coordination of operations between the piggyback traffic participants to minimize the cargo travel time.

  12. A Meta-Heuristic Applying for the Transportation of Wood Raw Material

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Erhan Çalışkan

    2009-04-01

    Full Text Available Primary products in Turkish forestry are wood material. Thus, an operational organization is necessary to transport these main products to depots and then to the consumers without quality and volume loss. This organization starts from harvesting area in the stand and continues to roadside depots or ramps and to main depots and even to manufactures from there. The computer-assisted models, which aim to examine the optimum path in transportation, can be utilized in solving this quite complex problem. In this study, an evaluation has been performed in importance and current status of transporting wood material, classification of wood transportation, computer-assisted heuristic and meta-heuristic methods, and possibilities of using these methods in transportation of wood materials.

  13. Toward a More Usable Home-Based Video Telemedicine System: A Heuristic Evaluation of the Clinician User Interfaces of Home-Based Video Telemedicine Systems.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Agnisarman, Sruthy; Narasimha, Shraddhaa; Chalil Madathil, Kapil; Welch, Brandon; Brinda, Fnu; Ashok, Aparna; McElligott, James

    2017-04-24

    Telemedicine is the use of technology to provide and support health care when distance separates the clinical service and the patient. Home-based telemedicine systems involve the use of such technology for medical support and care connecting the patient from the comfort of their homes with the clinician. In order for such a system to be used extensively, it is necessary to understand not only the issues faced by the patients in using them but also the clinician. The aim of this study was to conduct a heuristic evaluation of 4 telemedicine software platforms-Doxy.me, Polycom, Vidyo, and VSee-to assess possible problems and limitations that could affect the usability of the system from the clinician's perspective. It was found that 5 experts individually evaluated all four systems using Nielsen's list of heuristics, classifying the issues based on a severity rating scale. A total of 46 unique problems were identified by the experts. The heuristics most frequently violated were visibility of system status and Error prevention amounting to 24% (11/46 issues) each. Esthetic and minimalist design was second contributing to 13% (6/46 issues) of the total errors. Heuristic evaluation coupled with a severity rating scale was found to be an effective method for identifying problems with the systems. Prioritization of these problems based on the rating provides a good starting point for resolving the issues affecting these platforms. There is a need for better transparency and a more streamlined approach for how physicians use telemedicine systems. Visibility of the system status and speaking the users' language are keys for achieving this. ©Sruthy Agnisarman, Shraddhaa Narasimha, Kapil Chalil Madathil, Brandon Welch, FNU Brinda, Aparna Ashok, James McElligott. Originally published in JMIR Human Factors (http://humanfactors.jmir.org), 24.04.2017.

  14. A single cognitive heuristic process meets the complexity of domain-specific moral heuristics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dubljević, Veljko; Racine, Eric

    2014-10-01

    The inherence heuristic (a) offers modest insights into the complex nature of both the is-ought tension in moral reasoning and moral reasoning per se, and (b) does not reflect the complexity of domain-specific moral heuristics. Formal and general in nature, we contextualize the process described as "inherence heuristic" in a web of domain-specific heuristics (e.g., agent specific; action specific; consequences specific).

  15. Web-based education for low-literate parents in Neonatal Intensive Care Unit: development of a website and heuristic evaluation and usability testing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Choi, Jeungok; Bakken, Suzanne

    2010-08-01

    Low health literacy has been associated with poor health-related outcomes. The purposes are to report the development of a website for low-literate parents in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), and the findings of heuristic evaluation and a usability testing of this website. To address low literacy of NICU parents, multimedia educational Website using visual aids (e.g., pictographs, photographs), voice-recorded text message in addition to a simplified text was developed. The text was created at the 5th grade readability level. The heuristic evaluation was conducted by three usability experts using 10 heuristics. End-users' performance was measured by counting the time spent completing tasks and number of errors, as well as recording users' perception of ease of use and usefulness (PEUU) in a sample of 10 NICU parents. Three evaluators identified 82 violations across the 10 heuristics. All violations, however, received scores visuals on the Website were well accepted by low-literate users and agreement of visuals with text improved understanding of the educational materials over that with text alone. The findings suggest that using concrete and realistic pictures and pictographs with clear captions would maximize the benefit of visuals. One emerging theme was "simplicity" in design (e.g., limited use of colors, one font type and size), content (e.g., avoid lengthy text), and technical features (e.g., limited use of pop-ups). The heuristic evaluation by usability experts and the usability test with actual users provided complementary expertise, which can give a richer assessment of a design for low literacy Website. These results facilitated design modification and implementation of solutions by categorizing and prioritizing the usability problems.

  16. Adapting Nielsen's Design Heuristics to Dual Processing for Clinical Decision Support.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Taft, Teresa; Staes, Catherine; Slager, Stacey; Weir, Charlene

    2016-01-01

    The study objective was to improve the applicability of Nielson's standard design heuristics for evaluating electronic health record (EHR) alerts and linked ordering support by integrating them with Dual Process theory. Through initial heuristic evaluation and a user study of 7 physicians, usability problems were identified. Through independent mapping of specific usability criteria to support for each of the Dual Cognitive processes (S1 and S2) and deliberation, agreement was reached on mapping criteria. Finally, usability errors from the heuristic and user study were mapped to S1 and S2. Adding a dual process perspective to specific heuristic analysis increases the applicability and relevance of computerized health information design evaluations. This mapping enables designers to measure that their systems are tailored to support attention allocation. System 1 will be supported by improving pattern recognition and saliency, and system 2 through efficiency and control of information access.

  17. User interface inspection methods a user-centered design method

    CERN Document Server

    Wilson, Chauncey

    2014-01-01

    User Interface Inspection Methods succinctly covers five inspection methods: heuristic evaluation, perspective-based user interface inspection, cognitive walkthrough, pluralistic walkthrough, and formal usability inspections. Heuristic evaluation is perhaps the best-known inspection method, requiring a group of evaluators to review a product against a set of general principles. The perspective-based user interface inspection is based on the principle that different perspectives will find different problems in a user interface. In the related persona-based inspection, colleagues assume the

  18. Ten heuristics to evaluate the user experience of serious games

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    L. Fitchat

    2016-07-01

    Full Text Available The potential of serious games to promote effective learning has been establishedin the literature. However, designing effective serious games that strike a balancebetween being entertaining and at the same time instructional, remains elusive.This research turns to the field of human-computer interaction (HCI toinvestigate the aspects that are most influential to the player’s experiences withserious games. From this, HCI principles to evaluate the user experience ofserious games are identified and described. User experience (UX refers to howindividuals perceive and respond to using interactive systems such as seriousgames. Since UX is regarded as subjective in nature, this study was conductedusing interpretative phenomenological analysis, which focuses on idiographicinquiry. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with five participants afterthey were given time to play a serious game. The serious game, titledStoryTimes,aims to teach the user the multiplication tables by employing memory associationtechniques in a fun and innovative way.StoryTimeswas developed as part of thisresearch to investigate how HCI principles are applied during the developmentcycle of a serious game. The data from the interviews were analysed qualitativelyto determine which aspects of the serious game were regarded as the mostimportant from the participants’ point of view. The findings indicate that playersof serious games prefer mobile gaming platforms and have certain expectationsregarding how subject content is integrated into video games. It also reveals thedesign challenges associated with the attention spans and very diverse natures of individual players. These aspects were recast in the form of ten heuristics thatcould be applied when evaluating the UX of serious games. Designers of seriousgames can use these heuristics during the development process to create a learningenvironment that is both effective and fun.

  19. Experimental Matching of Instances to Heuristics for Constraint Satisfaction Problems.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moreno-Scott, Jorge Humberto; Ortiz-Bayliss, José Carlos; Terashima-Marín, Hugo; Conant-Pablos, Santiago Enrique

    2016-01-01

    Constraint satisfaction problems are of special interest for the artificial intelligence and operations research community due to their many applications. Although heuristics involved in solving these problems have largely been studied in the past, little is known about the relation between instances and the respective performance of the heuristics used to solve them. This paper focuses on both the exploration of the instance space to identify relations between instances and good performing heuristics and how to use such relations to improve the search. Firstly, the document describes a methodology to explore the instance space of constraint satisfaction problems and evaluate the corresponding performance of six variable ordering heuristics for such instances in order to find regions on the instance space where some heuristics outperform the others. Analyzing such regions favors the understanding of how these heuristics work and contribute to their improvement. Secondly, we use the information gathered from the first stage to predict the most suitable heuristic to use according to the features of the instance currently being solved. This approach proved to be competitive when compared against the heuristics applied in isolation on both randomly generated and structured instances of constraint satisfaction problems.

  20. Heuristic query optimization for query multiple table and multiple clausa on mobile finance application

    Science.gov (United States)

    Indrayana, I. N. E.; P, N. M. Wirasyanti D.; Sudiartha, I. KG

    2018-01-01

    Mobile application allow many users to access data from the application without being limited to space, space and time. Over time the data population of this application will increase. Data access time will cause problems if the data record has reached tens of thousands to millions of records.The objective of this research is to maintain the performance of data execution for large data records. One effort to maintain data access time performance is to apply query optimization method. The optimization used in this research is query heuristic optimization method. The built application is a mobile-based financial application using MySQL database with stored procedure therein. This application is used by more than one business entity in one database, thus enabling rapid data growth. In this stored procedure there is an optimized query using heuristic method. Query optimization is performed on a “Select” query that involves more than one table with multiple clausa. Evaluation is done by calculating the average access time using optimized and unoptimized queries. Access time calculation is also performed on the increase of population data in the database. The evaluation results shown the time of data execution with query heuristic optimization relatively faster than data execution time without using query optimization.

  1. On the Importance of Elimination Heuristics in Lazy Propagation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Madsen, Anders Læsø; Butz, Cory J.

    2012-01-01

    elimination orders on-line. This paper considers the importance of elimination heuristics in LP when using Variable Elimination (VE) as the message and single marginal computation algorithm. It considers well-known cost measures for selecting the next variable to eliminate and a new cost measure....... The empirical evaluation examines dierent heuristics as well as sequences of cost measures, and was conducted on real-world and randomly generated Bayesian networks. The results show that for most cases performance is robust relative to the cost measure used and in some cases the elimination heuristic can have...

  2. Identifying Onboarding Heuristics for Free-to-Play Mobile Games

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Thomsen, Line Ebdrup; Weigert Petersen, Falko; Drachen, Anders

    2016-01-01

    a set of heuristics for the design of onboarding phases in mobile games is presented. The heuristics are identified by a lab-based mixed-methods experiment, utilizing lightweight psycho-physiological measures together with self-reported player responses, across three titles that cross the genres...... of puzzle games, base builders and arcade games, and utilize different onboarding phase design approaches. Results showcase how heuristics can be used to design engaging onboarding phases in mobile games....

  3. A grouping hyper-heuristic framework: application on graph colouring

    OpenAIRE

    Elhag, Anas; Özcan, Ender

    2015-01-01

    Grouping problems are hard to solve combinatorial optimisation problems which require partitioning of objects into a minimum number of subsets while a given objective is simultaneously optimised. Selection hyper-heuristics are high level general purpose search methodologies that operate on a space formed by a set of low level heuristics rather than solutions. Most of the recently proposed selection hyper-heuristics are iterative and make use of two key methods which are employed successively;...

  4. Heuristic Diagrams as a Tool to Teach History of Science

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chamizo, José A.

    2012-05-01

    The graphic organizer called here heuristic diagram as an improvement of Gowin's Vee heuristic is proposed as a tool to teach history of science. Heuristic diagrams have the purpose of helping students (or teachers, or researchers) to understand their own research considering that asks and problem-solving are central to scientific activity. The left side originally related in Gowin's Vee with philosophies, theories, models, laws or regularities now agrees with Toulmin's concepts (language, models as representation techniques and application procedures). Mexican science teachers without experience in science education research used the heuristic diagram to learn about the history of chemistry considering also in the left side two different historical times: past and present. Through a semantic differential scale teachers' attitude to the heuristic diagram was evaluated and its usefulness was demonstrated.

  5. A HYBRID HEURISTIC ALGORITHM FOR THE CLUSTERED TRAVELING SALESMAN PROBLEM

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mário Mestria

    2016-04-01

    Full Text Available ABSTRACT This paper proposes a hybrid heuristic algorithm, based on the metaheuristics Greedy Randomized Adaptive Search Procedure, Iterated Local Search and Variable Neighborhood Descent, to solve the Clustered Traveling Salesman Problem (CTSP. Hybrid Heuristic algorithm uses several variable neighborhood structures combining the intensification (using local search operators and diversification (constructive heuristic and perturbation routine. In the CTSP, the vertices are partitioned into clusters and all vertices of each cluster have to be visited contiguously. The CTSP is -hard since it includes the well-known Traveling Salesman Problem (TSP as a special case. Our hybrid heuristic is compared with three heuristics from the literature and an exact method. Computational experiments are reported for different classes of instances. Experimental results show that the proposed hybrid heuristic obtains competitive results within reasonable computational time.

  6. Pitfalls in Teaching Judgment Heuristics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shepperd, James A.; Koch, Erika J.

    2005-01-01

    Demonstrations of judgment heuristics typically focus on how heuristics can lead to poor judgments. However, exclusive focus on the negative consequences of heuristics can prove problematic. We illustrate the problem with the representativeness heuristic and present a study (N = 45) that examined how examples influence understanding of the…

  7. Developing heuristics for Web communication: an introduction to this special issue

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    van der Geest, Thea; Spyridakis, Jan H.

    2000-01-01

    This article describes the role of heuristics in the Web design process. The five sets of heuristics that appear in this issue are also described, as well as the research methods used in their development. The heuristics were designed to help designers and developers of Web pages or sites to

  8. Artificial Intelligence: Bayesian versus Heuristic Method for Diagnostic Decision Support.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Elkin, Peter L; Schlegel, Daniel R; Anderson, Michael; Komm, Jordan; Ficheur, Gregoire; Bisson, Leslie

    2018-04-01

    Evoking strength is one of the important contributions of the field of Biomedical Informatics to the discipline of Artificial Intelligence. The University at Buffalo's Orthopedics Department wanted to create an expert system to assist patients with self-diagnosis of knee problems and to thereby facilitate referral to the right orthopedic subspecialist. They had two independent sports medicine physicians review 469 cases. A board-certified orthopedic sports medicine practitioner, L.B., reviewed any disagreements until a gold standard diagnosis was reached. For each case, the patients entered 126 potential answers to 26 questions into a Web interface. These were modeled by an expert sports medicine physician and the answers were reviewed by L.B. For each finding, the clinician specified the sensitivity (term frequency) and both specificity (Sp) and the heuristic evoking strength (ES). Heuristics are methods of reasoning with only partial evidence. An expert system was constructed that reflected the posttest odds of disease-ranked list for each case. We compare the accuracy of using Sp to that of using ES (original model, p  < 0.0008; term importance * disease importance [DItimesTI] model, p  < 0.0001: Wilcoxon ranked sum test). For patient referral assignment, Sp in the DItimesTI model was superior to the use of ES. By the fifth diagnosis, the advantage was lost and so there is no difference between the techniques when serving as a reminder system. Schattauer GmbH Stuttgart.

  9. Automated Segmentation of Coronary Arteries Based on Statistical Region Growing and Heuristic Decision Method

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yun Tian

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available The segmentation of coronary arteries is a vital process that helps cardiovascular radiologists detect and quantify stenosis. In this paper, we propose a fully automated coronary artery segmentation from cardiac data volume. The method is built on a statistics region growing together with a heuristic decision. First, the heart region is extracted using a multi-atlas-based approach. Second, the vessel structures are enhanced via a 3D multiscale line filter. Next, seed points are detected automatically through a threshold preprocessing and a subsequent morphological operation. Based on the set of detected seed points, a statistics-based region growing is applied. Finally, results are obtained by setting conservative parameters. A heuristic decision method is then used to obtain the desired result automatically because parameters in region growing vary in different patients, and the segmentation requires full automation. The experiments are carried out on a dataset that includes eight-patient multivendor cardiac computed tomography angiography (CTA volume data. The DICE similarity index, mean distance, and Hausdorff distance metrics are employed to compare the proposed algorithm with two state-of-the-art methods. Experimental results indicate that the proposed algorithm is capable of performing complete, robust, and accurate extraction of coronary arteries.

  10. Heuristic burst detection method using flow and pressure measurements

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Bakker, M.; Vreeburg, J.H.G.; Roer, Van de M.; Rietveld, L.C.

    2014-01-01

    Pipe bursts in a drinking water distribution system lead to water losses, interruption of supply, and damage to streets and houses due to the uncontrolled water flow. To minimize the negative consequences of pipe bursts, an early detection is necessary. This paper describes a heuristic burst

  11. Adapting Nielsen’s Design Heuristics to Dual Processing for Clinical Decision Support

    Science.gov (United States)

    Taft, Teresa; Staes, Catherine; Slager, Stacey; Weir, Charlene

    2016-01-01

    The study objective was to improve the applicability of Nielson’s standard design heuristics for evaluating electronic health record (EHR) alerts and linked ordering support by integrating them with Dual Process theory. Through initial heuristic evaluation and a user study of 7 physicians, usability problems were identified. Through independent mapping of specific usability criteria to support for each of the Dual Cognitive processes (S1 and S2) and deliberation, agreement was reached on mapping criteria. Finally, usability errors from the heuristic and user study were mapped to S1 and S2. Adding a dual process perspective to specific heuristic analysis increases the applicability and relevance of computerized health information design evaluations. This mapping enables designers to measure that their systems are tailored to support attention allocation. System 1 will be supported by improving pattern recognition and saliency, and system 2 through efficiency and control of information access. PMID:28269915

  12. Expanding the Possibilities of AIS Data with Heuristics

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bjørnar Brende Smestad

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available Automatic Identification System (AIS is primarily used as a tracking system for ships, but with the launch of satellites to collect these data, new and previously untested possibilities are emerging. This paper presents the development of heuristics for establishing the specific ship type using information retrieved from AIS data alone. These heuristics expand the possibilities of AIS data, as the specific ship type is vital for several transportation research cases, such as emission analyses of ship traffic and studies on slow steaming. The presented method for developing heuristics can be used for a wider range of vessels. These heuristics may form the basis of large-scale studies on ship traffic using AIS data when it is not feasible or desirable to use commercial ship data registers.

  13. Complex Chemical Reaction Networks from Heuristics-Aided Quantum Chemistry.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rappoport, Dmitrij; Galvin, Cooper J; Zubarev, Dmitry Yu; Aspuru-Guzik, Alán

    2014-03-11

    While structures and reactivities of many small molecules can be computed efficiently and accurately using quantum chemical methods, heuristic approaches remain essential for modeling complex structures and large-scale chemical systems. Here, we present a heuristics-aided quantum chemical methodology applicable to complex chemical reaction networks such as those arising in cell metabolism and prebiotic chemistry. Chemical heuristics offer an expedient way of traversing high-dimensional reactive potential energy surfaces and are combined here with quantum chemical structure optimizations, which yield the structures and energies of the reaction intermediates and products. Application of heuristics-aided quantum chemical methodology to the formose reaction reproduces the experimentally observed reaction products, major reaction pathways, and autocatalytic cycles.

  14. HEURISTICS IN DECISION MAKING

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    I PUTU SUDANA

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available Prinsip heuristics tidak dapat dikatakan sebagai sebuah pendekatanpengambilan keputusan yang non-rasional, karena penerapan atau penggunaanyang unconscious atau subtle mind tidak dapat dianggap sebagai tindakanyang irrational. Dengan alasan tersebut, terdapat cukup alasan untukmenyatakan bahwa pengklasifikasian pendekatan-pendekatan keputusansemestinya menggunakan terminologi analytical dan experiential, dan bukanmemakai istilah rational dan non-rational seperti yang umumnya diikuti.Penerapan pendekatan heuristics dapat ditemukan pada berbagai disiplin,termasuk bisnis dan akuntansi. Topik heuristics semestinya mendapatperhatian yang cukup luas dari para periset di bidang akuntansi. Bidangbehavioral research in accounting menawarkan banyak kemungkinan untukdikaji, karena prinsip heuristics bertautan erat dengan aspek manusia sebagaipelaku dalam pengambilan keputusan.

  15. The Effect of Incentive Structure on Heuristic Decision Making: The Proportion Heuristic

    OpenAIRE

    Robert Oxoby

    2007-01-01

    When making judgments, individuals often utilize heuristics to interpret information. We report on a series of experiments designed to test the ways in which incentive mechanisms influence the use of a particular heuristic in decision-making. Specifically, we demonstrate how information regarding the number of available practice problems influences the behaviors of individuals preparing for an exam (the proportion heuristic). More importantly the extent to which this information influences be...

  16. Arational heuristic model of economic decision making

    OpenAIRE

    Grandori, Anna

    2010-01-01

    The article discuss the limits of both the rational actor and the behavioral paradigms in explaining and guiding innovative decision making and outlines a model of economic decision making that in the course of being 'heuristic' (research and discovery oriented) is also 'rational' (in the broad sense of following correct reasoning and scientific methods, non 'biasing'). The model specifies a set of 'rational heuristics' for innovative decision making, for the various sub-processes of problem ...

  17. Parameter estimation with bio-inspired meta-heuristic optimization: modeling the dynamics of endocytosis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tashkova Katerina

    2011-10-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background We address the task of parameter estimation in models of the dynamics of biological systems based on ordinary differential equations (ODEs from measured data, where the models are typically non-linear and have many parameters, the measurements are imperfect due to noise, and the studied system can often be only partially observed. A representative task is to estimate the parameters in a model of the dynamics of endocytosis, i.e., endosome maturation, reflected in a cut-out switch transition between the Rab5 and Rab7 domain protein concentrations, from experimental measurements of these concentrations. The general parameter estimation task and the specific instance considered here are challenging optimization problems, calling for the use of advanced meta-heuristic optimization methods, such as evolutionary or swarm-based methods. Results We apply three global-search meta-heuristic algorithms for numerical optimization, i.e., differential ant-stigmergy algorithm (DASA, particle-swarm optimization (PSO, and differential evolution (DE, as well as a local-search derivative-based algorithm 717 (A717 to the task of estimating parameters in ODEs. We evaluate their performance on the considered representative task along a number of metrics, including the quality of reconstructing the system output and the complete dynamics, as well as the speed of convergence, both on real-experimental data and on artificial pseudo-experimental data with varying amounts of noise. We compare the four optimization methods under a range of observation scenarios, where data of different completeness and accuracy of interpretation are given as input. Conclusions Overall, the global meta-heuristic methods (DASA, PSO, and DE clearly and significantly outperform the local derivative-based method (A717. Among the three meta-heuristics, differential evolution (DE performs best in terms of the objective function, i.e., reconstructing the output, and in terms of

  18. Parameter estimation with bio-inspired meta-heuristic optimization: modeling the dynamics of endocytosis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tashkova, Katerina; Korošec, Peter; Silc, Jurij; Todorovski, Ljupčo; Džeroski, Sašo

    2011-10-11

    We address the task of parameter estimation in models of the dynamics of biological systems based on ordinary differential equations (ODEs) from measured data, where the models are typically non-linear and have many parameters, the measurements are imperfect due to noise, and the studied system can often be only partially observed. A representative task is to estimate the parameters in a model of the dynamics of endocytosis, i.e., endosome maturation, reflected in a cut-out switch transition between the Rab5 and Rab7 domain protein concentrations, from experimental measurements of these concentrations. The general parameter estimation task and the specific instance considered here are challenging optimization problems, calling for the use of advanced meta-heuristic optimization methods, such as evolutionary or swarm-based methods. We apply three global-search meta-heuristic algorithms for numerical optimization, i.e., differential ant-stigmergy algorithm (DASA), particle-swarm optimization (PSO), and differential evolution (DE), as well as a local-search derivative-based algorithm 717 (A717) to the task of estimating parameters in ODEs. We evaluate their performance on the considered representative task along a number of metrics, including the quality of reconstructing the system output and the complete dynamics, as well as the speed of convergence, both on real-experimental data and on artificial pseudo-experimental data with varying amounts of noise. We compare the four optimization methods under a range of observation scenarios, where data of different completeness and accuracy of interpretation are given as input. Overall, the global meta-heuristic methods (DASA, PSO, and DE) clearly and significantly outperform the local derivative-based method (A717). Among the three meta-heuristics, differential evolution (DE) performs best in terms of the objective function, i.e., reconstructing the output, and in terms of convergence. These results hold for both real and

  19. Heuristics for speeding up gaze estimation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Leimberg, Denis; Vester-Christensen, Martin; Ersbøll, Bjarne Kjær

    2005-01-01

    A deformable template method for eye tracking on full face images is presented. The strengths of the method are that it is fast and retains accuracy independently of the resolution. We compare the method with a state of the art active contour approach, showing that the heuristic method is more...

  20. Heuristic method of fabricating counter electrodes in dye-sensitized solar cells based on a PEDOT:PSS layer as a catalytic material

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Edalati, Sh; Houshangi far, A; Torabi, N; Baneshi, Z; Behjat, A

    2017-01-01

    Poly(3,4-ethylendioxythiophene):poly(styrene sulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) was deposited on a fluoride-doped tin oxide glass substrate using a heuristic method to fabricate platinum-free counter electrodes for dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). In this heuristic method a thin layer of PEDOT:PPS is obtained by spin coating the PEDOT:PSS on a Cu substrate and then removing the substrate with FeCl 3 . The characteristics of the deposited PEDOT:PSS were studied by energy dispersive x-ray analysis and scanning electron microscopy, which revealed the micro-electronic specifications of the cathode. The aforementioned DSSCs exhibited a solar conversion efficiency of 3.90%, which is far higher than that of DSSCs with pure PEDOT:PSS (1.89%). This enhancement is attributed not only to the micro-electronic specifications but also to the HNO 3 treatment through our heuristic method. The results of cyclic voltammetry, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and Tafel polarization plots show the modified cathode has a dual function, including excellent conductivity and electrocatalytic activity for iodine reduction. (paper)

  1. Using heuristic search for optimizing maintenance plans

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mutanen, Teemu

    2012-01-01

    This work addresses the maintenance action selection process. Maintenance personnel need to evaluate maintenance actions and costs to keep the machines in working condition. Group of actions are evaluated together as maintenance plans. The maintenance plans as output provide information to the user about which actions to take if any and what future actions should be prepared for. The heuristic search method is implemented as part of general use toolbox for analysis of measurements from movable work machines. Impacts from machine's usage restrictions and maintenance activities are analysed. The results show that once put on a temporal perspective, the prioritized order of the actions is different and provide additional information to the user.

  2. A comparison of Heuristic method and Llewellyn’s rules for identification of redundant constraints

    Science.gov (United States)

    Estiningsih, Y.; Farikhin; Tjahjana, R. H.

    2018-03-01

    Important techniques in linear programming is modelling and solving practical optimization. Redundant constraints are consider for their effects on general linear programming problems. Identification and reduce redundant constraints are for avoidance of all the calculations associated when solving an associated linear programming problems. Many researchers have been proposed for identification redundant constraints. This paper a compararison of Heuristic method and Llewellyn’s rules for identification of redundant constraints.

  3. Heuristics for Multidimensional Packing Problems

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Egeblad, Jens

    for a minimum height container required for the items. The main contributions of the thesis are three new heuristics for strip-packing and knapsack packing problems where items are both rectangular and irregular. In the two first papers we describe a heuristic for the multidimensional strip-packing problem...... that is based on a relaxed placement principle. The heuristic starts with a random overlapping placement of items and large container dimensions. From the overlapping placement overlap is reduced iteratively until a non-overlapping placement is found and a new problem is solved with a smaller container size...... of this heuristic are among the best published in the literature both for two- and three-dimensional strip-packing problems for irregular shapes. In the third paper, we introduce a heuristic for two- and three-dimensional rectangular knapsack packing problems. The two-dimensional heuristic uses the sequence pair...

  4. Improving performances of suboptimal greedy iterative biclustering heuristics via localization.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Erten, Cesim; Sözdinler, Melih

    2010-10-15

    Biclustering gene expression data is the problem of extracting submatrices of genes and conditions exhibiting significant correlation across both the rows and the columns of a data matrix of expression values. Even the simplest versions of the problem are computationally hard. Most of the proposed solutions therefore employ greedy iterative heuristics that locally optimize a suitably assigned scoring function. We provide a fast and simple pre-processing algorithm called localization that reorders the rows and columns of the input data matrix in such a way as to group correlated entries in small local neighborhoods within the matrix. The proposed localization algorithm takes its roots from effective use of graph-theoretical methods applied to problems exhibiting a similar structure to that of biclustering. In order to evaluate the effectivenesss of the localization pre-processing algorithm, we focus on three representative greedy iterative heuristic methods. We show how the localization pre-processing can be incorporated into each representative algorithm to improve biclustering performance. Furthermore, we propose a simple biclustering algorithm, Random Extraction After Localization (REAL) that randomly extracts submatrices from the localization pre-processed data matrix, eliminates those with low similarity scores, and provides the rest as correlated structures representing biclusters. We compare the proposed localization pre-processing with another pre-processing alternative, non-negative matrix factorization. We show that our fast and simple localization procedure provides similar or even better results than the computationally heavy matrix factorization pre-processing with regards to H-value tests. We next demonstrate that the performances of the three representative greedy iterative heuristic methods improve with localization pre-processing when biological correlations in the form of functional enrichment and PPI verification constitute the main performance

  5. A Dynamic and Heuristic Phase Balancing Method for LV Feeders

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Samad Taghipour Boroujeni

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Due to the single-phase loads and their stochastic behavior, the current in the distribution feeders is not balanced. In addition, the single-phase loads are located in different positions along the LV feeders. So the amount of the unbalanced load and its location affect the feeder losses. An unbalanced load causes the feeder losses and the voltage drop. Because of time-varying behavior of the single-phase loads, phase balancing is a dynamic and combinatorial problem. In this research, a heuristic and dynamic solution for the phase balancing of the LV feeders is proposed. In this method, it is supposed that the loads’ tie could be connected to all phases through a three-phase switch. The aim of the proposed method is to make the feeder conditions as balanced as possible. The amount and the location of single-phase loads are considered in the proposed phase balancing method. Since the proposed method needs no communication interface or no remote controller, it is inexpensive, simple, practical, and robust. Applying this method provides a distributed and dynamic phase balancing control. In addition, the feasibility of reducing the used switches is investigated. The ability of the proposed method in the phase balancing of the LV feeders is approved by carrying out some simulations.

  6. Heuristic and algorithmic processing in English, mathematics, and science education.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sharps, Matthew J; Hess, Adam B; Price-Sharps, Jana L; Teh, Jane

    2008-01-01

    Many college students experience difficulties in basic academic skills. Recent research suggests that much of this difficulty may lie in heuristic competency--the ability to use and successfully manage general cognitive strategies. In the present study, the authors evaluated this possibility. They compared participants' performance on a practice California Basic Educational Skills Test and on a series of questions in the natural sciences with heuristic and algorithmic performance on a series of mathematics and reading comprehension exercises. Heuristic competency in mathematics was associated with better scores in science and mathematics. Verbal and algorithmic skills were associated with better reading comprehension. These results indicate the importance of including heuristic training in educational contexts and highlight the importance of a relatively domain-specific approach to questions of cognition in higher education.

  7. Heuristics Miner for E-Commerce Visitor Access Pattern Representation

    OpenAIRE

    Kartina Diah Kesuma Wardhani; Wawan Yunanto

    2017-01-01

    E-commerce click stream data can form a certain pattern that describe visitor behavior while surfing the e-commerce website. This pattern can be used to initiate a design to determine alternative access sequence on the website. This research use heuristic miner algorithm to determine the pattern. σ-Algorithm and Genetic Mining are methods used for pattern recognition with frequent sequence item set approach. Heuristic Miner is an evolved form of those methods. σ-Algorithm assume that an activ...

  8. A Heuristic Tool for Teaching Business Writing: Self-Assessment, Knowledge Transfer, and Writing Exercises

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ortiz, Lorelei A.

    2013-01-01

    To teach effective business communication, instructors must target students’ current weaknesses in writing. One method for doing so is by assigning writing exercises. When used heuristically, writing exercises encourage students to practice self-assessment, self-evaluation, active learning, and knowledge transfer, all while reinforcing the basics…

  9. Advancing Usability Evaluation through Human Reliability Analysis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ronald L. Boring; David I. Gertman

    2005-01-01

    This paper introduces a novel augmentation to the current heuristic usability evaluation methodology. The SPAR-H human reliability analysis method was developed for categorizing human performance in nuclear power plants. Despite the specialized use of SPAR-H for safety critical scenarios, the method also holds promise for use in commercial off-the-shelf software usability evaluations. The SPAR-H method shares task analysis underpinnings with human-computer interaction, and it can be easily adapted to incorporate usability heuristics as performance shaping factors. By assigning probabilistic modifiers to heuristics, it is possible to arrive at the usability error probability (UEP). This UEP is not a literal probability of error but nonetheless provides a quantitative basis to heuristic evaluation. When combined with a consequence matrix for usability errors, this method affords ready prioritization of usability issues

  10. HEURISTIC APPROACH BY GEOTECHNICAL HAZARD EVALUATION OF THE MEDVEDNICA NATURE PARK

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Željko Miklin

    2009-12-01

    Full Text Available In making the article, several thematic maps with scale 1:25000 were used. It is the lithological map with outlined engineering geological units, the inclination map with four categories and the landslide map with the areas with increased erosion and generally unstable areas are shown, structural-geomorphological map, surface and groundwater condition map and hydrogeological map. The last one was used with the aim to evaluate the influence of hydrogeological relationship on the synthetic hazard map. The integration of facts from all the maps and engineering evaluation lead to new quality that was presented in the last - synthetic, qualitative map of prognostic meaning. They have been adopted as the factor maps and with their overlapping the map with new contents was made. The Preliminary qualitative map of sliding hazard, including the erosion, was made by heuristic approach, as a predecessor to the hazard map. Such maps proved to be very useful as bases for spatial and development planning on the regional level as well as for evaluation of the site suitability for building.

  11. Automated detection of heuristics and biases among pathologists in a computer-based system.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Crowley, Rebecca S; Legowski, Elizabeth; Medvedeva, Olga; Reitmeyer, Kayse; Tseytlin, Eugene; Castine, Melissa; Jukic, Drazen; Mello-Thoms, Claudia

    2013-08-01

    The purpose of this study is threefold: (1) to develop an automated, computer-based method to detect heuristics and biases as pathologists examine virtual slide cases, (2) to measure the frequency and distribution of heuristics and errors across three levels of training, and (3) to examine relationships of heuristics to biases, and biases to diagnostic errors. The authors conducted the study using a computer-based system to view and diagnose virtual slide cases. The software recorded participant responses throughout the diagnostic process, and automatically classified participant actions based on definitions of eight common heuristics and/or biases. The authors measured frequency of heuristic use and bias across three levels of training. Biases studied were detected at varying frequencies, with availability and search satisficing observed most frequently. There were few significant differences by level of training. For representativeness and anchoring, the heuristic was used appropriately as often or more often than it was used in biased judgment. Approximately half of the diagnostic errors were associated with one or more biases. We conclude that heuristic use and biases were observed among physicians at all levels of training using the virtual slide system, although their frequencies varied. The system can be employed to detect heuristic use and to test methods for decreasing diagnostic errors resulting from cognitive biases.

  12. A HYBRID HEURISTIC ALGORITHM FOR SOLVING THE RESOURCE CONSTRAINED PROJECT SCHEDULING PROBLEM (RCPSP

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Juan Carlos Rivera

    Full Text Available The Resource Constrained Project Scheduling Problem (RCPSP is a problem of great interest for the scientific community because it belongs to the class of NP-Hard problems and no methods are known that can solve it accurately in polynomial processing times. For this reason heuristic methods are used to solve it in an efficient way though there is no guarantee that an optimal solution can be obtained. This research presents a hybrid heuristic search algorithm to solve the RCPSP efficiently, combining elements of the heuristic Greedy Randomized Adaptive Search Procedure (GRASP, Scatter Search and Justification. The efficiency obtained is measured taking into account the presence of the new elements added to the GRASP algorithm taken as base: Justification and Scatter Search. The algorithms are evaluated using three data bases of instances of the problem: 480 instances of 30 activities, 480 of 60, and 600 of 120 activities respectively, taken from the library PSPLIB available online. The solutions obtained by the developed algorithm for the instances of 30, 60 and 120 are compared with results obtained by other researchers at international level, where a prominent place is obtained, according to Chen (2011.

  13. Modified strip packing heuristics for the rectangular variable-sized bin packing problem

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    FG Ortmann

    2010-06-01

    Full Text Available Two packing problems are considered in this paper, namely the well-known strip packing problem (SPP and the variable-sized bin packing problem (VSBPP. A total of 252 strip packing heuristics (and variations thereof from the literature, as well as novel heuristics proposed by the authors, are compared statistically by means of 1170 SPP benchmark instances in order to identify the best heuristics in various classes. A combination of new heuristics with a new sorting method yields the best results. These heuristics are combined with a previous heuristic for the VSBPP by the authors to find good feasible solutions to 1357 VSBPP benchmark instances. This is the largest statistical comparison of algorithms for the SPP and the VSBPP to the best knowledge of the authors.

  14. Heuristic Method for Decision-Making in Common Scheduling Problems

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Edyta Kucharska

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available The aim of the paper is to present a heuristic method for decision-making regarding an NP-hard scheduling problem with limitations related to tasks and the resources dependent on the current state of the process. The presented approach is based on the algebraic-logical meta-model (ALMM, which enables making collective decisions in successive process stages, not separately for individual objects or executors. Moreover, taking into account the limitations of the problem, it involves constructing only an acceptable solution and significantly reduces the amount of calculations. A general algorithm based on the presented method is composed of the following elements: preliminary analysis of the problem, techniques for the choice of decision at a given state, the pruning non-perspective trajectory, selection technique of the initial state for the trajectory final part, and the trajectory generation parameters modification. The paper includes applications of the presented approach to scheduling problems on unrelated parallel machines with a deadline and machine setup time dependent on the process state, where the relationship between tasks is defined by the graph. The article also presents the results of computational experiments.

  15. Heuristic approach to Satellite Range Scheduling with Bounds using Lagrangian Relaxation.

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Brown, Nathanael J. K.; Arguello, Bryan; Nozick, Linda Karen; Xu, Ningxiong [Cornell

    2017-03-01

    This paper focuses on scheduling antennas to track satellites using a heuristic method. In order to validate the performance of the heuristic, bounds are developed using Lagrangian relaxation. The performance of the algorithm is established using several illustrative problems.

  16. Penjadwalan Produksi Garment Menggunakan Algoritma Heuristic Pour

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rizal Rachman

    2018-04-01

    resources efficiently. The basic calculation of Scheduling using Heuristic Pour algorithm. The research stages consist of data collection, standard time calculation, total time calculation based on job, scheduling with company start method, scheduling with Pour Heuristic method. Based on the results of scheduling using Pour Heuristik obtained savings compared with the current company method, so it can be used as an alternative method in scheduling the process of production process in Garment company. Keywords: Production Scheduling, Algorithms, Heuristic Pour.

  17. HEURISTIC METHOD OF SHIPS SELECTION FOR THE COORDINATED WORK OF WATER TRANSPORT

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    O. V. Shcherbina

    2018-02-01

    Full Text Available Purpose. The study aims to develop a formulation methodology for ship selection in the coordinated work of sea and river transport using a heuristic approach. Methodology. To realize the purpose set in the study, the authors carried out an analysis of domestic and foreign literature sources on the current topic, studied specifics and conditions for the effective operation of marine mono-hulled ships and composite tug/barge towing ones. Findings. The analysis results allowed formulating the heuristics methods that ensure the selection of the type sizes of tug/barge towing ships for the mixed «river-sea» navigation from the priority range of ships of the existing fleet. The proposed method makes it possible to select ships in a more appropriate manner according to the established scheme of work. Rational combinations of technical and operational characteristics of such pairs as «barges and tows», «tug/barge towing ship and sea-going ship», «tug/barge towing ship and restrictive characteristics of the area of navigation» are a prerequisite for the shipping company profit growth by increasing the capacity of ships. Originality. For the first time, the authors applied a heuristic approach to the selection of tug/barge towing ships and sea-going ones for coordinated work with the performance of cargo operations on the raid of the estuary port when transporting bulk goods. The basis of the approach is the selection of a rational mix of technical and operational characteristics of barges and tugs. The proposed approach allows determining the best combination of ship type sizes in the organization of coordinated work of sea and river transport. At the same time, the continuity of the goods transportation process from the sea ports to the river ones located in the depth of the country (and in the opposite direction is ensured. Practical value. The presented methodology is a logical continuation of the cycle of studies performed by the authors. The

  18. Familiarity and recollection in heuristic decision making.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schwikert, Shane R; Curran, Tim

    2014-12-01

    Heuristics involve the ability to utilize memory to make quick judgments by exploiting fundamental cognitive abilities. In the current study we investigated the memory processes that contribute to the recognition heuristic and the fluency heuristic, which are both presumed to capitalize on the byproducts of memory to make quick decisions. In Experiment 1, we used a city-size comparison task while recording event-related potentials (ERPs) to investigate the potential contributions of familiarity and recollection to the 2 heuristics. ERPs were markedly different for recognition heuristic-based decisions and fluency heuristic-based decisions, suggesting a role for familiarity in the recognition heuristic and recollection in the fluency heuristic. In Experiment 2, we coupled the same city-size comparison task with measures of subjective preexperimental memory for each stimulus in the task. Although previous literature suggests the fluency heuristic relies on recognition speed alone, our results suggest differential contributions of recognition speed and recollected knowledge to these decisions, whereas the recognition heuristic relies on familiarity. Based on these results, we created a new theoretical framework that explains decisions attributed to both heuristics based on the underlying memory associated with the choice options. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved.

  19. On the complexity of decision trees, the quasi-optimizer, and the power of heuristic rules

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Findler, N.V.; Leeuwen, J. van

    The power of certain heuristic rules is indicated by the relative reduction in the complexity of computations carried out, due to the use of the heuristics. A concept of complexity is needed to evaluate the performance of programs as they operate with a varying set of heuristic rules in use. We

  20. Usable guidelines for usable websites? an analysis of five e-government heuristics

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Welle Donker-Kuijer, M.C.J.; de Jong, Menno D.T.; Lentz, Leo

    2010-01-01

    Many government organizations use web heuristics for the quality assurance of their websites. Heuristics may be used by web designers to guide the decisions about a website in development, or by web evaluators to optimize or assess the quality of an existing website. Despite their popularity, very

  1. The rationality of intuition: Studying adaptive heuristics in project decision-making

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Stingl, Verena; Geraldi, Joana

    This paper presents a research agenda for studying adaptive heuristics in project decision making. Project decisions are a potentially fruitful research field for adaptive heuristics. These decisions typically take place under time and information constraints, with high complexity and ambiguity...... - environments in which adaptive heuristics typically strive as effective decision tools. Yet, project decisions as a research topic introduce challenges that are currently not considered in the main body of adaptive heuristics research: the issue of group decision making, and the element of an unpredictable...... the limitations of these methods for project decision-making, and suggests alternative methodologies, suitable to cope with group decision-making and irreducible uncertainty....

  2. Automated Detection of Heuristics and Biases among Pathologists in a Computer-Based System

    Science.gov (United States)

    Crowley, Rebecca S.; Legowski, Elizabeth; Medvedeva, Olga; Reitmeyer, Kayse; Tseytlin, Eugene; Castine, Melissa; Jukic, Drazen; Mello-Thoms, Claudia

    2013-01-01

    The purpose of this study is threefold: (1) to develop an automated, computer-based method to detect heuristics and biases as pathologists examine virtual slide cases, (2) to measure the frequency and distribution of heuristics and errors across three levels of training, and (3) to examine relationships of heuristics to biases, and biases to…

  3. A flow-first route-next heuristic for liner shipping network design

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Krogsgaard, Alexander; Pisinger, David; Thorsen, Jesper

    2018-01-01

    Having a well-designed liner shipping network is paramount to ensure competitive freight rates, adequate capacity on trade-lanes, and reasonable transportation times.The most successful algorithms for liner shipping network design make use of a two-phase approach, where they first design the routes...... different operators are used to modify the network. Since each iteration of the local search method involves solving a very complex multi-commodity flow problem to route the containers through the network, the flow problem is solved heuristically by use of a fast Lagrange heuristic. Although the Lagrange...... heuristic for flowing containers is 2–5% from the optimal solution, the solution quality is sufficiently good to guide the variable neighborhood search method in designing the network. Computational results are reported, showing that the developed heuristic is able to find improved solutions for large...

  4. Comparison of Decisions Quality of Heuristic Methods with Limited Depth-First Search Techniques in the Graph Shortest Path Problem

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vatutin Eduard

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available The article deals with the problem of analysis of effectiveness of the heuristic methods with limited depth-first search techniques of decision obtaining in the test problem of getting the shortest path in graph. The article briefly describes the group of methods based on the limit of branches number of the combinatorial search tree and limit of analyzed subtree depth used to solve the problem. The methodology of comparing experimental data for the estimation of the quality of solutions based on the performing of computational experiments with samples of graphs with pseudo-random structure and selected vertices and arcs number using the BOINC platform is considered. It also shows description of obtained experimental results which allow to identify the areas of the preferable usage of selected subset of heuristic methods depending on the size of the problem and power of constraints. It is shown that the considered pair of methods is ineffective in the selected problem and significantly inferior to the quality of solutions that are provided by ant colony optimization method and its modification with combinatorial returns.

  5. Comparison of Decisions Quality of Heuristic Methods with Limited Depth-First Search Techniques in the Graph Shortest Path Problem

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vatutin, Eduard

    2017-12-01

    The article deals with the problem of analysis of effectiveness of the heuristic methods with limited depth-first search techniques of decision obtaining in the test problem of getting the shortest path in graph. The article briefly describes the group of methods based on the limit of branches number of the combinatorial search tree and limit of analyzed subtree depth used to solve the problem. The methodology of comparing experimental data for the estimation of the quality of solutions based on the performing of computational experiments with samples of graphs with pseudo-random structure and selected vertices and arcs number using the BOINC platform is considered. It also shows description of obtained experimental results which allow to identify the areas of the preferable usage of selected subset of heuristic methods depending on the size of the problem and power of constraints. It is shown that the considered pair of methods is ineffective in the selected problem and significantly inferior to the quality of solutions that are provided by ant colony optimization method and its modification with combinatorial returns.

  6. When decision heuristics and science collide.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yu, Erica C; Sprenger, Amber M; Thomas, Rick P; Dougherty, Michael R

    2014-04-01

    The ongoing discussion among scientists about null-hypothesis significance testing and Bayesian data analysis has led to speculation about the practices and consequences of "researcher degrees of freedom." This article advances this debate by asking the broader questions that we, as scientists, should be asking: How do scientists make decisions in the course of doing research, and what is the impact of these decisions on scientific conclusions? We asked practicing scientists to collect data in a simulated research environment, and our findings show that some scientists use data collection heuristics that deviate from prescribed methodology. Monte Carlo simulations show that data collection heuristics based on p values lead to biases in estimated effect sizes and Bayes factors and to increases in both false-positive and false-negative rates, depending on the specific heuristic. We also show that using Bayesian data collection methods does not eliminate these biases. Thus, our study highlights the little appreciated fact that the process of doing science is a behavioral endeavor that can bias statistical description and inference in a manner that transcends adherence to any particular statistical framework.

  7. New heuristic method for the optimization of product mix based on theory of constraints and knapsack problem

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vinicius Amorim Sobreiro

    2013-06-01

    Full Text Available The definition of the product mix provides the allocation of the productive resources in the manufacture process and the optimization of productive system. However, the definition of the product mix is a problem of the NP-complete, in other words, of difficult solution. Taking this into account, with the aid of the Theory of Constraints - TOC, some constructive heuristics have been presented to help to solve this problem. Thus, the objective in this paper is to propose a new heuristics to provide better solutions when compared with the main heuristics presented in the literature, TOC-h of Fredendall and Lea. To accomplish this comparison, simulations were accomplished with the objective of identifying the production mix with the best throughput, considering CPU time and the characteristics of the productive ambient. The results show that the heuristics proposal was more satisfactory when compared to TOC-h and it shows good solution when compared with the optimum solution. This fact evidence the importance of the heuristics proposal in the definition of product mix.

  8. General k-opt submoves for the Lin-Kernighan TSP heuristic

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Helsgaun, Keld

    2009-01-01

    Local search with k-exchange neighborhoods, k-opt, is the most widely used heuristic method for the traveling salesman problem (TSP). This paper presents an effective implementation of k-opt in LKH-2, a variant of the Lin–Kernighan TSP heuristic. The effectiveness of the implementation...

  9. An efficient heuristic method for active feature acquisition and its application to protein-protein interaction prediction

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Thahir Mohamed

    2012-11-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Machine learning approaches for classification learn the pattern of the feature space of different classes, or learn a boundary that separates the feature space into different classes. The features of the data instances are usually available, and it is only the class-labels of the instances that are unavailable. For example, to classify text documents into different topic categories, the words in the documents are features and they are readily available, whereas the topic is what is predicted. However, in some domains obtaining features may be resource-intensive because of which not all features may be available. An example is that of protein-protein interaction prediction, where not only are the labels ('interacting' or 'non-interacting' unavailable, but so are some of the features. It may be possible to obtain at least some of the missing features by carrying out a few experiments as permitted by the available resources. If only a few experiments can be carried out to acquire missing features, which proteins should be studied and which features of those proteins should be determined? From the perspective of machine learning for PPI prediction, it would be desirable that those features be acquired which when used in training the classifier, the accuracy of the classifier is improved the most. That is, the utility of the feature-acquisition is measured in terms of how much acquired features contribute to improving the accuracy of the classifier. Active feature acquisition (AFA is a strategy to preselect such instance-feature combinations (i.e. protein and experiment combinations for maximum utility. The goal of AFA is the creation of optimal training set that would result in the best classifier, and not in determining the best classification model itself. Results We present a heuristic method for active feature acquisition to calculate the utility of acquiring a missing feature. This heuristic takes into account the change in

  10. Thermodynamic heuristics with case-based reasoning: combined insights for RNA pseudoknot secondary structure.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Al-Khatib, Ra'ed M; Rashid, Nur'Aini Abdul; Abdullah, Rosni

    2011-08-01

    The secondary structure of RNA pseudoknots has been extensively inferred and scrutinized by computational approaches. Experimental methods for determining RNA structure are time consuming and tedious; therefore, predictive computational approaches are required. Predicting the most accurate and energy-stable pseudoknot RNA secondary structure has been proven to be an NP-hard problem. In this paper, a new RNA folding approach, termed MSeeker, is presented; it includes KnotSeeker (a heuristic method) and Mfold (a thermodynamic algorithm). The global optimization of this thermodynamic heuristic approach was further enhanced by using a case-based reasoning technique as a local optimization method. MSeeker is a proposed algorithm for predicting RNA pseudoknot structure from individual sequences, especially long ones. This research demonstrates that MSeeker improves the sensitivity and specificity of existing RNA pseudoknot structure predictions. The performance and structural results from this proposed method were evaluated against seven other state-of-the-art pseudoknot prediction methods. The MSeeker method had better sensitivity than the DotKnot, FlexStem, HotKnots, pknotsRG, ILM, NUPACK and pknotsRE methods, with 79% of the predicted pseudoknot base-pairs being correct.

  11. A heuristic for the inventory management of smart vending machine systems

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yang-Byung Park

    2012-12-01

    Full Text Available Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to propose a heuristic for the inventory management of smart vending machine systems with product substitution under the replenishment point, order-up-to level policy and to evaluate its performance.Design/methodology/approach: The heuristic is developed on the basis of the decoupled approach. An integer linear mathematical model is built to determine the number of product storage compartments and replenishment threshold for each smart vending machine in the system and the Clarke and Wright’s savings algorithm is applied to route vehicles for inventory replenishments of smart vending machines that share the same delivery days. Computational experiments are conducted on several small-size test problems to compare the proposed heuristic with the integrated optimization mathematical model with respect to system profit. Furthermore, a sensitivity analysis is carried out on a medium-size test problem to evaluate the effect of the customer service level on system profit using a computer simulation.Findings: The results show that the proposed heuristic yielded pretty good solutions with 5.7% error rate on average compared to the optimal solutions. The proposed heuristic took about 3 CPU minutes on average in the test problems being consisted of 10 five-product smart vending machines. It was confirmed that the system profit is significantly affected by the customer service level.Originality/value: The inventory management of smart vending machine systems is newly treated. Product substitutions are explicitly considered in the model. The proposed heuristic is effective as well as efficient. It can be easily modified for application to various retail vending settings under a vendor-managed inventory scheme with POS system.

  12. Heuristic Scheduling Algorithm Oriented Dynamic Tasks for Imaging Satellites

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Maocai Wang

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Imaging satellite scheduling is an NP-hard problem with many complex constraints. This paper researches the scheduling problem for dynamic tasks oriented to some emergency cases. After the dynamic properties of satellite scheduling were analyzed, the optimization model is proposed in this paper. Based on the model, two heuristic algorithms are proposed to solve the problem. The first heuristic algorithm arranges new tasks by inserting or deleting them, then inserting them repeatedly according to the priority from low to high, which is named IDI algorithm. The second one called ISDR adopts four steps: insert directly, insert by shifting, insert by deleting, and reinsert the tasks deleted. Moreover, two heuristic factors, congestion degree of a time window and the overlapping degree of a task, are employed to improve the algorithm’s performance. Finally, a case is given to test the algorithms. The results show that the IDI algorithm is better than ISDR from the running time point of view while ISDR algorithm with heuristic factors is more effective with regard to algorithm performance. Moreover, the results also show that our method has good performance for the larger size of the dynamic tasks in comparison with the other two methods.

  13. Inhibitory mechanism of the matching heuristic in syllogistic reasoning.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tse, Ping Ping; Moreno Ríos, Sergio; García-Madruga, Juan Antonio; Bajo Molina, María Teresa

    2014-11-01

    A number of heuristic-based hypotheses have been proposed to explain how people solve syllogisms with automatic processes. In particular, the matching heuristic employs the congruency of the quantifiers in a syllogism—by matching the quantifier of the conclusion with those of the two premises. When the heuristic leads to an invalid conclusion, successful solving of these conflict problems requires the inhibition of automatic heuristic processing. Accordingly, if the automatic processing were based on processing the set of quantifiers, no semantic contents would be inhibited. The mental model theory, however, suggests that people reason using mental models, which always involves semantic processing. Therefore, whatever inhibition occurs in the processing implies the inhibition of the semantic contents. We manipulated the validity of the syllogism and the congruency of the quantifier of its conclusion with those of the two premises according to the matching heuristic. A subsequent lexical decision task (LDT) with related words in the conclusion was used to test any inhibition of the semantic contents after each syllogistic evaluation trial. In the LDT, the facilitation effect of semantic priming diminished after correctly solved conflict syllogisms (match-invalid or mismatch-valid), but was intact after no-conflict syllogisms. The results suggest the involvement of an inhibitory mechanism of semantic contents in syllogistic reasoning when there is a conflict between the output of the syntactic heuristic and actual validity. Our results do not support a uniquely syntactic process of syllogistic reasoning but fit with the predictions based on mental model theory. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  14. Heuristics structure and pervade formal risk assessment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    MacGillivray, Brian H

    2014-04-01

    Lay perceptions of risk appear rooted more in heuristics than in reason. A major concern of the risk regulation literature is that such "error-strewn" perceptions may be replicated in policy, as governments respond to the (mis)fears of the citizenry. This has led many to advocate a relatively technocratic approach to regulating risk, characterized by high reliance on formal risk and cost-benefit analysis. However, through two studies of chemicals regulation, we show that the formal assessment of risk is pervaded by its own set of heuristics. These include rules to categorize potential threats, define what constitutes valid data, guide causal inference, and to select and apply formal models. Some of these heuristics lay claim to theoretical or empirical justifications, others are more back-of-the-envelope calculations, while still more purport not to reflect some truth but simply to constrain discretion or perform a desk-clearing function. These heuristics can be understood as a way of authenticating or formalizing risk assessment as a scientific practice, representing a series of rules for bounding problems, collecting data, and interpreting evidence (a methodology). Heuristics are indispensable elements of induction. And so they are not problematic per se, but they can become so when treated as laws rather than as contingent and provisional rules. Pitfalls include the potential for systematic error, masking uncertainties, strategic manipulation, and entrenchment. Our central claim is that by studying the rules of risk assessment qua rules, we develop a novel representation of the methods, conventions, and biases of the prior art. © 2013 Society for Risk Analysis.

  15. An integral heuristic

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kauffman, L.H.

    1990-01-01

    This paper gives a heuristic derivation of the skein relation for the Homfly polynomial in an integral formalism. The derivation is formally correct but highly simplified. In the light of Witten's proposal for invariants of links via functional integrals, it is useful to have a formal pattern to compare with the complexities of the full approach. The formalism is a heuristic. However, it is closely related to the actual structure of the Witten functional integral

  16. Further heuristics for $k$-means: The merge-and-split heuristic and the $(k,l)$-means

    OpenAIRE

    Nielsen, Frank; Nock, Richard

    2014-01-01

    Finding the optimal $k$-means clustering is NP-hard in general and many heuristics have been designed for minimizing monotonically the $k$-means objective. We first show how to extend Lloyd's batched relocation heuristic and Hartigan's single-point relocation heuristic to take into account empty-cluster and single-point cluster events, respectively. Those events tend to increasingly occur when $k$ or $d$ increases, or when performing several restarts. First, we show that those special events ...

  17. Internal Medicine residents use heuristics to estimate disease probability

    OpenAIRE

    Phang, Sen Han; Ravani, Pietro; Schaefer, Jeffrey; Wright, Bruce; McLaughlin, Kevin

    2015-01-01

    Background: Training in Bayesian reasoning may have limited impact on accuracy of probability estimates. In this study, our goal was to explore whether residents previously exposed to Bayesian reasoning use heuristics rather than Bayesian reasoning to estimate disease probabilities. We predicted that if residents use heuristics then post-test probability estimates would be increased by non-discriminating clinical features or a high anchor for a target condition. Method: We randomized 55 In...

  18. Reconsidering "evidence" for fast-and-frugal heuristics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hilbig, Benjamin E

    2010-12-01

    In several recent reviews, authors have argued for the pervasive use of fast-and-frugal heuristics in human judgment. They have provided an overview of heuristics and have reiterated findings corroborating that such heuristics can be very valid strategies leading to high accuracy. They also have reviewed previous work that implies that simple heuristics are actually used by decision makers. Unfortunately, concerning the latter point, these reviews appear to be somewhat incomplete. More important, previous conclusions have been derived from investigations that bear some noteworthy methodological limitations. I demonstrate these by proposing a new heuristic and provide some novel critical findings. Also, I review some of the relevant literature often not-or only partially-considered. Overall, although some fast-and-frugal heuristics indeed seem to predict behavior at times, there is little to no evidence for others. More generally, the empirical evidence available does not warrant the conclusion that heuristics are pervasively used.

  19. Heuristics for Hierarchical Partitioning with Application to Model Checking

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Möller, Michael Oliver; Alur, Rajeev

    2001-01-01

    Given a collection of connected components, it is often desired to cluster together parts of strong correspondence, yielding a hierarchical structure. We address the automation of this process and apply heuristics to battle the combinatorial and computational complexity. We define a cost function...... that captures the quality of a structure relative to the connections and favors shallow structures with a low degree of branching. Finding a structure with minimal cost is NP-complete. We present a greedy polynomial-time algorithm that approximates good solutions incrementally by local evaluation of a heuristic...... function. We argue for a heuristic function based on four criteria: the number of enclosed connections, the number of components, the number of touched connections and the depth of the structure. We report on an application in the context of formal verification, where our algorithm serves as a preprocessor...

  20. A nuclear heuristic for application to metaheuristics in-core fuel management optimization

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Meneses, Anderson Alvarenga de Moura, E-mail: ameneses@lmp.ufrj.b [COPPE/Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, RJ (Brazil). Nuclear Engineering Program; Dalle Molle Institute for Artificial Intelligence (IDSIA), Manno-Lugano, TI (Switzerland); Gambardella, Luca Maria, E-mail: luca@idsia.c [Dalle Molle Institute for Artificial Intelligence (IDSIA), Manno-Lugano, TI (Switzerland); Schirru, Roberto, E-mail: schirru@lmp.ufrj.b [COPPE/Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, RJ (Brazil). Nuclear Engineering Program

    2009-07-01

    The In-Core Fuel Management Optimization (ICFMO) is a well-known problem of nuclear engineering whose features are complexity, high number of feasible solutions, and a complex evaluation process with high computational cost, thus it is prohibitive to have a great number of evaluations during an optimization process. Heuristics are criteria or principles for deciding which among several alternative courses of action are more effective with respect to some goal. In this paper, we propose a new approach for the use of relational heuristics for the search in the ICFMO. The Heuristic is based on the reactivity of the fuel assemblies and their position into the reactor core. It was applied to random search, resulting in less computational effort concerning the number of evaluations of loading patterns during the search. The experiments demonstrate that it is possible to achieve results comparable to results in the literature, for future application to metaheuristics in the ICFMO. (author)

  1. A nuclear heuristic for application to metaheuristics in-core fuel management optimization

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Meneses, Anderson Alvarenga de Moura; Gambardella, Luca Maria; Schirru, Roberto

    2009-01-01

    The In-Core Fuel Management Optimization (ICFMO) is a well-known problem of nuclear engineering whose features are complexity, high number of feasible solutions, and a complex evaluation process with high computational cost, thus it is prohibitive to have a great number of evaluations during an optimization process. Heuristics are criteria or principles for deciding which among several alternative courses of action are more effective with respect to some goal. In this paper, we propose a new approach for the use of relational heuristics for the search in the ICFMO. The Heuristic is based on the reactivity of the fuel assemblies and their position into the reactor core. It was applied to random search, resulting in less computational effort concerning the number of evaluations of loading patterns during the search. The experiments demonstrate that it is possible to achieve results comparable to results in the literature, for future application to metaheuristics in the ICFMO. (author)

  2. Decision-making behavior of experts at nuclear power plants. Regulatory focus influence on cognitive heuristics; Entscheidungsverhalten von Experten in Kernkraftwerken. Der Einfluss des regulatorischen Fokus auf kognitive Heuristiken

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Beck, Johannes

    2015-09-15

    The goal of this research project was to examine factors, on the basis of regulatory focus theory and the heuristics and biases approach, that influence decision-making processes of experts at nuclear power plants. Findings show that this group applies anchoring (heuristic) when evaluating conjunctive and disjunctive events and that they maintain a constant regulatory focus characteristic. No influence of the experts' characteristic regulatory focus on cognitive heuristics could be established. Theoretical and practical consequences on decision-making behavior of experts are presented. Finally, a method for measuring the use of heuristics especially in the nuclear industry is discussed.

  3. Multi-Criteria Optimization of the Deployment of a Grid for Rural Electrification Based on a Heuristic Method

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ortiz-Matos, L.; Aguila-Tellez, A.; Hincapié-Reyes, R. C.; González-Sanchez, J. W.

    2017-07-01

    In order to design electrification systems, recent mathematical models solve the problem of location, type of electrification components, and the design of possible distribution microgrids. However, due to the amount of points to be electrified increases, the solution to these models require high computational times, thereby becoming unviable practice models. This study posed a new heuristic method for the electrification of rural areas in order to solve the problem. This heuristic algorithm presents the deployment of rural electrification microgrids in the world, by finding routes for optimal placement lines and transformers in transmission and distribution microgrids. The challenge is to obtain a display with equity in losses, considering the capacity constraints of the devices and topology of the land at minimal economic cost. An optimal scenario ensures the electrification of all neighbourhoods to a minimum investment cost in terms of the distance between electric conductors and the amount of transformation devices.

  4. Modelling of packet traffic with matrix analytic methods

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Andersen, Allan T.

    1995-01-01

    BISDN network. The heuristic formula did not seem to yield substantially better results than already available approximations. Finally, some results for the finite capacity BMAP/G/1 queue have been obtained. The steady state probability vector of the embedded chain is found by a direct method where...... process. A heuristic formula for the tail behaviour of a single server queue fed by a superposition of renewal processes has been evaluated. The evaluation was performed by applying Matrix Analytic methods. The heuristic formula has applications in the Call Admission Control (CAC) procedure of the future...

  5. Heuristics Applied in the Development of Advanced Space Mission Concepts

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nilsen, Erik N.

    1998-01-01

    Advanced mission studies are the first step in determining the feasibility of a given space exploration concept. A space scientist develops a science goal in the exploration of space. This may be a new observation method, a new instrument or a mission concept to explore a solar system body. In order to determine the feasibility of a deep space mission, a concept study is convened to determine the technology needs and estimated cost of performing that mission. Heuristics are one method of defining viable mission and systems architectures that can be assessed for technology readiness and cost. Developing a viable architecture depends to a large extent upon extending the existing body of knowledge, and applying it in new and novel ways. These heuristics have evolved over time to include methods for estimating technical complexity, technology development, cost modeling and mission risk in the unique context of deep space missions. This paper examines the processes involved in performing these advanced concepts studies, and analyzes the application of heuristics in the development of an advanced in-situ planetary mission. The Venus Surface Sample Return mission study provides a context for the examination of the heuristics applied in the development of the mission and systems architecture. This study is illustrative of the effort involved in the initial assessment of an advance mission concept, and the knowledge and tools that are applied.

  6. An efficient heuristic method for dynamic portfolio selection problem under transaction costs and uncertain conditions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Najafi, Amir Abbas; Pourahmadi, Zahra

    2016-04-01

    Selecting the optimal combination of assets in a portfolio is one of the most important decisions in investment management. As investment is a long term concept, looking into a portfolio optimization problem just in a single period may cause loss of some opportunities that could be exploited in a long term view. Hence, it is tried to extend the problem from single to multi-period model. We include trading costs and uncertain conditions to this model which made it more realistic and complex. Hence, we propose an efficient heuristic method to tackle this problem. The efficiency of the method is examined and compared with the results of the rolling single-period optimization and the buy and hold method which shows the superiority of the proposed method.

  7. Finite difference methods for reducing numerical diffusion in TEACH-type calculations. [Teaching Elliptic Axisymmetric Characteristics Heuristically

    Science.gov (United States)

    Syed, S. A.; Chiappetta, L. M.

    1985-01-01

    A methodological evaluation for two-finite differencing schemes for computer-aided gas turbine design is presented. The two computational schemes include; a Bounded Skewed Finite Differencing Scheme (BSUDS); and a Quadratic Upwind Differencing Scheme (QSDS). In the evaluation, the derivations of the schemes were incorporated into two-dimensional and three-dimensional versions of the Teaching Axisymmetric Characteristics Heuristically (TEACH) computer code. Assessments were made according to performance criteria for the solution of problems of turbulent, laminar, and coannular turbulent flow. The specific performance criteria used in the evaluation were simplicity, accuracy, and computational economy. It is found that the BSUDS scheme performed better with respect to the criteria than the QUDS. Some of the reasons for the more successful performance BSUDS are discussed.

  8. Heuristics Reasoning in Diagnostic Judgment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    O'Neill, Eileen S.

    1995-01-01

    Describes three heuristics--short-cut mental strategies that streamline information--relevant to diagnostic reasoning: accessibility, similarity, and anchoring and adjustment. Analyzes factors thought to influence heuristic reasoning and presents interventions to be tested for nursing practice and education. (JOW)

  9. Heuristic thinking makes a chemist smart.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Graulich, Nicole; Hopf, Henning; Schreiner, Peter R

    2010-05-01

    We focus on the virtually neglected use of heuristic principles in understanding and teaching of organic chemistry. As human thinking is not comparable to computer systems employing factual knowledge and algorithms--people rarely make decisions through careful considerations of every possible event and its probability, risks or usefulness--research in science and teaching must include psychological aspects of the human decision making processes. Intuitive analogical and associative reasoning and the ability to categorize unexpected findings typically demonstrated by experienced chemists should be made accessible to young learners through heuristic concepts. The psychology of cognition defines heuristics as strategies that guide human problem-solving and deciding procedures, for example with patterns, analogies, or prototypes. Since research in the field of artificial intelligence and current studies in the psychology of cognition have provided evidence for the usefulness of heuristics in discovery, the status of heuristics has grown into something useful and teachable. In this tutorial review, we present a heuristic analysis of a familiar fundamental process in organic chemistry--the cyclic six-electron case, and we show that this approach leads to a more conceptual insight in understanding, as well as in teaching and learning.

  10. Heuristic Classification. Technical Report Number 12.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Clancey, William J.

    A broad range of well-structured problems--embracing forms of diagnosis, catalog selection, and skeletal planning--are solved in expert computer systems by the method of heuristic classification. These programs have a characteristic inference structure that systematically relates data to a pre-enumerated set of solutions by abstraction, heuristic…

  11. Heuristic Approach for Balancing Shift Schedules

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kim, Dae Ho; Yun, Young Su; Lee, Yong Hee

    2005-01-01

    In this paper, a heuristic approach for balancing shift schedules is proposed. For the shift schedules, various constraints which have usually been considered in realworld industry are used, and the objective is to minimize the differences of the workloads in each workgroup. The constraints and objective function are implemented in the proposed heuristic approach. Using a simple instance, the efficiency of the proposed heuristic approach is proved

  12. Proportional reasoning as a heuristic-based process: time constraint and dual task considerations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gillard, Ellen; Van Dooren, Wim; Schaeken, Walter; Verschaffel, Lieven

    2009-01-01

    The present study interprets the overuse of proportional solution methods from a dual process framework. Dual process theories claim that analytic operations involve time-consuming executive processing, whereas heuristic operations are fast and automatic. In two experiments to test whether proportional reasoning is heuristic-based, the participants solved "proportional" problems, for which proportional solution methods provide correct answers, and "nonproportional" problems known to elicit incorrect answers based on the assumption of proportionality. In Experiment 1, the available solution time was restricted. In Experiment 2, the executive resources were burdened with a secondary task. Both manipulations induced an increase in proportional answers and a decrease in correct answers to nonproportional problems. These results support the hypothesis that the choice for proportional methods is heuristic-based.

  13. The recognition heuristic: A decade of research

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gerd Gigerenzer

    2011-02-01

    Full Text Available The recognition heuristic exploits the basic psychological capacity for recognition in order to make inferences about unknown quantities in the world. In this article, we review and clarify issues that emerged from our initial work (Goldstein and Gigerenzer, 1999, 2002, including the distinction between a recognition and an evaluation process. There is now considerable evidence that (i the recognition heuristic predicts the inferences of a substantial proportion of individuals consistently, even in the presence of one or more contradicting cues, (ii people are adaptive decision makers in that accordance increases with larger recognition validity and decreases in situations when the validity is low or wholly indeterminable, and (iii in the presence of contradicting cues, some individuals appear to select different strategies. Little is known about these individual differences, or how to precisely model the alternative strategies. Although some researchers have attributed judgments inconsistent with the use of the recognition heuristic to compensatory processing, little research on such compensatory models has been reported. We discuss extensions of the recognition model, open questions, unanticipated results, and the surprising predictive power of recognition in forecasting.

  14. Choosing a heuristic and root node for edge ordering in BDD-based network reliability analysis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mo, Yuchang; Xing, Liudong; Zhong, Farong; Pan, Zhusheng; Chen, Zhongyu

    2014-01-01

    In the Binary Decision Diagram (BDD)-based network reliability analysis, heuristics have been widely used to obtain a reasonably good ordering of edge variables. Orderings generated using different heuristics can lead to dramatically different sizes of BDDs, and thus dramatically different running times and memory usages for the analysis of the same network. Unfortunately, due to the nature of the ordering problem (i.e., being an NP-complete problem) no formal guidelines or rules are available for choosing a good heuristic or for choosing a high-performance root node to perform edge searching using a particular heuristic. In this work, we make novel contributions by proposing heuristic and root node selection methods based on the concept of boundary sets for the BDD-based network reliability analysis. Empirical studies show that the proposed selection methods can help to generate high-performance edge ordering for most of studied cases, enabling the efficient BDD-based reliability analysis of large-scale networks. The proposed methods are demonstrated on different types of networks, including square lattice networks, torus lattice networks and de Bruijn networks

  15. Glottochronology as a heuristic for genealogical language relationships

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Wichmann, S.; Holman, E.W.; Müller, A.; Velupillai, V.; List, J.-M.; Belyaev, O.; Urban, M.; Bakker, D.

    2010-01-01

    This paper applies a computerized method related to that of glottochronology and addresses the question whether such a method is useful as a heuristic for identifying deep genealogical relations among languages. We first measure lexical similarities for pairs of language families that are normally

  16. HEURISTIC APPROACHES FOR PORTFOLIO OPTIMIZATION

    OpenAIRE

    Manfred Gilli, Evis Kellezi

    2000-01-01

    The paper first compares the use of optimization heuristics to the classical optimization techniques for the selection of optimal portfolios. Second, the heuristic approach is applied to problems other than those in the standard mean-variance framework where the classical optimization fails.

  17. Deriving a Set of Privacy Specific Heuristics for the Assessment of PHRs (Personal Health Records).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Furano, Riccardo F; Kushniruk, Andre; Barnett, Jeff

    2017-01-01

    With the emergence of personal health record (PHR) platforms becoming more widely available, this research focused on the development of privacy heuristics to assess PHRs regarding privacy. Existing sets of heuristics are typically not application specific and do not address patient-centric privacy as a main concern prior to undergoing PHR procurement. A set of privacy specific heuristics were developed based on a scoping review of the literature. An internet-based commercially available, vendor specific PHR application was evaluated using the derived set of privacy specific heuristics. The proposed set of privacy specific derived heuristics is explored in detail in relation to ISO 29100. The assessment of the internet-based commercially available, vendor specific PHR application indicated numerous violations. These violations were noted within the study. It is argued that the new derived privacy heuristics should be used in addition to Nielsen's well-established set of heuristics. Privacy specific heuristics could be used to assess PHR portal system-level privacy mechanisms in the procurement process of a PHR application and may prove to be a beneficial form of assessment to prevent the selection of a PHR platform with a poor privacy specific interface design.

  18. Proposing New Heuristic Approaches for Preventive Maintenance Scheduling

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    majid Esmailian

    2013-08-01

    Full Text Available The purpose of preventive maintenance management is to perform a series of tasks that prevent or minimize production breakdowns and improve reliability of production facilities. An important objective of preventive maintenance management is to minimize downtime of production facilities. In order to accomplish this objective, personnel should efficiently allocate resources and determine an effective maintenance schedule. Gopalakrishnan (1997 developed a mathematical model and four heuristic approaches to solve the preventive maintenance scheduling problem of assigning skilled personnel to work with tasks that require a set of corresponding skills. However, there are several limitations in the prior work in this area of research. The craft combination problem has not been solved because the craft combination is assumed as given. The craft combination problem concerns the computation of all combinations of assigning multi skilled workers to accomplishment of a particular task. In fact, determining craft combinations is difficult because of the exponential number of craft combinations that are possible. This research provides a heuristic approach for determining the craft combination and four new heuristic approach solution for the preventive maintenance scheduling problem with multi skilled workforce constraints. In order to examine the new heuristic approach and to compare the new heuristic approach with heuristic approach of Gopalakrishnan (1997, 81 standard problems have been generated based on the criterion suggested by from Gopalakrishnan (1997. The average solution quality (SQ of the new heuristic approaches is 1.86% and in old heuristic approaches is 8.32%. The solution time of new heuristic approaches are shorter than old heuristic approaches. The solution time of new heuristic approaches is 0.78 second and old heuristic approaches is 6.43 second, but the solution time of mathematical model provided by Gopalakrishnan (1997 is 152 second.

  19. A heuristic evaluation of long-term global sea level acceleration

    Science.gov (United States)

    Spada, Giorgio; Olivieri, Marco; Galassi, Gaia

    2015-05-01

    In view of the scientific and social implications, the global mean sea level rise (GMSLR) and its possible causes and future trend have been a challenge for so long. For the twentieth century, reconstructions generally indicate a rate of GMSLR in the range of 1.5 to 2.0 mm yr-1. However, the existence of nonlinear trends is still debated, and current estimates of the secular acceleration are subject to ample uncertainties. Here we use various GMSLR estimates published on scholarly journals since the 1940s for a heuristic assessment of global sea level acceleration. The approach, alternative to sea level reconstructions, is based on simple statistical methods and exploits the principles of meta-analysis. Our results point to a global sea level acceleration of 0.54 ± 0.27 mm/yr/century (1σ) between 1898 and 1975. This supports independent estimates and suggests that a sea level acceleration since the early 1900s is more likely than currently believed.

  20. An Effective Implementation of K-opt Moves for the Lin-Kernighan TSP Heuristic

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Helsgaun, Keld

    Local search with k-change neighborhoods, k-opt, is the most widely used heuristic method for the traveling salesman problem (TSP). This report presents an effective implementation of k-opt for the Lin- Kernighan TSP heuristic. The effectiveness of the implementation is demonstrated with extensive...

  1. An Efficient Heuristic Approach for Irregular Cutting Stock Problem in Ship Building Industry

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yan-xin Xu

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper presents an efficient approach for solving a real two-dimensional irregular cutting stock problem in ship building industry. Cutting stock problem is a common cutting and packing problem that arises in a variety of industrial applications. A modification of selection heuristic Exact Fit is applied in our research. In the case referring to irregular shapes, a placement heuristics is more important to construct a complete solution. A placement heuristic relating to bottom-left-fill is presented. We evaluate the proposed approach using generated instance only with convex shapes in literatures and some instances with nonconvex shapes based on real problem from ship building industry. The results demonstrate that the effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed approach are significantly better than some conventional heuristics.

  2. Cultural heuristics in risk assessment of HIV/AIDS.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bailey, Ajay; Hutter, Inge

    2006-01-01

    Behaviour change models in HIV prevention tend to consider that risky sexual behaviours reflect risk assessments and that by changing risk assessments behaviour can be changed. Risk assessment is however culturally constructed. Individuals use heuristics or bounded cognitive devices derived from broader cultural meaning systems to rationalize uncertainty. In this study, we identify some of the cultural heuristics used by migrant men in Goa, India to assess their risk of HIV infection from different sexual partners. Data derives from a series of in-depth interviews and a locally informed survey. Cultural heuristics identified include visual heuristics, heuristics of gender roles, vigilance and trust. The paper argues that, for more culturally informed HIV/AIDS behaviour change interventions, knowledge of cultural heuristics is essential.

  3. Comparison of Heuristics for Inhibitory Rule Optimization

    KAUST Repository

    Alsolami, Fawaz; Chikalov, Igor; Moshkov, Mikhail

    2014-01-01

    Friedman test with Nemenyi post-hoc are used to compare the greedy algorithms statistically against each other for length and coverage. The experiments are carried out on real datasets from UCI Machine Learning Repository. For leading heuristics, the constructed rules are compared with optimal ones obtained based on dynamic programming approach. The results seem to be promising for the best heuristics: the average relative difference between length (coverage) of constructed and optimal rules is at most 2.27% (7%, respectively). Furthermore, the quality of classifiers based on sets of inhibitory rules constructed by the considered heuristics are compared against each other, and the results show that the three best heuristics from the point of view classification accuracy coincides with the three well-performed heuristics from the point of view of rule length minimization.

  4. A MILP-based heuristic for a commercial train timetabling problem

    OpenAIRE

    Gestrelius, Sara; Aronsson, Martin; Peterson, Anders

    2017-01-01

    Using mathematical methods to support the yearly timetable planning process has many advantages. Unfortunately, the train timetabling problem for large geographical areas and many trains is intractable for optimization models alone. In this paper, we therefore present a MILP-based heuristic that has been designed to generate good-enough timetables for large geographical areas and many trains. In the incremental fix and release heuristic (IFRH), trains are added to the timetable in batches. Fo...

  5. Using heuristics to solve the dedicated aircraft recovery problem

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Løve, Michael; Sørensen, Kim Riis; Larsen, Jesper

    2001-01-01

    schedules through a series of reassignments of aircraft to flights, delaying of flights and cancellations of flights. This article describes an effective method to solve DARP. A heuristic is implemented, which is able to generate feasible revised flight schedules of good quality in less than 10 seconds when...... applied to real flight schedules with disruptions from British Airways. The heuristic is able to consider delays, cancellations and reassignments simultaneously and balance the trade-off between these options. It is also demonstrated that different strategies can be applied to prioritize these options...

  6. Paranoid thinking as a heuristic.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Preti, Antonio; Cella, Matteo

    2010-08-01

    Paranoid thinking can be viewed as a human heuristic used by individuals to deal with uncertainty during stressful situations. Under stress, individuals are likely to emphasize the threatening value of neutral stimuli and increase the reliance on paranoia-based heuristic to interpreter events and guide their decisions. Paranoid thinking can also be activated by stress arising from the possibility of losing a good opportunity; this may result in an abnormal allocation of attentional resources to social agents. A better understanding of the interplay between cognitive heuristics and emotional processes may help to detect situations in which paranoid thinking is likely to exacerbate and improve intervention for individuals with delusional disorders.

  7. Heuristics Made Easy: An Effort-Reduction Framework

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shah, Anuj K.; Oppenheimer, Daniel M.

    2008-01-01

    In this article, the authors propose a new framework for understanding and studying heuristics. The authors posit that heuristics primarily serve the purpose of reducing the effort associated with a task. As such, the authors propose that heuristics can be classified according to a small set of effort-reduction principles. The authors use this…

  8. After the Liverpool Care Pathway—development of heuristics to guide end of life care for people with dementia: protocol of the ALCP study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Davies, N; Manthorpe, J; Sampson, E L; Iliffe, S

    2015-01-01

    Introduction End of life care guidance for people with dementia is lacking and this has been made more problematic in England with the removal of one of the main end of life care guidelines which offered some structure, the Liverpool Care Pathway. This guidance gap may be eased with the development of heuristics (rules of thumb) which offer a fast and frugal form of decision-making. Objective To develop a toolkit of heuristics (rules of thumb) for practitioners to use when caring for people with dementia at the end of life. Method and analysis A mixed-method study using a co-design approach to develop heuristics in three phases. In phase 1, we will conduct at least six focus groups with family carers, health and social care practitioners from both hospital and community care services, using the ‘think-aloud’ method to understand decision-making processes and to develop a set of heuristics. The focus group topic guide will be developed from the findings of a previous study of 46 interviews of family carers about quality end-of-life care for people with dementia and a review of the literature. A multidisciplinary development team of health and social care practitioners will synthesise the findings from the focus groups to devise and refine a toolkit of heuristics. Phase 2 will test the use of heuristics in practice in five sites: one general practice, one community nursing team, one hospital ward and two palliative care teams working in the community. Phase 3 will evaluate and further refine the toolkit of heuristics through group interviews, online questionnaires and semistructured interviews. Ethics and dissemination This study has received ethical approval from a local NHS research ethics committee (Rec ref: 15/LO/0156). The findings of this study will be presented in peer-reviewed publications and national and international conferences. PMID:26338688

  9. Reexamining Our Bias against Heuristics

    Science.gov (United States)

    McLaughlin, Kevin; Eva, Kevin W.; Norman, Geoff R.

    2014-01-01

    Using heuristics offers several cognitive advantages, such as increased speed and reduced effort when making decisions, in addition to allowing us to make decision in situations where missing data do not allow for formal reasoning. But the traditional view of heuristics is that they trade accuracy for efficiency. Here the authors discuss sources…

  10. Cooperative heuristic multi-agent planning

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    De Weerdt, M.M.; Tonino, J.F.M.; Witteveen, C.

    2001-01-01

    In this paper we will use the framework to study cooperative heuristic multi-agent planning. During the construction of their plans, the agents use a heuristic function inspired by the FF planner (l3l). At any time in the process of planning the agents may exchange available resources, or they may

  11. Betterment, undermining, support and distortion: A heuristic model for the analysis of pressure on evaluators.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pleger, Lyn; Sager, Fritz

    2016-09-18

    Evaluations can only serve as a neutral evidence base for policy decision-making as long as they have not been altered along non-scientific criteria. Studies show that evaluators are repeatedly put under pressure to deliver results in line with given expectations. The study of pressure and influence to misrepresent findings is hence an important research strand for the development of evaluation praxis. A conceptual challenge in the area of evaluation ethics research is the fact that pressure can be not only negative, but also positive. We develop a heuristic model of influence on evaluations that does justice to this ambivalence of influence: the BUSD-model (betterment, undermining, support, distortion). The model is based on the distinction of two dimensions, namely 'explicitness of pressure' and 'direction of influence'. We demonstrate how the model can be applied to understand pressure and offer a practical tool to distinguish positive from negative influence in the form of three so-called differentiators (awareness, accordance, intention). The differentiators comprise a practical component by assisting evaluators who are confronted with influence. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  12. Performance comparison of heuristic algorithms for task scheduling in IaaS cloud computing environment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Madni, Syed Hamid Hussain; Abd Latiff, Muhammad Shafie; Abdullahi, Mohammed; Usman, Mohammed Joda

    2017-01-01

    Cloud computing infrastructure is suitable for meeting computational needs of large task sizes. Optimal scheduling of tasks in cloud computing environment has been proved to be an NP-complete problem, hence the need for the application of heuristic methods. Several heuristic algorithms have been developed and used in addressing this problem, but choosing the appropriate algorithm for solving task assignment problem of a particular nature is difficult since the methods are developed under different assumptions. Therefore, six rule based heuristic algorithms are implemented and used to schedule autonomous tasks in homogeneous and heterogeneous environments with the aim of comparing their performance in terms of cost, degree of imbalance, makespan and throughput. First Come First Serve (FCFS), Minimum Completion Time (MCT), Minimum Execution Time (MET), Max-min, Min-min and Sufferage are the heuristic algorithms considered for the performance comparison and analysis of task scheduling in cloud computing. PMID:28467505

  13. Performance comparison of heuristic algorithms for task scheduling in IaaS cloud computing environment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Madni, Syed Hamid Hussain; Abd Latiff, Muhammad Shafie; Abdullahi, Mohammed; Abdulhamid, Shafi'i Muhammad; Usman, Mohammed Joda

    2017-01-01

    Cloud computing infrastructure is suitable for meeting computational needs of large task sizes. Optimal scheduling of tasks in cloud computing environment has been proved to be an NP-complete problem, hence the need for the application of heuristic methods. Several heuristic algorithms have been developed and used in addressing this problem, but choosing the appropriate algorithm for solving task assignment problem of a particular nature is difficult since the methods are developed under different assumptions. Therefore, six rule based heuristic algorithms are implemented and used to schedule autonomous tasks in homogeneous and heterogeneous environments with the aim of comparing their performance in terms of cost, degree of imbalance, makespan and throughput. First Come First Serve (FCFS), Minimum Completion Time (MCT), Minimum Execution Time (MET), Max-min, Min-min and Sufferage are the heuristic algorithms considered for the performance comparison and analysis of task scheduling in cloud computing.

  14. A System for Automatically Generating Scheduling Heuristics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Morris, Robert

    1996-01-01

    The goal of this research is to improve the performance of automated schedulers by designing and implementing an algorithm by automatically generating heuristics by selecting a schedule. The particular application selected by applying this method solves the problem of scheduling telescope observations, and is called the Associate Principal Astronomer. The input to the APA scheduler is a set of observation requests submitted by one or more astronomers. Each observation request specifies an observation program as well as scheduling constraints and preferences associated with the program. The scheduler employs greedy heuristic search to synthesize a schedule that satisfies all hard constraints of the domain and achieves a good score with respect to soft constraints expressed as an objective function established by an astronomer-user.

  15. Heuristic algorithm for single resource constrained project scheduling problem based on the dynamic programming

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Stanimirović Ivan

    2009-01-01

    Full Text Available We introduce a heuristic method for the single resource constrained project scheduling problem, based on the dynamic programming solution of the knapsack problem. This method schedules projects with one type of resources, in the non-preemptive case: once started an activity is not interrupted and runs to completion. We compare the implementation of this method with well-known heuristic scheduling method, called Minimum Slack First (known also as Gray-Kidd algorithm, as well as with Microsoft Project.

  16. Evaluation of the site effect with Heuristic Methods

    Science.gov (United States)

    Torres, N. N.; Ortiz-Aleman, C.

    2017-12-01

    The seismic site response in an area depends mainly on the local geological and topographical conditions. Estimation of variations in ground motion can lead to significant contributions on seismic hazard assessment, in order to reduce human and economic losses. Site response estimation can be posed as a parameterized inversion approach which allows separating source and path effects. The generalized inversion (Field and Jacob, 1995) represents one of the alternative methods to estimate the local seismic response, which involves solving a strongly non-linear multiparametric problem. In this work, local seismic response was estimated using global optimization methods (Genetic Algorithms and Simulated Annealing) which allowed us to increase the range of explored solutions in a nonlinear search, as compared to other conventional linear methods. By using the VEOX Network velocity records, collected from August 2007 to March 2009, source, path and site parameters corresponding to the amplitude spectra of the S wave of the velocity seismic records are estimated. We can establish that inverted parameters resulting from this simultaneous inversion approach, show excellent agreement, not only in terms of adjustment between observed and calculated spectra, but also when compared to previous work from several authors.

  17. Numerical solution to generalized Burgers'-Fisher equation using Exp-function method hybridized with heuristic computation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Malik, Suheel Abdullah; Qureshi, Ijaz Mansoor; Amir, Muhammad; Malik, Aqdas Naveed; Haq, Ihsanul

    2015-01-01

    In this paper, a new heuristic scheme for the approximate solution of the generalized Burgers'-Fisher equation is proposed. The scheme is based on the hybridization of Exp-function method with nature inspired algorithm. The given nonlinear partial differential equation (NPDE) through substitution is converted into a nonlinear ordinary differential equation (NODE). The travelling wave solution is approximated by the Exp-function method with unknown parameters. The unknown parameters are estimated by transforming the NODE into an equivalent global error minimization problem by using a fitness function. The popular genetic algorithm (GA) is used to solve the minimization problem, and to achieve the unknown parameters. The proposed scheme is successfully implemented to solve the generalized Burgers'-Fisher equation. The comparison of numerical results with the exact solutions, and the solutions obtained using some traditional methods, including adomian decomposition method (ADM), homotopy perturbation method (HPM), and optimal homotopy asymptotic method (OHAM), show that the suggested scheme is fairly accurate and viable for solving such problems.

  18. Numerical solution to generalized Burgers'-Fisher equation using Exp-function method hybridized with heuristic computation.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Suheel Abdullah Malik

    Full Text Available In this paper, a new heuristic scheme for the approximate solution of the generalized Burgers'-Fisher equation is proposed. The scheme is based on the hybridization of Exp-function method with nature inspired algorithm. The given nonlinear partial differential equation (NPDE through substitution is converted into a nonlinear ordinary differential equation (NODE. The travelling wave solution is approximated by the Exp-function method with unknown parameters. The unknown parameters are estimated by transforming the NODE into an equivalent global error minimization problem by using a fitness function. The popular genetic algorithm (GA is used to solve the minimization problem, and to achieve the unknown parameters. The proposed scheme is successfully implemented to solve the generalized Burgers'-Fisher equation. The comparison of numerical results with the exact solutions, and the solutions obtained using some traditional methods, including adomian decomposition method (ADM, homotopy perturbation method (HPM, and optimal homotopy asymptotic method (OHAM, show that the suggested scheme is fairly accurate and viable for solving such problems.

  19. Adaptive selection of heuristics for improving exam timetables

    OpenAIRE

    Burke, Edmund; Qu, Rong; Soghier, Amr

    2014-01-01

    This paper presents a hyper-heuristic approach which hybridises low-level heuristic moves to improve timetables. Exams which cause a soft-constraint violation in the timetable are ordered and rescheduled to produce a better timetable. It is observed that both the order in which exams are rescheduled and the heuristic moves used to reschedule the exams and improve the timetable affect the quality of the solution produced. After testing different combinations in a hybrid hyper-heuristic approac...

  20. Multiobjective hyper heuristic scheme for system design and optimization

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rafique, Amer Farhan

    2012-11-01

    As system design is becoming more and more multifaceted, integrated, and complex, the traditional single objective optimization trends of optimal design are becoming less and less efficient and effective. Single objective optimization methods present a unique optimal solution whereas multiobjective methods present pareto front. The foremost intent is to predict a reasonable distributed pareto-optimal solution set independent of the problem instance through multiobjective scheme. Other objective of application of intended approach is to improve the worthiness of outputs of the complex engineering system design process at the conceptual design phase. The process is automated in order to provide the system designer with the leverage of the possibility of studying and analyzing a large multiple of possible solutions in a short time. This article presents Multiobjective Hyper Heuristic Optimization Scheme based on low level meta-heuristics developed for the application in engineering system design. Herein, we present a stochastic function to manage meta-heuristics (low-level) to augment surety of global optimum solution. Generic Algorithm, Simulated Annealing and Swarm Intelligence are used as low-level meta-heuristics in this study. Performance of the proposed scheme is investigated through a comprehensive empirical analysis yielding acceptable results. One of the primary motives for performing multiobjective optimization is that the current engineering systems require simultaneous optimization of conflicting and multiple. Random decision making makes the implementation of this scheme attractive and easy. Injecting feasible solutions significantly alters the search direction and also adds diversity of population resulting in accomplishment of pre-defined goals set in the proposed scheme.

  1. Heuristics as a Basis for Assessing Creative Potential: Measures, Methods, and Contingencies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vessey, William B.; Mumford, Michael D.

    2012-01-01

    Studies of creative thinking skills have generally measured a single aspect of creativity, divergent thinking. A number of other processes involved in creative thought have been identified. Effective execution of these processes is held to depend on the strategies applied in process execution, or heuristics. In this article, we review prior…

  2. Heuristic Principles and Cognitive Bias in Decision Making: Implications for Assessment in School Psychology.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Davidow, Joseph; Levinson, Edward M.

    1993-01-01

    Describes factors that may bias psychoeducational decision making and discusses three heuristic principles that affect decision making. Discusses means by which school psychologists can be made aware of these heuristic principles and encouraged to consider them when making psychoeducational decisions. Also discusses methods by which bias in…

  3. Novel Heuristics for Cell Radius Determination in WCDMA Systems and Their Application to Strategic Planning Studies

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    G. Esteve-Asensio

    2009-01-01

    Full Text Available We propose and compare three novel heuristics for the calculation of the optimal cell radius in mobile networks based on Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA technology. The proposed heuristics solve the problem of the load assignment and cellular radius calculation. We have tested our approaches with experiments in multiservices scenarios showing that the proposed heuristics maximize the cell radius, providing the optimum load factor assignment. The main application of these algorithms is strategic planning studies, where an estimation of the number of Nodes B of the mobile operator, at a national level, is required for economic analysis. In this case due to the large number of different scenarios considered (cities, towns, and open areas other methods than simulation need to be considered. As far as we know, there is no other similar method in the literature and therefore these heuristics may represent a novelty in strategic network planning studies. The proposed heuristics are implemented in a strategic planning software tool and an example of their application for a case in Spain is presented. The proposed heuristics are used for telecommunications regulatory studies in several countries.

  4. Comparison of Heuristics for Inhibitory Rule Optimization

    KAUST Repository

    Alsolami, Fawaz

    2014-09-13

    Knowledge representation and extraction are very important tasks in data mining. In this work, we proposed a variety of rule-based greedy algorithms that able to obtain knowledge contained in a given dataset as a series of inhibitory rules containing an expression “attribute ≠ value” on the right-hand side. The main goal of this paper is to determine based on rule characteristics, rule length and coverage, whether the proposed rule heuristics are statistically significantly different or not; if so, we aim to identify the best performing rule heuristics for minimization of rule length and maximization of rule coverage. Friedman test with Nemenyi post-hoc are used to compare the greedy algorithms statistically against each other for length and coverage. The experiments are carried out on real datasets from UCI Machine Learning Repository. For leading heuristics, the constructed rules are compared with optimal ones obtained based on dynamic programming approach. The results seem to be promising for the best heuristics: the average relative difference between length (coverage) of constructed and optimal rules is at most 2.27% (7%, respectively). Furthermore, the quality of classifiers based on sets of inhibitory rules constructed by the considered heuristics are compared against each other, and the results show that the three best heuristics from the point of view classification accuracy coincides with the three well-performed heuristics from the point of view of rule length minimization.

  5. Identifying product development crises: The potential of adaptive heuristics

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Münzberger, C.; Stingl, Verena; Oehmen, Josef

    2017-01-01

    This paper introduces adaptive heuristics as a tool to identify crises in design projects and highlights potential applications of these heuristics as decision support tool for crisis identification. Crises may emerge slowly or suddenly, and often have ambiguous signals. Thus the identification...... for the application of heuristics in design sciences. To achieve this, the paper compares crises to 'business as usual', and presents sixteen indicators for emerging crises. These indicators are potential cues for adaptive heuristics. Specifically three adaptive heuristics, One-single-cue, Fast-and-Frugal-Trees...

  6. A Variable-Selection Heuristic for K-Means Clustering.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brusco, Michael J.; Cradit, J. Dennis

    2001-01-01

    Presents a variable selection heuristic for nonhierarchical (K-means) cluster analysis based on the adjusted Rand index for measuring cluster recovery. Subjected the heuristic to Monte Carlo testing across more than 2,200 datasets. Results indicate that the heuristic is extremely effective at eliminating masking variables. (SLD)

  7. Assessing Use of Cognitive Heuristic Representativeness in Clinical Reasoning

    Science.gov (United States)

    Payne, Velma L.; Crowley, Rebecca S.

    2008-01-01

    We performed a pilot study to investigate use of the cognitive heuristic Representativeness in clinical reasoning. We tested a set of tasks and assessments to determine whether subjects used the heuristics in reasoning, to obtain initial frequencies of heuristic use and related cognitive errors, and to collect cognitive process data using think-aloud techniques. The study investigates two aspects of the Representativeness heuristic - judging by perceived frequency and representativeness as causal beliefs. Results show that subjects apply both aspects of the heuristic during reasoning, and make errors related to misapplication of these heuristics. Subjects in this study rarely used base rates, showed significant variability in their recall of base rates, demonstrated limited ability to use provided base rates, and favored causal data in diagnosis. We conclude that the tasks and assessments we have developed provide a suitable test-bed to study the cognitive processes underlying heuristic errors. PMID:18999140

  8. A tabu-search heuristic for solving the multi-depot vehicle scheduling problem

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gilmar D'Agostini Oliveira Casalinho

    2014-08-01

    Full Text Available Currently the logistical problems are relying quite significantly on Operational Research in order to achieve greater efficiency in their operations. Among the problems related to the vehicles scheduling in a logistics system, the Multiple Depot Vehicle Scheduling Problem (MDVSP has been addressed in several studies. The MDVSP presupposes the existence of depots that affect the planning of sequences to which travel must be performed. Often, exact methods cannot solve large instances encountered in practice and in order to take them into account, several heuristic approaches are being developed. The aim of this study was thus to solve the MDVSP using a meta-heuristic based on tabu-search method. The main motivation for this work came from the indication that only recently the use of meta-heuristics is being applied to MDVSP context (Pepin et al. 2008 and, also, the limitations listed by Rohde (2008 in his study, which used the branch-and-bound in one of the steps of the heuristic presented to solve the problem, which has increased the time resolution. The research method for solving this problem was based on adaptations of traditional techniques of Operational Research, and provided resolutions presenting very competitive results for the MDVSP such as the cost of the objective function, number of vehicles used and computational time.

  9. New insights into diversification of hyper-heuristics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ren, Zhilei; Jiang, He; Xuan, Jifeng; Hu, Yan; Luo, Zhongxuan

    2014-10-01

    There has been a growing research trend of applying hyper-heuristics for problem solving, due to their ability of balancing the intensification and the diversification with low level heuristics. Traditionally, the diversification mechanism is mostly realized by perturbing the incumbent solutions to escape from local optima. In this paper, we report our attempt toward providing a new diversification mechanism, which is based on the concept of instance perturbation. In contrast to existing approaches, the proposed mechanism achieves the diversification by perturbing the instance under solving, rather than the solutions. To tackle the challenge of incorporating instance perturbation into hyper-heuristics, we also design a new hyper-heuristic framework HIP-HOP (recursive acronym of HIP-HOP is an instance perturbation-based hyper-heuristic optimization procedure), which employs a grammar guided high level strategy to manipulate the low level heuristics. With the expressive power of the grammar, the constraints, such as the feasibility of the output solution could be easily satisfied. Numerical results and statistical tests over both the Ising spin glass problem and the p -median problem instances show that HIP-HOP is able to achieve promising performances. Furthermore, runtime distribution analysis reveals that, although being relatively slow at the beginning, HIP-HOP is able to achieve competitive solutions once given sufficient time.

  10. Heuristics for the economic dispatch problem

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Flores, Benjamin Carpio [Centro Nacional de Controle de Energia (CENACE), Mexico, D.F. (Mexico). Dept. de Planificacion Economica de Largo Plazo], E-mail: benjamin.carpo@cfe.gob.mx; Laureano Cruces, A L; Lopez Bracho, R; Ramirez Rodriguez, J. [Universidad Autonoma Metropolitana (UAM), Mexico, D.F. (Brazil). Dept. de Sistemas], Emails: clc@correo.azc.uam.mx, rlb@correo.azc.uam.mx, jararo@correo.azc.uam.mx

    2009-07-01

    This paper presents GRASP (Greedy Randomized Adaptive Search Procedure), Simulated Annealing (SAA), Genetic (GA), and Hybrid Genetic (HGA) Algorithms for the economic dispatch problem (EDP), considering non-convex cost functions and dead zones the only restrictions, showing the results obtained. We also present parameter settings that are specifically applicable to the EDP, and a comparative table of results for each heuristic. It is shown that these methods outperform the classical methods without the need to assume convexity of the target function. (author)

  11. Heuristics for no-wait flow shop scheduling problem

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kewal Krishan Nailwal

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available No-wait flow shop scheduling refers to continuous flow of jobs through different machines. The job once started should have the continuous processing through the machines without wait. This situation occurs when there is a lack of an intermediate storage between the processing of jobs on two consecutive machines. The problem of no-wait with the objective of minimizing makespan in flow shop scheduling is NP-hard; therefore the heuristic algorithms are the key to solve the problem with optimal solution or to approach nearer to optimal solution in simple manner. The paper describes two heuristics, one constructive and an improvement heuristic algorithm obtained by modifying the constructive one for sequencing n-jobs through m-machines in a flow shop under no-wait constraint with the objective of minimizing makespan. The efficiency of the proposed heuristic algorithms is tested on 120 Taillard’s benchmark problems found in the literature against the NEH under no-wait and the MNEH heuristic for no-wait flow shop problem. The improvement heuristic outperforms all heuristics on the Taillard’s instances by improving the results of NEH by 27.85%, MNEH by 22.56% and that of the proposed constructive heuristic algorithm by 24.68%. To explain the computational process of the proposed algorithm, numerical illustrations are also given in the paper. Statistical tests of significance are done in order to draw the conclusions.

  12. Probabilistic dual heuristic programming-based adaptive critic

    Science.gov (United States)

    Herzallah, Randa

    2010-02-01

    Adaptive critic (AC) methods have common roots as generalisations of dynamic programming for neural reinforcement learning approaches. Since they approximate the dynamic programming solutions, they are potentially suitable for learning in noisy, non-linear and non-stationary environments. In this study, a novel probabilistic dual heuristic programming (DHP)-based AC controller is proposed. Distinct to current approaches, the proposed probabilistic (DHP) AC method takes uncertainties of forward model and inverse controller into consideration. Therefore, it is suitable for deterministic and stochastic control problems characterised by functional uncertainty. Theoretical development of the proposed method is validated by analytically evaluating the correct value of the cost function which satisfies the Bellman equation in a linear quadratic control problem. The target value of the probabilistic critic network is then calculated and shown to be equal to the analytically derived correct value. Full derivation of the Riccati solution for this non-standard stochastic linear quadratic control problem is also provided. Moreover, the performance of the proposed probabilistic controller is demonstrated on linear and non-linear control examples.

  13. Heuristics, biases and traps in managerial decision making

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Peter Gál

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available The aim of the paper is to demonstrate the impact of heuristics, biases and psychological traps on the decision making. Heuristics are unconscious routines people use to cope with the complexity inherent in most decision situations. They serve as mental shortcuts that help people to simplify and structure the information encountered in the world. These heuristics could be quite useful in some situations, while in others they can lead to severe and systematic errors, based on significant deviations from the fundamental principles of statistics, probability and sound judgment. This paper focuses on illustrating the existence of the anchoring, availability, and representativeness heuristics, originally described by Tversky & Kahneman in the early 1970’s. The anchoring heuristic is a tendency to focus on the initial information, estimate or perception (even random or irrelevant number as a starting point. People tend to give disproportionate weight to the initial information they receive. The availability heuristic explains why highly imaginable or vivid information have a disproportionate effect on people’s decisions. The representativeness heuristic causes that people rely on highly specific scenarios, ignore base rates, draw conclusions based on small samples and neglect scope. Mentioned phenomena are illustrated and supported by evidence based on the statistical analysis of the results of a questionnaire.

  14. Automated generation of constructive ordering heuristics for educational timetabling

    OpenAIRE

    Pillay, Nelishia; Özcan, Ender

    2017-01-01

    Construction heuristics play an important role in solving combinatorial optimization problems. These heuristics are usually used to create an initial solution to the problem which is improved using optimization techniques such as metaheuristics. For examination timetabling and university course timetabling problems essentially graph colouring heuristics have been used for this purpose. The process of deriving heuristics manually for educational timetabling is a time consuming task. Furthermor...

  15. Effective Heuristics for New Venture Formation

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Kraaijenbrink, Jeroen

    2010-01-01

    Entrepreneurs are often under time pressure and may only have a short window of opportunity to launch their new venture. This means they often have no time for rational analytical decisions and rather rely on heuristics. Past research on entrepreneurial heuristics has primarily focused on predictive

  16. Four Data Visualization Heuristics to Facilitate Reflection in Personal Informatics

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Cuttone, Andrea; Petersen, Michael Kai; Larsen, Jakob Eg

    2014-01-01

    In this paper we discuss how to facilitate the process of reflection in Personal Informatics and Quantified Self systems through interactive data visualizations. Four heuristics for the design and evaluation of such systems have been identified through analysis of self-tracking devices and apps....... Dashboard interface paradigms in specific self-tracking devices (Fitbit and Basis) are discussed as representative examples of state of the art in feedback and reflection support. By relating to existing work in other domains, such as event related representation of time series multivariate data...... in financial analytics, it is discussed how the heuristics could guide designs that would further facilitate reflection in self-tracking personal informatics systems....

  17. Social welfare as small-scale help: evolutionary psychology and the deservingness heuristic.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Petersen, Michael Bang

    2012-01-01

    Public opinion concerning social welfare is largely driven by perceptions of recipient deservingness. Extant research has argued that this heuristic is learned from a variety of cultural, institutional, and ideological sources. The present article provides evidence supporting a different view: that the deservingness heuristic is rooted in psychological categories that evolved over the course of human evolution to regulate small-scale exchanges of help. To test predictions made on the basis of this view, a method designed to measure social categorization is embedded in nationally representative surveys conducted in different countries. Across the national- and individual-level differences that extant research has used to explain the heuristic, people categorize welfare recipients on the basis of whether they are lazy or unlucky. This mode of categorization furthermore induces people to think about large-scale welfare politics as its presumed ancestral equivalent: small-scale help giving. The general implications for research on heuristics are discussed.

  18. Assessing Use of Cognitive Heuristic Representativeness in Clinical Reasoning

    OpenAIRE

    Payne, Velma L.; Crowley, Rebecca S.

    2008-01-01

    We performed a pilot study to investigate use of the cognitive heuristic Representativeness in clinical reasoning. We tested a set of tasks and assessments to determine whether subjects used the heuristics in reasoning, to obtain initial frequencies of heuristic use and related cognitive errors, and to collect cognitive process data using think-aloud techniques. The study investigates two aspects of the Representativeness heuristic - judging by perceived frequency and representativeness as ca...

  19. Heuristic reasoning and relative incompleteness

    OpenAIRE

    Treur, J.

    1993-01-01

    In this paper an approach is presented in which heuristic reasoning is interpreted as strategic reasoning. This type of reasoning enables one to derive which hypothesis to investigate, and which observable information to acquire next (to be able to verify the chosen hypothesis). A compositional architecture for reasoning systems that perform such heuristic reasoning is introduced, called SIX (for Strategic Interactive eXpert systems). This compositional architecture enables user interaction a...

  20. Heuristic Portfolio Trading Rules with Capital Gain Taxes

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Fischer, Marcel; Gallmeyer, Michael

    in some cases. Overlaying simple tax trading heuristics on these trading strategies improves out-of-sample performance. In particular, the 1/N trading strategy's welfare gains improve when a variety of tax trading heuristics are also imposed. For medium to large transaction costs, no trading strategy can...... outperform a 1/N trading strategy augmented with a tax heuristic, not even the most tax- and transaction-cost efficient buy-and-hold strategy. Overall, the best strategy is 1/N augmented with a heuristic that allows for a fixed deviation in absolute portfolio weights. Our results show that the best trading...

  1. Religion, Heuristics, and Intergenerational Risk Management

    OpenAIRE

    Rupert Read; Nassim Nicholas Taleb

    2014-01-01

    Religions come with risk-​managing interdicts and heuristics, and they carry such interdicts and heuristics across generations. We remark on such facets of religion in relation to a propensity among some decision scientists and others to regard practices that they cannot understand as being irrational, biased, and so on.

  2. An Adaptation of the Kernighan-Lin Heuristic to the Simple Graph Partitioning Problem

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Sørensen, Michael Malmros

    1999-01-01

    to this problem of the Kernighan-Lin exchange heuristic, which was originally developed for the closely related 2-partition problem. The evaluation is carried out on problem instances on graphs with up to 50 nodes for which the optimal partition values are known or upper bounds are available. The computational...... results show that among all instances with known optimal values the best partition values found by a randomized version of this heuristic lie well within 1% off the optimum....

  3. A Comparison of Fully Automated Methods of Data Analysis and Computer Assisted Heuristic Methods in an Electrode Kinetic Study of the Pathologically Variable [Fe(CN) 6 ] 3–/4– Process by AC Voltammetry

    KAUST Repository

    Morris, Graham P.

    2013-12-17

    Fully automated and computer assisted heuristic data analysis approaches have been applied to a series of AC voltammetric experiments undertaken on the [Fe(CN)6]3-/4- process at a glassy carbon electrode in 3 M KCl aqueous electrolyte. The recovered parameters in all forms of data analysis encompass E0 (reversible potential), k0 (heterogeneous charge transfer rate constant at E0), α (charge transfer coefficient), Ru (uncompensated resistance), and Cdl (double layer capacitance). The automated method of analysis employed time domain optimization and Bayesian statistics. This and all other methods assumed the Butler-Volmer model applies for electron transfer kinetics, planar diffusion for mass transport, Ohm\\'s Law for Ru, and a potential-independent Cdl model. Heuristic approaches utilize combinations of Fourier Transform filtering, sensitivity analysis, and simplex-based forms of optimization applied to resolved AC harmonics and rely on experimenter experience to assist in experiment-theory comparisons. Remarkable consistency of parameter evaluation was achieved, although the fully automated time domain method provided consistently higher α values than those based on frequency domain data analysis. The origin of this difference is that the implemented fully automated method requires a perfect model for the double layer capacitance. In contrast, the importance of imperfections in the double layer model is minimized when analysis is performed in the frequency domain. Substantial variation in k0 values was found by analysis of the 10 data sets for this highly surface-sensitive pathologically variable [Fe(CN) 6]3-/4- process, but remarkably, all fit the quasi-reversible model satisfactorily. © 2013 American Chemical Society.

  4. Greedy heuristics for minimization of number of terminal nodes in decision trees

    KAUST Repository

    Hussain, Shahid

    2014-10-01

    This paper describes, in detail, several greedy heuristics for construction of decision trees. We study the number of terminal nodes of decision trees, which is closely related with the cardinality of the set of rules corresponding to the tree. We compare these heuristics empirically for two different types of datasets (datasets acquired from UCI ML Repository and randomly generated data) as well as compare with the optimal results obtained using dynamic programming method.

  5. Greedy heuristics for minimization of number of terminal nodes in decision trees

    KAUST Repository

    Hussain, Shahid

    2014-01-01

    This paper describes, in detail, several greedy heuristics for construction of decision trees. We study the number of terminal nodes of decision trees, which is closely related with the cardinality of the set of rules corresponding to the tree. We compare these heuristics empirically for two different types of datasets (datasets acquired from UCI ML Repository and randomly generated data) as well as compare with the optimal results obtained using dynamic programming method.

  6. "The Gaze Heuristic:" Biography of an Adaptively Rational Decision Process.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hamlin, Robert P

    2017-04-01

    This article is a case study that describes the natural and human history of the gaze heuristic. The gaze heuristic is an interception heuristic that utilizes a single input (deviation from a constant angle of approach) repeatedly as a task is performed. Its architecture, advantages, and limitations are described in detail. A history of the gaze heuristic is then presented. In natural history, the gaze heuristic is the only known technique used by predators to intercept prey. In human history the gaze heuristic was discovered accidentally by Royal Air Force (RAF) fighter command just prior to World War II. As it was never discovered by the Luftwaffe, the technique conferred a decisive advantage upon the RAF throughout the war. After the end of the war in America, German technology was combined with the British heuristic to create the Sidewinder AIM9 missile, the most successful autonomous weapon ever built. There are no plans to withdraw it or replace its guiding gaze heuristic. The case study demonstrates that the gaze heuristic is a specific heuristic type that takes a single best input at the best time (take the best 2 ). Its use is an adaptively rational response to specific, rapidly evolving decision environments that has allowed those animals/humans/machines who use it to survive, prosper, and multiply relative to those who do not. Copyright © 2017 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.

  7. A continuous usability evaluation of an electronic medication administration record application.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vicente Oliveros, Noelia; Gramage Caro, Teresa; Pérez Menéndez-Conde, Covadonga; Álvarez-Diaz, Ana María; Martín-Aragón Álvarez, Sagrario; Bermejo Vicedo, Teresa; Delgado Silveira, Eva

    2017-12-01

    The complexity of an electronic medication administration record (eMAR) has been underestimated by most designers in the past. Usability issues, such as poorly designed user application flow in eMAR, are therefore of vital importance, since they can have a negative impact on nursing activities and result in poor outcomes. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the usability of an eMAR application during its development. A usability evaluation was conducted during the development of the eMAR application. Two usability methods were used: a heuristic evaluation complemented by usability testing. Each eMAR application version provided by the vendor was evaluated by 2 hospital pharmacists, who applied the heuristic method. They reviewed the eMAR tasks, detected usability problems and their heuristic violations, and rated the severity of the usability problems. Usability testing was used to assess the final application version by observing how 3 nurses interacted with the application. Thirty-four versions were assessed before the eMAR application was considered usable. During the heuristic evaluation, the usability problems decreased from 46 unique usability problems in version 1 (V1) to 9 in version 34 (V34). In V1, usability problems were categorized into 154 heuristic violations, which decreased to 27 in V34. The average severity rating also decreased from major usability problem (2.96) to no problem (0.23). During usability testing, the 3 nurses did not encounter new usability problems. A thorough heuristic evaluation is a good method for obtaining a usable eMAR application. This evaluation points key areas for improvement and decreases usability problems and their severity. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

  8. Twilight of the Slogans: A Heuristic Investigation of Linguistic Memes Using Mixed Methods

    Science.gov (United States)

    Duffy, Curt Paul

    2013-01-01

    Slogans, or linguistic memes, are short, memorable phrases that are present in commercial, political, and everyday discourse. Slogans propagate similarly to other memes, or cultural units, through an evolutionary mechanism first proposed by Dawkins (1976). Heuristic inquiry, as presented by Moustakas (1990), provided a template from which to…

  9. Quantifying Heuristic Bias: Anchoring, Availability, and Representativeness.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Richie, Megan; Josephson, S Andrew

    2018-01-01

    Construct: Authors examined whether a new vignette-based instrument could isolate and quantify heuristic bias. Heuristics are cognitive shortcuts that may introduce bias and contribute to error. There is no standardized instrument available to quantify heuristic bias in clinical decision making, limiting future study of educational interventions designed to improve calibration of medical decisions. This study presents validity data to support a vignette-based instrument quantifying bias due to the anchoring, availability, and representativeness heuristics. Participants completed questionnaires requiring assignment of probabilities to potential outcomes of medical and nonmedical scenarios. The instrument randomly presented scenarios in one of two versions: Version A, encouraging heuristic bias, and Version B, worded neutrally. The primary outcome was the difference in probability judgments for Version A versus Version B scenario options. Of 167 participants recruited, 139 enrolled. Participants assigned significantly higher mean probability values to Version A scenario options (M = 9.56, SD = 3.75) than Version B (M = 8.98, SD = 3.76), t(1801) = 3.27, p = .001. This result remained significant analyzing medical scenarios alone (Version A, M = 9.41, SD = 3.92; Version B, M = 8.86, SD = 4.09), t(1204) = 2.36, p = .02. Analyzing medical scenarios by heuristic revealed a significant difference between Version A and B for availability (Version A, M = 6.52, SD = 3.32; Version B, M = 5.52, SD = 3.05), t(404) = 3.04, p = .003, and representativeness (Version A, M = 11.45, SD = 3.12; Version B, M = 10.67, SD = 3.71), t(396) = 2.28, p = .02, but not anchoring. Stratifying by training level, students maintained a significant difference between Version A and B medical scenarios (Version A, M = 9.83, SD = 3.75; Version B, M = 9.00, SD = 3.98), t(465) = 2.29, p = .02, but not residents or attendings. Stratifying by heuristic and training level, availability maintained

  10. A Heuristic Approach to Intra-Brain Communications Using Chaos in a Recurrent Neural Network Model

    Science.gov (United States)

    Soma, Ken-ichiro; Mori, Ryota; Sato, Ryuichi; Nara, Shigetoshi

    2011-09-01

    To approach functional roles of chaos in brain, a heuristic model to consider mechanisms of intra-brain communications is proposed. The key idea is to use chaos in firing pattern dynamics of a recurrent neural network consisting of birary state neurons, as propagation medium of pulse signals. Computer experiments and numerical methods are introduced to evaluate signal transport characteristics by calculating correlation functions between sending neurons and receiving neurons of pulse signals.

  11. Inventory control of raw material using silver meal heuristic method in PR. Trubus Alami Malang

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ikasari, D. M.; Lestari, E. R.; Prastya, E.

    2018-03-01

    The purpose of this study was to compare the total inventory cost calculated using the method applied by PR. Trubus Alami and Silver Meal Heuristic (SMH) method. The study was started by forecasting the cigarette demand from July 2016 to June 2017 (48 weeks) using additive decomposition forecasting method. The additive decomposition was used because it has the lowest value of Mean Abosolute Deviation (MAD) and Mean Squared Deviation (MSD) compared to other methods such as multiplicative decomposition, moving average, single exponential smoothing, and double exponential smoothing. The forcasting results was then converted as a raw material needs and further calculated using SMH method to obtain inventory cost. As expected, the result shows that the order frequency of using SMH methods was smaller than that of using the method applied by Trubus Alami. This affected the total inventory cost. The result suggests that using SMH method gave a 29.41% lower inventory cost, giving the cost different of IDR 21,290,622. The findings, is therefore, indicated that the PR. Trubus Alami should apply the SMH method if the company wants to reduce the total inventory cost.

  12. Treatment planning for prostate brachytherapy using region of interest adjoint functions and a greedy heuristic

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yoo, Sua; Kowalok, Michael E; Thomadsen, Bruce R; Henderson, Douglass L

    2003-01-01

    We have developed an efficient treatment-planning algorithm for prostate implants that is based on region of interest (ROI) adjoint functions and a greedy heuristic. For this work, we define the adjoint function for an ROI as the sensitivity of the average dose in the ROI to a unit-strength brachytherapy source at any seed position. The greedy heuristic uses a ratio of target and critical structure adjoint functions to rank seed positions according to their ability to irradiate the target ROI while sparing critical structure ROIs. This ratio is computed once for each seed position prior to the optimization process. Optimization is performed by a greedy heuristic that selects seed positions according to their ratio values. With this method, clinically acceptable treatment plans are obtained in less than 2 s. For comparison, a branch-and-bound method to solve a mixed integer-programming model took more than 50 min to arrive at a feasible solution. Both methods achieved good treatment plans, but the speedup provided by the greedy heuristic was a factor of approximately 1500. This attribute makes this algorithm suitable for intra-operative real-time treatment planning

  13. Assessing the use of cognitive heuristic representativeness in clinical reasoning.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Payne, Velma L; Crowley, Rebecca S; Crowley, Rebecca

    2008-11-06

    We performed a pilot study to investigate use of the cognitive heuristic Representativeness in clinical reasoning. We tested a set of tasks and assessments to determine whether subjects used the heuristics in reasoning, to obtain initial frequencies of heuristic use and related cognitive errors, and to collect cognitive process data using think-aloud techniques. The study investigates two aspects of the Representativeness heuristic - judging by perceived frequency and representativeness as causal beliefs. Results show that subjects apply both aspects of the heuristic during reasoning, and make errors related to misapplication of these heuristics. Subjects in this study rarely used base rates, showed significant variability in their recall of base rates, demonstrated limited ability to use provided base rates, and favored causal data in diagnosis. We conclude that the tasks and assessments we have developed provide a suitable test-bed to study the cognitive processes underlying heuristic errors.

  14. A CDT-Based Heuristic Zone Design Approach for Economic Census Investigators

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Changixu Cheng

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper addresses a special zone design problem for economic census investigators that is motivated by a real-world application. This paper presented a heuristic multikernel growth approach via Constrained Delaunay Triangulation (CDT. This approach not only solved the barriers problem but also dealt with the polygon data in zoning procedure. In addition, it uses a new heuristic method to speed up the zoning process greatly on the premise of the required quality of zoning. At last, two special instances for economic census were performed, highlighting the performance of this approach.

  15. Computer simulation of nuclear reactor control by means of heuristic learning controller

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bubak, M.; Moscinski, J.

    1976-01-01

    A trial of application of two techniques of Artificial Intelligence: heuristic Programming and Learning Machines Theory for nuclear reactor control is presented. Considering complexity of the mathematical models describing satisfactorily the nuclear reactors, value changes of these models parameters in course of operation, knowledge of some parameters value with too small exactness, there appear diffucluties in the classical approach application for these objects control systems design. The classical approach consists in definition of the permissible control actions set on the base of the set performance index and the object mathematical model. The Artificial Intelligence methods enable construction of the control system, which gets during work an information being a priori inaccessible and uses it for its action change for the control to be the optimum one. Applying these methods we have elaborated the reactor power control system. As the performance index there has been taken the integral of the error square. For the control system there are only accessible: the set power trajectory, the reactor power and the control rod position. The set power trajectory has been divided into time intervals called heuristic intervals. At the beginning of every heuristic interval, on the base of the obtained experience, the control system chooses from the control (heuristic) set the optimum control. The heuristic set it is the set of relations between the control rod rate and the state variables, the set and the obtained power, similar to simplifications applied by nuclear reactors operators. The results obtained for the different control rod rates and different reactor (simulated on the digital computer) show the proper work of the system. (author)

  16. Near-Optimal Heuristics for Just-In-Time Jobs Maximization in Flow Shop Scheduling

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Helio Yochihiro Fuchigami

    2018-04-01

    Full Text Available The number of just-in-time jobs maximization in a permutation flow shop scheduling problem is considered. A mixed integer linear programming model to represent the problem as well as solution approaches based on enumeration and constructive heuristics were proposed and computationally implemented. Instances with up to 10 jobs and five machines are solved by the mathematical model in an acceptable running time (3.3 min on average while the enumeration method consumes, on average, 1.5 s. The 10 constructive heuristics proposed show they are practical especially for large-scale instances (up to 100 jobs and 20 machines, with very good-quality results and efficient running times. The best two heuristics obtain near-optimal solutions, with only 0.6% and 0.8% average relative deviations. They prove to be better than adaptations of the NEH heuristic (well-known for providing very good solutions for makespan minimization in flow shop for the considered problem.

  17. Commercial Territory Design for a Distribution Firm with New Constructive and Destructive Heuristics

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jaime

    2012-02-01

    Full Text Available A commercial territory design problem with compactness maximization criterion subject to territory balancing and connectivity is addressed. Four new heuristics based on Greedy Randomized Adaptive Search Procedures within a location-allocation scheme for this NP-hard combinatorial optimization problem are proposed. The first three (named GRLH1, GRLH2, and GRDL build the territories simultaneously. Their construction phase consists of two parts: a location phase where territory seeds are identified, and an allocation phase where the remaining basic units are iteratively assigned to a territory. In contrast, the other heuristic (named SLA builds the territories one at a time. Empirical results reveals that GRLH1 and GRLH2 find near-optimal or optimal solutions to relatively small instances, where exact solutions could be found. The proposed procedures are relatively fast. We carried out a comparison between the proposed heuristic procedures and the existing method in larger instances. It was observed the proposed heuristic GRLH1 produced competitive results with respect to the existing approach.

  18. Judgment under Uncertainty: Heuristics and Biases.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tversky, A; Kahneman, D

    1974-09-27

    This article described three heuristics that are employed in making judgements under uncertainty: (i) representativeness, which is usually employed when people are asked to judge the probability that an object or event A belongs to class or process B; (ii) availability of instances or scenarios, which is often employed when people are asked to assess the frequency of a class or the plausibility of a particular development; and (iii) adjustment from an anchor, which is usually employed in numerical prediction when a relevant value is available. These heuristics are highly economical and usually effective, but they lead to systematic and predictable errors. A better understanding of these heuristics and of the biases to which they lead could improve judgements and decisions in situations of uncertainty.

  19. Heuristics as Bayesian inference under extreme priors.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Parpart, Paula; Jones, Matt; Love, Bradley C

    2018-05-01

    Simple heuristics are often regarded as tractable decision strategies because they ignore a great deal of information in the input data. One puzzle is why heuristics can outperform full-information models, such as linear regression, which make full use of the available information. These "less-is-more" effects, in which a relatively simpler model outperforms a more complex model, are prevalent throughout cognitive science, and are frequently argued to demonstrate an inherent advantage of simplifying computation or ignoring information. In contrast, we show at the computational level (where algorithmic restrictions are set aside) that it is never optimal to discard information. Through a formal Bayesian analysis, we prove that popular heuristics, such as tallying and take-the-best, are formally equivalent to Bayesian inference under the limit of infinitely strong priors. Varying the strength of the prior yields a continuum of Bayesian models with the heuristics at one end and ordinary regression at the other. Critically, intermediate models perform better across all our simulations, suggesting that down-weighting information with the appropriate prior is preferable to entirely ignoring it. Rather than because of their simplicity, our analyses suggest heuristics perform well because they implement strong priors that approximate the actual structure of the environment. We end by considering how new heuristics could be derived by infinitely strengthening the priors of other Bayesian models. These formal results have implications for work in psychology, machine learning and economics. Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  20. The recognition heuristic: a review of theory and tests.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pachur, Thorsten; Todd, Peter M; Gigerenzer, Gerd; Schooler, Lael J; Goldstein, Daniel G

    2011-01-01

    The recognition heuristic is a prime example of how, by exploiting a match between mind and environment, a simple mental strategy can lead to efficient decision making. The proposal of the heuristic initiated a debate about the processes underlying the use of recognition in decision making. We review research addressing four key aspects of the recognition heuristic: (a) that recognition is often an ecologically valid cue; (b) that people often follow recognition when making inferences; (c) that recognition supersedes further cue knowledge; (d) that its use can produce the less-is-more effect - the phenomenon that lesser states of recognition knowledge can lead to more accurate inferences than more complete states. After we contrast the recognition heuristic to other related concepts, including availability and fluency, we carve out, from the existing findings, some boundary conditions of the use of the recognition heuristic as well as key questions for future research. Moreover, we summarize developments concerning the connection of the recognition heuristic with memory models. We suggest that the recognition heuristic is used adaptively and that, compared to other cues, recognition seems to have a special status in decision making. Finally, we discuss how systematic ignorance is exploited in other cognitive mechanisms (e.g., estimation and preference).

  1. The Recognition Heuristic: A Review of Theory and Tests

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Thorsten ePachur

    2011-07-01

    Full Text Available The recognition heuristic is a prime example of how, by exploiting a match between mind and environment, a simple mental strategy can lead to efficient decision making. The proposal of the heuristic initiated a debate about the processes underlying the use of recognition in decision making. We review research addressing four key aspects of the recognition heuristic: (a that recognition is often an ecologically valid cue; (b that people often follow recognition when making inferences; (c that recognition supersedes further cue knowledge; (d that its use can produce the less-is-more effect—the phenomenon that lesser states of recognition knowledge can lead to more accurate inferences than more complete states. After we contrast the recognition heuristic to other related concepts, including availability and fluency, we carve out, from the existing findings, some boundary conditions of the use of the recognition heuristic as well as key questions for future research. Moreover, we summarize developments concerning the connection of the recognition heuristic with memory models. We suggest that the recognition heuristic is used adaptively and that, compared to other cues, recognition seems to have a special status in decision making. Finally, we discuss how systematic ignorance is exploited in other cognitive mechanisms (e.g., estimation and preference.

  2. The Recognition Heuristic: A Review of Theory and Tests

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pachur, Thorsten; Todd, Peter M.; Gigerenzer, Gerd; Schooler, Lael J.; Goldstein, Daniel G.

    2011-01-01

    The recognition heuristic is a prime example of how, by exploiting a match between mind and environment, a simple mental strategy can lead to efficient decision making. The proposal of the heuristic initiated a debate about the processes underlying the use of recognition in decision making. We review research addressing four key aspects of the recognition heuristic: (a) that recognition is often an ecologically valid cue; (b) that people often follow recognition when making inferences; (c) that recognition supersedes further cue knowledge; (d) that its use can produce the less-is-more effect – the phenomenon that lesser states of recognition knowledge can lead to more accurate inferences than more complete states. After we contrast the recognition heuristic to other related concepts, including availability and fluency, we carve out, from the existing findings, some boundary conditions of the use of the recognition heuristic as well as key questions for future research. Moreover, we summarize developments concerning the connection of the recognition heuristic with memory models. We suggest that the recognition heuristic is used adaptively and that, compared to other cues, recognition seems to have a special status in decision making. Finally, we discuss how systematic ignorance is exploited in other cognitive mechanisms (e.g., estimation and preference). PMID:21779266

  3. Heuristics in primary care for recognition of unreported vision loss in older people: a technology development study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wijeyekoon, Skanda; Kharicha, Kalpa; Iliffe, Steve

    2015-09-01

    To evaluate heuristics (rules of thumb) for recognition of undetected vision loss in older patients in primary care. Vision loss is associated with ageing, and its prevalence is increasing. Visual impairment has a broad impact on health, functioning and well-being. Unrecognised vision loss remains common, and screening interventions have yet to reduce its prevalence. An alternative approach is to enhance practitioners' skills in recognising undetected vision loss, by having a more detailed picture of those who are likely not to act on vision changes, report symptoms or have eye tests. This paper describes a qualitative technology development study to evaluate heuristics for recognition of undetected vision loss in older patients in primary care. Using a previous modelling study, two heuristics in the form of mnemonics were developed to aid pattern recognition and allow general practitioners to identify potential cases of unreported vision loss. These heuristics were then analysed with experts. Findings It was concluded that their implementation in modern general practice was unsuitable and an alternative solution should be sort.

  4. A perturbative clustering hyper-heuristic framework for the Danish railway system

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    M. Pour, Shahrzad; Rasmussen, Kourosh Marjani; Burke, Edmund K.

    , we propose a perturbative clustering hyper-heuristic framework. The framework improves an initial solution by reassigning outliers (those tasks that are far away) to a better cluster choice at each iteration while taking balanced crews workloads into account. The framework introduces five lowlevel...... heuristics and employs an adaptive choice function as a robust learning mechanism. The results of adaptive clustering hyper-heuristic are compared with two exact and heuristic assignment algorithms from the literature and with the random hyper-heuristic framework on 12 datasets. In comparison with the exact...... formulation, the proposed framework could obtain promising results and solved the data instances up to 5000 number of tasks. In comparison with heuristic assignment and the random hyper-heuristic, the framework yielded approximately 11%, 27% and 10%,13% mprovement on total distance and the maximum distance...

  5. How Monte Carlo heuristics aid to identify the physical processes of drug release kinetics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lecca, Paola

    2018-01-01

    We implement a Monte Carlo heuristic algorithm to model drug release from a solid dosage form. We show that with Monte Carlo simulations it is possible to identify and explain the causes of the unsatisfactory predictive power of current drug release models. It is well known that the power-law, the exponential models, as well as those derived from or inspired by them accurately reproduce only the first 60% of the release curve of a drug from a dosage form. In this study, by using Monte Carlo simulation approaches, we show that these models fit quite accurately almost the entire release profile when the release kinetics is not governed by the coexistence of different physico-chemical mechanisms. We show that the accuracy of the traditional models are comparable with those of Monte Carlo heuristics when these heuristics approximate and oversimply the phenomenology of drug release. This observation suggests to develop and use novel Monte Carlo simulation heuristics able to describe the complexity of the release kinetics, and consequently to generate data more similar to those observed in real experiments. Implementing Monte Carlo simulation heuristics of the drug release phenomenology may be much straightforward and efficient than hypothesizing and implementing from scratch complex mathematical models of the physical processes involved in drug release. Identifying and understanding through simulation heuristics what processes of this phenomenology reproduce the observed data and then formalize them in mathematics may allow avoiding time-consuming, trial-error based regression procedures. Three bullet points, highlighting the customization of the procedure. •An efficient heuristics based on Monte Carlo methods for simulating drug release from solid dosage form encodes is presented. It specifies the model of the physical process in a simple but accurate way in the formula of the Monte Carlo Micro Step (MCS) time interval.•Given the experimentally observed curve of

  6. An Empirical Investigation of the Impact of the Anchor and Adjustment Heuristic on the Audit Judgment Process

    Science.gov (United States)

    1988-01-01

    Pe ~ ** . . . ’ S .- ..% - - -- - - An Empirical Investigation of the Impact of the Anchor and Adjustment Heuristic on the Audit Judgment Process A...1 Introduction ....... ............... 1 Audit Opinion Process ... ............ 2 Professional Judgment ..... ........... 5 Heuristics in the Audit Process...to evaluating the results of analytic reviews and internal control compliance tests (Felix and Kinney 1982, also Libby 1981). Decomposing the audit opinion

  7. Social Outcomes in Childhood Brain Disorder: A Heuristic Integration of Social Neuroscience and Developmental Psychology

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yeates, Keith Owen; Bigler, Erin D.; Dennis, Maureen; Gerhardt, Cynthia A.; Rubin, Kenneth H.; Stancin, Terry; Taylor, H. Gerry; Vannatta, Kathryn

    2010-01-01

    The authors propose a heuristic model of the social outcomes of childhood brain disorder that draws on models and methods from both the emerging field of social cognitive neuroscience and the study of social competence in developmental psychology/psychopathology. The heuristic model characterizes the relationships between social adjustment, peer interactions and relationships, social problem solving and communication, social-affective and cognitive-executive processes, and their neural substrates. The model is illustrated by research on a specific form of childhood brain disorder, traumatic brain injury. The heuristic model may promote research regarding the neural and cognitive-affective substrates of children’s social development. It also may engender more precise methods of measuring impairments and disabilities in children with brain disorder and suggest ways to promote their social adaptation. PMID:17469991

  8. Methodology and Implementation on DSP of Heuristic Multiuser DS/CDMA Detectors

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alex Miyamoto Mussi

    2010-12-01

    Full Text Available The growing number of users of mobile communications networks and the scarcity of the electromagnetic spectrum make the use of diversity techniques and detection/decoding efficient, such as the use of multiple antennas at the transmitter and/or receiver, multiuser detection (MuD – Multiuser Detection, among others, have an increasingly prominent role in the telecommunications landscape. This paper presents a design methodology based on digital signal processors (DSP – Digital Signal Processor with a view to the implementation of multiuser heuristics detectors in systems DS/CDMA (Direct Sequence Code Division Multiple Access. Heuristics detection techniques result in near-optimal performance in order to approach the performance of maximum-likelihood (ML. In this work, was employed the DSP development platform called the C6713 DSK, which is based in Texas TMS320C6713 processor. The heuristics techniques proposed are based on well established algorithms in the literature. The efficiency of the algorithms implemented in DSP has been evaluated numerically by computing the measure of bit error rate (BER. Finally, the feasibility of implementation in DSP could then be verified by comparing results from multiple Monte-Carlo simulation in Matlab, with those obtained from implementation on DSP. It also demonstrates the effective increase in performance and system capacity of DS/CDMA with the use of heuristic multiuser detection techniques, implemented directly in the DSP.

  9. The Probability Heuristics Model of Syllogistic Reasoning.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chater, Nick; Oaksford, Mike

    1999-01-01

    Proposes a probability heuristic model for syllogistic reasoning and confirms the rationality of this heuristic by an analysis of the probabilistic validity of syllogistic reasoning that treats logical inference as a limiting case of probabilistic inference. Meta-analysis and two experiments involving 40 adult participants and using generalized…

  10. Does interaction matter? Testing whether a confidence heuristic can replace interaction in collective decision-making.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bang, Dan; Fusaroli, Riccardo; Tylén, Kristian; Olsen, Karsten; Latham, Peter E; Lau, Jennifer Y F; Roepstorff, Andreas; Rees, Geraint; Frith, Chris D; Bahrami, Bahador

    2014-05-01

    In a range of contexts, individuals arrive at collective decisions by sharing confidence in their judgements. This tendency to evaluate the reliability of information by the confidence with which it is expressed has been termed the 'confidence heuristic'. We tested two ways of implementing the confidence heuristic in the context of a collective perceptual decision-making task: either directly, by opting for the judgement made with higher confidence, or indirectly, by opting for the faster judgement, exploiting an inverse correlation between confidence and reaction time. We found that the success of these heuristics depends on how similar individuals are in terms of the reliability of their judgements and, more importantly, that for dissimilar individuals such heuristics are dramatically inferior to interaction. Interaction allows individuals to alleviate, but not fully resolve, differences in the reliability of their judgements. We discuss the implications of these findings for models of confidence and collective decision-making. Copyright © 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  11. Heuristic Search Theory and Applications

    CERN Document Server

    Edelkamp, Stefan

    2011-01-01

    Search has been vital to artificial intelligence from the very beginning as a core technique in problem solving. The authors present a thorough overview of heuristic search with a balance of discussion between theoretical analysis and efficient implementation and application to real-world problems. Current developments in search such as pattern databases and search with efficient use of external memory and parallel processing units on main boards and graphics cards are detailed. Heuristic search as a problem solving tool is demonstrated in applications for puzzle solving, game playing, constra

  12. Internal Medicine residents use heuristics to estimate disease probability

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sen Phang

    2015-12-01

    Conclusions: Our findings suggest that despite previous exposure to the use of Bayesian reasoning, residents use heuristics, such as the representative heuristic and anchoring with adjustment, to estimate probabilities. Potential reasons for attribute substitution include the relative cognitive ease of heuristics vs. Bayesian reasoning or perhaps residents in their clinical practice use gist traces rather than precise probability estimates when diagnosing.

  13. Analysis of Heuristic Uniform Theory of Diffraction Coefficients for Electromagnetic Scattering Prediction

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Diego Tami

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available We discuss three sets of heuristic coefficients used in uniform theory of diffraction (UTD to characterize the electromagnetic scattering in realistic urban scenarios and canonical examples of diffraction by lossy conducting wedges using the three sets of heuristic coefficients and the Malyuzhinets solution as reference model. We compare not only the results of the canonical models but also their implementation in real outdoor scenarios. To predict the coverage of mobile networks, we used propagation models for outdoor environments by using a 3D ray-tracing model based on a brute-force algorithm for ray launching and a propagation model based on image theory. To evaluate each set of coefficients, we analyzed the mean and standard deviation of the absolute error between estimates and measured data in Ottawa, Canada; Valencia, Spain; and Cali, Colombia. Finally, we discuss the path loss prediction for each set of heuristic UTD coefficients in outdoor environment, as well as the comparison with the canonical results.

  14. Impact of heuristics in clustering large biological networks.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shafin, Md Kishwar; Kabir, Kazi Lutful; Ridwan, Iffatur; Anannya, Tasmiah Tamzid; Karim, Rashid Saadman; Hoque, Mohammad Mozammel; Rahman, M Sohel

    2015-12-01

    Traditional clustering algorithms often exhibit poor performance for large networks. On the contrary, greedy algorithms are found to be relatively efficient while uncovering functional modules from large biological networks. The quality of the clusters produced by these greedy techniques largely depends on the underlying heuristics employed. Different heuristics based on different attributes and properties perform differently in terms of the quality of the clusters produced. This motivates us to design new heuristics for clustering large networks. In this paper, we have proposed two new heuristics and analyzed the performance thereof after incorporating those with three different combinations in a recently celebrated greedy clustering algorithm named SPICi. We have extensively analyzed the effectiveness of these new variants. The results are found to be promising. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  15. The Priority Heuristic: Making Choices Without Trade-Offs

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brandstätter, Eduard; Gigerenzer, Gerd; Hertwig, Ralph

    2010-01-01

    Bernoulli's framework of expected utility serves as a model for various psychological processes, including motivation, moral sense, attitudes, and decision making. To account for evidence at variance with expected utility, we generalize the framework of fast and frugal heuristics from inferences to preferences. The priority heuristic predicts (i) Allais' paradox, (ii) risk aversion for gains if probabilities are high, (iii) risk seeking for gains if probabilities are low (lottery tickets), (iv) risk aversion for losses if probabilities are low (buying insurance), (v) risk seeking for losses if probabilities are high, (vi) certainty effect, (vii) possibility effect, and (viii) intransitivities. We test how accurately the heuristic predicts people's choices, compared to previously proposed heuristics and three modifications of expected utility theory: security-potential/aspiration theory, transfer-of-attention-exchange model, and cumulative prospect theory. PMID:16637767

  16. Theory of Randomized Search Heuristics in Combinatorial Optimization

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    The rigorous mathematical analysis of randomized search heuristics(RSHs) with respect to their expected runtime is a growing research area where many results have been obtained in recent years. This class of heuristics includes well-known approaches such as Randomized Local Search (RLS), the Metr......The rigorous mathematical analysis of randomized search heuristics(RSHs) with respect to their expected runtime is a growing research area where many results have been obtained in recent years. This class of heuristics includes well-known approaches such as Randomized Local Search (RLS...... analysis of randomized algorithms to RSHs. Mostly, the expected runtime of RSHs on selected problems is analzyed. Thereby, we understand why and when RSHs are efficient optimizers and, conversely, when they cannot be efficient. The tutorial will give an overview on the analysis of RSHs for solving...

  17. The perceived diversity heuristic: the case of pseudodiversity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ayal, Shahar; Zakay, Dan

    2009-03-01

    One of the normative ways to decrease the risk of a pool with uncertainty prospects is to diversify its resources. Thus, decision makers are advised not to put all their eggs in one basket. The authors suggest that decision makers use a perceived diversity heuristic (PDH) to evaluate the risk of a pool by intuitively assessing the diversity of its sources. This heuristic yields biased judgments in cases of pseudodiversity, in which the perceived diversity of a pool is enhanced, although this fact does not change the pool's normative values. The first 3 studies introduce 2 independent sources of pseudodiversity-distinctiveness and multiplicity-showing that these two sources can lead to overdiversification under conditions of gain. In another set of 3 studies, the authors examine the effect of framing on diversification level. The results support the PDH predictions, according to which diversity seeking is obtained under conditions of gain, whereas diversity aversion is obtained under conditions of loss.

  18. A Fuzzy method for the usability evaluation of nuclear medical equipment

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Grecco, Cláudio H.S.; Santos, Isaac J.A.L.; Farias, Marcos S.; Farias, Larissa P.; Filho, Alfredo M.V., E-mail: grecco@ien.gov.br, E-mail: luquetti@ien.gov.br, E-mail: msantana@ien.gov.br, E-mail: larissapfarias@ymail.com, E-mail: marques@ien.gov.br [Instituto de Engenharia Nuclear (DENN/IEN/CNEN/RJ), Rio de Janeiro, RJ (Brazil). Departamento de Engenharia Nuclear

    2017-11-01

    To avoid errors when handling nuclear medical equipment, it is important to develop products with a high degree of usability. This can be achieved by performing usability evaluations in the product development process to detect and mitigate potential usability problems. Usability evaluation focuses on how well users can learn and use a product to achieve their goals. Thus, the usability evaluation has become recognized as a valuable complement to the established approaches to design good user interfaces, to reduce incidents and accidents as well the time required to learn how to use the equipment. To gather information about usability, practitioners use a variety of methods that gather feedback from users about an existing interface or plans related to a new interface. A wide range of usability evaluation methods have been proposed, but few methods focus on developing an objective and practical evaluation method for usability. Moreover, the usability evaluations are based on human judgments and most methods cannot fully solve the subjectivity of these evaluations. In order to remedy this deficiency, the purpose of this work is to adopt a Fuzzy Set Theory (FST) approach to establish a method for the usability evaluation of nuclear medical equipment based on usability heuristics for user interface design and international standards for ergonomics of human-system interaction. To exemplify the method we performed a usability evaluating of the Digital Spectrometer ESP 13004 by testing it with representative users. The results showed that the method is a proactive tool to provide a basis for checking usability of medical device interfaces. (author)

  19. A Fuzzy method for the usability evaluation of nuclear medical equipment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Grecco, Cláudio H.S.; Santos, Isaac J.A.L.; Farias, Marcos S.; Farias, Larissa P.; Filho, Alfredo M.V.

    2017-01-01

    To avoid errors when handling nuclear medical equipment, it is important to develop products with a high degree of usability. This can be achieved by performing usability evaluations in the product development process to detect and mitigate potential usability problems. Usability evaluation focuses on how well users can learn and use a product to achieve their goals. Thus, the usability evaluation has become recognized as a valuable complement to the established approaches to design good user interfaces, to reduce incidents and accidents as well the time required to learn how to use the equipment. To gather information about usability, practitioners use a variety of methods that gather feedback from users about an existing interface or plans related to a new interface. A wide range of usability evaluation methods have been proposed, but few methods focus on developing an objective and practical evaluation method for usability. Moreover, the usability evaluations are based on human judgments and most methods cannot fully solve the subjectivity of these evaluations. In order to remedy this deficiency, the purpose of this work is to adopt a Fuzzy Set Theory (FST) approach to establish a method for the usability evaluation of nuclear medical equipment based on usability heuristics for user interface design and international standards for ergonomics of human-system interaction. To exemplify the method we performed a usability evaluating of the Digital Spectrometer ESP 13004 by testing it with representative users. The results showed that the method is a proactive tool to provide a basis for checking usability of medical device interfaces. (author)

  20. Heuristic Synthesis of Reversible Logic – A Comparative Study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chua Shin Cheng

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Reversible logic circuits have been historically motivated by theoretical research in low-power, and recently attracted interest as components of the quantum algorithm, optical computing and nanotechnology. However due to the intrinsic property of reversible logic, traditional irreversible logic design and synthesis methods cannot be carried out. Thus a new set of algorithms are developed correctly to synthesize reversible logic circuit. This paper presents a comprehensive literature review with comparative study on heuristic based reversible logic synthesis. It reviews a range of heuristic based reversible logic synthesis techniques reported by researchers (BDD-based, cycle-based, search-based, non-search-based, rule-based, transformation-based, and ESOP-based. All techniques are described in detail and summarized in a table based on their features, limitation, library used and their consideration metric. Benchmark comparison of gate count and quantum cost are analysed for each synthesis technique. Comparing the synthesis algorithm outputs over the years, it can be observed that different approach has been used for the synthesis of reversible circuit. However, the improvements are not significant. Quantum cost and gate count has improved over the years, but arguments and debates are still on certain issues such as the issue of garbage outputs that remain the same. This paper provides the information of all heuristic based synthesis of reversible logic method proposed over the years. All techniques are explained in detail and thus informative for new reversible logic researchers and bridging the knowledge gap in this area.

  1. After the Liverpool Care Pathway--development of heuristics to guide end of life care for people with dementia: protocol of the ALCP study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Davies, N; Manthorpe, J; Sampson, E L; Iliffe, S

    2015-09-02

    End of life care guidance for people with dementia is lacking and this has been made more problematic in England with the removal of one of the main end of life care guidelines which offered some structure, the Liverpool Care Pathway. This guidance gap may be eased with the development of heuristics (rules of thumb) which offer a fast and frugal form of decision-making. To develop a toolkit of heuristics (rules of thumb) for practitioners to use when caring for people with dementia at the end of life. A mixed-method study using a co-design approach to develop heuristics in three phases. In phase 1, we will conduct at least six focus groups with family carers, health and social care practitioners from both hospital and community care services, using the 'think-aloud' method to understand decision-making processes and to develop a set of heuristics. The focus group topic guide will be developed from the findings of a previous study of 46 interviews of family carers about quality end-of-life care for people with dementia and a review of the literature. A multidisciplinary development team of health and social care practitioners will synthesise the findings from the focus groups to devise and refine a toolkit of heuristics. Phase 2 will test the use of heuristics in practice in five sites: one general practice, one community nursing team, one hospital ward and two palliative care teams working in the community. Phase 3 will evaluate and further refine the toolkit of heuristics through group interviews, online questionnaires and semistructured interviews. This study has received ethical approval from a local NHS research ethics committee (Rec ref: 15/LO/0156). The findings of this study will be presented in peer-reviewed publications and national and international conferences. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/permissions.

  2. Evaluation of the Priority Heuristic as a Descriptive Model of Risky Decision Making: Comment on Brandstatter, Gigerenzer, and Hertwig (2006)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Birnbaum, Michael H.

    2008-01-01

    E. Brandstatter, G. Gigerenzer, and R. Hertwig (2006) contended that their priority heuristic, a type of lexicographic semiorder model, is more accurate than cumulative prospect theory (CPT) or transfer of attention exchange (TAX) models in describing risky decisions. However, there are 4 problems with their argument. First, their heuristic is not…

  3. Storage costs and heuristics interact to produce patterns of aphasic sentence comprehension performance.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Clark, David Glenn

    2012-01-01

    Despite general agreement that aphasic individuals exhibit difficulty understanding complex sentences, the nature of sentence complexity itself is unresolved. In addition, aphasic individuals appear to make use of heuristic strategies for understanding sentences. This research is a comparison of predictions derived from two approaches to the quantification of sentence complexity, one based on the hierarchical structure of sentences, and the other based on dependency locality theory (DLT). Complexity metrics derived from these theories are evaluated under various assumptions of heuristic use. A set of complexity metrics was derived from each general theory of sentence complexity and paired with assumptions of heuristic use. Probability spaces were generated that summarized the possible patterns of performance across 16 different sentence structures. The maximum likelihood of comprehension scores of 42 aphasic individuals was then computed for each probability space and the expected scores from the best-fitting points in the space were recorded for comparison to the actual scores. Predictions were then compared using measures of fit quality derived from linear mixed effects models. All three of the metrics that provide the most consistently accurate predictions of patient scores rely on storage costs based on the DLT. Patients appear to employ an Agent-Theme heuristic, but vary in their tendency to accept heuristically generated interpretations. Furthermore, the ability to apply the heuristic may be degraded in proportion to aphasia severity. DLT-derived storage costs provide the best prediction of sentence comprehension patterns in aphasia. Because these costs are estimated by counting incomplete syntactic dependencies at each point in a sentence, this finding suggests that aphasia is associated with reduced availability of cognitive resources for maintaining these dependencies.

  4. Cognitive load during route selection increases reliance on spatial heuristics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brunyé, Tad T; Martis, Shaina B; Taylor, Holly A

    2018-05-01

    Planning routes from maps involves perceiving the symbolic environment, identifying alternate routes and applying explicit strategies and implicit heuristics to select an option. Two implicit heuristics have received considerable attention, the southern route preference and initial segment strategy. This study tested a prediction from decision-making theory that increasing cognitive load during route planning will increase reliance on these heuristics. In two experiments, participants planned routes while under conditions of minimal (0-back) or high (2-back) working memory load. In Experiment 1, we examined how memory load impacts the southern route heuristic. In Experiment 2, we examined how memory load impacts the initial segment heuristic. Results replicated earlier results demonstrating a southern route preference (Experiment 1) and initial segment strategy (Experiment 2) and further demonstrated that evidence for heuristic reliance is more likely under conditions of concurrent working memory load. Furthermore, the extent to which participants maintained efficient route selection latencies in the 2-back condition predicted the magnitude of this effect. Together, results demonstrate that working memory load increases the application of heuristics during spatial decision making, particularly when participants attempt to maintain quick decisions while managing concurrent task demands.

  5. Approach to design neural cryptography: a generalized architecture and a heuristic rule.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mu, Nankun; Liao, Xiaofeng; Huang, Tingwen

    2013-06-01

    Neural cryptography, a type of public key exchange protocol, is widely considered as an effective method for sharing a common secret key between two neural networks on public channels. How to design neural cryptography remains a great challenge. In this paper, in order to provide an approach to solve this challenge, a generalized network architecture and a significant heuristic rule are designed. The proposed generic framework is named as tree state classification machine (TSCM), which extends and unifies the existing structures, i.e., tree parity machine (TPM) and tree committee machine (TCM). Furthermore, we carefully study and find that the heuristic rule can improve the security of TSCM-based neural cryptography. Therefore, TSCM and the heuristic rule can guide us to designing a great deal of effective neural cryptography candidates, in which it is possible to achieve the more secure instances. Significantly, in the light of TSCM and the heuristic rule, we further expound that our designed neural cryptography outperforms TPM (the most secure model at present) on security. Finally, a series of numerical simulation experiments are provided to verify validity and applicability of our results.

  6. Mode analysis of heuristic behavior of searching for multimodal optimum point

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kamei, K; Araki, Y; Inoue, K

    1982-01-01

    Describes an experimental study of a heuristic behavior of searching for the global optimum (maximum) point of a two-dimensional, multimodal, nonlinear and unknown function. First, the authors define three modes dealing with the trial purposes, called the purpose modes and show the heuristic search behaviors expressed by the purpose modes which the human subjects select in the search experiments. Second, the authors classify the heuristic search behaviors into three types according to the mode transitions and extracts eight states of searches which cause the mode transitions. Third, a model of the heuristic search behavior is composed of the eight mode transitions. The analysis of the heuristic search behaviors by use of the purpose modes plays an important role in the heuristic search techniques. 6 references.

  7. Heuristics: foundations for a novel approach to medical decision making.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bodemer, Nicolai; Hanoch, Yaniv; Katsikopoulos, Konstantinos V

    2015-03-01

    Medical decision-making is a complex process that often takes place during uncertainty, that is, when knowledge, time, and resources are limited. How can we ensure good decisions? We present research on heuristics-simple rules of thumb-and discuss how medical decision-making can benefit from these tools. We challenge the common view that heuristics are only second-best solutions by showing that they can be more accurate, faster, and easier to apply in comparison to more complex strategies. Using the example of fast-and-frugal decision trees, we illustrate how heuristics can be studied and implemented in the medical context. Finally, we suggest how a heuristic-friendly culture supports the study and application of heuristics as complementary strategies to existing decision rules.

  8. SPARSE: quadratic time simultaneous alignment and folding of RNAs without sequence-based heuristics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Will, Sebastian; Otto, Christina; Miladi, Milad; Möhl, Mathias; Backofen, Rolf

    2015-08-01

    RNA-Seq experiments have revealed a multitude of novel ncRNAs. The gold standard for their analysis based on simultaneous alignment and folding suffers from extreme time complexity of [Formula: see text]. Subsequently, numerous faster 'Sankoff-style' approaches have been suggested. Commonly, the performance of such methods relies on sequence-based heuristics that restrict the search space to optimal or near-optimal sequence alignments; however, the accuracy of sequence-based methods breaks down for RNAs with sequence identities below 60%. Alignment approaches like LocARNA that do not require sequence-based heuristics, have been limited to high complexity ([Formula: see text] quartic time). Breaking this barrier, we introduce the novel Sankoff-style algorithm 'sparsified prediction and alignment of RNAs based on their structure ensembles (SPARSE)', which runs in quadratic time without sequence-based heuristics. To achieve this low complexity, on par with sequence alignment algorithms, SPARSE features strong sparsification based on structural properties of the RNA ensembles. Following PMcomp, SPARSE gains further speed-up from lightweight energy computation. Although all existing lightweight Sankoff-style methods restrict Sankoff's original model by disallowing loop deletions and insertions, SPARSE transfers the Sankoff algorithm to the lightweight energy model completely for the first time. Compared with LocARNA, SPARSE achieves similar alignment and better folding quality in significantly less time (speedup: 3.7). At similar run-time, it aligns low sequence identity instances substantially more accurate than RAF, which uses sequence-based heuristics. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press.

  9. Solving Large Clustering Problems with Meta-Heuristic Search

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Turkensteen, Marcel; Andersen, Kim Allan; Bang-Jensen, Jørgen

    In Clustering Problems, groups of similar subjects are to be retrieved from data sets. In this paper, Clustering Problems with the frequently used Minimum Sum-of-Squares Criterion are solved using meta-heuristic search. Tabu search has proved to be a successful methodology for solving optimization...... problems, but applications to large clustering problems are rare. The simulated annealing heuristic has mainly been applied to relatively small instances. In this paper, we implement tabu search and simulated annealing approaches and compare them to the commonly used k-means approach. We find that the meta-heuristic...

  10. Neural basis of scientific innovation induced by heuristic prototype.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Junlong Luo

    Full Text Available A number of major inventions in history have been based on bionic imitation. Heuristics, by applying biological systems to the creation of artificial devices and machines, might be one of the most critical processes in scientific innovation. In particular, prototype heuristics propositions that innovation may engage automatic activation of a prototype such as a biological system to form novel associations between a prototype's function and problem-solving. We speculated that the cortical dissociation between the automatic activation and forming novel associations in innovation is critical point to heuristic creativity. In the present study, novel and old scientific innovations (NSI and OSI were selected as experimental materials in using learning-testing paradigm to explore the neural basis of scientific innovation induced by heuristic prototype. College students were required to resolve NSI problems (to which they did not know the answers and OSI problems (to which they knew the answers. From two fMRI experiments, our results showed that the subjects could resolve NSI when provided with heuristic prototypes. In Experiment 1, it was found that the lingual gyrus (LG; BA18 might be related to prototype heuristics in college students resolving NSI after learning a relative prototype. In Experiment 2, the LG (BA18 and precuneus (BA31 were significantly activated for NSI compared to OSI when college students learned all prototypes one day before the test. In addition, the mean beta-values of these brain regions of NSI were all correlated with the behavior accuracy of NSI. As our hypothesis indicated, the findings suggested that the LG might be involved in forming novel associations using heuristic information, while the precuneus might be involved in the automatic activation of heuristic prototype during scientific innovation.

  11. Neural basis of scientific innovation induced by heuristic prototype.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Luo, Junlong; Li, Wenfu; Qiu, Jiang; Wei, Dongtao; Liu, Yijun; Zhang, Qinlin

    2013-01-01

    A number of major inventions in history have been based on bionic imitation. Heuristics, by applying biological systems to the creation of artificial devices and machines, might be one of the most critical processes in scientific innovation. In particular, prototype heuristics propositions that innovation may engage automatic activation of a prototype such as a biological system to form novel associations between a prototype's function and problem-solving. We speculated that the cortical dissociation between the automatic activation and forming novel associations in innovation is critical point to heuristic creativity. In the present study, novel and old scientific innovations (NSI and OSI) were selected as experimental materials in using learning-testing paradigm to explore the neural basis of scientific innovation induced by heuristic prototype. College students were required to resolve NSI problems (to which they did not know the answers) and OSI problems (to which they knew the answers). From two fMRI experiments, our results showed that the subjects could resolve NSI when provided with heuristic prototypes. In Experiment 1, it was found that the lingual gyrus (LG; BA18) might be related to prototype heuristics in college students resolving NSI after learning a relative prototype. In Experiment 2, the LG (BA18) and precuneus (BA31) were significantly activated for NSI compared to OSI when college students learned all prototypes one day before the test. In addition, the mean beta-values of these brain regions of NSI were all correlated with the behavior accuracy of NSI. As our hypothesis indicated, the findings suggested that the LG might be involved in forming novel associations using heuristic information, while the precuneus might be involved in the automatic activation of heuristic prototype during scientific innovation.

  12. Nuclear fuel management optimization using adaptive evolutionary algorithms with heuristics

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Axmann, J.K.; Van de Velde, A.

    1996-01-01

    Adaptive Evolutionary Algorithms in combination with expert knowledge encoded in heuristics have proved to be a robust and powerful optimization method for the design of optimized PWR fuel loading pattern. Simple parallel algorithmic structures coupled with a low amount of communications between computer processor units in use makes it possible for workstation clusters to be employed efficiently. The extension of classic evolution strategies not only by new and alternative methods but also by the inclusion of heuristics with effects on the exchange probabilities of the fuel assemblies at specific core positions leads to the RELOPAT optimization code of the Technical University of Braunschweig. In combination with the new, neutron-physical 3D nodal core simulator PRISM developed by SIEMENS the PRIMO loading pattern optimization system has been designed. Highly promising results in the recalculation of known reload plans for German PWR's new lead to a commercially usable program. (author)

  13. Heuristic hybrid game approach for fleet condition-based maintenance planning

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Feng, Qiang; Bi, Xiong; Zhao, Xiujie; Chen, Yiran; Sun, Bo

    2017-01-01

    The condition-based maintenance (CBM) method is commonly used to select appropriate maintenance opportunities according to equipment status over a period of time. The CBM of aircraft fleets is a fleet maintenance planning problem. In this problem, mission requirements, resource constraints, and aircraft statuses are considered to find an optimal strategy set. Given that the maintenance strategies for each aircraft are finite, fleet CBM can be treated as a combinatorial optimization problem. In this study, the process of making a decision on the CBM of military fleets is analyzed. The fleet CBM problem is treated as a two-stage dynamic decision-making problem. Aircraft are divided into dispatch and standby sets; thus, the problem scale is significantly reduced. A heuristic hybrid game (HHG) approach comprising a competition game and a cooperative game is proposed on the basis of heuristic rule. In the dispatch set, a competition game approach is proposed to search for a local optimal strategy matrix. A cooperative game method for the two sets is also proposed to ensure global optimization. Finally, a case study regarding a fleet comprising 20 aircraft is conducted, with the results proving that the approach efficiently generates outcomes that meet the mission risk-oriented schedule requirement. - Highlights: • A new heuristic hybrid game method for fleet condition-based maintenance is proposed. • The problem is simplified by hierarchical solving based on dispatch and standby set. • The local optimal solution is got by competition game algorithm for dispatch set. • The global optimal solution is got by cooperative game algorithm between two sets.

  14. Interliminal Design: Understanding cognitive heuristics to mitigate design distortion

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Andrew McCollough

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available Cognitive heuristics are mental shortcuts adapted over time to enable rapid interpretation of our complex environment. They are intrinsic to human cognition and resist modification. Heuristics applied outside the context to which they are best suited are termed cognitive bias, and are the cause of systematic errors in judgment and reasoning. As both a cognitive and intuitive discipline, design by individuals is vulnerable to context-inappropriate heuristic usage. Designing in groups can act positively to counterbalance these tendencies, but is subject to heuristic misuse and biases particular to social environments. Mismatch between desired and actual outcomes– termed here, design distortion – occurs when such usage goes unnoticed and unaddressed, and can affect multiple dimensions of a system. We propose a methodology, interliminal design, emerging from the Program in Collaborative Design at Pacific Northwest College of Art, to specifically address the influence of cognitive heuristics in design. This adaptive approach involves reflective, dialogic, inquiry-driven practices intended to increase awareness of heuristic usage, and identify aspects of the design process vulnerable to misuse on both individual and group levels. By facilitating the detection and mitigation of potentially costly errors in judgment and decision-making that create distortion, such metacognitive techniques can meaningfully improve design.

  15. Heuristic Diagrams as a Tool to Teach History of Science

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chamizo, Jose A.

    2012-01-01

    The graphic organizer called here heuristic diagram as an improvement of Gowin's Vee heuristic is proposed as a tool to teach history of science. Heuristic diagrams have the purpose of helping students (or teachers, or researchers) to understand their own research considering that asks and problem-solving are central to scientific activity. The…

  16. A Novel Approach for Bi-Level Segmentation of Tuberculosis Bacilli Based on Meta-Heuristic Algorithms

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    AYAS, S.

    2018-02-01

    Full Text Available Image thresholding is the most crucial step in microscopic image analysis to distinguish bacilli objects causing of tuberculosis disease. Therefore, several bi-level thresholding algorithms are widely used to increase the bacilli segmentation accuracy. However, bi-level microscopic image thresholding problem has not been solved using optimization algorithms. This paper introduces a novel approach for the segmentation problem using heuristic algorithms and presents visual and quantitative comparisons of heuristic and state-of-art thresholding algorithms. In this study, well-known heuristic algorithms such as Firefly Algorithm, Particle Swarm Optimization, Cuckoo Search, Flower Pollination are used to solve bi-level microscopic image thresholding problem, and the results are compared with the state-of-art thresholding algorithms such as K-Means, Fuzzy C-Means, Fast Marching. Kapur's entropy is chosen as the entropy measure to be maximized. Experiments are performed to make comparisons in terms of evaluation metrics and execution time. The quantitative results are calculated based on ground truth segmentation. According to the visual results, heuristic algorithms have better performance and the quantitative results are in accord with the visual results. Furthermore, experimental time comparisons show the superiority and effectiveness of the heuristic algorithms over traditional thresholding algorithms.

  17. The priority heuristic: making choices without trade-offs.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brandstätter, Eduard; Gigerenzer, Gerd; Hertwig, Ralph

    2006-04-01

    Bernoulli's framework of expected utility serves as a model for various psychological processes, including motivation, moral sense, attitudes, and decision making. To account for evidence at variance with expected utility, the authors generalize the framework of fast and frugal heuristics from inferences to preferences. The priority heuristic predicts (a) the Allais paradox, (b) risk aversion for gains if probabilities are high, (c) risk seeking for gains if probabilities are low (e.g., lottery tickets), (d) risk aversion for losses if probabilities are low (e.g., buying insurance), (e) risk seeking for losses if probabilities are high, (f) the certainty effect, (g) the possibility effect, and (h) intransitivities. The authors test how accurately the heuristic predicts people's choices, compared with previously proposed heuristics and 3 modifications of expected utility theory: security-potential/aspiration theory, transfer-of-attention-exchange model, and cumulative prospect theory. ((c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved).

  18. Interliminal Design: Understanding cognitive heuristics to mitigate design distortion

    OpenAIRE

    Andrew McCollough; DeAunne Denmark; Donald Harker

    2014-01-01

    Cognitive heuristics are mental shortcuts adapted over time to enable rapid interpretation of our complex environment. They are intrinsic to human cognition and resist modification. Heuristics applied outside the context to which they are best suited are termed cognitive bias, and are the cause of systematic errors in judgment and reasoning. As both a cognitive and intuitive discipline, design by individuals is vulnerable to context-inappropriate heuristic usage. Designing in groups can act p...

  19. An ordering heuristic for building Binary Decision Diagrams for fault-trees

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bouissou, M.

    1997-01-01

    Binary Decision Diagrams (BDD) have recently made a noticeable entry in the RAMS field. This kind of representation for boolean functions makes possible the assessment of complex fault-trees, both qualitatively (minimal cut-sets search) and quantitatively (exact calculation of top event probability). The object of the paper is to present a pre-processing of the fault-tree which ensures that the results given by different heuristics on the 'optimized' fault-tree are not too sensitive to the way the tree is written. This property is based on a theoretical proof. In contrast with some well known heuristics, the method proposed is not based only on intuition and practical experiments. (author)

  20. Internal Medicine residents use heuristics to estimate disease probability.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Phang, Sen Han; Ravani, Pietro; Schaefer, Jeffrey; Wright, Bruce; McLaughlin, Kevin

    2015-01-01

    Training in Bayesian reasoning may have limited impact on accuracy of probability estimates. In this study, our goal was to explore whether residents previously exposed to Bayesian reasoning use heuristics rather than Bayesian reasoning to estimate disease probabilities. We predicted that if residents use heuristics then post-test probability estimates would be increased by non-discriminating clinical features or a high anchor for a target condition. We randomized 55 Internal Medicine residents to different versions of four clinical vignettes and asked them to estimate probabilities of target conditions. We manipulated the clinical data for each vignette to be consistent with either 1) using a representative heuristic, by adding non-discriminating prototypical clinical features of the target condition, or 2) using anchoring with adjustment heuristic, by providing a high or low anchor for the target condition. When presented with additional non-discriminating data the odds of diagnosing the target condition were increased (odds ratio (OR) 2.83, 95% confidence interval [1.30, 6.15], p = 0.009). Similarly, the odds of diagnosing the target condition were increased when a high anchor preceded the vignette (OR 2.04, [1.09, 3.81], p = 0.025). Our findings suggest that despite previous exposure to the use of Bayesian reasoning, residents use heuristics, such as the representative heuristic and anchoring with adjustment, to estimate probabilities. Potential reasons for attribute substitution include the relative cognitive ease of heuristics vs. Bayesian reasoning or perhaps residents in their clinical practice use gist traces rather than precise probability estimates when diagnosing.

  1. Heuristics Miner for E-Commerce Visitor Access Pattern Representation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kartina Diah Kesuma Wardhani

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available E-commerce click stream data can form a certain pattern that describe visitor behavior while surfing the e-commerce website. This pattern can be used to initiate a design to determine alternative access sequence on the website. This research use heuristic miner algorithm to determine the pattern. σ-Algorithm and Genetic Mining are methods used for pattern recognition with frequent sequence item set approach. Heuristic Miner is an evolved form of those methods. σ-Algorithm assume that an activity in a website, that has been recorded in the data log, is a complete sequence from start to finish, without any tolerance to incomplete data or data with noise. On the other hand, Genetic Mining is a method that tolerate incomplete data or data with noise, so it can generate a more detailed e-commerce visitor access pattern. In this study, the same sequence of events obtained from six-generated patterns. The resulting pattern of visitor access is that visitors are often access the home page and then the product category page or the home page and then the full text search page.

  2. Heuristic and analytic processes in reasoning: an event-related potential study of belief bias.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Banks, Adrian P; Hope, Christopher

    2014-03-01

    Human reasoning involves both heuristic and analytic processes. This study of belief bias in relational reasoning investigated whether the two processes occur serially or in parallel. Participants evaluated the validity of problems in which the conclusions were either logically valid or invalid and either believable or unbelievable. Problems in which the conclusions presented a conflict between the logically valid response and the believable response elicited a more positive P3 than problems in which there was no conflict. This shows that P3 is influenced by the interaction of belief and logic rather than either of these factors on its own. These findings indicate that belief and logic influence reasoning at the same time, supporting models in which belief-based and logical evaluations occur in parallel but not theories in which belief-based heuristic evaluations precede logical analysis.

  3. Proximity search heuristics for wind farm optimal layout

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Fischetti, Martina; Monaci, Michele

    2016-01-01

    A heuristic framework for turbine layout optimization in a wind farm is proposed that combines ad-hoc heuristics and mixed-integer linear programming. In our framework, large-scale mixed-integer programming models are used to iteratively refine the current best solution according to the recently...

  4. Cognitive biases and heuristics in medical decision making: a critical review using a systematic search strategy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Blumenthal-Barby, J S; Krieger, Heather

    2015-05-01

    The role of cognitive biases and heuristics in medical decision making is of growing interest. The purpose of this study was to determine whether studies on cognitive biases and heuristics in medical decision making are based on actual or hypothetical decisions and are conducted with populations that are representative of those who typically make the medical decision; to categorize the types of cognitive biases and heuristics found and whether they are found in patients or in medical personnel; and to critically review the studies based on standard methodological quality criteria. Data sources were original, peer-reviewed, empirical studies on cognitive biases and heuristics in medical decision making found in Ovid Medline, PsycINFO, and the CINAHL databases published in 1980-2013. Predefined exclusion criteria were used to identify 213 studies. During data extraction, information was collected on type of bias or heuristic studied, respondent population, decision type, study type (actual or hypothetical), study method, and study conclusion. Of the 213 studies analyzed, 164 (77%) were based on hypothetical vignettes, and 175 (82%) were conducted with representative populations. Nineteen types of cognitive biases and heuristics were found. Only 34% of studies (n = 73) investigated medical personnel, and 68% (n = 145) confirmed the presence of a bias or heuristic. Each methodological quality criterion was satisfied by more than 50% of the studies, except for sample size and validated instruments/questions. Limitations are that existing terms were used to inform search terms, and study inclusion criteria focused strictly on decision making. Most of the studies on biases and heuristics in medical decision making are based on hypothetical vignettes, raising concerns about applicability of these findings to actual decision making. Biases and heuristics have been underinvestigated in medical personnel compared with patients. © The Author(s) 2014.

  5. Heuristic algorithms for the minmax regret flow-shop problem with interval processing times.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ćwik, Michał; Józefczyk, Jerzy

    2018-01-01

    An uncertain version of the permutation flow-shop with unlimited buffers and the makespan as a criterion is considered. The investigated parametric uncertainty is represented by given interval-valued processing times. The maximum regret is used for the evaluation of uncertainty. Consequently, the minmax regret discrete optimization problem is solved. Due to its high complexity, two relaxations are applied to simplify the optimization procedure. First of all, a greedy procedure is used for calculating the criterion's value, as such calculation is NP-hard problem itself. Moreover, the lower bound is used instead of solving the internal deterministic flow-shop. The constructive heuristic algorithm is applied for the relaxed optimization problem. The algorithm is compared with previously elaborated other heuristic algorithms basing on the evolutionary and the middle interval approaches. The conducted computational experiments showed the advantage of the constructive heuristic algorithm with regards to both the criterion and the time of computations. The Wilcoxon paired-rank statistical test confirmed this conclusion.

  6. The recognition heuristic : A review of theory and tests

    OpenAIRE

    Pachur, T.; Todd, P.; Gigerenzer, G.; Schooler, L.; Goldstein, D.

    2011-01-01

    The recognition heuristic is a prime example of how, by exploiting a match between mind and environment, a simple mental strategy can lead to efficient decision making. The proposal of the heuristic initiated a debate about the processes underlying the use of recognition in decision making. We review research addressing four key aspects of the recognition heuristic: (a) that recognition is often an ecologically valid cue; (b) that people often follow recognition when making inferences; (c) th...

  7. Can we trust module-respect heuristics?

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mo, Yuchang

    2013-01-01

    BDD (Binary Decision Diagrams) have proven to be a very efficient tool to assess Fault Trees. However, the size of BDD, and therefore the efficiency of the whole methodology, depends dramatically on the choice of variable ordering. The determination of the best variable ordering is intractable. Therefore, heuristics have been designed to select reasonably good variable orderings. One very important common feature for good static heuristics is to respect modules. In this paper, the notion of module-respect is studied in a systematic way. It is proved that under certain condition there always exists an optimal ordering that respects modules. This condition is that for each module there is always a smallest module BDD and each included module variable appears only once. On the other hand, it is shown that for the trees not satisfying the above sufficient condition the optimal orderings may not be able to be directly generated using module-respect heuristics, even when the shuffling strategy is used.

  8. SPARSE: quadratic time simultaneous alignment and folding of RNAs without sequence-based heuristics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Will, Sebastian; Otto, Christina; Miladi, Milad; Möhl, Mathias; Backofen, Rolf

    2015-01-01

    Motivation: RNA-Seq experiments have revealed a multitude of novel ncRNAs. The gold standard for their analysis based on simultaneous alignment and folding suffers from extreme time complexity of O(n6). Subsequently, numerous faster ‘Sankoff-style’ approaches have been suggested. Commonly, the performance of such methods relies on sequence-based heuristics that restrict the search space to optimal or near-optimal sequence alignments; however, the accuracy of sequence-based methods breaks down for RNAs with sequence identities below 60%. Alignment approaches like LocARNA that do not require sequence-based heuristics, have been limited to high complexity (≥ quartic time). Results: Breaking this barrier, we introduce the novel Sankoff-style algorithm ‘sparsified prediction and alignment of RNAs based on their structure ensembles (SPARSE)’, which runs in quadratic time without sequence-based heuristics. To achieve this low complexity, on par with sequence alignment algorithms, SPARSE features strong sparsification based on structural properties of the RNA ensembles. Following PMcomp, SPARSE gains further speed-up from lightweight energy computation. Although all existing lightweight Sankoff-style methods restrict Sankoff’s original model by disallowing loop deletions and insertions, SPARSE transfers the Sankoff algorithm to the lightweight energy model completely for the first time. Compared with LocARNA, SPARSE achieves similar alignment and better folding quality in significantly less time (speedup: 3.7). At similar run-time, it aligns low sequence identity instances substantially more accurate than RAF, which uses sequence-based heuristics. Availability and implementation: SPARSE is freely available at http://www.bioinf.uni-freiburg.de/Software/SPARSE. Contact: backofen@informatik.uni-freiburg.de Supplementary information: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online. PMID:25838465

  9. A novel heuristic algorithm for capacitated vehicle routing problem

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kır, Sena; Yazgan, Harun Reşit; Tüncel, Emre

    2017-09-01

    The vehicle routing problem with the capacity constraints was considered in this paper. It is quite difficult to achieve an optimal solution with traditional optimization methods by reason of the high computational complexity for large-scale problems. Consequently, new heuristic or metaheuristic approaches have been developed to solve this problem. In this paper, we constructed a new heuristic algorithm based on the tabu search and adaptive large neighborhood search (ALNS) with several specifically designed operators and features to solve the capacitated vehicle routing problem (CVRP). The effectiveness of the proposed algorithm was illustrated on the benchmark problems. The algorithm provides a better performance on large-scaled instances and gained advantage in terms of CPU time. In addition, we solved a real-life CVRP using the proposed algorithm and found the encouraging results by comparison with the current situation that the company is in.

  10. Interim Report on Heuristics about Inspection Parameters: Updates to Heuristics Resulting from Refinement on Projects

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shull, Forrest; Seaman, Carolyn; Feldman, Raimund; Haingaertner, Ralf; Regardie, Myrna

    2008-01-01

    In 2008, we have continued analyzing the inspection data in an effort to better understand the applicability and effect of the inspection heuristics on inspection outcomes. Our research goals during this period are: 1. Investigate the effect of anomalies in the dataset (e.g. the very large meeting length values for some inspections) on our results 2. Investigate the effect of the heuristics on other inspection outcome variables (e.g. effort) 3. Investigate whether the recommended ranges can be modified to give inspection planners more flexibility without sacrificing effectiveness 4. Investigate possible refinements or modifications to the heuristics for specific subdomains (partitioned, e.g., by size, domain, or Center) This memo reports our results to date towards addressing these goals. In the next section, the first goal is addressed by describing the types of anomalies we have found in our dataset, how we have addressed them, and the effect of these changes on our previously reported results. In the following section, on "methodology", we describe the analyses we have conducted to address the other three goals and the results of these analyses are described in the "results" section. Finally, we conclude with future plans for continuing our investigation.

  11. Simple heuristics in over-the-counter drug choices: a new hint for medical education and practice

    Science.gov (United States)

    Riva, Silvia; Monti, Marco; Antonietti, Alessandro

    2011-01-01

    Introduction Over-the-counter (OTC) drugs are widely available and often purchased by consumers without advice from a health care provider. Many people rely on self-management of medications to treat common medical conditions. Although OTC medications are regulated by the National and the International Health and Drug Administration, many people are unaware of proper dosing, side effects, adverse drug reactions, and possible medication interactions. Purpose This study examined how subjects make their decisions to select an OTC drug, evaluating the role of cognitive heuristics which are simple and adaptive rules that help the decision-making process of people in everyday contexts. Subjects and methods By analyzing 70 subjects’ information-search and decision-making behavior when selecting OTC drugs, we examined the heuristics they applied in order to assess whether simple decision-making processes were also accurate and relevant. Subjects were tested with a sequence of two experimental tests based on a computerized Java system devised to analyze participants’ choices in a virtual environment. Results We found that subjects’ information-search behavior reflected the use of fast and frugal heuristics. In addition, although the heuristics which correctly predicted subjects’ decisions implied significantly fewer cues on average than the subjects did in the information-search task, they were accurate in describing order of information search. A simple combination of a fast and frugal tree and a tallying rule predicted more than 78% of subjects’ decisions. Conclusion The current emphasis in health care is to shift some responsibility onto the consumer through expansion of self medication. To know which cognitive mechanisms are behind the choice of OTC drugs is becoming a relevant purpose of current medical education. These findings have implications both for the validity of simple heuristics describing information searches in the field of OTC drug choices and

  12. Availability Allocation of Networked Systems Using Markov Model and Heuristics Algorithm

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ruiying Li

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available It is a common practice to allocate the system availability goal to reliability and maintainability goals of components in the early design phase. However, the networked system availability is difficult to be allocated due to its complex topology and multiple down states. To solve these problems, a practical availability allocation method is proposed. Network reliability algebraic methods are used to derive the availability expression of the networked topology on the system level, and Markov model is introduced to determine that on the component level. A heuristic algorithm is proposed to obtain the reliability and maintainability allocation values of components. The principles applied in the AGREE reliability allocation method, proposed by the Advisory Group on Reliability of Electronic Equipment, and failure rate-based maintainability allocation method persist in our allocation method. A series system is used to verify the new algorithm, and the result shows that the allocation based on the heuristic algorithm is quite accurate compared to the traditional one. Moreover, our case study of a signaling system number 7 shows that the proposed allocation method is quite efficient for networked systems.

  13. Sequence-based heuristics for faster annotation of non-coding RNA families.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Weinberg, Zasha; Ruzzo, Walter L

    2006-01-01

    Non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) are functional RNA molecules that do not code for proteins. Covariance Models (CMs) are a useful statistical tool to find new members of an ncRNA gene family in a large genome database, using both sequence and, importantly, RNA secondary structure information. Unfortunately, CM searches are extremely slow. Previously, we created rigorous filters, which provably sacrifice none of a CM's accuracy, while making searches significantly faster for virtually all ncRNA families. However, these rigorous filters make searches slower than heuristics could be. In this paper we introduce profile HMM-based heuristic filters. We show that their accuracy is usually superior to heuristics based on BLAST. Moreover, we compared our heuristics with those used in tRNAscan-SE, whose heuristics incorporate a significant amount of work specific to tRNAs, where our heuristics are generic to any ncRNA. Performance was roughly comparable, so we expect that our heuristics provide a high-quality solution that--unlike family-specific solutions--can scale to hundreds of ncRNA families. The source code is available under GNU Public License at the supplementary web site.

  14. Heuristic Portfolio Trading Rules with Capital Gain Taxes

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Fischer, Marcel; Gallmeyer, Michael

    2016-01-01

    We study the out-of-sample performance of portfolio trading strategies used when an investor faces capital gain taxation and proportional transaction costs. Overlaying simple tax trading heuristics on trading strategies improves out-of-sample performance. For medium to large transaction costs......, no trading strategy can outperform a 1/N trading strategy augmented with a tax heuristic, not even the most tax and transaction cost-efficient buy-and-hold strategy. Overall, the best strategy is 1/N augmented with a heuristic that allows for a fixed deviation in absolute portfolio weights. Our results thus...... show that the best trading strategies balance diversification considerations and tax considerations....

  15. TOUR CONSTRUCTION HEURISTICS FOR AN ORDER SEQUENCING PROBLEM

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    De Villiers, A. P.

    2012-11-01

    Full Text Available An order picking system that requires pickers to move in a clockwise direction around a picking line with fixed locations is considered. The problem is divided into three tiers. The tier in which orders must be sequenced is addressed. Eight tour construction heuristics are developed and implemented for an order picking system operating in unidirectional picking lines. Two classes of tour construction heuristics the tour construction starting position ( and the tour construction ending position ( are developed to sequence orders in a picking line. All algorithms are tested and compared using real life data sets. The best solution quality was obtained by a heuristic with adaptations.

  16. Fitness levels with tail bounds for the analysis of randomized search heuristics

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Witt, Carsten

    2014-01-01

    The fitness-level method, also called the method of f-based partitions, is an intuitive and widely used technique for the running time analysis of randomized search heuristics. It was originally defined to prove upper and lower bounds on the expected running time. Recently, upper tail bounds were...

  17. An ordering heuristic for building Binary Decision Diagrams for fault-trees

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bouissou, M. [Electricite de France (EDF), 75 - Paris (France)

    1997-12-31

    Binary Decision Diagrams (BDD) have recently made a noticeable entry in the RAMS field. This kind of representation for boolean functions makes possible the assessment of complex fault-trees, both qualitatively (minimal cut-sets search) and quantitatively (exact calculation of top event probability). The object of the paper is to present a pre-processing of the fault-tree which ensures that the results given by different heuristics on the `optimized` fault-tree are not too sensitive to the way the tree is written. This property is based on a theoretical proof. In contrast with some well known heuristics, the method proposed is not based only on intuition and practical experiments. (author) 12 refs.

  18. RELAXATION HEURISTICS FOR THE SET COVERING PROBLEM

    OpenAIRE

    Umetani, Shunji; Yagiura, Mutsunori; 柳浦, 睦憲

    2007-01-01

    The set covering problem (SCP) is one of representative combinatorial optimization problems, which has many practical applications. The continuous development of mathematical programming has derived a number of impressive heuristic algorithms as well as exact branch-and-bound algorithms, which can solve huge SCP instances of bus, railway and airline crew scheduling problems. We survey heuristic algorithms for SCP focusing mainly on contributions of mathematical programming techniques to heuri...

  19. A heuristic forecasting model for stock decision

    OpenAIRE

    Zhang, D.; Jiang, Q.; Li, X.

    2005-01-01

    This paper describes a heuristic forecasting model based on neural networks for stock decision-making. Some heuristic strategies are presented for enhancing the learning capability of neural networks and obtaining better trading performance. The China Shanghai Composite Index is used as case study. The forecasting model can forecast the buying and selling signs according to the result of neural network prediction. Results are compared with a benchmark buy-and-hold strategy. ...

  20. Relative level of occurrence of the principal heuristics in Nigeria property valuation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Iroham C.O.,

    2013-06-01

    Full Text Available The neglect of the other principal heuristics namely avaialability, representative and positivity in real estate behaviourial property research as against the exclusive focus on anchoring and adjustment heuristics invariably results to a lopsided research. This work studied the four principal heuristics in property behaviourial property valutaion in a bid to discovering its relative level of occurrence. The study adopted a cross-sectional questionnaire survey approach of 159 of the 270 Head Offices of Estate Surveying and Valuation firms in Lagos Metropolis, while 29 and 30 questionnaire were distributed to the Head Offices of the entire Estate Surveying and Valuation Firms in Abuja and Port-Harcourt respectively. The data gotten was analyzed with the aid of Statistical Package for the Social Sciences first using frequency distributions/means and the data so analyzed was further analyzed using maximum and minimum values, means/standard deviations and ultimately ranking of such means. The result revealed that respondents use the various principal heuristics in this decreasing order of magnitude: availability heuristics (26.77%, anchoring and adjustment heuristics (18.62%; representative heuristics (15.63% and least of all positivity heuristics (10.41%. The authors thereby opined that emphasis be placed more on availability heuristics research particularly as usage of heuristcis (anchoring and adjustment has been seen to influence valuation inconsistency/accuracy

  1. Heuristic Model Of The Composite Quality Index Of Environmental Assessment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Khabarov, A. N.; Knyaginin, A. A.; Bondarenko, D. V.; Shepet, I. P.; Korolkova, L. N.

    2017-01-01

    The goal of the paper is to present the heuristic model of the composite environmental quality index based on the integrated application of the elements of utility theory, multidimensional scaling, expert evaluation and decision-making. The composite index is synthesized in linear-quadratic form, it provides higher adequacy of the results of the assessment preferences of experts and decision-makers.

  2. An analysis of generalised heuristics for vehicle routing and personnel rostering problems

    OpenAIRE

    Mustafa Misir; Pieter Smet; Greet Vanden Berghe

    2015-01-01

    The present study investigates the performance of heuristics while solving problems with routing and rostering characteristics. The target problems include scheduling and routing home care, security and maintenance personnel. In analysing the behaviour of the heuristics and determining the requirements for solving the aforementioned problems, the winning hyper-heuristic from the first International Cross-domain Heuristic Search Challenge (CHeSC 2011) is employed. The completely new applicatio...

  3. Heuristics for container loading of furniture

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Egeblad, Jens; Garavelli, Claudio; Lisi, Stefano

    2010-01-01

    . In the studied company, the problem arises hundreds of times daily during transport planning. Instances may contain more than one hundred different items with irregular shapes. To solve this complex problem we apply a set of heuristics successively that each solve one part of the problem. Large items...... are combined in specific structures to ensure proper protection of the items during transportation and to simplify the problem. The solutions generated by the heuristic has an average loading utilization of 91.3% for the most general instances with average running times around 100 seconds....

  4. Use of Statistical Heuristics in Everyday Inductive Reasoning.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nisbett, Richard E.; And Others

    1983-01-01

    In everyday reasoning, people use statistical heuristics (judgmental tools that are rough intuitive equivalents of statistical principles). Use of statistical heuristics is more likely when (1) sampling is clear, (2) the role of chance is clear, (3) statistical reasoning is normative for the event, or (4) the subject has had training in…

  5. Beyond rational expectations: the effects of heuristic switching in an overlapping generations model

    OpenAIRE

    Boone, Brecht; Quaghebeur, Ewoud

    2018-01-01

    We explore the transitional dynamics in an Overlapping Generations framework with and without heuristic switching. Agents use simple heuristics to forecast the interest rate and the real wage. The fraction of agents using a specific heuristic depends on its relative forecasting performance. In the absence of heuristic switching, the results indicate that there is a lot of variation in the transitional dynamics over different parameter values and heuristics. They might even oscillate or diverg...

  6. Simple Heuristic Approach to Introduction of the Black-Scholes Model

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yalamova, Rossitsa

    2010-01-01

    A heuristic approach to explaining of the Black-Scholes option pricing model in undergraduate classes is described. The approach draws upon the method of protocol analysis to encourage students to "think aloud" so that their mental models can be surfaced. It also relies upon extensive visualizations to communicate relationships that are…

  7. A comparative study of the A* heuristic search algorithm used to solve efficiently a puzzle game

    Science.gov (United States)

    Iordan, A. E.

    2018-01-01

    The puzzle game presented in this paper consists in polyhedra (prisms, pyramids or pyramidal frustums) which can be moved using the free available spaces. The problem requires to be found the minimum number of movements in order the game reaches to a goal configuration starting from an initial configuration. Because the problem is enough complex, the principal difficulty in solving it is given by dimension of search space, that leads to necessity of a heuristic search. The improving of the search method consists into determination of a strong estimation by the heuristic function which will guide the search process to the most promising side of the search tree. The comparative study is realized among Manhattan heuristic and the Hamming heuristic using A* search algorithm implemented in Java. This paper also presents the necessary stages in object oriented development of a software used to solve efficiently this puzzle game. The modelling of the software is achieved through specific UML diagrams representing the phases of analysis, design and implementation, the system thus being described in a clear and practical manner. With the purpose to confirm the theoretical results which demonstrates that Manhattan heuristic is more efficient was used space complexity criterion. The space complexity was measured by the number of generated nodes from the search tree, by the number of the expanded nodes and by the effective branching factor. From the experimental results obtained by using the Manhattan heuristic, improvements were observed regarding space complexity of A* algorithm versus Hamming heuristic.

  8. Heuristics guide cooperative behaviors in public goods game

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Yongjie; Chen, Tong

    2015-12-01

    In public goods game (PGG), player's cooperative behavior is not pure economical rationality, but social preference and prosocial intuition play extremely important roles as well. Social preference and prosocial intuition can be guided by heuristics from one's neighbors in daily life. To better investigate the impacts of heuristics on the evolution of cooperation, four types of agents are introduced into our spatial PGG. Through numerical simulations, results show that the larger percentages of cooperators with independent thought, the easier emergence and maintenance of collective cooperative behaviors. Additionally, we find that differentia heuristic capability has great effect on the equilibrium of PGG. Cooperation can be obviously promoted, when heuristic capability of cooperators with independent thought is stronger than that of defectors with independent thought. Finally, we observe that cooperators with independent thought and defectors with independent thought are favorable for the formation of some high quality clusters, which can resist the invasion between each other. Our work may help us understand more clearly the mechanism of cooperation in real world.

  9. Identifying Onboarding Heuristics for Free-to-Play Mobile Games: A Mixed Methods Approach

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Thomsen, Line Ebdrup; Weigert Petersen, Falko; Mirza-Babaei, Pejman

    2016-01-01

    The onboarding phase of Free-to-Play mobile games, covering the first few minutes of play, typically sees a substantial retention rate amongst players. It is therefore crucial to the success of these games that the onboarding phase promotes engagement to the widest degree possible. In this paper ...... of puzzle games, base builders and arcade games, and utilize different onboarding phase design approaches. Results showcase how heuristics can be used to design engaging onboarding phases in mobile games....

  10. Investigating the Impacts of Design Heuristics on Idea Initiation and Development

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kramer, Julia; Daly, Shanna R.; Yilmaz, Seda; Seifert, Colleen M.; Gonzalez, Richard

    2015-01-01

    This paper presents an analysis of engineering students' use of Design Heuristics as part of a team project in an undergraduate engineering design course. Design Heuristics are an empirically derived set of cognitive "rules of thumb" for use in concept generation. We investigated heuristic use in the initial concept generation phase,…

  11. Fast or Frugal, but Not Both: Decision Heuristics under Time Pressure

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bobadilla-Suarez, Sebastian; Love, Bradley C.

    2018-01-01

    Heuristics are simple, yet effective, strategies that people use to make decisions. Because heuristics do not require all available information, they are thought to be easy to implement and to not tax limited cognitive resources, which has led heuristics to be characterized as fast-and-frugal. We question this monolithic conception of heuristics…

  12. Best practices in business process redesign: an overview and qualitative evaluation of successful redesign heuristics

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Reijers, H.A.; Limam Mansar, S.

    2005-01-01

    To implement business process redesign several best practices can be distinguished. This paper gives an overview of heuristic rules that can support practitioners to develop a business process design that is a radical improvement of a current design. The emphasis is on the mechanics of the process,

  13. Usability evaluation of Laboratory and Radiology Information Systems integrated into a hospital information system.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nabovati, Ehsan; Vakili-Arki, Hasan; Eslami, Saeid; Khajouei, Reza

    2014-04-01

    This study was conducted to evaluate the usability of widely used laboratory and radiology information systems. Three usability experts independently evaluated the user interfaces of Laboratory and Radiology Information Systems using heuristic evaluation method. They applied Nielsen's heuristics to identify and classify usability problems and Nielsen's severity rating to judge their severity. Overall, 116 unique heuristic violations were identified as usability problems. In terms of severity, 67 % of problems were rated as major and catastrophic. Among 10 heuristics, "consistency and standards" was violated most frequently. Moreover, mean severity of problems concerning "error prevention" and "help and documentation" heuristics was higher than of the others. Despite widespread use of specific healthcare information systems, they suffer from usability problems. Improving the usability of systems by following existing design standards and principles from the early phased of system development life cycle is recommended. Especially, it is recommended that the designers design systems that inhibit the initiation of erroneous actions and provide sufficient guidance to users.

  14. The affect heuristic in occupational safety.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Savadori, Lucia; Caovilla, Jessica; Zaniboni, Sara; Fraccaroli, Franco

    2015-07-08

    The affect heuristic is a rule of thumb according to which, in the process of making a judgment or decision, people use affect as a cue. If a stimulus elicits positive affect then risks associated to that stimulus are viewed as low and benefits as high; conversely, if the stimulus elicits negative affect, then risks are perceived as high and benefits as low. The basic tenet of this study is that affect heuristic guides worker's judgment and decision making in a risk situation. The more the worker likes her/his organization the less she/he will perceive the risks as high. A sample of 115 employers and 65 employees working in small family agricultural businesses completed a questionnaire measuring perceived safety costs, psychological safety climate, affective commitment and safety compliance. A multi-sample structural analysis supported the thesis that safety compliance can be explained through an affect-based heuristic reasoning, but only for employers. Positive affective commitment towards their family business reduced employers' compliance with safety procedures by increasing the perceived cost of implementing them.

  15. Heuristic procedures for transmission planning in competitive electricity markets

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lu, Wene; Bompard, Ettore; Napoli, Roberto; Jiang, Xiuchen

    2007-01-01

    The network structure of the power system, in an electricity market under the pool model, may have severe impacts on market performance, reducing market efficiency considerably, especially when producers bid strategically. In this context network re-enforcement plays a major role and proper strategies of transmission planning need to be devised. This paper presents, for pool-model electricity markets, two heuristic procedures to select the most effective subset of lines that would reduce the impacts on the market, from a set of predefined candidate lines and within the allowed budget for network expansion. A set of indices that account for the economic impacts of the re-enforcing of the candidate lines, both in terms of construction cost and market efficiency, are proposed and used as sensitivity indices in the heuristic procedure. The proposed methods are applied and compared with reference to an 18-bus test system. (author)

  16. Swift and Smart Decision Making: Heuristics that Work

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hoy, Wayne K.; Tarter, C. J.

    2010-01-01

    Purpose: The aim of this paper is to examine the research literature on decision making and identify and develop a set of heuristics that work for school decision makers. Design/methodology/approach: This analysis is a synthesis of the research on decision-making heuristics that work. Findings: A set of nine rules for swift and smart decision…

  17. Robust Frequency-Domain Constrained Feedback Design via a Two-Stage Heuristic Approach.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Xianwei; Gao, Huijun

    2015-10-01

    Based on a two-stage heuristic method, this paper is concerned with the design of robust feedback controllers with restricted frequency-domain specifications (RFDSs) for uncertain linear discrete-time systems. Polytopic uncertainties are assumed to enter all the system matrices, while RFDSs are motivated by the fact that practical design specifications are often described in restricted finite frequency ranges. Dilated multipliers are first introduced to relax the generalized Kalman-Yakubovich-Popov lemma for output feedback controller synthesis and robust performance analysis. Then a two-stage approach to output feedback controller synthesis is proposed: at the first stage, a robust full-information (FI) controller is designed, which is used to construct a required output feedback controller at the second stage. To improve the solvability of the synthesis method, heuristic iterative algorithms are further formulated for exploring the feedback gain and optimizing the initial FI controller at the individual stage. The effectiveness of the proposed design method is finally demonstrated by the application to active control of suspension systems.

  18. Structural Sustainability - Heuristic Approach

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rostański, Krzysztof

    2017-10-01

    Nowadays, we are faced with a challenge of having to join building structures with elements of nature, which seems to be the paradigm of modern planning and design. The questions arise, however, with reference to the following categories: the leading idea, the relation between elements of nature and buildings, the features of a structure combining such elements and, finally, our perception of this structure. If we consider both the overwhelming globalization and our attempts to preserve local values, the only reasonable solution is to develop naturalistic greenery. It can add its uniqueness to any building and to any developed area. Our holistic model, presented in this paper, contains the above mentioned categories within the scope of naturalism. The model is divided into principles, actions related, and possible effects to be obtained. It provides a useful tool for determining the ways and priorities of our design. Although it is not possible to consider all possible actions and solutions in order to support sustainability in any particular design, we can choose, however, a proper mode for our design according to the local conditions by turning to the heuristic method, which helps to choose priorities and targets. Our approach is an attempt to follow the ways of nature as in the natural environment it is optimal solutions that appear and survive, idealism being the domain of mankind only. We try to describe various natural processes in a manner comprehensible to us, which is always a generalization. Such definitions, however, called artificial by naturalists, are presented as art or the current state of knowledge by artists and engineers. Reality, in fact, is always more complicated than its definitions. The heuristic method demonstrates the way how to optimize our design. It requires that all possible information about the local environment should be gathered, as the more is known, the fewer mistakes are made. Following the unquestionable principles, we can

  19. Psychology into economics: fast and frugal heuristics

    OpenAIRE

    Schilirò, Daniele

    2015-01-01

    The present essay focuses on the fast and frugal heuristics program set forth by Gerd Gigerenzer and his fellows. In particular it examines the contribution of Gigerenzer and Goldstein (1996) ‘Reasoning the Fast and Frugal Way: Models of Bounded Rationality’. This essay, following the theoretical propositions and the empirical evidence of Gigerenzer and Goldstein, points out that simple cognitive mechanisms such as fast and frugal heuristics can be capable of successful performance in real wo...

  20. Efficient Heuristics for Simulating Population Overflow in Parallel Networks

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Zaburnenko, T.S.; Nicola, V.F.

    2006-01-01

    In this paper we propose a state-dependent importance sampling heuristic to estimate the probability of population overflow in networks of parallel queues. This heuristic approximates the “optimal��? state-dependent change of measure without the need for costly optimization involved in other

  1. Comparing the performance of expert user heuristics and an integer linear program in aircraft carrier deck operations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ryan, Jason C; Banerjee, Ashis Gopal; Cummings, Mary L; Roy, Nicholas

    2014-06-01

    Planning operations across a number of domains can be considered as resource allocation problems with timing constraints. An unexplored instance of such a problem domain is the aircraft carrier flight deck, where, in current operations, replanning is done without the aid of any computerized decision support. Rather, veteran operators employ a set of experience-based heuristics to quickly generate new operating schedules. These expert user heuristics are neither codified nor evaluated by the United States Navy; they have grown solely from the convergent experiences of supervisory staff. As unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are introduced in the aircraft carrier domain, these heuristics may require alterations due to differing capabilities. The inclusion of UAVs also allows for new opportunities for on-line planning and control, providing an alternative to the current heuristic-based replanning methodology. To investigate these issues formally, we have developed a decision support system for flight deck operations that utilizes a conventional integer linear program-based planning algorithm. In this system, a human operator sets both the goals and constraints for the algorithm, which then returns a proposed schedule for operator approval. As a part of validating this system, the performance of this collaborative human-automation planner was compared with that of the expert user heuristics over a set of test scenarios. The resulting analysis shows that human heuristics often outperform the plans produced by an optimization algorithm, but are also often more conservative.

  2. The Heuristic Value of p in Inductive Statistical Inference

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Joachim I. Krueger

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available Many statistical methods yield the probability of the observed data – or data more extreme – under the assumption that a particular hypothesis is true. This probability is commonly known as ‘the’ p-value. (Null Hypothesis Significance Testing ([NH]ST is the most prominent of these methods. The p-value has been subjected to much speculation, analysis, and criticism. We explore how well the p-value predicts what researchers presumably seek: the probability of the hypothesis being true given the evidence, and the probability of reproducing significant results. We also explore the effect of sample size on inferential accuracy, bias, and error. In a series of simulation experiments, we find that the p-value performs quite well as a heuristic cue in inductive inference, although there are identifiable limits to its usefulness. We conclude that despite its general usefulness, the p-value cannot bear the full burden of inductive inference; it is but one of several heuristic cues available to the data analyst. Depending on the inferential challenge at hand, investigators may supplement their reports with effect size estimates, Bayes factors, or other suitable statistics, to communicate what they think the data say.

  3. The Heuristic Value of p in Inductive Statistical Inference.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Krueger, Joachim I; Heck, Patrick R

    2017-01-01

    Many statistical methods yield the probability of the observed data - or data more extreme - under the assumption that a particular hypothesis is true. This probability is commonly known as 'the' p -value. (Null Hypothesis) Significance Testing ([NH]ST) is the most prominent of these methods. The p -value has been subjected to much speculation, analysis, and criticism. We explore how well the p -value predicts what researchers presumably seek: the probability of the hypothesis being true given the evidence, and the probability of reproducing significant results. We also explore the effect of sample size on inferential accuracy, bias, and error. In a series of simulation experiments, we find that the p -value performs quite well as a heuristic cue in inductive inference, although there are identifiable limits to its usefulness. We conclude that despite its general usefulness, the p -value cannot bear the full burden of inductive inference; it is but one of several heuristic cues available to the data analyst. Depending on the inferential challenge at hand, investigators may supplement their reports with effect size estimates, Bayes factors, or other suitable statistics, to communicate what they think the data say.

  4. A greedy heuristic using adjoint functions for the optimization of seed and needle configurations in prostate seed implant

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Yoo, Sua [Department of Radiation Oncology, Duke University Medical Center, Box 3295, Durham, NC 27710 (United States); Kowalok, Michael E [Department of Radiation Oncology, Virginia Commonwealth University Health System, 401 College St., PO Box 980058, Richmond, VA 23298-0058 (United States); Thomadsen, Bruce R [Department of Medical Physics, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1530 MSC, 1300 University Ave., Madison, WI 53706 (United States); Henderson, Douglass L [Department of Engineering Physics, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 153 Engineering Research Bldg., 1500 Engineering Dr., Madison, WI 53706 (United States)

    2007-02-07

    We continue our work on the development of an efficient treatment-planning algorithm for prostate seed implants by incorporation of an automated seed and needle configuration routine. The treatment-planning algorithm is based on region of interest (ROI) adjoint functions and a greedy heuristic. As defined in this work, the adjoint function of an ROI is the sensitivity of the average dose in the ROI to a unit-strength brachytherapy source at any seed position. The greedy heuristic uses a ratio of target and critical structure adjoint functions to rank seed positions according to their ability to irradiate the target ROI while sparing critical structure ROIs. Because seed positions are ranked in advance and because the greedy heuristic does not modify previously selected seed positions, the greedy heuristic constructs a complete seed configuration quickly. Isodose surface constraints determine the search space and the needle constraint limits the number of needles. This study additionally includes a methodology that scans possible combinations of these constraint values automatically. This automated selection scheme saves the user the effort of manually searching constraint values. With this method, clinically acceptable treatment plans are obtained in less than 2 min. For comparison, the branch-and-bound method used to solve a mixed integer-programming model took close to 2.5 h to arrive at a feasible solution. Both methods achieved good treatment plans, but the speedup provided by the greedy heuristic was a factor of approximately 100. This attribute makes this algorithm suitable for intra-operative real-time treatment planning.

  5. A greedy heuristic using adjoint functions for the optimization of seed and needle configurations in prostate seed implant

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yoo, Sua; Kowalok, Michael E; Thomadsen, Bruce R; Henderson, Douglass L

    2007-01-01

    We continue our work on the development of an efficient treatment-planning algorithm for prostate seed implants by incorporation of an automated seed and needle configuration routine. The treatment-planning algorithm is based on region of interest (ROI) adjoint functions and a greedy heuristic. As defined in this work, the adjoint function of an ROI is the sensitivity of the average dose in the ROI to a unit-strength brachytherapy source at any seed position. The greedy heuristic uses a ratio of target and critical structure adjoint functions to rank seed positions according to their ability to irradiate the target ROI while sparing critical structure ROIs. Because seed positions are ranked in advance and because the greedy heuristic does not modify previously selected seed positions, the greedy heuristic constructs a complete seed configuration quickly. Isodose surface constraints determine the search space and the needle constraint limits the number of needles. This study additionally includes a methodology that scans possible combinations of these constraint values automatically. This automated selection scheme saves the user the effort of manually searching constraint values. With this method, clinically acceptable treatment plans are obtained in less than 2 min. For comparison, the branch-and-bound method used to solve a mixed integer-programming model took close to 2.5 h to arrive at a feasible solution. Both methods achieved good treatment plans, but the speedup provided by the greedy heuristic was a factor of approximately 100. This attribute makes this algorithm suitable for intra-operative real-time treatment planning

  6. Optimization of Charge/Discharge Coordination to Satisfy Network Requirements Using Heuristic Algorithms in Vehicle-to-Grid Concept

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    DOGAN, A.

    2018-02-01

    Full Text Available Image thresholding is the most crucial step in microscopic image analysis to distinguish bacilli objects causing of tuberculosis disease. Therefore, several bi-level thresholding algorithms are widely used to increase the bacilli segmentation accuracy. However, bi-level microscopic image thresholding problem has not been solved using optimization algorithms. This paper introduces a novel approach for the segmentation problem using heuristic algorithms and presents visual and quantitative comparisons of heuristic and state-of-art thresholding algorithms. In this study, well-known heuristic algorithms such as Firefly Algorithm, Particle Swarm Optimization, Cuckoo Search, Flower Pollination are used to solve bi-level microscopic image thresholding problem, and the results are compared with the state-of-art thresholding algorithms such as K-Means, Fuzzy C-Means, Fast Marching. Kapur's entropy is chosen as the entropy measure to be maximized. Experiments are performed to make comparisons in terms of evaluation metrics and execution time. The quantitative results are calculated based on ground truth segmentation. According to the visual results, heuristic algorithms have better performance and the quantitative results are in accord with the visual results. Furthermore, experimental time comparisons show the superiority and effectiveness of the heuristic algorithms over traditional thresholding algorithms.

  7. Advances in heuristic signal processing and applications

    CERN Document Server

    Chatterjee, Amitava; Siarry, Patrick

    2013-01-01

    There have been significant developments in the design and application of algorithms for both one-dimensional signal processing and multidimensional signal processing, namely image and video processing, with the recent focus changing from a step-by-step procedure of designing the algorithm first and following up with in-depth analysis and performance improvement to instead applying heuristic-based methods to solve signal-processing problems. In this book the contributing authors demonstrate both general-purpose algorithms and those aimed at solving specialized application problems, with a spec

  8. On Dual Processing and Heuristic Approaches to Moral Cognition

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lapsley, Daniel K.; Hill, Patrick L.

    2008-01-01

    We examine the implications of dual-processing theories of cognition for the moral domain, with particular emphasis upon "System 1" theories: the Social Intuitionist Model (Haidt), moral heuristics (Sunstein), fast-and-frugal moral heuristics (Gigerenzer), schema accessibility (Lapsley & Narvaez) and moral expertise (Narvaez). We argue that these…

  9. Perceived breast cancer risk: heuristic reasoning and search for a dominance structure.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Katapodi, Maria C; Facione, Noreen C; Humphreys, Janice C; Dodd, Marylin J

    2005-01-01

    Studies suggest that people construct their risk perceptions by using inferential rules called heuristics. The purpose of this study was to identify heuristics that influence perceived breast cancer risk. We examined 11 interviews from women of diverse ethnic/cultural backgrounds who were recruited from community settings. Narratives in which women elaborated about their own breast cancer risk were analyzed with Argument and Heuristic Reasoning Analysis methodology, which is based on applied logic. The availability, simulation, representativeness, affect, and perceived control heuristics, and search for a dominance structure were commonly used for making risk assessments. Risk assessments were based on experiences with an abnormal breast symptom, experiences with affected family members and friends, beliefs about living a healthy lifestyle, and trust in health providers. Assessment of the potential threat of a breast symptom was facilitated by the search for a dominance structure. Experiences with family members and friends were incorporated into risk assessments through the availability, simulation, representativeness, and affect heuristics. Mistrust in health providers led to an inappropriate dependence on the perceived control heuristic. Identified heuristics appear to create predictable biases and suggest that perceived breast cancer risk is based on common cognitive patterns.

  10. Heuristic introduction to gravitational waves

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sandberg, V.D.

    1982-01-01

    The purpose of this article is to provide a rough and somewhat heuristic theoretical background and introduction to gravitational radiation, its generation, and its detection based on Einstein's general theory of relativity

  11. A Slicing Tree Representation and QCP-Model-Based Heuristic Algorithm for the Unequal-Area Block Facility Layout Problem

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mei-Shiang Chang

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available The facility layout problem is a typical combinational optimization problem. In this research, a slicing tree representation and a quadratically constrained program model are combined with harmony search to develop a heuristic method for solving the unequal-area block layout problem. Because of characteristics of slicing tree structure, we propose a regional structure of harmony memory to memorize facility layout solutions and two kinds of harmony improvisation to enhance global search ability of the proposed heuristic method. The proposed harmony search based heuristic is tested on 10 well-known unequal-area facility layout problems from the literature. The results are compared with the previously best-known solutions obtained by genetic algorithm, tabu search, and ant system as well as exact methods. For problems O7, O9, vC10Ra, M11*, and Nug12, new best solutions are found. For other problems, the proposed approach can find solutions that are very similar to previous best-known solutions.

  12. Evaluating interactive digital television applications through usability heuristics Evaluando aplicaciones de televisión digital interactiva a través de heurísticas de usabilidad

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Andrés Solano

    2013-04-01

    Full Text Available Interactive Digital Television (iDT is considered as the convergence of television and computer technologies. Usability evaluation for applications based on emerging information technology brings new challenges. The main iDT feature is that the user may interact with the application; therefore usability should be a main concern when designing iDT applications. Current research usually focuses on iDT applications from a technical point of view, rather than a user-centered approach. There is a need for new usability evaluation methods or at least for the use of traditional evaluations in novel ways. A set of specific usability heuristics was defined and validated, in order to help the usability evaluations of iDT applications. A usability checklist to be used when applying iDT heuristics is also proposed.La Televisión Digital Interactiva (TDi es considerada como la convergencia de la televisión y las tecnologías de la computación. La evaluación de usabilidad para aplicaciones basadas en tecnologías emergentes trae nuevos retos. La principal característica de la TDi es que los usuarios pueden interactuar con las aplicaciones; de esta manera la usabilidad es el principal aspecto a considerar cuando se diseñan aplicaciones de TDi. Las investigaciones actuales normalmente están enfocadas sobre las aplicaciones de TDi desde un punto de vista técnico, y no desde un enfoque centrado en el usuario. Hay una necesidad de nuevos métodos de evaluación de usabilidad o, por lo menos, utilizar de nuevas formas los métodos de evaluación existentes. Un conjunto de heurísticas de usabilidad específicas ha sido definido y validado, con el objetivo de ayudar en la evaluación de usabilidad de aplicaciones de TDi. También se ha propuesto una lista de verificación para ser usada al momento de aplicar las heurísticas de usabilidad.

  13. Analytic and heuristic processes in the detection and resolution of conflict.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ferreira, Mário B; Mata, André; Donkin, Christopher; Sherman, Steven J; Ihmels, Max

    2016-10-01

    Previous research with the ratio-bias task found larger response latencies for conflict trials where the heuristic- and analytic-based responses are assumed to be in opposition (e.g., choosing between 1/10 and 9/100 ratios of success) when compared to no-conflict trials where both processes converge on the same response (e.g., choosing between 1/10 and 11/100). This pattern is consistent with parallel dual-process models, which assume that there is effective, rather than lax, monitoring of the output of heuristic processing. It is, however, unclear why conflict resolution sometimes fails. Ratio-biased choices may increase because of a decline in analytical reasoning (leaving heuristic-based responses unopposed) or to a rise in heuristic processing (making it more difficult for analytic processes to override the heuristic preferences). Using the process-dissociation procedure, we found that instructions to respond logically and response speed affected analytic (controlled) processing (C), leaving heuristic processing (H) unchanged, whereas the intuitive preference for large nominators (as assessed by responses to equal ratio trials) affected H but not C. These findings create new challenges to the debate between dual-process and single-process accounts, which are discussed.

  14. Solving Inventory Routing Problems Using Location Based Heuristics

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Paweł Hanczar

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Inventory routing problems (IRPs occur where vendor managed inventory replenishment strategies are implemented in supply chains. These problems are characterized by the presence of both transportation and inventory considerations, either as parameters or constraints. The research presented in this paper aims at extending IRP formulation developed on the basis of location based heuristics proposed by Bramel and Simchi-Levi and continued by Hanczar. In the first phase of proposed algorithms, mixed integer programming is used to determine the partitioning of customers as well as dates and quantities of deliveries. Then, using 2-opt algorithm for solving the traveling sales-person problem the optimal routes for each partition are determined. In the main part of research the classical formulation is extended by additional constraints (visit spacing, vehicle filling rate, driver (vehicle consistency, and heterogeneous fleet of vehicles as well as the additional criteria are discussed. Then the impact of using each of proposed extensions for solution possibilities is evaluated. The results of computational tests are presented and discussed. Obtained results allow to conclude that the location based heuristics should be considered when solving real life instances of IRP. (original abstract

  15. Heuristic thinking and human intelligence: a commentary on Marewski, Gaissmaier and Gigerenzer.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Evans, Jonathan St B T; Over, David E

    2010-05-01

    Marewski, Gaissmaier and Gigerenzer (2009) present a review of research on fast and frugal heuristics, arguing that complex problems are best solved by simple heuristics, rather than the application of knowledge and logical reasoning. We argue that the case for such heuristics is overrated. First, we point out that heuristics can often lead to biases as well as effective responding. Second, we show that the application of logical reasoning can be both necessary and relatively simple. Finally, we argue that the evidence for a logical reasoning system that co-exists with simpler heuristic forms of thinking is overwhelming. Not only is it implausible a priori that we would have evolved such a system that is of no use to us, but extensive evidence from the literature on dual processing in reasoning and judgement shows that many problems can only be solved when this form of reasoning is used to inhibit and override heuristic thinking.

  16. PENDEKATAN ACTIVITY-BASED COSTING DAN METODE PENCARIAN HEURISTIC UNTUK MENYELESAIKAN PROBLEM PEMILIHAN PERALATAN PADA FLEXIBLE MANUFACTURING SYSTEMS (FMS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gregorius Satia Budhi

    2002-01-01

    Full Text Available The application of Activity Based Costing (ABC approach to select the set-machine that is used in the production of Flexible Manufacture System (FMS based on technical and economical criteria can be useful for producers to design FMS by considering the minimum production cost. In the other hand, Heuristic Search is known to have a short searching time. Algorithm Heuristic that using ABC approach as the weight in finding the solution to shorten the equipment selection time during the design / redesign process of the FMS in less than exponential time was designed in this research. The increasing speed is useful because with the faster time in design / redesign process, therefore the flexibility level of part variety that can be processed will become better. Theoretical and empirical analysis in Algorithm Heuristic shows that time searching to get appropriate set of equipment is not too long, so that we can assume that the designed Algorithm Heuristic can be implemented in the real world. By comparing the empirical result of Algorithm Heuristic to the Algorithm Exhaustive, we can also assume that Algorithm Heuristic that using ABC method as the weight for finding solution can optimise the equipment selection problem of FMS based on economical criteria too. Abstract in Bahasa Indonesia : Penggunaan pendekatan Activity Based Costing (ABC untuk memilih set mesin yang digunakan dalam produksi pada Flexible Manufacture Systems (FMS berdasar atas kriteria teknis dan ekonomis, dapat membantu pelaku produksi untuk mendisain FMS dengan pertimbangan minimalisasi biaya produksi. Sementara itu, Heuristic Search dikenal memiliki waktu pencarian yang singkat. Pada riset ini didisain sebuah Algoritma Heuristic yang menggunakan pendekatan ABC sebagai bobot dalam pencarian solusi, untuk mempersingkat waktu pemilihan peralatan saat desain/redisain FMS dalam waktu kurang dari waktu Eksponensial. Peningkatan kecepatan ini bermanfaat, karena dengan cepatnya waktu

  17. Fairness and other leadership heuristics: A four-nation study

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Janson, A.; Levy, L.; Sitkin, S.B.; Lind, E.A.

    2008-01-01

    Leaders' fairness may be just one of several heuristics - cognitive shortcuts - that followers use to decide quickly whether they can rely on a given leader to lead them to ends that are good for the collective, rather than just good for the leader. Other leadership heuristics might include leader

  18. Heuristic for Stochastic Online Flowshop Problem with Preemption Penalties

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mohammad Bayat

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available The deterministic flowshop model is one of the most widely studied problems; whereas its stochastic equivalent has remained a challenge. Furthermore, the preemptive online stochastic flowshop problem has received much less attention, and most of the previous researches have considered a nonpreemptive version. Moreover, little attention has been devoted to the problems where a certain time penalty is incurred when preemption is allowed. This paper examines the preemptive stochastic online flowshop with the objective of minimizing the expected makespan. All the jobs arrive overtime, which means that the existence and the parameters of each job are unknown until its release date. The processing time of the jobs is stochastic and actual processing time is unknown until completion of the job. A heuristic procedure for this problem is presented, which is applicable whenever the job processing times are characterized by their means and standard deviation. The performance of the proposed heuristic method is explored using some numerical examples.

  19. A Heuristic Task Scheduling Algorithm for Heterogeneous Virtual Clusters

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Weiwei Lin

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Cloud computing provides on-demand computing and storage services with high performance and high scalability. However, the rising energy consumption of cloud data centers has become a prominent problem. In this paper, we first introduce an energy-aware framework for task scheduling in virtual clusters. The framework consists of a task resource requirements prediction module, an energy estimate module, and a scheduler with a task buffer. Secondly, based on this framework, we propose a virtual machine power efficiency-aware greedy scheduling algorithm (VPEGS. As a heuristic algorithm, VPEGS estimates task energy by considering factors including task resource demands, VM power efficiency, and server workload before scheduling tasks in a greedy manner. We simulated a heterogeneous VM cluster and conducted experiment to evaluate the effectiveness of VPEGS. Simulation results show that VPEGS effectively reduced total energy consumption by more than 20% without producing large scheduling overheads. With the similar heuristic ideology, it outperformed Min-Min and RASA with respect to energy saving by about 29% and 28%, respectively.

  20. Visualization for Hyper-Heuristics: Back-End Processing

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Simon, Luke [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)

    2015-03-01

    Modern society is faced with increasingly complex problems, many of which can be formulated as generate-and-test optimization problems. Yet, general-purpose optimization algorithms may sometimes require too much computational time. In these instances, hyperheuristics may be used. Hyper-heuristics automate the design of algorithms to create a custom algorithm for a particular scenario, finding the solution significantly faster than its predecessor. However, it may be difficult to understand exactly how a design was derived and why it should be trusted. This project aims to address these issues by creating an easy-to-use graphical user interface (GUI) for hyper-heuristics and an easy-to-understand scientific visualization for the produced solutions. To support the development of this GUI, my portion of the research involved developing algorithms that would allow for parsing of the data produced by the hyper-heuristics. This data would then be sent to the front-end, where it would be displayed to the end user.

  1. A Scalable Heuristic for Viral Marketing Under the Tipping Model

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-09-01

    Flixster is a social media website that allows users to share reviews and other information about cinema . [35] It was extracted in Dec. 2010. – FourSquare...work of Reichman were developed independently . We also note that Reichman performs no experimental evaluation of the algorithm. A Scalable Heuristic...other dif- fusion models, such as the independent cascade model [21] and evolutionary graph theory [25] as well as probabilistic variants of the

  2. Heuristic guidelines and experimental evaluation of effective augmented-reality based instructions for maintenance in nuclear power plants

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yim, Ho Bin; Seong, Poong Hyun

    2010-01-01

    Research highlights: → Augmented reality (AR) instructions were built for NPPs maintenance personnel. → 4-5 pieces of information at a time were optimum for AR instructions in this study. → A large variance in mode no. 5 implies these were also found to be critical amount. → Heuristic guidelines were suggested to make AR instructions more effective. - Abstract: As industrial plants and factories age, their maintenance requirements increase. Because maintenance mistakes directly increase the operating costs of a power plant, maintenance quality is significant concern to plant management. By law, all personnel working with nuclear technology must be re-trained every three years in Korea; however, as the statistical data show, the number of shutdown accidents at nuclear power plants (NPPs) due to maintenance failure is still high and needs to be reduced. Industries have started to adopt various technologies to increase the speed and accuracy of maintenance. Among those technologies, augmented reality (AR) is the latest multimedia presentation technology to be applied to plant maintenance, and it offers superior intuitiveness and user interactivity over other conventional multimedia. This empirical study aims to measure the optimum amounts of information to be delivered at a time and to identify what types of information enhance the learning ability of novices and to suggest heuristic guidelines by which to make effective AR training instructions. In the first experiment, the optimum amount of information in an AR learning environment for novices was found to be 4-5 pieces of information in a chunk by comparing results between a pre-test and an after-test. This result implies that intentionally made chunks help novices learn more effectively. In the second experiment, the AR training instruction based on the suggested heuristic guidelines was slightly more effective than other AR training instructions. Maintenance in nuclear power plants can be more reliable

  3. A Priori Knowledge and Heuristic Reasoning in Architectural Design.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rowe, Peter G.

    1982-01-01

    It is proposed that the various classes of a priori knowledge incorporated in heuristic reasoning processes exert a strong influence over architectural design activity. Some design problems require exercise of some provisional set of rules, inference, or plausible strategy which requires heuristic reasoning. A case study illustrates this concept.…

  4. Heuristic extension of the Schwarzschild metric

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Espinosa, J.M.

    1982-01-01

    The Schwarzschild solution of Einstein's equations of gravitation has several singularities. It is known that the singularity at r = 2Gm/c 2 is only apparent, a result of the coordinates in which the solution was found. Paradoxical results occuring near the singularity show the system of coordinates is incomplete. We introduce a simple, two-dimensional metric with an apparent singularity that makes it incomplete. By a straightforward, heuristic procedure we extend and complete this simple metric. We then use the same procedure to give a heuristic derivation of the Kruskal system of coordinates, which is known to extend the Schwarzschild manifold past its apparent singularity and produce a complete manifold

  5. The beauty of simple models: Themes in recognition heuristic research

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Daniel G. Goldstein

    2011-07-01

    Full Text Available The advantage of models that do not use flexible parameters is that one can precisely show to what degree they predict behavior, and in what situations. In three issues of this journal, the recognition heuristic has been examined carefully from many points of view. We comment here on four themes, the use of optimization models to understand the rationality of heuristics, the generalization of the recognition input beyond a binary judgment, new conditions for less-is-more effects, and the importance of specifying boundary conditions for cognitive heuristics.

  6. HEURISTIC OPTIMIZATION AND ALGORITHM TUNING APPLIED TO SORPTIVE BARRIER DESIGN

    Science.gov (United States)

    While heuristic optimization is applied in environmental applications, ad-hoc algorithm configuration is typical. We use a multi-layer sorptive barrier design problem as a benchmark for an algorithm-tuning procedure, as applied to three heuristics (genetic algorithms, simulated ...

  7. A Methodology for Validating Safety Heuristics Using Clinical Simulations: Identifying and Preventing Possible Technology-Induced Errors Related to Using Health Information Systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Borycki, Elizabeth; Kushniruk, Andre; Carvalho, Christopher

    2013-01-01

    Internationally, health information systems (HIS) safety has emerged as a significant concern for governments. Recently, research has emerged that has documented the ability of HIS to be implicated in the harm and death of patients. Researchers have attempted to develop methods that can be used to prevent or reduce technology-induced errors. Some researchers are developing methods that can be employed prior to systems release. These methods include the development of safety heuristics and clinical simulations. In this paper, we outline our methodology for developing safety heuristics specific to identifying the features or functions of a HIS user interface design that may lead to technology-induced errors. We follow this with a description of a methodological approach to validate these heuristics using clinical simulations. PMID:23606902

  8. The use of meta-heuristics for airport gate assignment

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Cheng, Chun-Hung; Ho, Sin C.; Kwan, Cheuk-Lam

    2012-01-01

    proposed to generate good solutions within a reasonable timeframe. In this work, we attempt to assess the performance of three meta-heuristics, namely, genetic algorithm (GA), tabu search (TS), simulated annealing (SA) and a hybrid approach based on SA and TS. Flight data from Incheon International Airport...... are collected to carry out the computational comparison. Although the literature has documented these algorithms, this work may be a first attempt to evaluate their performance using a set of realistic flight data....

  9. Heuristic decision model for intelligent nuclear power systems design

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nassersharif, B.; Portal, M.G.; Gaeta, M.J.

    1989-01-01

    The objective of this project was to investigate intelligent nuclear power systems design. A theoretical model of the design process has been developed. A fundamental process in this model is the heuristic decision making for design (i.e., selection of methods, components, materials, etc.). Rule-based expert systems do not provide the completeness that is necessary to generate good design. A new method, based on the fuzzy set theory, has been developed and is presented here. A feedwater system knowledge base (KB) was developed for a prototype software experiment to benchmark the theory

  10. Structure optimization by heuristic algorithm in a coarse-grained off-lattice model

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jing-Fa, Liu

    2009-01-01

    A heuristic algorithm is presented for a three-dimensional off-lattice AB model consisting of hydrophobic (A) and hydrophilic (B) residues in Fibonacci sequences. By incorporating extra energy contributions into the original potential function, we convert the constrained optimization problem of AB model into an unconstrained optimization problem which can be solved by the gradient method. After the gradient minimization leads to the basins of the local energy minima, the heuristic off-trap strategy and subsequent neighborhood search mechanism are then proposed to get out of local minima and search for the lower-energy configurations. Furthermore, in order to improve the efficiency of the proposed algorithm, we apply the improved version called the new PERM with importance sampling (nPERMis) of the chain-growth algorithm, pruned-enriched-Rosenbluth method (PERM), to face-centered-cubic (FCC)-lattice to produce the initial configurations. The numerical results show that the proposed methods are very promising for finding the ground states of proteins. In several cases, we found the ground state energies are lower than the best values reported in the present literature

  11. Optimized LTE cell planning for multiple user density subareas using meta-heuristic algorithms

    KAUST Repository

    Ghazzai, Hakim; Yaacoub, Elias E.; Alouini, Mohamed-Slim

    2014-01-01

    Base station deployment in cellular networks is one of the most fundamental problems in network design. This paper proposes a novel method for the cell planning problem for the fourth generation 4G-LTE cellular networks using meta heuristic

  12. Refining a Heuristic for Constructing Bayesian Networks from Structured Arguments

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Wieten, G.M.; Bex, F.J.; van der Gaag, L.C.; Prakken, H.; Renooij, S.

    2018-01-01

    Recently, a heuristic was proposed for constructing Bayesian networks (BNs) from structured arguments. This heuristic helps domain experts who are accustomed to argumentation to transform their reasoning into a BN and subsequently weigh their case evidence in a probabilistic manner. While the

  13. Does the inherence heuristic take us to psychological essentialism?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marmodoro, Anna; Murphy, Robin A; Baker, A G

    2014-10-01

    We argue that the claim that essence-based causal explanations emerge, hydra-like, from an inherence heuristic is incomplete. No plausible mechanism for the transition from concrete properties, or cues, to essences is provided. Moreover, the fundamental shotgun and storytelling mechanisms of the inherence heuristic are not clearly enough specified to distinguish them, developmentally, from associative or causal networks.

  14. Heuristics and stock buying decision: Evidence from Malaysian and Pakistani stock markets

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Habib Hussain Khan

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available Applying both qualitative and quantitative approaches, we examine whether or not investors fall prey to three heuristics; namely, anchoring and adjustment, representativeness, and availability, while investing in stocks. We also compare investors' vulnerability to these heuristics based on their economic association, their type and demographic factors such as income, education and experience. For the data collection, a self-constructed questionnaire was administered to investors in the Malaysian and Pakistani stock exchanges. Data has been analyzed through description, correlation and regression analysis. The results indicate that all three heuristics are likely to affect the investors' stock buying decisions. The effect of heuristics is similar across the sample countries, the type of investors, and the income groups. However, the investors with a higher level of education and more experience are less likely to be affected by the heuristics.

  15. Heuristic analogy in Ars Conjectandi: From Archimedes' De Circuli Dimensione to Bernoulli's theorem.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Campos, Daniel G

    2018-02-01

    This article investigates the way in which Jacob Bernoulli proved the main mathematical theorem that undergirds his art of conjecturing-the theorem that founded, historically, the field of mathematical probability. It aims to contribute a perspective into the question of problem-solving methods in mathematics while also contributing to the comprehension of the historical development of mathematical probability. It argues that Bernoulli proved his theorem by a process of mathematical experimentation in which the central heuristic strategy was analogy. In this context, the analogy functioned as an experimental hypothesis. The article expounds, first, Bernoulli's reasoning for proving his theorem, describing it as a process of experimentation in which hypothesis-making is crucial. Next, it investigates the analogy between his reasoning and Archimedes' approximation of the value of π, by clarifying both Archimedes' own experimental approach to the said approximation and its heuristic influence on Bernoulli's problem-solving strategy. The discussion includes some general considerations about analogy as a heuristic technique to make experimental hypotheses in mathematics. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  16. A Geographical Heuristic Routing Protocol for VANETs

    Science.gov (United States)

    Urquiza-Aguiar, Luis; Tripp-Barba, Carolina; Aguilar Igartua, Mónica

    2016-01-01

    Vehicular ad hoc networks (VANETs) leverage the communication system of Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS). Recently, Delay-Tolerant Network (DTN) routing protocols have increased their popularity among the research community for being used in non-safety VANET applications and services like traffic reporting. Vehicular DTN protocols use geographical and local information to make forwarding decisions. However, current proposals only consider the selection of the best candidate based on a local-search. In this paper, we propose a generic Geographical Heuristic Routing (GHR) protocol that can be applied to any DTN geographical routing protocol that makes forwarding decisions hop by hop. GHR includes in its operation adaptations simulated annealing and Tabu-search meta-heuristics, which have largely been used to improve local-search results in discrete optimization. We include a complete performance evaluation of GHR in a multi-hop VANET simulation scenario for a reporting service. Our study analyzes all of the meaningful configurations of GHR and offers a statistical analysis of our findings by means of MANOVA tests. Our results indicate that the use of a Tabu list contributes to improving the packet delivery ratio by around 5% to 10%. Moreover, if Tabu is used, then the simulated annealing routing strategy gets a better performance than the selection of the best node used with carry and forwarding (default operation). PMID:27669254

  17. Heuristic program to design Relational Databases

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Manuel Pereira Rosa

    2009-09-01

    Full Text Available The great development of today’s world determines that the world level of information increases day after day, however, the time allowed to transmit this information in the classrooms has not changed. Thus, the rational work in this respect is more than necessary. Besides, if for the solution of a given type of problem we do not have a working algorism, we have, first to look for a correct solution, then the heuristic programs are of paramount importance to succeed in these aspects. Having into consideration that the design of the database is, essentially, a process of problem resolution, this article aims at proposing a heuristic program for the design of the relating database.

  18. Usage of Modified Heuristic Model for Determination of Software Stability

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sergey Konstantinovich Marfenko

    2013-02-01

    Full Text Available The subject of this paper is analysis method for determining the stability of software against the attacks on its integrity. It is suggested to use the modified heuristic model of software reliability as mathematic basis of this method. This model is based on classic approach, but it takes into account impact levels of different software errors on system integrity. It allows to define critical characteristics of software: percentage of time in stable working, the possibility of failure.

  19. Exact and Heuristic Algorithms for Runway Scheduling

    Science.gov (United States)

    Malik, Waqar A.; Jung, Yoon C.

    2016-01-01

    This paper explores the Single Runway Scheduling (SRS) problem with arrivals, departures, and crossing aircraft on the airport surface. Constraints for wake vortex separations, departure area navigation separations and departure time window restrictions are explicitly considered. The main objective of this research is to develop exact and heuristic based algorithms that can be used in real-time decision support tools for Air Traffic Control Tower (ATCT) controllers. The paper provides a multi-objective dynamic programming (DP) based algorithm that finds the exact solution to the SRS problem, but may prove unusable for application in real-time environment due to large computation times for moderate sized problems. We next propose a second algorithm that uses heuristics to restrict the search space for the DP based algorithm. A third algorithm based on a combination of insertion and local search (ILS) heuristics is then presented. Simulation conducted for the east side of Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport allows comparison of the three proposed algorithms and indicates that the ILS algorithm performs favorably in its ability to find efficient solutions and its computation times.

  20. Usability evaluation of augmented reality user interfaces in games and personal navigation assistants

    OpenAIRE

    Ivanec, Zorian

    2017-01-01

    This paper studies heuristic usability evaluation of user interfaces. The literature review distinguishes characteristics of augmented reality and smartphones, presents heuristic evaluation, PACMAD usability model, personal navigation assistants, video games, augmented reality and J. Nielsen usability heuristics. In research part, usability heuristics of related subject fields and design guidelines are combined. Created heuristics and control questionnaire are used for evaluation of augmented...

  1. Heuristics and representational change in two-move matchstick arithmetic tasks

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Michael Öllinger

    2006-01-01

    Full Text Available Insight problems are problems where the problem solver struggles to find a solution until * aha! * the solution suddenly appears. Two contemporary theories suggest that insight problems are difficult either because problem solvers begin with an incorrect representation of the problem, or that problem solvers apply inappropriate heuristics to the problem. The relative contributions of representational change and inappropriate heuristics on the process of insight problem solving was studied with a task that required the problem solver to move two matchsticks in order to transform an incorrect arithmetic statement into a correct one. Problem solvers (N = 120 worked on two different types of two-move matchstick arithmetic problems that both varied with respect to the effectiveness of heuristics and to the degree of a necessary representational change of the problem representation. A strong influence of representational change on solution rates was found whereas the influence of heuristics hadminimal effects on solution rates. That is, the difficulty of insight problems within the two-move matchstick arithmetic domain is governed by the degree of representational change required. A model is presented that details representational change as the necessary condition for ensuring that appropriate heuristics can be applied on the proper problem representation.

  2. A local search heuristic for the Multi-Commodity k-splittable Maximum Flow Problem

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Gamst, Mette

    2014-01-01

    , a local search heuristic for solving the problem is proposed. The heuristic is an iterative shortest path procedure on a reduced graph combined with a local search procedure to modify certain path flows and prioritize the different commodities. The heuristic is tested on benchmark instances from...

  3. Heuristic and optimal policy computations in the human brain during sequential decision-making.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Korn, Christoph W; Bach, Dominik R

    2018-01-23

    Optimal decisions across extended time horizons require value calculations over multiple probabilistic future states. Humans may circumvent such complex computations by resorting to easy-to-compute heuristics that approximate optimal solutions. To probe the potential interplay between heuristic and optimal computations, we develop a novel sequential decision-making task, framed as virtual foraging in which participants have to avoid virtual starvation. Rewards depend only on final outcomes over five-trial blocks, necessitating planning over five sequential decisions and probabilistic outcomes. Here, we report model comparisons demonstrating that participants primarily rely on the best available heuristic but also use the normatively optimal policy. FMRI signals in medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC) relate to heuristic and optimal policies and associated choice uncertainties. Crucially, reaction times and dorsal MPFC activity scale with discrepancies between heuristic and optimal policies. Thus, sequential decision-making in humans may emerge from integration between heuristic and optimal policies, implemented by controllers in MPFC.

  4. No Need to Get Emotional? Emotions and Heuristics

    OpenAIRE

    Szigeti, Andras

    2013-01-01

    Many believe that values are crucially dependent on emotions. This paper focuses on epistemic aspects of the putative link between emotions and value by asking two related questions. First, how exactly are emotions supposed to latch onto or track values? And second, how well suited are emotions to detecting or learning about values? To answer the first question, the paper develops the heuristics-model of emotions. This approach models emotions as sui generis heuristics of value. The empirical...

  5. Heuristic Inquiry: A Personal Journey of Acculturation and Identity Reconstruction

    Science.gov (United States)

    Djuraskovic, Ivana; Arthur, Nancy

    2010-01-01

    Heuristic methodology attempts to discover the nature and meaning of phenomenon through internal self-search, exploration, and discovery. Heuristic methodology encourages the researcher to explore and pursue the creative journey that begins inside one's being and ultimately uncovers its direction and meaning through internal discovery (Douglass &…

  6. Heuristic Task Analysis on E-Learning Course Development: A Formative Research Study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Ji-Yeon; Reigeluth, Charles M.

    2009-01-01

    Utilizing heuristic task analysis (HTA), a method developed for eliciting, analyzing, and representing expertise in complex cognitive tasks, a formative research study was conducted on the task of e-learning course development to further improve the HTA process. Three instructional designers from three different post-secondary institutions in the…

  7. Academic Freedom in Classroom Speech: A Heuristic Model for U.S. Catholic Higher Education

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jacobs, Richard M.

    2010-01-01

    As the nation's Catholic universities and colleges continually clarify their identity, this article examines academic freedom in classroom speech, offering a heuristic model for use as board members, academic administrators, and faculty leaders discuss, evaluate, and judge allegations of misconduct in classroom speech. Focusing upon the practice…

  8. Toolbox for uncertainty; Introduction of adaptive heuristics as strategies for project decision making

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Stingl, Verena; Geraldi, Joana

    2017-01-01

    This article presents adaptive heuristics as an alternative approach to navigate uncertainty in project decision-making. Adaptive heuristic are a class of simple decision strategies that have received only scant attention in project studies. Yet, they can strive in contexts of high uncertainty...... they are ‘ecologically rational’. The model builds on the individual definitions of ecological rationality and organizes them according to two types of uncertainty (‘knowable’ and ‘unknowable’). Decision problems and heuristics are furthermore grouped by decision task (choice and judgement). The article discusses...... and limited information, which are the typical project decision context. This article develops a conceptual model that supports a systematic connection between adaptive heuristics and project decisions. Individual adaptive heuristics succeed only in specific decision environments, in which...

  9. Age Effects and Heuristics in Decision Making.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Besedeš, Tibor; Deck, Cary; Sarangi, Sudipta; Shor, Mikhael

    2012-05-01

    Using controlled experiments, we examine how individuals make choices when faced with multiple options. Choice tasks are designed to mimic the selection of health insurance, prescription drug, or retirement savings plans. In our experiment, available options can be objectively ranked allowing us to examine optimal decision making. First, the probability of a person selecting the optimal option declines as the number of options increases, with the decline being more pronounced for older subjects. Second, heuristics differ by age with older subjects relying more on suboptimal decision rules. In a heuristics validation experiment, older subjects make worse decisions than younger subjects.

  10. A heuristic statistical stopping rule for iterative reconstruction in emission tomography

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ben Bouallegue, F.; Mariano-Goulart, D.; Crouzet, J.F.

    2013-01-01

    We propose a statistical stopping criterion for iterative reconstruction in emission tomography based on a heuristic statistical description of the reconstruction process. The method was assessed for maximum likelihood expectation maximization (MLEM) reconstruction. Based on Monte-Carlo numerical simulations and using a perfectly modeled system matrix, our method was compared with classical iterative reconstruction followed by low-pass filtering in terms of Euclidian distance to the exact object, noise, and resolution. The stopping criterion was then evaluated with realistic PET data of a Hoffman brain phantom produced using the Geant4 application in emission tomography (GATE) platform for different count levels. The numerical experiments showed that compared with the classical method, our technique yielded significant improvement of the noise-resolution tradeoff for a wide range of counting statistics compatible with routine clinical settings. When working with realistic data, the stopping rule allowed a qualitatively and quantitatively efficient determination of the optimal image. Our method appears to give a reliable estimation of the optimal stopping point for iterative reconstruction. It should thus be of practical interest as it produces images with similar or better quality than classical post-filtered iterative reconstruction with a mastered computation time. (author)

  11. Efficient heuristics for the Rural Postman Problem

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    GW Groves

    2005-06-01

    Full Text Available A local search framework for the (undirected Rural Postman Problem (RPP is presented in this paper. The framework allows local search approaches that have been applied successfully to the well–known Travelling Salesman Problem also to be applied to the RPP. New heuristics for the RPP, based on this framework, are introduced and these are capable of solving significantly larger instances of the RPP than have been reported in the literature. Test results are presented for a number of benchmark RPP instances in a bid to compare efficiency and solution quality against known methods.

  12. Special relativity a heuristic approach

    CERN Document Server

    Hassani, Sadri

    2017-01-01

    Special Relativity: A Heuristic Approach provides a qualitative exposition of relativity theory on the basis of the constancy of the speed of light. Using Einstein's signal velocity as the defining idea for the notion of simultaneity and the fact that the speed of light is independent of the motion of its source, chapters delve into a qualitative exposition of the relativity of time and length, discuss the time dilation formula using the standard light clock, explore the Minkowski four-dimensional space-time distance based on how the time dilation formula is derived, and define the components of the two-dimensional space-time velocity, amongst other topics. Provides a heuristic derivation of the Minkowski distance formula Uses relativistic photography to see Lorentz transformation and vector algebra manipulation in action Includes worked examples to elucidate and complement the topic being discussed Written in a very accessible style

  13. Modified Spectral Projected Subgradient Method: Convergence Analysis and Momentum Parameter Heuristics

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Milagros Loreto

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available The Modified Spectral Projected Subgradient (MSPS was proposed to solve Langrangen Dual Problems, and its convergence was shown when the momentum term was zero. The MSPS uses a momentum term in order to speed up its convergence. The momentum term is built on the multiplication of a momentum parameter and the direction of the previous iterate. In this work, we show convergence when the momentum parameter is a non-zero constant. We also propose heuristics to choose the momentum parameter intended to avoid the Zigzagging Phenomenon of Kind I. This phenomenon is present in the MSPS when at an iterate the subgradient forms an obtuse angle with the previous direction. We identify and diminish the Zigzagging Phenomenon of Kind I on Setcovering problems, and compare our numerical results to those of the original MSPS algorithm.

  14. New tests of cumulative prospect theory and the priority heuristic

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Michael H. Birnbaum

    2008-04-01

    Full Text Available Previous tests of cumulative prospect theory (CPT and of the priority heuristic (PH found evidence contradicting these two models of risky decision making. However, those tests were criticized because they had characteristics that might ``trigger'' use of other heuristics. This paper presents new tests that avoid those characteristics. Expected values of the gambles are nearly equal in each choice. In addition, if a person followed expected value (EV, expected utility (EU, CPT, or PH in these tests, she would shift her preferences in the same direction as shifts in EV or EU. In contrast, the transfer of attention exchange model (TAX and a similarity model predict that people will reverse preferences in the opposite direction. Results contradict the PH, even when PH is modified to include a preliminary similarity evaluation using the PH parameters. New tests of probability-consequence interaction were also conducted. Strong interactions were observed, contrary to PH. These results add to the growing bodies of evidence showing that neither CPT nor PH is an accurate description of risky decision making.

  15. Motor heuristics and embodied choices: how to choose and act.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Raab, Markus

    2017-08-01

    Human performance requires choosing what to do and how to do it. The goal of this theoretical contribution is to advance understanding of how the motor and cognitive components of choices are intertwined. From a holistic perspective I extend simple heuristics that have been tested in cognitive tasks to motor tasks, coining the term motor heuristics. Similarly I extend the concept of embodied cognition, that has been tested in simple sensorimotor processes changing decisions, to complex sport behavior coining the term embodied choices. Thus both motor heuristics and embodied choices explain complex behavior such as studied in sport and exercise psychology. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  16. Perceived breast cancer risk: Heuristic reasoning and search for a dominance structure

    OpenAIRE

    Katapodi, M. C.; Facione, N. C.; Humphreys, J. C.; Dodd, MJ.

    2005-01-01

    Studies suggest that people construct their risk perceptions by using inferential rules called heuristics. The purpose of this study was to identify heuristics that influence perceived breast cancer risk. We examined 11 interviews from women of diverse ethnic/cultural backgrounds who were recruited from community settings. Narratives in which women elaborated about their own breast cancer risk were analyzed with Argument and Heuristic Reasoning Analysis methodology, which is based on applied ...

  17. Modified meta-heuristics using random mutation for truss topology optimization with static and dynamic constraints

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vimal J. Savsani

    2017-04-01

    The static and dynamic responses to the TTO problems are challenging due to its search space, which is implicit, non-convex, non-linear, and often leading to divergence. Modified meta-heuristics are effective optimization methods to handle such problems in actual fact. In this paper, modified versions of Teaching–Learning-Based Optimization (TLBO, Heat Transfer Search (HTS, Water Wave Optimization (WWO, and Passing Vehicle Search (PVS are proposed by integrating the random mutation-based search technique with them. This paper compares the performance of four modified and four basic meta-heuristics to solve discrete TTO problems.

  18. Modi ed strip packing heuristics for the rectangular variable-sized ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Two packing problems are considered in this paper, namely the well-known strip packing problem (SPP) and the variable-sized bin packing problem (VSBPP). A total of 252 strip packing heuristics (and variations thereof) from the literature, as well as novel heuristics proposed by the authors, are compared statistically by ...

  19. A Hybrid Genetic Wind Driven Heuristic Optimization Algorithm for Demand Side Management in Smart Grid

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nadeem Javaid

    2017-03-01

    Full Text Available In recent years, demand side management (DSM techniques have been designed for residential, industrial and commercial sectors. These techniques are very effective in flattening the load profile of customers in grid area networks. In this paper, a heuristic algorithms-based energy management controller is designed for a residential area in a smart grid. In essence, five heuristic algorithms (the genetic algorithm (GA, the binary particle swarm optimization (BPSO algorithm, the bacterial foraging optimization algorithm (BFOA, the wind-driven optimization (WDO algorithm and our proposed hybrid genetic wind-driven (GWD algorithm are evaluated. These algorithms are used for scheduling residential loads between peak hours (PHs and off-peak hours (OPHs in a real-time pricing (RTP environment while maximizing user comfort (UC and minimizing both electricity cost and the peak to average ratio (PAR. Moreover, these algorithms are tested in two scenarios: (i scheduling the load of a single home and (ii scheduling the load of multiple homes. Simulation results show that our proposed hybrid GWD algorithm performs better than the other heuristic algorithms in terms of the selected performance metrics.

  20. Heuristic reasoning and relative incompleteness

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Treur, J.

    1993-01-01

    In this paper an approach is presented in which heuristic reasoning is interpreted as strategic reasoning. This type of reasoning enables one to derive which hypothesis to investigate, and which observable information to acquire next (to be able to verify the chosen hypothesis). A compositional

  1. Smart strategies for doctors and doctors-in-training: heuristics in medicine.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wegwarth, Odette; Gaissmaier, Wolfgang; Gigerenzer, Gerd

    2009-08-01

    How do doctors make sound decisions when confronted with probabilistic data, time pressures and a heavy workload? One theory that has been embraced by many researchers is based on optimisation, which emphasises the need to integrate all information in order to arrive at sound decisions. This notion makes heuristics, which use less than complete information, appear as second-best strategies. In this article, we challenge this pessimistic view of heuristics. We introduce two medical problems that involve decision making to the reader: one concerns coronary care issues and the other macrolide prescriptions. In both settings, decision-making tools grounded in the principles of optimisation and heuristics, respectively, have been developed to assist doctors in making decisions. We explain the structure of each of these tools and compare their performance in terms of their facilitation of correct predictions. For decisions concerning both the coronary care unit and the prescribing of macrolides, we demonstrate that sacrificing information does not necessarily imply a forfeiting of predictive accuracy, but can sometimes even lead to better decisions. Subsequently, we discuss common misconceptions about heuristics and explain when and why ignoring parts of the available information can lead to the making of more robust predictions. Heuristics are neither good nor bad per se, but, if applied in situations to which they have been adapted, can be helpful companions for doctors and doctors-in-training. This, however, requires that heuristics in medicine be openly discussed, criticised, refined and then taught to doctors-in-training rather than being simply dismissed as harmful or irrelevant. A more uniform use of explicit and accepted heuristics has the potential to reduce variations in diagnoses and to improve medical care for patients.

  2. Usability Evaluation of An Electronic Medication Administration Record (eMAR) Application

    Science.gov (United States)

    Guo, J.; Iribarren, S.; Kapsandoy, S.; Perri, S.; Staggers, N.

    2011-01-01

    Background Electronic medication administration records (eMARs) have been widely used in recent years. However, formal usability evaluations are not yet available for these vendor applications, especially from the perspective of nurses, the largest group of eMAR users. Objective To conduct a formal usability evaluation of an implemented eMAR. Methods Four evaluators examined a commercial vendor eMAR using heuristic evaluation techniques. The evaluators defined seven tasks typical of eMAR use and independently evaluated the application. Consensus techniques were used to obtain 100% agreement of identified usability problems and severity ratings. Findings were reviewed with 5 clinical staff nurses and the Director of Clinical Informatics who verified findings with a small group of clinical nurses. Results Evaluators found 60 usability problems categorized into 233 heuristic violations. Match, Error, and Visibility heuristics were the most frequently violated. Administer Medication and Order and Modify Medications tasks had the highest number of heuristic violations and usability problems rated as major or catastrophic. Conclusion The high number of usability problems could impact the effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction of nurses’ medication administration activities and may include concerns about patient safety. Usability is a joint responsibility between sites and vendors. We offer a call to action for usability evaluations at all sites and eMAR application redesign as necessary to improve the user experience and promote patient safety. PMID:23616871

  3. A greedy double swap heuristic for nurse scheduling

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Murphy Choy

    2012-10-01

    Full Text Available One of the key challenges of nurse scheduling problem (NSP is the number of constraints placed on preparing the timetable, both from the regulatory requirements as well as the patients’ demand for the appropriate nursing care specialists. In addition, the preferences of the nursing staffs related to their work schedules add another dimension of complexity. Most solutions proposed for solving nurse scheduling involve the use of mathematical programming and generally considers only the hard constraints. However, the psychological needs of the nurses are ignored and this resulted in subsequent interventions by the nursing staffs to remedy any deficiency and often results in last minute changes to the schedule. In this paper, we present a staff preference optimization framework solved with a greedy double swap heuristic. The heuristic yields good performance in speed at solving the problem. The heuristic is simple and we will demonstrate its performance by implementing it on open source spreadsheet software.

  4. A NEW HEURISTIC ALGORITHM FOR MULTIPLE TRAVELING SALESMAN PROBLEM

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    F. NURIYEVA

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available The Multiple Traveling Salesman Problem (mTSP is a combinatorial optimization problem in NP-hard class. The mTSP aims to acquire the minimum cost for traveling a given set of cities by assigning each of them to a different salesman in order to create m number of tours. This paper presents a new heuristic algorithm based on the shortest path algorithm to find a solution for the mTSP. The proposed method has been programmed in C language and its performance analysis has been carried out on the library instances. The computational results show the efficiency of this method.

  5. Application of heuristic and machine-learning approach to engine model calibration

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cheng, Jie; Ryu, Kwang R.; Newman, C. E.; Davis, George C.

    1993-03-01

    Automation of engine model calibration procedures is a very challenging task because (1) the calibration process searches for a goal state in a huge, continuous state space, (2) calibration is often a lengthy and frustrating task because of complicated mutual interference among the target parameters, and (3) the calibration problem is heuristic by nature, and often heuristic knowledge for constraining a search cannot be easily acquired from domain experts. A combined heuristic and machine learning approach has, therefore, been adopted to improve the efficiency of model calibration. We developed an intelligent calibration program called ICALIB. It has been used on a daily basis for engine model applications, and has reduced the time required for model calibrations from many hours to a few minutes on average. In this paper, we describe the heuristic control strategies employed in ICALIB such as a hill-climbing search based on a state distance estimation function, incremental problem solution refinement by using a dynamic tolerance window, and calibration target parameter ordering for guiding the search. In addition, we present the application of a machine learning program called GID3* for automatic acquisition of heuristic rules for ordering target parameters.

  6. A Comparison of Genetic Programming Variants for Hyper-Heuristics

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Harris, Sean [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)

    2015-03-01

    Modern society is faced with ever more complex problems, many of which can be formulated as generate-and-test optimization problems. General-purpose optimization algorithms are not well suited for real-world scenarios where many instances of the same problem class need to be repeatedly and efficiently solved, such as routing vehicles over highways with constantly changing traffic flows, because they are not targeted to a particular scenario. Hyper-heuristics automate the design of algorithms to create a custom algorithm for a particular scenario. Hyper-heuristics typically employ Genetic Programming (GP) and this project has investigated the relationship between the choice of GP and performance in Hyper-heuristics. Results are presented demonstrating the existence of problems for which there is a statistically significant performance differential between the use of different types of GP.

  7. The White ceiling heuristic and the underestimation of Asian-American income.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Martin, Chris C; Nezlek, John B

    2014-01-01

    The belief that ethnic majorities dominate ethnic minorities informs research on intergroup processes. This belief can lead to the social heuristic that the ethnic majority sets an upper limit that minority groups cannot surpass, but this possibility has not received much attention. In three studies of perceived income, we examined how this heuristic, which we term the White ceiling heuristic leads people to inaccurately estimate the income of a minority group that surpasses the majority. We found that Asian Americans, whose median income has surpassed White median income for nearly three decades, are still perceived as making less than Whites, with the least accurate estimations being made by people who strongly believe that Whites are privileged. In contrast, income estimates for other minorities were fairly accurate. Thus, perceptions of minorities are shaped both by stereotype content and a heuristic.

  8. Midlife Women’s Symptom Cluster Heuristics: Evaluation of An iPad Application for Data Collection

    Science.gov (United States)

    Woods, Nancy Fugate; Ismail, Rita; Linder, Lauri A.; Macpherson, Catherine Fiona

    2015-01-01

    Objective To elicit midlife women’s heuristics about symptom clusters they were experiencing as identified by the Computerized Symptom Capture Tool for menopause (C-SCAT M). Methods Women aged 40–60 years experiencing symptoms they associated with menopause were recruited through flyers posted on campus and in clinics. Women completed the C-SCAT M app using an iPad by identifying and drawing the symptom clusters they experienced during the last 24 hours, indicating relationships among symptoms, prioritizing the clusters and symptoms within them, and describing their causal attributions, and exacerbating and ameliorating factors. They were asked to prioritize the clusters and a symptom within each cluster. While completing the app, women were asked to “think aloud” about their experience using the app. Data generated from the C-SCAT M application were transmitted securely to an Amazon Web Services account and saved as screen images and Excel files to preserve both the graphical images and text elicited from the application. Qualitative data were saved in verbatim phrases. Conventional content analysis was used to analyze qualitative data. Results Thirty women completed the application. Most women (77%) stated that the final diagrams were very/extremely accurate in depicting their symptoms and their connections. Women reported between 1 and 22 symptoms (median 11). Hot flashes, waking up during the night, night sweats, and early morning awakening were the most commonly reported symptoms. Women rated hot flashes as their most bothersome symptom, followed by waking up during the night and fatigue. They reported over 300 different bivariate relationships between their symptoms and over 150 unique causal paths. They believed that hot flashes caused several symptoms, especially sleep disruption, and most could describe the time order of their symptoms. Women reported clusters consisting of 2 to 18 symptoms. Women also named each cluster based on their response to

  9. Simple heuristic for the viscosity of polydisperse hard spheres

    Science.gov (United States)

    Farr, Robert S.

    2014-12-01

    We build on the work of Mooney [Colloids Sci. 6, 162 (1951)] to obtain an heuristic analytic approximation to the viscosity of a suspension any size distribution of hard spheres in a Newtonian solvent. The result agrees reasonably well with rheological data on monodispserse and bidisperse hard spheres, and also provides an approximation to the random close packing fraction of polydisperse spheres. The implied packing fraction is less accurate than that obtained by Farr and Groot [J. Chem. Phys. 131(24), 244104 (2009)], but has the advantage of being quick and simple to evaluate.

  10. Evaluation of Current Approaches to Stream Classification and a Heuristic Guide to Developing Classifications of Integrated Aquatic Networks

    Science.gov (United States)

    Melles, S. J.; Jones, N. E.; Schmidt, B. J.

    2014-03-01

    Conservation and management of fresh flowing waters involves evaluating and managing effects of cumulative impacts on the aquatic environment from disturbances such as: land use change, point and nonpoint source pollution, the creation of dams and reservoirs, mining, and fishing. To assess effects of these changes on associated biotic communities it is necessary to monitor and report on the status of lotic ecosystems. A variety of stream classification methods are available to assist with these tasks, and such methods attempt to provide a systematic approach to modeling and understanding complex aquatic systems at various spatial and temporal scales. Of the vast number of approaches that exist, it is useful to group them into three main types. The first involves modeling longitudinal species turnover patterns within large drainage basins and relating these patterns to environmental predictors collected at reach and upstream catchment scales; the second uses regionalized hierarchical classification to create multi-scale, spatially homogenous aquatic ecoregions by grouping adjacent catchments together based on environmental similarities; and the third approach groups sites together on the basis of similarities in their environmental conditions both within and between catchments, independent of their geographic location. We review the literature with a focus on more recent classifications to examine the strengths and weaknesses of the different approaches. We identify gaps or problems with the current approaches, and we propose an eight-step heuristic process that may assist with development of more flexible and integrated aquatic classifications based on the current understanding, network thinking, and theoretical underpinnings.

  11. In Search of Prototypes and Feminist Bank-Tellers: Exploring the Representativeness Heuristic

    OpenAIRE

    Nilsson, Håkan

    2008-01-01

    According to the heuristics and biases approach, the representativeness heuristic (RH) is one of the heuristics available for assessing subjective probabilities (A. Tversky & D. Kahneman, 1974). A subjective probability assessed by the RH is determined by how representative the target object is of the target category. Several aspects of the RH are argued to cause systematic biases, for example: (i) When the RH is used, the category is represented by one single prototypical exemplar. This ...

  12. Relative level of occurrence of the principal heuristics in Nigeria property valuation

    OpenAIRE

    Iroham C.O.,; Ogunba, O.A.; Oloyede, S.A.

    2013-01-01

    The neglect of the other principal heuristics namely avaialability, representative and positivity in real estate behaviourial property research as against the exclusive focus on anchoring and adjustment heuristics invariably results to a lopsided research. This work studied the four principal heuristics in property behaviourial property valutaion in a bid to discovering its relative level of occurrence. The study adopted a cross-sectional questionnaire survey approach of 159 of the 270 Head O...

  13. Estimating order-picking times for return heuristic - equations and simulations

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Grzegorz Tarczyński

    2015-09-01

    Full Text Available Background: A key element of the evaluation of warehouse operation is the average order-picking time. In warehouses where the order-picking process is carried out according to the "picker-to-part" rule the order-picking time is usually proportional to the distance covered by the picker while picking items. This distance can by estimated by simulations or using mathematical equations. In the paper only the best described in the literature one-block rectangular warehouses are considered. Material and methods: For the one-block rectangular warehouses there are well known five routing heuristics. In the paper the author considers the return heuristic in two variants. The paper presents well known Hall's and De Koster's equations for the average distance traveled by the picker while completing items from one pick list. The author presents own proposals for calculating the expected distance. Results: the results calculated by the use of mathematical equations (the formulas of Hall, De Koster and own propositions were compared with the average values obtained using computer simulations. For the most cases the average error does not exceed 1% (except for Hall's equations. To carry out simulation the computer software Warehouse Real-Time Simulator was used. Conclusions: the order-picking time is a function of many variables and its optimization is not easy. It can be done in two stages: firstly using mathematical equations the set of the potentially best variants is established, next the results are verified using simulations. The results calculated by the use of equations are not precise, but possible to achieve immediately. The simulations are more time-consuming, but allow to analyze the order-picking process more accurately.

  14. A Heuristic Model for Supporting Users’ Decision-Making in Privacy Disclosure for Recommendation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hongchen Wu

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available Privacy issues have become a major concern in the web of resource sharing, and users often have difficulty managing their information disclosure in the context of high-quality experiences from social media and Internet of Things. Recent studies have shown that users’ disclosure decisions may be influenced by heuristics from the crowds, leading to inconsistency in the disclosure volumes and reduction of the prediction accuracy. Therefore, an analysis of why this influence occurs and how to optimize the user experience is highly important. We propose a novel heuristic model that defines the data structures of items and participants in social media, utilizes a modified decision-tree classifier that can predict participants’ disclosures, and puts forward a correlation analysis for detecting disclosure inconsistences. The heuristic model is applied to real-time dataset to evaluate the behavioral effects. Decision-tree classifier and correlation analysis indeed prove that some participants’ behaviors in information disclosures became decreasingly correlated during item requesting. Participants can be “persuaded” to change their disclosure behaviors, and the users’ answers to the mildly sensitive items tend to be more variable and less predictable. Using this approach, recommender systems in social media can thus know the users better and provide service with higher prediction accuracy.

  15. How the twain can meet: Prospect theory and models of heuristics in risky choice.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pachur, Thorsten; Suter, Renata S; Hertwig, Ralph

    2017-03-01

    Two influential approaches to modeling choice between risky options are algebraic models (which focus on predicting the overt decisions) and models of heuristics (which are also concerned with capturing the underlying cognitive process). Because they rest on fundamentally different assumptions and algorithms, the two approaches are usually treated as antithetical, or even incommensurable. Drawing on cumulative prospect theory (CPT; Tversky & Kahneman, 1992) as the currently most influential instance of a descriptive algebraic model, we demonstrate how the two modeling traditions can be linked. CPT's algebraic functions characterize choices in terms of psychophysical (diminishing sensitivity to probabilities and outcomes) as well as psychological (risk aversion and loss aversion) constructs. Models of heuristics characterize choices as rooted in simple information-processing principles such as lexicographic and limited search. In computer simulations, we estimated CPT's parameters for choices produced by various heuristics. The resulting CPT parameter profiles portray each of the choice-generating heuristics in psychologically meaningful ways-capturing, for instance, differences in how the heuristics process probability information. Furthermore, CPT parameters can reflect a key property of many heuristics, lexicographic search, and track the environment-dependent behavior of heuristics. Finally, we show, both in an empirical and a model recovery study, how CPT parameter profiles can be used to detect the operation of heuristics. We also address the limits of CPT's ability to capture choices produced by heuristics. Our results highlight an untapped potential of CPT as a measurement tool to characterize the information processing underlying risky choice. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  16. Applied tagmemics: A heuristic approach to the use of graphic aids in technical writing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brownlee, P. P.; Kirtz, M. K.

    1981-01-01

    In technical report writing, two needs which must be met if reports are to be useable by an audience are the language needs and the technical needs of that particular audience. A heuristic analysis helps to decide the most suitable format for information; that is, whether the information should be presented verbally or visually. The report writing process should be seen as an organic whole which can be divided and subdivided according to the writer's purpose, but which always functions as a totality. The tagmemic heuristic, because it itself follows a process of deconstructing and reconstructing information, lends itself to being a useful approach to the teaching of technical writing. By applying the abstract questions this heuristic asks to specific parts of the report. The language and technical needs of the audience are analyzed by examining the viability of the solution within the givens of the corporate structure, and by deciding which graphic or verbal format will best suit the writer's purpose. By following such a method, answers which are both specific and thorough in their range of application are found.

  17. Near-Optimal Tracking Control of Mobile Robots Via Receding-Horizon Dual Heuristic Programming.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lian, Chuanqiang; Xu, Xin; Chen, Hong; He, Haibo

    2016-11-01

    Trajectory tracking control of wheeled mobile robots (WMRs) has been an important research topic in control theory and robotics. Although various tracking control methods with stability have been developed for WMRs, it is still difficult to design optimal or near-optimal tracking controller under uncertainties and disturbances. In this paper, a near-optimal tracking control method is presented for WMRs based on receding-horizon dual heuristic programming (RHDHP). In the proposed method, a backstepping kinematic controller is designed to generate desired velocity profiles and the receding horizon strategy is used to decompose the infinite-horizon optimal control problem into a series of finite-horizon optimal control problems. In each horizon, a closed-loop tracking control policy is successively updated using a class of approximate dynamic programming algorithms called finite-horizon dual heuristic programming (DHP). The convergence property of the proposed method is analyzed and it is shown that the tracking control system based on RHDHP is asymptotically stable by using the Lyapunov approach. Simulation results on three tracking control problems demonstrate that the proposed method has improved control performance when compared with conventional model predictive control (MPC) and DHP. It is also illustrated that the proposed method has lower computational burden than conventional MPC, which is very beneficial for real-time tracking control.

  18. The impact of choice context on consumers' choice heuristics

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Mueller Loose, Simone; Scholderer, Joachim; Corsi, Armando M.

    2012-01-01

    Context effects in choice settings have received recent attention but little is known about the impact of context on choice consistency and the extent to which consumers apply choice heuristics. The sequence of alternatives in a choice set is examined here as one specific context effect. We compare...... how a change from a typical price order to a sensory order in wine menus affects consumer choice. We use pre-specified latent heuristic classes to analyse the existence of different choice processes, which begins to untangle the ‘black box’ of how consumers choose. Our findings indicate...... that in the absence of price order, consumers are less price-sensitive, pay more attention to visually salient cues, are less consistent in their choices and employ other simple choice heuristics more frequently than price. Implications for consumer research, marketing and consumer policy are discussed....

  19. A Computational Investigation of Heuristic Algorithms for 2-Edge-Connectivity Augmentation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bang-Jensen, Jørgen; Chiarandini, Marco; Morling, Peter

    2010-01-01

    an equivalent set covering   formulation.  The results indicate that exact solutions by means of a   basic integer programming model can be obtained in reasonably short   time even on networks with 800 vertices and around 287,000   edges. Alternatively, an advanced heuristic algorithm based on   subgradient...... programming, simple construction heuristics and   metaheuristics. As part of the design of heuristics, we consider   different neighborhood structures for local search, among which is a very   large scale neighborhood. In all cases, we exploit approaches through   the graph formulation as well as through...

  20. Risk Assessment Heuristics: Cues and Intention to Use a Condom in Casual Sex

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rinaldi-Miles, Anna; Quick, Brian L.; McCloskey, Laura

    2017-01-01

    Objective: This study examined the relationship between three heuristic cues (consistency, liking and social proof) and condom use in casual sex relationships utilising the theory of planned behaviour. Participants: Totally, 388 US college students were surveyed. Method: Three vignettes for each cue primed students to project their willingness to…

  1. Heuristic reasoning and cognitive biases: Are they hindrances to judgments and decision making in orthodontics?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hicks, E Preston; Kluemper, G Thomas

    2011-03-01

    Studies show that our brains use 2 modes of reasoning: heuristic (intuitive, automatic, implicit processing) and analytic (deliberate, rule-based, explicit processing). The use of intuition often dominates problem solving when innovative, creative thinking is required. Under conditions of uncertainty, we default to an even greater reliance on the heuristic processing. In health care settings and other such environments of increased importance, this mode becomes problematic. Since choice heuristics are quickly constructed from fragments of memory, they are often biased by prior evaluations of and preferences for the alternatives being considered. Therefore, a rigorous and systematic decision process notwithstanding, clinical judgments under uncertainty are often flawed by a number of unwitting biases. Clinical orthodontics is as vulnerable to this fundamental failing in the decision-making process as any other health care discipline. Several of the more common cognitive biases relevant to clinical orthodontics are discussed in this article. By raising awareness of these sources of cognitive errors in our clinical decision making, our intent was to equip the clinician to take corrective action to avoid them. Our secondary goal was to expose this important area of empirical research and encourage those with expertise in the cognitive sciences to explore, through further research, the possible relevance and impact of cognitive heuristics and biases on the accuracy of orthodontic judgments and decision making. Copyright © 2011 American Association of Orthodontists. Published by Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.

  2. Response demands and the recruitment of heuristic strategies in syllogistic reasoning.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Reverberi, Carlo; Rusconi, Patrice; Paulesu, Eraldo; Cherubini, Paolo

    2009-03-01

    Two experiments investigated whether dealing with a homogeneous subset of syllogisms with time-constrained responses encouraged participants to develop and use heuristics for abstract (Experiment 1) and thematic (Experiment 2) syllogisms. An atmosphere-based heuristic accounted for most responses with both abstract and thematic syllogisms. With thematic syllogisms, a weaker effect of a belief heuristic was also observed, mainly where the correct response was inconsistent with the atmosphere of the premises. Analytic processes appear to have played little role in the time-constrained condition, whereas their involvement increased in a self-paced, unconstrained condition. From a dual-process perspective, the results further specify how task demands affect the recruitment of heuristic and analytic systems of reasoning. Because the syllogisms and experimental procedure were the same as those used in a previous neuroimaging study by Goel, Buchel, Frith, and Dolan (2000), the result also deepen our understanding of the cognitive processes investigated by that study.

  3. Identifying multiple influential spreaders by a heuristic clustering algorithm

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bao, Zhong-Kui; Liu, Jian-Guo; Zhang, Hai-Feng

    2017-01-01

    The problem of influence maximization in social networks has attracted much attention. However, traditional centrality indices are suitable for the case where a single spreader is chosen as the spreading source. Many times, spreading process is initiated by simultaneously choosing multiple nodes as the spreading sources. In this situation, choosing the top ranked nodes as multiple spreaders is not an optimal strategy, since the chosen nodes are not sufficiently scattered in networks. Therefore, one ideal situation for multiple spreaders case is that the spreaders themselves are not only influential but also they are dispersively distributed in networks, but it is difficult to meet the two conditions together. In this paper, we propose a heuristic clustering (HC) algorithm based on the similarity index to classify nodes into different clusters, and finally the center nodes in clusters are chosen as the multiple spreaders. HC algorithm not only ensures that the multiple spreaders are dispersively distributed in networks but also avoids the selected nodes to be very “negligible”. Compared with the traditional methods, our experimental results on synthetic and real networks indicate that the performance of HC method on influence maximization is more significant. - Highlights: • A heuristic clustering algorithm is proposed to identify the multiple influential spreaders in complex networks. • The algorithm can not only guarantee the selected spreaders are sufficiently scattered but also avoid to be “insignificant”. • The performance of our algorithm is generally better than other methods, regardless of real networks or synthetic networks.

  4. Identifying multiple influential spreaders by a heuristic clustering algorithm

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bao, Zhong-Kui [School of Mathematical Science, Anhui University, Hefei 230601 (China); Liu, Jian-Guo [Data Science and Cloud Service Research Center, Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, Shanghai, 200133 (China); Zhang, Hai-Feng, E-mail: haifengzhang1978@gmail.com [School of Mathematical Science, Anhui University, Hefei 230601 (China); Department of Communication Engineering, North University of China, Taiyuan, Shan' xi 030051 (China)

    2017-03-18

    The problem of influence maximization in social networks has attracted much attention. However, traditional centrality indices are suitable for the case where a single spreader is chosen as the spreading source. Many times, spreading process is initiated by simultaneously choosing multiple nodes as the spreading sources. In this situation, choosing the top ranked nodes as multiple spreaders is not an optimal strategy, since the chosen nodes are not sufficiently scattered in networks. Therefore, one ideal situation for multiple spreaders case is that the spreaders themselves are not only influential but also they are dispersively distributed in networks, but it is difficult to meet the two conditions together. In this paper, we propose a heuristic clustering (HC) algorithm based on the similarity index to classify nodes into different clusters, and finally the center nodes in clusters are chosen as the multiple spreaders. HC algorithm not only ensures that the multiple spreaders are dispersively distributed in networks but also avoids the selected nodes to be very “negligible”. Compared with the traditional methods, our experimental results on synthetic and real networks indicate that the performance of HC method on influence maximization is more significant. - Highlights: • A heuristic clustering algorithm is proposed to identify the multiple influential spreaders in complex networks. • The algorithm can not only guarantee the selected spreaders are sufficiently scattered but also avoid to be “insignificant”. • The performance of our algorithm is generally better than other methods, regardless of real networks or synthetic networks.

  5. An Heuristic Framework for Non-Conscious Reasoning

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Felipe Lara-Rosano

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available Human non-conscious reasoning is one of the most successful procedures evolved for the purposes of solving everyday problems in an efficient way. This is why the field of artificial intelligence should analyze, formalize and emulate the multiple ways of non-conscious reasoning with the purpose of applying them in human problem solving tasks, like medical diagnostics and treatments, educational diagnostics and intervention, organizational and political decision making, artificial intelligence knowledge based systems and neurocomputers, automatic control systems and similar devices for aiding people in the problem-solving process. In this paper, a heuristic framework for those non-conscious ways of reasoning is presented based on neurocognitive representations, heuristics, and fuzzy sets.

  6. The power of simplicity: a fast-and-frugal heuristics approach to performance science.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Raab, Markus; Gigerenzer, Gerd

    2015-01-01

    Performance science is a fairly new multidisciplinary field that integrates performance domains such as sports, medicine, business, and the arts. To give its many branches a structure and its research a direction, it requires a theoretical framework. We demonstrate the applications of this framework with examples from sport and medicine. Because performance science deals mainly with situations of uncertainty rather than known risks, the needed framework can be provided by the fast-and-frugal heuristics approach. According to this approach, experts learn to rely on heuristics in an adaptive way in order to make accurate decisions. We investigate the adaptive use of heuristics in three ways: the descriptive study of the heuristics in the cognitive "adaptive toolbox;" the prescriptive study of their "ecological rationality," that is, the characterization of the situations in which a given heuristic works; and the engineering study of "intuitive design," that is, the design of transparent aids for making better decisions.

  7. The power of simplicity: a fast-and-frugal heuristics approach to performance science

    Science.gov (United States)

    Raab, Markus; Gigerenzer, Gerd

    2015-01-01

    Performance science is a fairly new multidisciplinary field that integrates performance domains such as sports, medicine, business, and the arts. To give its many branches a structure and its research a direction, it requires a theoretical framework. We demonstrate the applications of this framework with examples from sport and medicine. Because performance science deals mainly with situations of uncertainty rather than known risks, the needed framework can be provided by the fast-and-frugal heuristics approach. According to this approach, experts learn to rely on heuristics in an adaptive way in order to make accurate decisions. We investigate the adaptive use of heuristics in three ways: the descriptive study of the heuristics in the cognitive “adaptive toolbox;” the prescriptive study of their “ecological rationality,” that is, the characterization of the situations in which a given heuristic works; and the engineering study of “intuitive design,” that is, the design of transparent aids for making better decisions. PMID:26579051

  8. Social biases determine spatiotemporal sparseness of ciliate mating heuristics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Clark, Kevin B

    2012-01-01

    Ciliates become highly social, even displaying animal-like qualities, in the joint presence of aroused conspecifics and nonself mating pheromones. Pheromone detection putatively helps trigger instinctual and learned courtship and dominance displays from which social judgments are made about the availability, compatibility, and fitness representativeness or likelihood of prospective mates and rivals. In earlier studies, I demonstrated the heterotrich Spirostomum ambiguum improves mating competence by effecting preconjugal strategies and inferences in mock social trials via behavioral heuristics built from Hebbian-like associative learning. Heuristics embody serial patterns of socially relevant action that evolve into ordered, topologically invariant computational networks supporting intra- and intermate selection. S. ambiguum employs heuristics to acquire, store, plan, compare, modify, select, and execute sets of mating propaganda. One major adaptive constraint over formation and use of heuristics involves a ciliate's initial subjective bias, responsiveness, or preparedness, as defined by Stevens' Law of subjective stimulus intensity, for perceiving the meaningfulness of mechanical pressures accompanying cell-cell contacts and additional perimating events. This bias controls durations and valences of nonassociative learning, search rates for appropriate mating strategies, potential net reproductive payoffs, levels of social honesty and deception, successful error diagnosis and correction of mating signals, use of insight or analysis to solve mating dilemmas, bioenergetics expenditures, and governance of mating decisions by classical or quantum statistical mechanics. I now report this same social bias also differentially affects the spatiotemporal sparseness, as measured with metric entropy, of ciliate heuristics. Sparseness plays an important role in neural systems through optimizing the specificity, efficiency, and capacity of memory representations. The present

  9. Social biases determine spatiotemporal sparseness of ciliate mating heuristics

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-01-01

    Ciliates become highly social, even displaying animal-like qualities, in the joint presence of aroused conspecifics and nonself mating pheromones. Pheromone detection putatively helps trigger instinctual and learned courtship and dominance displays from which social judgments are made about the availability, compatibility, and fitness representativeness or likelihood of prospective mates and rivals. In earlier studies, I demonstrated the heterotrich Spirostomum ambiguum improves mating competence by effecting preconjugal strategies and inferences in mock social trials via behavioral heuristics built from Hebbian-like associative learning. Heuristics embody serial patterns of socially relevant action that evolve into ordered, topologically invariant computational networks supporting intra- and intermate selection. S. ambiguum employs heuristics to acquire, store, plan, compare, modify, select, and execute sets of mating propaganda. One major adaptive constraint over formation and use of heuristics involves a ciliate’s initial subjective bias, responsiveness, or preparedness, as defined by Stevens’ Law of subjective stimulus intensity, for perceiving the meaningfulness of mechanical pressures accompanying cell-cell contacts and additional perimating events. This bias controls durations and valences of nonassociative learning, search rates for appropriate mating strategies, potential net reproductive payoffs, levels of social honesty and deception, successful error diagnosis and correction of mating signals, use of insight or analysis to solve mating dilemmas, bioenergetics expenditures, and governance of mating decisions by classical or quantum statistical mechanics. I now report this same social bias also differentially affects the spatiotemporal sparseness, as measured with metric entropy, of ciliate heuristics. Sparseness plays an important role in neural systems through optimizing the specificity, efficiency, and capacity of memory representations. The

  10. Heuristics in Conflict Resolution

    OpenAIRE

    Drescher, Christian; Gebser, Martin; Kaufmann, Benjamin; Schaub, Torsten

    2010-01-01

    Modern solvers for Boolean Satisfiability (SAT) and Answer Set Programming (ASP) are based on sophisticated Boolean constraint solving techniques. In both areas, conflict-driven learning and related techniques constitute key features whose application is enabled by conflict analysis. Although various conflict analysis schemes have been proposed, implemented, and studied both theoretically and practically in the SAT area, the heuristic aspects involved in conflict analysis have not yet receive...

  11. Heuristic attacks against graphical password generators

    CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

    Peach, S

    2010-05-01

    Full Text Available In this paper the authors explore heuristic attacks against graphical password generators. A new trend is emerging to use user clickable pictures to generate passwords. This technique of authentication can be successfully used for - for example...

  12. Negations in syllogistic reasoning: evidence for a heuristic-analytic conflict.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stupple, Edward J N; Waterhouse, Eleanor F

    2009-08-01

    An experiment utilizing response time measures was conducted to test dominant processing strategies in syllogistic reasoning with the expanded quantifier set proposed by Roberts (2005). Through adding negations to existing quantifiers it is possible to change problem surface features without altering logical validity. Biases based on surface features such as atmosphere, matching, and the probability heuristics model (PHM; Chater & Oaksford, 1999; Wetherick & Gilhooly, 1995) would not be expected to show variance in response latencies, but participant responses should be highly sensitive to changes in the surface features of the quantifiers. In contrast, according to analytic accounts such as mental models theory and mental logic (e.g., Johnson-Laird & Byrne, 1991; Rips, 1994) participants should exhibit increased response times for negated premises, but not be overly impacted upon by the surface features of the conclusion. Data indicated that the dominant response strategy was based on a matching heuristic, but also provided evidence of a resource-demanding analytic procedure for dealing with double negatives. The authors propose that dual-process theories offer a stronger account of these data whereby participants employ competing heuristic and analytic strategies and fall back on a heuristic response when analytic processing fails.

  13. Heuristics for Relevancy Ranking of Earth Dataset Search Results

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lynnes, Christopher; Quinn, Patrick; Norton, James

    2016-01-01

    As the Variety of Earth science datasets increases, science researchers find it more challenging to discover and select the datasets that best fit their needs. The most common way of search providers to address this problem is to rank the datasets returned for a query by their likely relevance to the user. Large web page search engines typically use text matching supplemented with reverse link counts, semantic annotations and user intent modeling. However, this produces uneven results when applied to dataset metadata records simply externalized as a web page. Fortunately, data and search provides have decades of experience in serving data user communities, allowing them to form heuristics that leverage the structure in the metadata together with knowledge about the user community. Some of these heuristics include specific ways of matching the user input to the essential measurements in the dataset and determining overlaps of time range and spatial areas. Heuristics based on the novelty of the datasets can prioritize later, better versions of data over similar predecessors. And knowledge of how different user types and communities use data can be brought to bear in cases where characteristics of the user (discipline, expertise) or their intent (applications, research) can be divined. The Earth Observing System Data and Information System has begun implementing some of these heuristics in the relevancy algorithm of its Common Metadata Repository search engine.

  14. Parental explicit heuristics in decision-making for children with life-threatening illnesses.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Renjilian, Chris B; Womer, James W; Carroll, Karen W; Kang, Tammy I; Feudtner, Chris

    2013-02-01

    To identify and illustrate common explicit heuristics (decision-making aids or shortcuts expressed verbally as terse rules of thumb, aphorisms, maxims, or mantras and intended to convey a compelling truth or guiding principle) used by parents of children with life-threatening illnesses when confronting and making medical decisions. Prospective cross-sectional observational study of 69 parents of 46 children who participated in the Decision-making in Pediatric Palliative Care Study between 2006 and 2008 at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. Parents were guided individually through a semistructured in-depth interview about their experiences and thoughts regarding making medical decisions on behalf of their ill children, and the transcribed interviews were qualitatively analyzed. All parents in our study employed explicit heuristics in interviews about decision-making for their children, with the number of identified explicit heuristics used by an individual parent ranging from tens to hundreds. The heuristics served 5 general functions: (1) to depict or facilitate understanding of a complex situation; (2) to clarify, organize, and focus pertinent information and values; (3) to serve as a decision-making compass; (4) to communicate with others about a complex topic; and (5) to justify a choice. Explicit heuristics played an important role in decision-making and communication about decision-making in our population of parents. Recognizing explicit heuristics in parent interactions and understanding their content and functions can aid clinicians in their efforts to partner with parents in the decision-making process.

  15. Towards an Understanding of Instructional Design Heuristics: An Exploratory Delphi Study

    Science.gov (United States)

    York, Cindy S.; Ertmer, Peggy A.

    2011-01-01

    Evidence suggests that experienced instructional designers often use heuristics and adapted models when engaged in the instructional design problem-solving process. This study used the Delphi technique to identify a core set of heuristics designers reported as being important to the success of the design process. The overarching purpose of the…

  16. Using Heuristic Task Analysis to Create Web-Based Instructional Design Theory

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fiester, Herbert R.

    2010-01-01

    The first purpose of this study was to identify procedural and heuristic knowledge used when creating web-based instruction. The second purpose of this study was to develop suggestions for improving the Heuristic Task Analysis process, a technique for eliciting, analyzing, and representing expertise in cognitively complex tasks. Three expert…

  17. Hyper-heuristic applied to nuclear reactor core design

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Domingos, R P; Platt, G M

    2013-01-01

    The design of nuclear reactors gives rises to a series of optimization problems because of the need for high efficiency, availability and maintenance of security levels. Gradient-based techniques and linear programming have been applied, as well as genetic algorithms and particle swarm optimization. The nonlinearity, multimodality and lack of knowledge about the problem domain makes de choice of suitable meta-heuristic models particularly challenging. In this work we solve the optimization problem of a nuclear reactor core design through the application of an optimal sequence of meta-heuritics created automatically. This combinatorial optimization model is known as hyper-heuristic.

  18. A review of parameters and heuristics for guiding metabolic pathfinding.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, Sarah M; Peña, Matthew I; Moll, Mark; Bennett, George N; Kavraki, Lydia E

    2017-09-15

    Recent developments in metabolic engineering have led to the successful biosynthesis of valuable products, such as the precursor of the antimalarial compound, artemisinin, and opioid precursor, thebaine. Synthesizing these traditionally plant-derived compounds in genetically modified yeast cells introduces the possibility of significantly reducing the total time and resources required for their production, and in turn, allows these valuable compounds to become cheaper and more readily available. Most biosynthesis pathways used in metabolic engineering applications have been discovered manually, requiring a tedious search of existing literature and metabolic databases. However, the recent rapid development of available metabolic information has enabled the development of automated approaches for identifying novel pathways. Computer-assisted pathfinding has the potential to save biochemists time in the initial discovery steps of metabolic engineering. In this paper, we review the parameters and heuristics used to guide the search in recent pathfinding algorithms. These parameters and heuristics capture information on the metabolic network structure, compound structures, reaction features, and organism-specificity of pathways. No one metabolic pathfinding algorithm or search parameter stands out as the best to use broadly for solving the pathfinding problem, as each method and parameter has its own strengths and shortcomings. As assisted pathfinding approaches continue to become more sophisticated, the development of better methods for visualizing pathway results and integrating these results into existing metabolic engineering practices is also important for encouraging wider use of these pathfinding methods.

  19. Heuristic Decision Making in Network Linking

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    M.J.W. Harmsen - Van Hout (Marjolein); B.G.C. Dellaert (Benedict); P.J.J. Herings (Jean-Jacques)

    2015-01-01

    textabstractNetwork formation among individuals constitutes an important part of many OR processes, but relatively little is known about how individuals make their linking decisions in networks. This article provides an investigation of heuristic effects in individual linking decisions for

  20. Expected Fitness Gains of Randomized Search Heuristics for the Traveling Salesperson Problem.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nallaperuma, Samadhi; Neumann, Frank; Sudholt, Dirk

    2017-01-01

    Randomized search heuristics are frequently applied to NP-hard combinatorial optimization problems. The runtime analysis of randomized search heuristics has contributed tremendously to our theoretical understanding. Recently, randomized search heuristics have been examined regarding their achievable progress within a fixed-time budget. We follow this approach and present a fixed-budget analysis for an NP-hard combinatorial optimization problem. We consider the well-known Traveling Salesperson Problem (TSP) and analyze the fitness increase that randomized search heuristics are able to achieve within a given fixed-time budget. In particular, we analyze Manhattan and Euclidean TSP instances and Randomized Local Search (RLS), (1+1) EA and (1+[Formula: see text]) EA algorithms for the TSP in a smoothed complexity setting, and derive the lower bounds of the expected fitness gain for a specified number of generations.

  1. A Comparison of Heuristics with Modularity Maximization Objective using Biological Data Sets

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pirim Harun

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Finding groups of objects exhibiting similar patterns is an important data analytics task. Many disciplines have their own terminologies such as cluster, group, clique, community etc. defining the similar objects in a set. Adopting the term community, many exact and heuristic algorithms are developed to find the communities of interest in available data sets. Here, three heuristic algorithms to find communities are compared using five gene expression data sets. The heuristics have a common objective function of maximizing the modularity that is a quality measure of a partition and a reflection of objects’ relevance in communities. Partitions generated by the heuristics are compared with the real ones using the adjusted rand index, one of the most commonly used external validation measures. The paper discusses the results of the partitions on the mentioned biological data sets.

  2. Mathematical models and heuristic solutions for container positioning problems in port terminals

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kallehauge, Louise Sibbesen

    2008-01-01

    presents an efficient solution algorithm for the CPP. Based on a number of new concepts, an event-based construction heuristic is developed and its ability to solve real-life problem instances is established. The backbone of the algorithm is a list of events, corresponding to a sequence of operations...... by constructing mathematical programming formulations of the problem and developing an efficient heuristic algorithm for its solution. The thesis consists of an introduction, two main chapters concerning new mathematical formulations and a new heuristic for the CPP, technical issues, computational results...... concerning the subject is reviewed. The research presented in this thesis is divided into two main parts: Construction and investigation of new mathematical programming formulations of the CPP and development and implementation of a new event-based heuristic for the problem. The first part presents three...

  3. A Case Study of Controlling Crossover in a Selection Hyper-heuristic Framework Using the Multidimensional Knapsack Problem.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Drake, John H; Özcan, Ender; Burke, Edmund K

    2016-01-01

    Hyper-heuristics are high-level methodologies for solving complex problems that operate on a search space of heuristics. In a selection hyper-heuristic framework, a heuristic is chosen from an existing set of low-level heuristics and applied to the current solution to produce a new solution at each point in the search. The use of crossover low-level heuristics is possible in an increasing number of general-purpose hyper-heuristic tools such as HyFlex and Hyperion. However, little work has been undertaken to assess how best to utilise it. Since a single-point search hyper-heuristic operates on a single candidate solution, and two candidate solutions are required for crossover, a mechanism is required to control the choice of the other solution. The frameworks we propose maintain a list of potential solutions for use in crossover. We investigate the use of such lists at two conceptual levels. First, crossover is controlled at the hyper-heuristic level where no problem-specific information is required. Second, it is controlled at the problem domain level where problem-specific information is used to produce good-quality solutions to use in crossover. A number of selection hyper-heuristics are compared using these frameworks over three benchmark libraries with varying properties for an NP-hard optimisation problem: the multidimensional 0-1 knapsack problem. It is shown that allowing crossover to be managed at the domain level outperforms managing crossover at the hyper-heuristic level in this problem domain.

  4. Heuristic Biases in Mathematical Reasoning

    Science.gov (United States)

    Inglis, Matthew; Simpson, Adrian

    2005-01-01

    In this paper we briefly describe the dual process account of reasoning, and explain the role of heuristic biases in human thought. Concentrating on the so-called matching bias effect, we describe a piece of research that indicates a correlation between success at advanced level mathematics and an ability to override innate and misleading…

  5. A Dominant Social Comparison Heuristic Unites Alternative Mechanisms for the Evolution of Indirect Reciprocity

    Science.gov (United States)

    Whitaker, Roger M.; Colombo, Gualtiero B.; Allen, Stuart M.; Dunbar, Robin I. M.

    2016-08-01

    Cooperation is a fundamental human trait but our understanding of how it functions remains incomplete. Indirect reciprocity is a particular case in point, where one-shot donations are made to unrelated beneficiaries without any guarantee of payback. Existing insights are largely from two independent perspectives: i) individual-level cognitive behaviour in decision making, and ii) identification of conditions that favour evolution of cooperation. We identify a fundamental connection between these two areas by examining social comparison as a means through which indirect reciprocity can evolve. Social comparison is well established as an inherent human disposition through which humans navigate the social world by self-referential evaluation of others. Donating to those that are at least as reputable as oneself emerges as a dominant heuristic, which represents aspirational homophily. This heuristic is found to be implicitly present in the current knowledge of conditions that favour indirect reciprocity. The effective social norms for updating reputation are also observed to support this heuristic. We hypothesise that the cognitive challenge associated with social comparison has contributed to cerebral expansion and the disproportionate human brain size, consistent with the social complexity hypothesis. The findings have relevance for the evolution of autonomous systems that are characterised by one-shot interactions.

  6. Mixed Integer Programming and Heuristic Scheduling for Space Communication Networks

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Charles H.; Cheung, Kar-Ming

    2012-01-01

    In this paper, we propose to solve the constrained optimization problem in two phases. The first phase uses heuristic methods such as the ant colony method, particle swarming optimization, and genetic algorithm to seek a near optimal solution among a list of feasible initial populations. The final optimal solution can be found by using the solution of the first phase as the initial condition to the SQP algorithm. We demonstrate the above problem formulation and optimization schemes with a large-scale network that includes the DSN ground stations and a number of spacecraft of deep space missions.

  7. Heuristic optimization in penumbral image for high resolution reconstructed image

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Azuma, R.; Nozaki, S.; Fujioka, S.; Chen, Y. W.; Namihira, Y.

    2010-01-01

    Penumbral imaging is a technique which uses the fact that spatial information can be recovered from the shadow or penumbra that an unknown source casts through a simple large circular aperture. The size of the penumbral image on the detector can be mathematically determined as its aperture size, object size, and magnification. Conventional reconstruction methods are very sensitive to noise. On the other hand, the heuristic reconstruction method is very tolerant of noise. However, the aperture size influences the accuracy and resolution of the reconstructed image. In this article, we propose the optimization of the aperture size for the neutron penumbral imaging.

  8. Meta-heuristic algorithms for parallel identical machines scheduling problem with weighted late work criterion and common due date.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xu, Zhenzhen; Zou, Yongxing; Kong, Xiangjie

    2015-01-01

    To our knowledge, this paper investigates the first application of meta-heuristic algorithms to tackle the parallel machines scheduling problem with weighted late work criterion and common due date ([Formula: see text]). Late work criterion is one of the performance measures of scheduling problems which considers the length of late parts of particular jobs when evaluating the quality of scheduling. Since this problem is known to be NP-hard, three meta-heuristic algorithms, namely ant colony system, genetic algorithm, and simulated annealing are designed and implemented, respectively. We also propose a novel algorithm named LDF (largest density first) which is improved from LPT (longest processing time first). The computational experiments compared these meta-heuristic algorithms with LDF, LPT and LS (list scheduling), and the experimental results show that SA performs the best in most cases. However, LDF is better than SA in some conditions, moreover, the running time of LDF is much shorter than SA.

  9. Meta-heuristic CRPS minimization for the calibration of short-range probabilistic forecasts

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mohammadi, Seyedeh Atefeh; Rahmani, Morteza; Azadi, Majid

    2016-08-01

    This paper deals with the probabilistic short-range temperature forecasts over synoptic meteorological stations across Iran using non-homogeneous Gaussian regression (NGR). NGR creates a Gaussian forecast probability density function (PDF) from the ensemble output. The mean of the normal predictive PDF is a bias-corrected weighted average of the ensemble members and its variance is a linear function of the raw ensemble variance. The coefficients for the mean and variance are estimated by minimizing the continuous ranked probability score (CRPS) during a training period. CRPS is a scoring rule for distributional forecasts. In the paper of Gneiting et al. (Mon Weather Rev 133:1098-1118, 2005), Broyden-Fletcher-Goldfarb-Shanno (BFGS) method is used to minimize the CRPS. Since BFGS is a conventional optimization method with its own limitations, we suggest using the particle swarm optimization (PSO), a robust meta-heuristic method, to minimize the CRPS. The ensemble prediction system used in this study consists of nine different configurations of the weather research and forecasting model for 48-h forecasts of temperature during autumn and winter 2011 and 2012. The probabilistic forecasts were evaluated using several common verification scores including Brier score, attribute diagram and rank histogram. Results show that both BFGS and PSO find the optimal solution and show the same evaluation scores, but PSO can do this with a feasible random first guess and much less computational complexity.

  10. Pylogeny: an open-source Python framework for phylogenetic tree reconstruction and search space heuristics

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alexander Safatli

    2015-06-01

    Full Text Available Summary. Pylogeny is a cross-platform library for the Python programming language that provides an object-oriented application programming interface for phylogenetic heuristic searches. Its primary function is to permit both heuristic search and analysis of the phylogenetic tree search space, as well as to enable the design of novel algorithms to search this space. To this end, the framework supports the structural manipulation of phylogenetic trees, in particular using rearrangement operators such as NNI, SPR, and TBR, the scoring of trees using parsimony and likelihood methods, the construction of a tree search space graph, and the programmatic execution of a few existing heuristic programs. The library supports a range of common phylogenetic file formats and can be used for both nucleotide and protein data. Furthermore, it is also capable of supporting GPU likelihood calculation on nucleotide character data through the BEAGLE library.Availability. Existing development and source code is available for contribution and for download by the public from GitHub (http://github.com/AlexSafatli/Pylogeny. A stable release of this framework is available for download through PyPi (Python Package Index at http://pypi.python.org/pypi/pylogeny.

  11. Heurística para a composição de referencial teórico Heuristic method for composing a literature review

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    André Carlos Busanelli de Aquino

    2008-08-01

    Full Text Available O processo de fazer e documentar um referencial teórico é usualmente idiossincrático. Luft e Shields (2003 apresentaram um processo de mapeamento da pesquisa empírica em contabilidade gerencial. Propõe-se um método heurístico formal para o processo de elaboração do referencial teórico que complementa o processo de mapeamento proposto por Luft e Shields (2003. A heurística apresentada, aqui, é baseada no conceito de camadas e visa à redução dos erros de inclusão e exclusão que podem ocorrer durante a seleção de estudos anteriores. Esses erros impactam na validade interna e na validade do construto, já que o referencial teórico suporta a operacionalização das variáveis, as escolhas das proxies e a seleção dos métodos. É apresentado um exemplo real da aplicação da heurística na condução de uma Dissertação de Mestrado em Ciências Contábeis. Conclui-se que a aplicação da heurística permite ao pesquisador identificar os autores de destaque no tópico de pesquisa escolhido, a aceitação da comunidade científica com relação a uma ou outra corrente teórica no que diz respeito à explicação do fenômeno, além das teorias mais utilizadas em uma área de conhecimento. Por meio dessa heurística, a operacionalização do estudo exemplificado identificou nos estudos empíricos anteriores, 199 proxies ao longo de 58 variáveis relacionadas, 8 diferentes teorias, 57 autores, possibilitando um mapeamento do tema com uso de critérios mais objetivos de revisão.The process of doing and documenting a literature review is usually quite idiosyncratic. Luft and Shields (2003 presented a process to map theory-consistent empirical research in management accounting. We propose a formal heuristic method for the process of literature reviewing that integrates their mapping process. The heuristic presented here is based on the concept of layers, and it is aimed at mitigating inclusion errors and exclusion errors which might

  12. Self-reconfiguration of Modular Underwater Robots using an Energy Heuristic

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Furno, Lidia; Blanke, Mogens; Galeazzi, Roberto

    2017-01-01

    This paper investigates self-reconfiguration of a modular robotic system, which consists of a cluster of modular vehicles that can attach to each other by a connection mechanism. Thereby, they can form a desired morphology to meet task specific requirements. Reconfiguration can be needed due to limi...... in morphologies. The properties of the proposed self-reconfiguration algorithm are evaluated through simulations and preliminary model tank experiments. The energy based heuristic for reconfiguration is compared to a traditional solution that minimizes the Euclidean distance....

  13. Heuristic derivation of the Rossi-alpha formula for a pulsed neutron source

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Baeten, P.

    2004-01-01

    Expressions for the Rossi-alpha distribution for a pulsed neutron source were derived using a heuristic derivation based on the method of joint detection probability. This heuristic technique was chosen over the more rigorous master equation method due to its simplicity and the complementary of both techniques. The derived equations also take into account the presence of delayed neutrons and intrinsic neutron sources which often cannot be neglected in source-driven subcritical cores. The obtained expressions showed that the ratio of the correlated to the uncorrelated signal in the Rossi-Alpha distribution for a Pulsed Source (RAPS) was strongly increased compared to the case for a standard Rossi-alpha distribution for a continuous source. It was also demonstrated that by using this RAPS technique four independent measurement quantities, instead of three with the standard Rossi-alpha technique, can be determined. Hence, it is no longer necessary to combine the Rossi-alpha technique with another method to measure the reactivity expressed in dollars. Both properties, the increased signal-to-noise ratio of the correlated signal and the measurement of a fourth measurement quantity, make that the RAPS technique is an excellent candidate for the measurement of kinetic parameters in source-driven subcritical assemblies

  14. Metaphors of Human Thinking: A New Tool in User Interface Design and Evaluation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Frøkjær, Erik; Hornbæk, Kasper

    2003-01-01

    human thinking, inspection technique, usability evaluation, heuristic evaluation, quantitative study......human thinking, inspection technique, usability evaluation, heuristic evaluation, quantitative study...

  15. A Modularity Degree Based Heuristic Community Detection Algorithm

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dongming Chen

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available A community in a complex network can be seen as a subgroup of nodes that are densely connected. Discovery of community structures is a basic problem of research and can be used in various areas, such as biology, computer science, and sociology. Existing community detection methods usually try to expand or collapse the nodes partitions in order to optimize a given quality function. These optimization function based methods share the same drawback of inefficiency. Here we propose a heuristic algorithm (MDBH algorithm based on network structure which employs modularity degree as a measure function. Experiments on both synthetic benchmarks and real-world networks show that our algorithm gives competitive accuracy with previous modularity optimization methods, even though it has less computational complexity. Furthermore, due to the use of modularity degree, our algorithm naturally improves the resolution limit in community detection.

  16. Simple heuristics in over-the-counter drug choices: a new hint for medical education and practice.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Riva, Silvia; Monti, Marco; Antonietti, Alessandro

    2011-01-01

    Over-the-counter (OTC) drugs are widely available and often purchased by consumers without advice from a health care provider. Many people rely on self-management of medications to treat common medical conditions. Although OTC medications are regulated by the National and the International Health and Drug Administration, many people are unaware of proper dosing, side effects, adverse drug reactions, and possible medication interactions. This study examined how subjects make their decisions to select an OTC drug, evaluating the role of cognitive heuristics which are simple and adaptive rules that help the decision-making process of people in everyday contexts. By analyzing 70 subjects' information-search and decision-making behavior when selecting OTC drugs, we examined the heuristics they applied in order to assess whether simple decision-making processes were also accurate and relevant. Subjects were tested with a sequence of two experimental tests based on a computerized Java system devised to analyze participants' choices in a virtual environment. We found that subjects' information-search behavior reflected the use of fast and frugal heuristics. In addition, although the heuristics which correctly predicted subjects' decisions implied significantly fewer cues on average than the subjects did in the information-search task, they were accurate in describing order of information search. A simple combination of a fast and frugal tree and a tallying rule predicted more than 78% of subjects' decisions. The current emphasis in health care is to shift some responsibility onto the consumer through expansion of self medication. To know which cognitive mechanisms are behind the choice of OTC drugs is becoming a relevant purpose of current medical education. These findings have implications both for the validity of simple heuristics describing information searches in the field of OTC drug choices and for current medical education, which has to prepare competent health

  17. A Simple but Powerful Heuristic Method for Accelerating k-Means Clustering of Large-Scale Data in Life Science.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ichikawa, Kazuki; Morishita, Shinichi

    2014-01-01

    K-means clustering has been widely used to gain insight into biological systems from large-scale life science data. To quantify the similarities among biological data sets, Pearson correlation distance and standardized Euclidean distance are used most frequently; however, optimization methods have been largely unexplored. These two distance measurements are equivalent in the sense that they yield the same k-means clustering result for identical sets of k initial centroids. Thus, an efficient algorithm used for one is applicable to the other. Several optimization methods are available for the Euclidean distance and can be used for processing the standardized Euclidean distance; however, they are not customized for this context. We instead approached the problem by studying the properties of the Pearson correlation distance, and we invented a simple but powerful heuristic method for markedly pruning unnecessary computation while retaining the final solution. Tests using real biological data sets with 50-60K vectors of dimensions 10-2001 (~400 MB in size) demonstrated marked reduction in computation time for k = 10-500 in comparison with other state-of-the-art pruning methods such as Elkan's and Hamerly's algorithms. The BoostKCP software is available at http://mlab.cb.k.u-tokyo.ac.jp/~ichikawa/boostKCP/.

  18. Estimation of Post-Test Probabilities by Residents: Bayesian Reasoning versus Heuristics?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hall, Stacey; Phang, Sen Han; Schaefer, Jeffrey P.; Ghali, William; Wright, Bruce; McLaughlin, Kevin

    2014-01-01

    Although the process of diagnosing invariably begins with a heuristic, we encourage our learners to support their diagnoses by analytical cognitive processes, such as Bayesian reasoning, in an attempt to mitigate the effects of heuristics on diagnosing. There are, however, limited data on the use ± impact of Bayesian reasoning on the accuracy of…

  19. The role of heuristics in automated theorem proving J.A Robinson's resolution principle

    OpenAIRE

    Coderschi, Roberto

    1996-01-01

    The aim of this paper is to show how J.A. Robinson's resolution principle was perceived and discussed in the AI community between the mid sixties and the first seventies. During this time the so called ``heuristic search paradigm" was still influential in the AI community, and both resolution principle and certain resolution based, apparently human-like, search strategies were matched with those problem solving heuristic procedures which were representative of the AI heuristic search paradigm.

  20. Evaluation of Voltage Control Approaches for Future Smart Distribution Networks

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pengfei Wang

    2017-08-01

    Full Text Available This paper evaluates meta-heuristic and deterministic approaches for distribution network voltage control. As part of this evaluation, a novel meta-heuristic algorithm, Cuckoo Search, is applied for distribution network voltage control and compared with a deterministic voltage control algorithm, the oriented discrete coordinate decent method (ODCDM. ODCDM has been adopted in a state-of-the-art industrial product and applied in real distribution networks. These two algorithms have been evaluated under a set of test cases, which were generated to represent the voltage control problems in current and future distribution networks. Sampled test results have been presented, and findings have been discussed regarding the adoption of different optimization algorithms for current and future distribution networks.

  1. Prediction of retention in micellar electrokinetic chromatography based on molecular structural descriptors by using the heuristic method

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Liu Huanxiang; Yao Xiaojun; Liu Mancang; Hu Zhide; Fan Botao

    2006-01-01

    Based on calculated molecular descriptors from the solutes' structure alone, the micelle-water partition coefficients of 103 solutes in micellar electrokinetic chromatography (MEKC) were predicted using the heuristic method (HM). At the same time, in order to show the influence of different molecular descriptors on the micelle-water partition of solute and to well understand the retention mechanism in MEKC, HM was used to build several multivariable linear models using different numbers of molecular descriptors. The best 6-parameter model gave the following results: the square of correlation coefficient R 2 was 0.958 and the mean relative error was 3.98%, which proved that the predictive values were in good agreement with the experimental results. From the built model, it can be concluded that the hydrophobic, H-bond, polar interactions of solutes with the micellar and aqueous phases are the main factors that determine their partitioning behavior. In addition, this paper provided a simple, fast and effective method for predicting the retention of the solutes in MEKC from their structures and gave some insight into structural features related to the retention of the solutes

  2. Biases and Heuristics in Decision Making and Their Impact on Autonomy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Blumenthal-Barby, J S

    2016-05-01

    Cognitive scientists have identified a wide range of biases and heuristics in human decision making over the past few decades. Only recently have bioethicists begun to think seriously about the implications of these findings for topics such as agency, autonomy, and consent. This article aims to provide an overview of biases and heuristics that have been identified and a framework in which to think comprehensively about the impact of them on the exercise of autonomous decision making. I analyze the impact that these biases and heuristics have on the following dimensions of autonomy: understanding, intentionality, absence of alienating or controlling influence, and match between formally autonomous preferences or decisions and actual choices or actions.

  3. Heuristic and Exact Algorithms for the Two-Machine Just in Time Job Shop Scheduling Problem

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mohammed Al-Salem

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available The problem addressed in this paper is the two-machine job shop scheduling problem when the objective is to minimize the total earliness and tardiness from a common due date (CDD for a set of jobs when their weights equal 1 (unweighted problem. This objective became very significant after the introduction of the Just in Time manufacturing approach. A procedure to determine whether the CDD is restricted or unrestricted is developed and a semirestricted CDD is defined. Algorithms are introduced to find the optimal solution when the CDD is unrestricted and semirestricted. When the CDD is restricted, which is a much harder problem, a heuristic algorithm is proposed to find approximate solutions. Through computational experiments, the heuristic algorithms’ performance is evaluated with problems up to 500 jobs.

  4. Money earlier or later? Simple heuristics explain intertemporal choices better than delay discounting does.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ericson, Keith M Marzilli; White, John Myles; Laibson, David; Cohen, Jonathan D

    2015-06-01

    Heuristic models have been proposed for many domains involving choice. We conducted an out-of-sample, cross-validated comparison of heuristic models of intertemporal choice (which can account for many of the known intertemporal choice anomalies) and discounting models. Heuristic models outperformed traditional utility-discounting models, including models of exponential and hyperbolic discounting. The best-performing models predicted choices by using a weighted average of absolute differences and relative percentage differences of the attributes of the goods in a choice set. We concluded that heuristic models explain time-money trade-off choices in experiments better than do utility-discounting models. © The Author(s) 2015.

  5. Money Earlier or Later? Simple Heuristics Explain Intertemporal Choices Better than Delay Discounting1

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marzilli Ericson, Keith M.; White, John Myles; Laibson, David; Cohen, Jonathan D.

    2015-01-01

    Heuristic models have been proposed for many domains of choice. We compare heuristic models of intertemporal choice, which can account for many of the known intertemporal choice anomalies, to discounting models. We conduct an out-of-sample, cross-validated comparison of intertemporal choice models. Heuristic models outperform traditional utility discounting models, including models of exponential and hyperbolic discounting. The best performing models predict choices by using a weighted average of absolute differences and relative (percentage) differences of the attributes of the goods in a choice set. We conclude that heuristic models explain time-money tradeoff choices in experiments better than utility discounting models. PMID:25911124

  6. Heuristic and analytic processing in online sports betting.

    Science.gov (United States)

    d'Astous, Alain; Di Gaspero, Marc

    2015-06-01

    This article presents the results of two studies that examine the occurrence of heuristic (i.e., intuitive and fast) and analytic (i.e., deliberate and slow) processes among people who engage in online sports betting on a regular basis. The first study was qualitative and was conducted with a convenience sample of 12 regular online sports gamblers who described the processes by which they arrive at a sports betting decision. The results of this study showed that betting online on sports events involves a mix of heuristic and analytic processes. The second study consisted in a survey of 161 online sports gamblers where performance in terms of monetary gains, experience in online sports betting, propensity to collect and analyze relevant information prior to betting, and use of bookmaker odds were measured. This study showed that heuristic and analytic processes act as mediators of the relationship between experience and performance. The findings stemming of these two studies give some insights into gamblers' modes of thinking and behaviors in an online sports betting context and show the value of the dual mediation process model for research that looks at gambling activities from a judgment and decision making perspective.

  7. A greedy construction heuristic for the liner service network design problem

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Brouer, Berit Dangaard

    is challenging due to the size of a global liner shipping operation and due to the hub-and-spoke network design, where a high percentage of the total cargo is transshipped. We present the first construction heuristic for large scale instances of the LSN-DP. The heuristic is able to find a solution for a real...

  8. An heuristic for the study of the effects of emotion on memory.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Whissell, C

    1991-02-01

    This report contains an heuristic (a systematic set of questions) addressing issues of concern in the emotion-memory literature. Four experiments (ns of 73, 24, 160, and 34) are described in terms of the heuristic and its potential for describing the literature is examined.

  9. Simple heuristics and rules of thumb: where psychologists and behavioural biologists might meet.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hutchinson, John M C; Gigerenzer, Gerd

    2005-05-31

    The Centre for Adaptive Behaviour and Cognition (ABC) has hypothesised that much human decision-making can be described by simple algorithmic process models (heuristics). This paper explains this approach and relates it to research in biology on rules of thumb, which we also review. As an example of a simple heuristic, consider the lexicographic strategy of Take The Best for choosing between two alternatives: cues are searched in turn until one discriminates, then search stops and all other cues are ignored. Heuristics consist of building blocks, and building blocks exploit evolved or learned abilities such as recognition memory; it is the complexity of these abilities that allows the heuristics to be simple. Simple heuristics have an advantage in making decisions fast and with little information, and in avoiding overfitting. Furthermore, humans are observed to use simple heuristics. Simulations show that the statistical structures of different environments affect which heuristics perform better, a relationship referred to as ecological rationality. We contrast ecological rationality with the stronger claim of adaptation. Rules of thumb from biology provide clearer examples of adaptation because animals can be studied in the environments in which they evolved. The range of examples is also much more diverse. To investigate them, biologists have sometimes used similar simulation techniques to ABC, but many examples depend on empirically driven approaches. ABC's theoretical framework can be useful in connecting some of these examples, particularly the scattered literature on how information from different cues is integrated. Optimality modelling is usually used to explain less detailed aspects of behaviour but might more often be redirected to investigate rules of thumb.

  10. How cognitive heuristics can explain social interactions in spatial movement.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Seitz, Michael J; Bode, Nikolai W F; Köster, Gerta

    2016-08-01

    The movement of pedestrian crowds is a paradigmatic example of collective motion. The precise nature of individual-level behaviours underlying crowd movements has been subject to a lively debate. Here, we propose that pedestrians follow simple heuristics rooted in cognitive psychology, such as 'stop if another step would lead to a collision' or 'follow the person in front'. In other words, our paradigm explicitly models individual-level behaviour as a series of discrete decisions. We show that our cognitive heuristics produce realistic emergent crowd phenomena, such as lane formation and queuing behaviour. Based on our results, we suggest that pedestrians follow different cognitive heuristics that are selected depending on the context. This differs from the widely used approach of capturing changes in behaviour via model parameters and leads to testable hypotheses on changes in crowd behaviour for different motivation levels. For example, we expect that rushed individuals more often evade to the side and thus display distinct emergent queue formations in front of a bottleneck. Our heuristics can be ranked according to the cognitive effort that is required to follow them. Therefore, our model establishes a direct link between behavioural responses and cognitive effort and thus facilitates a novel perspective on collective behaviour. © 2016 The Author(s).

  11. Comparing the performance of different meta-heuristics for unweighted parallel machine scheduling

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Adamu, Mumuni Osumah

    2015-08-01

    Full Text Available This article considers the due window scheduling problem to minimise the number of early and tardy jobs on identical parallel machines. This problem is known to be NP complete and thus finding an optimal solution is unlikely. Three meta-heuristics and their hybrids are proposed and extensive computational experiments are conducted. The purpose of this paper is to compare the performance of these meta-heuristics and their hybrids and to determine the best among them. Detailed comparative tests have also been conducted to analyse the different heuristics with the simulated annealing hybrid giving the best result.

  12. Improved multi-stage neonatal seizure detection using a heuristic classifier and a data-driven post-processor.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ansari, A H; Cherian, P J; Dereymaeker, A; Matic, V; Jansen, K; De Wispelaere, L; Dielman, C; Vervisch, J; Swarte, R M; Govaert, P; Naulaers, G; De Vos, M; Van Huffel, S

    2016-09-01

    After identifying the most seizure-relevant characteristics by a previously developed heuristic classifier, a data-driven post-processor using a novel set of features is applied to improve the performance. The main characteristics of the outputs of the heuristic algorithm are extracted by five sets of features including synchronization, evolution, retention, segment, and signal features. Then, a support vector machine and a decision making layer remove the falsely detected segments. Four datasets including 71 neonates (1023h, 3493 seizures) recorded in two different university hospitals, are used to train and test the algorithm without removing the dubious seizures. The heuristic method resulted in a false alarm rate of 3.81 per hour and good detection rate of 88% on the entire test databases. The post-processor, effectively reduces the false alarm rate by 34% while the good detection rate decreases by 2%. This post-processing technique improves the performance of the heuristic algorithm. The structure of this post-processor is generic, improves our understanding of the core visually determined EEG features of neonatal seizures and is applicable for other neonatal seizure detectors. The post-processor significantly decreases the false alarm rate at the expense of a small reduction of the good detection rate. Copyright © 2016 International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  13. Evaluation of adjustment functions in a heuristic algorithm; Evaluacion de funciones de ajuste en un algoritmo heuristico

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Perusquia del Cueto, R.; Montes T, J. L.; Ortiz S, J. J.; Castillo M, A., E-mail: raul.perusquia@inin.gob.mx [ININ, Carretera Mexico-Toluca s/n, 52750 Ocoyoacac, Estado de Mexico (Mexico)

    2011-11-15

    At present the techniques of evolution al computation receive an increasing attention in the scientific and technological areas. This situation is due to its enormous potential in the optimization applied to problems of discussed computational complexity. In the nuclear area these techniques are used in diverse problems of combinatory optimization related with designing cores of power reactors. A distinctive characteristic of the evolution al and/or meta-heuristic algorithms is that appeal in each one from their applications to an adjustment function, fitness or of quality. This function allows to discriminate or to evaluate potentials solutions of the problem to solve. The definition of this situation is very important since it allows following the search of the algorithm toward different regions of the search space. In this work the impact that has the election of this function in the quality of the found solution is shown. The optimization technique by ant colonies or Acs (ant colony system) was used applied to the radial design of fuel cells for a boiling water power reactor. The notable results of the Acs allowed to propose the adjustment method of the importance and with this to obtain adjustment functions that guide the search of solutions of collective algorithms efficiently, basic capacity to develop the proposal of emulation of the natural selection and to investigate the possibility that on order of specify goals, to obtain the corresponding decision variables. A variety of re tro-exit (re tro-out) complementary process of feedback (re tro-in) that opens extended application perspectives of be feasible. (Author)

  14. Ability Of Mathematical Reasoning in SMK 10th Grade with LAPS- Heuristic using Performance Assessment

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Aulia Nur Arivina

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available The purposes of this research are: (1 Test the learning with LAPS-Heuristic model using performance assessment on 10th grade of Trigonometry material is complete, (2 to test the difference of students' mathematical reasoning ability on 10th grade of Trigonometry material between the learning model of LAPS-Heuristic using performance assessment, LAPS-Heuristic learning model with Expository learning model, (3 test the ability of mathematical reasoning with learning model of LAPS-Heuristik on Trigonometry material of SMK on 10th grade using performance assessment is increase. This is a quantitative research. The population is students of 10th grade of SMK 10 Semarang academic year 2016/2017 and the subject of research is selected by clustering random sampling. The results show that (1 Learning by model LAPS-Heuristic using performance assessment on 10th grade of Trigonometry material is complete (2 there are differences in students' mathematical reasoning ability on 10th grade of Trigonometry materials between LAPS-Heuristic learning model using performance assessment, LAPS-Heuristic learning model, and Expository learning model, (3 The ability of mathematical reasoning with learning model of LAPS-Heuristic on Trigonometry material of SMK class X using performance assessment increased.

  15. A Heuristic Procedure for the Outbound Container Relocation Problem during Export Loading Operations

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Roberto Guerra-Olivares

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available During export ship loading operations, it is often necessary to perform relocation movements with containers that interfere with access to the desired container in the ship loading sequence. This paper presents a real-time heuristic procedure for the container relocation problem employing reachstacker vehicles as container handling equipment. The proposed heuristic searches for good relocation coordinates within a set of nearby bays. The heuristic has a parameter that determines how far from the original bay a container may be relocated. The tradeoff between reducing relocation movements and limiting vehicle travel distances is examined and the performance of the heuristic is compared with a common practice in the smaller container terminals in Chile and Mexico. Finally, a mathematical model for the container relocation problem is presented.

  16. Integrals of Frullani type and the method of brackets

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bravo Sergio

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available The method of brackets is a collection of heuristic rules, some of which have being made rigorous, that provide a flexible, direct method for the evaluation of definite integrals. The present work uses this method to establish classical formulas due to Frullani which provide values of a specific family of integrals. Some generalizations are established.

  17. QuickVina: accelerating AutoDock Vina using gradient-based heuristics for global optimization.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Handoko, Stephanus Daniel; Ouyang, Xuchang; Su, Chinh Tran To; Kwoh, Chee Keong; Ong, Yew Soon

    2012-01-01

    Predicting binding between macromolecule and small molecule is a crucial phase in the field of rational drug design. AutoDock Vina, one of the most widely used docking software released in 2009, uses an empirical scoring function to evaluate the binding affinity between the molecules and employs the iterated local search global optimizer for global optimization, achieving a significantly improved speed and better accuracy of the binding mode prediction compared its predecessor, AutoDock 4. In this paper, we propose further improvement in the local search algorithm of Vina by heuristically preventing some intermediate points from undergoing local search. Our improved version of Vina-dubbed QVina-achieved a maximum acceleration of about 25 times with the average speed-up of 8.34 times compared to the original Vina when tested on a set of 231 protein-ligand complexes while maintaining the optimal scores mostly identical. Using our heuristics, larger number of different ligands can be quickly screened against a given receptor within the same time frame.

  18. We favor formal models of heuristics rather than lists of loose dichotomies: a reply to Evans and Over

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gigerenzer, Gerd

    2009-01-01

    In their comment on Marewski et al. (good judgments do not require complex cognition, 2009) Evans and Over (heuristic thinking and human intelligence: a commentary on Marewski, Gaissmaier and Gigerenzer, 2009) conjectured that heuristics can often lead to biases and are not error free. This is a most surprising critique. The computational models of heuristics we have tested allow for quantitative predictions of how many errors a given heuristic will make, and we and others have measured the amount of error by analysis, computer simulation, and experiment. This is clear progress over simply giving heuristics labels, such as availability, that do not allow for quantitative comparisons of errors. Evans and Over argue that the reason people rely on heuristics is the accuracy-effort trade-off. However, the comparison between heuristics and more effortful strategies, such as multiple regression, has shown that there are many situations in which a heuristic is more accurate with less effort. Finally, we do not see how the fast and frugal heuristics program could benefit from a dual-process framework unless the dual-process framework is made more precise. Instead, the dual-process framework could benefit if its two “black boxes” (Type 1 and Type 2 processes) were substituted by computational models of both heuristics and other processes. PMID:19784854

  19. Developing and Validating Personas in e-Commerce: A Heuristic Approach

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thoma, Volker; Williams, Bryn

    A multi-method persona development process in a large e-commerce business is described. Personas are fictional representations of customers that describe typical user attributes to facilitate a user-centered approach in interaction design. In the current project persona attributes were derived from various data sources, such as stakeholder interviews, user tests and interviews, data mining, customer surveys, and ethnographic (direct observation, diary studies) research. The heuristic approach of using these data sources conjointly allowed for an early validation of relevant persona dimensions.

  20. An adaptive large neighborhood search heuristic for the Electric Vehicle Scheduling Problem

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Wen, M.; Linde, Esben; Røpke, Stefan

    2016-01-01

    to minimizing the total deadheading distance. A mixed integer programming formulation as well as an Adaptive Large Neighborhood Search (ALNS) heuristic for the E-VSP are presented. ALNS is tested on newly generated E-VSP benchmark instances. Result shows that the proposed heuristic can provide good solutions...

  1. Fourth Graders' Heuristic Problem-Solving Behavior.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Kil S.

    1982-01-01

    Eight boys and eight girls from a rural elementary school participated in the investigation. Specific heuristics were adopted from Polya; and the students selected represented two substages of Piaget's concrete operational stage. Five hypotheses were generated, based on observed results and the study's theoretical rationale. (MP)

  2. Combination of graph heuristics in producing initial solution of curriculum based course timetabling problem

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wahid, Juliana; Hussin, Naimah Mohd

    2016-08-01

    The construction of population of initial solution is a crucial task in population-based metaheuristic approach for solving curriculum-based university course timetabling problem because it can affect the convergence speed and also the quality of the final solution. This paper presents an exploration on combination of graph heuristics in construction approach in curriculum based course timetabling problem to produce a population of initial solutions. The graph heuristics were set as single and combination of two heuristics. In addition, several ways of assigning courses into room and timeslot are implemented. All settings of heuristics are then tested on the same curriculum based course timetabling problem instances and are compared with each other in terms of number of population produced. The result shows that combination of saturation degree followed by largest degree heuristic produce the highest number of population of initial solutions. The results from this study can be used in the improvement phase of algorithm that uses population of initial solutions.

  3. A literature review about usability evaluation methods for e-learning platforms.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Freire, Luciana Lopes; Arezes, Pedro Miguel; Campos, José Creissac

    2012-01-01

    The usability analysis of information systems has been the target of several research studies over the past thirty years. These studies have highlighted a great diversity of points of view, including researchers from different scientific areas such as Ergonomics, Computer Science, Design and Education. Within the domain of information ergonomics, the study of tools and methods used for usability evaluation dedicated to E-learning presents evidence that there is a continuous and dynamic evolution of E-learning systems, in many different contexts -academics and corporative. These systems, also known as LMS (Learning Management Systems), can be classified according to their educational goals and their technological features. However, in these systems the usability issues are related with the relationship/interactions between user and system in the user's context. This review is a synthesis of research project about Information Ergonomics and embraces three dimensions, namely the methods, models and frameworks that have been applied to evaluate LMS. The study also includes the main usability criteria and heuristics used. The obtained results show a notorious change in the paradigms of usability, with which it will be possible to discuss about the studies carried out by different researchers that were focused on usability ergonomic principles aimed at E-learning.

  4. A discrete firefly meta-heuristic with local search for makespan minimization in permutation flow shop scheduling problems

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nader Ghaffari-Nasab

    2010-07-01

    Full Text Available During the past two decades, there have been increasing interests on permutation flow shop with different types of objective functions such as minimizing the makespan, the weighted mean flow-time etc. The permutation flow shop is formulated as a mixed integer programming and it is classified as NP-Hard problem. Therefore, a direct solution is not available and meta-heuristic approaches need to be used to find the near-optimal solutions. In this paper, we present a new discrete firefly meta-heuristic to minimize the makespan for the permutation flow shop scheduling problem. The results of implementation of the proposed method are compared with other existing ant colony optimization technique. The preliminary results indicate that the new proposed method performs better than the ant colony for some well known benchmark problems.

  5. The normalization heuristic: an untested hypothesis that may misguide medical decisions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aberegg, Scott K; O'Brien, James M

    2009-06-01

    Medical practice is increasingly informed by the evidence from randomized controlled trials. When such evidence is not available, clinical hypotheses based on pathophysiological reasoning and common sense guide clinical decision making. One commonly utilized general clinical hypothesis is the assumption that normalizing abnormal laboratory values and physiological parameters will lead to improved patient outcomes. We refer to the general use of this clinical hypothesis to guide medical therapeutics as the "normalization heuristic". In this paper, we operationally define this heuristic and discuss its limitations as a rule of thumb for clinical decision making. We review historical and contemporaneous examples of normalization practices as empirical evidence for the normalization heuristic and to highlight its frailty as a guide for clinical decision making.

  6. An iterative bidirectional heuristic placement algorithm for solving the two-dimensional knapsack packing problem

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shiangjen, Kanokwatt; Chaijaruwanich, Jeerayut; Srisujjalertwaja, Wijak; Unachak, Prakarn; Somhom, Samerkae

    2018-02-01

    This article presents an efficient heuristic placement algorithm, namely, a bidirectional heuristic placement, for solving the two-dimensional rectangular knapsack packing problem. The heuristic demonstrates ways to maximize space utilization by fitting the appropriate rectangle from both sides of the wall of the current residual space layer by layer. The iterative local search along with a shift strategy is developed and applied to the heuristic to balance the exploitation and exploration tasks in the solution space without the tuning of any parameters. The experimental results on many scales of packing problems show that this approach can produce high-quality solutions for most of the benchmark datasets, especially for large-scale problems, within a reasonable duration of computational time.

  7. A Direct Heuristic Algorithm for Linear Programming

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    Abstract. An (3) mathematically non-iterative heuristic procedure that needs no artificial variable is presented for solving linear programming problems. An optimality test is included. Numerical experiments depict the utility/scope of such a procedure.

  8. Heuristic model of education and a prototype of a system for remote siren activation in emergency

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Paun Josif Bereš

    2013-02-01

    Full Text Available A heuristic models of methodical innovation with special emphasis on training of team members to work in emergency situations, where each team member must be aware of the importance of their work, must know and apply a methodology for finding the best solutions and feel satisfaction with the results as an individual and as a part of that team, are proposed in this paper. Heuristic approach to the problems of teaching in emergency situations should allow team members to come up with the creative process of acquiring knowledge, to learn to think and develop skills for education. It is, therefore, such an approach that is not based on passive observation of phenomena and impersonation performed by a teacher, but establishes an active relationship to phenomena of thought and introduces the team members in their own research of the heuristic concept problems with the range of solutions - in this case, " Digital Communications - a program of operational functions of mobile phones ", the function of emergency situations, the example of a prototype system for automatic activation of the alert - sirens.

  9. Heuristic urban transportation network design method, a multilayer coevolution approach

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ding, Rui; Ujang, Norsidah; Hamid, Hussain bin; Manan, Mohd Shahrudin Abd; Li, Rong; Wu, Jianjun

    2017-08-01

    The design of urban transportation networks plays a key role in the urban planning process, and the coevolution of urban networks has recently garnered significant attention in literature. However, most of these recent articles are based on networks that are essentially planar. In this research, we propose a heuristic multilayer urban network coevolution model with lower layer network and upper layer network that are associated with growth and stimulate one another. We first use the relative neighbourhood graph and the Gabriel graph to simulate the structure of rail and road networks, respectively. With simulation we find that when a specific number of nodes are added, the total travel cost ratio between an expanded network and the initial lower layer network has the lowest value. The cooperation strength Λ and the changeable parameter average operation speed ratio Θ show that transit users' route choices change dramatically through the coevolution process and that their decisions, in turn, affect the multilayer network structure. We also note that the simulated relation between the Gini coefficient of the betweenness centrality, Θ and Λ have an optimal point for network design. This research could inspire the analysis of urban network topology features and the assessment of urban growth trends.

  10. Sensitivity study on heuristic rules applied to the neutronic optimization of cells for BWR

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gonzalez C, J.; Martin del Campo M, C.; Francois L, J.L.

    2004-01-01

    The objective of this work is to verify the validity of the heuristic rules that have been applied in the processes of radial optimization of fuel cells. It was examined the rule with respect to the accommodation of fuel in the corners of the cell and it became special attention on the influence of the position and concentration of those pellets with gadolinium in the reactivity of the cell and the safety parameters. The evaluation behaved on designed cells violating the heuristic rules. For both cases the cells were analyzed between infinite using the HELIOS code. Additionally, for the second case, it was behaved a stage more exhaustive where it was used one of the studied cells that it completed those safety parameters and of reactivity to generate the design of an assemble that was used to calculate with CM-PRESTO the behavior of the nucleus during three operation cycles. (Author)

  11. MRL and SuperFine+MRL: new supertree methods

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-01-01

    Background Supertree methods combine trees on subsets of the full taxon set together to produce a tree on the entire set of taxa. Of the many supertree methods, the most popular is MRP (Matrix Representation with Parsimony), a method that operates by first encoding the input set of source trees by a large matrix (the "MRP matrix") over {0,1, ?}, and then running maximum parsimony heuristics on the MRP matrix. Experimental studies evaluating MRP in comparison to other supertree methods have established that for large datasets, MRP generally produces trees of equal or greater accuracy than other methods, and can run on larger datasets. A recent development in supertree methods is SuperFine+MRP, a method that combines MRP with a divide-and-conquer approach, and produces more accurate trees in less time than MRP. In this paper we consider a new approach for supertree estimation, called MRL (Matrix Representation with Likelihood). MRL begins with the same MRP matrix, but then analyzes the MRP matrix using heuristics (such as RAxML) for 2-state Maximum Likelihood. Results We compared MRP and SuperFine+MRP with MRL and SuperFine+MRL on simulated and biological datasets. We examined the MRP and MRL scores of each method on a wide range of datasets, as well as the resulting topological accuracy of the trees. Our experimental results show that MRL, coupled with a very good ML heuristic such as RAxML, produced more accurate trees than MRP, and MRL scores were more strongly correlated with topological accuracy than MRP scores. Conclusions SuperFine+MRP, when based upon a good MP heuristic, such as TNT, produces among the best scores for both MRP and MRL, and is generally faster and more topologically accurate than other supertree methods we tested. PMID:22280525

  12. Motor heuristics and embodied choices: how to choose and act

    OpenAIRE

    Raab, M

    2017-01-01

    © 2017 Elsevier LtdHuman performance requires choosing what to do and how to do it. The goal of this theoretical contribution is to advance understanding of how the motor and cognitive components of choices are intertwined. From a holistic perspective I extend simple heuristics that have been tested in cognitive tasks to motor tasks, coining the term motor heuristics. Similarly I extend the concept of embodied cognition, that has been tested in simple sensorimotor processes changing decisions...

  13. An ordering heuristic to develop the binary decision diagram based on structural importance

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bartlett, L.M.; Andrews, J.D.

    2001-01-01

    Fault tree analysis is often used to assess risks within industrial systems. The technique is commonly used although there are associated limitations in terms of accuracy and efficiency when dealing with large fault tree structures. The most recent approach to aid the analysis of the fault tree diagram is the Binary Decision Diagram (BDD) methodology. To utilise the technique the fault tree structure needs to be converted into the BDD format. Converting the fault tree requires the basic events of the tree to be placed in an ordering. The ordering of the basic events is critical to the resulting size of the BDD, and ultimately affects the performance and benefits of this technique. A number of heuristic approaches have been developed to produce an optimal ordering permutation for a specific tree. These heuristic approaches do not always yield a minimal BDD structure for all trees. This paper looks at a heuristic that is based on the structural importance measure of each basic event. Comparing the resulting size of the BDD with the smallest generated from a set of six alternative ordering heuristics, this new structural heuristic produced a BDD of smaller or equal dimension on 77% of trials

  14. Optimizing a multi-product closed-loop supply chain using NSGA-II, MOSA, and MOPSO meta-heuristic algorithms

    Science.gov (United States)

    Babaveisi, Vahid; Paydar, Mohammad Mahdi; Safaei, Abdul Sattar

    2017-07-01

    This study aims to discuss the solution methodology for a closed-loop supply chain (CLSC) network that includes the collection of used products as well as distribution of the new products. This supply chain is presented on behalf of the problems that can be solved by the proposed meta-heuristic algorithms. A mathematical model is designed for a CLSC that involves three objective functions of maximizing the profit, minimizing the total risk and shortages of products. Since three objective functions are considered, a multi-objective solution methodology can be advantageous. Therefore, several approaches have been studied and an NSGA-II algorithm is first utilized, and then the results are validated using an MOSA and MOPSO algorithms. Priority-based encoding, which is used in all the algorithms, is the core of the solution computations. To compare the performance of the meta-heuristics, random numerical instances are evaluated by four criteria involving mean ideal distance, spread of non-dominance solution, the number of Pareto solutions, and CPU time. In order to enhance the performance of the algorithms, Taguchi method is used for parameter tuning. Finally, sensitivity analyses are performed and the computational results are presented based on the sensitivity analyses in parameter tuning.

  15. Unified heuristics to solve routing problem of reverse logistics in sustainable supply chain

    Science.gov (United States)

    Anbuudayasankar, S. P.; Ganesh, K.; Lenny Koh, S. C.; Mohandas, K.

    2010-03-01

    A reverse logistics problem, motivated by many real-life applications, is examined where bottles/cans in which products are delivered from a processing depot to customers in one period are available for return to the depot in the following period. The picked-up bottles/cans need to be adjusted in the place of delivery load. This problem is termed as simultaneous delivery and pick-up problem with constrained capacity (SDPC). We develop three unified heuristics based on extended branch and bound heuristic, genetic algorithm and simulated annealing to solve SDPC. These heuristics are also designed to solve standard travelling salesman problem (TSP) and TSP with simultaneous delivery and pick-up (TSDP). We tested the heuristics on standard, derived and randomly generated datasets of TSP, TSDP and SDPC and obtained satisfying results with high convergence in reasonable time.

  16. Heuristic Strategies in Systems Biology

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fridolin Gross

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available Systems biology is sometimes presented as providing a superior approach to the problem of biological complexity. Its use of ‘unbiased’ methods and formal quantitative tools might lead to the impression that the human factor is effectively eliminated. However, a closer look reveals that this impression is misguided. Systems biologists cannot simply assemble molecular information and compute biological behavior. Instead, systems biology’s main contribution is to accelerate the discovery of mechanisms by applying models as heuristic tools. These models rely on a variety of idealizing and simplifying assumptions in order to be efficient for this purpose. The strategies of systems biologists are similar to those of experimentalists in that they attempt to reduce the complexity of the discovery process. Analyzing and comparing these strategies, or ‘heuristics’, reveals the importance of the human factor in computational approaches and helps to situate systems biology within the epistemic landscape of the life sciences.

  17. Heuristic Processes in Ratings of Leader Behavior: Assessing Item-Induced Availability Biases.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Binning, John F.; Fernandez, Guadalupe

    Since observers' memory-based ratings of organizational phenomena provide data in research and decision-making contexts, bias in observers' judgments must be examined. A study was conducted to explore the extent to which leader behavior ratings are more generally biased by the availability heuristic. The availability heuristic is operative when a…

  18. Ship Routing with Pickup and Delivery for a Maritime Oil Transportation System: MIP Modeland Heuristics

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Rodrigues, Vinicius Picanco; Morabito, Reinaldo; Yamashita, Denise

    2016-01-01

    This paper examines a ship routing problem with pickup and delivery and time windowsfor maritime oil transportation, motivated by the production and logistics activities of an oil companyoperating in the Brazilian coast. The transportation costs from offshore platforms to coastal terminalsare...... application of two tailor-made MIP heuristics, based on relax-and-fix and timedecomposition procedures. The model minimizes fuel costs of a heterogeneous fleet of oil tankersand costs related to freighting contracts. The model also considers company-specific constraints foroffshore oil transportation....... Computational experiments based on the mathematical models and therelated MIP heuristics are presented for a set of real data provided by the company, which confirmthe potential of optimization-based methods to find good solutions for problems of moderate sizes....

  19. Heuristic Methodology for Estimating the Liquid Biofuel Potential of a Region

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dorel Dusmanescu

    2016-08-01

    Full Text Available This paper presents a heuristic methodology for estimating the possible variation of the liquid biofuel potential of a region, an appraisal made for a future period of time. The determination of the liquid biofuel potential has been made up either on the account of an average (constant yield of the energetic crops that were used, or on the account of a yield that varies depending on a known trend, which can be estimated through a certain method. The proposed methodology uses the variation of the yield of energetic crops over time in order to simulate a variation of the biofuel potential for a future ten year time period. This new approach to the problem of determining the liquid biofuel potential of a certain land area can be useful for investors, as it allows making a more realistic analysis of the investment risk and of the possibilities of recovering the investment. On the other hand, the presented methodology can be useful to the governmental administration in order to elaborate strategies and policies to ensure the necessity of fuels and liquid biofuels for transportation, in a certain area. Unlike current methods, which approach the problem of determining the liquid biofuel potential in a deterministic way, by using econometric methods, the proposed methodology uses heuristic reasoning schemes in order to reduce the great number of factors that actually influence the biofuel potential and which usually have unknown values.

  20. A heuristic two-dimensional presentation of microsatellite-based data applied to dogs and wolves

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    Foerster Martin

    2007-07-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Methods based on genetic distance matrices usually lose information during the process of tree-building by converting a multi-dimensional matrix into a phylogenetic tree. We applied a heuristic method of two-dimensional presentation to achieve a better resolution of the relationship between breeds and individuals investigated. Four hundred and nine individuals from nine German dog breed populations and one free-living wolf population were analysed with a marker set of 23 microsatellites. The result of the two-dimensional presentation was partly comparable with and complemented a model-based analysis that uses genotype patterns. The assignment test and the neighbour-joining tree based on allele sharing estimate allocated 99% and 97% of the individuals according to their breed, respectively. The application of the two-dimensional presentation to distances on the basis of the proportion of shared alleles resulted in comparable and further complementary insight into inferred population structure by multilocus genotype data. We expect that the inference of population structure in domesticated species with complex breeding histories can be strongly supported by the two-dimensional presentation based on the described heuristic method.