Influences on cocaine tolerance assessed under a multiple conjunctive schedule of reinforcement.

Science.gov (United States)

Yoon, Jin Ho; Branch, Marc N

2009-11-01

Under multiple schedules of reinforcement, previous research has generally observed tolerance to the rate-decreasing effects of cocaine that has been dependent on schedule-parameter size in the context of fixed-ratio (FR) schedules, but not under the context of fixed-interval (FI) schedules of reinforcement. The current experiment examined the effects of cocaine on key-pecking responses of White Carneau pigeons maintained under a three-component multiple conjunctive FI (10 s, 30 s, & 120 s) FR (5 responses) schedule of food presentation. Dose-effect curves representing the effects of presession cocaine on responding were assessed in the context of (1) acute administration of cocaine (2) chronic administration of cocaine and (3) daily administration of saline. Chronic administration of cocaine generally resulted in tolerance to the response-rate decreasing effects of cocaine, and that tolerance was generally independent of relative FI value, as measured by changes in ED50 values. Daily administration of saline decreased ED50 values to those observed when cocaine was administered acutely. The results show that adding a FR requirement to FI schedules is not sufficient to produce schedule-parameter-specific tolerance. Tolerance to cocaine was generally independent of FI-parameter under the present conjunctive schedules, indicating that a ratio requirement, per se, is not sufficient for tolerance to be dependent on FI parameter.

Segment scheduling method for reducing 360° video streaming latency

Science.gov (United States)

Gudumasu, Srinivas; Asbun, Eduardo; He, Yong; Ye, Yan

2017-09-01

360° video is an emerging new format in the media industry enabled by the growing availability of virtual reality devices. It provides the viewer a new sense of presence and immersion. Compared to conventional rectilinear video (2D or 3D), 360° video poses a new and difficult set of engineering challenges on video processing and delivery. Enabling comfortable and immersive user experience requires very high video quality and very low latency, while the large video file size poses a challenge to delivering 360° video in a quality manner at scale. Conventionally, 360° video represented in equirectangular or other projection formats can be encoded as a single standards-compliant bitstream using existing video codecs such as H.264/AVC or H.265/HEVC. Such method usually needs very high bandwidth to provide an immersive user experience. While at the client side, much of such high bandwidth and the computational power used to decode the video are wasted because the user only watches a small portion (i.e., viewport) of the entire picture. Viewport dependent 360°video processing and delivery approaches spend more bandwidth on the viewport than on non-viewports and are therefore able to reduce the overall transmission bandwidth. This paper proposes a dual buffer segment scheduling algorithm for viewport adaptive streaming methods to reduce latency when switching between high quality viewports in 360° video streaming. The approach decouples the scheduling of viewport segments and non-viewport segments to ensure the viewport segment requested matches the latest user head orientation. A base layer buffer stores all lower quality segments, and a viewport buffer stores high quality viewport segments corresponding to the most recent viewer's head orientation. The scheduling scheme determines viewport requesting time based on the buffer status and the head orientation. This paper also discusses how to deploy the proposed scheduling design for various viewport adaptive video

An UAV scheduling and planning method for post-disaster survey

Science.gov (United States)

Li, G. Q.; Zhou, X. G.; Yin, J.; Xiao, Q. Y.

2014-11-01

Annually, the extreme climate and special geological environments lead to frequent natural disasters, e.g., earthquakes, floods, etc. The disasters often bring serious casualties and enormous economic losses. Post-disaster surveying is very important for disaster relief and assessment. As the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) remote sensing with the advantage of high efficiency, high precision, high flexibility, and low cost, it is widely used in emergency surveying in recent years. As the UAVs used in emergency surveying cannot stop and wait for the happening of the disaster, when the disaster happens the UAVs usually are working at everywhere. In order to improve the emergency surveying efficiency, it is needed to track the UAVs and assign the emergency surveying task for each selected UAV. Therefore, a UAV tracking and scheduling method for post-disaster survey is presented in this paper. In this method, Global Positioning System (GPS), and GSM network are used to track the UAVs; an emergency tracking UAV information database is built in advance by registration, the database at least includes the following information, e.g., the ID of the UAVs, the communication number of the UAVs; when catastrophe happens, the real time location of all UAVs in the database will be gotten using emergency tracking method at first, then the traffic cost time for all UAVs to the disaster region will be calculated based on the UAVs' the real time location and the road network using the nearest services analysis algorithm; the disaster region is subdivided to several emergency surveying regions based on DEM, area, and the population distribution map; the emergency surveying regions are assigned to the appropriated UAV according to shortest cost time rule. The UAVs tracking and scheduling prototype is implemented using SQLServer2008, ArcEnginge 10.1 SDK, Visual Studio 2010 C#, Android, SMS Modem, and Google Maps API.

Interoceanic canal excavation scheduling via computer simulation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Baldonado, Orlino C [Holmes and Narver, Inc., Los Angeles, CA (United States)

1970-05-15

The computer simulation language GPSS/360 was used to simulate the schedule of several nuclear detonation programs for the interoceanic canal project. The effects of using different weather restriction categories due to air blast and fallout were investigated. The effect of increasing the number of emplacement and stemming crews and the effect of varying the reentry period after detonating a row charge or salvo were also studied. Detonation programs were simulated for the proposed Routes 17A and 25E. The study demonstrates the method of using computer simulation so that a schedule and its associated constraints can be assessed for feasibility. Since many simulation runs can be made for a given set of detonation program constraints, one readily obtains an average schedule for a range of conditions. This provides a method for analyzing time-sensitive operations so that time and cost-effective operational schedules can be established. A comparison of the simulated schedules with those that were published shows them to be similar. (author)

Interoceanic canal excavation scheduling via computer simulation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Baldonado, Orlino C.

1970-01-01

The computer simulation language GPSS/360 was used to simulate the schedule of several nuclear detonation programs for the interoceanic canal project. The effects of using different weather restriction categories due to air blast and fallout were investigated. The effect of increasing the number of emplacement and stemming crews and the effect of varying the reentry period after detonating a row charge or salvo were also studied. Detonation programs were simulated for the proposed Routes 17A and 25E. The study demonstrates the method of using computer simulation so that a schedule and its associated constraints can be assessed for feasibility. Since many simulation runs can be made for a given set of detonation program constraints, one readily obtains an average schedule for a range of conditions. This provides a method for analyzing time-sensitive operations so that time and cost-effective operational schedules can be established. A comparison of the simulated schedules with those that were published shows them to be similar. (author)

Construction scheduled delay risk assessment by using combined AHP-RII methodology for an international NPP project

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hossen, Mufazal Muhammed; Kang, Sun Koo; Kim, Jong Hyun [KEPCO International Nuclear Graduate School (KINGS), Ulsan (Korea, Republic of)

2015-04-15

In this study, Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) construction schedule delay risk assessment methodology is developed and the construction delay risk is assessed for turnkey international NPP projects. Three levels of delay factors were selected through literature review and discussions with nuclear industry experts. A questionnaire survey was conducted on the basis of an analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and Relative Importance Index (RII) methods and the schedule delay risk is assessed qualitatively and quantitatively by severity and frequency of occurrence of delay factors. This study assigns four main delay factors to the first level: main contractor, utility, regulatory authority, and financial and country factor. The second and the third levels are designed with 12 sub-factors and 32 sub-sub-factors, respectively. This study finds the top five most important sub-sub-factors, which are as follows: policy changes, political instability and public intervention; uncompromising regulatory criteria and licensing documents conflicting with existing regulations; robust design document review procedures; redesign due to errors in design and design changes; and worldwide shortage of qualified and experienced nuclear specific equipment manufacturers. The proposed combined AHP-RII methodology is capable of assessing delay risk effectively and efficiently. Decision makers can apply risk informed decision making to avoid unexpected construction delays of NPPs.

Construction scheduled delay risk assessment by using combined AHP-RII methodology for an international NPP project

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hossen, Mufazal Muhammed; Kang, Sun Koo; Kim, Jong Hyun

2015-01-01

In this study, Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) construction schedule delay risk assessment methodology is developed and the construction delay risk is assessed for turnkey international NPP projects. Three levels of delay factors were selected through literature review and discussions with nuclear industry experts. A questionnaire survey was conducted on the basis of an analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and Relative Importance Index (RII) methods and the schedule delay risk is assessed qualitatively and quantitatively by severity and frequency of occurrence of delay factors. This study assigns four main delay factors to the first level: main contractor, utility, regulatory authority, and financial and country factor. The second and the third levels are designed with 12 sub-factors and 32 sub-sub-factors, respectively. This study finds the top five most important sub-sub-factors, which are as follows: policy changes, political instability and public intervention; uncompromising regulatory criteria and licensing documents conflicting with existing regulations; robust design document review procedures; redesign due to errors in design and design changes; and worldwide shortage of qualified and experienced nuclear specific equipment manufacturers. The proposed combined AHP-RII methodology is capable of assessing delay risk effectively and efficiently. Decision makers can apply risk informed decision making to avoid unexpected construction delays of NPPs

DLTAP: A Network-efficient Scheduling Method for Distributed Deep Learning Workload in Containerized Cluster Environment

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Qiao Wei

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Deep neural networks (DNNs have recently yielded strong results on a range of applications. Training these DNNs using a cluster of commodity machines is a promising approach since training is time consuming and compute-intensive. Furthermore, putting DNN tasks into containers of clusters would enable broader and easier deployment of DNN-based algorithms. Toward this end, this paper addresses the problem of scheduling DNN tasks in the containerized cluster environment. Efficiently scheduling data-parallel computation jobs like DNN over containerized clusters is critical for job performance, system throughput, and resource utilization. It becomes even more challenging with the complex workloads. We propose a scheduling method called Deep Learning Task Allocation Priority (DLTAP which performs scheduling decisions in a distributed manner, and each of scheduling decisions takes aggregation degree of parameter sever task and worker task into account, in particularly, to reduce cross-node network transmission traffic and, correspondingly, decrease the DNN training time. We evaluate the DLTAP scheduling method using a state-of-the-art distributed DNN training framework on 3 benchmarks. The results show that the proposed method can averagely reduce 12% cross-node network traffic, and decrease the DNN training time even with the cluster of low-end servers.

On the Correspondence between Preference Assessment Outcomes and Progressive-Ratio Schedule Assessments of Stimulus Value

Science.gov (United States)

DeLeon, Iser G.; Frank, Michelle A.; Gregory, Meagan K.; Allman, Melissa J.

2009-01-01

The current study examined whether stimuli of different preference levels would be associated with different amounts of work maintained by the stimuli, as determined through progressive-ratio schedule break points. Using a paired-choice preference assessment, stimuli were classified as high, moderate, or low preference for 4 individuals with…

Refinery scheduling

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Magalhaes, Marcus V.; Fraga, Eder T. [PETROBRAS, Rio de Janeiro, RJ (Brazil); Shah, Nilay [Imperial College, London (United Kingdom)

2004-07-01

This work addresses the refinery scheduling problem using mathematical programming techniques. The solution adopted was to decompose the entire refinery model into a crude oil scheduling and a product scheduling problem. The envelope for the crude oil scheduling problem is composed of a terminal, a pipeline and the crude area of a refinery, including the crude distillation units. The solution method adopted includes a decomposition technique based on the topology of the system. The envelope for the product scheduling comprises all tanks, process units and products found in a refinery. Once crude scheduling decisions are Also available the product scheduling is solved using a rolling horizon algorithm. All models were tested with real data from PETROBRAS' REFAP refinery, located in Canoas, Southern Brazil. (author)

Development of an international schedule for the assessment and staging of care for dementia

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Semrau, M.; Burns, A.; Djukic-Dejanovic, S.; Eraslan, D.; Han, C.; Lecic-Tosevski, D.; Lobo, A.; Mihai, A.; Morris, J.; Palumbo, C.; Robert, P.; Stiens, G.; Stoppe, G.; Volpe, U.; Olde Rikkert, M.G.M.; Sartorius, N.

2015-01-01

BACKGROUND: A reliable and valid global staging scale has been lacking within dementia care. OBJECTIVE: To develop an easy-to-use multi-dimensional clinical staging schedule for dementia. METHODS: The schedule was developed through: i) Two series of focus groups (40 and 48 participants,

Simulation methods for nuclear production scheduling

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Miles, W.T.; Markel, L.C.

1975-01-01

Recent developments and applications of simulation methods for use in nuclear production scheduling and fuel management are reviewed. The unique characteristics of the nuclear fuel cycle as they relate to the overall optimization of a mixed nuclear-fossil system in both the short-and mid-range time frame are described. Emphasis is placed on the various formulations and approaches to the mid-range planning problem, whose objective is the determination of an optimal (least cost) system operation strategy over a multi-year planning horizon. The decomposition of the mid-range problem into power system simulation, reactor core simulation and nuclear fuel management optimization, and system integration models is discussed. Present utility practices, requirements, and research trends are described. 37 references

Developing a new method for modifying over-allocated multi-mode resource constraint schedules in the presence of preemptive resources

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Aidin Delgoshaei

2016-09-01

Full Text Available The issue of resource over-allocating is a big concern for project engineers in the process of scheduling project activities. Resource over-allocating is frequently seen after initial scheduling of a project in practice and causes significant amount of efforts to modify the initial schedules. In this research, a new method is developed for modifying over-allocated schedules in a multi-mode resource constrained project scheduling problems (MRCPSPs with positive cash flows (MRCPSP-PCF. The aim is to maximize profit of the MRCPSPs or logically minimizing costs. The proposed method can be used as a macro in Microsoft Office Project® Software to modify resource over-allocated days after scheduling a project. This research considers progress payment method and preemptive resources. The proposed approach maximizes profit by scheduling activities through the resource calendar respecting to the available level of preemptive resources and activity numbers. To examine the performance of the proposed method a number of experiments derived from the literature are solved. The results are then compared with the circumstances where resource constraints are relaxed. The outcomes show that in all studied cases, the proposed algorithm can provide modified schedules with no over-allocated days. Afterward the method is applied to modify a manufacturing project in practice.

Data analysis considerations for pesticides determined by National Water Quality Laboratory schedule 2437

Science.gov (United States)

Shoda, Megan E.; Nowell, Lisa H.; Stone, Wesley W.; Sandstrom, Mark W.; Bexfield, Laura M.

2018-04-02

In 2013, the U.S. Geological Survey National Water Quality Laboratory (NWQL) made a new method available for the analysis of pesticides in filtered water samples: laboratory schedule 2437. Schedule 2437 is an improvement on previous analytical methods because it determines the concentrations of 225 fungicides, herbicides, insecticides, and associated degradates in one method at similar or lower concentrations than previously available methods. Additionally, the pesticides included in schedule 2437 were strategically identified in a prioritization analysis that assessed likelihood of occurrence, prevalence of use, and potential toxicity. When the NWQL reports pesticide concentrations for analytes in schedule 2437, the laboratory also provides supplemental information useful to data users for assessing method performance and understanding data quality. That supplemental information is discussed in this report, along with an initial analysis of analytical recovery of pesticides in water-quality samples analyzed by schedule 2437 during 2013–2015. A total of 523 field matrix spike samples and their paired environmental samples and 277 laboratory reagent spike samples were analyzed for this report (1,323 samples total). These samples were collected in the field as part of the U.S. Geological Survey National Water-Quality Assessment groundwater and surface-water studies and as part of the NWQL quality-control program. This report reviews how pesticide samples are processed by the NWQL, addresses how to obtain all the data necessary to interpret pesticide concentrations, explains the circumstances that result in a reporting level change or the occurrence of a raised reporting level, and describes the calculation and assessment of recovery. This report also discusses reasons why a data user might choose to exclude data in an interpretive analysis and outlines the approach used to identify the potential for decreased data quality in the assessment of method recovery. The

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.

A Simple Method for Dynamic Scheduling in a Heterogeneous Computing System

OpenAIRE

Žumer, Viljem; Brest, Janez

2002-01-01

A simple method for the dynamic scheduling on a heterogeneous computing system is proposed in this paper. It was implemented to minimize the parallel program execution time. The proposed method decomposes the program workload into computationally homogeneous subtasks, which may be of the different size, depending on the current load of each machine in a heterogeneous computing system.

The comparison of predictive scheduling algorithms for different sizes of job shop scheduling problems

Science.gov (United States)

Paprocka, I.; Kempa, W. M.; Grabowik, C.; Kalinowski, K.; Krenczyk, D.

2016-08-01

In the paper a survey of predictive and reactive scheduling methods is done in order to evaluate how the ability of prediction of reliability characteristics influences over robustness criteria. The most important reliability characteristics are: Mean Time to Failure, Mean Time of Repair. Survey analysis is done for a job shop scheduling problem. The paper answers the question: what method generates robust schedules in the case of a bottleneck failure occurrence before, at the beginning of planned maintenance actions or after planned maintenance actions? Efficiency of predictive schedules is evaluated using criteria: makespan, total tardiness, flow time, idle time. Efficiency of reactive schedules is evaluated using: solution robustness criterion and quality robustness criterion. This paper is the continuation of the research conducted in the paper [1], where the survey of predictive and reactive scheduling methods is done only for small size scheduling problems.

Reliability and validity of the international dementia alliance schedule for the assessment and staging of care in China.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Xiao; Sun, Zhenghai; Xiong, Lingchuan; Semrau, Maya; He, Jianhua; Li, Yang; Zhu, Jianzhong; Zhang, Nan; Wang, Aimin; Jiang, Qinpu; Mu, Nan; Zhao, Yuping; Chen, Wei; Wu, Donghui; Zheng, Zhanjie; Sun, Yongan; Zhang, Jing; Xu, Jun; Meng, Xue; Zhao, Mei; Zhang, Haifeng; Lv, Xiaozhen; Sartorius, Norman; Li, Tao; Yu, Xin; Wang, Huali

2017-11-21

Clinical and social services both are important for dementia care. The International Dementia Alliance (IDEAL) Schedule for the Assessment and Staging of Care was developed to guide clinical and social care for dementia. Our study aimed to assess the validity and reliability of the IDEAL schedule in China. Two hundred eighty-two dementia patients and their caregivers were recruited from 15 hospitals in China. Each patient-caregiver dyad was assessed with the IDEAL schedule by a rater and an observer simultaneously. The Clinical Dementia Rating (CDR), Mini-Mental Status Examination (MMSE), and Caregiver Burden Inventory (CBI) were assessed for criterion validity. IDEAL repeated assessment was conducted 7-10 days after the initial interview for 62 dyads. Two hundred seventy-seven patient-caregiver dyads completed the IDEAL assessment. Inter-rater reliability for the total score of the IDEAL schedule was 0.93 (95%CI = 0.92-0.95). The inter-class coefficient for the total score of IDEAL was 0.95 for the interviewers and 0.93 for the silent raters. The IDEAL total score correlated with the global CDR score (ρ = 0.72, p valid and reliable tool for the staging of care for dementia in the Chinese population.

Optimization of design and erection methods to minimize the construction time-schedule of EPR plants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pierrat, Michel; L'Huby, Yvan; Decelle, Alain

1999-01-01

This paper presents the results of the investigations made during the Basic Design of the EPR project (European Pressurized water Reactor) to shorten the construction schedule. A 57 months construction schedule can be reached for the first unit. The investigations concern both design and construction methods. (author)

Psychometric Validation of the World Health Organization Disability Assessment Schedule 2.0-Twelve-Item Version in Persons with Spinal Cord Injuries

Science.gov (United States)

Smedema, Susan Miller; Ruiz, Derek; Mohr, Michael J.

2017-01-01

Purpose: To evaluate the factorial and concurrent validity and internal consistency reliability of the World Health Organization Disability Assessment Schedule 2.0 (WHODAS 2.0) 12-item version in persons with spinal cord injuries. Method: Two hundred forty-seven adults with spinal cord injuries completed an online survey consisting of the WHODAS…

Assessment of the Correlation between Appointment Scheduling and Patient Satisfaction in a Pediatric Dental Setup

OpenAIRE

Katre, Amar N.

2014-01-01

Introduction. The practice of modern pediatric dentistry requires delivery of quality care in combination with adherence to excellent business as well as time management principles. A definite appointment schedule should be presented to the parents on the first or second appointment. More importantly, the prescribed schedule should be followed to the best of the professional abilities of the pediatric dentist. Aims. The aim of the study was to assess the co-relation between appointment schedu...

Ground assessment methods for nuclear power plant

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1985-01-01

It is needless to say that nuclear power plant must be constructed on the most stable and safe ground. Reliable assessment method is required for the purpose. The Ground Integrity Sub-committee of the Committee of Civil Engineering of Nuclear Power Plant started five working groups, the purpose of which is to systematize the assessment procedures including geological survey, ground examination and construction design. The works of working groups are to establishing assessment method of activities of faults, standardizing the rock classification method, standardizing assessment and indication method of ground properties, standardizing test methods and establishing the application standard for design and construction. Flow diagrams for the procedures of geological survey, for the investigation on fault activities and ground properties of area where nuclear reactor and important outdoor equipments are scheduled to construct, were established. And further, flow diagrams for applying investigated results to design and construction of plant, and for determining procedure of liquidification nature of ground etc. were also established. These systematized and standardized methods of investigation are expected to yield reliable data for assessment of construction site of nuclear power plant and lead to the safety of construction and operation in the future. In addition, the execution of these systematized and detailed preliminary investigation for determining the construction site of nuclear power plant will make much contribution for obtaining nation-wide understanding and faith for the project. (Ishimitsu, A.)

Scheduling for decommissioning projects

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Podmajersky, O.E.

1987-01-01

This paper describes the Project Scheduling system being employed by the Decommissioning Operations Contractor at the Shippingport Station Decommissioning Project (SSDP). Results from the planning system show that the project continues to achieve its cost and schedule goals. An integrated cost and schedule control system (C/SCS) which uses the concept of earned value for measurement of performance was instituted in accordance with DOE orders. The schedule and cost variances generated by the C/SCS system are used to confirm management's assessment of project status. This paper describes the types of schedules and tools used on the SSDP project to plan and monitor the work, and identifies factors that are unique to a decommissioning project that make scheduling critical to the achievement of the project's goals. 1 fig

Method and apparatus for scheduling broadcasts in social networks

KAUST Repository

Manzoor, Emaad Ahmed

2016-08-25

A method, apparatus, and computer readable medium are provided for maximizing consumption of broadcasts by a producer. An example method includes receiving selection of a total number of time slots to use for scheduling broadcasts, and receiving information regarding the producer\\'s followers. The example method further 5 includes identifying, by a processor and based on the received information, discount factors associated with the producer\\'s followers, and calculating, by the processor and based on the received information, a predicted number of competitor broadcasts during each time slot of the total number of time slots. Finally, the example method includes determining, by the processor and based on the discount factors and the predicted 10 number of competitor broadcasts during each time slot, a number of broadcasts for the producer to transmit in each time slot of the total number of time slots.

Manufacturing scheduling systems an integrated view on models, methods and tools

CERN Document Server

Framinan, Jose M; Ruiz García, Rubén

2014-01-01

The book is devoted to the problem of manufacturing scheduling, which is the efficient allocation of jobs (orders) over machines (resources) in a manufacturing facility. It offers a comprehensive and integrated perspective on the different aspects required to design and implement systems to efficiently and effectively support manufacturing scheduling decisions. Obtaining economic and reliable schedules constitutes the core of excellence in customer service and efficiency in manufacturing operations. Therefore, scheduling forms an area of vital importance for competition in manufacturing companies. However, only a fraction of scheduling research has been translated into practice, due to several reasons. First, the inherent complexity of scheduling has led to an excessively fragmented field in which different sub problems and issues are treated in an independent manner as goals themselves, therefore lacking a unifying view of the scheduling problem. Furthermore, mathematical brilliance and elegance has sometime...

Complementary approaches to the assessment of personality disorder. The Personality Assessment Schedule and Adult Personality Functioning Assessment compared.

Science.gov (United States)

Hill, J; Fudge, H; Harrington, R; Pickles, A; Rutter, M

2000-05-01

Current concepts and measures of personality disorder are in many respects unsatisfactory. To establish agreement between two contrasting measures of personality disorder, and to compare subject-informant agreement on each. To examine the extent to which trait abnormality can be separated from interpersonal and social role dysfunction. Fifty-six subjects and their closest informants were interviewed and rated independently. Personality functioning was assessed using a modified Personality Assessment Schedule (M-PAS), and the Adult Personality Functioning Assessment (APFA). Subject-informant agreement on the M-PAS was moderately good, and agreement between the M-PAS and the APFA, across and within subjects and informants, was comparable to that for the M-PAS. This was equally the case when M-PAS trait plus impairment scores and trait abnormality scores were used. The M-PAS and the APFA are probably assessing similar constructs. Trait abnormalities occur predominantly in an interpersonal context and could be assessed within that context.

A recursive economic dispatch algorithm for assessing the cost of thermal generator schedules

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wong, K.P.; Doan, K.

1992-01-01

This paper develops an efficient, recursive algorithm for determining the economic power dispatch of thermal generators within the unit commitment environment. A method for incorporating the operation limits of all on-line generators and limits due to ramping generators is developed in the paper. The developed algorithm is amenable for computer implementation using the artificial intelligence programming language, Prolog. The performance of the developed algorithm is demonstrated through its application to evaluate the costs of dispatching 13 thermal generators within a generator schedule in a 24-hour schedule horizon

Borda application of selection planning scheduling method in dock engineering consultants in Central Sulawesi province Indonesia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Siti Fatimah

2015-04-01

Full Text Available The aim of this paper to find out the planning scheduling method that used in dock engineering consultants as a project supervisor dock. This research use qualitative approach to find the most preferred method by engineering consultants, this research was explorative that test and find out the most preferred method. This research showed that dock engineering consultants in Palu City, Central Sulawesi most preferred curve-s method than method such as CPM, PERT, PDM, and Bar Chart. This research can help further research to determine differences and similarities the project planning scheduling method and being basic for The New Dock Engineering Consultans. This research looking for the most preferred method with limited respondents dock engineering consultans in Palu City, Central Sulawesi.

Parallel Branch-and-Bound Methods for the Job Shop Scheduling

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Clausen, Jens; Perregaard, Michael

1998-01-01

Job-shop scheduling (JSS) problems are among the more difficult to solve in the class of NP-complete problems. The only successful approach has been branch-and-bound based algorithms, but such algorithms depend heavily on good bound functions. Much work has been done to identify such functions...... for the JSS problem, but with limited success. Even with recent methods, it is still not possible to solve problems substantially larger than 10 machines and 10 jobs. In the current study, we focus on parallel methods for solving JSS problems. We implement two different parallel branch-and-bound algorithms...

Proposed algorithm to improve job shop production scheduling using ant colony optimization method

Science.gov (United States)

Pakpahan, Eka KA; Kristina, Sonna; Setiawan, Ari

2017-12-01

This paper deals with the determination of job shop production schedule on an automatic environment. On this particular environment, machines and material handling system are integrated and controlled by a computer center where schedule were created and then used to dictate the movement of parts and the operations at each machine. This setting is usually designed to have an unmanned production process for a specified interval time. We consider here parts with various operations requirement. Each operation requires specific cutting tools. These parts are to be scheduled on machines each having identical capability, meaning that each machine is equipped with a similar set of cutting tools therefore is capable of processing any operation. The availability of a particular machine to process a particular operation is determined by the remaining life time of its cutting tools. We proposed an algorithm based on the ant colony optimization method and embedded them on matlab software to generate production schedule which minimize the total processing time of the parts (makespan). We test the algorithm on data provided by real industry and the process shows a very short computation time. This contributes a lot to the flexibility and timelines targeted on an automatic environment.

Planning and Scheduling of Airline Operations

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

İlkay ORHAN

2010-02-01

Full Text Available The Turkish Civil Aviation sector has grown at a rate of 53 % between the years 2002-2008 owing to countrywide economical developments and some removed restrictions in the aviation field. Successful international companies in the sector use advanced computer-supported solution methods for their planning and scheduling problems. These methods have been providing significant competitive advantages to those companies. There are four major scheduling and planning problems in the airline sector: flight scheduling, aircraft scheduling, crew scheduling and disruptions management. These aforementioned scheduling and planning problems faced by all airline companies in the airline sector were examined in detail. Studies reveal that companies using the advanced methods might gain significant cost reductions. However, even then, the time required for solving large scale problems may not satisfy the decision quality desired by decision makers. In such cases, using modern decision methods integrated with advanced technologies offer companies an opportunity for significant cost-advantages.

Next Generation CANDU: Conceptual Design for a Short Construction Schedule

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hopwood, Jerry M.; Love, Ian J.W.; Elgohary, Medhat; Fairclough, Neville

2002-01-01

Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. (AECL) has very successful experience in implementing new construction methods at the Qinshan (Phase III) twin unit CANDU 6 plant in China. This paper examines the construction method that must be implemented during the conceptual design phase of a project if short construction schedules are to be met. A project schedule of 48 months has been developed for the nth unit of NG (Next Generation) CANDU with a 42 month construction period from 1. Concrete to In-Service. An overall construction strategy has been developed involving paralleling project activities that are normally conducted in series. Many parts of the plant will be fabricated as modules and be installed using heavy lift cranes. The Reactor Building (RB), being on the critical path, has been the focus of considerable assessment, looking at alternative ways of applying the construction strategy to this building. A construction method has been chosen which will result in excess of 80% of internal work being completed as modules or as very streamlined traditional construction. This method is being further evaluated as the detailed layout proceeds. Other areas of the plant have been integrated into the schedule and new construction methods are being applied to these so that further modularization and even greater paralleling of activities will be achieved. It is concluded that the optimized construction method is a requirement, which must be implemented through all phases of design to make a 42 month construction schedule a reality. If the construction methods are appropriately chosen, the schedule reductions achieved will make nuclear more competitive. (authors)

How should periods without social interaction be scheduled? Children's preference for practical schedules of positive reinforcement.

Science.gov (United States)

Luczynski, Kevin C; Hanley, Gregory P

2014-01-01

Several studies have shown that children prefer contingent reinforcement (CR) rather than yoked noncontingent reinforcement (NCR) when continuous reinforcement is programmed in the CR schedule. Preference has not, however, been evaluated for practical schedules that involve CR. In Study 1, we assessed 5 children's preference for obtaining social interaction via a multiple schedule (periods of fixed-ratio 1 reinforcement alternating with periods of extinction), a briefly signaled delayed reinforcement schedule, and an NCR schedule. The multiple schedule promoted the most efficient level of responding. In general, children chose to experience the multiple schedule and avoided the delay and NCR schedules, indicating that they preferred multiple schedules as the means to arrange practical schedules of social interaction. In Study 2, we evaluated potential controlling variables that influenced 1 child's preference for the multiple schedule and found that the strong positive contingency was the primary variable. © Society for the Experimental Analysis of Behavior.

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.

Staffing, overtime, and shift scheduling project

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lewis, P.M.

1989-01-01

Recent events at the Peach Bottom nuclear power plant have demonstrated the need to establish a quantifiable basis for assessing the safety significance of long work hours on nuclear power plant operators. The incidents at TMI-2, Chernobyl, and Bhopal, which all occurred during the late evening/night shift, further highlight the importance of the relationship between shift scheduling and performance. The objective of this project is to estimate, using statistical analysis on data from the nuclear industry, the effects on safety of staffing levels, overtime, and shift scheduling for operators and maintenance personnel. Regarding staffing levels, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) currently has no explicit regulation concerning the minimum acceptable levels of staffing in a plant that has an operating license. The NRC has no systematic method for collecting data on the number of licensed operators on the operating crews. In 1982 the NRC recommended that plants write into their technical specifications a model policy on overtime. Currently, 77 nuclear power plant units have the model policy or a modification of it written into their technical specifications; 33 units have no policy on overtime. The model policy sets limits on overtime for safety related personnel, although these limits can be exceeded with plant manger approval. The US nuclear power industry has three types of shift schedules: (1) forward-rotating 8-hour/day shift schedules, (2) backward-rotating 8-hour/day schedules, and (3) 12-hour/day schedules

Analysis of Issues for Project Scheduling by Multiple, Dispersed Schedulers (distributed Scheduling) and Requirements for Manual Protocols and Computer-based Support

Science.gov (United States)

Richards, Stephen F.

1991-01-01

Although computerized operations have significant gains realized in many areas, one area, scheduling, has enjoyed few benefits from automation. The traditional methods of industrial engineering and operations research have not proven robust enough to handle the complexities associated with the scheduling of realistic problems. To address this need, NASA has developed the computer-aided scheduling system (COMPASS), a sophisticated, interactive scheduling tool that is in wide-spread use within NASA and the contractor community. Therefore, COMPASS provides no explicit support for the large class of problems in which several people, perhaps at various locations, build separate schedules that share a common pool of resources. This research examines the issue of distributing scheduling, as applied to application domains characterized by the partial ordering of tasks, limited resources, and time restrictions. The focus of this research is on identifying issues related to distributed scheduling, locating applicable problem domains within NASA, and suggesting areas for ongoing research. The issues that this research identifies are goals, rescheduling requirements, database support, the need for communication and coordination among individual schedulers, the potential for expert system support for scheduling, and the possibility of integrating artificially intelligent schedulers into a network of human schedulers.

Multi-Agent Based Beam Search for Real-Time Production Scheduling and Control Method, Software and Industrial Application

CERN Document Server

Kang, Shu Gang

2013-01-01

The Multi-Agent Based Beam Search (MABBS) method systematically integrates four major requirements of manufacturing production - representation capability, solution quality, computation efficiency, and implementation difficulty - within a unified framework to deal with the many challenges of complex real-world production planning and scheduling problems. Multi-agent Based Beam Search for Real-time Production Scheduling and Control introduces this method, together with its software implementation and industrial applications.  This book connects academic research with industrial practice, and develops a practical solution to production planning and scheduling problems. To simplify implementation, a reusable software platform is developed to build the MABBS method into a generic computation engine.  This engine is integrated with a script language, called the Embedded Extensible Application Script Language (EXASL), to provide a flexible and straightforward approach to representing complex real-world problems. ...

An Optimizing Space Data-Communications Scheduling Method and Algorithm with Interference Mitigation, Generalized for a Broad Class of Optimization Problems

Science.gov (United States)

Rash, James

2014-01-01

NASA's space data-communications infrastructure-the Space Network and the Ground Network-provide scheduled (as well as some limited types of unscheduled) data-communications services to user spacecraft. The Space Network operates several orbiting geostationary platforms (the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System (TDRSS)), each with its own servicedelivery antennas onboard. The Ground Network operates service-delivery antennas at ground stations located around the world. Together, these networks enable data transfer between user spacecraft and their mission control centers on Earth. Scheduling data-communications events for spacecraft that use the NASA communications infrastructure-the relay satellites and the ground stations-can be accomplished today with software having an operational heritage dating from the 1980s or earlier. An implementation of the scheduling methods and algorithms disclosed and formally specified herein will produce globally optimized schedules with not only optimized service delivery by the space data-communications infrastructure but also optimized satisfaction of all user requirements and prescribed constraints, including radio frequency interference (RFI) constraints. Evolutionary algorithms, a class of probabilistic strategies for searching large solution spaces, is the essential technology invoked and exploited in this disclosure. Also disclosed are secondary methods and algorithms for optimizing the execution efficiency of the schedule-generation algorithms themselves. The scheduling methods and algorithms as presented are adaptable to accommodate the complexity of scheduling the civilian and/or military data-communications infrastructure within the expected range of future users and space- or ground-based service-delivery assets. Finally, the problem itself, and the methods and algorithms, are generalized and specified formally. The generalized methods and algorithms are applicable to a very broad class of combinatorial

Comparing three scheduling methods using BIM models in the Last Planner System

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Brioso Xavier

2017-12-01

Full Text Available This article presents strategies for teaching scheduling methods such as takt-time, flowlines, and point-to-point precedence relations (PTPPRs using build­ing information modeling (BIM models in the Last Planner System. This article is the extended version of the article entitled “Teaching Takt-Time, Flowline and Point-to-point Precedence Relations: A Peruvian Case Study,” which has been published in Procedia Engineering (Vol. 196, 2017, pages 666-673. A case study is conducted in final year students of civil engineering at the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru. The mock-up project is an educational building that has high repetitive processes in the struc­tural works phase. First, traditional tools such as Excel spreadsheets and 2D drawings were used to teach produc­tion system design with takt-time, flowlines, and PTPPR. Second, 3D and 4D models with Revit 2016 and Navis­works 2016 were used to integrate the previous schedules with a BIM model and to identify its strengths and weak­nesses. Finally, Vico Office was used for the automation of schedules and comparison of the methods in 4D and 5D. This article describes the lectures, workshops, and simu­lations employed, as well as the feedback from students and researchers. The success of the teaching strategy is reflected in the survey responses from students and the final perceptions of the construction management tools presented.

PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS OF LOCATION-BASED SCHEDULING

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Andersson, Niclas; Christensen, Knud

2007-01-01

The traditional method for planning, scheduling and controlling activities and resources in construction projects is the CPM-scheduling, which has been the predominant scheduling method since its introduction in the late 1950s. Over the years, CPM has proven to be a very powerful technique...... that will be used in this study. LBS is a scheduling method that rests upon the theories of line-of-balance and which uses the graphic representation of a flowline chart. As such, LBS is adapted for planning and management of workflows and, thus, may provide a solution to the identified shortcomings of CPM. Even...

Group Elevator Peak Scheduling Based on Robust Optimization Model

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

ZHANG, J.

2013-08-01

Full Text Available Scheduling of Elevator Group Control System (EGCS is a typical combinatorial optimization problem. Uncertain group scheduling under peak traffic flows has become a research focus and difficulty recently. RO (Robust Optimization method is a novel and effective way to deal with uncertain scheduling problem. In this paper, a peak scheduling method based on RO model for multi-elevator system is proposed. The method is immune to the uncertainty of peak traffic flows, optimal scheduling is realized without getting exact numbers of each calling floor's waiting passengers. Specifically, energy-saving oriented multi-objective scheduling price is proposed, RO uncertain peak scheduling model is built to minimize the price. Because RO uncertain model could not be solved directly, RO uncertain model is transformed to RO certain model by elevator scheduling robust counterparts. Because solution space of elevator scheduling is enormous, to solve RO certain model in short time, ant colony solving algorithm for elevator scheduling is proposed. Based on the algorithm, optimal scheduling solutions are found quickly, and group elevators are scheduled according to the solutions. Simulation results show the method could improve scheduling performances effectively in peak pattern. Group elevators' efficient operation is realized by the RO scheduling method.

Analyzing scheduling in the food-processing industry

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Akkerman, Renzo; van Donk, Dirk Pieter

2009-01-01

Production scheduling has been widely studied in several research areas, resulting in a large number of methods, prescriptions, and approaches. However, the impact on scheduling practice seems relatively low. This is also the case in the food-processing industry, where industry......-specific characteristics induce specific and complex scheduling problems. Based on ideas about decomposition of the scheduling task and the production process, we develop an analysis methodology for scheduling problems in food processing. This combines an analysis of structural (technological) elements of the production...... process with an analysis of the tasks of the scheduler. This helps to understand, describe, and structure scheduling problems in food processing, and forms a basis for improving scheduling and applying methods developed in literature. It also helps in evaluating the organisational structures...

Nuclear power plant maintenance scheduling dilemma: a genetic algorithm approach

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mahdavi, M.H.; Modarres, M.

2004-01-01

There are huge numbers of components scheduled for maintenance when a nuclear power plant is shut down. Among these components, a number of them are safety related which their operability as well as reliability when plant becomes up is main concerns. Not performing proper maintenance on this class of components/system would impose substantial risk on operating the NPP. In this paper a new approach based on genetic algorithms is presented to optimize the NPP maintenance schedule during shutdown. following this approach the cost incurred by maintenance activities for each schedule is balanced with the risk imposed by the maintenance scheduling plan to the plant operation status when it is up. The risk model implemented in the GA scheduler as its evaluation function is developed on the basis of the probabilistic risk assessment methodology. the Ga optimizers itself is shown to be superior compared to other optimization methods such as the monte carlo technique

A fast method for the unit scheduling problem with significant renewable power generation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Osório, G.J.; Lujano-Rojas, J.M.; Matias, J.C.O.; Catalão, J.P.S.

2015-01-01

Highlights: • A model to the scheduling of power systems with significant renewable power generation is provided. • A new methodology that takes information from the analysis of each scenario separately is proposed. • Based on a probabilistic analysis, unit scheduling and corresponding economic dispatch are estimated. • A comparison with others methodologies is in favour of the proposed approach. - Abstract: Optimal operation of power systems with high integration of renewable power sources has become difficult as a consequence of the random nature of some sources like wind energy and photovoltaic energy. Nowadays, this problem is solved using Monte Carlo Simulation (MCS) approach, which allows considering important statistical characteristics of wind and solar power production such as the correlation between consecutive observations, the diurnal profile of the forecasted power production, and the forecasting error. However, MCS method requires the analysis of a representative amount of trials, which is an intensive calculation task that increases considerably with the number of scenarios considered. In this paper, a model to the scheduling of power systems with significant renewable power generation based on scenario generation/reduction method, which establishes a proportional relationship between the number of scenarios and the computational time required to analyse them, is proposed. The methodology takes information from the analysis of each scenario separately to determine the probabilistic behaviour of each generator at each hour in the scheduling problem. Then, considering a determined significance level, the units to be committed are selected and the load dispatch is determined. The proposed technique was illustrated through a case study and the comparison with stochastic programming approach was carried out, concluding that the proposed methodology can provide an acceptable solution in a reduced computational time

A QUADTREE ORGANIZATION CONSTRUCTION AND SCHEDULING METHOD FOR URBAN 3D MODEL BASED ON WEIGHT

OpenAIRE

C. Yao; G. Peng; Y. Song; M. Duan

2017-01-01

The increasement of Urban 3D model precision and data quantity puts forward higher requirements for real-time rendering of digital city model. Improving the organization, management and scheduling of 3D model data in 3D digital city can improve the rendering effect and efficiency. This paper takes the complexity of urban models into account, proposes a Quadtree construction and scheduling rendering method for Urban 3D model based on weight. Divide Urban 3D model into different rendering weigh...

Applying dynamic priority scheduling scheme to static systems of pinwheel task model in power-aware scheduling.

Science.gov (United States)

Seol, Ye-In; Kim, Young-Kuk

2014-01-01

Power-aware scheduling reduces CPU energy consumption in hard real-time systems through dynamic voltage scaling (DVS). In this paper, we deal with pinwheel task model which is known as static and predictable task model and could be applied to various embedded or ubiquitous systems. In pinwheel task model, each task's priority is static and its execution sequence could be predetermined. There have been many static approaches to power-aware scheduling in pinwheel task model. But, in this paper, we will show that the dynamic priority scheduling results in power-aware scheduling could be applied to pinwheel task model. This method is more effective than adopting the previous static priority scheduling methods in saving energy consumption and, for the system being still static, it is more tractable and applicable to small sized embedded or ubiquitous computing. Also, we introduce a novel power-aware scheduling algorithm which exploits all slacks under preemptive earliest-deadline first scheduling which is optimal in uniprocessor system. The dynamic priority method presented in this paper could be applied directly to static systems of pinwheel task model. The simulation results show that the proposed algorithm with the algorithmic complexity of O(n) reduces the energy consumption by 10-80% over the existing algorithms.

Influences on Cocaine Tolerance Assessed under a Multiple Conjunctive Schedule of Reinforcement

Science.gov (United States)

Yoon, Jin Ho; Branch, Marc N.

2009-01-01

Under multiple schedules of reinforcement, previous research has generally observed tolerance to the rate-decreasing effects of cocaine that has been dependent on schedule-parameter size in the context of fixed-ratio (FR) schedules, but not under the context of fixed-interval (FI) schedules of reinforcement. The current experiment examined the…

Scheduling the scheduling task : a time management perspective on scheduling

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Larco Martinelli, J.A.; Wiers, V.C.S.; Fransoo, J.C.

2013-01-01

Time is the most critical resource at the disposal of schedulers. Hence, an adequate management of time from the schedulers may impact positively on the scheduler’s productivity and responsiveness to uncertain scheduling environments. This paper presents a field study of how schedulers make use of

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.

Constraint-based scheduling

Science.gov (United States)

Zweben, Monte

1993-01-01

The GERRY scheduling system developed by NASA Ames with assistance from the Lockheed Space Operations Company, and the Lockheed Artificial Intelligence Center, uses a method called constraint-based iterative repair. Using this technique, one encodes both hard rules and preference criteria into data structures called constraints. GERRY repeatedly attempts to improve schedules by seeking repairs for violated constraints. The system provides a general scheduling framework which is being tested on two NASA applications. The larger of the two is the Space Shuttle Ground Processing problem which entails the scheduling of all the inspection, repair, and maintenance tasks required to prepare the orbiter for flight. The other application involves power allocation for the NASA Ames wind tunnels. Here the system will be used to schedule wind tunnel tests with the goal of minimizing power costs. In this paper, we describe the GERRY system and its application to the Space Shuttle problem. We also speculate as to how the system would be used for manufacturing, transportation, and military problems.

An improved quantum-behaved particle swarm optimization method for short-term combined economic emission hydrothermal scheduling

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lu, Songfeng; Sun, Chengfu; Lu, Zhengding [School of Computer Science and Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074 (China)

2010-03-15

This paper presents a modified quantum-behaved particle swarm optimization (QPSO) for short-term combined economic emission scheduling (CEES) of hydrothermal power systems with several equality and inequality constraints. The hydrothermal scheduling is formulated as a bi-objective problem: (i) minimizing fuel cost and (ii) minimizing pollutant emission. The bi-objective problem is converted into a single objective one by price penalty factor. The proposed method, denoted as QPSO-DM, combines the QPSO algorithm with differential mutation operation to enhance the global search ability. In this study, heuristic strategies are proposed to handle the equality constraints especially water dynamic balance constraints and active power balance constraints. A feasibility-based selection technique is also employed to meet the reservoir storage volumes constraints. To show the efficiency of the proposed method, different case studies are carried out and QPSO-DM is compared with the differential evolution (DE), the particle swarm optimization (PSO) with same heuristic strategies in terms of the solution quality, robustness and convergence property. The simulation results show that the proposed method is capable of yielding higher-quality solutions stably and efficiently in the short-term hydrothermal scheduling than any other tested optimization algorithms. (author)

An improved quantum-behaved particle swarm optimization method for short-term combined economic emission hydrothermal scheduling

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lu Songfeng [School of Computer Science and Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074 (China); Sun Chengfu, E-mail: ajason_369@sina.co [School of Computer Science and Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074 (China); Lu Zhengding [School of Computer Science and Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074 (China)

2010-03-15

This paper presents a modified quantum-behaved particle swarm optimization (QPSO) for short-term combined economic emission scheduling (CEES) of hydrothermal power systems with several equality and inequality constraints. The hydrothermal scheduling is formulated as a bi-objective problem: (i) minimizing fuel cost and (ii) minimizing pollutant emission. The bi-objective problem is converted into a single objective one by price penalty factor. The proposed method, denoted as QPSO-DM, combines the QPSO algorithm with differential mutation operation to enhance the global search ability. In this study, heuristic strategies are proposed to handle the equality constraints especially water dynamic balance constraints and active power balance constraints. A feasibility-based selection technique is also employed to meet the reservoir storage volumes constraints. To show the efficiency of the proposed method, different case studies are carried out and QPSO-DM is compared with the differential evolution (DE), the particle swarm optimization (PSO) with same heuristic strategies in terms of the solution quality, robustness and convergence property. The simulation results show that the proposed method is capable of yielding higher-quality solutions stably and efficiently in the short-term hydrothermal scheduling than any other tested optimization algorithms.

An improved quantum-behaved particle swarm optimization method for short-term combined economic emission hydrothermal scheduling

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lu Songfeng; Sun Chengfu; Lu Zhengding

2010-01-01

This paper presents a modified quantum-behaved particle swarm optimization (QPSO) for short-term combined economic emission scheduling (CEES) of hydrothermal power systems with several equality and inequality constraints. The hydrothermal scheduling is formulated as a bi-objective problem: (i) minimizing fuel cost and (ii) minimizing pollutant emission. The bi-objective problem is converted into a single objective one by price penalty factor. The proposed method, denoted as QPSO-DM, combines the QPSO algorithm with differential mutation operation to enhance the global search ability. In this study, heuristic strategies are proposed to handle the equality constraints especially water dynamic balance constraints and active power balance constraints. A feasibility-based selection technique is also employed to meet the reservoir storage volumes constraints. To show the efficiency of the proposed method, different case studies are carried out and QPSO-DM is compared with the differential evolution (DE), the particle swarm optimization (PSO) with same heuristic strategies in terms of the solution quality, robustness and convergence property. The simulation results show that the proposed method is capable of yielding higher-quality solutions stably and efficiently in the short-term hydrothermal scheduling than any other tested optimization algorithms.

Normative data for the 12 item WHO Disability Assessment Schedule 2.0.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gavin Andrews

Full Text Available BACKGROUND: The World Health Organization Disability Assessment Schedule (WHODAS 2.0 measures disability due to health conditions including diseases, illnesses, injuries, mental or emotional problems, and problems with alcohol or drugs. METHOD: The 12 Item WHODAS 2.0 was used in the second Australian Survey of Mental Health and Well-being. We report the overall factor structure and the distribution of scores and normative data (means and SDs for people with any physical disorder, any mental disorder and for people with neither. FINDINGS: A single second order factor justifies the use of the scale as a measure of global disability. People with mental disorders had high scores (mean 6.3, SD 7.1, people with physical disorders had lower scores (mean 4.3, SD 6.1. People with no disorder covered by the survey had low scores (mean 1.4, SD 3.6. INTERPRETATION: The provision of normative data from a population sample of adults will facilitate use of the WHODAS 2.0 12 item scale in clinical and epidemiological research.

Minimizing tardiness for job shop scheduling under uncertainties

OpenAIRE

Yahouni , Zakaria; Mebarki , Nasser; Sari , Zaki

2016-01-01

International audience; —Many disturbances can occur during the execution of a manufacturing scheduling process. To cope with this drawback , flexible solutions are proposed based on the offline and the online phase of the schedule. Groups of permutable operations is one of the most studied flexible scheduling methods bringing flexibility as well as quality to a schedule. The online phase of this method is based on a human-machine system allowing to choose in real-time one schedule from a set...

SPANR planning and scheduling

Science.gov (United States)

Freund, Richard F.; Braun, Tracy D.; Kussow, Matthew; Godfrey, Michael; Koyama, Terry

2001-07-01

SPANR (Schedule, Plan, Assess Networked Resources) is (i) a pre-run, off-line planning and (ii) a runtime, just-in-time scheduling mechanism. It is designed to support primarily commercial applications in that it optimizes throughput rather than individual jobs (unless they have highest priority). Thus it is a tool for a commercial production manager to maximize total work. First the SPANR Planner is presented showing the ability to do predictive 'what-if' planning. It can answer such questions as, (i) what is the overall effect of acquiring new hardware or (ii) what would be the effect of a different scheduler. The ability of the SPANR Planner to formulate in advance tree-trimming strategies is useful in several commercial applications, such as electronic design or pharmaceutical simulations. The SPANR Planner is demonstrated using a variety of benchmarks. The SPANR Runtime Scheduler (RS) is briefly presented. The SPANR RS can provide benefit for several commercial applications, such as airframe design and financial applications. Finally a design is shown whereby SPANR can provide scheduling advice to most resource management systems.

Effects of gain-scheduling methods in a classical wind turbine controller on wind turbine aeroservoelastic modes and loads

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Tibaldi, Carlo; Henriksen, Lars Christian; Hansen, Morten Hartvig

2014-01-01

The eects of dierent gain-scheduling methods for a classical wind turbine controller, operating in full load region, on the wind turbine aeroservoelastic modes and loads are investigated in this work. The dierent techniques are derived looking at the physical problem to take into account the chan......The eects of dierent gain-scheduling methods for a classical wind turbine controller, operating in full load region, on the wind turbine aeroservoelastic modes and loads are investigated in this work. The dierent techniques are derived looking at the physical problem to take into account...

The Borderline Syndrome Index: a validation study using the personality assessment schedule.

Science.gov (United States)

Marlowe, M J; O'Neill-Byrne, K; Lowe-Ponsford, F; Watson, J P

1996-01-01

This study examines the validity and screening properties of the Borderline Syndrome Index--BSI (developed in the USA) for categories of the Personality Assessment Schedule--PAS (developed in the UK). Patients were recruited by case control sampling. Chance corrected agreement between instruments and screening properties of the BSI were calculated. The BSI proved a moderately sensitive but non-specific screen. Questionnaire scores were highly correlated with symptom measures. The results do not support the validity of the BSI or its use as a screening instrument. BSI scores may be distorted by current symptoms.

Examination of the Safety of Pediatric Vaccine Schedules in a Non-Human Primate Model: Assessments of Neurodevelopment, Learning, and Social Behavior

Science.gov (United States)

Curtis, Britni; Liberato, Noelle; Rulien, Megan; Morrisroe, Kelly; Kenney, Caroline; Yutuc, Vernon; Ferrier, Clayton; Marti, C. Nathan; Mandell, Dorothy; Burbacher, Thomas M.; Sackett, Gene P.

2015-01-01

Background In the 1990s, the mercury-based preservative thimerosal was used in most pediatric vaccines. Although there are currently only two thimerosal-containing vaccines (TCVs) recommended for pediatric use, parental perceptions that vaccines pose safety concerns are affecting vaccination rates, particularly in light of the much expanded and more complex schedule in place today. Objectives The objective of this study was to examine the safety of pediatric vaccine schedules in a non-human primate model. Methods We administered vaccines to six groups of infant male rhesus macaques (n = 12–16/group) using a standardized thimerosal dose where appropriate. Study groups included the recommended 1990s Pediatric vaccine schedule, an accelerated 1990s Primate schedule with or without the measles–mumps–rubella (MMR) vaccine, the MMR vaccine only, and the expanded 2008 schedule. We administered saline injections to age-matched control animals (n = 16). Infant development was assessed from birth to 12 months of age by examining the acquisition of neonatal reflexes, the development of object concept permanence (OCP), computerized tests of discrimination learning, and infant social behavior. Data were analyzed using analysis of variance, multilevel modeling, and survival analyses, where appropriate. Results We observed no group differences in the acquisition of OCP. During discrimination learning, animals receiving TCVs had improved performance on reversal testing, although some of these same animals showed poorer performance in subsequent learning-set testing. Analysis of social and nonsocial behaviors identified few instances of negative behaviors across the entire infancy period. Although some group differences in specific behaviors were reported at 2 months of age, by 12 months all infants, irrespective of vaccination status, had developed the typical repertoire of macaque behaviors. Conclusions This comprehensive 5-year case–control study, which closely examined

a Quadtree Organization Construction and Scheduling Method for Urban 3d Model Based on Weight

Science.gov (United States)

Yao, C.; Peng, G.; Song, Y.; Duan, M.

2017-09-01

The increasement of Urban 3D model precision and data quantity puts forward higher requirements for real-time rendering of digital city model. Improving the organization, management and scheduling of 3D model data in 3D digital city can improve the rendering effect and efficiency. This paper takes the complexity of urban models into account, proposes a Quadtree construction and scheduling rendering method for Urban 3D model based on weight. Divide Urban 3D model into different rendering weights according to certain rules, perform Quadtree construction and schedule rendering according to different rendering weights. Also proposed an algorithm for extracting bounding box extraction based on model drawing primitives to generate LOD model automatically. Using the algorithm proposed in this paper, developed a 3D urban planning&management software, the practice has showed the algorithm is efficient and feasible, the render frame rate of big scene and small scene are both stable at around 25 frames.

A QUADTREE ORGANIZATION CONSTRUCTION AND SCHEDULING METHOD FOR URBAN 3D MODEL BASED ON WEIGHT

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

C. Yao

2017-09-01

Full Text Available The increasement of Urban 3D model precision and data quantity puts forward higher requirements for real-time rendering of digital city model. Improving the organization, management and scheduling of 3D model data in 3D digital city can improve the rendering effect and efficiency. This paper takes the complexity of urban models into account, proposes a Quadtree construction and scheduling rendering method for Urban 3D model based on weight. Divide Urban 3D model into different rendering weights according to certain rules, perform Quadtree construction and schedule rendering according to different rendering weights. Also proposed an algorithm for extracting bounding box extraction based on model drawing primitives to generate LOD model automatically. Using the algorithm proposed in this paper, developed a 3D urban planning&management software, the practice has showed the algorithm is efficient and feasible, the render frame rate of big scene and small scene are both stable at around 25 frames.

A Dynamic Resource Scheduling Method Based on Fuzzy Control Theory in Cloud Environment

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zhijia Chen

2015-01-01

Full Text Available The resources in cloud environment have features such as large-scale, diversity, and heterogeneity. Moreover, the user requirements for cloud computing resources are commonly characterized by uncertainty and imprecision. Hereby, to improve the quality of cloud computing service, not merely should the traditional standards such as cost and bandwidth be satisfied, but also particular emphasis should be laid on some extended standards such as system friendliness. This paper proposes a dynamic resource scheduling method based on fuzzy control theory. Firstly, the resource requirements prediction model is established. Then the relationships between resource availability and the resource requirements are concluded. Afterwards fuzzy control theory is adopted to realize a friendly match between user needs and resources availability. Results show that this approach improves the resources scheduling efficiency and the quality of service (QoS of cloud computing.

A review of scheduling problem and resolution methods in flexible flow shop

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tian-Soon Lee

2019-01-01

Full Text Available The Flexible flow shop (FFS is defined as a multi-stage flow shops with multiple parallel machines. FFS scheduling problem is a complex combinatorial problem which has been intensively studied in many real world industries. This review paper gives a comprehensive exploration review on the FFS scheduling problem and guides the reader by considering and understanding different environmental assumptions, system constraints and objective functions for future research works. The published papers are classified into two categories. First is the FFS system characteristics and constraints including the problem differences and limitation defined by different studies. Second, the scheduling performances evaluation are elaborated and categorized into time, job and multi related objectives. In addition, the resolution approaches that have been used to solve FFS scheduling problems are discussed. This paper gives a comprehensive guide for the reader with respect to future research work on the FFS scheduling problem.

Manufacturing Scheduling Using Colored Petri Nets and Reinforcement Learning

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Maria Drakaki

2017-02-01

Full Text Available Agent-based intelligent manufacturing control systems are capable to efficiently respond and adapt to environmental changes. Manufacturing system adaptation and evolution can be addressed with learning mechanisms that increase the intelligence of agents. In this paper a manufacturing scheduling method is presented based on Timed Colored Petri Nets (CTPNs and reinforcement learning (RL. CTPNs model the manufacturing system and implement the scheduling. In the search for an optimal solution a scheduling agent uses RL and in particular the Q-learning algorithm. A warehouse order-picking scheduling is presented as a case study to illustrate the method. The proposed scheduling method is compared to existing methods. Simulation and state space results are used to evaluate performance and identify system properties.

Sharing Data for Production Scheduling Using the ISA-95 Standard

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Harjunkoski, Iiro, E-mail: iiro.harjunkoski@de.abb.com; Bauer, Reinhard [ABB Corporate Research, Industrial Software and Applications, Ladenburg (Germany)

2014-10-21

In the development and deployment of production scheduling solutions, one major challenge is to establish efficient information sharing with industrial production management systems. Information comprising production orders to be scheduled, processing plant structure, product recipes, available equipment, and other resources are necessary for producing a realistic short-term production plan. Currently, a widely accepted standard for information sharing is missing. This often leads to the implementation of costly custom-tailored interfaces, or in the worst case the scheduling solution will be abandoned. Additionally, it becomes difficult to easily compare different methods on various problem instances, which complicates the re-use of existing scheduling solutions. In order to overcome these hurdles, a platform-independent and holistic approach is needed. Nevertheless, it is difficult for any new solution to gain wide acceptance within industry as new standards are often refused by companies already using a different established interface. From an acceptance point of view, the ISA-95 standard could act as a neutral data-exchange platform. In this paper, we assess if this already widespread standard is simple, yet powerful enough to act as the desired holistic data exchange for scheduling solutions.

Sharing Data for Production Scheduling Using the ISA-95 Standard

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Harjunkoski, Iiro; Bauer, Reinhard

2014-01-01

In the development and deployment of production scheduling solutions, one major challenge is to establish efficient information sharing with industrial production management systems. Information comprising production orders to be scheduled, processing plant structure, product recipes, available equipment, and other resources are necessary for producing a realistic short-term production plan. Currently, a widely accepted standard for information sharing is missing. This often leads to the implementation of costly custom-tailored interfaces, or in the worst case the scheduling solution will be abandoned. Additionally, it becomes difficult to easily compare different methods on various problem instances, which complicates the re-use of existing scheduling solutions. In order to overcome these hurdles, a platform-independent and holistic approach is needed. Nevertheless, it is difficult for any new solution to gain wide acceptance within industry as new standards are often refused by companies already using a different established interface. From an acceptance point of view, the ISA-95 standard could act as a neutral data-exchange platform. In this paper, we assess if this already widespread standard is simple, yet powerful enough to act as the desired holistic data exchange for scheduling solutions.

Sharing data for production scheduling using the ISA-95 standard

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Iiro eHarjunkoski

2014-10-01

Full Text Available In the development and deployment of production scheduling solutions one major challenge is to establish efficient information sharing with industrial production management systems. Information comprising production orders to be scheduled, processing plant structure, product recipes, available equipment and other resources are necessary for producing a realistic short-term production plan. Currently, a widely-accepted standard for information sharing is missing. This often leads to the implementation of costly custom-tailored interfaces, or in the worst case the scheduling solution will be abandoned. Additionally, it becomes difficult to easily compare different methods on various problem instances, which complicates the re-use of existing scheduling solutions. In order to overcome these hurdles, a platform-independent and holistic approach is needed. Nevertheless, it is difficult for any new solution to gain wide acceptance within industry as new standards are often refused by companies already using a different established interface. From an acceptance point of view, the ISA-95 standard could act as a neutral data-exchange platform. In this paper, we assess if this already widespread standard is simple, yet powerful enough to act as the desired holistic data-exchange for scheduling solutions.

Assessing the Predictability of Scheduled-Vehicle Travel Times

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Tiesyte, Dalia; Jensen, Christian Søndergaard

2009-01-01

One of the most desired and challenging services in collective transport systems is the real-time prediction of the near-future travel times of scheduled vehicles, especially public buses, thus improving the experience of the transportation users, who may be able to better schedule their travel......, and also enabling system operators to perform real-time monitoring. While travel-time prediction has been researched extensively during the past decade, the accuracies of existing techniques fall short of what is desired, and proposed mathematical prediction models are often not transferable to other...... systems because the properties of the travel-time-related data of vehicles are highly context-dependent, making the models difficult to fit. We propose a framework for evaluating various predictability types of the data independently of the model, and we also compare predictability analysis results...

Nuclear techniques to assess irrigation schedules for field crops. Results of a co-ordinated research programme

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

1996-06-01

This TECDOC summarizes the results of a Co-ordinated Research Programme on The Use of Nuclear and Related Techniques in Assessment of Irrigation Schedules of Field Crops to Increase Effective Use of Water in Irrigation Projects. The programme was carried out between 1990 and 1995 through the technical co-ordination of the Soil Fertility, Irrigation and Crop Production Section of the Joint FAO/IAEA Division of Nuclear Techniques in Food and Agriculture of the International Atomic Energy Agency. Fourteen Member States of the IAEA and FAO carried out a series of field experiments aimed at improving irrigation water use efficiency through a type of irrigation scheduling known as deficit irrigation. Refs, figs, tabs.

Nuclear techniques to assess irrigation schedules for field crops. Results of a co-ordinated research programme

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1996-06-01

This TECDOC summarizes the results of a Co-ordinated Research Programme on The Use of Nuclear and Related Techniques in Assessment of Irrigation Schedules of Field Crops to Increase Effective Use of Water in Irrigation Projects. The programme was carried out between 1990 and 1995 through the technical co-ordination of the Soil Fertility, Irrigation and Crop Production Section of the Joint FAO/IAEA Division of Nuclear Techniques in Food and Agriculture of the International Atomic Energy Agency. Fourteen Member States of the IAEA and FAO carried out a series of field experiments aimed at improving irrigation water use efficiency through a type of irrigation scheduling known as deficit irrigation. Refs, figs, tabs

21 CFR 113.83 - Establishing scheduled processes.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... commercial production runs should be determined on the basis of recognized scientific methods to be of a size... CONTAINERS Production and Process Controls § 113.83 Establishing scheduled processes. Scheduled processes for... production shall be adequately provided for in establishing the scheduled process. Critical factors, e.g...

Off-Line and Dynamic Production Scheduling – A Comparative Case Study

OpenAIRE

Bożek Andrzej; Wysocki Marian

2016-01-01

A comprehensive case study of manufacturing scheduling solutions development is given. It includes highly generalized scheduling problem as well as a few scheduling modes, methods and problem models. The considered problem combines flexible job shop structure, lot streaming with variable sublots, transport times, setup times, and machine calendars. Tabu search metaheuristic and constraint programming methods have been used for the off-line scheduling. Two dynamic scheduling methods have also ...

Psychometric properties of the World Health Organization Disability Assessment Schedule used in the European Study of the Epidemiology of Mental Disorders

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Buist-Bouwman, M. A.; Ormel, J.; De Graaf, R.; Vilagut, G.; Alonso, J.; Van Sonderen, E.; Vollebergh, W. A. M.

2008-01-01

This study assessed the factor structure, internal consistency, and discriminatory validity of the World Health Organization Disability Assessment Schedule (WHODAS) version used in the European Study of the Epidemiology of Mental Disorders (ESEMeD). In total 8796 adults were assessed using the

Self-scheduling with Microsoft Excel.

Science.gov (United States)

Irvin, S A; Brown, H N

1999-01-01

Excessive time was being spent by the emergency department (ED) staff, head nurse, and unit secretary on a complex 6-week manual self-scheduling system. This issue, plus inevitable errors and staff dissatisfaction, resulted in a manager-lead initiative to automate elements of the scheduling process using Microsoft Excel. The implementation of this initiative included: common coding of all 8-hour and 12-hour shifts, with each 4-hour period represented by a cell; the creation of a 6-week master schedule using the "count-if" function of Excel based on current staffing guidelines; staff time-off requests then entered by the department secretary; the head nurse, with staff input, then fine-tuned the schedule to provide even unit coverage. Outcomes of these changes included an increase in staff satisfaction, time saved by the head nurse, and staff work time saved because there was less arguing about the schedule. Ultimately, the automated self-scheduling method was expanded to the entire 700-bed hospital.

Diverse task scheduling for individualized requirements in cloud manufacturing

Science.gov (United States)

Zhou, Longfei; Zhang, Lin; Zhao, Chun; Laili, Yuanjun; Xu, Lida

2018-03-01

Cloud manufacturing (CMfg) has emerged as a new manufacturing paradigm that provides ubiquitous, on-demand manufacturing services to customers through network and CMfg platforms. In CMfg system, task scheduling as an important means of finding suitable services for specific manufacturing tasks plays a key role in enhancing the system performance. Customers' requirements in CMfg are highly individualized, which leads to diverse manufacturing tasks in terms of execution flows and users' preferences. We focus on diverse manufacturing tasks and aim to address their scheduling issue in CMfg. First of all, a mathematical model of task scheduling is built based on analysis of the scheduling process in CMfg. To solve this scheduling problem, we propose a scheduling method aiming for diverse tasks, which enables each service demander to obtain desired manufacturing services. The candidate service sets are generated according to subtask directed graphs. An improved genetic algorithm is applied to searching for optimal task scheduling solutions. The effectiveness of the scheduling method proposed is verified by a case study with individualized customers' requirements. The results indicate that the proposed task scheduling method is able to achieve better performance than some usual algorithms such as simulated annealing and pattern search.

Healthcare Scheduling by Data Mining: Literature Review and Future Directions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Maria M. Rinder

2012-01-01

Full Text Available This article presents a systematic literature review of the application of industrial engineering methods in healthcare scheduling, with a focus on the role of patient behavior in scheduling. Nine articles that used mathematical programming, data mining, genetic algorithms, and local searches for optimum schedules were obtained from an extensive search of literature. These methods are new approaches to solve the problems in healthcare scheduling. Some are adapted from areas such as manufacturing and transportation. Key findings from these studies include reduced time for scheduling, capability of solving more complex problems, and incorporation of more variables and constraints simultaneously than traditional scheduling methods. However, none of these methods modeled no-show and walk-ins patient behavior. Future research should include more variables related to patient and/or environment.

The Official Control beyond the Official Control. How To Plan And Schedule Controls Starting From Risk Assessment Along The Agro-Food Supply Chain.

Science.gov (United States)

Panunzio, M F; Caporizzi, R; Lagravinese, D; Conversano, M

2015-01-01

Every year the Italian Ministry of Health, on the basis of regional data, draws up the "Report on Official Controls" to be submitted to the Parliament. The report contains abundant data, diagrams and charts and illustrates the number and type of official controls (OC) performed by the pertinent Bodies (Ministry of Health, Regional and Local Health Authorities) over the previous year on Food Business Operators (FBO), in accordance with the EC Regulation 882/2004. The trend - which has consolidated over the years - relates to the multiplicity of OC and shows a decrease of such controls compared to an increase in "non-conformities". OC frequency is established by the Regional Authorities on the basis of the categorisation of both a "generic risk" for companies calculated taking into account the probability of occurrence of a "non-conformity", and a "specific" risk, assessed on the basis of the results of the OC actually performed on a given "Operatore del Settore Alimentare" (Food Sector Operator, in Italian: OSA). Thus, categorisation (i.e. the probability of occurrence of non-conformities) is the main driver of the OC scheduling and planning process. We have been asking ourselves whether the current OC planning/scheduling method is still suitable for ensuring food safety in the face of internalisation of the food supply chain. As a matter of fact, food safety is now becoming increasingly variable due to the globalization of consumption where "farm to fork", rather than "border to fork", food safety must be ensured. On the basis of these considerations, a different OC planning /scheduling method is being proposed based on the assessment of risks and the estimation of the occurrence of the same along the agro-food chain.

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.

Comparing Book- and Tablet-Based Picture Activity Schedules: Acquisition and Preference.

Science.gov (United States)

Giles, Aimee; Markham, Victoria

2017-09-01

Picture activity schedules consist of a sequence of images representing the order of tasks for a person to complete. Although, picture activity schedules have traditionally been presented in a book format, recently picture activity schedules have been evaluated on technological devices such as an iPod™ touch. The present study compared the efficiency of picture activity schedule acquisition on book- and tablet-based modalities. In addition, participant preference for each modality was assessed. Three boys aged below 5 years with a diagnosis of autism participated. Participants were taught to follow the schedules using both modalities. Following mastery of each modality of picture activity schedule, a concurrent-chains preference assessment was conducted to evaluate participant preference for each modality. Differences in acquisition rates across the two modalities were marginal. Preference for book- or tablet-based schedules was idiosyncratic across participants.

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.

Shiftwork Scheduling for the 1990s.

Science.gov (United States)

Coleman, Richard M.

1989-01-01

The author discusses the problems of scheduling shift work, touching on such topics as employee desires, health requirements, and business needs. He presents a method for developing shift schedules that addresses these three areas. Implementation hints are also provided. (CH)

Location-based Scheduling

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Andersson, Niclas; Christensen, Knud

on the market. However, CPM is primarily an activity based method that takes the activity as the unit of focus and there is criticism raised, specifically in the case of construction projects, on the method for deficient management of construction work and continuous flow of resources. To seek solutions...... to the identified limitations of the CPM method, an alternative planning and scheduling methodology that includes locations is tested. Location-based Scheduling (LBS) implies a shift in focus, from primarily the activities to the flow of work through the various locations of the project, i.e. the building. LBS uses...... the graphical presentation technique of Line-of-balance, which is adapted for planning and management of work-flows that facilitates resources to perform their work without interruptions caused by other resources working with other activities in the same location. As such, LBS and Lean Construction share...

A Review Of Fault Tolerant Scheduling In Multicore Systems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shefali Malhotra

2015-05-01

Full Text Available Abstract In this paper we have discussed about various fault tolerant task scheduling algorithm for multi core system based on hardware and software. Hardware based algorithm which is blend of Triple Modulo Redundancy and Double Modulo Redundancy in which Agricultural Vulnerability Factor is considered while deciding the scheduling other than EDF and LLF scheduling algorithms. In most of the real time system the dominant part is shared memory.Low overhead software based fault tolerance approach can be implemented at user-space level so that it does not require any changes at application level. Here redundant multi-threaded processes are used. Using those processes we can detect soft errors and recover from them. This method gives low overhead fast error detection and recovery mechanism. The overhead incurred by this method ranges from 0 to 18 for selected benchmarks. Hybrid Scheduling Method is another scheduling approach for real time systems. Dynamic fault tolerant scheduling gives high feasibility rate whereas task criticality is used to select the type of fault recovery method in order to tolerate the maximum number of faults.

Increasing the reliability of production schedules in a pharmaceutical packaging department.

Science.gov (United States)

Pacciarelli, Dario; D'Ariano, Andrea

2012-12-01

This paper studies quantitative methods for evaluating the potential benefits of introducing new advanced tracking technologies in the pharmaceutical industry with special reference to radio frequency identification (RFID). RFID technology is an effective way for increasing the quality of the data that are used to generate production schedules, but there is a lack of scientific research to quantify the return on investment that can be achieved in practice. In this work, we distinguish two major sources of data unreliability: one is the inherent stochasticity of operations, which cannot be reduced by RFID, and the other one is the data estimation error, which can be significantly reduced by RFID. We focus on the marginal contribution of the latter quantity to the productivity of the packaging department of a pharmaceutical plant, propose a systematic method for assessing this impact and discuss its implementation in a practical test case. Our results confirm that advanced tracking technologies in combination with effective scheduling procedures show a significant potential for improving productivity. Extensions to other production environments and their issues associated with scheduling problems are also discussed.

Utilization Bound of Non-preemptive Fixed Priority Schedulers

Science.gov (United States)

Park, Moonju; Chae, Jinseok

It is known that the schedulability of a non-preemptive task set with fixed priority can be determined in pseudo-polynomial time. However, since Rate Monotonic scheduling is not optimal for non-preemptive scheduling, the applicability of existing polynomial time tests that provide sufficient schedulability conditions, such as Liu and Layland's bound, is limited. This letter proposes a new sufficient condition for non-preemptive fixed priority scheduling that can be used for any fixed priority assignment scheme. It is also shown that the proposed schedulability test has a tighter utilization bound than existing test methods.

Constraint-based job shop scheduling with ILOG SCHEDULER

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Nuijten, W.P.M.; Le Pape, C.

1998-01-01

We introduce constraint-based scheduling and discuss its main principles. An approximation algorithm based on tree search is developed for the job shop scheduling problem using ILOG SCHEDULER. A new way of calculating lower bounds on the makespan of the job shop scheduling problem is presented and

Production Planning and Planting Pattern Scheduling Information System for Horticulture

Science.gov (United States)

Vitadiar, Tanhella Zein; Farikhin; Surarso, Bayu

2018-02-01

This paper present the production of planning and planting pattern scheduling faced by horticulture farmer using two methods. Fuzzy time series method use to predict demand on based on sales amount, while linear programming is used to assist horticulture farmers in making production planning decisions and determining the schedule of cropping patterns in accordance with demand predictions of the fuzzy time series method, variable use in this paper is size of areas, production advantage, amount of seeds and age of the plants. This research result production planning and planting patterns scheduling information system with the output is recommendations planting schedule, harvest schedule and the number of seeds will be plant.

Short-term hydro-thermal scheduling using particle swarm optimization method

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yu, Binghui; Yuan, Xiaohui; Wang, Jinwen

2007-01-01

The approaches based on different particle swarm optimization (PSO) techniques are applied to solve the short-term hydro-thermal scheduling problem. In the proposed methods, many constraints of the hydro-thermal system, such as power balance, water balance, reservoir volume limits and the operation limits of hydro and thermal plants, are considered. The feasibility of the proposed algorithm is demonstrated through an example system, and the results are compared with the results of a genetic algorithm and evolutionary programming approaches. The experimental results show that all the PSO algorithms have the ability to achieve nearly global solutions, but a local version of PSO with inertia weight appears to be the best amongst all the PSOs in terms of high quality solution

MEDICAL STAFF SCHEDULING USING SIMULATED ANNEALING

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ladislav Rosocha

2015-07-01

Full Text Available Purpose: The efficiency of medical staff is a fundamental feature of healthcare facilities quality. Therefore the better implementation of their preferences into the scheduling problem might not only rise the work-life balance of doctors and nurses, but also may result into better patient care. This paper focuses on optimization of medical staff preferences considering the scheduling problem.Methodology/Approach: We propose a medical staff scheduling algorithm based on simulated annealing, a well-known method from statistical thermodynamics. We define hard constraints, which are linked to legal and working regulations, and minimize the violations of soft constraints, which are related to the quality of work, psychic, and work-life balance of staff.Findings: On a sample of 60 physicians and nurses from gynecology department we generated monthly schedules and optimized their preferences in terms of soft constraints. Our results indicate that the final value of objective function optimized by proposed algorithm is more than 18-times better in violations of soft constraints than initially generated random schedule that satisfied hard constraints.Research Limitation/implication: Even though the global optimality of final outcome is not guaranteed, desirable solutionwas obtained in reasonable time. Originality/Value of paper: We show that designed algorithm is able to successfully generate schedules regarding hard and soft constraints. Moreover, presented method is significantly faster than standard schedule generation and is able to effectively reschedule due to the local neighborhood search characteristics of simulated annealing.

Optimal investment and scheduling of distributed energy resources with uncertainty in electric vehicles driving schedules

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Cardoso, Goncalo [Technical Univ. of Lisbon (Portugal); Stadler, Michael [Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Center for Energy and Innovation Technologies (Austria); Bozchalui, Mohammed C. [NEC Laboratories American Inc., Irving, TX (United States); Sharma, Ratnesh [NEC Laboratories American Inc., Irving, TX (United States); Marnay, Chris [Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Barbosa-Povoa, Ana [Technical Univ. of Lisbon (Portugal); Ferrao, Paulo [Technical Univ. of Lisbon (Portugal)

2013-12-06

The large scale penetration of electric vehicles (EVs) will introduce technical challenges to the distribution grid, but also carries the potential for vehicle-to-grid services. Namely, if available in large enough numbers, EVs can be used as a distributed energy resource (DER) and their presence can influence optimal DER investment and scheduling decisions in microgrids. In this work, a novel EV fleet aggregator model is introduced in a stochastic formulation of DER-CAM [1], an optimization tool used to address DER investment and scheduling problems. This is used to assess the impact of EV interconnections on optimal DER solutions considering uncertainty in EV driving schedules. Optimization results indicate that EVs can have a significant impact on DER investments, particularly if considering short payback periods. Furthermore, results suggest that uncertainty in driving schedules carries little significance to total energy costs, which is corroborated by results obtained using the stochastic formulation of the problem.

Decentralized Ground Staff Scheduling

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sørensen, M. D.; Clausen, Jens

2002-01-01

scheduling is investigated. The airport terminal is divided into zones, where each zone consists of a set of stands geographically next to each other. Staff is assigned to work in only one zone and the staff scheduling is planned decentralized for each zone. The advantage of this approach is that the staff...... work in a smaller area of the terminal and thus spends less time walking between stands. When planning decentralized the allocation of stands to flights influences the staff scheduling since the workload in a zone depends on which flights are allocated to stands in the zone. Hence solving the problem...... depends on the actual stand allocation but also on the number of zones and the layout of these. A mathematical model of the problem is proposed, which integrates the stand allocation and the staff scheduling. A heuristic solution method is developed and applied on a real case from British Airways, London...

Multiuser switched diversity scheduling schemes

KAUST Repository

Shaqfeh, Mohammad; Alnuweiri, Hussein M.; Alouini, Mohamed-Slim

2012-01-01

Multiuser switched-diversity scheduling schemes were recently proposed in order to overcome the heavy feedback requirements of conventional opportunistic scheduling schemes by applying a threshold-based, distributed, and ordered scheduling mechanism. The main idea behind these schemes is that slight reduction in the prospected multiuser diversity gains is an acceptable trade-off for great savings in terms of required channel-state-information feedback messages. In this work, we characterize the achievable rate region of multiuser switched diversity systems and compare it with the rate region of full feedback multiuser diversity systems. We propose also a novel proportional fair multiuser switched-based scheduling scheme and we demonstrate that it can be optimized using a practical and distributed method to obtain the feedback thresholds. We finally demonstrate by numerical examples that switched-diversity scheduling schemes operate within 0.3 bits/sec/Hz from the ultimate network capacity of full feedback systems in Rayleigh fading conditions. © 2012 IEEE.

Multiuser switched diversity scheduling schemes

KAUST Repository

Shaqfeh, Mohammad

2012-09-01

Multiuser switched-diversity scheduling schemes were recently proposed in order to overcome the heavy feedback requirements of conventional opportunistic scheduling schemes by applying a threshold-based, distributed, and ordered scheduling mechanism. The main idea behind these schemes is that slight reduction in the prospected multiuser diversity gains is an acceptable trade-off for great savings in terms of required channel-state-information feedback messages. In this work, we characterize the achievable rate region of multiuser switched diversity systems and compare it with the rate region of full feedback multiuser diversity systems. We propose also a novel proportional fair multiuser switched-based scheduling scheme and we demonstrate that it can be optimized using a practical and distributed method to obtain the feedback thresholds. We finally demonstrate by numerical examples that switched-diversity scheduling schemes operate within 0.3 bits/sec/Hz from the ultimate network capacity of full feedback systems in Rayleigh fading conditions. © 2012 IEEE.

NASA Instrument Cost/Schedule Model

Science.gov (United States)

Habib-Agahi, Hamid; Mrozinski, Joe; Fox, George

2011-01-01

NASA's Office of Independent Program and Cost Evaluation (IPCE) has established a number of initiatives to improve its cost and schedule estimating capabilities. 12One of these initiatives has resulted in the JPL developed NASA Instrument Cost Model. NICM is a cost and schedule estimator that contains: A system level cost estimation tool; a subsystem level cost estimation tool; a database of cost and technical parameters of over 140 previously flown remote sensing and in-situ instruments; a schedule estimator; a set of rules to estimate cost and schedule by life cycle phases (B/C/D); and a novel tool for developing joint probability distributions for cost and schedule risk (Joint Confidence Level (JCL)). This paper describes the development and use of NICM, including the data normalization processes, data mining methods (cluster analysis, principal components analysis, regression analysis and bootstrap cross validation), the estimating equations themselves and a demonstration of the NICM tool suite.

Efficient Academic Scheduling at the U.S. Naval Academy

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Zane, David

2003-01-01

This research project examined academic scheduling problems at the U.S. Naval Academy. The focus was on devising methods to construct good final exam schedules and improve existing course schedules by facilitation course changes...

Automatic scheduling of maintenance work in nuclear power plants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kasahara, T.; Nishizawa, Y.; Kato, K.; Kiguchi, T.

1987-01-01

An automatic scheduling method for maintenance work in nuclear power plants has been developed using an AI technique. The purpose of this method is to help plant operators by adjusting the time schedule of various kinds of maintenance work so that incorrect ordering or timing of plant manipulations does not cause undersirable results, such as a plant trip. The functions of the method were tested by off-line simulations. The results show that the method can produce a satisfactory schedule of plant component manipulations without interference between the tasks and plant conditions

Cure Schedule for Stycast 2651/Catalyst 9.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kropka, Jamie Michael [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); McCoy, John D. [New Mexico Inst. of Mining and Technology, Socorro, NM (United States)

2017-11-01

The Emerson & Cuming technical data sheet (TDS) for Stycast 2651/Catalyst 9 lists three alternate cure schedules for the material, each of which would result in a different state of reaction and different material properties. Here, a cure schedule that attains full reaction of the material is defined. The use of this cure schedule will eliminate variance in material properties due to changes in the cure state of the material, and the cure schedule will serve as the method to make material prior to characterizing properties. The following recommendation uses one of the schedules within the TDS and adds a “post cure” to obtain full reaction.

Physician satisfaction with a multi-platform digital scheduling system.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rodrigo Octávio Deliberato

Full Text Available Physician shift schedules are regularly created manually, using paper or a shared online spreadsheet. Mistakes are not unusual, leading to last minute scrambles to cover a shift. We developed a web-based shift scheduling system and a mobile application tool to facilitate both the monthly scheduling and shift exchanges between physicians. The primary objective was to compare physician satisfaction before and after the mobile application implementation.Over a 9-month period, three surveys, using the 4-point Likert type scale were performed to assess the physician satisfaction. The first survey was conducted three months prior mobile application release, a second survey three months after implementation and the last survey six months after.51 (77% of the physicians answered the baseline survey. Of those, 32 (63% were males with a mean age of 37.8 ± 5.5 years. Prior to the mobile application implementation, 36 (70% of the responders were using more than one method to carry out shift exchanges and only 20 (40% were using the official department report sheet to document shift exchanges. The second and third survey were answered by 48 (73% physicians. Forty-eight (98% of them found the mobile application easy or very easy to install and 47 (96% did not want to go back to the previous method. Regarding physician satisfaction, at baseline 37% of the physicians were unsatisfied or very unsatisfied with shift scheduling. After the mobile application was implementation, only 4% reported being unsatisfied (OR = 0.11, p < 0.001. The satisfaction level improved from 63% to 96% between the first and the last survey. Satisfaction levels significantly increased between the three time points (OR = 13.33, p < 0.001.Our web and mobile phone-based scheduling system resulted in better physician satisfaction.

Schedulability of Herschel revisited using statistical model checking

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

David, Alexandre; Larsen, Kim Guldstrand; Legay, Axel

2015-01-01

-approximation technique. We can safely conclude that the system is schedulable for varying values of BCET. For the cases where deadlines are violated, we use polyhedra to try to confirm the witnesses. Our alternative method to confirm non-schedulability uses statistical model-checking (SMC) to generate counter...... and blocking times of tasks. Consequently, the method may falsely declare deadline violations that will never occur during execution. This paper is a continuation of previous work of the authors in applying extended timed automata model checking (using the tool UPPAAL) to obtain more exact schedulability...... analysis, here in the presence of non-deterministic computation times of tasks given by intervals [BCET,WCET]. Computation intervals with preemptive schedulers make the schedulability analysis of the resulting task model undecidable. Our contribution is to propose a combination of model checking techniques...

Enhancement of the grafting efficiency by the new method of fetal liver-bone marrow scheduled transplantation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Xiang Yingsong; Yang Rujun; Yang Ping; Cai Jianming; Min Rui

2000-01-01

To enhance the grafting efficiency of bone marrow transplantation, lethally Irradiated recipient Kunming mice were transplantation with fetal liver-bone marrow scheduled transplantation. (FL-BMST) The numbers of WBC, nucleated cells were near to normal level 17 d after irradiation in FL-BMST group transplantation with 1 x 10 6 bone marrow cells, the indexes of CFU-E, CFU-GM, CFU-F, CFU-S, were returned to normal; the degree of GVHD in the FL-BMST group was slighter than that in sing bone marrow transplantation group; and the survival rate of mice was 60%, which was significantly higher than that of routine single bone marrow transplantation group. 'Niches' vacated each time could be fully used and be improved, be increased by fetal liver-bone marrow scheduled transplantation, so the homing of stem cells was increased, and the number of transplanted bone marrow cells could be decreased. So this new method was a better method than routine bone singe marrow transplantation

CP Methods for Scheduling and Routing with Time-Dependent Task Costs

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Tierney, Kevin; Kelareva, Elena; Kilby, Philip

2013-01-01

a cost function, and Mixed Integer Programming (MIP) are often used for solving such problems. However, Constraint Programming (CP), particularly with Lazy Clause Genera- tion (LCG), has been found to be faster than MIP for some scheduling problems with time-varying action costs. In this paper, we...... compare CP and LCG against a solve-and-improve approach for two recently introduced problems in maritime logistics with time-varying action costs: the Liner Shipping Fleet Repositioning Problem (LSFRP) and the Bulk Port Cargo Throughput Optimisation Problem (BPCTOP). We present a novel CP model...... for the LSFRP, which is faster than all previous methods and outperforms a simplified automated planning model without time-varying costs. We show that a LCG solver is faster for solving the BPCTOP than a standard finite domain CP solver with a simplified model. We find that CP and LCG are effective methods...

Off-Line and Dynamic Production Scheduling – A Comparative Case Study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bożek Andrzej

2016-03-01

Full Text Available A comprehensive case study of manufacturing scheduling solutions development is given. It includes highly generalized scheduling problem as well as a few scheduling modes, methods and problem models. The considered problem combines flexible job shop structure, lot streaming with variable sublots, transport times, setup times, and machine calendars. Tabu search metaheuristic and constraint programming methods have been used for the off-line scheduling. Two dynamic scheduling methods have also been implemented, i.e., dispatching rules for the completely reactive scheduling and a multi-agent system for the predictivereactive scheduling. In these implementations three distinct models of the problem have been used, based on: graph representation, optimal constraint satisfaction, and Petri net formalism. Each of these solutions has been verified in computational experiments. The results are compared and some findings about advantages, disadvantages, and suggestions on using the solutions are formulated.

Departure Queue Prediction for Strategic and Tactical Surface Scheduler Integration

Science.gov (United States)

Zelinski, Shannon; Windhorst, Robert

2016-01-01

A departure metering concept to be demonstrated at Charlotte Douglas International Airport (CLT) will integrate strategic and tactical surface scheduling components to enable the respective collaborative decision making and improved efficiency benefits these two methods of scheduling provide. This study analyzes the effect of tactical scheduling on strategic scheduler predictability. Strategic queue predictions and target gate pushback times to achieve a desired queue length are compared between fast time simulations of CLT surface operations with and without tactical scheduling. The use of variable departure rates as a strategic scheduler input was shown to substantially improve queue predictions over static departure rates. With target queue length calibration, the strategic scheduler can be tuned to produce average delays within one minute of the tactical scheduler. However, root mean square differences between strategic and tactical delays were between 12 and 15 minutes due to the different methods the strategic and tactical schedulers use to predict takeoff times and generate gate pushback clearances. This demonstrates how difficult it is for the strategic scheduler to predict tactical scheduler assigned gate delays on an individual flight basis as the tactical scheduler adjusts departure sequence to accommodate arrival interactions. Strategic/tactical scheduler compatibility may be improved by providing more arrival information to the strategic scheduler and stabilizing tactical scheduler changes to runway sequence in response to arrivals.

30 CFR 285.821 - Will MMS conduct scheduled and unscheduled inspections?

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 30 Mineral Resources 2 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Will MMS conduct scheduled and unscheduled..., COPs and GAPs Inspections and Assessments § 285.821 Will MMS conduct scheduled and unscheduled inspections? The MMS will conduct both scheduled and unscheduled inspections. ...

Automated scheduling and planning from theory to practice

CERN Document Server

Ozcan, Ender; Urquhart, Neil

2013-01-01

  Solving scheduling problems has long presented a challenge for computer scientists and operations researchers. The field continues to expand as researchers and practitioners examine ever more challenging problems and develop automated methods capable of solving them. This book provides 11 case studies in automated scheduling, submitted by leading researchers from across the world. Each case study examines a challenging real-world problem by analysing the problem in detail before investigating how the problem may be solved using state of the art techniques.The areas covered include aircraft scheduling, microprocessor instruction scheduling, sports fixture scheduling, exam scheduling, personnel scheduling and production scheduling.  Problem solving methodologies covered include exact as well as (meta)heuristic approaches, such as local search techniques, linear programming, genetic algorithms and ant colony optimisation.The field of automated scheduling has the potential to impact many aspects of our lives...

A Systematical Framework of Schedule Risk Management for Power Grid Engineering Projects’ Sustainable Development

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rao Rao

2014-10-01

Full Text Available Schedule risks are the main threat for high efficiency of schedule management in power grid engineering projects (PGEP. This paper aims to build a systematical framework for schedule risk management, which consists of three dimensions, including the personnel dimension, method dimension and time dimension, namely supervisory personnel, management methods and the construction process, respectively. Responsibilities of staff with varied functions are discussed in the supervisory personnel part, and six stages and their corresponding 40 key works are ensured as the time dimension. Risk identification, analysis, evaluation and prevention together formed the method dimension. Based on this framework, 222 schedule risks occur in the whole process of PGEPs are identified via questionnaires and expert interviews. Then, the relationship among each risk is figured out based on the Interpretative Structure Model (ISM method and the impact of each risk is quantitatively assessed by establishing evaluation system. The actual practice of the proposed framework is verified through the analysis of the first stage of a PGEP. Finally, the results show that this framework of schedule risk management is meaningful for improving the efficiency of project management. It provides managers with a clearer procedure with which to conduct risk management, helps them to timely detect risks and prevent risks from occurring. It is also easy for managers to judge the influence level of each risk, so they can take actions based on the level of each risk’s severity. Overall, it is beneficial for power grid enterprises to achieve a sustainable management.

Hybrid IP/CP Methods for Solving Sports Scheduling Problems

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Rasmussen, Rasmus Vinther

2006-01-01

The field of sports scheduling comprises a challenging research areawith a great variety of hard combinatorial optimization problems andchallenging practical applications. This dissertation gives acomprehensive survey of the area and a number of new contributionsare presented. First a general sol...

Schedulability using native non-preemptive groups on an AUTOSAR/OSEK platform

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hatvani, L.; Bril, R.J.

To combine the relative strengths of fully preemptive and non-preemptive fixed priority scheduling, we can use limited preemptive scheduling methods. One such method is fixed-priority threshold scheduling (FPTS). This approach defines dual priorities for every task, a priority assigned to the

Evaluation of Absolute and Relative Reinforcer Value Using Progressive-Ratio Schedules

Science.gov (United States)

Francisco, Monica T.; Borrero, John C.; Sy, Jolene R.

2008-01-01

We evaluated behavior exhibited by individuals with developmental disabilities using progressive-ratio (PR) schedules. High- and low-preference stimuli were determined based on the results of a paired-stimulus preference assessment and were evaluated in subsequent reinforcer and PR assessments using concurrent and single schedules of presentation.…

On Coding of Scheduling Information in OFDM

OpenAIRE

Gunnarsson, Fredrik; Moosavi, Reza; Eriksson, Jonas; Larsson, Erik G.; Wiberg, Niklas; Frenger, Pål

2009-01-01

Control signaling strategies for scheduling information in cellular OFDM systems are studied. A single-cell multiuser system model is formulated that provides system capacity estimates accounting for the signaling overhead. Different scheduling granularities are considered, including the one used in the specifications for the 3G Long Term Evolution (LTE). A greedy scheduling method is assumed, where each resource is assigned to the user for which it can support the highest number of bits. The...

Understanding the costs and schedule of hydroelectric projects

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Merrow, E.W.; Schroeder, B.R.

1991-01-01

This paper is based on a study conducted for the World Bank which evaluated the feasibility of developing an empirically based ex ante project analysis system for hydroelectric projects. The system would be used to assess: the reasonableness of engineering-based cost and schedule estimates used for project appraisal and preliminary estimates used to select projects for appraisal; and the potential for cost growth and schedule slip. The system would help identify projects early in the project appraisal process that harbor significantly higher than normal risks of overrunning cost and schedule estimates

Effects of a shortened depreciation schedule on the investment costs for combined heat and power; TOPICAL

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kranz, Nicole; Worrell, Ernst

2001-01-01

We investigate and compare several generic depreciation methods to assess the effectiveness of possible policy measures with respect to the depreciation schedules for investments in combined heat and power plants in the United States. We assess the different depreciation methods for CHP projects of various sizes (ranging from 1 MW to 100 MW). We evaluate the impact of different depreciation schedules on the tax shield, and the resulting tax savings to potential investors. We show that a shorter depreciation cycle could have a substantial impact on the cost of producing power, making cogeneration more attractive. The savings amount to approximately 6-7 percent of capital and fixed operation and maintenance costs, when changing from the current system to a 7 year depreciation scheme with switchover from declining balance to straight line depreciation. Suggestions for further research to improve the analysis are given

Courts, Scheduled Damages, and Medical Malpractice Insurance

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bertoli, Paola; Grembi, Veronica

We assess the impact of the introduction of schedules of non-economic damages (i.e. tiered caps systems) on the behavior of insurers operating in the medical liability market for hospitals while controlling the performance of the judicial system, measured as court backlog. Using a difference......-in-differences strategy on Italian data, we find that the introduction of schedules increases the presence of insurers (i.e. medical liability market attractiveness) only in inefficient judicial districts. In the same way, court inefficiency is attractive to insurers for average values of schedules penetration...... of the market, with an increasing positive impact of inefficiency as the territorial coverage of schedules increases. Finally, no significant impact is registered on paid premiums. Our analysis sheds light on a complex set of elements affecting the decisions of insurers in malpractice markets. The analysis...

Nonstandard Work Schedules, Couple Desynchronization, and Parent-Child Interaction : A Mixed-Methods Analysis

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Taeht, Kadri; Mills, Melinda

Many children live in households where either one or both parents work nonstandard schedules in the evening, night, or weekend. This study tests two competing hypotheses of whether nonstandard schedules result in lower levels of parent-child interaction or in more time with children. Using the first

Application of Tabu Search Algorithm in Job Shop Scheduling

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Betrianis Betrianis

2010-10-01

Full Text Available Tabu Search is one of local search methods which is used to solve the combinatorial optimization problem. This method aimed is to make the searching process of the best solution in a complex combinatorial optimization problem(np hard, ex : job shop scheduling problem, became more effective, in a less computational time but with no guarantee to optimum solution.In this paper, tabu search is used to solve the job shop scheduling problem consists of 3 (three cases, which is ordering package of September, October and November with objective of minimizing makespan (Cmax. For each ordering package, there is a combination for initial solution and tabu list length. These result then  compared with 4 (four other methods using basic dispatching rules such as Shortest Processing Time (SPT, Earliest Due Date (EDD, Most Work Remaining (MWKR dan First Come First Served (FCFS. Scheduling used Tabu Search Algorithm is sensitive for variables changes and gives makespan shorter than scheduling used by other four methods.

A decentralized scheduling algorithm for time synchronized channel hopping

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Andrew Tinka

2011-09-01

Full Text Available Time Synchronized Channel Hopping (TSCH is an existing Medium Access Control scheme which enables robust communication through channel hopping and high data rates through synchronization. It is based on a time-slotted architecture, and its correct functioning depends on a schedule which is typically computed by a central node. This paper presents, to our knowledge, the first scheduling algorithm for TSCH networks which both is distributed and which copes with mobile nodes. Two variations on scheduling algorithms are presented. Aloha-based scheduling allocates one channel for broadcasting advertisements for new neighbors. Reservation- based scheduling augments Aloha-based scheduling with a dedicated timeslot for targeted advertisements based on gossip information. A mobile ad hoc motorized sensor network with frequent connectivity changes is studied, and the performance of the two proposed algorithms is assessed. This performance analysis uses both simulation results and the results of a field deployment of floating wireless sensors in an estuarial canal environment. Reservation-based scheduling performs significantly better than Aloha-based scheduling, suggesting that the improved network reactivity is worth the increased algorithmic complexity and resource consumption.

Planning and Scheduling for Fleets of Earth Observing Satellites

Science.gov (United States)

Frank, Jeremy; Jonsson, Ari; Morris, Robert; Smith, David E.; Norvig, Peter (Technical Monitor)

2001-01-01

We address the problem of scheduling observations for a collection of earth observing satellites. This scheduling task is a difficult optimization problem, potentially involving many satellites, hundreds of requests, constraints on when and how to service each request, and resources such as instruments, recording devices, transmitters, and ground stations. High-fidelity models are required to ensure the validity of schedules; at the same time, the size and complexity of the problem makes it unlikely that systematic optimization search methods will be able to solve them in a reasonable time. This paper presents a constraint-based approach to solving the Earth Observing Satellites (EOS) scheduling problem, and proposes a stochastic heuristic search method for solving it.

A reduced feedback proportional fair multiuser scheduling scheme

KAUST Repository

Shaqfeh, Mohammad

2011-12-01

Multiuser switched-diversity scheduling schemes were recently proposed in order to overcome the heavy feedback requirements of conventional opportunistic scheduling schemes by applying a threshold-based, distributed and ordered scheduling mechanism. A slight reduction in the prospected multiuser diversity gains is an acceptable trade-off for great savings in terms of required channel-state-information feedback messages. In this work, we propose a novel proportional fair multiuser switched-diversity scheduling scheme and we demonstrate that it can be optimized using a practical and distributed method to obtain the per-user feedback thresholds. We demonstrate by numerical examples that our reduced feedback proportional fair scheduler operates within 0.3 bits/sec/Hz from the achievable rates by the conventional full feedback proportional fair scheduler in Rayleigh fading conditions. © 2011 IEEE.

Instructions, multiple schedules, and extinction: Distinguishing rule-governed from schedule-controlled behavior.

Science.gov (United States)

Hayes, S C; Brownstein, A J; Haas, J R; Greenway, D E

1986-09-01

Schedule sensitivity has usually been examined either through a multiple schedule or through changes in schedules after steady-state responding has been established. This study compared the effects of these two procedures when various instructions were given. Fifty-five college students responded in two 32-min sessions under a multiple fixed-ratio 18/differential-reinforcement-of-low-rate 6-s schedule, followed by one session of extinction. Some subjects received no instructions regarding the appropriate rates of responding, whereas others received instructions to respond slowly, rapidly, or both. Relative to the schedule in operation, the instructions were minimal, partially inaccurate, or accurate. When there was little schedule sensitivity in the multiple schedule, there was little in extinction. When apparently schedule-sensitive responding occurred in the multiple schedule, however, sensitivity in extinction occurred only if differential responding in the multiple schedule could not be due to rules supplied by the experimenter. This evidence shows that rule-governed behavior that occurs in the form of schedule-sensitive behavior may not in fact become schedule-sensitive even though it makes contact with the scheduled reinforcers.

Robust Optimization for Household Load Scheduling with Uncertain Parameters

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jidong Wang

2018-04-01

Full Text Available Home energy management systems (HEMS face many challenges of uncertainty, which have a great impact on the scheduling of home appliances. To handle the uncertain parameters in the household load scheduling problem, this paper uses a robust optimization method to rebuild the household load scheduling model for home energy management. The model proposed in this paper can provide the complete robust schedules for customers while considering the disturbance of uncertain parameters. The complete robust schedules can not only guarantee the customers’ comfort constraints but also cooperatively schedule the electric devices for cost minimization and load shifting. Moreover, it is available for customers to obtain multiple schedules through setting different robust levels while considering the trade-off between the comfort and economy.

Parental nonstandard work schedules during infancy and children's BMI trajectories

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Afshin Zilanawala

2017-09-01

Full Text Available Background: Empirical evidence has demonstrated adverse associations between parental nonstandard work schedules (i.e., evenings, nights, or weekends and child developmental outcomes. However, there are mixed findings concerning the relationship between parental nonstandard employment and children's body mass index (BMI, and few studies have incorporated information on paternal work schedules. Objective: This paper investigated BMI trajectories from early to middle childhood (ages 3-11 by parental work schedules at 9 months of age, using nationally representative cohort data from the United Kingdom. This study is the first to examine the link between nonstandard work schedules and children's BMI in the United Kingdom. Methods: We used data from the Millennium Cohort Study (2001‒2013, n = 13,021 to estimate trajectories in BMI, using data from ages 3, 5, 7, and 11 years. Joint parental work schedules and a range of biological, socioeconomic, and psychosocial covariates were assessed in the initial interviews at 9 months. Results: Compared to children in two-parent families where parents worked standard shifts, we found steeper BMI growth trajectories for children in two-parent families where both parents worked nonstandard shifts and children in single-parent families whose mothers worked a standard shift. Fathers' shift work, compared to standard shifts, was independently associated with significant increases in BMI. Conclusions: Future public health initiatives focused on reducing the risk of rapid BMI gain in childhood can potentially consider the disruptions to family processes resulting from working nonstandard hours. Contribution: Children in families in which both parents work nonstandard schedules had steeper BMI growth trajectories across the first decade of life. Fathers' nonstandard shifts were independently associated with increases in BMI.

Residency Applicants Prefer Online System for Scheduling Interviews

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wills, Charlotte

2015-03-01

Full Text Available Introduction: Residency coordinators may be overwhelmed when scheduling residency interviews. Applicants often have to coordinate interviews with multiple programs at once, and relying on verbal or email confirmation may delay the process. Our objective was to determine applicant mean time to schedule and satisfaction using online scheduling. Methods: This pilot study is a retrospective analysis performed on a sample of applicants offered interviews at an urban county emergency medicine residency. Applicants were asked their estimated time to schedule with the online system compared to their average time using other methods. In addition, they were asked on a five-point anchored scale to rate their satisfaction. Results: Of 171 applicants, 121 completed the survey (70.8%. Applicants were scheduling an average of 13.3 interviews. Applicants reported scheduling interviews using the online system in mean of 46.2 minutes (median 10, range 1-1800 from the interview offer as compared with a mean of 320.2 minutes (median 60, range 3-2880 for other programs not using this system. This difference was statistically significant. In addition, applicants were more likely to rate their satisfaction using the online system as “satisfied” (83.5% vs 16.5%. Applicants were also more likely to state that they preferred scheduling their interviews using the online system rather than the way other programs scheduled interviews (74.2% vs 4.1% and that the online system aided them coordinating travel arrangements (52.1% vs 4.1%. Conclusion: An online interview scheduling system is associated with higher satisfaction among applicants both in coordinating travel arrangements and in overall satisfaction. [West J Emerg Med. 2015;16(2:352-354.

Construction schedules slack time minimizing

Science.gov (United States)

Krzemiński, Michał

2017-07-01

The article presents two copyright models for minimizing downtime working brigades. Models have been developed for construction schedules performed using the method of work uniform. Application of flow shop models is possible and useful for the implementation of large objects, which can be divided into plots. The article also presents a condition describing gives which model should be used, as well as a brief example of optimization schedule. The optimization results confirm the legitimacy of the work on the newly-developed models.

Contribution of Schedule Delays to Cost Growth: How to Make Peace with a Marching Army

Science.gov (United States)

Majerowicz, Walt; Bitten, Robert; Emmons, Debra; Shinn, Stephen A.

2016-01-01

Numerous research papers have shown that cost and schedule growth are interrelated for NASA space science missions. Although there has shown to be a strong correlation of cost growth with schedule growth, it is unclear what percentage of cost growth is caused by schedule growth and how schedule growth can be controlled. This paper attempts to quantify this percentage by looking at historical data and show detailed examples of how schedule growth influences cost growth. The paper also addresses a methodology to show an alternate approach for assessing and setting a robust baseline schedule and use schedule performance metrics to help assess if the project is performing to plan. Finally, recommendations are presented to help control schedule growth in order to minimize cost growth for NASA space science missions.

Schedules of Controlled Substances: Temporary Placement of 4-Fluoroisobutyryl Fentanyl into Schedule I. Temporary scheduling order.

Science.gov (United States)

2017-05-03

The Administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration is issuing this temporary scheduling order to schedule the synthetic opioid, N-(4-fluorophenyl)-N-(1-phenethylpiperidin-4-yl)isobutyramide (4-fluoroisobutyryl fentanyl or para-fluoroisobutyryl fentanyl), and its isomers, esters, ethers, salts and salts of isomers, esters, and ethers, into schedule I pursuant to the temporary scheduling provisions of the Controlled Substances Act. This action is based on a finding by the Administrator that the placement of 4-fluoroisobutyryl fentanyl into schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act is necessary to avoid an imminent hazard to the public safety. As a result of this order, the regulatory controls and administrative, civil, and criminal sanctions applicable to schedule I controlled substances will be imposed on persons who handle (manufacture, distribute, reverse distribute, import, export, engage in research, conduct instructional activities or chemical analysis, or possess), or propose to handle, 4-fluoroisobutyryl fentanyl.

Scheduling Network Traffic for Grid Purposes

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gamst, Mette

This thesis concerns scheduling of network traffic in grid context. Grid computing consists of a number of geographically distributed computers, which work together for solving large problems. The computers are connected through a network. When scheduling job execution in grid computing, data...... transmission has so far not been taken into account. This causes stability problems, because data transmission takes time and thus causes delays to the execution plan. This thesis proposes the integration of job scheduling and network routing. The scientific contribution is based on methods from operations...... research and consists of six papers. The first four considers data transmission in grid context. The last two solves the data transmission problem, where the number of paths per data connection is bounded from above. The thesis shows that it is possible to solve the integrated job scheduling and network...

Scheduling techniques in the Request Oriented Scheduling Engine (ROSE)

Science.gov (United States)

Zoch, David R.

1991-01-01

Scheduling techniques in the ROSE are presented in the form of the viewgraphs. The following subject areas are covered: agenda; ROSE summary and history; NCC-ROSE task goals; accomplishments; ROSE timeline manager; scheduling concerns; current and ROSE approaches; initial scheduling; BFSSE overview and example; and summary.

Machine Maintenance Scheduling with Reliability Engineering Method and Maintenance Value Stream Mapping

Science.gov (United States)

Sembiring, N.; Nasution, A. H.

2018-02-01

Corrective maintenance i.e replacing or repairing the machine component after machine break down always done in a manufacturing company. It causes the production process must be stopped. Production time will decrease due to the maintenance team must replace or repair the damage machine component. This paper proposes a preventive maintenance’s schedule for a critical component of a critical machine of an crude palm oil and kernel company due to increase maintenance efficiency. The Reliability Engineering & Maintenance Value Stream Mapping is used as a method and a tool to analize the reliability of the component and reduce the wastage in any process by segregating value added and non value added activities.

Sport Tournament Automated Scheduling System

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Raof R. A. A

2018-01-01

Full Text Available The organizer of sport events often facing problems such as wrong calculations of marks and scores, as well as difficult to create a good and reliable schedule. Most of the time, the issues about the level of integrity of committee members and also issues about errors made by human came into the picture. Therefore, the development of sport tournament automated scheduling system is proposed. The system will be able to automatically generate the tournament schedule as well as automatically calculating the scores of each tournament. The problem of scheduling the matches of a round robin and knock-out phase in a sport league are given focus. The problem is defined formally and the computational complexity is being noted. A solution algorithm is presented using a two-step approach. The first step is the creation of a tournament pattern and is based on known graph-theoretic method. The second one is an assignment problem and it is solved using a constraint based depth-first branch and bound procedure that assigns actual teams to numbers in the pattern. As a result, the scheduling process and knock down phase become easy for the tournament organizer and at the same time increasing the level of reliability.

A new distributed systems scheduling algorithm: a swarm intelligence approach

Science.gov (United States)

Haghi Kashani, Mostafa; Sarvizadeh, Raheleh; Jameii, Mahdi

2011-12-01

The scheduling problem in distributed systems is known as an NP-complete problem, and methods based on heuristic or metaheuristic search have been proposed to obtain optimal and suboptimal solutions. The task scheduling is a key factor for distributed systems to gain better performance. In this paper, an efficient method based on memetic algorithm is developed to solve the problem of distributed systems scheduling. With regard to load balancing efficiently, Artificial Bee Colony (ABC) has been applied as local search in the proposed memetic algorithm. The proposed method has been compared to existing memetic-Based approach in which Learning Automata method has been used as local search. The results demonstrated that the proposed method outperform the above mentioned method in terms of communication cost.

A Method for Dynamic Risk Assessment and Management of Rockbursts in Drill and Blast Tunnels

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Guo-Feng; Feng, Xia-Ting; Feng, Guang-Liang; Chen, Bing-Rui; Chen, Dong-Fang; Duan, Shu-Qian

2016-08-01

Focusing on the problems caused by rockburst hazards in deep tunnels, such as casualties, damage to construction equipment and facilities, construction schedule delays, and project cost increase, this research attempts to present a methodology for dynamic risk assessment and management of rockbursts in D&B tunnels. The basic idea of dynamic risk assessment and management of rockbursts is determined, and methods associated with each step in the rockburst risk assessment and management process are given, respectively. Among them, the main parts include a microseismic method for early warning the occurrence probability of rockburst risk, an estimation method that aims to assess potential consequences of rockburst risk, an evaluation method that utilizes a new quantitative index considering both occurrence probability and consequences for determining the level of rockburst risk, and the dynamic updating. Specifically, this research briefly describes the referenced microseismic method of warning rockburst, but focuses on the analysis of consequences and associated risk assessment and management of rockburst. Using the proposed method of risk assessment and management of rockburst, the occurrence probability, potential consequences, and the level of rockburst risk can be obtained in real-time during tunnel excavation, which contributes to the dynamic optimisation of risk mitigation measures and their application. The applicability of the proposed method has been verified by those cases from the Jinping II deep headrace and water drainage tunnels at depths of 1900-2525 m (with a length of 11.6 km in total for D&B tunnels).

Future aircraft networks and schedules

Science.gov (United States)

Shu, Yan

2011-07-01

computational results of these large-scale instances. To validate the models and solution algorithms developed, this thesis also compares the daily flight schedules that it designs with the schedules of the existing airlines. Furthermore, it creates instances that represent different economic and fuel-prices conditions and derives schedules under these different conditions. In addition, it discusses the implication of using new aircraft in the future flight schedules. Finally, future research in three areas---model, computational method, and simulation for validation---is proposed.

Knowledge-based scheduling of arrival aircraft

Science.gov (United States)

Krzeczowski, K.; Davis, T.; Erzberger, H.; Lev-Ram, I.; Bergh, C.

1995-01-01

A knowledge-based method for scheduling arrival aircraft in the terminal area has been implemented and tested in real-time simulation. The scheduling system automatically sequences, assigns landing times, and assigns runways to arrival aircraft by utilizing continuous updates of aircraft radar data and controller inputs. The scheduling algorithms is driven by a knowledge base which was obtained in over two thousand hours of controller-in-the-loop real-time simulation. The knowledge base contains a series of hierarchical 'rules' and decision logic that examines both performance criteria, such as delay reduction, as well as workload reduction criteria, such as conflict avoidance. The objective of the algorithms is to devise an efficient plan to land the aircraft in a manner acceptable to the air traffic controllers. This paper will describe the scheduling algorithms, give examples of their use, and present data regarding their potential benefits to the air traffic system.

Job shop scheduling by local search

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Vaessens, R.J.M.; Aarts, E.H.L.; Lenstra, J.K.

1994-01-01

We survey solution methods for the job shop scheduling problem with an emphasis on local search. We discuss both cleterministic and randomized local search methods as well as the applied neighborhoods. We compare the computational performance of the various methods in terms of their effectiveness

Genetic algorithm to solve the problems of lectures and practicums scheduling

Science.gov (United States)

Syahputra, M. F.; Apriani, R.; Sawaluddin; Abdullah, D.; Albra, W.; Heikal, M.; Abdurrahman, A.; Khaddafi, M.

2018-02-01

Generally, the scheduling process is done manually. However, this method has a low accuracy level, along with possibilities that a scheduled process collides with another scheduled process. When doing theory class and practicum timetable scheduling process, there are numerous problems, such as lecturer teaching schedule collision, schedule collision with another schedule, practicum lesson schedules that collides with theory class, and the number of classrooms available. In this research, genetic algorithm is implemented to perform theory class and practicum timetable scheduling process. The algorithm will be used to process the data containing lists of lecturers, courses, and class rooms, obtained from information technology department at University of Sumatera Utara. The result of scheduling process using genetic algorithm is the most optimal timetable that conforms to available time slots, class rooms, courses, and lecturer schedules.

Responsive versus scheduled feeding in preterm infants (Review)

OpenAIRE

Watson, Julie; McGuire, William

2015-01-01

Scheduled feeding of prescribed enteral volumes remains standard practice for preterm infants. However, feeding preterm infants in response to their feeding and satiation cues (responsive, cue-based, or infant led feeding) rather than at scheduled intervals might enhance parent experience and satisfaction, help in the establishment of independent oral feeding, increase nutrient intake and growth rates, and allow earlier hospital discharge.\\ud \\ud Objectives: To assess the effect of feeding pr...

2007 Wholesale Power Rate Schedules : 2007 General Rate Schedule Provisions.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

United States. Bonneville Power Administration.

2006-11-01

This schedule is available for the contract purchase of Firm Power to be used within the Pacific Northwest (PNW). Priority Firm (PF) Power may be purchased by public bodies, cooperatives, and Federal agencies for resale to ultimate consumers, for direct consumption, and for Construction, Test and Start-Up, and Station Service. Rates in this schedule are in effect beginning October 1, 2006, and apply to purchases under requirements Firm Power sales contracts for a three-year period. The Slice Product is only available for public bodies and cooperatives who have signed Slice contracts for the FY 2002-2011 period. Utilities participating in the Residential Exchange Program (REP) under Section 5(c) of the Northwest Power Act may purchase Priority Firm Power pursuant to the Residential Exchange Program. Rates under contracts that contain charges that escalate based on BPA's Priority Firm Power rates shall be based on the three-year rates listed in this rate schedule in addition to applicable transmission charges. This rate schedule supersedes the PF-02 rate schedule, which went into effect October 1, 2001. Sales under the PF-07 rate schedule are subject to BPA's 2007 General Rate Schedule Provisions (2007 GRSPs). Products available under this rate schedule are defined in the 2007 GRSPs. For sales under this rate schedule, bills shall be rendered and payments due pursuant to BPA's 2007 GRSPs and billing process.

[Presentation of the Psycho-Cardiological schedule and convergence levels analyses among the psycho-cardiological screening and the psychological assessment].

Science.gov (United States)

Pierobon, Antonia; Callegari, Simona; Giardini, Anna; Ferrari, Marina; Olmetti, Francesca; Corbellini, Daniela; Febo, Oreste; Majani, Giuseppina

2012-06-01

In Cardiovascular Rehabilitation the increasing inpatients complexity suggests the necessity to develop screening methods which allow to identify those patients that require a psychological intervention. A Psycho-Cardiological Schedule (PCS) was developed with the aim of detecting the critical situation indicators or the presence of psychological, social and cognitive problems. The PCS, compiled by a nurse or cardiologist in collaboration with a psychologist, allows to assess the need for a deeper psychological examination, clinical and/or with tests. Aim of the present study is to identify the convergence levels among the observational and anamnestic data of the PCS collected by a nurse and the clinical and/or test data of the psychological deeper assessment. Among the 87 patients recruited in January-February 2010, 28 (aged 53.5 +/- 12.6, M = 20, F = 8) fulfilled the criteria for a deeper psychological examination: age psychological/behavioural problems, neuropsychological disorders, low adherence to prescriptions, inadequate disease knowledge/representation. From data comparisons emerged convergence levels with 100% concordance as to smoke habits and problems in social-family support. High convergence levels also resulted as to emotional and/or behavioural problems (92.8%) and inadequate adherence to prescriptions (89.3%). Lower levels of concordance (82.1%) emerged when considering disease knowledge/representation, issues specifically linked to cognition and subjective illness experience, not directly detectable from behaviour. our data confirm the synergic efficacy of the two evaluations: the Psycho-Cardiological Schedule reliably identifies the problematic macro-categories, mainly if they are characterized by behavioural indicators, which facilitate the detection. The psychological approach appears more suitable for better specifing macro-categories characteristics and for detecting critical aspects not overt but not less important, providing therefore advice

An Improved Genetic Algorithm for Single-Machine Inverse Scheduling Problem

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Jianhui Mou

2014-01-01

Full Text Available The goal of the scheduling is to arrange operations on suitable machines with optimal sequence for corresponding objectives. In order to meet market requirements, scheduling systems must own enough flexibility against uncertain events. These events can change production status or processing parameters, even causing the original schedule to no longer be optimal or even to be infeasible. Traditional scheduling strategies, however, cannot cope with these cases. Therefore, a new idea of scheduling called inverse scheduling has been proposed. In this paper, the inverse scheduling with weighted completion time (SMISP is considered in a single-machine shop environment. In this paper, an improved genetic algorithm (IGA with a local searching strategy is proposed. To improve the performance of IGA, efficient encoding scheme, fitness evaluation mechanism, feasible initialization methods, and a local search procedure have been employed in the paper. Because of the local improving method, the proposed IGA can balance its exploration ability and exploitation ability. We adopt 27 instances to verify the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm. The experimental results illustrated that the proposed algorithm can generate satisfactory solutions. This approach also has been applied to solve the scheduling problem in the real Chinese shipyard and can bring some benefits.

Project management with dynamic scheduling baseline scheduling, risk analysis and project control

CERN Document Server

Vanhoucke, Mario

2013-01-01

The topic of this book is known as dynamic scheduling, and is used to refer to three dimensions of project management and scheduling: the construction of a baseline schedule and the analysis of a project schedule's risk as preparation of the project control phase during project progress. This dynamic scheduling point of view implicitly assumes that the usability of a project's baseline schedule is rather limited and only acts as a point of reference in the project life cycle.

EFFECTIVENESS OF SCHEDULED AMBULATION ON EARLY POSTOPERATIVE OUTCOME AMONG PATIENTS WHO HAVE UNDERGONE ABDOMINAL HYSTERECTOMY

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Rinku Girija

2017-01-01

Full Text Available BACKGROUND Abdominal hysterectomy is one of the most frequently performed surgical procedures in women. The non-ambulatory postoperative period is a high risk period for the development of various complications like wound infection, venous stasis, lower respiratory infection, secondary haemorrhage, deep vein thrombosis, pulmonary embolism, paralytic ileus etc. Prolonged surgery, delayed ambulation and not feeding the patient within 48 hours of surgery are often associated with post-operative morbidity and mortality. This study aims to assess the effectiveness of Scheduled Ambulation on early post-operative outcome among patients undergone abdominal hysterectomy by introduction of Scheduled Ambulation from second day of surgery. MATERIALS AND METHODS Method used is quantitative and quasi experimental post-test control method. Scheduled ambulation technique and pattern were taught pre operatively to 35 patients consecutively selected from general and post-operative ward who formed the experimental group. They were given scheduled ambulation from second to fifth post-operative days and results analysed. Another 35 patients taken as control were given the routine post-operative care. Data Analysis- was performed using SPSS version 17.0. Between group comparisons, quantitative variables analysed by Chisquare test p value >0, 05 considered significant. RESULTS The indication of hysterectomy was fibroid uterus in 80% of the control group and 88, 6% of the experimental group. 51.4% of the hysterectomies were encountered in the age group 40-49 years. There was a statistically significant reduction in the severity of pain, fatigue, postural hypotension and risk for developing Deep vein thrombosis in the experimental group on practicing Scheduled Ambulation from second to fifth post-operative days. CONCLUSION Scheduled ambulation helped the abdominal hysterectomy patients to recover from fatigue, pain, postural hypotension and risk for Deep vein thrombosis

The Schedule for Nonadaptive and Adaptive Personality for Youth (SNAP-Y): a new measure for assessing adolescent personality and personality pathology.

Science.gov (United States)

Linde, Jennifer A; Stringer, Deborah; Simms, Leonard J; Clark, Lee Anna

2013-08-01

The Schedule for Nonadaptive and Adaptive Personality-Youth Version (SNAP-Y) is a new, reliable self-report questionnaire that assesses 15 personality traits relevant to both normal-range personality and the alternative DSM-5 model for personality disorder. Community adolescents, 12 to 18 years old (N = 364), completed the SNAP-Y; 347 also completed the Big Five Inventory-Adolescent, 144 provided 2-week retest data, and 128 others completed the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-Adolescent. Outpatient adolescents (N = 103) completed the SNAP-Y, and 97 also completed the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-Adolescent. The SNAP-Y demonstrated strong psychometric properties, and structural, convergent, discriminant, and external validities. Consistent with the continuity of personality, results paralleled those in adult and college samples using the adult Schedule for Nonadaptive and Adaptive Personality-Second Edition (SNAP-2), from which the SNAP-Y derives and which has established validity in personality-trait assessment across the normal-abnormal continuum. The SNAP-Y thus provides a new, clinically useful instrument to assess personality traits and personality pathology in adolescents.

NASA scheduling technologies

Science.gov (United States)

Adair, Jerry R.

1994-01-01

This paper is a consolidated report on ten major planning and scheduling systems that have been developed by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). A description of each system, its components, and how it could be potentially used in private industry is provided in this paper. The planning and scheduling technology represented by the systems ranges from activity based scheduling employing artificial intelligence (AI) techniques to constraint based, iterative repair scheduling. The space related application domains in which the systems have been deployed vary from Space Shuttle monitoring during launch countdown to long term Hubble Space Telescope (HST) scheduling. This paper also describes any correlation that may exist between the work done on different planning and scheduling systems. Finally, this paper documents the lessons learned from the work and research performed in planning and scheduling technology and describes the areas where future work will be conducted.

Adaptive Gain Scheduled Semiactive Vibration Control Using a Neural Network

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Kazuhiko Hiramoto

2018-01-01

Full Text Available We propose an adaptive gain scheduled semiactive control method using an artificial neural network for structural systems subject to earthquake disturbance. In order to design a semiactive control system with high control performance against earthquakes with different time and/or frequency properties, multiple semiactive control laws with high performance for each of multiple earthquake disturbances are scheduled with an adaptive manner. Each semiactive control law to be scheduled is designed based on the output emulation approach that has been proposed by the authors. As the adaptive gain scheduling mechanism, we introduce an artificial neural network (ANN. Input signals of the ANN are the measured earthquake disturbance itself, for example, the acceleration, velocity, and displacement. The output of the ANN is the parameter for the scheduling of multiple semiactive control laws each of which has been optimized for a single disturbance. Parameters such as weight and bias in the ANN are optimized by the genetic algorithm (GA. The proposed design method is applied to semiactive control design of a base-isolated building with a semiactive damper. With simulation study, the proposed adaptive gain scheduling method realizes control performance exceeding single semiactive control optimizing the average of the control performance subject to various earthquake disturbances.

75 FR 42831 - Proposed Collection; Comment Request for Form 1065, Schedule C, Schedule D, Schedule K-1...

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-22

.../or continuing information collections, as required by the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, Public Law... Income, Credits, Deductions and Other Items), Schedule L (Balance Sheets per Books), Schedule M-1 (Reconciliation of Income (Loss) per Books With Income (Loss) per Return)), Schedule M-2 (Analysis of Partners...

The impact of a scheduling change on ninth grade high school performance on biology benchmark exams and the California Standards Test

Science.gov (United States)

Leonardi, Marcelo

The primary purpose of this study was to examine the impact of a scheduling change from a trimester 4x4 block schedule to a modified hybrid schedule on student achievement in ninth grade biology courses. This study examined the impact of the scheduling change on student achievement through teacher created benchmark assessments in Genetics, DNA, and Evolution and on the California Standardized Test in Biology. The secondary purpose of this study examined the ninth grade biology teacher perceptions of ninth grade biology student achievement. Using a mixed methods research approach, data was collected both quantitatively and qualitatively as aligned to research questions. Quantitative methods included gathering data from departmental benchmark exams and California Standardized Test in Biology and conducting multiple analysis of covariance and analysis of covariance to determine significance differences. Qualitative methods include journal entries questions and focus group interviews. The results revealed a statistically significant increase in scores on both the DNA and Evolution benchmark exams. DNA and Evolution benchmark exams showed significant improvements from a change in scheduling format. The scheduling change was responsible for 1.5% of the increase in DNA benchmark scores and 2% of the increase in Evolution benchmark scores. The results revealed a statistically significant decrease in scores on the Genetics Benchmark exam as a result of the scheduling change. The scheduling change was responsible for 1% of the decrease in Genetics benchmark scores. The results also revealed a statistically significant increase in scores on the CST Biology exam. The scheduling change was responsible for .7% of the increase in CST Biology scores. Results of the focus group discussions indicated that all teachers preferred the modified hybrid schedule over the trimester schedule and that it improved student achievement.

Optimal investment and scheduling of distributed energy resources with uncertainty in electric vehicle driving schedules

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cardoso, G.; Stadler, M.; Bozchalui, M.C.; Sharma, R.; Marnay, C.; Barbosa-Póvoa, A.; Ferrão, P.

2014-01-01

The large scale penetration of electric vehicles (EVs) will introduce technical challenges to the distribution grid, but also carries the potential for vehicle-to-grid services. Namely, if available in large enough numbers, EVs can be used as a distributed energy resource (DER) and their presence can influence optimal DER investment and scheduling decisions in microgrids. In this work, a novel EV fleet aggregator model is introduced in a stochastic formulation of DER-CAM [1], an optimization tool used to address DER investment and scheduling problems. This is used to assess the impact of EV interconnections on optimal DER solutions considering uncertainty in EV driving schedules. Optimization results indicate that EVs can have a significant impact on DER investments, particularly if considering short payback periods. Furthermore, results suggest that uncertainty in driving schedules carries little significance to total energy costs, which is corroborated by results obtained using the stochastic formulation of the problem. - Highlights: • This paper introduces a new EV aggregator model in the DER-CAM model and expands it with a stochastic formulation. • The model is used to analyze the impact of EVs in DER investment decisions in a large office building. • The uncertainty in EV driving patterns is considered through scenarios based on data from a daily commute driving survey. • Results indicate that EVs have a significant impact in optimal DER decisions, particularly when looking at short payback periods. • Furthermore, results indicate that uncertainty in EV driving schedules has little impact on DER investment decisions

Evaluation of Selected Resource Allocation and Scheduling Methods in Heterogeneous Many-Core Processors and Graphics Processing Units

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Ciznicki Milosz

2014-12-01

Full Text Available Heterogeneous many-core computing resources are increasingly popular among users due to their improved performance over homogeneous systems. Many developers have realized that heterogeneous systems, e.g. a combination of a shared memory multi-core CPU machine with massively parallel Graphics Processing Units (GPUs, can provide significant performance opportunities to a wide range of applications. However, the best overall performance can only be achieved if application tasks are efficiently assigned to different types of processor units in time taking into account their specific resource requirements. Additionally, one should note that available heterogeneous resources have been designed as general purpose units, however, with many built-in features accelerating specific application operations. In other words, the same algorithm or application functionality can be implemented as a different task for CPU or GPU. Nevertheless, from the perspective of various evaluation criteria, e.g. the total execution time or energy consumption, we may observe completely different results. Therefore, as tasks can be scheduled and managed in many alternative ways on both many-core CPUs or GPUs and consequently have a huge impact on the overall computing resources performance, there are needs for new and improved resource management techniques. In this paper we discuss results achieved during experimental performance studies of selected task scheduling methods in heterogeneous computing systems. Additionally, we present a new architecture for resource allocation and task scheduling library which provides a generic application programming interface at the operating system level for improving scheduling polices taking into account a diversity of tasks and heterogeneous computing resources characteristics.

Multi-Satellite Observation Scheduling for Large Area Disaster Emergency Response

Science.gov (United States)

Niu, X. N.; Tang, H.; Wu, L. X.

2018-04-01

an optimal imaging plan, plays a key role in coordinating multiple satellites to monitor the disaster area. In the paper, to generate imaging plan dynamically according to the disaster relief, we propose a dynamic satellite task scheduling method for large area disaster response. First, an initial robust scheduling scheme is generated by a robust satellite scheduling model in which both the profit and the robustness of the schedule are simultaneously maximized. Then, we use a multi-objective optimization model to obtain a series of decomposing schemes. Based on the initial imaging plan, we propose a mixed optimizing algorithm named HA_NSGA-II to allocate the decomposing results thus to obtain an adjusted imaging schedule. A real disaster scenario, i.e., 2008 Wenchuan earthquake, is revisited in terms of rapid response using satellite resources and used to evaluate the performance of the proposed method with state-of-the-art approaches. We conclude that our satellite scheduling model can optimize the usage of satellite resources so as to obtain images in disaster response in a more timely and efficient manner.

Analyzing Integrated Cost-Schedule Risk for Complex Product Systems R&D Projects

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Zhe Xu

2014-01-01

Full Text Available The vast majority of the research efforts in project risk management tend to assess cost risk and schedule risk independently. However, project cost and time are related in reality and the relationship between them should be analyzed directly. We propose an integrated cost and schedule risk assessment model for complex product systems R&D projects. Graphical evaluation review technique (GERT, Monte Carlo simulation, and probability distribution theory are utilized to establish the model. In addition, statistical analysis and regression analysis techniques are employed to analyze simulation outputs. Finally, a complex product systems R&D project as an example is modeled by the proposed approach and the simulation outputs are analyzed to illustrate the effectiveness of the risk assessment model. It seems that integrating cost and schedule risk assessment can provide more reliable risk estimation results.

Schedule control in Ling Ao nuclear power project

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Xie Ahai

2007-01-01

Ling Ao Nuclear Power Station (LANP) is first one built up by self-reliance in China with power capacity 990x2 MWe. The results of quality control, schedule control and cost control are satisfactory. The commercial operation days of Unit 1 and Unit 2 were 28th May 2002 and 8th Jan. 2003 respectively, which were 48 days and 66 days in advance of the project schedule. This paper presents the practices of self-reliance schedule control system in LANP. The paper includes 10 sections: schedule control system; targets of schedule control; schedule control at early stage of project; construction schedule; scheduling practice; Point curves; schedule control of design and procurement; a good practice of construction schedule control on site; commissioning and startup schedule; schedule control culture. Three figures are attached. The main contents of the self-reliance schedule control system are as follows: to draw up reasonable schedules and targets; to setup management mechanism and procedures; to organize powerful project management team; to establish close monitoring system; to provide timely progress reports and statistics information. Five kinds of schedule control targets are introduced, i.e. bar-chart schedule; milesones; Point curves; interface management; hydraulic test schedule of auxiliary piping loops; EMR/EMC/EESR issuance schedules. Six levels of bar-chart schedules were adopted in LANP, but the bar-chart schedules were not satisfactory for complicated erection condition on site, even using six levels of schedules. So a kind of Point curves was developed and their advantages are explained. Scheduling method of three elements: activity, duration, logic, which was adopted in LANP, is introduced. The duration of each piping activities in LANP level 2 project schedule was calculated based on the relevant working Point quantities. The analysis and adjustment of Point curves are illustrated, i.e. balance of monthly quantities; possible production in the peakload

The impact of exposure to shift-based schedules on medical students

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David A. Williams

2015-06-01

Full Text Available Background: With new resident duty-hour regulations, resident work schedules have progressively transitioned towards shift-based systems, sometimes resulting in increased team fragmentation. We hypothesized that exposure to shift-based schedules and subsequent team fragmentation would negatively affect medical student experiences during their third-year internal medicine clerkship. Design: As part of a larger national study on duty-hour reform, 67 of 150 eligible third-year medical students completed surveys about career choice, teaching and supervision, assessment, patient care, well-being, and attractiveness of a career in internal medicine after completing their internal medicine clerkship. Students who rotated to hospitals with shift-based systems were compared to those who did not. Non-demographic variables used a five-point Likert scale. Chi-squared and Fisher's exact tests were used to assess the relationships between exposure to shift-based schedules and student responses. Questions with univariate p≤0.1 were included in multivariable logistic regression models. Results: Thirty-six students (54% were exposed to shift-based schedules. Students exposed to shift-based schedules were less likely to perceive that their attendings were committed to teaching (odds ratio [OR] 0.35, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.13–0.90, p=0.01 or perceive that residents had sufficient exposure to assess their performance (OR 0.29, 95% CI: 0.09–0.91, p=0.03. However, those students were more likely to feel their interns were able to observe them at the bedside (OR 1.89, 95% CI: 1.08–3.13, p=0.02 and had sufficient exposure to assess their performance (OR 3.00, 95% CI: 1.01–8.86, p=0.05. Conclusions: These findings suggest that shift-based schedules designed in response to duty-hour reform may have important broader implications for the teaching environment.

The impact of exposure to shift-based schedules on medical students.

Science.gov (United States)

Williams, David A; Kogan, Jennifer R; Hauer, Karen E; Yamashita, Traci; Aagaard, Eva M

2015-01-01

With new resident duty-hour regulations, resident work schedules have progressively transitioned towards shift-based systems, sometimes resulting in increased team fragmentation. We hypothesized that exposure to shift-based schedules and subsequent team fragmentation would negatively affect medical student experiences during their third-year internal medicine clerkship. As part of a larger national study on duty-hour reform, 67 of 150 eligible third-year medical students completed surveys about career choice, teaching and supervision, assessment, patient care, well-being, and attractiveness of a career in internal medicine after completing their internal medicine clerkship. Students who rotated to hospitals with shift-based systems were compared to those who did not. Non-demographic variables used a five-point Likert scale. Chi-squared and Fisher's exact tests were used to assess the relationships between exposure to shift-based schedules and student responses. Questions with univariate p ≤ 0.1 were included in multivariable logistic regression models. Thirty-six students (54%) were exposed to shift-based schedules. Students exposed to shift-based schedules were less likely to perceive that their attendings were committed to teaching (odds ratio [OR] 0.35, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.13-0.90, p = 0.01) or perceive that residents had sufficient exposure to assess their performance (OR 0.29, 95% CI: 0.09-0.91, p = 0.03). However, those students were more likely to feel their interns were able to observe them at the bedside (OR 1.89, 95% CI: 1.08-3.13, p = 0.02) and had sufficient exposure to assess their performance (OR 3.00, 95% CI: 1.01-8.86, p = 0.05). These findings suggest that shift-based schedules designed in response to duty-hour reform may have important broader implications for the teaching environment.

Accelerating exact schedulability analysis for fixed-priority pre-emptive scheduling

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hang, Y.; Jiale, Z.; Keskin, U.; Bril, R.J.

2010-01-01

The schedulability analysis for fixed-priority preemptive scheduling (FPPS) plays a significant role in the real-time systems domain. The so-called Hyperplanes Exact Test (HET) [1] is an example of an exact schedulability test for FPPS. In this paper, we aim at improving the efficiency of HET by

Solving a chemical batch scheduling problem by local search

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Brucker, P.; Hurink, Johann L.

1999-01-01

A chemical batch scheduling problem is modelled in two different ways as a discrete optimization problem. Both models are used to solve the batch scheduling problem in a two-phase tabu search procedure. The method is tested on real-world data.

Consideration regarding the scheduling of unannounced or randomized inspections

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sanborn, J.

2001-01-01

Full text: Randomized inspection strategies, including unannounced, short notice, or randomly selected scheduled inspections can play an useful role in integrated safeguards by allowing a reduction in the number of inspections without sacrificing coverage of diversion scenarios. The Agency and member states have proposed such strategies as important elements of integrated safeguards proposals at reactors as well as bulk handling facilities. The Agency, however, has limited experience with such inspections, and a number of issues need to be addressed before effective implementation can occur; how these issues are resolved will determine how effective the inspections will be. This paper focuses on the question of how to determine the timing of such inspections. It is pointed out that there are a large number of variants of the idea of 'randomized inspection,' and that each option will have advantages and disadvantages from the points of view of the operator, the logistics of inspection scheduling, and the capabilities for detection. The method chosen should depend on the type of scenarios that the Agency wishes to detect. The mathematically purest form of randomized schedule will have broad theoretical applicability, but may prove more difficult to put into practice, and may be unnecessary, or even sub-optimal, depending on the inspection objective. On the other hand, each restriction on inspection that provides the operator with information on when the inspection will occur must be taken into account when assessing detection probability. The paper reviews a number of scheduling approaches in the context of different objectives and considers effectiveness, operational impact, and practicality. (author)

Environmental surveillance master sampling schedule

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bisping, L.E.

1997-01-01

Environmental surveillance of the Hanford Site and surrounding areas is conducted by the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL)(a) for the US Department of Energy (DOE). This document contains the planned 1997 schedules for routine collection of samples for the Surface Environmental Surveillance Project (SESP) and Drinking Water Monitoring Project. In addition, Section 3.0, Biota, also reflects a rotating collection schedule identifying the year a specific sample is scheduled for collection. The purpose of these monitoring projects is to evaluate levels of radioactive and nonradioactive pollutants in the Hanford environs, as required in DOE Order 5400.1, General Environmental Protection Program, and DOE Order 5400.5, Radiation Protection of the Public and the Environment. The sampling methods will be the same as those described in the Environmental Monitoring Plan, US Department of Energy, Richland Operations Office, DOE/RL91-50, Rev. 1, US Department of Energy, Richland, Washington

Performance comparison of some evolutionary algorithms on job shop scheduling problems

Science.gov (United States)

Mishra, S. K.; Rao, C. S. P.

2016-09-01

Job Shop Scheduling as a state space search problem belonging to NP-hard category due to its complexity and combinational explosion of states. Several naturally inspire evolutionary methods have been developed to solve Job Shop Scheduling Problems. In this paper the evolutionary methods namely Particles Swarm Optimization, Artificial Intelligence, Invasive Weed Optimization, Bacterial Foraging Optimization, Music Based Harmony Search Algorithms are applied and find tuned to model and solve Job Shop Scheduling Problems. To compare about 250 Bench Mark instances have been used to evaluate the performance of these algorithms. The capabilities of each these algorithms in solving Job Shop Scheduling Problems are outlined.

Pre-emptive resource-constrained multimode project scheduling using genetic algorithm: A dynamic forward approach

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Aidin Delgoshaei

2016-09-01

Full Text Available Purpose: The issue resource over-allocating is a big concern for project engineers in the process of scheduling project activities. Resource over-allocating drawback is frequently seen after scheduling of a project in practice which causes a schedule to be useless. Modifying an over-allocated schedule is very complicated and needs a lot of efforts and time. In this paper, a new and fast tracking method is proposed to schedule large scale projects which can help project engineers to schedule the project rapidly and with more confidence. Design/methodology/approach: In this article, a forward approach for maximizing net present value (NPV in multi-mode resource constrained project scheduling problem while assuming discounted positive cash flows (MRCPSP-DCF is proposed. The progress payment method is used and all resources are considered as pre-emptible. The proposed approach maximizes NPV using unscheduled resources through resource calendar in forward mode. For this purpose, a Genetic Algorithm is applied to solve. Findings: The findings show that the proposed method is an effective way to maximize NPV in MRCPSP-DCF problems while activity splitting is allowed. The proposed algorithm is very fast and can schedule experimental cases with 1000 variables and 100 resources in few seconds. The results are then compared with branch and bound method and simulated annealing algorithm and it is found the proposed genetic algorithm can provide results with better quality. Then algorithm is then applied for scheduling a hospital in practice. Originality/value: The method can be used alone or as a macro in Microsoft Office Project® Software to schedule MRCPSP-DCF problems or to modify resource over-allocated activities after scheduling a project. This can help project engineers to schedule project activities rapidly with more accuracy in practice.

Preliminary assessment of alternative dry storage methods for the storage of commercial spent nuclear fuel

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1981-11-01

This report presents the results of an assessment of the (1) state of technology, (2) licensability, (3) implementation schedule, and (4) costs of alternative dry methods for storage of spent fuel at a reactor location when used to supplement reactor pool storage facilities. The methods of storage that were considered included storage in casks, drywells, concrete silos and air-cooled vaults. The impact of disassembly of spent fuel and storage of consolidated fuel rods was also determined. The economic assessments were made based on the current projected storage requirements of Virginia Electric and Power Company's Surry Station for the period 1985 to 2009, which has two operating pressurized water reactors (824 MWe each). It was estimated that the unit cost for storage of spent fuel in casks would amount to $117/kgU and that such costs for storage in drywells would amount to $137/kgU. However, based on the overall assessment it was concluded both storage methods were equal in merit. Modular methods of storage were generally found to be more economic than those requiring all or most of the facilities to be constructed prior to commencement of storage operations

Aspects if stochastic models for short-term hydropower scheduling and bidding

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Belsnes, Michael Martin [Sintef Energy, Trondheim (Norway); Follestad, Turid [Sintef Energy, Trondheim (Norway); Wolfgang, Ove [Sintef Energy, Trondheim (Norway); Fosso, Olav B. [Dep. of electric power engineering NTNU, Trondheim (Norway)

2012-07-01

This report discusses challenges met when turning from deterministic to stochastic decision support models for short-term hydropower scheduling and bidding. The report describes characteristics of the short-term scheduling and bidding problem, different market and bidding strategies, and how a stochastic optimization model can be formulated. A review of approaches for stochastic short-term modelling and stochastic modelling for the input variables inflow and market prices is given. The report discusses methods for approximating the predictive distribution of uncertain variables by scenario trees. Benefits of using a stochastic over a deterministic model are illustrated by a case study, where increased profit is obtained to a varying degree depending on the reservoir filling and price structure. Finally, an approach for assessing the effect of using a size restricted scenario tree to approximate the predictive distribution for stochastic input variables is described. The report is a summary of the findings of Work package 1 of the research project #Left Double Quotation Mark#Optimal short-term scheduling of wind and hydro resources#Right Double Quotation Mark#. The project aims at developing a prototype for an operational stochastic short-term scheduling model. Based on the investigations summarized in the report, it is concluded that using a deterministic equivalent formulation of the stochastic optimization problem is convenient and sufficient for obtaining a working prototype. (author)

Adapting planning and scheduling concepts to an engineering perspective: Key issues and successful techniques

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Finnegan, J.M.

1986-01-01

Traditional approaches to engineering planning are slanted toward the formats and interests of downstream implementation, and do not always consider the form and criticality of the front-end engineering development process. These processes and scopes are less defined and more subjective than most construction and operations tasks, and require flexible scheduling methods. This paper discusses the characteristics and requirement of engineering schedules, presents concepts for approaching planning in this field, and illustrates simple methods for developing and analyzing engineering plans, and evaluating schedule performance. Engineering plans are structured into a schedule hierarchy which delineates appropriate control and responsibilities, and is governed by key evaluation and decision milestones. Schedule risk analysis considers the uncertainty of engineering tasks, and critical resource constraints. Methods to evaluate schedule performance recognize that engineers and managers are responsible for adequate planning and forecasting, and quality decisions, even if they cannot control all factors influencing schedule results

The impact of alternative pricing methods for drugs in California Workers’ Compensation System: Fee-schedule pricing

Science.gov (United States)

Wilson, Leslie; Turkistani, Fatema A.; Huang, Wei; Tran, Dang M.; Lin, Tracy Kuo

2018-01-01

Introduction California’s Workers’ Compensation System (CAWCS) Department of Industrial Relations questioned the adequacy of the current Medi-Cal fee-schedule pricing and requested analysis of alternatives that maximize price availability and maintain budget neutrality. Objectives To compare CAWCS pharmacy-dispensed (PD) drug prices under alternative fee schedules, and identify combinations of alternative benchmarks that have prices available for the largest percentage of PD drugs and that best reach budget neutrality. Methods Claims transaction-level data (2011–2013) from CAWCS were used to estimate total annual PD pharmaceutical payments. Medi-Cal pricing data was from the Workman’s Compensation Insurance System (WCIS). Average Wholesale Prices (AWP), Wholesale Acquisition Costs (WAC), Direct Prices (DP), Federal Upper Limit (FUL) prices, and National Average Drug Acquisition Costs (NADAC) were from Medi-Span. We matched National Drug Codes (NDCs), pricing dates, and drug quantity for comparisons. We report pharmacy-dispensed (PD) claims frequency, reimbursement matching rate, and paid costs by CAWCS as the reference price against all alternative price benchmarks. Results Of 12,529,977 CAWCS claims for pharmaceutical products 11.6% (1,462,814) were for PD drugs. Prescription drug cost for CAWCS was over $152M; $63.9M, $47.9M, and $40.6M in 2011–2013. Ninety seven percent of these CAWCS PD claims had a Medi-Cal price. Alternative mechanisms provided a price for fewer claims; NADAC 94.23%, AWP 90.94%, FUL 73.11%, WAC 66.98%, and DP 14.33%. Among CAWCS drugs with no Medi-Cal price in PD claims, AWP, WAC, NADAC, DP, and FUL provided prices for 96.7%, 63.14%, 24.82%, 20.83%, and 15.08% of claims. Overall CAWCS paid 100.52% of Medi-Cal, 60% of AWP, 97% of WAC, 309.53% of FUL, 103.83% of DP, and 136.27% of NADAC. Conclusions CAWCS current Medi-Cal fee-schedule price list for PD drugs is more complete than all alternative fee-schedules. However, all

Web Publishing Schedule

Science.gov (United States)

Section 207(f)(2) of the E-Gov Act requires federal agencies to develop an inventory and establish a schedule of information to be published on their Web sites, make those schedules available for public comment. To post the schedules on the web site.

Thinking Outside the Block: An Innovative Alternative to 4X4 Block Scheduling.

Science.gov (United States)

Frank, Myra

2002-01-01

Introduces a 4x1 block scheduling method that was developed as an alternative to 4x4 block scheduling. Schedules Fridays for summer school, test preparation, and enrichment and elective courses. Includes suggestions on how to alleviate drawbacks of the 4x1 block schedule. (YDS)

Schedule Matters: Understanding the Relationship between Schedule Delays and Costs on Overruns

Science.gov (United States)

Majerowicz, Walt; Shinn, Stephen A.

2016-01-01

This paper examines the relationship between schedule delays and cost overruns on complex projects. It is generally accepted by many project practitioners that cost overruns are directly related to schedule delays. But what does "directly related to" actually mean? Some reasons or root causes for schedule delays and associated cost overruns are obvious, if only in hindsight. For example, unrealistic estimates, supply chain difficulties, insufficient schedule margin, technical problems, scope changes, or the occurrence of risk events can negatively impact schedule performance. Other factors driving schedule delays and cost overruns may be less obvious and more difficult to quantify. Examples of these less obvious factors include project complexity, flawed estimating assumptions, over-optimism, political factors, "black swan" events, or even poor leadership and communication. Indeed, is it even possible the schedule itself could be a source of delay and subsequent cost overrun? Through literature review, surveys of project practitioners, and the authors' own experience on NASA programs and projects, the authors will categorize and examine the various factors affecting the relationship between project schedule delays and cost growth. The authors will also propose some ideas for organizations to consider to help create an awareness of the factors which could cause or influence schedule delays and associated cost growth on complex projects.

Cost-efficient scheduling of FAST observations

Science.gov (United States)

Luo, Qi; Zhao, Laiping; Yu, Ce; Xiao, Jian; Sun, Jizhou; Zhu, Ming; Zhong, Yi

2018-03-01

A cost-efficient schedule for the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST) requires to maximize the number of observable proposals and the overall scientific priority, and minimize the overall slew-cost generated by telescope shifting, while taking into account the constraints including the astronomical objects visibility, user-defined observable times, avoiding Radio Frequency Interference (RFI). In this contribution, first we solve the problem of maximizing the number of observable proposals and scientific priority by modeling it as a Minimum Cost Maximum Flow (MCMF) problem. The optimal schedule can be found by any MCMF solution algorithm. Then, for minimizing the slew-cost of the generated schedule, we devise a maximally-matchable edges detection-based method to reduce the problem size, and propose a backtracking algorithm to find the perfect matching with minimum slew-cost. Experiments on a real dataset from NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database (NED) show that, the proposed scheduler can increase the usage of available times with high scientific priority and reduce the slew-cost significantly in a very short time.

Project Scheduling Based on Risk of Gas Transmission Pipe

Science.gov (United States)

Silvianita; Nurbaity, A.; Mulyadi, Y.; Suntoyo; Chamelia, D. M.

2018-03-01

The planning of a project has a time limit on which must be completed before or right at a predetermined time. Thus, in a project planning, it is necessary to have scheduling management that is useful for completing a project to achieve maximum results by considering the constraints that will exists. Scheduling management is undertaken to deal with uncertainties and negative impacts of time and cost in project completion. This paper explains about scheduling management in gas transmission pipeline project Gresik-Semarang to find out which scheduling plan is most effectively used in accordance with its risk value. Scheduling management in this paper is assissted by Microsoft Project software to find the critical path of existing project scheduling planning data. Critical path is the longest scheduling path with the fastest completion time. The result is found a critical path on project scheduling with completion time is 152 days. Furthermore, the calculation of risk is done by using House of Risk (HOR) method and it is found that the critical path has a share of 40.98 percent of all causes of the occurence of risk events that will be experienced.

Compilation time analysis to minimize run-time overhead in preemptive scheduling on multiprocessors

Science.gov (United States)

Wauters, Piet; Lauwereins, Rudy; Peperstraete, J.

1994-10-01

This paper describes a scheduling method for hard real-time Digital Signal Processing (DSP) applications, implemented on a multi-processor. Due to the very high operating frequencies of DSP applications (typically hundreds of kHz) runtime overhead should be kept as small as possible. Because static scheduling introduces very little run-time overhead it is used as much as possible. Dynamic pre-emption of tasks is allowed if and only if it leads to better performance in spite of the extra run-time overhead. We essentially combine static scheduling with dynamic pre-emption using static priorities. Since we are dealing with hard real-time applications we must be able to guarantee at compile-time that all timing requirements will be satisfied at run-time. We will show that our method performs at least as good as any static scheduling method. It also reduces the total amount of dynamic pre-emptions compared with run time methods like deadline monotonic scheduling.

PROMSYS, Plant Equipment Maintenance and Inspection Scheduling

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Morgan, D.L.; Srite, B.E.

1986-01-01

1 - Description of problem or function: PROMSYS is a computer system designed to automate the scheduling of routine maintenance and inspection of plant equipment. This 'programmed maintenance' provides the detailed planning and accomplishment of lubrication, inspection, and similar repetitive maintenance activities which can be scheduled at specified predetermined intervals throughout the year. The equipment items included are the typical pumps, blowers, motors, compressors, automotive equipment, refrigeration units, filtering systems, machine shop equipment, cranes, elevators, motor-generator sets, and electrical switchgear found throughout industry, as well as cell ventilation, shielding, containment, and material handling equipment unique to nuclear research and development facilities. Four related programs are used to produce sorted schedule lists, delinquent work lists, and optional master lists. Five additional programs are used to create and maintain records of all scheduled and unscheduled maintenance history. 2 - Method of solution: Service specifications and frequency are established and stored. The computer program reviews schedules weekly and prints, on schedule cards, instructions for service that is due the following week. The basic output from the computer program comes in two forms: programmed-maintenance schedule cards and programmed-maintenance data sheets. The data sheets can be issued in numerical building, route, and location number sequence as equipment lists, grouped for work assigned to a particular foreman as the foreman's equipment list, or grouped by work charged to a particular work order as the work-order list. Data sheets grouped by equipment classification are called the equipment classification list

48 CFR 915.404-4-71-5 - Fee schedules.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... METHODS AND CONTRACT TYPES CONTRACTING BY NEGOTIATION Contract Pricing 915.404-4-71-5 Fee schedules. (a... subcontracting, normal contractor services performed by the government or another contractor: (1) The target fee...) The target fee schedule provides for 45 percent of the contract work to be subcontracted for such...

Application of cultural algorithm to generation scheduling of hydrothermal systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yuan Xiaohui; Yuan Yanbin

2006-01-01

The daily generation scheduling of hydrothermal power systems plays an important role in the operation of electric power systems for economics and security, which is a large scale dynamic non-linear constrained optimization problem. It is difficult to solve using traditional optimization methods. This paper proposes a new cultural algorithm to solve the optimal daily generation scheduling of hydrothermal power systems. The approach takes the water transport delay time between connected reservoirs into consideration and can conveniently deal with the complicated hydraulic coupling simultaneously. An example is used to verify the correctness and effectiveness of the proposed cultural algorithm, comparing with both the Lagrange method and the genetic algorithm method. The simulation results demonstrate that the proposed algorithm has rapid convergence speed and higher solution precision. Thus, an effective method is provided to solve the optimal daily generation scheduling of hydrothermal systems

The applicability of knowledge-based scheduling to the utilities industry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yoshimoto, G.; Gargan, R. Jr.; Duggan, P.

1992-01-01

The Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), Nuclear Power Division, has identified the three major goals of high technology applications for nuclear power plants. These goals are to enhance power production through increasing power generation efficiency, to increase productivity of the operations, and to reduce the threats to the safety of the plant. Our project responds to the second goal by demonstrating that significant productivity increases can be achieved for outage maintenance operations based on existing knowledge-based scheduling technology. Its use can also mitigate threats to potential safety problems by means of the integration of risk assessment features into the scheduler. The scheduling approach uses advanced techniques enabling the automation of the routine scheduling decision process that previously was handled by people. The process of removing conflicts in scheduling is automated. This is achieved by providing activity representations that allow schedulers to express a variety of different scheduling constraints and by implementing scheduling mechanisms that simulate kinds of processes that humans use to find better solutions from a large number of possible solutions. This approach allows schedulers to express detailed constraints between activities and other activities, resources (material and personnel), and requirements that certain states exist for their execution. Our scheduler has already demonstrated its benefit to improving the shuttle processing flow management at Kennedy Space Center. Knowledge-based scheduling techniques should be examined by utilities industry researchers, developers, operators and management for application to utilities planning problems because of its great cost benefit potential. 4 refs., 4 figs

29 CFR 825.203 - Scheduling of intermittent or reduced schedule leave.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... leave intermittently or on a reduced leave schedule for planned medical treatment, then the employee... 29 Labor 3 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Scheduling of intermittent or reduced schedule leave. 825... OF LABOR OTHER LAWS THE FAMILY AND MEDICAL LEAVE ACT OF 1993 Employee Leave Entitlements Under the...

ATLAS construction schedule

CERN Multimedia

Kotamaki, M

The goal during the last few months has been to freeze and baseline as much as possible the schedules of various ATLAS systems and activities. The main motivations for the re-baselining of the schedules have been the new LHC schedule aiming at first collisions in early 2006 and the encountered delays in civil engineering as well as in the production of some of the detectors. The process was started by first preparing a new installation schedule that takes into account all the new external constraints and the new ATLAS staging scenario. The installation schedule version 3 was approved in the March EB and it provides the Ready For Installation (RFI) milestones for each system, i.e. the date when the system should be available for the start of the installation. TCn is now interacting with the systems aiming at a more realistic and resource loaded version 4 before the end of the year. Using the new RFI milestones as driving dates a new summary schedule has been prepared, or is under preparation, for each system....

The Schedule for Nonadaptive and Adaptive Personality for Youth (SNAP-Y): A New Measure for Assessing Adolescent Personality and Personality Pathology

Science.gov (United States)

Linde, Jennifer A.; Stringer, Deborah; Simms, Leonard J.; Clark, Lee Anna

2013-01-01

The Schedule for Nonadaptive and Adaptive Personality-Youth Version (SNAP-Y) is a new, reliable self-report questionnaire that assesses 15 personality traits relevant to both normal-range personality and the alternative "DSM"-5 model for personality disorder. Community adolescents, 12 to 18 years old (N = 364), completed the SNAP-Y; 347…

Freezing the Master Production Schedule Under Rolling Planning Horizons

OpenAIRE

V. Sridharan; William L. Berry; V. Udayabhanu

1987-01-01

The stability of the Master Production Schedule (MPS) is a critical issue in managing production operations with a Material Requirements Planning System. One method of achieving stability is to freeze some portion or all of the MPS. While freezing the MPS can limit the number of schedule changes, it can also produce an increase in production and inventory costs. This paper examines three decision variables in freezing the MPS: the freezing method, the freeze interval length, and the planning ...

Taking the lag out of jet lag through model-based schedule design.

Science.gov (United States)

Dean, Dennis A; Forger, Daniel B; Klerman, Elizabeth B

2009-06-01

Travel across multiple time zones results in desynchronization of environmental time cues and the sleep-wake schedule from their normal phase relationships with the endogenous circadian system. Circadian misalignment can result in poor neurobehavioral performance, decreased sleep efficiency, and inappropriately timed physiological signals including gastrointestinal activity and hormone release. Frequent and repeated transmeridian travel is associated with long-term cognitive deficits, and rodents experimentally exposed to repeated schedule shifts have increased death rates. One approach to reduce the short-term circadian, sleep-wake, and performance problems is to use mathematical models of the circadian pacemaker to design countermeasures that rapidly shift the circadian pacemaker to align with the new schedule. In this paper, the use of mathematical models to design sleep-wake and countermeasure schedules for improved performance is demonstrated. We present an approach to designing interventions that combines an algorithm for optimal placement of countermeasures with a novel mode of schedule representation. With these methods, rapid circadian resynchrony and the resulting improvement in neurobehavioral performance can be quickly achieved even after moderate to large shifts in the sleep-wake schedule. The key schedule design inputs are endogenous circadian period length, desired sleep-wake schedule, length of intervention, background light level, and countermeasure strength. The new schedule representation facilitates schedule design, simulation studies, and experiment design and significantly decreases the amount of time to design an appropriate intervention. The method presented in this paper has direct implications for designing jet lag, shift-work, and non-24-hour schedules, including scheduling for extreme environments, such as in space, undersea, or in polar regions.

System and method for optimal load and source scheduling in context aware homes

Science.gov (United States)

Shetty, Pradeep; Foslien Graber, Wendy; Mangsuli, Purnaprajna R.; Kolavennu, Soumitri N.; Curtner, Keith L.

2018-01-23

A controller for controlling energy consumption in a home includes a constraints engine to define variables for multiple appliances in the home corresponding to various home modes and persona of an occupant of the home. A modeling engine models multiple paths of energy utilization of the multiple appliances to place the home into a desired state from a current context. An optimal scheduler receives the multiple paths of energy utilization and generates a schedule as a function of the multiple paths and a selected persona to place the home in a desired state.

Optimal imaging surveillance schedules after liver-directed therapy for hepatocellular carcinoma.

Science.gov (United States)

Boas, F Edward; Do, Bao; Louie, John D; Kothary, Nishita; Hwang, Gloria L; Kuo, William T; Hovsepian, David M; Kantrowitz, Mark; Sze, Daniel Y

2015-01-01

To optimize surveillance schedules for the detection of recurrent hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) after liver-directed therapy. New methods have emerged that allow quantitative analysis and optimization of surveillance schedules for diseases with substantial rates of recurrence such as HCC. These methods were applied to 1,766 consecutive chemoembolization, radioembolization, and radiofrequency ablation procedures performed on 910 patients between 2006 and 2011. Computed tomography or magnetic resonance imaging performed just before repeat therapy was set as the time of "recurrence," which included residual and locally recurrent tumor as well as new liver tumors. Time-to-recurrence distribution was estimated by Kaplan-Meier method. Average diagnostic delay (time between recurrence and detection) was calculated for each proposed surveillance schedule using the time-to-recurrence distribution. An optimized surveillance schedule could then be derived to minimize the average diagnostic delay. Recurrence is 6.5 times more likely in the first year after treatment than in the second. Therefore, screening should be much more frequent in the first year. For eight time points in the first 2 years of follow-up, the optimal schedule is 2, 4, 6, 8, 11, 14, 18, and 24 months. This schedule reduces diagnostic delay compared with published schedules and is cost-effective. The calculated optimal surveillance schedules include shorter-interval follow-up when there is a higher probability of recurrence and longer-interval follow-up when there is a lower probability. Cost can be optimized for a specified acceptable diagnostic delay or diagnostic delay can be optimized within a specified acceptable cost. Copyright © 2015 SIR. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Cure Schedule for Stycast 2651/Catalyst 11.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kropka, Jamie Michael [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); McCoy, John D. [New Mexico Inst. of Mining and Technology, Socorro, NM (United States)

2017-11-01

The Henkel technical data sheet (TDS) for Stycast 2651/Catalyst 11 lists three alternate cure schedules for the material, each of which would result in a different state of reaction and different material properties. Here, a cure schedule that attains full reaction of the material is defined. The use of this cure schedule will eliminate variance in material properties due to changes in the cure state of the material, and the cure schedule will serve as the method to make material prior to characterizing properties. The following recommendation was motivated by (1) a desire to cure at a single temperature for ease of manufacture and (2) a desire to keep the cure temperature low (to minimize residual stress build-up associated with the cooldown from the cure temperature to room temperature) without excessively limiting the cure reaction due to vitrification (i.e., material glass transition temperature, T_g, exceeding cure temperature).

Job Scheduling with Efficient Resource Monitoring in Cloud Datacenter

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shyamala Loganathan

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Cloud computing is an on-demand computing model, which uses virtualization technology to provide cloud resources to users in the form of virtual machines through internet. Being an adaptable technology, cloud computing is an excellent alternative for organizations for forming their own private cloud. Since the resources are limited in these private clouds maximizing the utilization of resources and giving the guaranteed service for the user are the ultimate goal. For that, efficient scheduling is needed. This research reports on an efficient data structure for resource management and resource scheduling technique in a private cloud environment and discusses a cloud model. The proposed scheduling algorithm considers the types of jobs and the resource availability in its scheduling decision. Finally, we conducted simulations using CloudSim and compared our algorithm with other existing methods, like V-MCT and priority scheduling algorithms.

PLACEMENT APPLICATIONS SCHEDULING LECTURE IN INTERNATIONAL PROGRAM UNIKOM BASED ANDROID

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Andri Sahata Sitanggang

2017-12-01

Full Text Available One who determines life of a classroom namely mapping scheduling courses especially at college. The process scheduling has included time or schedule of a class of available, room available, lecture who is scheduled for, and schedule for lecturer going to teach. Hopefully with a scheduling it will facilitate the students and teachers in obtaining information lecture schedule. With the emergence of the android application ( is implanted in mobile phones , the public can now use the internet so fast that is based .So with that researchers give one a technology based solutions to build android application .This is because one of the technology has given the functions which may make it easier for students and university lecturers in terms of access to information. In building this application used method of the prototype consisting 2 access namely access user and admin , where module user consisting of modules register , login , scheduling module , while for admin given module login , register and arrangement information scheduling courses both the administration and lecturers .Application made will be integrated with internet so that this program is real-time application.

Solving Flexible Job-Shop Scheduling Problem Using Gravitational Search Algorithm and Colored Petri Net

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Behnam Barzegar

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Scheduled production system leads to avoiding stock accumulations, losses reduction, decreasing or even eliminating idol machines, and effort to better benefitting from machines for on time responding customer orders and supplying requested materials in suitable time. In flexible job-shop scheduling production systems, we could reduce time and costs by transferring and delivering operations on existing machines, that is, among NP-hard problems. The scheduling objective minimizes the maximal completion time of all the operations, which is denoted by Makespan. Different methods and algorithms have been presented for solving this problem. Having a reasonable scheduled production system has significant influence on improving effectiveness and attaining to organization goals. In this paper, new algorithm were proposed for flexible job-shop scheduling problem systems (FJSSP-GSPN that is based on gravitational search algorithm (GSA. In the proposed method, the flexible job-shop scheduling problem systems was modeled by color Petri net and CPN tool and then a scheduled job was programmed by GSA algorithm. The experimental results showed that the proposed method has reasonable performance in comparison with other algorithms.

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.

Entity’s Irregular Demand Scheduling of the Wholesale Electricity Market based on the Forecast of Hourly Price Ratios

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

O. V. Russkov

2015-01-01

Full Text Available The article considers a hot issue to forecast electric power demand amounts and prices for the entities of wholesale electricity market (WEM, which are in capacity of a large user with production technology requirements prevailing over hourly energy planning ones. An electric power demand of such entities is on irregular schedule. The article analyses mathematical models, currently applied to forecast demand amounts and prices. It describes limits of time-series models and fundamental ones in case of hourly forecasting an irregular demand schedule of the electricity market entity. The features of electricity trading at WEM are carefully analysed. Factors that influence on irregularity of demand schedule of the metallurgical plant are shown. The article proposes method for the qualitative forecast of market price ratios as a tool to reduce a dependence on the accuracy of forecasting an irregular schedule of demand. It describes the differences between the offered method and the similar ones considered in research studies and scholarly works. The correlation between price ratios and relaxation in the requirements for the forecast accuracy of the electric power consumption is analysed. The efficiency function of forecast method is derived. The article puts an increased focus on description of the mathematical model based on the method of qualitative forecast. It shows main model parameters and restrictions the electricity market imposes on them. The model prototype is described as a programme module. Methods to assess an effectiveness of the proposed forecast model are examined. The positive test results of the model using JSC «Volzhsky Pipe Plant» data are given. A conclusion is drawn concerning the possibility to decrease dependence on the forecast accuracy of irregular schedule of entity’s demand at WEM. The effective trading tool has been found for the entities of irregular demand schedule at WEM. The tool application allows minimizing cost

A Mechanized Decision Support System for Academic Scheduling.

Science.gov (United States)

1986-03-01

an operational system called software. The first step in the development phase is Design . Designers destribute software control by factoring the Data...SUBJECT TERMS (Continue on reverse if necessary and identify by block number) ELD GROUP SUB-GROUP Scheduling, Decision Support System , Software Design ...scheduling system . It will also examine software - design techniques to identify the most appropriate method- ology for this problem. " - Chapter 3 will

A randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover study to assess the efficacy and safety of three dosing schedules of agalsidase alfa enzyme replacement therapy for Fabry disease.

Science.gov (United States)

Hughes, D A; Deegan, P B; Milligan, A; Wright, N; Butler, L H; Jacobs, A; Mehta, A B

2013-07-01

Anecdotal reports suggest that the currently approved dosing interval of agalsidase alfa (0.2 mg/kg/2 weeks) for Fabry disease treatment is too long. This randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover study investigated three altered dosing intervals. 18 Fabry patients received three agalsidase alfa dosing schedules, each for four weeks (A: 0.2 mg/kg∗2 weeks, B: 0.1 mg/kg/week, C: 0.2 mg/kg/week). Health state, pain levels, sweat volume and latency and plasma and urinary globotriaosylceramide levels were recorded throughout the study. No significant differences were found among the schedules for the primary efficacy outcome of self-assessed health state, or for pain scores. A trend toward increased sweat volume on QSART testing, and reduced urine globotriaosylceramide concentration were seen with treatment schedule C. Agalsidase alfa was safe and well tolerated with all schedules. In conclusion, the primary analyses did not find weekly infusions of agalsidase alfa to be statistically better than the approved dosing schedule however the data indicates that further studies with more patients over a longer period are required to more accurately determine the optimum dose and schedule. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Work schedule manager gap analysis : assessing the future training needs of work schedule managers using a strategic job analysis approach

Science.gov (United States)

2010-05-01

This report documents the results of a strategic job analysis that examined the job tasks and knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics (KSAOs) needed to perform the job of a work schedule manager. The strategic job analysis compared in...

Task-specific shell for scheduling problems, ARES[sub TM]/SCH. Scheduling mondai muke task tokka shell ARES[sub TM]/SCH

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kojima, S; Narimatsu, K [Toshiba Corp., Tokyo (Japan)

1994-08-01

An Expert System (ES) Shell (developed by Toshiba Corp.) which applies to the scheduling of production plan and operation plan is introduced. It describes that this tool is equipped with flowchart editor and constraint condition editor which mention the knowledge related to scheduling method, and that the former expresses scheduling procedure knowledge in the form of flowchart by combining basic tasks prepared beforehand, and the latter expresses constraint conditions which should be satisfied by the schedule, and knowledge related to the priority order which should be considered in-between in the form of IF-THEN Rule which is very close to Japanese. In addition, the knowledge is equipped with knowledge debugging system which conducts debugging while executing the knowledge. It adds that by using this tool, the manhour required for the development and maintenance of ES can be reduced considerably. 2 refs., 3 figs.

Taking the lag out of jet lag through model-based schedule design.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dennis A Dean

2009-06-01

Full Text Available Travel across multiple time zones results in desynchronization of environmental time cues and the sleep-wake schedule from their normal phase relationships with the endogenous circadian system. Circadian misalignment can result in poor neurobehavioral performance, decreased sleep efficiency, and inappropriately timed physiological signals including gastrointestinal activity and hormone release. Frequent and repeated transmeridian travel is associated with long-term cognitive deficits, and rodents experimentally exposed to repeated schedule shifts have increased death rates. One approach to reduce the short-term circadian, sleep-wake, and performance problems is to use mathematical models of the circadian pacemaker to design countermeasures that rapidly shift the circadian pacemaker to align with the new schedule. In this paper, the use of mathematical models to design sleep-wake and countermeasure schedules for improved performance is demonstrated. We present an approach to designing interventions that combines an algorithm for optimal placement of countermeasures with a novel mode of schedule representation. With these methods, rapid circadian resynchrony and the resulting improvement in neurobehavioral performance can be quickly achieved even after moderate to large shifts in the sleep-wake schedule. The key schedule design inputs are endogenous circadian period length, desired sleep-wake schedule, length of intervention, background light level, and countermeasure strength. The new schedule representation facilitates schedule design, simulation studies, and experiment design and significantly decreases the amount of time to design an appropriate intervention. The method presented in this paper has direct implications for designing jet lag, shift-work, and non-24-hour schedules, including scheduling for extreme environments, such as in space, undersea, or in polar regions.

Robust Optimization-Based Generation Self-Scheduling under Uncertain Price

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xiao Luo

2011-01-01

Full Text Available This paper considers generation self-scheduling in electricity markets under uncertain price. Based on the robust optimization (denoted as RO methodology, a new self-scheduling model, which has a complicated max-min optimization structure, is set up. By using optimal dual theory, the proposed model is reformulated to an ordinary quadratic and quadratic cone programming problems in the cases of box and ellipsoidal uncertainty, respectively. IEEE 30-bus system is used to test the new model. Some comparisons with other methods are done, and the sensitivity with respect to the uncertain set is analyzed. Comparing with the existed uncertain self-scheduling approaches, the new method has twofold characteristics. First, it does not need a prediction of distribution of random variables and just requires an estimated value and the uncertain set of power price. Second, the counterpart of RO corresponding to the self-scheduling is a simple quadratic or quadratic cone programming. This indicates that the reformulated problem can be solved by many ordinary optimization algorithms.

Optimal Intermittent Dose Schedules for Chemotherapy Using Genetic Algorithm

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nadia ALAM

2013-08-01

Full Text Available In this paper, a design method for optimal cancer chemotherapy schedules via genetic algorithm (GA is presented. The design targets the key objective of chemotherapy to minimize the size of cancer tumor after a predefined time with keeping toxic side effects in limit. This is a difficult target to achieve using conventional clinical methods due to poor therapeutic indices of existing anti-cancer drugs. Moreover, there are clinical limitations in treatment administration to maintain continuous treatment. Besides, carefully decided rest periods are recommended to for patient’s comfort. Three intermittent drug scheduling schemes are presented in this paper where GA is used to optimize the dose quantities and timings by satisfying several treatment constraints. All three schemes are found to be effective in total elimination of cancer tumor after an agreed treatment length. The number of cancer cells is found zero at the end of the treatment for all three cases with tolerable toxicity. Finally, two of the schemes, “Fixed interval variable dose (FIVD and “Periodic dose” that are periodic in characteristic have been emphasized due to their additional simplicity in administration along with friendliness to patients. responses to the designed treatment schedules. Therefore the proposed design method is capable of planning effective, simple, patient friendly and acceptable chemotherapy schedules.

Production planning and scheduling in refinery industry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Persson, Jan.

1999-01-01

In this thesis we consider production planning and scheduling in refinery industry, in particular we study the planning and scheduling at the Nynaes AB refinery and at the Scanraff AB refinery. The purpose is to contribute to the development and the use of optimization models to support efficient decision making. We identify various decision problems concerning the aggregated production planning, the shipment planning, the scheduling of operation modes, and the utilization of pipes and tanks; and we discuss the potential to successfully apply optimization models on these problems. We formulate a mixed integer linear programming model for the scheduling of operation modes at Nynaes. The model concerns decisions about which mode of operation to use at a particular point in time in order to minimize costs of changing modes and costs of keeping inventories, given demands for products. We derive several types of valid inequalities for this mathematical problem and show how these inequalities can improve the lower bound obtained from the linear programming relaxation of the problem. We also show how the valid inequalities can be used to improve the performance of a branch and bound solution approach. Further, a tabu search heuristic is developed for the scheduling problem. The solution methods are tested on data provided by the Nynaes refinery, and the performance of the methods are discussed. We present several extensions of the proposed model, and illustrate how the model can be used to support both operational and strategic decision making at the refinery. 66 refs, 6 figs, 32 tabs. Also published as: Dissertation from the International Graduate School of Management and Industrial Engineering, No 25, Licenciate Thesis

Production planning and scheduling in refinery industry

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Persson, Jan

1999-07-01

In this thesis we consider production planning and scheduling in refinery industry, in particular we study the planning and scheduling at the Nynaes AB refinery and at the Scanraff AB refinery. The purpose is to contribute to the development and the use of optimization models to support efficient decision making. We identify various decision problems concerning the aggregated production planning, the shipment planning, the scheduling of operation modes, and the utilization of pipes and tanks; and we discuss the potential to successfully apply optimization models on these problems. We formulate a mixed integer linear programming model for the scheduling of operation modes at Nynaes. The model concerns decisions about which mode of operation to use at a particular point in time in order to minimize costs of changing modes and costs of keeping inventories, given demands for products. We derive several types of valid inequalities for this mathematical problem and show how these inequalities can improve the lower bound obtained from the linear programming relaxation of the problem. We also show how the valid inequalities can be used to improve the performance of a branch and bound solution approach. Further, a tabu search heuristic is developed for the scheduling problem. The solution methods are tested on data provided by the Nynaes refinery, and the performance of the methods are discussed. We present several extensions of the proposed model, and illustrate how the model can be used to support both operational and strategic decision making at the refinery. 66 refs, 6 figs, 32 tabs. Also published as: Dissertation from the International Graduate School of Management and Industrial Engineering, No 25, Licenciate Thesis.

Production planning and scheduling in refinery industry

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Persson, Jan

1999-06-01

In this thesis we consider production planning and scheduling in refinery industry, in particular we study the planning and scheduling at the Nynaes AB refinery and at the Scanraff AB refinery. The purpose is to contribute to the development and the use of optimization models to support efficient decision making. We identify various decision problems concerning the aggregated production planning, the shipment planning, the scheduling of operation modes, and the utilization of pipes and tanks; and we discuss the potential to successfully apply optimization models on these problems. We formulate a mixed integer linear programming model for the scheduling of operation modes at Nynaes. The model concerns decisions about which mode of operation to use at a particular point in time in order to minimize costs of changing modes and costs of keeping inventories, given demands for products. We derive several types of valid inequalities for this mathematical problem and show how these inequalities can improve the lower bound obtained from the linear programming relaxation of the problem. We also show how the valid inequalities can be used to improve the performance of a branch and bound solution approach. Further, a tabu search heuristic is developed for the scheduling problem. The solution methods are tested on data provided by the Nynaes refinery, and the performance of the methods are discussed. We present several extensions of the proposed model, and illustrate how the model can be used to support both operational and strategic decision making at the refinery. 66 refs, 6 figs, 32 tabs. Also published as: Dissertation from the International Graduate School of Management and Industrial Engineering, No 25, Licenciate Thesis

Constraint-based scheduling applying constraint programming to scheduling problems

CERN Document Server

Baptiste, Philippe; Nuijten, Wim

2001-01-01

Constraint Programming is a problem-solving paradigm that establishes a clear distinction between two pivotal aspects of a problem: (1) a precise definition of the constraints that define the problem to be solved and (2) the algorithms and heuristics enabling the selection of decisions to solve the problem. It is because of these capabilities that Constraint Programming is increasingly being employed as a problem-solving tool to solve scheduling problems. Hence the development of Constraint-Based Scheduling as a field of study. The aim of this book is to provide an overview of the most widely used Constraint-Based Scheduling techniques. Following the principles of Constraint Programming, the book consists of three distinct parts: The first chapter introduces the basic principles of Constraint Programming and provides a model of the constraints that are the most often encountered in scheduling problems. Chapters 2, 3, 4, and 5 are focused on the propagation of resource constraints, which usually are responsibl...

Value of information in sequential decision making: Component inspection, permanent monitoring and system-level scheduling

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Memarzadeh, Milad; Pozzi, Matteo

2016-01-01

We illustrate how to assess the Value of Information (VoI) in sequential decision making problems modeled by Partially Observable Markov Decision Processes (POMDPs). POMDPs provide a general framework for modeling the management of infrastructure components, including operation and maintenance, when only partial or noisy observations are available; VoI is a key concept for selecting explorative actions, with application to component inspection and monitoring. Furthermore, component-level VoI can serve as an effective heuristic for assigning priorities to system-level inspection scheduling. We introduce two alternative models for the availability of information, and derive the VoI in each of those settings: the Stochastic Allocation (SA) model assumes that observations are collected with a given probability, while the Fee-based Allocation model (FA) assumes that they are available at a given cost. After presenting these models at component-level, we investigate how they perform for system-level inspection scheduling. - Highlights: • On the Value of Information in POMDPs, for optimal exploration of systems. • A method for assessing the Value of Information of permanent monitoring. • A method for allocating inspections in systems made up by parallel POMDPs.

Thermal Unit Commitment Scheduling Problem in Utility System by Tabu Search Embedded Genetic Algorithm Method

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

C. Christober Asir Rajan

2008-06-01

Full Text Available The objective of this paper is to find the generation scheduling such that the total operating cost can be minimized, when subjected to a variety of constraints. This also means that it is desirable to find the optimal unit commitment in the power system for the next H hours. A 66-bus utility power system in India demonstrates the effectiveness of the proposed approach; extensive studies have also been performed for different IEEE test systems consist of 24, 57 and 175 buses. Numerical results are shown comparing the cost solutions and computation time obtained by different intelligence and conventional methods.

Program reference schedule baseline

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1986-07-01

This Program Reference Schedule Baseline (PRSB) provides the baseline Program-level milestones and associated schedules for the Civilian Radioactive Waste Management Program. It integrates all Program-level schedule-related activities. This schedule baseline will be used by the Director, Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management (OCRWM), and his staff to monitor compliance with Program objectives. Chapter 1 includes brief discussions concerning the relationship of the PRSB to the Program Reference Cost Baseline (PRCB), the Mission Plan, the Project Decision Schedule, the Total System Life Cycle Cost report, the Program Management Information System report, the Program Milestone Review, annual budget preparation, and system element plans. Chapter 2 includes the identification of all Level 0, or Program-level, milestones, while Chapter 3 presents and discusses the critical path schedules that correspond to those Level 0 milestones

Second-order schedules of token reinforcement with pigeons: effects of fixed- and variable-ratio exchange schedules.

Science.gov (United States)

Foster, T A; Hackenberg, T D; Vaidya, M

2001-09-01

Pigeons' key pecks produced food under second-order schedules of token reinforcement, with light-emitting diodes serving as token reinforcers. In Experiment 1, tokens were earned according to a fixed-ratio 50 schedule and were exchanged for food according to either fixed-ratio or variable-ratio exchange schedules, with schedule type varied across conditions. In Experiment 2, schedule type was varied within sessions using a multiple schedule. In one component, tokens were earned according to a fixed-ratio 50 schedule and exchanged according to a variable-ratio schedule. In the other component, tokens were earned according to a variable-ratio 50 schedule and exchanged according to a fixed-ratio schedule. In both experiments, the number of responses per exchange was varied parametrically across conditions, ranging from 50 to 400 responses. Response rates decreased systematically with increases in the fixed-ratio exchange schedules, but were much less affected by changes in the variable-ratio exchange schedules. Response rates were consistently higher under variable-ratio exchange schedules than tinder comparable fixed-ratio exchange schedules, especially at higher exchange ratios. These response-rate differences were due both to greater pre-ratio pausing and to lower local rates tinder the fixed-ratio exchange schedules. Local response rates increased with proximity to food under the higher fixed-ratio exchange schedules, indicative of discriminative control by the tokens.

Perceptions of randomized security schedules.

Science.gov (United States)

Scurich, Nicholas; John, Richard S

2014-04-01

Security of infrastructure is a major concern. Traditional security schedules are unable to provide omnipresent coverage; consequently, adversaries can exploit predictable vulnerabilities to their advantage. Randomized security schedules, which randomly deploy security measures, overcome these limitations, but public perceptions of such schedules have not been examined. In this experiment, participants were asked to make a choice between attending a venue that employed a traditional (i.e., search everyone) or a random (i.e., a probability of being searched) security schedule. The absolute probability of detecting contraband was manipulated (i.e., 1/10, 1/4, 1/2) but equivalent between the two schedule types. In general, participants were indifferent to either security schedule, regardless of the probability of detection. The randomized schedule was deemed more convenient, but the traditional schedule was considered fairer and safer. There were no differences between traditional and random schedule in terms of perceived effectiveness or deterrence. Policy implications for the implementation and utilization of randomized schedules are discussed. © 2013 Society for Risk Analysis.

Optimal Scheduling of Residential Microgrids Considering Virtual Energy Storage System

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Weiliang Liu

2018-04-01

Full Text Available The increasingly complex residential microgrids (r-microgrid consisting of renewable generation, energy storage systems, and residential buildings require a more intelligent scheduling method. Firstly, aiming at the radiant floor heating/cooling system widely utilized in residential buildings, the mathematical relationship between the operative temperature and heating/cooling demand is established based on the equivalent thermodynamic parameters (ETP model, by which the thermal storage capacity is analyzed. Secondly, the radiant floor heating/cooling system is treated as virtual energy storage system (VESS, and an optimization model based on mixed-integer nonlinear programming (MINLP for r-microgrid scheduling is established which takes thermal comfort level and economy as the optimization objectives. Finally, the optimal scheduling results of two typical r-microgrids are analyzed. Case studies demonstrate that the proposed scheduling method can effectively employ the thermal storage capacity of radiant floor heating/cooling system, thus lowering the operating cost of the r-microgrid effectively while ensuring the thermal comfort level of users.

Combined Noncyclic Scheduling and Advanced Control for Continuous Chemical Processes

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Damon Petersen

2017-12-01

Full Text Available A novel formulation for combined scheduling and control of multi-product, continuous chemical processes is introduced in which nonlinear model predictive control (NMPC and noncyclic continuous-time scheduling are efficiently combined. A decomposition into nonlinear programming (NLP dynamic optimization problems and mixed-integer linear programming (MILP problems, without iterative alternation, allows for computationally light solution. An iterative method is introduced to determine the number of production slots for a noncyclic schedule during a prediction horizon. A filter method is introduced to reduce the number of MILP problems required. The formulation’s closed-loop performance with both process disturbances and updated market conditions is demonstrated through multiple scenarios on a benchmark continuously stirred tank reactor (CSTR application with fluctuations in market demand and price for multiple products. Economic performance surpasses cyclic scheduling in all scenarios presented. Computational performance is sufficiently light to enable online operation in a dual-loop feedback structure.

Optimal scheduling for distribution network with redox flow battery storage

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hosseina, Majid; Bathaee, Seyed Mohammad Taghi

2016-01-01

Highlights: • A novel method for optimal scheduling of storages in radial network is presented. • Peak shaving and load leveling are the main objectives. • Vanadium redox flow battery is considered as the energy storage unit. • Real data is used for simulation. - Abstract: There are many advantages to utilize storages in electric power system. Peak shaving, load leveling, load frequency control, integration of renewable, energy trading and spinning reserve are the most important of them. Batteries, especially redox flow batteries, are one of the appropriate storages for utilization in distribution network. This paper presents a novel, heuristic and practical method for optimal scheduling in distribution network with flow battery storage. This heuristic method is more suitable for scheduling and operation of distribution networks which require installation of storages. Peak shaving and load leveling is considered as the main objective in this paper. Several indices are presented in this paper for determine the place of storages and also scheduling for optimal use of energy in them. Simulations of this paper are based on real information of distribution network substation that located in Semnan, Iran.

ASSESSMENT OF THE PREVALENCE OF PSYCHIATRIC-DISORDER IN YOUNG-ADULTS

NARCIS (Netherlands)

FERDINAND, RF; VANDERREIJDEN, M; VERHULST, FC; NIENHUIS, FJ; GIEL, R

Background. The effectiveness of different assessment procedures for determining prevalence rates of psychiatric disorder in young adults was investigated. Method. In a two-stage multi-method procedure, the Young Adult Self-Report, the Schedules for Clinical Assessment in Neuropsychiatry (SCAN), the

Optimal OFDMA Downlink Scheduling Under a Control Signaling Cost Constraint

OpenAIRE

Larsson, Erik G.

2010-01-01

This paper proposes a new algorithm for downlink scheduling in OFDMA systems. The method maximizes the throughput, taking into account the amount of signaling needed to transmit scheduling maps to the users. A combinatorial problem is formulated and solved via a dynamic programming approach reminiscent of the Viterbi algorithm. The total computational complexity of the algorithm is upper boundedby O(K^4N) where K is the number of users that are being considered for scheduling in a frame and N...

EFFICIENT MULTI-OBJECTIVE EVOLUTIONARY ALGORITHM FOR JOB SHOP SCHEDULING

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

Lei Deming; Wu Zhiming

2005-01-01

A new representation method is first presented based on priority rules. According to this method, each entry in the chromosome indicates that in the procedure of the Giffler and Thompson (GT) algorithm, the conflict occurring in the corresponding machine is resolved by the corresponding priority rule. Then crowding-measure multi-objective evolutionary algorithm (CMOEA) is designed,in which both archive maintenance and fitness assignment use crowding measure. Finally the comparisons between CMOEA and SPEA in solving 15 scheduling problems demonstrate that CMOEA is suitable to job shop scheduling.

Scheduling with Time Lags

NARCIS (Netherlands)

X. Zhang (Xiandong)

2010-01-01

textabstractScheduling is essential when activities need to be allocated to scarce resources over time. Motivated by the problem of scheduling barges along container terminals in the Port of Rotterdam, this thesis designs and analyzes algorithms for various on-line and off-line scheduling problems

An improved formulation of the underground mine scheduling ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

2014-06-12

Jun 12, 2014 ... the mine scheduling optimisation problem for both open pit and ... that involves the iterative solving of the linear programming ... methods is discussed in §4 and the concept of a mining-method-dependent grade tonnage.

Exclusive Preference Develops Less Readily on Concurrent Ratio Schedules with Wheel-Running than with Sucrose Reinforcement

Science.gov (United States)

Belke, Terry W.

2010-01-01

Previous research suggested that allocation of responses on concurrent schedules of wheel-running reinforcement was less sensitive to schedule differences than typically observed with more conventional reinforcers. To assess this possibility, 16 female Long Evans rats were exposed to concurrent FR FR schedules of reinforcement and the schedule…

Automated Scheduling Via Artificial Intelligence

Science.gov (United States)

Biefeld, Eric W.; Cooper, Lynne P.

1991-01-01

Artificial-intelligence software that automates scheduling developed in Operations Mission Planner (OMP) research project. Software used in both generation of new schedules and modification of existing schedules in view of changes in tasks and/or available resources. Approach based on iterative refinement. Although project focused upon scheduling of operations of scientific instruments and other equipment aboard spacecraft, also applicable to such terrestrial problems as scheduling production in factory.

Schedule Analytics

Science.gov (United States)

2016-04-30

Warfare, Naval Sea Systems Command Acquisition Cycle Time : Defining the Problem David Tate, Institute for Defense Analyses Schedule Analytics Jennifer...research was comprised of the following high- level steps :  Identify and review primary data sources 1...research. However, detailed reviews of the OMB IT Dashboard data revealed that schedule data is highly aggregated. Program start date and program end date

Vaccinating my way--use of alternative vaccination schedules in New York State.

Science.gov (United States)

Nadeau, Jessica A; Bednarczyk, Robert A; Masawi, Munyaradzi R; Meldrum, Megan D; Santilli, Loretta; Zansky, Shelley M; Blog, Debra S; Birkhead, Guthrie S; McNutt, Louise-Anne

2015-01-01

To identify children vaccinated following an alternative vaccine schedule using immunization information system data and determine the impact of alternative schedule use on vaccine coverage. Children born in New York State, outside New York City, between January 1, 2009 and August 14, 2011 were assessed for vaccination patterns consistent with use of an alternative schedule. Children who by 9 months of age had at least 3 vaccination visits recorded in the statewide mandatory immunization information system after 41 days of age were classified as either attempting to conform to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published recommended vaccination schedule or an alternative schedule. The number of vaccination visits and up-to-date status at age 9 months were compared between groups. Of the 222 628 children studied, the proportion of children following an alternative schedule was 25%. These children were significantly less likely to be up-to-date at age 9 months (15%) compared with those conforming to the routine schedule (90%, P Children following an alternative schedule on average had about 2 extra vaccine visits compared with children following a routine schedule (P children in this study appear to be intentionally deviating from the routine schedule. Intentional deviation leads to poor vaccination coverage leaving children vulnerable to infection and increasing the potential for vaccine-preventable disease outbreaks. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Analysis for Involvement of TPP Operating in Accordance with Heating Schedule to Passing Through Failures of Electric Load Schedules

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

V. I. Nazarov

2013-01-01

Full Text Available The paper describes technical and economic evaluation of various methods pertaining to passing through failures of electric load at TPP which is operating in accordance with heating schedule.

Modeling the World Health Organization Disability Assessment Schedule II using non-parametric item response models.

Science.gov (United States)

Galindo-Garre, Francisca; Hidalgo, María Dolores; Guilera, Georgina; Pino, Oscar; Rojo, J Emilio; Gómez-Benito, Juana

2015-03-01

The World Health Organization Disability Assessment Schedule II (WHO-DAS II) is a multidimensional instrument developed for measuring disability. It comprises six domains (getting around, self-care, getting along with others, life activities and participation in society). The main purpose of this paper is the evaluation of the psychometric properties for each domain of the WHO-DAS II with parametric and non-parametric Item Response Theory (IRT) models. A secondary objective is to assess whether the WHO-DAS II items within each domain form a hierarchy of invariantly ordered severity indicators of disability. A sample of 352 patients with a schizophrenia spectrum disorder is used in this study. The 36 items WHO-DAS II was administered during the consultation. Partial Credit and Mokken scale models are used to study the psychometric properties of the questionnaire. The psychometric properties of the WHO-DAS II scale are satisfactory for all the domains. However, we identify a few items that do not discriminate satisfactorily between different levels of disability and cannot be invariantly ordered in the scale. In conclusion the WHO-DAS II can be used to assess overall disability in patients with schizophrenia, but some domains are too general to assess functionality in these patients because they contain items that are not applicable to this pathology. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Preemptive scheduling with rejection

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hoogeveen, H.; Skutella, M.; Woeginger, Gerhard

2003-01-01

We consider the problem of preemptively scheduling a set of n jobs on m (identical, uniformly related, or unrelated) parallel machines. The scheduler may reject a subset of the jobs and thereby incur job-dependent penalties for each rejected job, and he must construct a schedule for the remaining

Preemptive scheduling with rejection

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hoogeveen, J.A.; Skutella, M.; Woeginger, G.J.; Paterson, M.

2000-01-01

We consider the problem of preemptively scheduling a set of n jobs on m (identical, uniformly related, or unrelated) parallel machines. The scheduler may reject a subset of the jobs and thereby incur job-dependent penalties for each rejected job, and he must construct a schedule for the remaining

Load scheduling for decentralized CHP plants

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nielsen, Henrik Aalborg, orlov 31.07.2008; Madsen, Henrik; Nielsen, Torben Skov

) an interactive decision support tool by which optimal schedules can be found given the forecasts or user-defined modifications of the forecasts, and (iii) an automatic on-line system for monitoring when conditions have changed so that rescheduling is appropriate. In this report the focus is on methods applicable...... be obtained. Furthermore, we believe that all relevant forecasting methods are far too complicated to allow for this integration; both uncertainties originating from the dependence of heat load on climate and from meteorological forecasts need to be taken into account. Instead we suggest that the decision....... By letting the system find optimal schedules for each of these realizations the operator can gain some insight into the importance of the uncertainties. It is shown that with modern personal computers (e.g. 1 GHz Pentium III), operating systems (e.g. RedHat Linux 6.0), and compilers (e.g. GNU C 2...

Research on optimizing pass schedule of tandem cold mill

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lu, C.; Wang, J.S.; Zhao, Q.L.; Liu, X.H.; Wang, G.D.

2000-01-01

In this paper, research on pass schedule of tandem cold mill (TCM) is carried out. According to load (reduction, rolling force, motor power) balance, non-linear equations set with variables of inter-stand thickness is constructed. The pass schedule optimization is carried out by solving the non-linear equations set. As the traditional method, the Newton-Raphson method is used for solving the non-linear equations set. In this paper a new simple method is brought up. On basis of the monotone relations between thickness and load, the inter-stands thickness is adjusted dynamically. The solution of non-linear equations set can be converged by iterative calculation. This method can avoid the derivative calculation used by traditional method. So, this method is simple and calculation speed is high. It is suitable for on-line control. (author)

A comparison of two exact methods for passenger railway rolling stock (re)scheduling

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Haahr, Jørgen Thorlund; Wagenaar, Joris C.; Veelenturf, Lucas P.

2016-01-01

The assignment of rolling stock units to timetable services in passenger railways is an important optimization problem that has been addressed by many papers in different forms. Solution approaches have been proposed for different planning phases: strategic, tactical, operational, and real...... is solved using a column and row generation approach. In this paper, we benchmark the performance of the methods on networks of two countries (Denmark and The Netherlands). We use the approaches to make daily schedules and we test their real time applicability by performing tests with different disruption...... scenarios. The computational experiments demonstrate that both models can be used on both networks and are able to find optimal rolling stock circulations in the different planning phases. Furthermore, the results show that both approaches are sufficiently fast to be used in a real-time setting....

Designing cyclic appointment schedules for outpatient clinics with scheduled and unscheduled patient arrivals

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kortbeek, Nikky; Zonderland, Maartje E.; Braaksma, Aleida; Vliegen, Ingrid M. H.; Boucherie, Richard J.; Litvak, Nelly; Hans, Erwin W.

2014-01-01

We present a methodology to design appointment systems for outpatient clinics and diagnostic facilities that offer both walk-in and scheduled service. The developed blueprint for the appointment schedule prescribes the number of appointments to plan per day and the moment on the day to schedule the

Designing cyclic appointment schedules for outpatient clinics with scheduled and unscheduled patient arrivals

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kortbeek, Nikky; Zonderland, Maartje Elisabeth; Boucherie, Richardus J.; Litvak, Nelli; Hans, Elias W.

2011-01-01

We present a methodology to design appointment systems for outpatient clinics and diagnostic facilities that offer both walk-in and scheduled service. The developed blueprint for the appointment schedule prescribes the number of appointments to plan per day and the moment on the day to schedule the

Integrated network design and scheduling problems :

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Nurre, Sarah G.; Carlson, Jeffrey J.

2014-01-01

We consider the class of integrated network design and scheduling problems. These problems focus on selecting and scheduling operations that will change the characteristics of a network, while being speci cally concerned with the performance of the network over time. Motivating applications of INDS problems include infrastructure restoration after extreme events and building humanitarian distribution supply chains. While similar models have been proposed, no one has performed an extensive review of INDS problems from their complexity, network and scheduling characteristics, information, and solution methods. We examine INDS problems under a parallel identical machine scheduling environment where the performance of the network is evaluated by solving classic network optimization problems. We classify that all considered INDS problems as NP-Hard and propose a novel heuristic dispatching rule algorithm that selects and schedules sets of arcs based on their interactions in the network. We present computational analysis based on realistic data sets representing the infrastructures of coastal New Hanover County, North Carolina, lower Manhattan, New York, and a realistic arti cial community CLARC County. These tests demonstrate the importance of a dispatching rule to arrive at near-optimal solutions during real-time decision making activities. We extend INDS problems to incorporate release dates which represent the earliest an operation can be performed and exible release dates through the introduction of specialized machine(s) that can perform work to move the release date earlier in time. An online optimization setting is explored where the release date of a component is not known.

Integration of Building Information Modeling and Critical Path Method Schedules to Simulate the Impact of Temperature and Humidity at the Project Level

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yongwei Shan

2014-07-01

Full Text Available Steel construction activities are often undertaken in an environment with limited climate control. Both hot and cold temperatures can physically and psychologically affect construction workers, thus decreasing their productivity. Temperature and humidity are two factors that constantly exert forces on workers and influence their performance and efficiency. Previous studies have established a relationship between labor productivity and temperature and humidity. This research is built on the existing body of knowledge and develops a framework of integrating building information modeling (BIM with a lower level critical path method (CPM schedule to simulate the overall impact of temperature and humidity on a healthcare facility’s structural steel installation project in terms of total man hours required to build the project. This research effort utilized historical weather data of four cities across the U.S., with each city having workable seasons year-round and conducted a baseline assessment to test if various project starting dates and locations could significantly impact the project’s schedule performance. It was found that both varied project start dates and locations can significantly contribute to the difference in the man hours required to build the model project and that the project start date and location can have an interaction effect. This study contributes to the overall body of knowledge by providing a framework that can help practitioners better understand the overall impact of a productivity influencing factor at a project level, in order to facilitate better decision making.

NRC comprehensive records disposition schedule

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1992-03-01

Title 44 United States Code, ''Public Printing and Documents,'' regulations cited in the General Services Administration's (GSA) ''Federal Information Resources Management Regulations'' (FIRMR), Part 201-9, ''Creation, Maintenance, and Use of Records,'' and regulation issued by the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) in 36 CFR Chapter XII, Subchapter B, ''Records Management,'' require each agency to prepare and issue a comprehensive records disposition schedule that contains the NARA approved records disposition schedules for records unique to the agency and contains the NARA's General Records Schedules for records common to several or all agencies. The approved records disposition schedules specify the appropriate duration of retention and the final disposition for records created or maintained by the NRC. NUREG-0910, Rev. 2, contains ''NRC's Comprehensive Records Disposition Schedule,'' and the original authorized approved citation numbers issued by NARA. Rev. 2 totally reorganizes the records schedules from a functional arrangement to an arrangement by the host office. A subject index and a conversion table have also been developed for the NRC schedules to allow staff to identify the new schedule numbers easily and to improve their ability to locate applicable schedules

Maternal Nonstandard Work Schedules and Breastfeeding Behaviors.

Science.gov (United States)

Zilanawala, Afshin

2017-06-01

Objectives Although maternal employment rates have increased in the last decade in the UK, there is very little research investigating the linkages between maternal nonstandard work schedules (i.e., work schedules outside of the Monday through Friday, 9-5 schedule) and breastfeeding initiation and duration, especially given the wide literature citing the health advantages of breastfeeding for mothers and children. Methods This paper uses a population-based, UK cohort study, the Millennium Cohort Study (n = 17,397), to investigate the association between types of maternal nonstandard work (evening, night, away from home overnight, and weekends) and breastfeeding behaviors. Results In unadjusted models, exposure to evening shifts was associated with greater odds of breastfeeding initiation (OR 1.71, CI 1.50-1.94) and greater odds of short (OR 1.55, CI 1.32-1.81), intermediate (OR 2.01, CI 1.64-2.47), prolonged partial duration (OR 2.20, CI 1.78-2.72), and prolonged exclusive duration (OR 1.53, CI 1.29-1.82), compared with mothers who were unemployed and those who work other types of nonstandard shifts. Socioeconomic advantage of mothers working evening schedules largely explained the higher odds of breastfeeding initiation and duration. Conclusions Socioeconomic characteristics explain more breastfeeding behaviors among mothers working evening shifts. Policy interventions to increase breastfeeding initiation and duration should consider the timing of maternal work schedules.

Integrating Preventive Maintenance Scheduling As Probability Machine Failure And Batch Production Scheduling

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zahedi Zahedi

2016-06-01

Full Text Available This paper discusses integrated model of batch production scheduling and machine maintenance scheduling. Batch production scheduling uses minimize total actual flow time criteria and machine maintenance scheduling uses the probability of machine failure based on Weibull distribution. The model assumed no nonconforming parts in a planning horizon. The model shows an increase in the number of the batch (length of production run up to a certain limit will minimize the total actual flow time. Meanwhile, an increase in the length of production run will implicate an increase in the number of PM. An example was given to show how the model and algorithm work.

Data collection costs in industrial environments for three occupational posture exposure assessment methods

Science.gov (United States)

2012-01-01

Background Documentation of posture measurement costs is rare and cost models that do exist are generally naïve. This paper provides a comprehensive cost model for biomechanical exposure assessment in occupational studies, documents the monetary costs of three exposure assessment methods for different stakeholders in data collection, and uses simulations to evaluate the relative importance of cost components. Methods Trunk and shoulder posture variables were assessed for 27 aircraft baggage handlers for 3 full shifts each using three methods typical to ergonomic studies: self-report via questionnaire, observation via video film, and full-shift inclinometer registration. The cost model accounted for expenses related to meetings to plan the study, administration, recruitment, equipment, training of data collectors, travel, and onsite data collection. Sensitivity analyses were conducted using simulated study parameters and cost components to investigate the impact on total study cost. Results Inclinometry was the most expensive method (with a total study cost of € 66,657), followed by observation (€ 55,369) and then self report (€ 36,865). The majority of costs (90%) were borne by researchers. Study design parameters such as sample size, measurement scheduling and spacing, concurrent measurements, location and travel, and equipment acquisition were shown to have wide-ranging impacts on costs. Conclusions This study provided a general cost modeling approach that can facilitate decision making and planning of data collection in future studies, as well as investigation into cost efficiency and cost efficient study design. Empirical cost data from a large field study demonstrated the usefulness of the proposed models. PMID:22738341

Distributed continuous energy scheduling for dynamic virtual power plants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Niesse, Astrid

2015-01-01

This thesis presents DynaSCOPE as distributed control method for continuous energy scheduling for dynamic virtual power plants (DVPP). DVPPs aggregate the flexibility of distributed energy units to address current energy markets. As an extension of the Virtual Power Plant concept they show high dynamics in aggregation and operation of energy units. Whereas operation schedules are set up for all energy units in a day-ahead planning procedure, incidents may render these schedules infeasible during execution, like deviation from prognoses or outages. Thus, a continuous scheduling process is needed to ensure product fulfillment. With DynaSCOPE, software agents representing single energy units solve this problem in a completely distributed heuristic approach. Using a stepped concept, several damping mechanisms are applied to allow minimum disturbance while continuously trying to fulfill the product as contracted at the market.

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.

NASA Schedule Management Handbook

Science.gov (United States)

2011-01-01

The purpose of schedule management is to provide the framework for time-phasing, resource planning, coordination, and communicating the necessary tasks within a work effort. The intent is to improve schedule management by providing recommended concepts, processes, and techniques used within the Agency and private industry. The intended function of this handbook is two-fold: first, to provide guidance for meeting the scheduling requirements contained in NPR 7120.5, NASA Space Flight Program and Project Management Requirements, NPR 7120.7, NASA Information Technology and Institutional Infrastructure Program and Project Requirements, NPR 7120.8, NASA Research and Technology Program and Project Management Requirements, and NPD 1000.5, Policy for NASA Acquisition. The second function is to describe the schedule management approach and the recommended best practices for carrying out this project control function. With regards to the above project management requirements documents, it should be noted that those space flight projects previously established and approved under the guidance of prior versions of NPR 7120.5 will continue to comply with those requirements until project completion has been achieved. This handbook will be updated as needed, to enhance efficient and effective schedule management across the Agency. It is acknowledged that most, if not all, external organizations participating in NASA programs/projects will have their own internal schedule management documents. Issues that arise from conflicting schedule guidance will be resolved on a case by case basis as contracts and partnering relationships are established. It is also acknowledged and understood that all projects are not the same and may require different levels of schedule visibility, scrutiny and control. Project type, value, and complexity are factors that typically dictate which schedule management practices should be employed.

DLTAP: A Network-efficient Scheduling Method for Distributed Deep Learning Workload in Containerized Cluster Environment

OpenAIRE

Qiao Wei; Li Ying; Wu Zhong-Hai

2017-01-01

Deep neural networks (DNNs) have recently yielded strong results on a range of applications. Training these DNNs using a cluster of commodity machines is a promising approach since training is time consuming and compute-intensive. Furthermore, putting DNN tasks into containers of clusters would enable broader and easier deployment of DNN-based algorithms. Toward this end, this paper addresses the problem of scheduling DNN tasks in the containerized cluster environment. Efficiently scheduling ...

Outage scheduling and implementation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Allison, J.E.; Segall, P.; Smith, R.R.

1986-01-01

Successful preparation and implementation of an outage schedule and completion of scheduled and emergent work within an identified critical path time frame is a result of careful coordination by Operations, Work Control, Maintenance, Engineering, Planning and Administration and others. At the Fast Flux Test Facility (FFTF) careful planning has been responsible for meeting all scheduled outage critical paths

An Improved Recovery Algorithm for Decayed AES Key Schedule Images

Science.gov (United States)

Tsow, Alex

A practical algorithm that recovers AES key schedules from decayed memory images is presented. Halderman et al. [1] established this recovery capability, dubbed the cold-boot attack, as a serious vulnerability for several widespread software-based encryption packages. Our algorithm recovers AES-128 key schedules tens of millions of times faster than the original proof-of-concept release. In practice, it enables reliable recovery of key schedules at 70% decay, well over twice the decay capacity of previous methods. The algorithm is generalized to AES-256 and is empirically shown to recover 256-bit key schedules that have suffered 65% decay. When solutions are unique, the algorithm efficiently validates this property and outputs the solution for memory images decayed up to 60%.

SIMULTANEOUS SCHEDULING AND OPERATIONAL OPTIMIZATION OF MULTIPRODUCT, CYCLIC CONTINUOUS PLANTS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A. Alle

2002-03-01

Full Text Available The problems of scheduling and optimization of operational conditions in multistage, multiproduct continuous plants with intermediate storage are simultaneously addressed. An MINLP model, called TSPFLOW, which is based on the TSP formulation for product sequencing, is proposed to schedule the operation of such plants. TSPFLOW yields a one-order-of-magnitude CPU time reduction as well as the solution of instances larger than those formerly reported (Pinto and Grossmann, 1994. Secondly, processing rates and yields are introduced as additional optimization variables in order to state the simultaneous problem of scheduling with operational optimization. Results show that trade-offs are very complex and that the development of a straightforward (rule of thumb method to optimally schedule the operation is less effective than the proposed approach.

SIMULTANEOUS SCHEDULING AND OPERATIONAL OPTIMIZATION OF MULTIPRODUCT, CYCLIC CONTINUOUS PLANTS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alle A.

2002-01-01

Full Text Available The problems of scheduling and optimization of operational conditions in multistage, multiproduct continuous plants with intermediate storage are simultaneously addressed. An MINLP model, called TSPFLOW, which is based on the TSP formulation for product sequencing, is proposed to schedule the operation of such plants. TSPFLOW yields a one-order-of-magnitude CPU time reduction as well as the solution of instances larger than those formerly reported (Pinto and Grossmann, 1994. Secondly, processing rates and yields are introduced as additional optimization variables in order to state the simultaneous problem of scheduling with operational optimization. Results show that trade-offs are very complex and that the development of a straightforward (rule of thumb method to optimally schedule the operation is less effective than the proposed approach.

CQPSO scheduling algorithm for heterogeneous multi-core DAG task model

Science.gov (United States)

Zhai, Wenzheng; Hu, Yue-Li; Ran, Feng

2017-07-01

Efficient task scheduling is critical to achieve high performance in a heterogeneous multi-core computing environment. The paper focuses on the heterogeneous multi-core directed acyclic graph (DAG) task model and proposes a novel task scheduling method based on an improved chaotic quantum-behaved particle swarm optimization (CQPSO) algorithm. A task priority scheduling list was built. A processor with minimum cumulative earliest finish time (EFT) was acted as the object of the first task assignment. The task precedence relationships were satisfied and the total execution time of all tasks was minimized. The experimental results show that the proposed algorithm has the advantage of optimization abilities, simple and feasible, fast convergence, and can be applied to the task scheduling optimization for other heterogeneous and distributed environment.

A subjective scheduler for subjective dedicated networks

Science.gov (United States)

Suherman; Fakhrizal, Said Reza; Al-Akaidi, Marwan

2017-09-01

Multiple access technique is one of important techniques within medium access layer in TCP/IP protocol stack. Each network technology implements the selected access method. Priority can be implemented in those methods to differentiate services. Some internet networks are dedicated for specific purpose. Education browsing or tutorial video accesses are preferred in a library hotspot, while entertainment and sport contents could be subjects of limitation. Current solution may use IP address filter or access list. This paper proposes subjective properties of users or applications are used for priority determination in multiple access techniques. The NS-2 simulator is employed to evaluate the method. A video surveillance network using WiMAX is chosen as the object. Subjective priority is implemented on WiMAX scheduler based on traffic properties. Three different traffic sources from monitoring video: palace, park, and market are evaluated. The proposed subjective scheduler prioritizes palace monitoring video that results better quality, xx dB than the later monitoring spots.

Illicit online marketing of lorcaserin before DEA scheduling.

Science.gov (United States)

Liang, Bryan A; Mackey, Tim K; Archer-Hayes, Ashley N; Shinn, Linda M

2013-05-01

Antiobesity drugs have been marketed illicitly by "no prescription" online pharmacies after approval and scheduling by the drug enforcement agency. We assess whether antiobesity drug Belviq® (lorcaserin HCl) was available from illicit online vendors before DEA-scheduling when sales are unauthorized. Online searches of "buy Belviq no prescription" examining first five result pages marketing the drug. Searches were performed from 11/5/2012-12/8/2012, prior to DEA scheduing. Belviq® is actively marketed by "no prescription" online vendors despite official unavailability and prescription requirements. Approaches included direct-to-consumer advertising using descriptive website URLs; linking to illicit marketers; and directing customers to other weight-loss websites for additional marketing. Finally, large quantities were marketed by business-to-business vendors. Illicit online "no prescription" pharmacies are marketing unauthorized, suspect antiobesity drugs before DEA scheduling and permitted marketing. Regulators must legally intercede to ensure patient safety, and providers must educate patients about online-sourcing risks. Copyright © 2013 The Obesity Society.

Supporting Real-Time Operations and Execution through Timeline and Scheduling Aids

Science.gov (United States)

Marquez, Jessica J.; Pyrzak, Guy; Hashemi, Sam; Ahmed, Samia; McMillin, Kevin Edward; Medwid, Joseph Daniel; Chen, Diana; Hurtle, Esten

2013-01-01

Since 2003, the NASA Ames Research Center has been actively involved in researching and advancing the state-of-the-art of planning and scheduling tools for NASA mission operations. Our planning toolkit SPIFe (Scheduling and Planning Interface for Exploration) has supported a variety of missions and field tests, scheduling activities for Mars rovers as well as crew on-board International Space Station and NASA earth analogs. The scheduled plan is the integration of all the activities for the day/s. In turn, the agents (rovers, landers, spaceships, crew) execute from this schedule while the mission support team members (e.g., flight controllers) follow the schedule during execution. Over the last couple of years, our team has begun to research and validate methods that will better support users during realtime operations and execution of scheduled activities. Our team utilizes human-computer interaction principles to research user needs, identify workflow processes, prototype software aids, and user test these. This paper discusses three specific prototypes developed and user tested to support real-time operations: Score Mobile, Playbook, and Mobile Assistant for Task Execution (MATE).

Methods and tools for objective assessment of psychomotor skills in laparoscopic surgery.

Science.gov (United States)

Oropesa, Ignacio; Sánchez-González, Patricia; Lamata, Pablo; Chmarra, Magdalena K; Pagador, José B; Sánchez-Margallo, Juan A; Sánchez-Margallo, Francisco M; Gómez, Enrique J

2011-11-01

Training and assessment paradigms for laparoscopic surgical skills are evolving from traditional mentor-trainee tutorship towards structured, more objective and safer programs. Accreditation of surgeons requires reaching a consensus on metrics and tasks used to assess surgeons' psychomotor skills. Ongoing development of tracking systems and software solutions has allowed for the expansion of novel training and assessment means in laparoscopy. The current challenge is to adapt and include these systems within training programs, and to exploit their possibilities for evaluation purposes. This paper describes the state of the art in research on measuring and assessing psychomotor laparoscopic skills. It gives an overview on tracking systems as well as on metrics and advanced statistical and machine learning techniques employed for evaluation purposes. The later ones have a potential to be used as an aid in deciding on the surgical competence level, which is an important aspect when accreditation of the surgeons in particular, and patient safety in general, are considered. The prospective of these methods and tools make them complementary means for surgical assessment of motor skills, especially in the early stages of training. Successful examples such as the Fundamentals of Laparoscopic Surgery should help drive a paradigm change to structured curricula based on objective parameters. These may improve the accreditation of new surgeons, as well as optimize their already overloaded training schedules. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Project Schedule Simulation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mizouni, Rabeb; Lazarova-Molnar, Sanja

2015-01-01

overrun both their budget and time. To improve the quality of initial project plans, we show in this paper the importance of (1) reflecting features’ priorities/risk in task schedules and (2) considering uncertainties related to human factors in plan schedules. To make simulation tasks reflect features......’ priority as well as multimodal team allocation, enhanced project schedules (EPS), where remedial actions scenarios (RAS) are added, were introduced. They reflect potential schedule modifications in case of uncertainties and promote a dynamic sequencing of involved tasks rather than the static conventional...... this document as an instruction set. The electronic file of your paper will be formatted further at Journal of Software. Define all symbols used in the abstract. Do not cite references in the abstract. Do not delete the blank line immediately above the abstract; it sets the footnote at the bottom of this column....

Investigations of timing during the schedule and reinforcement intervals with wheel-running reinforcement.

Science.gov (United States)

Belke, Terry W; Christie-Fougere, Melissa M

2006-11-01

Across two experiments, a peak procedure was used to assess the timing of the onset and offset of an opportunity to run as a reinforcer. The first experiment investigated the effect of reinforcer duration on temporal discrimination of the onset of the reinforcement interval. Three male Wistar rats were exposed to fixed-interval (FI) 30-s schedules of wheel-running reinforcement and the duration of the opportunity to run was varied across values of 15, 30, and 60s. Each session consisted of 50 reinforcers and 10 probe trials. Results showed that as reinforcer duration increased, the percentage of postreinforcement pauses longer than the 30-s schedule interval increased. On probe trials, peak response rates occurred near the time of reinforcer delivery and peak times varied with reinforcer duration. In a second experiment, seven female Long-Evans rats were exposed to FI 30-s schedules leading to 30-s opportunities to run. Timing of the onset and offset of the reinforcement period was assessed by probe trials during the schedule interval and during the reinforcement interval in separate conditions. The results provided evidence of timing of the onset, but not the offset of the wheel-running reinforcement period. Further research is required to assess if timing occurs during a wheel-running reinforcement period.

An Evaluation of the Value of Choice-Making Opportunities in Single-Operant Arrangements: Simple Fixed- and Progressive-Ratio Schedules

Science.gov (United States)

Tiger, Jeffrey H.; Toussaint, Karen A.; Roath, Christopher T.

2010-01-01

The current study compared the effects of choice and no-choice reinforcement conditions on the task responding of 3 children with autism across 2 single-operant paradigm reinforcer assessments. The first assessment employed simple fixed-ratio (FR) schedules; the second used progressive-ratio (PR) schedules. The latter assessment identified the…

Scheduling theory, algorithms, and systems

CERN Document Server

Pinedo, Michael L

2016-01-01

This new edition of the well-established text Scheduling: Theory, Algorithms, and Systems provides an up-to-date coverage of important theoretical models in the scheduling literature as well as important scheduling problems that appear in the real world. The accompanying website includes supplementary material in the form of slide-shows from industry as well as movies that show actual implementations of scheduling systems. The main structure of the book, as per previous editions, consists of three parts. The first part focuses on deterministic scheduling and the related combinatorial problems. The second part covers probabilistic scheduling models; in this part it is assumed that processing times and other problem data are random and not known in advance. The third part deals with scheduling in practice; it covers heuristics that are popular with practitioners and discusses system design and implementation issues. All three parts of this new edition have been revamped, streamlined, and extended. The reference...

Novel Hybrid Scheduling Technique for Sensor Nodes with Mixed Criticality Tasks

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mihai-Victor Micea

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Sensor networks become increasingly a key technology for complex control applications. Their potential use in safety- and time-critical domains has raised the need for task scheduling mechanisms specially adapted to sensor node specific requirements, often materialized in predictable jitter-less execution of tasks characterized by different criticality levels. This paper offers an efficient scheduling solution, named Hybrid Hard Real-Time Scheduling (H2RTS, which combines a static, clock driven method with a dynamic, event driven scheduling technique, in order to provide high execution predictability, while keeping a high node Central Processing Unit (CPU utilization factor. From the detailed, integrated schedulability analysis of the H2RTS, a set of sufficiency tests are introduced and demonstrated based on the processor demand and linear upper bound metrics. The performance and correct behavior of the proposed hybrid scheduling technique have been extensively evaluated and validated both on a simulator and on a sensor mote equipped with ARM7 microcontroller.

Novel Hybrid Scheduling Technique for Sensor Nodes with Mixed Criticality Tasks.

Science.gov (United States)

Micea, Mihai-Victor; Stangaciu, Cristina-Sorina; Stangaciu, Valentin; Curiac, Daniel-Ioan

2017-06-26

Sensor networks become increasingly a key technology for complex control applications. Their potential use in safety- and time-critical domains has raised the need for task scheduling mechanisms specially adapted to sensor node specific requirements, often materialized in predictable jitter-less execution of tasks characterized by different criticality levels. This paper offers an efficient scheduling solution, named Hybrid Hard Real-Time Scheduling (H²RTS), which combines a static, clock driven method with a dynamic, event driven scheduling technique, in order to provide high execution predictability, while keeping a high node Central Processing Unit (CPU) utilization factor. From the detailed, integrated schedulability analysis of the H²RTS, a set of sufficiency tests are introduced and demonstrated based on the processor demand and linear upper bound metrics. The performance and correct behavior of the proposed hybrid scheduling technique have been extensively evaluated and validated both on a simulator and on a sensor mote equipped with ARM7 microcontroller.

The 12-item World Health Organization Disability Assessment Schedule II (WHO-DAS II: a nonparametric item response analysis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fernandez Ana

2010-05-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Previous studies have analyzed the psychometric properties of the World Health Organization Disability Assessment Schedule II (WHO-DAS II using classical omnibus measures of scale quality. These analyses are sample dependent and do not model item responses as a function of the underlying trait level. The main objective of this study was to examine the effectiveness of the WHO-DAS II items and their options in discriminating between changes in the underlying disability level by means of item response analyses. We also explored differential item functioning (DIF in men and women. Methods The participants were 3615 adult general practice patients from 17 regions of Spain, with a first diagnosed major depressive episode. The 12-item WHO-DAS II was administered by the general practitioners during the consultation. We used a non-parametric item response method (Kernel-Smoothing implemented with the TestGraf software to examine the effectiveness of each item (item characteristic curves and their options (option characteristic curves in discriminating between changes in the underliying disability level. We examined composite DIF to know whether women had a higher probability than men of endorsing each item. Results Item response analyses indicated that the twelve items forming the WHO-DAS II perform very well. All items were determined to provide good discrimination across varying standardized levels of the trait. The items also had option characteristic curves that showed good discrimination, given that each increasing option became more likely than the previous as a function of increasing trait level. No gender-related DIF was found on any of the items. Conclusions All WHO-DAS II items were very good at assessing overall disability. Our results supported the appropriateness of the weights assigned to response option categories and showed an absence of gender differences in item functioning.

Modeling of Agile Intelligent Manufacturing-oriented Production Scheduling System

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

Zhong-Qi Sheng; Chang-Ping Tang; Ci-Xing Lv

2010-01-01

Agile intelligent manufacturing is one of the new manufacturing paradigms that adapt to the fierce globalizing market competition and meet the survival needs of the enterprises, in which the management and control of the production system have surpassed the scope of individual enterprise and embodied some new features including complexity, dynamicity, distributivity, and compatibility. The agile intelligent manufacturing paradigm calls for a production scheduling system that can support the cooperation among various production sectors, the distribution of various resources to achieve rational organization, scheduling and management of production activities. This paper uses multi-agents technology to build an agile intelligent manufacturing-oriented production scheduling system. Using the hybrid modeling method, the resources and functions of production system are encapsulated, and the agent-based production system model is established. A production scheduling-oriented multi-agents architecture is constructed and a multi-agents reference model is given in this paper.

Gain scheduling using the Youla parameterization

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Niemann, Hans Henrik; Stoustrup, Jakob

1999-01-01

Gain scheduling controllers are considered in this paper. The gain scheduling problem where the scheduling parameter vector cannot be measured directly, but needs to be estimated is considered. An estimation of the scheduling vector has been derived by using the Youla parameterization. The use...... in connection with H_inf gain scheduling controllers....

Historical Mass, Power, Schedule, and Cost Growth for NASA Spacecraft

Science.gov (United States)

Hayhurst, Marc R.; Bitten, Robert E.; Shinn, Stephen A.; Judnick, Daniel C.; Hallgrimson, Ingrid E.; Youngs, Megan A.

2016-01-01

Although spacecraft developers have been moving towards standardized product lines as the aerospace industry has matured, NASA's continual need to push the cutting edge of science to accomplish unique, challenging missions can still lead to spacecraft resource growth over time. This paper assesses historical mass, power, cost, and schedule growth for multiple NASA spacecraft from the last twenty years and compares to industry reserve guidelines to understand where the guidelines may fall short. Growth is assessed from project start to launch, from the time of the preliminary design review (PDR) to launch and from the time of the critical design review (CDR) to launch. Data is also assessed not just at the spacecraft bus level, but also at the subsystem level wherever possible, to help obtain further insight into possible drivers of growth. Potential recommendations to minimize spacecraft mass, power, cost, and schedule growth for future missions are also discussed.

DOUBLE-SHELL TANK WASTE TRANSFER LINE ENCASEMENT INTEGRITY ASSESSMENT TECHNOLOGY STUDY

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

BOWER, R.R.

2006-01-01

The report provides various alternative methods of performing integrity assessment inspections of buried Hanford Double Shell Tank waste transfer line encasements, and provides method recommendations as an alternative to costly encasement pneumatic leak testing. A schedule for future encasement integrity assessments is also included

Algorithm of composing the schedule of construction and installation works

Science.gov (United States)

Nehaj, Rustam; Molotkov, Georgij; Rudchenko, Ivan; Grinev, Anatolij; Sekisov, Aleksandr

2017-10-01

An algorithm for scheduling works is developed, in which the priority of the work corresponds to the total weight of the subordinate works, the vertices of the graph, and it is proved that for graphs of the tree type the algorithm is optimal. An algorithm is synthesized to reduce the search for solutions when drawing up schedules of construction and installation works, allocating a subset with the optimal solution of the problem of the minimum power, which is determined by the structure of its initial data and numerical values. An algorithm for scheduling construction and installation work is developed, taking into account the schedule for the movement of brigades, which is characterized by the possibility to efficiently calculate the values of minimizing the time of work performance by the parameters of organizational and technological reliability through the use of the branch and boundary method. The program of the computational algorithm was compiled in the MatLAB-2008 program. For the initial data of the matrix, random numbers were taken, uniformly distributed in the range from 1 to 100. It takes 0.5; 2.5; 7.5; 27 minutes to solve the problem. Thus, the proposed method for estimating the lower boundary of the solution is sufficiently accurate and allows efficient solution of the minimax task of scheduling construction and installation works.

NRC comprehensive records disposition schedule

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1982-07-01

Effective January 1, 1982, NRC will institute records retention and disposal practices in accordance with the approved Comprehensive Records Disposition Schedule (CRDS). CRDS is comprised of NRC Schedules (NRCS) 1 to 4 which apply to the agency's program or substantive records and General Records Schedules (GRS) 1 to 22 which apply to housekeeping or facilitative records. The schedules are assembled functionally/organizationally to facilitate their use. Preceding the records descriptions and disposition instructions for both NRCS and GRS, there are brief statements on the organizational units which accumulate the records in each functional area, and other information regarding the schedules' applicability

Optimal trajectory planning and train scheduling for urban rail transit systems

CERN Document Server

Wang, Yihui; van den Boom, Ton; De Schutter, Bart

2016-01-01

This book contributes to making urban rail transport fast, punctual and energy-efficient –significant factors in the importance of public transportation systems to economic, environmental and social requirements at both municipal and national levels. It proposes new methods for shortening passenger travel times and for reducing energy consumption, addressing two major topics: (1) train trajectory planning: the authors derive a nonlinear model for the operation of trains and present several approaches for calculating optimal and energy-efficient trajectories within a given schedule; and (2) train scheduling: the authors develop a train scheduling model for urban rail systems and optimization approaches with which to balance total passenger travel time with energy efficiency and other costs to the operator. Mixed-integer linear programming and pseudospectral methods are among the new methods proposed for single- and multi-train systems for the solution of the nonlinear trajectory planning problem which involv...

Day-ahead resource scheduling of a renewable energy based virtual power plant

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zamani, Ali Ghahgharaee; Zakariazadeh, Alireza; Jadid, Shahram

2016-01-01

Highlights: • Simultaneous energy and reserve scheduling of a VPP. • Aggregate uncertainties of electricity prices, renewable generation and load demand. • Develop a stochastic scheduling model using the point estimate method. - Abstract: The evolution of energy markets is accelerating in the direction of a greater reliance upon distributed energy resources (DERs). To manage this increasing two-way complexity, virtual power plants (VPPs) are being deployed today all over the world. In this paper, a probabilistic model for optimal day ahead scheduling of electrical and thermal energy resources in a VPP is proposed where participation of energy storage systems and demand response programs (DRPs) are also taken into account. In the proposed model, energy and reserve is simultaneously scheduled considering the uncertainties of market prices, electrical demand and intermittent renewable power generation. The Point Estimate Method (PEM) is applied in order to model the uncertainties of VPP’s scheduling problem. Moreover, the optimal reserve scheduling of VPP is presented which efficiently decreases VPP’s risk facing the unexpected fluctuations of uncertain parameters at the power delivery time. The results demonstrated that implementation of demand response programs (DRPs) would decrease total operation costs of VPP as well as its dependency on the upstream network.

Basic Features of Customer Satisfaction with Train Schedules

Science.gov (United States)

Murakoshi, Akiko; Kunimatsu, Taketoshi; Saito, Ayano

This paper aims to reveal the fundamental features of customer satisfaction with train schedules, which is one of the most basic services provided by a railway company. A customer satisfaction survey of passengers who frequently utilize three lines in the metropolitan area was conducted; we obtained the following findings: (a) out of nine factors to evaluate a train schedule from a passenger's viewpoint, the four most important ones are the frequency of trains running, punctuality, congestion rate, and time distance; (b) the ride-frequency influences the degree of satisfaction with train schedules in a particular line; and (c) it is important to set a numeric goal for the level of customer satisfaction by grasping the relationship between the transport service and a passenger's satisfaction with that service. The difference between customer satisfaction and passenger disutility is also discussed. The findings are expected to help conduct customer satisfaction surveys and also to form the basis for establishing a method by which to evaluate a train schedule from passengers' satisfaction ratings.

A Work-Demand Analysis Compatible with Preemption-Aware Scheduling for Power-Aware Real-Time Tasks

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Da-Ren Chen

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Due to the importance of slack time utilization for power-aware scheduling algorithms,we propose a work-demand analysis method called parareclamation algorithm (PRA to increase slack time utilization of the existing real-time DVS algorithms. PRA is an online scheduling for power-aware real-time tasks under rate-monotonic (RM policy. It can be implemented and fully compatible with preemption-aware or transition-aware scheduling algorithms without increasing their computational complexities. The key technique of the heuristics method doubles the analytical interval and turns the deferrable workload out the potential slack time. Theoretical proofs show that PRA guarantees the task deadlines in a feasible RM schedule and takes linear time and space complexities. Experimental results indicate that the proposed method combining the preemption-aware methods seamlessly reduces the energy consumption by 14% on average over their original algorithms.

Multi-objective scheduling of electric vehicles in smart distribution system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zakariazadeh, Alireza; Jadid, Shahram; Siano, Pierluigi

2014-01-01

Highlights: • Environmental/economic operational scheduling of electric vehicles. • The Vehicle to Grid capability and the actual patterns of drivers are considered. • A novel conceptual model for an electric vehicle management system is proposed. - Abstract: When preparing for the widespread adoption of Electric Vehicles (EVs), an important issue is to use a proper EVs’ charging/discharging scheduling model that is able to simultaneously consider economic and environmental goals as well as technical constraints of distribution networks. This paper proposes a multi-objective operational scheduling method for charging/discharging of EVs in a smart distribution system. The proposed multi-objective framework, based on augmented ε-constraint method, aims at minimizing the total operational costs and emissions. The Vehicle to Grid (V2G) capability as well as the actual patterns of drivers are considered in order to generate the Pareto-optimal solutions. The Benders decomposition technique is used in order to solve the proposed optimization model and to convert the large scale mixed integer nonlinear problem into mixed-integer linear programming and nonlinear programming problems. The effectiveness of the proposed resources scheduling approach is tested on a 33-bus distribution test system over a 24-h period. The results show that the proposed EVs’ charging/discharging method can reduce both of operation cost and air pollutant emissions

The Business Change Initiative: A Novel Approach to Improved Cost and Schedule Management

Science.gov (United States)

Shinn, Stephen A.; Bryson, Jonathan; Klein, Gerald; Lunz-Ruark, Val; Majerowicz, Walt; McKeever, J.; Nair, Param

2016-01-01

Goddard Space Flight Center's Flight Projects Directorate employed a Business Change Initiative (BCI) to infuse a series of activities coordinated to drive improved cost and schedule performance across Goddard's missions. This sustaining change framework provides a platform to manage and implement cost and schedule control techniques throughout the project portfolio. The BCI concluded in December 2014, deploying over 100 cost and schedule management changes including best practices, tools, methods, training, and knowledge sharing. The new business approach has driven the portfolio to improved programmatic performance. The last eight launched GSFC missions have optimized cost, schedule, and technical performance on a sustained basis to deliver on time and within budget, returning funds in many cases. While not every future mission will boast such strong performance, improved cost and schedule tools, management practices, and ongoing comprehensive evaluations of program planning and control methods to refine and implement best practices will continue to provide a framework for sustained performance. This paper will describe the tools, techniques, and processes developed during the BCI and the utilization of collaborative content management tools to disseminate project planning and control techniques to ensure continuous collaboration and optimization of cost and schedule management in the future.

Are behaviors at one alternative in concurrent schedules independent of contingencies at the other alternative?

Science.gov (United States)

MacDonall, James S

2017-09-01

Some have reported changing the schedule at one alternative of a concurrent schedule changed responding at the other alternative (Catania, 1969), which seems odd because no contingencies were changed there. When concurrent schedules are programmed using two schedules, one associated with each alternative that operate continuously, changing the schedule at one alternative also changes the switch schedule at the other alternative. Thus, changes in responding at the constant alternative could be due to the change in the switch schedule. To assess this possibility, six rats were exposed to a series of conditions that alternated between pairs of interval schedules at both alternatives and a pair of interval schedules at one, constant, alternative and a pair of extinction schedules at the other alternative. Comparing run lengths, visit durations and response rates at the constant alternative in the alternating conditions did not show consistent increases and decreases when a strict criterion for changes was used. Using a less stringent definition (any change in mean values) showed changes. The stay/switch analysis suggests it may be inaccurate to apply behavioral contrast to procedures that change from concurrent variable-interval variable-interval schedules to concurrent variable-interval extinction schedules because the contingencies in neither alternative are constant. © 2017 Society for the Experimental Analysis of Behavior.

Individual differences in strategic flight management and scheduling

Science.gov (United States)

Wickens, Christopher D.; Raby, Mireille

1991-01-01

A group of 30 instrument-rated pilots was made to fly simulator approaches to three airports under conditions of low, medium, and high workload conditions. An analysis is presently conducted of the difference in discrete task scheduling between the group of 10 highest and 10 lowest performing pilots in the sample; this categorization was based on the mean of various flight-profile measures. The two groups were found to differ from each other only in terms of the time when specific events were conducted, and of the optimality of scheduling for certain high-priority tasks. These results are assessed in view of the relative independence of task-management skills from aircraft-control skills.

Predicting Scheduling and Attending for an Oral Cancer Examination

Science.gov (United States)

Shepperd, James A.; Emanuel, Amber S.; Howell, Jennifer L.; Logan, Henrietta L.

2015-01-01

Background Oral and pharyngeal cancer is highly treatable if diagnosed early, yet late diagnosis is commonplace apparently because of delays in undergoing an oral cancer examination. Purpose We explored predictors of scheduling and attending an oral cancer examination among a sample of Black and White men who were at high risk for oral cancer because they smoked. Methods During an in-person interview, participants (N = 315) from rural Florida learned about oral and pharyngeal cancer, completed survey measures, and were offered a free examination in the next week. Later, participants received a follow-up phone call to explore why they did or did not attend their examination. Results Consistent with the notion that scheduling and attending an oral cancer exam represent distinct decisions, we found that the two outcomes had different predictors. Defensive avoidance and exam efficacy predicted scheduling an examination; exam efficacy and having coping resources, time, and transportation predicted attending the examination. Open-ended responses revealed that the dominant reasons participants offered for missing a scheduled examination was conflicting obligations, forgetting, and confusion or misunderstanding about the examination. Conclusions The results suggest interventions to increase scheduling and attending an oral cancer examination. PMID:26152644

It Is Not Just about the Schedule: Key Factors in Effective Reference Desk Scheduling and Management

Science.gov (United States)

Sciammarella, Susan; Fernandes, Maria Isabel; McKay, Devin

2008-01-01

Reference desk scheduling is one of the most challenging tasks in the organizational structure of an academic library. The ability to turn this challenge into a workable and effective function lies with the scheduler and indirectly the cooperation of all librarians scheduled for reference desk service. It is the scheduler's sensitivity to such…

Responsive versus scheduled feeding for preterm infants.

Science.gov (United States)

Watson, Julie; McGuire, William

2015-10-13

Feeding preterm infants in response to their hunger and satiation cues (responsive, cue-based, or infant-led feeding) rather than at scheduled intervals might enhance infants' and parents' experience and satisfaction, help in the establishment of independent oral feeding, increase nutrient intake and growth rates, and allow earlier hospital discharge. To assess the effect of feeding preterm infants on a responsive basis versus feeding prescribed volumes at scheduled intervals on growth, duration of hospital stay, and parental satisfaction. We used the standard search strategy of the Cochrane Neonatal Review Group. This included searches of the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL, The Cochrane Library, Issue 9, 2015), MEDLINE (1966 to September 2015), EMBASE (1980 to September 2015), and CINAHL (1982 to September 2015), conference proceedings, previous reviews, and trial registries. Randomised controlled trials (RCTs) or quasi-RCTs that compared a policy of feeding preterm infants on a responsive basis versus feeding at scheduled intervals. Two review authors assessed trial eligibility and risk of bias and undertook data extraction independently. We analysed the treatment effects in the individual trials and reported the risk ratio and risk difference for dichotomous data and mean difference (MD) for continuous data, with respective 95% confidence intervals (CIs). We used a fixed-effect model in meta-analyses and explored the potential causes of heterogeneity in sensitivity analyses. We found nine eligible RCTs including 593 infants in total. These trials compared responsive with scheduled interval regimens in preterm infants in the transition phase from intragastric tube to oral feeding. The trials were generally small and contained various methodological weaknesses including lack of blinding and incomplete assessment of all randomised participants. Meta-analyses, although limited by data quality and availability, suggest that responsive feeding

Approximating Preemptive Stochastic Scheduling

OpenAIRE

Megow Nicole; Vredeveld Tjark

2009-01-01

We present constant approximative policies for preemptive stochastic scheduling. We derive policies with a guaranteed performance ratio of 2 for scheduling jobs with release dates on identical parallel machines subject to minimizing the sum of weighted completion times. Our policies as well as their analysis apply also to the recently introduced more general model of stochastic online scheduling. The performance guarantee we give matches the best result known for the corresponding determinist...

Design Principles and Algorithms for Air Traffic Arrival Scheduling

Science.gov (United States)

Erzberger, Heinz; Itoh, Eri

2014-01-01

This report presents design principles and algorithms for building a real-time scheduler of arrival aircraft based on a first-come-first-served (FCFS) scheduling protocol. The algorithms provide the conceptual and computational foundation for the Traffic Management Advisor (TMA) of the Center/terminal radar approach control facilities (TRACON) automation system, which comprises a set of decision support tools for managing arrival traffic at major airports in the United States. The primary objective of the scheduler is to assign arrival aircraft to a favorable landing runway and schedule them to land at times that minimize delays. A further objective of the scheduler is to allocate delays between high-altitude airspace far away from the airport and low-altitude airspace near the airport. A method of delay allocation is described that minimizes the average operating cost in the presence of errors in controlling aircraft to a specified landing time. This report is a revision of an earlier paper first presented as part of an Advisory Group for Aerospace Research and Development (AGARD) lecture series in September 1995. The authors, during vigorous discussions over the details of this paper, felt it was important to the air-trafficmanagement (ATM) community to revise and extend the original 1995 paper, providing more detail and clarity and thereby allowing future researchers to understand this foundational work as the basis for the TMA's scheduling algorithms.

Schedules of Controlled Substances: Temporary Placement of ortho-Fluorofentanyl, Tetrahydrofuranyl Fentanyl, and Methoxyacetyl Fentanyl Into Schedule I. Temporary amendment; temporary scheduling order.

Science.gov (United States)

2017-10-26

The Administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration is issuing this temporary scheduling order to schedule the synthetic opioids, N-(2-fluorophenyl)-N-(1-phenethylpiperidin-4-yl)propionamide (ortho-fluorofentanyl or 2-fluorofentanyl), N-(1-phenethylpiperidin-4-yl)-N-phenyltetrahydrofuran-2-carboxamide (tetrahydrofuranyl fentanyl), and 2-methoxy-N-(1-phenethylpiperidin-4-yl)-N-phenylacetamide (methoxyacetyl fentanyl), into Schedule I. This action is based on a finding by the Administrator that the placement of ortho-fluorofentanyl, tetrahydrofuranyl fentanyl, and methoxyacetyl fentanyl into Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act is necessary to avoid an imminent hazard to the public safety. As a result of this order, the regulatory controls and administrative, civil, and criminal sanctions applicable to Schedule I controlled substances will be imposed on persons who handle (manufacture, distribute, reverse distribute, import, export, engage in research, conduct instructional activities or chemical analysis, or possess), or propose to handle, ortho-fluorofentanyl, tetrahydrofuranyl fentanyl, and methoxyacetyl fentanyl.

Mapping of Primary Instructional Methods and Teaching Techniques for Regularly Scheduled, Formal Teaching Sessions in an Anesthesia Residency Program.

Science.gov (United States)

Vested Madsen, Matias; Macario, Alex; Yamamoto, Satoshi; Tanaka, Pedro

2016-06-01

In this study, we examined the regularly scheduled, formal teaching sessions in a single anesthesiology residency program to (1) map the most common primary instructional methods, (2) map the use of 10 known teaching techniques, and (3) assess if residents scored sessions that incorporated active learning as higher quality than sessions with little or no verbal interaction between teacher and learner. A modified Delphi process was used to identify useful teaching techniques. A representative sample of each of the formal teaching session types was mapped, and residents anonymously completed a 5-question written survey rating the session. The most common primary instructional methods were computer slides-based classroom lectures (66%), workshops (15%), simulations (5%), and journal club (5%). The number of teaching techniques used per formal teaching session averaged 5.31 (SD, 1.92; median, 5; range, 0-9). Clinical applicability (85%) and attention grabbers (85%) were the 2 most common teaching techniques. Thirty-eight percent of the sessions defined learning objectives, and one-third of sessions engaged in active learning. The overall survey response rate equaled 42%, and passive sessions had a mean score of 8.44 (range, 5-10; median, 9; SD, 1.2) compared with a mean score of 8.63 (range, 5-10; median, 9; SD, 1.1) for active sessions (P = 0.63). Slides-based classroom lectures were the most common instructional method, and faculty used an average of 5 known teaching techniques per formal teaching session. The overall education scores of the sessions as rated by the residents were high.

Intelligent scheduling of execution for customized physical fitness and healthcare system.

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Chung-Chi; Liu, Hsiao-Man; Huang, Chung-Lin

2015-01-01

Physical fitness and health of white collar business person is getting worse and worse in recent years. Therefore, it is necessary to develop a system which can enhance physical fitness and health for people. Although the exercise prescription can be generated after diagnosing for customized physical fitness and healthcare. It is hard to meet individual execution needs for general scheduling of physical fitness and healthcare system. So the main purpose of this research is to develop an intelligent scheduling of execution for customized physical fitness and healthcare system. The results of diagnosis and prescription for customized physical fitness and healthcare system will be generated by fuzzy logic Inference. Then the results of diagnosis and prescription for customized physical fitness and healthcare system will be scheduled and executed by intelligent computing. The scheduling of execution is generated by using genetic algorithm method. It will improve traditional scheduling of exercise prescription for physical fitness and healthcare. Finally, we will demonstrate the advantages of the intelligent scheduling of execution for customized physical fitness and healthcare system.

Baseline development, economic risk, and schedule risk: An integrated approach

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tonkinson, J.A.

1994-01-01

The economic and schedule risks of Environmental Restoration (ER) projects are commonly analyzed toward the end of the baseline development process. Risk analysis is usually performed as the final element of the scheduling or estimating processes for the purpose of establishing cost and schedule contingency. However, there is an opportunity for earlier assessment of risks, during development of the technical scope and Work Breakdown Structure (WBS). Integrating the processes of risk management and baselining provides for early incorporation of feedback regarding schedule and cost risk into the proposed scope of work. Much of the information necessary to perform risk analysis becomes available during development of the technical baseline, as the scope of work and WBS are being defined. The analysis of risk can actually be initiated early on during development of the technical baseline and continue throughout development of the complete project baseline. Indeed, best business practices suggest that information crucial to the success of a project be analyzed and incorporated into project planning as soon as it is available and usable

Robust optimization for load scheduling of a smart home with photovoltaic system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang, Chengshan; Zhou, Yue; Jiao, Bingqi; Wang, Yamin; Liu, Wenjian; Wang, Dan

2015-01-01

Highlights: • Robust household load scheduling is presented for smart homes with PV system. • A robust counterpart is formulated to deal with PV output uncertainty. • The robust counterpart is finally transformed to a quadratic programming problem. • Load schedules with different robustness can be made by the proposed method. • Feed-in tariff and PV output would affect the significance of the proposed method. - Abstract: In this paper, a robust approach is developed to tackle the uncertainty of PV power output for load scheduling of smart homes integrated with household PV system. Specifically, a robust formulation is proposed and further transformed to an equivalent quadratic programming problem. Day-ahead load schedules with different robustness can be generated by solving the proposed robust formulation with different predefined parameters. The validity and advantage of the proposed approach has been verified by simulation results. Also, the effects of feed-in tariff and PV output have been evaluated

Schedule-Aware Workflow Management Systems

Science.gov (United States)

Mans, Ronny S.; Russell, Nick C.; van der Aalst, Wil M. P.; Moleman, Arnold J.; Bakker, Piet J. M.

Contemporary workflow management systems offer work-items to users through specific work-lists. Users select the work-items they will perform without having a specific schedule in mind. However, in many environments work needs to be scheduled and performed at particular times. For example, in hospitals many work-items are linked to appointments, e.g., a doctor cannot perform surgery without reserving an operating theater and making sure that the patient is present. One of the problems when applying workflow technology in such domains is the lack of calendar-based scheduling support. In this paper, we present an approach that supports the seamless integration of unscheduled (flow) and scheduled (schedule) tasks. Using CPN Tools we have developed a specification and simulation model for schedule-aware workflow management systems. Based on this a system has been realized that uses YAWL, Microsoft Exchange Server 2007, Outlook, and a dedicated scheduling service. The approach is illustrated using a real-life case study at the AMC hospital in the Netherlands. In addition, we elaborate on the experiences obtained when developing and implementing a system of this scale using formal techniques.

Revisiting Symbiotic Job Scheduling

OpenAIRE

Eyerman , Stijn; Michaud , Pierre; Rogiest , Wouter

2015-01-01

International audience; —Symbiotic job scheduling exploits the fact that in a system with shared resources, the performance of jobs is impacted by the behavior of other co-running jobs. By coscheduling combinations of jobs that have low interference, the performance of a system can be increased. In this paper, we investigate the impact of using symbiotic job scheduling for increasing throughput. We find that even for a theoretically optimal scheduler, this impact is very low, despite the subs...

Human Performance-Aware Scheduling and Routing of a Multi-Skilled Workforce

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Maikel L. van Eck

2017-10-01

Full Text Available Planning human activities within business processes often happens based on the same methods and algorithms as are used in the area of manufacturing systems. However, human behaviour is quite different from machine behaviour. Their performance depends on a number of factors, including workload, stress, personal preferences, etc. In this article we describe an approach for scheduling activities of people that takes into account business rules and dynamic human performance in order to optimise the schedule. We formally describe the scheduling problem we address and discuss how it can be constructed from inputs in the form of business process models and performance measurements. Finally, we discuss and evaluate an implementation for our planning approach to show the impact of considering dynamic human performance in scheduling.

Methods for assessing geodiversity

Science.gov (United States)

Zwoliński, Zbigniew; Najwer, Alicja; Giardino, Marco

2017-04-01

The accepted systematics of geodiversity assessment methods will be presented in three categories: qualitative, quantitative and qualitative-quantitative. Qualitative methods are usually descriptive methods that are suited to nominal and ordinal data. Quantitative methods use a different set of parameters and indicators to determine the characteristics of geodiversity in the area being researched. Qualitative-quantitative methods are a good combination of the collection of quantitative data (i.e. digital) and cause-effect data (i.e. relational and explanatory). It seems that at the current stage of the development of geodiversity research methods, qualitative-quantitative methods are the most advanced and best assess the geodiversity of the study area. Their particular advantage is the integration of data from different sources and with different substantive content. Among the distinguishing features of the quantitative and qualitative-quantitative methods for assessing geodiversity are their wide use within geographic information systems, both at the stage of data collection and data integration, as well as numerical processing and their presentation. The unresolved problem for these methods, however, is the possibility of their validation. It seems that currently the best method of validation is direct filed confrontation. Looking to the next few years, the development of qualitative-quantitative methods connected with cognitive issues should be expected, oriented towards ontology and the Semantic Web.

Performance Evaluation of Bidding-Based Multi-Agent Scheduling Algorithms for Manufacturing Systems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Antonio Gordillo

2014-10-01

Full Text Available Artificial Intelligence techniques have being applied to many problems in manufacturing systems in recent years. In the specific field of manufacturing scheduling many studies have been published trying to cope with the complexity of the manufacturing environment. One of the most utilized approaches is (multi agent-based scheduling. Nevertheless, despite the large list of studies reported in this field, there is no resource or scientific study on the performance measure of this type of approach under very common and critical execution situations. This paper focuses on multi-agent systems (MAS based algorithms for task allocation, particularly in manufacturing applications. The goal is to provide a mechanism to measure the performance of agent-based scheduling approaches for manufacturing systems under key critical situations such as: dynamic environment, rescheduling, and priority change. With this mechanism it will be possible to simulate critical situations and to stress the system in order to measure the performance of a given agent-based scheduling method. The proposed mechanism is a pioneering approach for performance evaluation of bidding-based MAS approaches for manufacturing scheduling. The proposed method and evaluation methodology can be used to run tests in different manufacturing floors since it is independent of the workshop configuration. Moreover, the evaluation results presented in this paper show the key factors and scenarios that most affect the market-like MAS approaches for manufacturing scheduling.

78 FR 55099 - Established Aggregate Production Quotas for Schedule I and II Controlled Substances and...

Science.gov (United States)

2013-09-09

... aggregate production quotas, an additional 25% of the estimated medical, scientific, and research needs as... Production Quotas for Schedule I and II Controlled Substances and Established Assessment of Annual Needs for... initial 2014 aggregate production quotas for controlled substances in Schedules I and II of the Controlled...

Methods to model and predict the ViewRay treatment deliveries to aid patient scheduling and treatment planning.

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Shi; Wu, Yu; Wooten, H Omar; Green, Olga; Archer, Brent; Li, Harold; Yang, Deshan

2016-03-08

A software tool is developed, given a new treatment plan, to predict treatment delivery time for radiation therapy (RT) treatments of patients on ViewRay magnetic resonance image-guided radiation therapy (MR-IGRT) delivery system. This tool is necessary for managing patient treatment scheduling in our clinic. The predicted treatment delivery time and the assessment of plan complexities could also be useful to aid treatment planning. A patient's total treatment delivery time, not including time required for localization, is modeled as the sum of four components: 1) the treatment initialization time; 2) the total beam-on time; 3) the gantry rotation time; and 4) the multileaf collimator (MLC) motion time. Each of the four components is predicted separately. The total beam-on time can be calculated using both the planned beam-on time and the decay-corrected dose rate. To predict the remain-ing components, we retrospectively analyzed the patient treatment delivery record files. The initialization time is demonstrated to be random since it depends on the final gantry angle of the previous treatment. Based on modeling the relationships between the gantry rotation angles and the corresponding rotation time, linear regression is applied to predict the gantry rotation time. The MLC motion time is calculated using the leaves delay modeling method and the leaf motion speed. A quantitative analysis was performed to understand the correlation between the total treatment time and the plan complexity. The proposed algorithm is able to predict the ViewRay treatment delivery time with the average prediction error 0.22min or 1.82%, and the maximal prediction error 0.89 min or 7.88%. The analysis has shown the correlation between the plan modulation (PM) factor and the total treatment delivery time, as well as the treatment delivery duty cycle. A possibility has been identified to significantly reduce MLC motion time by optimizing the positions of closed MLC pairs. The accuracy of

A master surgical scheduling approach for cyclic scheduling in operating room departments

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van Oostrum, Jeroen M.; van Houdenhoven, M.; Hurink, Johann L.; Hans, Elias W.; Wullink, Gerhard; Kazemier, G.

This paper addresses the problem of operating room (OR) scheduling at the tactical level of hospital planning and control. Hospitals repetitively construct operating room schedules, which is a time-consuming, tedious, and complex task. The stochasticity of the durations of surgical procedures

Multi-Objective Approach for Energy-Aware Workflow Scheduling in Cloud Computing Environments

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sonia Yassa

2013-01-01

Full Text Available We address the problem of scheduling workflow applications on heterogeneous computing systems like cloud computing infrastructures. In general, the cloud workflow scheduling is a complex optimization problem which requires considering different criteria so as to meet a large number of QoS (Quality of Service requirements. Traditional research in workflow scheduling mainly focuses on the optimization constrained by time or cost without paying attention to energy consumption. The main contribution of this study is to propose a new approach for multi-objective workflow scheduling in clouds, and present the hybrid PSO algorithm to optimize the scheduling performance. Our method is based on the Dynamic Voltage and Frequency Scaling (DVFS technique to minimize energy consumption. This technique allows processors to operate in different voltage supply levels by sacrificing clock frequencies. This multiple voltage involves a compromise between the quality of schedules and energy. Simulation results on synthetic and real-world scientific applications highlight the robust performance of the proposed approach.

Multi-Objective Approach for Energy-Aware Workflow Scheduling in Cloud Computing Environments

Science.gov (United States)

Kadima, Hubert; Granado, Bertrand

2013-01-01

We address the problem of scheduling workflow applications on heterogeneous computing systems like cloud computing infrastructures. In general, the cloud workflow scheduling is a complex optimization problem which requires considering different criteria so as to meet a large number of QoS (Quality of Service) requirements. Traditional research in workflow scheduling mainly focuses on the optimization constrained by time or cost without paying attention to energy consumption. The main contribution of this study is to propose a new approach for multi-objective workflow scheduling in clouds, and present the hybrid PSO algorithm to optimize the scheduling performance. Our method is based on the Dynamic Voltage and Frequency Scaling (DVFS) technique to minimize energy consumption. This technique allows processors to operate in different voltage supply levels by sacrificing clock frequencies. This multiple voltage involves a compromise between the quality of schedules and energy. Simulation results on synthetic and real-world scientific applications highlight the robust performance of the proposed approach. PMID:24319361

Using mean duration and variation of procedure times to plan a list of surgical operations to fit into the scheduled list time.

Science.gov (United States)

Pandit, Jaideep J; Tavare, Aniket

2011-07-01

It is important that a surgical list is planned to utilise as much of the scheduled time as possible while not over-running, because this can lead to cancellation of operations. We wished to assess whether, theoretically, the known duration of individual operations could be used quantitatively to predict the likely duration of the operating list. In a university hospital setting, we first assessed the extent to which the current ad-hoc method of operating list planning was able to match the scheduled operating list times for 153 consecutive historical lists. Using receiver operating curve analysis, we assessed the ability of an alternative method to predict operating list duration for the same operating lists. This method uses a simple formula: the sum of individual operation times and a pooled standard deviation of these times. We used the operating list duration estimated from this formula to generate a probability that the operating list would finish within its scheduled time. Finally, we applied the simple formula prospectively to 150 operating lists, 'shadowing' the current ad-hoc method, to confirm the predictive ability of the formula. The ad-hoc method was very poor at planning: 50% of historical operating lists were under-booked and 37% over-booked. In contrast, the simple formula predicted the correct outcome (under-run or over-run) for 76% of these operating lists. The calculated probability that a planned series of operations will over-run or under-run was found useful in developing an algorithm to adjust the planned cases optimally. In the prospective series, 65% of operating lists were over-booked and 10% were under-booked. The formula predicted the correct outcome for 84% of operating lists. A simple quantitative method of estimating operating list duration for a series of operations leads to an algorithm (readily created on an Excel spreadsheet, http://links.lww.com/EJA/A19) that can potentially improve operating list planning.

Immunization Schedules for Adults

Science.gov (United States)

... ACIP Vaccination Recommendations Why Immunize? Vaccines: The Basics Immunization Schedule for Adults (19 Years of Age and ... diseases that can be prevented by vaccines . 2018 Immunization Schedule Recommended Vaccinations for Adults by Age and ...

Instant Childhood Immunization Schedule

Science.gov (United States)

... Recommendations Why Immunize? Vaccines: The Basics Instant Childhood Immunization Schedule Recommend on Facebook Tweet Share Compartir Get ... date. See Disclaimer for additional details. Based on Immunization Schedule for Children 0 through 6 Years of ...

A feasibility study: Selection of a personalized radiotherapy fractionation schedule using spatiotemporal optimization

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, Minsun; Stewart, Robert D.; Phillips, Mark H.

2015-01-01

Purpose: To investigate the impact of using spatiotemporal optimization, i.e., intensity-modulated spatial optimization followed by fractionation schedule optimization, to select the patient-specific fractionation schedule that maximizes the tumor biologically equivalent dose (BED) under dose constraints for multiple organs-at-risk (OARs). Methods: Spatiotemporal optimization was applied to a variety of lung tumors in a phantom geometry using a range of tumor sizes and locations. The optimal fractionation schedule for a patient using the linear-quadratic cell survival model depends on the tumor and OAR sensitivity to fraction size (α/β), the effective tumor doubling time (T d ), and the size and location of tumor target relative to one or more OARs (dose distribution). The authors used a spatiotemporal optimization method to identify the optimal number of fractions N that maximizes the 3D tumor BED distribution for 16 lung phantom cases. The selection of the optimal fractionation schedule used equivalent (30-fraction) OAR constraints for the heart (D mean ≤ 45 Gy), lungs (D mean ≤ 20 Gy), cord (D max ≤ 45 Gy), esophagus (D max ≤ 63 Gy), and unspecified tissues (D 05 ≤ 60 Gy). To assess plan quality, the authors compared the minimum, mean, maximum, and D 95 of tumor BED, as well as the equivalent uniform dose (EUD) for optimized plans to conventional intensity-modulated radiation therapy plans prescribing 60 Gy in 30 fractions. A sensitivity analysis was performed to assess the effects of T d (3–100 days), tumor lag-time (T k = 0–10 days), and the size of tumors on optimal fractionation schedule. Results: Using an α/β ratio of 10 Gy, the average values of tumor max, min, mean BED, and D 95 were up to 19%, 21%, 20%, and 19% larger than those from conventional prescription, depending on T d and T k used. Tumor EUD was up to 17% larger than the conventional prescription. For fast proliferating tumors with T d less than 10 days, there was no

Predicting Cost and Schedule Growth for Military and Civil Space Systems

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Rusnock, Christina F

2008-01-01

... for predicting cost and schedule growth. The analysis consists of logistic and multiple regression to assess 21 Department of Defense and 71 National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) space programs...

Nontraditional work schedules for pharmacists.

Science.gov (United States)

Mahaney, Lynnae; Sanborn, Michael; Alexander, Emily

2008-11-15

Nontraditional work schedules for pharmacists at three institutions are described. The demand for pharmacists and health care in general continues to increase, yet significant material changes are occurring in the pharmacy work force. These changing demographics, coupled with historical vacancy rates and turnover trends for pharmacy staff, require an increased emphasis on workplace changes that can improve staff recruitment and retention. At William S. Middleton Memorial Veterans Affairs Hospital in Madison, Wisconsin, creative pharmacist work schedules and roles are now mainstays to the recruitment and retention of staff. The major challenge that such scheduling presents is the 8 hours needed to prepare a six-week schedule. Baylor Medical Center at Grapevine in Dallas, Texas, has a total of 45 pharmacy employees, and slightly less than half of the 24.5 full-time-equivalent staff work full-time, with most preferring to work one, two, or three days per week. As long as the coverage needs of the facility are met, Envision Telepharmacy in Alpine, Texas, allows almost any scheduling arrangement preferred by individual pharmacists or the pharmacist group covering the facility. Staffing involves a great variety of shift lengths and intervals, with shifts ranging from 2 to 10 hours. Pharmacy leaders must be increasingly aware of opportunities to provide staff with unique scheduling and operational enhancements that can provide for a better work-life balance. Compressed workweeks, job-sharing, and team scheduling were the most common types of alternative work schedules implemented at three different institutions.

The engine maintenance scheduling by using reliability centered maintenance method and the identification of 5S application in PT. XYZ

Science.gov (United States)

Sembiring, N.; Panjaitan, N.; Saragih, A. F.

2018-02-01

PT. XYZ is a manufacturing company that produces fresh fruit bunches (FFB) to Crude Palm Oil (CPO) and Palm Kernel Oil (PKO). PT. XYZ consists of six work stations: receipt station, sterilizing station, thressing station, pressing station, clarification station, and kernelery station. So far, the company is still implementing corrective maintenance maintenance system for production machines where the machine repair is done after damage occurs. Problems at PT. XYZ is the absence of scheduling engine maintenance in a planned manner resulting in the engine often damaged which can disrupt the smooth production. Another factor that is the problem in this research is the kernel station environment that becomes less convenient for operators such as there are machines and equipment not used in the production area, slippery, muddy, scattered fibers, incomplete use of PPE, and lack of employee discipline. The most commonly damaged machine is in the seed processing station (kernel station) which is cake breaker conveyor machine. The solution of this problem is to propose a schedule plan for maintenance of the machine by using the method of reliability centered maintenance and also the application of 5S. The result of the application of Reliability Centered maintenance method is obtained four components that must be treated scheduled (time directed), namely: for bearing component is 37 days, gearbox component is 97 days, CBC pen component is 35 days and conveyor pedal component is 32 days While after identification the application of 5S obtained the proposed corporate environmental improvement measures in accordance with the principles of 5S where unused goods will be moved from the production area, grouping goods based on their use, determining the procedure of cleaning the production area, conducting inspection in the use of PPE, and making 5S slogans.

Gemcitabine and cisplatin in locally advanced and metastatic bladder cancer; 3- or 4-week schedule?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Als, Anne Birgitte; Sengeløv, Lisa; Von Der Maase, Hans

2008-01-01

BACKGROUND: Chemotherapy with gemcitabine and cisplatin (GC) is an active regimen in advanced transitional cell carcinoma (TCC). Traditionally, GC has been administered as a 4-week schedule. However, an alternative 3-week schedule may be more feasible. Long-term survival data for the alternative 3......-week schedule and comparisons of the feasibility and toxicity between the two schedules have not previously been published. MATERIAL AND METHODS: We performed a retrospective analysis of patients with stage IV TCC, treated with GC by a standard 4-week or by an alternative 3-week schedule. RESULTS...

BIM-BASED SCHEDULING OF CONSTRUCTION

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Andersson, Niclas; Büchmann-Slorup, Rolf

2010-01-01

The potential of BIM is generally recognized in the construction industry, but the practical application of BIM for management purposes is, however, still limited among contractors. The objective of this study is to review the current scheduling process of construction in light of BIM...... and communicate. Scheduling on the detailed level, on the other hand, follows a stipulated approach to scheduling, i.e. the Last Planner System (LPS), which is characterized by involvement of all actors in the construction phase. Thus, the major challenge when implementing BIM-based scheduling is to improve...

Modeling the violation of reward maximization and invariance in reinforcement schedules.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Giancarlo La Camera

2008-08-01

Full Text Available It is often assumed that animals and people adjust their behavior to maximize reward acquisition. In visually cued reinforcement schedules, monkeys make errors in trials that are not immediately rewarded, despite having to repeat error trials. Here we show that error rates are typically smaller in trials equally distant from reward but belonging to longer schedules (referred to as "schedule length effect". This violates the principles of reward maximization and invariance and cannot be predicted by the standard methods of Reinforcement Learning, such as the method of temporal differences. We develop a heuristic model that accounts for all of the properties of the behavior in the reinforcement schedule task but whose predictions are not different from those of the standard temporal difference model in choice tasks. In the modification of temporal difference learning introduced here, the effect of schedule length emerges spontaneously from the sensitivity to the immediately preceding trial. We also introduce a policy for general Markov Decision Processes, where the decision made at each node is conditioned on the motivation to perform an instrumental action, and show that the application of our model to the reinforcement schedule task and the choice task are special cases of this general theoretical framework. Within this framework, Reinforcement Learning can approach contextual learning with the mixture of empirical findings and principled assumptions that seem to coexist in the best descriptions of animal behavior. As examples, we discuss two phenomena observed in humans that often derive from the violation of the principle of invariance: "framing," wherein equivalent options are treated differently depending on the context in which they are presented, and the "sunk cost" effect, the greater tendency to continue an endeavor once an investment in money, effort, or time has been made. The schedule length effect might be a manifestation of these

An investigation on impacts of scheduling configurations on Mississippi biology subject area testing

Science.gov (United States)

Marchette, Frances Lenora

The purpose of this mixed modal study was to compare the results of Biology Subject Area mean scores of students on a 4 x 4 block schedule, A/B block schedule, and traditional year-long schedule for 1A to 5A size schools. This study also reviewed the data to determine if minority or gender issues might influence the test results. Interviews with administrators and teachers were conducted about the type of schedule configuration they use and the influence that the schedule has on student academic performance on the Biology Subject Area Test. Additionally, this research further explored whether schedule configurations allow sufficient time for students to construct knowledge. This study is important to schools, teachers, and administrators because it can assist them in considering the impacts that different types of class schedules have on student performance and if ethnic or gender issues are influencing testing results. This study used the causal-comparative method for the quantitative portion of the study and constant comparative method for the qualitative portion to explore the relationship of school schedules on student academic achievement on the Mississippi Biology Subject Area Test. The aggregate means of selected student scores indicate that the Mississippi Biology Subject Area Test as a measure of student performance reveals no significant difference on student achievement for the three school schedule configurations. The data were adjusted for initial differences of gender, minority, and school size on the three schedule configurations. The results suggest that schools may employ various schedule configurations and expect student performance on the Mississippi Biology Subject Area Test to be unaffected. However, many areas of concern were identified in the interviews that might impact on school learning environments. These concerns relate to effective classroom management, the active involvement of students in learning, the adequacy of teacher education

Integration of scheduling and discrete event simulation systems to improve production flow planning

Science.gov (United States)

Krenczyk, D.; Paprocka, I.; Kempa, W. M.; Grabowik, C.; Kalinowski, K.

2016-08-01

The increased availability of data and computer-aided technologies such as MRPI/II, ERP and MES system, allowing producers to be more adaptive to market dynamics and to improve production scheduling. Integration of production scheduling and computer modelling, simulation and visualization systems can be useful in the analysis of production system constraints related to the efficiency of manufacturing systems. A integration methodology based on semi-automatic model generation method for eliminating problems associated with complexity of the model and labour-intensive and time-consuming process of simulation model creation is proposed. Data mapping and data transformation techniques for the proposed method have been applied. This approach has been illustrated through examples of practical implementation of the proposed method using KbRS scheduling system and Enterprise Dynamics simulation system.

Job Flow Distribution and Ranked Jobs Scheduling in Grid Virtual Organizations

CERN Document Server

Toporkov, Victor; Tselishchev, Alexey; Yemelyanov, Dmitry; Potekhin, Petr

2015-01-01

In this work, we consider the problems of job flow distribution and ranked job framework forming within a model of cycle scheduling in Grid virtual organizations. The problem of job flow distribution is solved in terms of jobs and computing resource domains compatibility. A coefficient estimating such compatibility is introduced and studied experimentally. Two distribution strategies are suggested. Job framework forming is justified with such quality of service indicators as an average job execution time, a number of required scheduling cycles, and a number of job execution declines. Two methods for job selection and scheduling are proposed and compared: the first one is based on the knapsack problem solution, while the second one utilizes the mentioned compatibility coefficient. Along with these methods we present experimental results demonstrating the efficiency of proposed approaches and compare them with random job selection.

Schedule-dependency of doxorubicin and vinblastine in EAT tumours in mice

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Auersperg, M.; Pogacnik, A.; Kloboves-Prevodnik, V.; Sersa, G.; Cemazar, M.

2006-01-01

Background. Antitumour schedule-dependency of the doxorubicin and vinblastine combination was explored. Materials and methods. Intraperitoneal Ehrlich ascites tumours (EAT) syngeneic to CBA mice were treated with vinblastine or doxorubicin alone, or in combined treatment schedules. Results. Combinations of doxorubicin and vinblastine administered at 48-h, but not at 24-h interval, regardless of the sequence of drugs, significantly reduced the number of tumour cells in the ascites in comparison with all other treatments. In the combined treatment schedules, the predominant morphological changes as well as DNA distribution pattern were dependent on the first drug applied. Regardless of the sequence of the drugs, median survival times of animals did not significantly differ between the treatment groups. Conclusions. The effect of combination of vinblastine and doxorubicin is schedule-dependent. The time interval, but not the sequence of drugs seems to be crucial for the observed effect. The data from preclinical studies are important for planning combined treatment schedules in clinical setting. (author)

The influence of the operating schedule of the Greek Research Reactor on the radiological consequences of the reactor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kollas, J.G.

1986-04-01

The sensitivity of the radiological consequences of the Greek Research Reactor to the operating schedule of the reactor is assessed in this report. The consequences are due to the occurrence of a postulated accident, a 20% core melt loss of coolant accident. Three different operating schedules are considered: (a) the present 8 hrs/day, 5 days/wk schedule, (b) a 16 hrs/day, 5 days/wk schedule, and (c) a continuous operation schedule. The results of the analysis indicate that there is a direct relation between consequences and duration of operation. (author)

Weighted-SNR-based fair scheduling for uplink OFDMA

KAUST Repository

Ma, Yao; Leith, Alex; Alouini, Mohamed-Slim; (Sherman) Shen X., Xuemin

2009-01-01

rates for different users. The offline optimization technique requires to know the channel distribution information (CDI) at the scheduler. The online method uses the weight adaption combined with individual user rate tracking, which avoids the need

Shop Floor Scheduling for Program Depot Maintenance Considering Stochastic Repair Needs

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Gemmill, Douglas

2000-01-01

.... The research resulted in the development of a new method to identify the critical path within resource-constrained project scheduling problems, heuristic search methods that improved overall project...

Research and Applications of Shop Scheduling Based on Genetic Algorithms

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hang ZHAO

Full Text Available ABSTRACT Shop Scheduling is an important factor affecting the efficiency of production, efficient scheduling method and a research and application for optimization technology play an important role for manufacturing enterprises to improve production efficiency, reduce production costs and many other aspects. Existing studies have shown that improved genetic algorithm has solved the limitations that existed in the genetic algorithm, the objective function is able to meet customers' needs for shop scheduling, and the future research should focus on the combination of genetic algorithm with other optimized algorithms. In this paper, in order to overcome the shortcomings of early convergence of genetic algorithm and resolve local minimization problem in search process,aiming at mixed flow shop scheduling problem, an improved cyclic search genetic algorithm is put forward, and chromosome coding method and corresponding operation are given.The operation has the nature of inheriting the optimal individual ofthe previous generation and is able to avoid the emergence of local minimum, and cyclic and crossover operation and mutation operation can enhance the diversity of the population and then quickly get the optimal individual, and the effectiveness of the algorithm is validated. Experimental results show that the improved algorithm can well avoid the emergency of local minimum and is rapid in convergence.

Home Health Care for California's Injured Workers: Options for Implementing a Fee Schedule.

Science.gov (United States)

Wynn, Barbara O; Boustead, Anne

2015-07-15

The California Department of Industrial Relations/Division of Worker's Compensation asked RAND to provide technical assistance in developing a fee schedule for home health services provided to injured workers. The fee schedule needs to address the full spectrum of home health services ranging from skilled nursing and therapy services to unskilled personal care or chore services that may be provided by family members. RAND researchers consulted with stakeholders in the California workers' compensation system to outline issues the fee schedule should address, reviewed home health fee schedules used by other payers, and conducted interviews with WC administrators from other jurisdictions to elicit their experiences. California stakeholders identified unskilled attendant services as most problematic in determining need and payment rates, particularly services furnished by family members. RAND researchers concentrated on fee schedule options that would result in a single fee schedule covering the full range of home health care services furnished to injured workers and made three sets of recommendations. The first set pertains to obtaining additional information that would highlight the policy issues likely to occur with the implementation of the fee schedule and alternatives for assessing an injured worker's home health care needs. Another approach conforms most closely with the Labor Code requirements. It would integrate the fee schedules used by Medicare, In-Home Health Supportive Services, and the federal Office of Workers' Compensation. The third approach would base the home health fee schedule on rules used by the federal Office of Workers' Compensation.

Network scheduling at Belene NPP construction site

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Matveev, A.

2010-01-01

Four types of schedules differing in the level of their detail are singled out to enhance the efficiency of Belene NPP Project implementation planning and monitoring: Level 1 Schedule–Summary Integrated Overall Time Schedule (SIOTS) is an appendix to EPC Contract. The main purpose of SIOTS is the large scale presentation of the current information on the Project implementation. Level 2 Schedule–Integrated Overall Time Schedule (IOTS)is the contract schedule for the Contractor (ASE JSC) and their subcontractors.The principal purpose of IOTS is the work progress planning and monitoring, the analysis of the effect of activities implementation upon the progress of the Project as a whole. IOTS is the reporting schedule at the Employer –Contractor level. Level 3 Schedules, Detail Time Schedules(DTS) are developed by those who actually perform the work and are agreed upon with Atomstroyexport JSC.The main purpose of DTS is the detail planning of Atomstroyexport subcontractor's activities. DTSare the reporting schedules at the level of Contractor-Subcontractor. Level 4 Schedules are the High Detail Time Schedules (HDTS), which are the day-to-day plans of work implementation and are developed, as a rule, for a week's time period.Each lower level time schedule details the activities of the higher level time schedule

Assessment methods for rehabilitation.

Science.gov (United States)

Biefang, S; Potthoff, P

1995-09-01

Diagnostics and evaluation in medical rehabilitation should be based on methods that are as objective as possible. In this context quantitative methods are an important precondition. We conducted for the German Pensions Insurance Institutions (which are in charge of the medical and vocational rehabilitation of workers and employees) a survey on assessment methods for rehabilitation which included an evaluation of American literature, with the aim to indicate procedures that can be considered for adaptation in Germany and to define further research requirements. The survey identified: (1) standardized procedures and instrumented tests for the assessment of musculoskeletal, cardiopulmonary and neurophysiological function; (2) personality, intelligence, achievement, neuropsychological and alcoholism screening tests for the assessment of mental or cognitive function; (3) rating scales and self-administered questionnaires for the assessment of Activities of Daily Living and Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (ADL/IADL Scales); (4) generic profiles and indexes as well as disease-specific measures for the assessment of health-related quality of life and health status; and (5) rating scales for vocational assessment. German equivalents or German versions exist only for a part of the procedures identified. Translation and testing of Anglo-Saxon procedures should have priority over the development of new German methods. The following procedures will be taken into account: (a) instrumented tests for physical function, (b) IADL Scales, (c) generic indexes of health-related quality of life, (d) specific quality of life and health status measures for disorders of the circulatory system, metabolic system, digestive organs, respiratory tract and for cancer, and (e) vocational rating scales.

Information System Quality Assessment Methods

OpenAIRE

Korn, Alexandra

2014-01-01

This thesis explores challenging topic of information system quality assessment and mainly process assessment. In this work the term Information System Quality is defined as well as different approaches in a quality definition for different domains of information systems are outlined. Main methods of process assessment are overviewed and their relationships are described. Process assessment methods are divided into two categories: ISO standards and best practices. The main objective of this w...

Parents' Family Time and Work Schedules: The Split-Shift Schedule in Spain

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Gracia, P.; Kalmijn, M.

2016-01-01

This study used data on couples from the 2003 Spanish Time Use Survey (N = 1,416) to analyze how work schedules are associated with family, couple, parent–child, and non-family leisure activities. Spain is clearly an interesting case for the institutionalized split-shift schedule, a long lunch break

78 FR 37237 - Proposed Adjustments to the Aggregate Production Quotas for Schedule I and II Controlled...

Science.gov (United States)

2013-06-20

... class of controlled substance listed in schedules I and II and for ephedrine, pseudoephedrine, and... disposal by the registrants holding individual manufacturing quotas for the class; (2) whether any... the Aggregate Production Quotas for Schedule I and II Controlled Substances and Assessment of Annual...

Systematic Evaluation of Stochastic Methods in Power System Scheduling and Dispatch with Renewable Energy

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wang, Yishen [Univ. of Washington, Seattle, WA (United States); Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States); Zhou, Zhi [Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States); Liu, Cong [Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States); Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), Austin, TX (United States); Botterud, Audun [Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)

2016-08-01

As more wind power and other renewable resources are being integrated into the electric power grid, the forecast uncertainty brings operational challenges for the power system operators. In this report, different operational strategies for uncertainty management are presented and evaluated. A comprehensive and consistent simulation framework is developed to analyze the performance of different reserve policies and scheduling techniques under uncertainty in wind power. Numerical simulations are conducted on a modified version of the IEEE 118-bus system with a 20% wind penetration level, comparing deterministic, interval, and stochastic unit commitment strategies. The results show that stochastic unit commitment provides a reliable schedule without large increases in operational costs. Moreover, decomposition techniques, such as load shift factor and Benders decomposition, can help in overcoming the computational obstacles to stochastic unit commitment and enable the use of a larger scenario set to represent forecast uncertainty. In contrast, deterministic and interval unit commitment tend to give higher system costs as more reserves are being scheduled to address forecast uncertainty. However, these approaches require a much lower computational effort Choosing a proper lower bound for the forecast uncertainty is important for balancing reliability and system operational cost in deterministic and interval unit commitment. Finally, we find that the introduction of zonal reserve requirements improves reliability, but at the expense of higher operational costs.

Real-time energy resources scheduling considering short-term and very short-term wind forecast

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Silva, Marco; Sousa, Tiago; Morais, Hugo; Vale, Zita [Polytechnic of Porto (Portugal). GECAD - Knowledge Engineering and Decision Support Research Center

2012-07-01

This paper proposes an energy resources management methodology based on three distinct time horizons: day-ahead scheduling, hour-ahead scheduling, and real-time scheduling. In each scheduling process the update of generation and consumption operation and of the storage and electric vehicles storage status are used. Besides the new operation conditions, the most accurate forecast values of wind generation and of consumption using results of short-term and very short-term methods are used. A case study considering a distribution network with intensive use of distributed generation and electric vehicles is presented. (orig.)

Time-constrained project scheduling with adjacent resources

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hurink, Johann L.; Kok, A.L.; Paulus, J.J.; Schutten, Johannes M.J.

We develop a decomposition method for the Time-Constrained Project Scheduling Problem (TCPSP) with adjacent resources. For adjacent resources the resource units are ordered and the units assigned to a job have to be adjacent. On top of that, adjacent resources are not required by single jobs, but by

Time-constrained project scheduling with adjacent resources

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hurink, Johann L.; Kok, A.L.; Paulus, J.J.; Schutten, Johannes M.J.

2008-01-01

We develop a decomposition method for the Time-Constrained Project Scheduling Problem (TCPSP) with Adjacent Resources. For adjacent resources the resource units are ordered and the units assigned to a job have to be adjacent. On top of that, adjacent resources are not required by single jobs, but by

Scheduled Operation of PV Power Station Considering Solar Radiation Forecast Error

Science.gov (United States)

Takayama, Satoshi; Hara, Ryoichi; Kita, Hiroyuki; Ito, Takamitsu; Ueda, Yoshinobu; Saito, Yutaka; Takitani, Katsuyuki; Yamaguchi, Koji

Massive penetration of photovoltaic generation (PV) power stations may cause some serious impacts on a power system operation due to their volatile and unpredictable output. Growth of uncertainty may require larger operating reserve capacity and regulating capacity. Therefore, in order to utilize a PV power station as an alternative for an existing power plant, improvement in controllability and adjustability of station output become very important factor. Purpose of this paper is to develop the scheduled operation technique using a battery system (NAS battery) and the meteorological forecast. The performance of scheduled operation strongly depends on the accuracy of solar radiation forecast. However, the solar radiation forecast contains error. This paper proposes scheduling method and rescheduling method considering the trend of forecast error. More specifically, the forecast error scenario is modeled by means of the clustering analysis of the past actual forecast error. Validity and effectiveness of the proposed method is ascertained through computational simulations using the actual PV generation data monitored at the Wakkanai PV power station and solar radiation forecast data provided by the Japan Weather Association.

Nonlinear observer output-feedback MPC treatment scheduling for HIV

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zurakowski Ryan

2011-05-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Mathematical models of the immune response to the Human Immunodeficiency Virus demonstrate the potential for dynamic schedules of Highly Active Anti-Retroviral Therapy to enhance Cytotoxic Lymphocyte-mediated control of HIV infection. Methods In previous work we have developed a model predictive control (MPC based method for determining optimal treatment interruption schedules for this purpose. In this paper, we introduce a nonlinear observer for the HIV-immune response system and an integrated output-feedback MPC approach for implementing the treatment interruption scheduling algorithm using the easily available viral load measurements. We use Monte-Carlo approaches to test robustness of the algorithm. Results The nonlinear observer shows robust state tracking while preserving state positivity both for continuous and discrete measurements. The integrated output-feedback MPC algorithm stabilizes the desired steady-state. Monte-Carlo testing shows significant robustness to modeling error, with 90% success rates in stabilizing the desired steady-state with 15% variance from nominal on all model parameters. Conclusions The possibility of enhancing immune responsiveness to HIV through dynamic scheduling of treatment is exciting. Output-feedback Model Predictive Control is uniquely well-suited to solutions of these types of problems. The unique constraints of state positivity and very slow sampling are addressable by using a special-purpose nonlinear state estimator, as described in this paper. This shows the possibility of using output-feedback MPC-based algorithms for this purpose.

Operational Excellence through Schedule Optimization and Production Simulation of Application Specific Integrated Circuits.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Flory, John Andrew [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Padilla, Denise D. [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Gauthier, John H. [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Zwerneman, April Marie [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States); Miller, Steven P [Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)

2016-05-01

Upcoming weapon programs require an aggressive increase in Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) production at Sandia National Laboratories (SNL). SNL has developed unique modeling and optimization tools that have been instrumental in improving ASIC production productivity and efficiency, identifying optimal operational and tactical execution plans under resource constraints, and providing confidence in successful mission execution. With ten products and unprecedented levels of demand, a single set of shared resources, highly variable processes, and the need for external supplier task synchronization, scheduling is an integral part of successful manufacturing. The scheduler uses an iterative multi-objective genetic algorithm and a multi-dimensional performance evaluator. Schedule feasibility is assessed using a discrete event simulation (DES) that incorporates operational uncertainty, variability, and resource availability. The tools provide rapid scenario assessments and responses to variances in the operational environment, and have been used to inform major equipment investments and workforce planning decisions in multiple SNL facilities.

Conception of Self-Construction Production Scheduling System

Science.gov (United States)

Xue, Hai; Zhang, Xuerui; Shimizu, Yasuhiro; Fujimura, Shigeru

With the high speed innovation of information technology, many production scheduling systems have been developed. However, a lot of customization according to individual production environment is required, and then a large investment for development and maintenance is indispensable. Therefore now the direction to construct scheduling systems should be changed. The final objective of this research aims at developing a system which is built by it extracting the scheduling technique automatically through the daily production scheduling work, so that an investment will be reduced. This extraction mechanism should be applied for various production processes for the interoperability. Using the master information extracted by the system, production scheduling operators can be supported to accelerate the production scheduling work easily and accurately without any restriction of scheduling operations. By installing this extraction mechanism, it is easy to introduce scheduling system without a lot of expense for customization. In this paper, at first a model for expressing a scheduling problem is proposed. Then the guideline to extract the scheduling information and use the extracted information is shown and some applied functions are also proposed based on it.

International Literature Review on WHODAS II (World Health Organization Disability Assessment Schedule II

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Federici, Stefano

2009-06-01

Full Text Available This review is a critical analysis regarding the study and utilization of the World Health Organization Disability Assessment Schedule II (WHODAS II as a basis for establishing specific criteria for evaluating relevant international scientific literature.The WHODAS II is an instrument developed by the World Health Organisation in order to assess behavioural limitations and restrictions related to an individual’s participation, independent from a medical diagnosis. This instrument was developed by the WHO’s Assessment, Classification and Epidemiology Group within the framework of the WHO/NIH Joint Project on Assessment and Classification of Disablements. To ascertain the international dissemination level of for WHODAS II’s utilization and, at the same time, analyse the studies regarding the psychometric validation of the WHODAS II translation and adaptation in other languages and geographical contests. Particularly, our goal is to highlight which psychometric features have been investigated, focusing on the factorial structure, the reliability, and the validity of this instrument. International literature was researched through the main data bases of indexed scientific production: the Cambridge Scientific Abstracts – CSA, PubMed, and Google Scholar, from 1990 through to December 2008.The following search terms were used:“whodas”, in the field query, plus “title” and “abstract”.The WHODAS II has been used in 54 studies, of which 51 articles are published in international journals, 2 conference abstracts, and one dissertation abstract. Nevertheless, only 7 articles are published in journals and conference proceedings regarding disability and rehabilitation. Others have been published in medical and psychiatric journals, with the aim of indentifying comorbidity correlations in clinical diagnosis concerning patients with mental illness. Just 8 out of 51 articles have studied the psychometric properties of the WHODAS II. The

Range Scheduling Aid (RSA)

Science.gov (United States)

Logan, J. R.; Pulvermacher, M. K.

1991-01-01

Range Scheduling Aid (RSA) is presented in the form of the viewgraphs. The following subject areas are covered: satellite control network; current and new approaches to range scheduling; MITRE tasking; RSA features; RSA display; constraint based analytic capability; RSA architecture; and RSA benefits.

Development of an irrigation scheduling software based on model predicted crop water stress

Science.gov (United States)

Modern irrigation scheduling methods are generally based on sensor-monitored soil moisture regimes rather than crop water stress which is difficult to measure in real-time, but can be computed using agricultural system models. In this study, an irrigation scheduling software based on RZWQM2 model pr...

Immunization Schedules for Infants and Children

Science.gov (United States)

... ACIP Vaccination Recommendations Why Immunize? Vaccines: The Basics Immunization Schedule for Infants and Children (Birth through 6 ... any questions please talk to your doctor. 2018 Immunization Schedule Recommended Vaccinations for Infants and Children Schedule ...

Non-standard work schedules, gender, and parental stress

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mariona Lozano

2016-02-01

Full Text Available Background: Working non-standard hours changes the temporal structure of family life, constraining the time that family members spend with one another and threatening individuals' well-being. However, the empirical research on the link between stress and non-standard schedules has provided mixed results. Some studies have indicated that working non-standard hours is harmful whereas others have suggested that working atypical hours might facilitate the balance between family and work. Moreover, there is some evidence that the association between stress and non-standard employment has different implications for men and women. Objective: This paper examines the association between non-standard work schedules and stress among dual-earner couples with children. Two research questions are addressed. First, do predictability of the schedule and time flexibility moderate the link between non-standard work hours and stress? Second, do non-standard schedules affect men's and women's perceptions of stress differently? Methods: We use a sample of 1,932 working parents from the Canadian 2010 General Social Survey, which includes a time-use diary. A sequential logit regression analysis stratified by gender is employed to model two types of result. First, we estimate the odds of being stressed versus not being stressed. Second, for all respondents feeling stressed, we estimate the odds of experiencing high levels versus moderate levels of stress. Results: Our analysis shows that the link between non-standard working hours and perceived stress differs between mothers and fathers. First, fathers with non-standard schedules appear more likely to experience stress than those working standard hours, although the results are not significant. Among mothers, having a non-standard schedule is associated with a significantly lower risk of experiencing stress. Second, the analysis focusing on the mediating role of flexibility and predictability indicates that

Scheduling Non-Preemptible Jobs to Minimize Peak Demand

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sean Yaw

2017-10-01

Full Text Available This paper examines an important problem in smart grid energy scheduling; peaks in power demand are proportionally more expensive to generate and provision for. The issue is exacerbated in local microgrids that do not benefit from the aggregate smoothing experienced by large grids. Demand-side scheduling can reduce these peaks by taking advantage of the fact that there is often flexibility in job start times. We focus attention on the case where the jobs are non-preemptible, meaning once started, they run to completion. The associated optimization problem is called the peak demand minimization problem, and has been previously shown to be NP-hard. Our results include an optimal fixed-parameter tractable algorithm, a polynomial-time approximation algorithm, as well as an effective heuristic that can also be used in an online setting of the problem. Simulation results show that these methods can reduce peak demand by up to 50% versus on-demand scheduling for household power jobs.

A Formal Product-Line Engineering Approach for Schedulers

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Orhan, Güner; Aksit, Mehmet; Rensink, Arend; Jololian, Leon; Robbins, David E.; Fernandes, Steven L.

2017-01-01

Scheduling techniques have been applied to a large category of software systems, such as, processor scheduling in operating systems, car scheduling in elevator systems, facility scheduling at airports, antenna scheduling in radar systems, scheduling of events, control signals and data in

Robust and Flexible Scheduling with Evolutionary Computation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jensen, Mikkel T.

Over the last ten years, there have been numerous applications of evolutionary algorithms to a variety of scheduling problems. Like most other research on heuristic scheduling, the primary aim of the research has been on deterministic formulations of the problems. This is in contrast to real world...... scheduling problems which are usually not deterministic. Usually at the time the schedule is made some information about the problem and processing environment is available, but this information is uncertain and likely to change during schedule execution. Changes frequently encountered in scheduling...... environments include machine breakdowns, uncertain processing times, workers getting sick, materials being delayed and the appearance of new jobs. These possible environmental changes mean that a schedule which was optimal for the information available at the time of scheduling can end up being highly...

Cyclic delivery scheduling to customers with different priorities

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Katarzyna Zofia Gdowska

2013-12-01

Full Text Available Background: In this paper a cyclic delivery scheduling problem for customers with different priorities is presented. Shops, which are provided with deliveries, are occasionally located in places which are crucial for the proper flow of traffic. In such places coordination of deliveries is crucial; therefore it allows to completely eliminate the phenomenon of the simultaneous arrivals of suppliers. Methods: In this paper the cyclic delivery scheduling problem for customers with different priorities was presented. To this theoretical problem a mix integer programming model was developed. Specific approach to the cyclic delivery scheduling problem is inspired by timetabling problem for urban public transport. Results: Mixed integer programming model was employed for solving four cases of cyclic delivery scheduling problem for customers with different priorities. When the value of the synchronization priority assigned to a single customer raised then the total number of synchronizations in the whole network decreased. In order to compare solutions a synchronization rate was utilized. A simple factor was utilized - the proportion of number of synchronizations of deliveries to a given customer to the total number of synchronizations obtained for the whole network. When the value of synchronization priority raised then the value of synchronization rate of this customer improved significantly. Conclusions: The mixed integer programming model for the cyclic delivery scheduling problem for customers with different priorities presented in this paper can be utilized for generating schedules of serving customers located in places where only one delivery can be received and unloaded at one go and where there is no space for other suppliers to wait in a queue. Such a schedule can be very useful for organizing deliveries to small shops united in a franchising network, since they operate in a way that is very similar to the network presented in this paper

Sleep scheduling with expected common coverage in wireless sensor networks

OpenAIRE

Bulut, Eyuphan; Korpeoglu, Ibrahim

2011-01-01

Sleep scheduling, which is putting some sensor nodes into sleep mode without harming network functionality, is a common method to reduce energy consumption in dense wireless sensor networks. This paper proposes a distributed and energy efficient sleep scheduling and routing scheme that can be used to extend the lifetime of a sensor network while maintaining a user defined coverage and connectivity. The scheme can activate and deactivate the three basic units of a sensor node (sensing, proces...

Sustainable Sport Scheduling Approach Considering Team Equity for the Korean Professional Baseball League

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Young Dae Ko

2018-02-01

Full Text Available Since the Korea Baseball League (KBL had nine teams, an odd number, in the 2013 season, one team was unable to compete at certain times in the rotation while the other eight teams played games. Therefore, it was necessary to consider several elements to generate an annual match schedule in terms of team equity. However, the annual match schedule created by the conventional method could not fully reflect the elements regarding team equity, and there were a great many complaints from teams and fans. As a result, applying an optimization technique was decided upon to derive an efficient annual match schedule for the 2014 season. All the required conditions for scheduling are formulated as one or more equations and several parameter values concerning team equity are calculated with the related equations. Due to the complicated scheduling conditions, a sequential solution approach is applied by dividing the overall planning horizon in three parts. The derived annual match schedule was used for the 2014 season after some modifications, and the staff of the KBL was satisfied with the performance of the proposed scheduling methodology. Currently, this sustainable scheduling methodology is still in use to generate an efficient annual match schedule for the KBL.

The impact of alternative pricing methods for drugs in California Workers' Compensation System: Fee-schedule pricing.

Science.gov (United States)

Wilson, Leslie; Turkistani, Fatema A; Huang, Wei; Tran, Dang M; Lin, Tracy Kuo

2018-01-01

California's Workers' Compensation System (CAWCS) Department of Industrial Relations questioned the adequacy of the current Medi-Cal fee-schedule pricing and requested analysis of alternatives that maximize price availability and maintain budget neutrality. To compare CAWCS pharmacy-dispensed (PD) drug prices under alternative fee schedules, and identify combinations of alternative benchmarks that have prices available for the largest percentage of PD drugs and that best reach budget neutrality. Claims transaction-level data (2011-2013) from CAWCS were used to estimate total annual PD pharmaceutical payments. Medi-Cal pricing data was from the Workman's Compensation Insurance System (WCIS). Average Wholesale Prices (AWP), Wholesale Acquisition Costs (WAC), Direct Prices (DP), Federal Upper Limit (FUL) prices, and National Average Drug Acquisition Costs (NADAC) were from Medi-Span. We matched National Drug Codes (NDCs), pricing dates, and drug quantity for comparisons. We report pharmacy-dispensed (PD) claims frequency, reimbursement matching rate, and paid costs by CAWCS as the reference price against all alternative price benchmarks. Of 12,529,977 CAWCS claims for pharmaceutical products 11.6% (1,462,814) were for PD drugs. Prescription drug cost for CAWCS was over $152M; $63.9M, $47.9M, and $40.6M in 2011-2013. Ninety seven percent of these CAWCS PD claims had a Medi-Cal price. Alternative mechanisms provided a price for fewer claims; NADAC 94.23%, AWP 90.94%, FUL 73.11%, WAC 66.98%, and DP 14.33%. Among CAWCS drugs with no Medi-Cal price in PD claims, AWP, WAC, NADAC, DP, and FUL provided prices for 96.7%, 63.14%, 24.82%, 20.83%, and 15.08% of claims. Overall CAWCS paid 100.52% of Medi-Cal, 60% of AWP, 97% of WAC, 309.53% of FUL, 103.83% of DP, and 136.27% of NADAC. CAWCS current Medi-Cal fee-schedule price list for PD drugs is more complete than all alternative fee-schedules. However, all reimbursement approaches would require combinations of pricing benchmarks

A Privacy-Preserving Distributed Optimal Scheduling for Interconnected Microgrids

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nian Liu

2016-12-01

Full Text Available With the development of microgrids (MGs, interconnected operation of multiple MGs is becoming a promising strategy for the smart grid. In this paper, a privacy-preserving distributed optimal scheduling method is proposed for the interconnected microgrids (IMG with a battery energy storage system (BESS and renewable energy resources (RESs. The optimal scheduling problem is modeled to minimize the coalitional operation cost of the IMG, including the fuel cost of conventional distributed generators and the life loss cost of BESSs. By using the framework of the alternating direction method of multipliers (ADMM, a distributed optimal scheduling model and an iteration solution algorithm for the IMG is introduced; only the expected exchanging power (EEP of each MG is required during the iterations. Furthermore, a privacy-preserving strategy for the sharing of the EEP among MGs is designed to work with the mechanism of the distributed algorithm. According to the security analysis, the EEP can be delivered in a cooperative and privacy-preserving way. A case study and numerical results are given in terms of the convergence of the algorithm, the comparison of the costs and the implementation efficiency.

The development of KMRR schedule and progress control system (KSPCS) for the master schedule of KMRR project

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Choi, Chang Woong; Lee, Tae Joon; Kim, Joon Yun; Cho, Yun Ho; Hah, Jong Hyun

1993-07-01

This report was to development the computerized schedule and progress control system for the master schedule of KMRR project with ARTEMIS 7000/386 CM (Ver. 7.4.2.) based on project management theory (PERT/CPM, PDM, and S-curve). This system has been efficiently used for KMRR master schedule and will be utilized for the detail scheduling of KMRR project. (Author) 23 refs., 26 figs., 52 tabs

The development of KMRR schedule and progress control system (KSPCS) for the master schedule of KMRR project

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Choi, Chang Woong; Lee, Tae Joon; Kim, Joon Yun; Cho, Yun Ho; Hah, Jong Hyun [Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, Taejon (Korea, Republic of)

1993-07-01

This report was to development the computerized schedule and progress control system for the master schedule of KMRR project with ARTEMIS 7000/386 CM (Ver. 7.4.2.) based on project management theory (PERT/CPM, PDM, and S-curve). This system has been efficiently used for KMRR master schedule and will be utilized for the detail scheduling of KMRR project. (Author) 23 refs., 26 figs., 52 tabs.

78 FR 21818 - Schedules of Controlled Substances: Placement of Methylone Into Schedule I

Science.gov (United States)

2013-04-12

..., methamphetamine, and MDMA, Schedule I and II substances. These effects included elevated body temperature... of reuptake of monoamines, and in vivo studies (microdialysis, locomotor activity, body temperature.... Yet another commenter claimed that Schedule I placement would ``cripple efforts at learning,'' make it...

Dynamic Planning of Experiments for the Optimisation of Managerial Scheduling

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tomáš Macák

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Time management has a crucial role in organizations and also in our personal lives. Managerial scheduling is an important tool for the time management, especially It can serve as a tool for the first phase, of time management - namely for effective planning. This paper focusses on finding the best possible setting for determining significant the best layout for activities according to the criteria of urgency and importance using a modified steepest ascent method, which can be referred as dynamic scheduling. This term indicates the nature of the method; wherein the experimental design space is changed to look for the best conditions for adjustment factors influencing a managerial process. Existing methods for layout optimization mentioned in the literature and conventionally implemented in practice have only shown local optima.

An Improved Multiobjective PSO for the Scheduling Problem of Panel Block Construction

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zhi Yang

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Uncertainty is common in ship construction. However, few studies have focused on scheduling problems under uncertainty in shipbuilding. This paper formulates the scheduling problem of panel block construction as a multiobjective fuzzy flow shop scheduling problem (FSSP with a fuzzy processing time, a fuzzy due date, and the just-in-time (JIT concept. An improved multiobjective particle swarm optimization called MOPSO-M is developed to solve the scheduling problem. MOPSO-M utilizes a ranked-order-value rule to convert the continuous position of particles into the discrete permutations of jobs, and an available mapping is employed to obtain the precedence-based permutation of the jobs. In addition, to improve the performance of MOPSO-M, archive maintenance is combined with global best position selection, and mutation and a velocity constriction mechanism are introduced into the algorithm. The feasibility and effectiveness of MOPSO-M are assessed in comparison with general MOPSO and nondominated sorting genetic algorithm-II (NSGA-II.

Railway line capacity consumption of different railway signalling systems under scheduled and disturbed conditions

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Goverde, R.M.P.; Corman, F.; D'Ariano, A.

2013-01-01

This paper evaluates the capacity consumption on a Dutch railway line both under scheduled and disturbed traffic conditions. For the scheduled condition the standard UIC compression method is used, while the computation of capacity consumption under disturbed conditions requires multiple simulation

Periodic Heterogeneous Vehicle Routing Problem With Driver Scheduling

Science.gov (United States)

Mardiana Panggabean, Ellis; Mawengkang, Herman; Azis, Zainal; Filia Sari, Rina

2018-01-01

The paper develops a model for the optimal management of logistic delivery of a given commodity. The company has different type of vehicles with different capacity to deliver the commodity for customers. The problem is then called Periodic Heterogeneous Vehicle Routing Problem (PHVRP). The goal is to schedule the deliveries according to feasible combinations of delivery days and to determine the scheduling of fleet and driver and routing policies of the vehicles. The objective is to minimize the sum of the costs of all routes over the planning horizon. We propose a combined approach of heuristic algorithm and exact method to solve the problem.

Second unit scheduling concerns on a dual-unit nuclear project

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Block, H.R.; Mazzini, R.A.

1978-01-01

This paper explores the planning and scheduling problems of Unit 2 of the Susquehanna steam electric station. The causes of these problems and methods to avoid or mitigate their consequences are discussed. The Susquehanna steam electric station has two boiling water reactors rated at 1,100 MW each. Topics considered include cost factors, structures, equipment, engineering and home office, construction services, completion data phasing, work sequencing, structural dependences, and segregation. Substatial cost and schedule benefits can result if two nuclear units are designed and constructed as one integral station, and if maximum sharing of facilities and services between the units occurs. It is concluded that the cost benefits of highly integrated dual unit construction outweigh the schedule and logistical problems caused by that approach

Fewer intensive care unit refusals and a higher capacity utilization by using a cyclic surgical case schedule

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van Houdenhoven, Mark; van Oostrum, Jeroen M.; Wullink, Gerhard; Hans, Elias W.; Hurink, Johann L.; Bakker, Jan; Kazemier, Geert

Purpose: Mounting health care costs force hospital managers to maximize utilization of scarce resources and simultaneously improve access to hospital services. This article assesses the benefits of a cyclic case scheduling approach that exploits a master surgical schedule (MSS). An MSS maximizes

Evaluation of interactive computerized training to teach parents to implement photographic activity schedules with children with autism spectrum disorder.

Science.gov (United States)

Gerencser, Kristina R; Higbee, Thomas S; Akers, Jessica S; Contreras, Bethany P

2017-07-01

Training parents of children with autism spectrum disorder can be a challenge due to limited resources, time, and money. Interactive computerized training (ICT)-a self-paced program that incorporates instructions, videos, and interactive questions-is one method professionals can use to disseminate trainings to broader populations. This study extends previous research on ICT by assessing the effect of ICT to teach three parents how to implement a photographic activity schedule using a systematic prompting procedure with their child. Following ICT, all parents increased their fidelity to implementation of an activity schedule during role-play sessions with an adult. Fidelity remained high during implementation with their child and maintained during a 2-week follow-up. © 2017 Society for the Experimental Analysis of Behavior.

Runway Scheduling Using Generalized Dynamic Programming

Science.gov (United States)

Montoya, Justin; Wood, Zachary; Rathinam, Sivakumar

2011-01-01

A generalized dynamic programming method for finding a set of pareto optimal solutions for a runway scheduling problem is introduced. The algorithm generates a set of runway fight sequences that are optimal for both runway throughput and delay. Realistic time-based operational constraints are considered, including miles-in-trail separation, runway crossings, and wake vortex separation. The authors also model divergent runway takeoff operations to allow for reduced wake vortex separation. A modeled Dallas/Fort Worth International airport and three baseline heuristics are used to illustrate preliminary benefits of using the generalized dynamic programming method. Simulated traffic levels ranged from 10 aircraft to 30 aircraft with each test case spanning 15 minutes. The optimal solution shows a 40-70 percent decrease in the expected delay per aircraft over the baseline schedulers. Computational results suggest that the algorithm is promising for real-time application with an average computation time of 4.5 seconds. For even faster computation times, two heuristics are developed. As compared to the optimal, the heuristics are within 5% of the expected delay per aircraft and 1% of the expected number of runway operations per hour ad can be 100x faster.

Management implications for the perioperative surgical home related to inpatient case cancellations and add-on case scheduling on the day of surgery.

Science.gov (United States)

Epstein, Richard H; Dexter, Franklin

2015-07-01

The American Society of Anesthesiologists has embraced the concept of the Perioperative Surgical Home as a means through which anesthesiologists can add value to the health systems in which they practice. One key listed element of the Perioperative Surgical Home is to support "scheduling initiatives to reduce cancellations and increase efficiency." In this study, we explored the potential benefits of the Perioperative Surgical Home with respect to inpatient cancellations and add-on case scheduling. We evaluated 6 hypotheses related to the timing of inpatient cancellations and preoperative anesthesia evaluations. Inpatient cancellations were studied during 26 consecutive 4-week intervals between July 2012 and June 2014 at a tertiary care academic hospital. All timestamps related to scheduling, rescheduling, and cancellation activities were retrieved from the operating room (OR) case scheduling system. Timestamps when patients were seen by anesthesia residents were obtained from the preoperative evaluation system database. Batch mean methods were used to calculate means and SE. For cases cancelled, we determined whether, for "most" (>50%) cancellations, a subsequent procedure (of any type) was performed on the patient within 7 days of the cancellation. Comparisons with most and other fractions were assessed using the 1 group, 1-sided Student t test. We evaluated whether a few procedures were highly represented among the cancelled cases via the Herfindahl (Simpson's) index, comparing it with Data from 24,735 scheduled inpatient cases were assessed. Cases cancelled after 7 AM on the day before or at any time on the scheduled day of surgery accounted for 22.6% ± 0.5% (SE) of the scheduled minutes all scheduled cases, and 26.8% ± 0.4% of the case volume (i.e., number of cases). Most (83.1% ± 0.6%, P 50%, P = 0.12), implying that the indication for the cancelled procedure no longer existed or the patient/family decided not to proceed with surgery. When only

Optimizing the Steel Plate Storage Yard Crane Scheduling Problem Using a Two Stage Planning/Scheduling Approach

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hansen, Anders Dohn; Clausen, Jens

This paper presents the Steel Plate Storage Yard Crane Scheduling Problem. The task is to generate a schedule for two gantry cranes sharing tracks. The schedule must comply with a number of constraints and at the same time be cost efficient. We propose some ideas for a two stage planning...

Nonstandard Maternal Work Schedules: Implications for African American Children’s Early Language Outcomes

OpenAIRE

Odom, Erika C.; Vernon-Feagans, Lynne; Crouter, Ann C.

2013-01-01

In this study, observed maternal positive engagement and perception of work-family spillover were examined as mediators of the association between maternal nonstandard work schedules and children’s expressive language outcomes in 231 African American families living in rural households. Mothers reported their work schedules when their child was 24 months of age and children’s expressive language development was assessed during a picture book task at 24 months and with a standardized assessmen...

The triangle scheduling problem

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Dürr, Christoph; Hanzálek, Zdeněk; Konrad, Christian; Seddik, Yasmina; Sitters, R.A.; Vásquez, Óscar C.; Woeginger, Gerhard

2017-01-01

This paper introduces a novel scheduling problem, where jobs occupy a triangular shape on the time line. This problem is motivated by scheduling jobs with different criticality levels. A measure is introduced, namely the binary tree ratio. It is shown that the Greedy algorithm solves the problem to

Size-based scheduling to improve web performance

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Harchol-Balter, M.; Schroeder, B.; Bansal, N.; Agrawal, M.

2003-01-01

Is it possible to reduce the expected response time of every request at a web server, simply by changing the order in which we schedule the requests? That is the question we ask in this paper.This paper proposes a method for improving the performance of web servers servicing static HTTP requests.

WCET Analysis for Preemptive Scheduling

OpenAIRE

Altmeyer, Sebastian; Gebhard, Gernot

2008-01-01

Hard real-time systems induce strict constraints on the timing of the task set. Validation of these timing constraints is thus a major challenge during the design of such a system. Whereas the derivation of timing guarantees must already be considered complex if tasks are running to completion, it gets even more complex if tasks are scheduled preemptively -- especially due to caches, deployed to improve the average performance. In this paper we propose a new method to compu...

Scheduling Broadcasts in a Network of Timelines

KAUST Repository

Manzoor, Emaad A.

2015-05-12

method of marginal allocation, discover a new scheduling strategy that outperforms popular scheduling heuristics while producing fewer posts.

Water requirement and irrigation schedule for tomato in northern guinea savanna zone, Nigeria

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ibraheem Alhassan

2015-06-01

Full Text Available Assessment of water requirement and irrigation schedule for tomato with the support of FAO-CROPWAT simulation model was carried out for Yola, Nigeria with the aim of planning irrigation schedules for tomato and develop recommendations for improve irrigation practices. The climatic data for 2012/2013 and soil properties of the study area were input into the program. Tomato crop properties were updated by the FAO data and three irrigation intervals were tested (7 and 10 days irrigation intervals and irrigation schedule of 10 days interval during initial and development stage and 6 days interval at mid and late season stages of tomato crop. The simulated results analysis for tomato according to the irrigation schedule showed that highest yield reduction of 16.2% was recorded with 10 days irrigation interval treatment and the least of 0.4% with irrigation interval of 10 days at first two growth stages and 6 days at last two stages. FAO-CROPWAT 8.0 can be used in planning proper irrigation schedule for tomato in Yola, Nigeria.

An interpretation of schedule 1 of the Radioactive Substances Act 1993 and related issues

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hill, M.; Wakerley, M.W.

2000-09-01

Schedule 1 of the UK's Radioactive Substances Act 1993 was originally Schedule 3 of the 1960 Act of the same name. It is possible that different methods are currently being employed to interpret how Schedule 1 should be used. This report provides an interpretation and guidance on this and related issues. It is primarily for technical specialists already familiar with the workings of the Act. This report covers the period 1999/2000

Concurrent processes scheduling with scarce resources in small and medium enterprises

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

马嵩华

2016-01-01

Scarce resources , precedence and non-determined time-lag are three constraints commonly found in small and medium manufacturing enterprises (SMEs), which are deemed to block the ap-plication of workflow management system ( WfMS ) .To tackle this problem , a workflow scheduling approach is proposed based on timing workflow net (TWF-net) and genetic algorithm (GA).The workflow is modelled in a form of TWF-net in favour of process simulation and resource conflict checking .After simplifying and reconstructing the set of workflow instance , the conflict resolution problem is transformed into a resource-constrained project scheduling problem ( RCPSP ) , which could be efficiently solved by a heuristic method , such as GA.Finally, problems of various sizes are utilized to test the performance of the proposed algorithm and to compare it with first-come-first-served ( FCFS) strategy.The evaluation demonstrates that the proposed method is an overwhelming and effective approach for scheduling the concurrent processes with precedence and resource con -straints .

An Efficient Live TV Scheduling System for 4G LTE Broadcast

KAUST Repository

Lau, Chun Pong

2016-01-01

Traditional live television (TV) broadcasting systems are proven to be spectrum inefficient. Therefore, researchers propose to provide TV services on fourth-generation (4G) long-term evolution (LTE) networks. However, static broadcast, a typical broadcasting method over cellular network, is inefficient in terms of radio resource usage. To solve this problem, the audience-driven live TV scheduling (ADTVS) framework is proposed, to maximize radio resource usage when providing TV broadcasting services over LTE networks. ADTVS, a system-level scheduling framework, considers both available radio resources and audience preferences, in order to dynamically schedule TV channels for broadcasting at various time and locations. By conducting a simulation using real-life data and scenarios, it is shown that ADTVS significantly outperforms the static broadcast method. Numerical results indicate that, on average, ADTVS enables substantial improvement to broadcast efficiency and conserves considerable amount of radio resources, while forgoing less than 5% of user services compared to the benchmark system.

New mobile methods for dietary assessment: review of image-assisted and image-based dietary assessment methods.

Science.gov (United States)

Boushey, C J; Spoden, M; Zhu, F M; Delp, E J; Kerr, D A

2017-08-01

For nutrition practitioners and researchers, assessing dietary intake of children and adults with a high level of accuracy continues to be a challenge. Developments in mobile technologies have created a role for images in the assessment of dietary intake. The objective of this review was to examine peer-reviewed published papers covering development, evaluation and/or validation of image-assisted or image-based dietary assessment methods from December 2013 to January 2016. Images taken with handheld devices or wearable cameras have been used to assist traditional dietary assessment methods for portion size estimations made by dietitians (image-assisted methods). Image-assisted approaches can supplement either dietary records or 24-h dietary recalls. In recent years, image-based approaches integrating application technology for mobile devices have been developed (image-based methods). Image-based approaches aim at capturing all eating occasions by images as the primary record of dietary intake, and therefore follow the methodology of food records. The present paper reviews several image-assisted and image-based methods, their benefits and challenges; followed by details on an image-based mobile food record. Mobile technology offers a wide range of feasible options for dietary assessment, which are easier to incorporate into daily routines. The presented studies illustrate that image-assisted methods can improve the accuracy of conventional dietary assessment methods by adding eating occasion detail via pictures captured by an individual (dynamic images). All of the studies reduced underreporting with the help of images compared with results with traditional assessment methods. Studies with larger sample sizes are needed to better delineate attributes with regards to age of user, degree of error and cost.

Run-Time HW/SW Scheduling of Data Flow Applications on Reconfigurable Architectures

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ghaffari Fakhreddine

2009-01-01

Full Text Available This paper presents an efficient dynamic and run-time Hardware/Software scheduling approach. This scheduling heuristic consists in mapping online the different tasks of a highly dynamic application in such a way that the total execution time is minimized. We consider soft real-time data flow graph oriented applications for which the execution time is function of the input data nature. The target architecture is composed of two processors connected to a dynamically reconfigurable hardware accelerator. Our approach takes advantage of the reconfiguration property of the considered architecture to adapt the treatment to the system dynamics. We compare our heuristic with another similar approach. We present the results of our scheduling method on several image processing applications. Our experiments include simulation and synthesis results on a Virtex V-based platform. These results show a better performance against existing methods.

Application Of The Work Breakdown Structure In Determining Cost Buffers In Construction Schedules

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Połoński M.

2015-03-01

Full Text Available The paper presents methods of determining the location of cost buffers and corresponding contingency costs in the CPM schedule based on its work breakdown structure. Application of correctly located cost buffers with appropriately established reserve costs is justified by the common overrunning of scheduled costs in construction projects. Interpolated cost buffers (CB as separate tasks have been combined with relevant summary tasks by the start–to–start (SS relationship, whereas the time of their execution has been dynamically connected with the time of accomplishment of particular summary tasks using the “paste connection” option. Besides cost buffers linked with the group of tasks assigned to summary tasks, a definition of the cost buffer for the entire project (PCB has been proposed, i.e. as one initial task of the entire project. Contingency costs corresponding to these buffers, depending on the data that the planner has at his disposal, can be determined using different methods, but always depend on the costs of all tasks protected by each buffer. The paper presents an exemplary schedule for a facility and the method of determining locations and cost for buffers CB and PCB, as well as their influence on the course of the curve illustrating the budgeted cost of work scheduled (BCWS. The proposed solution has been adjusted and presented with consideration of the possibilities created by the scheduling software MS Project, though its general assumptions may be implemented with application of other similar specialist tools.

A feasibility study: Selection of a personalized radiotherapy fractionation schedule using spatiotemporal optimization

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kim, Minsun, E-mail: mk688@uw.edu; Stewart, Robert D. [Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195-6043 (United States); Phillips, Mark H. [Departments of Radiation Oncology and Neurological Surgery, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195-6043 (United States)

2015-11-15

Purpose: To investigate the impact of using spatiotemporal optimization, i.e., intensity-modulated spatial optimization followed by fractionation schedule optimization, to select the patient-specific fractionation schedule that maximizes the tumor biologically equivalent dose (BED) under dose constraints for multiple organs-at-risk (OARs). Methods: Spatiotemporal optimization was applied to a variety of lung tumors in a phantom geometry using a range of tumor sizes and locations. The optimal fractionation schedule for a patient using the linear-quadratic cell survival model depends on the tumor and OAR sensitivity to fraction size (α/β), the effective tumor doubling time (T{sub d}), and the size and location of tumor target relative to one or more OARs (dose distribution). The authors used a spatiotemporal optimization method to identify the optimal number of fractions N that maximizes the 3D tumor BED distribution for 16 lung phantom cases. The selection of the optimal fractionation schedule used equivalent (30-fraction) OAR constraints for the heart (D{sub mean} ≤ 45 Gy), lungs (D{sub mean} ≤ 20 Gy), cord (D{sub max} ≤ 45 Gy), esophagus (D{sub max} ≤ 63 Gy), and unspecified tissues (D{sub 05} ≤ 60 Gy). To assess plan quality, the authors compared the minimum, mean, maximum, and D{sub 95} of tumor BED, as well as the equivalent uniform dose (EUD) for optimized plans to conventional intensity-modulated radiation therapy plans prescribing 60 Gy in 30 fractions. A sensitivity analysis was performed to assess the effects of T{sub d} (3–100 days), tumor lag-time (T{sub k} = 0–10 days), and the size of tumors on optimal fractionation schedule. Results: Using an α/β ratio of 10 Gy, the average values of tumor max, min, mean BED, and D{sub 95} were up to 19%, 21%, 20%, and 19% larger than those from conventional prescription, depending on T{sub d} and T{sub k} used. Tumor EUD was up to 17% larger than the conventional prescription. For fast proliferating

Artificial intelligence approaches to astronomical observation scheduling

Science.gov (United States)

Johnston, Mark D.; Miller, Glenn

1988-01-01

Automated scheduling will play an increasing role in future ground- and space-based observatory operations. Due to the complexity of the problem, artificial intelligence technology currently offers the greatest potential for the development of scheduling tools with sufficient power and flexibility to handle realistic scheduling situations. Summarized here are the main features of the observatory scheduling problem, how artificial intelligence (AI) techniques can be applied, and recent progress in AI scheduling for Hubble Space Telescope.

Coordination between Generation and Transmission Maintenance Scheduling by Means of Multi-agent Technique

Science.gov (United States)

Nagata, Takeshi; Tao, Yasuhiro; Utatani, Masahiro; Sasaki, Hiroshi; Fujita, Hideki

This paper proposes a multi-agent approach to maintenance scheduling in restructured power systems. The restructuring of electric power industry has resulted in market-based approaches for unbundling a multitude of service provided by self-interested entities such as power generating companies (GENCOs), transmission providers (TRANSCOs) and distribution companies (DISCOs). The Independent System Operator (ISO) is responsible for the security of the system operation. The schedule submitted to ISO by GENCOs and TRANSCOs should satisfy security and reliability constraints. The proposed method consists of several GENCO Agents (GAGs), TARNSCO Agents (TAGs) and a ISO Agent(IAG). The IAG’s role in maintenance scheduling is limited to ensuring that the submitted schedules do not cause transmission congestion or endanger the system reliability. From the simulation results, it can be seen the proposed multi-agent approach could coordinate between generation and transmission maintenance schedules.

BINARY PARTICLE SWARM OPTIMIZATION APPROACH FOR RANDOM GENERATION OUTAGE MAINTENANCE SCHEDULING

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

K. Suresh

2013-01-01

Full Text Available This paper presents a methodology for maintenance scheduling (MS of generators using binary particle swarm optimization (BPSO based probabilistic approach. The objective of this paper is to reduce the loss of load probability (LOLP for a power system. The capacity outage probability table (COPT is the initial step in creating maintenance schedule using the probabilistic levelized risk method. This paper proposes BPSO method which is used to construct the COPT. In order to mitigate the effects of probabilistic levelized risk method, BPSO based probabilistic levelized risk method is embarked on a MS problem. In order to validate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm, case study results for simple five unit system can accomplish a significant levelization in the reliability indices that make possible to evaluate system generation system adequacy in the MS horizon of the power system. The proposed method shows better performance compared with other optimization methods and conventional method with improved search performance.

Global Optimization of Nonlinear Blend-Scheduling Problems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pedro A. Castillo Castillo

2017-04-01

Full Text Available The scheduling of gasoline-blending operations is an important problem in the oil refining industry. This problem not only exhibits the combinatorial nature that is intrinsic to scheduling problems, but also non-convex nonlinear behavior, due to the blending of various materials with different quality properties. In this work, a global optimization algorithm is proposed to solve a previously published continuous-time mixed-integer nonlinear scheduling model for gasoline blending. The model includes blend recipe optimization, the distribution problem, and several important operational features and constraints. The algorithm employs piecewise McCormick relaxation (PMCR and normalized multiparametric disaggregation technique (NMDT to compute estimates of the global optimum. These techniques partition the domain of one of the variables in a bilinear term and generate convex relaxations for each partition. By increasing the number of partitions and reducing the domain of the variables, the algorithm is able to refine the estimates of the global solution. The algorithm is compared to two commercial global solvers and two heuristic methods by solving four examples from the literature. Results show that the proposed global optimization algorithm performs on par with commercial solvers but is not as fast as heuristic approaches.

Scheduling Aircraft Landings under Constrained Position Shifting

Science.gov (United States)

Balakrishnan, Hamsa; Chandran, Bala

2006-01-01

Optimal scheduling of airport runway operations can play an important role in improving the safety and efficiency of the National Airspace System (NAS). Methods that compute the optimal landing sequence and landing times of aircraft must accommodate practical issues that affect the implementation of the schedule. One such practical consideration, known as Constrained Position Shifting (CPS), is the restriction that each aircraft must land within a pre-specified number of positions of its place in the First-Come-First-Served (FCFS) sequence. We consider the problem of scheduling landings of aircraft in a CPS environment in order to maximize runway throughput (minimize the completion time of the landing sequence), subject to operational constraints such as FAA-specified minimum inter-arrival spacing restrictions, precedence relationships among aircraft that arise either from airline preferences or air traffic control procedures that prevent overtaking, and time windows (representing possible control actions) during which each aircraft landing can occur. We present a Dynamic Programming-based approach that scales linearly in the number of aircraft, and describe our computational experience with a prototype implementation on realistic data for Denver International Airport.

Tramp ship routing and scheduling with voyage separation requirements

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

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

2017-01-01

In this paper we explore tramp ship routing and scheduling. Tramp ships operate much like taxies following the available demand. Tramp operators can determine some of their demand in advance by entering into long-term contracts and then try to maximise profits from optional voyages found in the s......In this paper we explore tramp ship routing and scheduling. Tramp ships operate much like taxies following the available demand. Tramp operators can determine some of their demand in advance by entering into long-term contracts and then try to maximise profits from optional voyages found...... that our algorithm in general finds optimal solutions very quickly and performs much faster compared to an earlier a priori path generation method. Finally, we compare our method to an earlier adaptive large neighbourhood search heuristic and find that on similar-sized instances our approach generally uses...... less time to find the optimal solution than the adaptive large neighbourhood search method uses to find a heuristic solution....

Planning and scheduling - A schedule's performance

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Whitman, N.M.

1993-01-01

Planning and scheduling is a process whose time has come to PSI Energy. With an awareness of the challenges ahead, individuals must look for ways to enhance the corporate competitiveness. Working toward this goal means that each individual has to dedicate themselves to this more competitive corporate environment. Being competitive may be defined as the ability of each employee to add value to the corporation's economic well being. The timely and successful implementation of projects greatly enhances competitiveness. Those projects that do not do well often suffer from lack of proper execution - not for lack of talent or strategic vision. Projects are consumers of resources such as cash and people. They produce a return when completed and will generate a better return when properly completed utilizing proven project management techniques. Completing projects on time, within budget and meeting customer expectations is the way a corporation builds it's future. This paper offers suggestions on implementing planning and scheduling and provides a review of results in the form of management reports

Alternative Work Schedules: Definitions

Science.gov (United States)

Journal of the College and University Personnel Association, 1977

1977-01-01

The term "alternative work schedules" encompasses any variation of the requirement that all permanent employees in an organization or one shift of employees adhere to the same five-day, seven-to-eight-hour schedule. This article defines staggered hours, flexible working hours (flexitour and gliding time), compressed work week, the task system, and…

Development of Watch Schedule Using Rules Approach

Science.gov (United States)

Jurkevicius, Darius; Vasilecas, Olegas

The software for schedule creation and optimization solves a difficult, important and practical problem. The proposed solution is an online employee portal where administrator users can create and manage watch schedules and employee requests. Each employee can login with his/her own account and see his/her assignments, manage requests, etc. Employees set as administrators can perform the employee scheduling online, manage requests, etc. This scheduling software allows users not only to see the initial and optimized watch schedule in a simple and understandable form, but also to create special rules and criteria and input their business. The system using rules automatically will generate watch schedule.

Informal caregivers and detection of delirium in postacute care: a correlational study of the confusion assessment method (CAM), confusion assessment method-family assessment method (CAM-FAM) and DSM-IV criteria.

Science.gov (United States)

Flanagan, Nina M; Spencer, Gale

2016-09-01

Delirium is a common, serious and potentially life-threatening syndrome affecting older adults. This syndrome continues to be under-recognised and under treated by healthcare professionals across all care settings. Older adults who develop delirium have poorer outcomes, higher mortality and higher care costs. The purposes of this study were to correlate the confusion assessment method-family assessment method and confusion assessment method in the detection of delirium in postacute care, to correlate the confusion assessment method-family assessment method and diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders text revision criteria in detection of delirium in postacute care, to determine the prevalence of delirium in postacute care elders and to describe the relationship of level of cognitive impairment and delirium in the postacute care setting. Implications for Practice Delirium is disturbing for patients and caregivers. Frequently . family members want to provide information about their loved one. The use of the CAM-FAM and CAM can give a more definitive determination of baseline status. Frequent observations using both instruments may lead to better recognition of delirium and implementation of interventions to prevent lasting sequelae. Descriptive studies determined the strengths of relationship between the confusion assessment method, confusion assessment method-family assessment method, Mini-Cog and diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders text revision criteria in detection of delirium in the postacute care setting. Prevalence of delirium in this study was 35%. The confusion assessment method-family assessment method highly correlates with the confusion assessment method and diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders text revision criteria for detecting delirium in older adults in the postacute care setting. Persons with cognitive impairment are more likely to develop delirium. Family members recognise symptoms of delirium when

Technology for planning and scheduling under complex constraints

Science.gov (United States)

Alguire, Karen M.; Pedro Gomes, Carla O.

1997-02-01

Within the context of law enforcement, several problems fall into the category of planning and scheduling under constraints. Examples include resource and personnel scheduling, and court scheduling. In the case of court scheduling, a schedule must be generated considering available resources, e.g., court rooms and personnel. Additionally, there are constraints on individual court cases, e.g., temporal and spatial, and between different cases, e.g., precedence. Finally, there are overall objectives that the schedule should satisfy such as timely processing of cases and optimal use of court facilities. Manually generating a schedule that satisfies all of the constraints is a very time consuming task. As the number of court cases and constraints increases, this becomes increasingly harder to handle without the assistance of automatic scheduling techniques. This paper describes artificial intelligence (AI) technology that has been used to develop several high performance scheduling applications including a military transportation scheduler, a military in-theater airlift scheduler, and a nuclear power plant outage scheduler. We discuss possible law enforcement applications where we feel the same technology could provide long-term benefits to law enforcement agencies and their operations personnel.

Concurrent variable-interval variable-ratio schedules in a dynamic choice environment.

Science.gov (United States)

Bell, Matthew C; Baum, William M

2017-11-01

Most studies of operant choice have focused on presenting subjects with a fixed pair of schedules across many experimental sessions. Using these methods, studies of concurrent variable- interval variable-ratio schedules helped to evaluate theories of choice. More recently, a growing literature has focused on dynamic choice behavior. Those dynamic choice studies have analyzed behavior on a number of different time scales using concurrent variable-interval schedules. Following the dynamic choice approach, the present experiment examined performance on concurrent variable-interval variable-ratio schedules in a rapidly changing environment. Our objectives were to compare performance on concurrent variable-interval variable-ratio schedules with extant data on concurrent variable-interval variable-interval schedules using a dynamic choice procedure and to extend earlier work on concurrent variable-interval variable-ratio schedules. We analyzed performances at different time scales, finding strong similarities between concurrent variable-interval variable-interval and concurrent variable-interval variable- ratio performance within dynamic choice procedures. Time-based measures revealed almost identical performance in the two procedures compared with response-based measures, supporting the view that choice is best understood as time allocation. Performance at the smaller time scale of visits accorded with the tendency seen in earlier research toward developing a pattern of strong preference for and long visits to the richer alternative paired with brief "samples" at the leaner alternative ("fix and sample"). © 2017 Society for the Experimental Analysis of Behavior.

Consensus based scheduling of storage capacities in a virtual microgrid

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Brehm, Robert; Top, Søren; Mátéfi-Tempfli, Stefan

2017-01-01

We present a distributed, decentralized method for coordinated scheduling of charge/discharge intervals of storage capacities in a utility grid integrated microgrid. The decentralized algorithm is based on a consensus scheme and solves an optimisation problem with the objective of minimising......, by use of storage capacities, the power flow over a transformer substation from/to the utility grid integrated microgrid. It is shown that when using this coordinated scheduling algorithm, load profile flattening (peak-shaving) for the utility grid is achieved. Additionally, mutual charge...

NRC comprehensive records disposition schedule

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1983-05-01

Effective January 1, 1982, NRC will institute records retention and disposal practives in accordance with the approved Comprehensive Records Disposition Schedule (CRDS). CRDS is comprised of NRC Schedules (NRCS) 1 to 4 which apply to the agency's program or substantive records and General Records Schedules (GRS) 1 to 24 which apply to housekeeping or facilitative records. NRCS-I applies to records common to all or most NRC offices; NRCS-II applies to program records as found in the various offices of the Commission, Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel, and the Atomic Safety and Licensing Appeal Panel; NRCS-III applies to records accumulated by the Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards; and NRCS-IV applies to records accumulated in the various NRC offices under the Executive Director for Operations. The schedules are assembled functionally/organizationally to facilitate their use. Preceding the records descriptions and disposition instructions for both NRCS and GRS, there are brief statements on the organizational units which accumulate the records in each functional area, and other information regarding the schedules' applicability

CMS multicore scheduling strategy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yzquierdo, Antonio Pérez-Calero; Hernández, Jose; Holzman, Burt; Majewski, Krista; McCrea, Alison

2014-01-01

In the next years, processor architectures based on much larger numbers of cores will be most likely the model to continue 'Moore's Law' style throughput gains. This not only results in many more jobs in parallel running the LHC Run 1 era monolithic applications, but also the memory requirements of these processes push the workernode architectures to the limit. One solution is parallelizing the application itself, through forking and memory sharing or through threaded frameworks. CMS is following all of these approaches and has a comprehensive strategy to schedule multicore jobs on the GRID based on the glideinWMS submission infrastructure. The main component of the scheduling strategy, a pilot-based model with dynamic partitioning of resources that allows the transition to multicore or whole-node scheduling without disallowing the use of single-core jobs, is described. This contribution also presents the experiences made with the proposed multicore scheduling schema and gives an outlook of further developments working towards the restart of the LHC in 2015.

WATER CHEMISTRY ASSESSMENT METHODS

Science.gov (United States)

This section summarizes and evaluates the surfce water column chemistry assessment methods for USEPA/EMAP-SW, USGS-NAQA, USEPA-RBP, Oho EPA, and MDNR-MBSS. The basic objective of surface water column chemistry assessment is to characterize surface water quality by measuring a sui...

Data analysis with the DIANA meta-scheduling approach

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Anjum, A; McClatchey, R; Willers, I

2008-01-01

The concepts, design and evaluation of the Data Intensive and Network Aware (DIANA) meta-scheduling approach for solving the challenges of data analysis being faced by CERN experiments are discussed in this paper. Our results suggest that data analysis can be made robust by employing fault tolerant and decentralized meta-scheduling algorithms supported in our DIANA meta-scheduler. The DIANA meta-scheduler supports data intensive bulk scheduling, is network aware and follows a policy centric meta-scheduling. In this paper, we demonstrate that a decentralized and dynamic meta-scheduling approach is an effective strategy to cope with increasing numbers of users, jobs and datasets. We present 'quality of service' related statistics for physics analysis through the application of a policy centric fair-share scheduling model. The DIANA meta-schedulers create a peer-to-peer hierarchy of schedulers to accomplish resource management that changes with evolving loads and is dynamic and adapts to the volatile nature of the resources

Scheduling lessons learned from the Autonomous Power System

Science.gov (United States)

Ringer, Mark J.

1992-01-01

The Autonomous Power System (APS) project at NASA LeRC is designed to demonstrate the applications of integrated intelligent diagnosis, control, and scheduling techniques to space power distribution systems. The project consists of three elements: the Autonomous Power Expert System (APEX) for Fault Diagnosis, Isolation, and Recovery (FDIR); the Autonomous Intelligent Power Scheduler (AIPS) to efficiently assign activities start times and resources; and power hardware (Brassboard) to emulate a space-based power system. The AIPS scheduler was tested within the APS system. This scheduler is able to efficiently assign available power to the requesting activities and share this information with other software agents within the APS system in order to implement the generated schedule. The AIPS scheduler is also able to cooperatively recover from fault situations by rescheduling the affected loads on the Brassboard in conjunction with the APEX FDIR system. AIPS served as a learning tool and an initial scheduling testbed for the integration of FDIR and automated scheduling systems. Many lessons were learned from the AIPS scheduler and are now being integrated into a new scheduler called SCRAP (Scheduler for Continuous Resource Allocation and Planning). This paper will service three purposes: an overview of the AIPS implementation, lessons learned from the AIPS scheduler, and a brief section on how these lessons are being applied to the new SCRAP scheduler.

Validation of the 36-item version of the WHO Disability Assessment Schedule 2.0 (WHODAS 2.0) for assessing women's disability and functioning associated with maternal morbidity.

Science.gov (United States)

Silveira, Carla; Parpinelli, Mary Angela; Pacagnella, Rodolfo Carvalho; Andreucci, Carla Betina; Angelini, Carina Robles; Ferreira, Elton Carlos; Cecatti, José Guilherme

2017-02-01

Objective  To validate the translation and adaptation to Brazilian Portuguese of 36 items from the World Health Organizaton Disability Assessment Schedule 2.0 (WHODAS 2.0), regarding their content and structure (construct), in a female population after pregnancy. Methods  This is a validation of an instrument for the evaluation of disability and functioning and an assessment of its psychometric properties, performed in a tertiary maternity and a referral center specialized in high-risk pregnancies in Brazil. A sample of 638 women in different postpartum periods who had either a normal or a complicated pregnancy was included. The structure was evaluated by exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), while the content and relationships among the domains were assessed through Pearson's correlation coefficient. The sociodemographic characteristics were identified, and the mean scores with their standard deviations for the 36 questions of the WHODAS 2.0 were calculated. The internal consistency was evaluated byCronbach's α. Results  Cronbach's α was higher than 0.79 for both sets of questons of the questionnaire. The EFA and CFA for the main 32 questions exhibited a total variance of 54.7% (Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin [KMO] measure of sampling adequacy =  0.934; p  < 0.001) and 53.47% (KMO = 0.934; p  < 0.001) respectively. There was a significant correlation among the 6 domains (r = 0.571-0.876), and a moderate correlation among all domains (r = 0.476-0.694). Conclusion  The version of the WHODAS 2.0 instrument adapted to Brazilian Portuguese showed good psychometric properties in this sample, and therefore could be applied to populations of women regarding their reproductive history. Thieme-Revinter Publicações Ltda Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

A IEEE 802.11e HCCA Scheduler with a Reclaiming Mechanism for Multimedia Applications

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Anna Lina Ruscelli

2014-01-01

Full Text Available The QoS offered by the IEEE 802.11e reference scheduler is satisfactory in the case of Constant Bit Rate traffic streams, but not yet in the case of Variable Bit Rate traffic streams, whose variations stress its scheduling behavior. Despite the numerous proposed alternative schedulers with QoS, multimedia applications are looking for refined methods suitable to ensure service differentiation and dynamic update of protocol parameters. In this paper a scheduling algorithm, Unused Time Shifting Scheduler (UTSS, is deeply analyzed. It is designed to cooperate with a HCCA centralized real-time scheduler through the integration of a bandwidth reclaiming scheme, suitable to recover nonexhausted transmission time and assign that to the next polled stations. UTSS dynamically computes with an O(1 complexity transmission time providing an instantaneous resource overprovisioning. The theoretical analysis and the simulation results highlight that this injection of resources does not affect the admission control nor the centralized scheduler but is suitable to improve the performance of the centralized scheduler in terms of mean access delay, transmission queues length, bursts of traffic management, and packets drop rate. These positive effects are more relevant for highly variable bit rate traffic.

Multi-Time Scale Coordinated Scheduling Strategy with Distributed Power Flow Controllers for Minimizing Wind Power Spillage

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yi Tang

2017-11-01

Full Text Available The inherent variability and randomness of large-scale wind power integration have brought great challenges to power flow control and dispatch. The distributed power flow controller (DPFC has the higher flexibility and capacity in power flow control in the system with wind generation. This paper proposes a multi-time scale coordinated scheduling model with DPFC to minimize wind power spillage. Configuration of DPFCs is initially determined by stochastic method. Afterward, two sequential procedures containing day-head and real-time scales are applied for determining maximum schedulable wind sources, optimal outputs of generating units and operation setting of DPFCs. The generating plan is obtained initially in day-ahead scheduling stage and modified in real-time scheduling model, while considering the uncertainty of wind power and fast operation of DPFC. Numerical simulation results in IEEE-RTS79 system illustrate that wind power is maximum scheduled with the optimal deployment and operation of DPFC, which confirms the applicability and effectiveness of the proposed method.

Optimization of Hierarchically Scheduled Heterogeneous Embedded Systems

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pop, Traian; Pop, Paul; Eles, Petru

2005-01-01

We present an approach to the analysis and optimization of heterogeneous distributed embedded systems. The systems are heterogeneous not only in terms of hardware components, but also in terms of communication protocols and scheduling policies. When several scheduling policies share a resource......, they are organized in a hierarchy. In this paper, we address design problems that are characteristic to such hierarchically scheduled systems: assignment of scheduling policies to tasks, mapping of tasks to hardware components, and the scheduling of the activities. We present algorithms for solving these problems....... Our heuristics are able to find schedulable implementations under limited resources, achieving an efficient utilization of the system. The developed algorithms are evaluated using extensive experiments and a real-life example....

Sport Tournament Automated Scheduling System

OpenAIRE

Raof R. A. A; Sudin S.; Mahrom N.; Rosli A. N. C

2018-01-01

The organizer of sport events often facing problems such as wrong calculations of marks and scores, as well as difficult to create a good and reliable schedule. Most of the time, the issues about the level of integrity of committee members and also issues about errors made by human came into the picture. Therefore, the development of sport tournament automated scheduling system is proposed. The system will be able to automatically generate the tournament schedule as well as automatically calc...

Heuristic Scheduling Algorithm Oriented Dynamic Tasks for Imaging Satellites

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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.

40 CFR 141.702 - Sampling schedules.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... serving at least 10,000 people must submit their sampling schedule for the initial round of source water... submitting the sampling schedule that EPA approves. (3) Systems serving fewer than 10,000 people must submit... analytical result for a scheduled sampling date due to equipment failure, loss of or damage to the sample...

Scheduling of Crude Oil Operations in Refinery without Sufficient Charging Tanks Using Petri Nets

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Yan An

2017-05-01

Full Text Available A short-term schedule for crude oil operations in a refinery should define and sequence the activities in detail. Each activity involves both discrete-event and continuous variables. The combinatorial nature of the scheduling problem makes it difficult to solve. For such a scheduling problem, charging tanks are a type of critical resources. If the number of charging tanks is not sufficient, the scheduling problem is further complicated. This work conducts a study on the scheduling problem of crude oil operations without sufficient charging tanks. In this case, to make a refinery able to operate, a charging tank has to be in simultaneous charging and feeding to a distiller for some time, called simultaneously-charging-and-feeding (SCF mode, leading to disturbance to the oil distillation in distillers. A hybrid Petri net model is developed to describe the behavior of the system. Then, a scheduling method is proposed to find a schedule such that the SCF mode is minimally used. It is computationally efficient. An industrial case study is given to demonstrate the obtained results.

Prevalence of α(+)-Thalassemia in the Scheduled Tribe and Scheduled Caste Populations of Damoh District in Madhya Pradesh, Central India.

Science.gov (United States)

Singh, Mendi P S S; Gupta, Rasik B; Yadav, Rajiv; Sharma, Ravendra K; Shanmugam, Rajasubramaniam

2016-08-01

This study was carried out to ascertain the allelic frequency of α(+)-thalassemia (α(+)-thal) in Scheduled caste and scheduled tribe populations of the Damoh district of Madhya Pradesh, India. Random blood samples of Scheduled tribe (267) and Scheduled caste (168), considering the family as a sampling unit, were analyzed for the presence of the -α(3.7) (rightward) (NG_000006.1: g.34164_37967del3804) and -α(4.2) (leftward) (AF221717) deletions. α(+)-Thal was significantly higher in the Scheduled tribals (77.9%) as compared to the scheduled caste population (9.0%). About 58.0% scheduled tribals carried at least one chromosome with the -α(3.7) deletion and 20.0% scheduled tribals carried the -α(4.2) deletion. Frequency for the -α(3.7) allele was 0.487 in the scheduled tribal populations in comparison to 0.021 in scheduled castes. Allelic frequency for -α(4.2) was 0.103 and 0.024, respectively, in the above communities. No Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium for α-thal gene (p population, indicating the presence of selection pressures in favor of α-thal mutation and adaptation.

Responsive versus scheduled feeding for preterm infants

OpenAIRE

Watson, Julie; McGuire, William

2016-01-01

Version 5\\ud Background\\ud \\ud Feeding preterm infants in response to their hunger and satiation cues (responsive, cue-based, or infant-led feeding) rather than at scheduled intervals might enhance infants' and parents' experience and satisfaction, help in the establishment of independent oral feeding, increase nutrient intake and growth rates, and allow earlier hospital discharge.\\ud \\ud \\ud Objectives\\ud \\ud To assess the effect of a policy of feeding preterm infants on a responsive basis v...

Routine environmental monitoring schedule, calendar year 1995

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schmidt, J.W.; Markes, B.M.; McKinney, S.M.

1994-12-01

This document provides Bechtel Hanford, Inc. (BHI) and Westinghouse Hanford Company (WHC) a schedule of monitoring and sampling routines for the Operational Environmental Monitoring (OEM) program during calendar year (CY) 1995. Every attempt will be made to consistently follow this schedule; any deviation from this schedule will be documented by an internal memorandum (DSI) explaining the reason for the deviation. The DSI will be issued by the scheduled performing organization and directed to Near-Field Monitoring. The survey frequencies for particular sites are determined by the technical judgment of Near-Field Monitoring and may depend on the site history, radiological status, use and general conditions. Additional surveys may be requested at irregular frequencies if conditions warrant. All radioactive wastes sites are scheduled to be surveyed at least annually. Any newly discovered wastes sites not documented by this schedule will be included in the revised schedule for CY 1995

Uncertainty management by relaxation of conflicting constraints in production process scheduling

Science.gov (United States)

Dorn, Juergen; Slany, Wolfgang; Stary, Christian

1992-01-01

Mathematical-analytical methods as used in Operations Research approaches are often insufficient for scheduling problems. This is due to three reasons: the combinatorial complexity of the search space, conflicting objectives for production optimization, and the uncertainty in the production process. Knowledge-based techniques, especially approximate reasoning and constraint relaxation, are promising ways to overcome these problems. A case study from an industrial CIM environment, namely high-grade steel production, is presented to demonstrate how knowledge-based scheduling with the desired capabilities could work. By using fuzzy set theory, the applied knowledge representation technique covers the uncertainty inherent in the problem domain. Based on this knowledge representation, a classification of jobs according to their importance is defined which is then used for the straightforward generation of a schedule. A control strategy which comprises organizational, spatial, temporal, and chemical constraints is introduced. The strategy supports the dynamic relaxation of conflicting constraints in order to improve tentative schedules.

Economic-environmental energy and reserve scheduling of smart distribution systems: A multiobjective mathematical programming approach

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zakariazadeh, Alireza; Jadid, Shahram; Siano, Pierluigi

2014-01-01

Highlights: • Environmental/economical scheduling of energy and reserve. • Simultaneous participation of loads in both energy and reserve scheduling. • Aggregate wind generation and demand uncertainties in a stochastic model. • Stochastic scheduling of energy and reserve in a distribution system. • Demand response providers’ participation in energy and reserve scheduling. - Abstract: In this paper a stochastic multi-objective economical/environmental operational scheduling method is proposed to schedule energy and reserve in a smart distribution system with high penetration of wind generation. The proposed multi-objective framework, based on augmented ε-constraint method, is used to minimize the total operational costs and emissions and to generate Pareto-optimal solutions for the energy and reserve scheduling problem. Moreover, fuzzy decision making process is employed to extract one of the Pareto-optimal solutions as the best compromise non-dominated solution. The wind power and demand forecast errors are considered in this approach and the reserve can be furnished by the main grid as well as distributed generators and responsive loads. The consumers participate in both energy and reserve markets using various demand response programs. In order to facilitate small and medium loads participation in demand response programs, a Demand Response Provider (DRP) aggregates offers for load reduction. In order to solve the proposed optimization model, the Benders decomposition technique is used to convert the large scale mixed integer non-linear problem into mixed-integer linear programming and non-linear programming problems. The effectiveness of the proposed scheduling approach is verified on a 41-bus distribution test system over a 24-h period

Interactive Dynamic Mission Scheduling for ASCA

Science.gov (United States)

Antunes, A.; Nagase, F.; Isobe, T.

The Japanese X-ray astronomy satellite ASCA (Advanced Satellite for Cosmology and Astrophysics) mission requires scheduling for each 6-month observation phase, further broken down into weekly schedules at a few minutes resolution. Two tools, SPIKE and NEEDLE, written in Lisp and C, use artificial intelligence (AI) techniques combined with a graphic user interface for fast creation and alteration of mission schedules. These programs consider viewing and satellite attitude constraints as well as observer-requested criteria and present an optimized set of solutions for review by the planner. Six-month schedules at 1 day resolution are created for an oversubscribed set of targets by the SPIKE software, originally written for HST and presently being adapted for EUVE, XTE and AXAF. The NEEDLE code creates weekly schedules at 1 min resolution using in-house orbital routines and creates output for processing by the command generation software. Schedule creation on both the long- and short-term scale is rapid, less than 1 day for long-term, and one hour for short-term.

A Regression Analysis of South Carolina Algebra I End-of-Course Exam Scores by Schedule Type

Science.gov (United States)

Smith, Dawn M.

2017-01-01

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between scheduling and first-year-high-school students' exam scores on the South Carolina Algebra I End-of-Course (EOC) assessment. The study compared existing empirical data from two southeastern high schools from the same school district using 4 X 4 block schedules from 2011-2014 and…

Day-ahead distributed energy resource scheduling using differential search algorithm

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Soares, J.; Lobo, C.; Silva, M.

2015-01-01

The number of dispersed energy resources is growing every day, such as the use of more distributed generators. This paper deals with energy resource scheduling model in future smart grids. The methodology can be used by virtual power players (VPPs) considering day-ahead time horizon. This method...... considers that energy resources are managed by a VPP which establishes contracts with their owners. The full AC power flow calculation included in the model takes into account network constraints. This paper presents an application of differential search algorithm (DSA) for solving the day-ahead scheduling...

An extended Intelligent Water Drops algorithm for workflow scheduling in cloud computing environment

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shaymaa Elsherbiny

2018-03-01

Full Text Available Cloud computing is emerging as a high performance computing environment with a large scale, heterogeneous collection of autonomous systems and flexible computational architecture. Many resource management methods may enhance the efficiency of the whole cloud computing system. The key part of cloud computing resource management is resource scheduling. Optimized scheduling of tasks on the cloud virtual machines is an NP-hard problem and many algorithms have been presented to solve it. The variations among these schedulers are due to the fact that the scheduling strategies of the schedulers are adapted to the changing environment and the types of tasks. The focus of this paper is on workflows scheduling in cloud computing, which is gaining a lot of attention recently because workflows have emerged as a paradigm to represent complex computing problems. We proposed a novel algorithm extending the natural-based Intelligent Water Drops (IWD algorithm that optimizes the scheduling of workflows on the cloud. The proposed algorithm is implemented and embedded within the workflows simulation toolkit and tested in different simulated cloud environments with different cost models. Our algorithm showed noticeable enhancements over the classical workflow scheduling algorithms. We made a comparison between the proposed IWD-based algorithm with other well-known scheduling algorithms, including MIN-MIN, MAX-MIN, Round Robin, FCFS, and MCT, PSO and C-PSO, where the proposed algorithm presented noticeable enhancements in the performance and cost in most situations.

Flexible Scheduling May Have a Positive Impact on School Library Circulation. A Review of: Gavigan, K., Pribesh, S., & Dickinson, G. (2010. Fixed or flexible schedule? Schedule impacts and school library circulation. Library and Information Science Research, 32(2, 131-37.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ann Medaille

2011-03-01

Full Text Available Objective – To determine whether a significant, positive relationship exists between flexible scheduling in elementary school library media centers and per-pupil circulation statistics.Design – Online survey.Setting – Library media centers in public elementary schools in two states of the United States.Subjects – A total of 88 elementary school library media specialists completed the survey.Methods – A 22-question online survey was created using Inquisite software. A link to the survey was sent via e-mail to a 600-person random sample of public school library media specialists whose names were drawn from the memberships of the North Carolina School Library Media Association and the Virginia Educational Media Association, with combined memberships totalling approximately 2,000. A random sample of 600 was chosen to provide a 95% confidence level with a confidence interval of plus or minus three points. The survey included questions about school schedules (flexible, partially flexible, or fixed, collection size, circulation statistics, total student enrolment, school type (elementary, middle, or high, school location (urban, rural, or suburban, percentage of students eligible for free and reduced price lunch, numbers of full-time professional library media specialists employed at the school, access procedures, and library closure information. The survey response rate was 29.3% (176 respondents. Because fixed versus flexible scheduling is an issue that primarily affects elementary schools, the authors further narrowed their subject pool to 88 elementary school respondents. Data were analyzed using SPSS 16.0 statistical software. Correlation analysis, including the analysis of covariance (ANCOVA, was used to compare differences in the three scheduling types and to control for other variables (such as location, socioeconomic status, collection size, staffing, days closed, and others that may affect circulation.Main Results – Of the 88

An EV Charging Scheduling Mechanism Based on Price Negotiation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Baocheng Wang

2018-05-01

Full Text Available Scheduling EV user’s charging behavior based on charging price and applying renewable energy resources are the effective methods to release the load pressure of power grids brought about by the large-scale popularity of electric vehicles (EVs. This paper presents a novel approach for EV charging scheduling based on price negotiation. Firstly, the EV charging system framework based on price negotiation and renewable energy resources is discussed. Secondly, the price negotiation model is presented, including the initial price models and the conditions of transactions. Finally, an EV charging scheduling mechanism based on price negotiation (CSM-PN, including the price adjustment strategies of both the operator and EV users is proposed to seek a final transaction during multi-round price negotiation. Simulation results show that this novel approach can effectively improve the charging station operator’s income, reduce the EV users’ costs, and balance the load of the power grid while improving the efficiency of the EV charging system.

Environmental surveillance master sampling schedule

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bisping, L.E.

1991-01-01

Environmental surveillance of the Hanford Site and surrounding areas is conducted by the Pacific Northwest Laboratory (PNL) for the US Department of Energy (DOE). This document contains the planned schedule for routine sample collection for the Surface Environmental Surveillance Project (SESP) and Ground-Water Monitoring Project. The routine sampling plan for the SESP has been revised this year to reflect changing site operations and priorities. Some sampling previously performed at least annually has been reduced in frequency, and some new sampling to be performed at a less than annual frequency has been added. Therefore, the SESP schedule reflects sampling to be conducted in calendar year 1991 as well as future years. The ground-water sampling schedule is for 1991. This schedule is subject to modification during the year in response to changes in Site operation, program requirements, and the nature of the observed results. Operational limitations such as weather, mechanical failures, sample availability, etc., may also require schedule modifications. Changes will be documented in the respective project files, but this plan will not be reissued. The purpose of these monitoring projects is to evaluate levels of radioactive and nonradioactive pollutants in the Hanford evirons

Environmental surveillance master sampling schedule

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bisping, L.E.

1991-01-01

Environmental surveillance of the Hanford Site and surrounding areas is conducted by the Pacific Northwest Laboratory (PNL) for the US Department of Energy (DOE). This document contains the planned schedule for routine sample collection for the Surface Environmental Surveillance Project (SESP) and Ground-Water Monitoring Project. The routine sampling plan for the SESP has been revised this year to reflect changing site operations and priorities. Some sampling previously performed at least annually has been reduced in frequency, and some new sampling to be performed at a less than annual frequency has been added. Therefore, the SESP schedule reflects sampling to be conducted in calendar year 1991 as well as future years. The ground-water sampling schedule is for 1991. This schedule is subject to modification during the year in response to changes in Site operation, program requirements, and the nature of the observed results. Operational limitations such as weather, mechanical failures, sample availability, etc., may also require schedule modifications. Changes will be documented in the respective project files, but this plan will not be reissued. The purpose of these monitoring projects is to evaluate levels of radioactive and nonradioactive pollutants in the Hanford evirons.

Intelligent discrete particle swarm optimization for multiprocessor task scheduling problem

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S Sarathambekai

2017-03-01

Full Text Available Discrete particle swarm optimization is one of the most recently developed population-based meta-heuristic optimization algorithm in swarm intelligence that can be used in any discrete optimization problems. This article presents a discrete particle swarm optimization algorithm to efficiently schedule the tasks in the heterogeneous multiprocessor systems. All the optimization algorithms share a common algorithmic step, namely population initialization. It plays a significant role because it can affect the convergence speed and also the quality of the final solution. The random initialization is the most commonly used method in majority of the evolutionary algorithms to generate solutions in the initial population. The initial good quality solutions can facilitate the algorithm to locate the optimal solution or else it may prevent the algorithm from finding the optimal solution. Intelligence should be incorporated to generate the initial population in order to avoid the premature convergence. This article presents a discrete particle swarm optimization algorithm, which incorporates opposition-based technique to generate initial population and greedy algorithm to balance the load of the processors. Make span, flow time, and reliability cost are three different measures used to evaluate the efficiency of the proposed discrete particle swarm optimization algorithm for scheduling independent tasks in distributed systems. Computational simulations are done based on a set of benchmark instances to assess the performance of the proposed algorithm.

Fractional Programming for Communication Systems—Part II: Uplink Scheduling via Matching

Science.gov (United States)

Shen, Kaiming; Yu, Wei

2018-05-01

This two-part paper develops novel methodologies for using fractional programming (FP) techniques to design and optimize communication systems. Part I of this paper proposes a new quadratic transform for FP and treats its application for continuous optimization problems. In this Part II of the paper, we study discrete problems, such as those involving user scheduling, which are considerably more difficult to solve. Unlike the continuous problems, discrete or mixed discrete-continuous problems normally cannot be recast as convex problems. In contrast to the common heuristic of relaxing the discrete variables, this work reformulates the original problem in an FP form amenable to distributed combinatorial optimization. The paper illustrates this methodology by tackling the important and challenging problem of uplink coordinated multi-cell user scheduling in wireless cellular systems. Uplink scheduling is more challenging than downlink scheduling, because uplink user scheduling decisions significantly affect the interference pattern in nearby cells. Further, the discrete scheduling variable needs to be optimized jointly with continuous variables such as transmit power levels and beamformers. The main idea of the proposed FP approach is to decouple the interaction among the interfering links, thereby permitting a distributed and joint optimization of the discrete and continuous variables with provable convergence. The paper shows that the well-known weighted minimum mean-square-error (WMMSE) algorithm can also be derived from a particular use of FP; but our proposed FP-based method significantly outperforms WMMSE when discrete user scheduling variables are involved, both in term of run-time efficiency and optimizing results.

Online Scheduling in Manufacturing A Cumulative Delay Approach

CERN Document Server

Suwa, Haruhiko

2013-01-01

Online scheduling is recognized as the crucial decision-making process of production control at a phase of “being in production" according to the released shop floor schedule. Online scheduling can be also considered as one of key enablers to realize prompt capable-to-promise as well as available-to-promise to customers along with reducing production lead times under recent globalized competitive markets. Online Scheduling in Manufacturing introduces new approaches to online scheduling based on a concept of cumulative delay. The cumulative delay is regarded as consolidated information of uncertainties under a dynamic environment in manufacturing and can be collected constantly without much effort at any points in time during a schedule execution. In this approach, the cumulative delay of the schedule has the important role of a criterion for making a decision whether or not a schedule revision is carried out. The cumulative delay approach to trigger schedule revisions has the following capabilities for the ...

Limited Preemptive Scheduling in Real-time Systems

OpenAIRE

Thekkilakattil, Abhilash

2016-01-01

Preemptive and non-preemptive scheduling paradigms typically introduce undesirable side effects when scheduling real-time tasks, mainly in the form of preemption overheads and blocking, that potentially compromise timeliness guarantees. The high preemption overheads in preemptive real-time scheduling may imply high resource utilization, often requiring significant over-provisioning, e.g., pessimistic Worst Case Execution Time (WCET) approximations. Non-preemptive scheduling, on the other hand...

A Study on the Optimum Bucket Size for Master Scheduling : For the Case of Hierarchically tured Products

OpenAIRE

木内, 正光

2010-01-01

The function of master scheduling is to plan the flow of order from its arrival to its completion. In this study, the problem of bucket size for master scheduling is taken up. The bucket size for master scheduling has much influence on the lead time of the order. However, to date there is no clear method for how to set the optimum bucket size. The purpose of this study is to propose a method to set the optimum bucket size. In this paper, an equation to estimate the optimum bucket size is prop...

A Hybrid Node Scheduling Approach Based on Energy Efficient Chain Routing for WSN

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yimei Kang

2014-04-01

Full Text Available Energy efficiency is usually a significant goal in wireless sensor networks (WSNs. In this work, an energy efficient chain (EEC data routing approach is first presented. The coverage and connectivity of WSNs are discussed based on EEC. A hybrid node scheduling approach is then proposed. It includes sleep scheduling for cyclically monitoring regions of interest in time-driven modes and wakeup scheduling for tracking emergency events in event-driven modes. A failure rate is introduced to the sleep scheduling to improve the reliability of the system. A wakeup sensor threshold and a sleep time threshold are introduced in the wakeup scheduling to reduce the consumption of energy to the possible extent. The results of the simulation show that the proposed algorithm can extend the effective lifetime of the network to twice that of PEAS. In addition, the proposed methods are computing efficient because they are very simple to implement.

Comparison of genetic algorithm and harmony search for generator maintenance scheduling

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Khan, L.; Mumtaz, S.; Khattak, A.

2012-01-01

GMS (Generator Maintenance Scheduling) ranks very high in decision making of power generation management. Generators maintenance schedule decides the time period of maintenance tasks and a reliable reserve margin is also maintained during this time period. In this paper, a comparison of GA (Genetic Algorithm) and US (Harmony Search) algorithm is presented to solve generators maintenance scheduling problem for WAPDA (Water And Power Development Authority) Pakistan. GA is a search procedure, which is used in search problems to compute exact and optimized solution. GA is considered as global search heuristic technique. HS algorithm is quite efficient, because the convergence rate of this algorithm is very fast. HS algorithm is based on the concept of music improvisation process of searching for a perfect state of harmony. The two algorithms generate feasible and optimal solutions and overcome the limitations of the conventional methods including extensive computational effort, which increases exponentially as the size of the problem increases. The proposed methods are tested, validated and compared on the WAPDA electric system. (author)

Clinch River Breeder Reactor Plant Project: construction schedule

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Purcell, W.J.; Martin, E.M.; Shivley, J.M.

1982-01-01

The construction schedule for the Clinch River Breeder Reactor Plant and its evolution are described. The initial schedule basis, changes necessitated by the evaluation of the overall plant design, and constructability improvements that have been effected to assure adherence to the schedule are presented. The schedule structure and hierarchy are discussed, as are tools used to define, develop, and evaluate the schedule

Using Activity Schedules to Increase On-Task Behavior in Children at Risk for Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder

Science.gov (United States)

Cirelli, Christe A.; Sidener, Tina M.; Reeve, Kenneth F.; Reeve, Sharon A.

2016-01-01

The effects of activity schedules on on-task and on-schedule behavior were assessed with two boys at risk for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and referred by their public school teachers as having difficulty during independent work time. On-task behavior increased for both participants after two training sessions. Teachers, peers,…

Assessment methods for the evaluation of vitiligo.

Science.gov (United States)

Alghamdi, K M; Kumar, A; Taïeb, A; Ezzedine, K

2012-12-01

There is no standardized method for assessing vitiligo. In this article, we review the literature from 1981 to 2011 on different vitiligo assessment methods. We aim to classify the techniques available for vitiligo assessment as subjective, semi-objective or objective; microscopic or macroscopic; and as based on morphometry or colorimetry. Macroscopic morphological measurements include visual assessment, photography in natural or ultraviolet light, photography with computerized image analysis and tristimulus colorimetry or spectrophotometry. Non-invasive micromorphological methods include confocal laser microscopy (CLM). Subjective methods include clinical evaluation by a dermatologist and a vitiligo disease activity score. Semi-objective methods include the Vitiligo Area Scoring Index (VASI) and point-counting methods. Objective methods include software-based image analysis, tristimulus colorimetry, spectrophotometry and CLM. Morphometry is the measurement of the vitiliginous surface area, whereas colorimetry quantitatively analyses skin colour changes caused by erythema or pigment. Most methods involve morphometry, except for the chromameter method, which assesses colorimetry. Some image analysis software programs can assess both morphometry and colorimetry. The details of these programs (Corel Draw, Image Pro Plus, AutoCad and Photoshop) are discussed in the review. Reflectance confocal microscopy provides real-time images and has great potential for the non-invasive assessment of pigmentary lesions. In conclusion, there is no single best method for assessing vitiligo. This review revealed that VASI, the rule of nine and Wood's lamp are likely to be the best techniques available for assessing the degree of pigmentary lesions and measuring the extent and progression of vitiligo in the clinic and in clinical trials. © 2012 The Authors. Journal of the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology © 2012 European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology.

Interruption of scheduled, automatic feeding and reduction of excess energy intake in toddlers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ciampolini M

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Mario Ciampolini,1 J Thomas Brenna,2 Valerio Giannellini,3 Stefania Bini11Preventive Gastroenterology Unit, Department of Paediatrics, Università di Firenze, Florence, Italy; 2Division of Nutritional Sciences, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA; 3Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Università di Firenze, Florence, ItalyBackground: Childhood obesity due to the consumption of excess calories is a severe problem in developed countries. In a previous investigation on toddlers, hospital laboratory measurements showed an association of food-demand behavior with constant lower blood glucose before meals than for scheduled meals. We hypothesize that maternal scheduling of meals for toddlers results in excess energy intake compared to feeding only on demand (previously “on request”.Objective: We tested the cross-sectional null hypothesis of no difference in energy intake between scheduled (automatic and demanded meals (administered after evaluation in 24 mother–toddler (21 months old at entry pairs with chronic, nonspecific diarrhea presenting at a clinic. We tested the same hypothesis in a subset of 14 toddlers by measuring the resting (sleeping metabolic rate 4 hours after lunch, as well as the total daily energy expenditure (TEE in 10 toddlers.Methods: We trained mothers to recognize meal demands (as in the previous investigation and to provide food in response, but required no blood glucose measurements before meals. Energy intake was assessed by a 10-day food diary, resting metabolic rate (RMR by respiratory analyses (indirect calorimetry in 14 toddlers, and TEE by doubly labeled water in 10 toddlers. Their blood parameters, anthropometry, and number of days with diarrhea were assessed before training and 50 days after training.Results: RMR decreased from 58.6 ± 7.8 to 49.0 ± 9.1 kcal/kg/d (P < 0.001 and TEE decreased from 80.1 ± 6.9 to 67.8 ± 10.0 kcal/kg/d (P < 0.001. Energy intake decreased from 85.7 ± 15.3 to 70.3 ± 15.8 kcal

Hanford site environmental surveillance master sampling schedule

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bisping, L.E.

1998-01-01

Environmental surveillance of the Hanford Site and surrounding areas is conducted by the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). Sampling is conducted to evaluate levels of radioactive and nonradioactive pollutants in the Hanford environs, as required in DOE Order 5400.1 open-quotes General Environmental Protection Program,close quotes and DOE Order 5400.5, open-quotes Radiation Protection of the Public and the Environment.close quotes The sampling methods are described in the Environmental Monitoring Plan, United States Department of Energy, Richland Operations Office, DOE/RL91-50, Rev. 2, U.S. Department of Energy, Richland, Washington. This document contains the 1998 schedules for routine collection of samples for the Surface Environmental Surveillance Project (SESP) and Drinking Water Monitoring Project. Each section of this document describes the planned sampling schedule for a specific media (air, surface water, biota, soil and vegetation, sediment, and external radiation). Each section includes the sample location, sample type, and analyses to be performed on the sample. In some cases, samples are scheduled on a rotating basis and may not be planned for 1998 in which case the anticipated year for collection is provided. In addition, a map is included for each media showing sample locations

Alternative Outpatient Chemotherapy Scheduling Method to Improve Patient Service Quality and Nurse Satisfaction.

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Yu-Li; Bryce, Alan H; Culbertson, Tracy; Connor, Sarah L; Looker, Sherry A; Altman, Kristin M; Collins, James G; Stellner, Winston; McWilliams, Robert R; Moreno-Aspitia, Alvaro; Ailawadhi, Sikander; Mesa, Ruben A

2018-02-01

Optimal scheduling and calendar management in an outpatient chemotherapy unit is a complex process that is driven by a need to focus on safety while accommodating a high degree of variability. Primary constraints are infusion times, staffing resources, chair availability, and unit hours. We undertook a process to analyze our existing management models across multiple practice settings in our health care system, then developed a model to optimize safety and efficiency. The model was tested in one of the community chemotherapy units. We assessed staffing violations as measured by nurse-to-patient ratios throughout the workday and at key points during treatment. Staffing violations were tracked before and after the implementation of the new model. The new model reduced staffing violations by nearly 50% and required fewer chairs to treat the same number of patients for the selected clinic day. Actual implementation results indicated that the new model leveled the distribution of patients across the workday with an 18% reduction in maximum chair utilization and a 27% reduction in staffing violations. Subsequently, a positive impact on peak pharmacy workload reduced delays by as much as 35 minutes. Nursing staff satisfaction with the new model was positive. We conclude that the proposed optimization approach with regard to nursing resource assignment and workload balance throughout a day effectively improves patient service quality and staff satisfaction.

Organization of the construction and schedule of realization

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Szerovay, Antal; Vogel, Oszkar

1988-01-01

The four units of the Paks nuclear power plant with all the auxiliary and service facilities were constructed between 1974 and 1987. Major features of building activities, types of buildings classified according to the connection between the facility and the technology are listed. Processes and structures applied to the construction of the main reactor building are mentioned emphasizing the importance of up-to-date building methods. To move the large equipment into the reactor building Potain cranes of 400 Mp were used. As a result of adequate schedule the auxiliary buildings could be used as preparatory buildings during the construction of the plant. The energy and material supply, the schedule of the construction works are discussed. (V.N.) 6 refs.; 5 figs

Optimal Real-Time Scheduling for Hybrid Energy Storage Systems and Wind Farms Based on Model Predictive Control

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Meng Xiong

2015-08-01

Full Text Available Energy storage devices are expected to be more frequently implemented in wind farms in near future. In this paper, both pumped hydro and fly wheel storage systems are used to assist a wind farm to smooth the power fluctuations. Due to the significant difference in the response speeds of the two storages types, the wind farm coordination with two types of energy storage is a problem. This paper presents two methods for the coordination problem: a two-level hierarchical model predictive control (MPC method and a single-level MPC method. In the single-level MPC method, only one MPC controller coordinates the wind farm and the two storage systems to follow the grid scheduling. Alternatively, in the two-level MPC method, two MPC controllers are used to coordinate the wind farm and the two storage systems. The structure of two level MPC consists of outer level and inner level MPC. They run alternatively to perform real-time scheduling and then stop, thus obtaining long-term scheduling results and sending some results to the inner level as input. The single-level MPC method performs both long- and short-term scheduling tasks in each interval. The simulation results show that the methods proposed can improve the utilization of wind power and reduce wind power spillage. In addition, the single-level MPC and the two-level MPC are not interchangeable. The single-level MPC has the advantage of following the grid schedule while the two-level MPC can reduce the optimization time by 60%.

Gain Scheduling Control based on Closed-Loop System Identification

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bendtsen, Jan Dimon; Trangbæk, Klaus

the first and a second operating point is identified in closed-loop using system identification methods with open-loop properties. Next, a linear controller is designed for this linearised model, and gain scheduling control can subsequently be achieved by interpolating between each controller...

Integrated Job Scheduling and Network Routing

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gamst, Mette; Pisinger, David

2013-01-01

We consider an integrated job scheduling and network routing problem which appears in Grid Computing and production planning. The problem is to schedule a number of jobs at a finite set of machines, such that the overall profit of the executed jobs is maximized. Each job demands a number of resou...... indicate that the algorithm can be used as an actual scheduling algorithm in the Grid or as a tool for analyzing Grid performance when adding extra machines or jobs. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.......We consider an integrated job scheduling and network routing problem which appears in Grid Computing and production planning. The problem is to schedule a number of jobs at a finite set of machines, such that the overall profit of the executed jobs is maximized. Each job demands a number...... of resources which must be sent to the executing machine through a network with limited capacity. A job cannot start before all of its resources have arrived at the machine. The scheduling problem is formulated as a Mixed Integer Program (MIP) and proved to be NP-hard. An exact solution approach using Dantzig...

Estimating exponential scheduling preferences

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hjorth, Katrine; Börjesson, Maria; Engelson, Leonid

2015-01-01

of car drivers' route and mode choice under uncertain travel times. Our analysis exposes some important methodological issues related to complex non-linear scheduling models: One issue is identifying the point in time where the marginal utility of being at the destination becomes larger than the marginal......Different assumptions about travelers' scheduling preferences yield different measures of the cost of travel time variability. Only few forms of scheduling preferences provide non-trivial measures which are additive over links in transport networks where link travel times are arbitrarily...... utility of being at the origin. Another issue is that models with the exponential marginal utility formulation suffer from empirical identification problems. Though our results are not decisive, they partly support the constant-affine specification, in which the value of travel time variability...