Design and development of inventory knowledge discovery system

Inventory management (IM) performance is affected by the forecasting accuracy of both demand and supply. In this paper, an inventory knowledge discovery system (IKDS) is designed and developed to forecast and acquire knowledge among variables for demand forecasting. In IKDS, the TREes PArroting Networks (TREPAN) algorithm is used to extract knowledge from trained networks in the form of decision trees which can be used to understand previously unknown relationships between the input variables so as to improve the forecasting performance for IM. The experimental results show that the forecasting accuracy using TREPAN is superior to traditional methods like moving average and autoregressive integrated moving average. In addition, the knowledge extracted from IKDS is represented in a comprehensible way and can be used to facilitate human decision-making.     

Structured deplaning via simulation and optimization

Deplaning naturally occurs row by row down the length of an aircraft. Using simulation and optimization, we design deplaning strategies (e.g., deplane by group and/or column) that significantly reduce the overall unstructured deplaning time. The evaluations derived from a combination of optimization and simulation were tested across several equipment types using data gathered through field observations for calibration.     

A fuzzy comprehensive evaluation algorithm for analyzing electronic word-of-mouth

This study evaluates tourism experiences shared through electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) across four Chinese attractions. The objective is to develop a framework for evaluating eWOM by constructing an indicator system and implementing an analytic hierarchy process with the use of a fuzzy comprehensive evaluation algorithm. This framework is achieved by mapping more than 6000 websites related to Chinese tourism attractions and filtering over 200,000 useful reviews to measure service performance. Results indicate that ecological–biological attractions failed to make tourists feel “very satisfied” in various aspects, such as overall evaluation, infrastructure, traffic, natural environment, and social environment. Overall, the study contributes by presenting a framework that can be adopted by tourism researchers and industry practitioners to understand tourist preferences and evaluate service performance to improve service quality.     

A genetic algorithm based approach to transactional and QoS-aware service selection

As there are various risks of failure when Web services are deployed in unreliable environment, the execution of a composite Web service (CWS) requires the transaction mechanism to guarantee its reliable execution. However, the existing service selection approaches consider QoS and transaction separately and have not considered that transactional properties may affect the QoS such as the execution time of a CWS. This work addresses the importance of considering transactional properties and how the transactional properties affect the QoS simultaneously in the process of service selection by a QoS-aware and transactional-aware selection approach. First, a performance evaluation method is proposed to calculate the execution time of a transactional CWS. Then, a genetic algorithm based approach, which takes into account the execution time, price, transactional property and successful execution rate of CWS, is presented to achieve global optimisation service selection. Finally, experimental results show the efficiency and effectiveness of the approach.     

The trade-off between fixed vehicle costs and time-dependent arrival penalties in a routing problem

This paper introduces the vehicle routing problem with soft time windows (VRPSTW) in which problem definition differs from ones previously defined in literature. Branch-and-price approach is employed, resulting in a set partitioning master problem and its new subproblem. Novel techniques are consequently developed to solve this new subproblem. Experimental results report the comparisons of these solution techniques under the branch-and-price framework. The VRPSTW solutions have further been compared to the state-of-the-art literature, signifying the superiority of the VRPSTW on this issue.     

单车场无时间窗甩挂运输车辆调度的启发式算法

考虑了牵引车空驶、带空挂车行驶和带重挂车行驶所引起的成本差异，定义了牵引车运行成本的概念，将总运行成本最小作为调度方案优劣的判别指标，并同时考虑牵引车数量最少。将牵引任务分为四种类型，定义了任务链、虚拟任务、链内交叉和链间交叉的概念，提出了一种求解该类单车场甩挂运输车辆调度无时间窗约束的启发式算法，包括初始调运方案、链内优化、空车调运交叉、牵引车数量优化和链间交叉。最后给出了仿真算例，算法优化后的最终方案与初始方案相比，牵引车数量减少，总运行成本降低，验证了算法的有效性和可行性。     

基于成本优化的制造业生产物流装配线排序问题分析

为了降低制造业的生产成本，提高收益，在分析生产物流配线闲置和超载成本的基础上，采用粒子群算法对其进行优化，并利用模糊自适应改进惯性权值，通过实证研究表明该方法实用，可操作性强，可以有效降低制造业生产物流成本，具有广泛的应用价值。     

基于两层架构协调的应急物资分配与车辆调度集成优化方法

针对突发事件下的应急物资调运问题，考虑了多个地区同时受灾以及多个出救点需要对其进行救灾并且各出救点的运力有限的情况，以最小化总的车辆运输费用，最大化救灾效率、各受灾点的救灾满意度，以及各受灾点得到救助的公平性为目标，建立了该问题的多目标混合整数非线性规划模型，并提出了一个基于两层架构协调的迭代式遗传算法进行求解。基于仿真数据的实验结果证明了所提出的模型和算法的有效性。     

Dually sustainable urban mobility option: Shared-taxi operations with electric vehicles

Electric vehicles (EVs) are energy efficient and often presented as a zero-emission transport mode to achieve long-term decarbonization visions in the transport sector. The implementation of a sustainable transportation environment through EV utilization, however, requires the addressing of certain cost and environmental concerns such as limited driving range and battery-charging issues before its full potential can be realized. Nevertheless, a specific type of use of EVs, namely in taxi services, may elicit positive public opinion, as it promises a commitment toward sustainability in urban life. In light of this, this study proposes an integrated approach that combines EV operation with a conceptual design for shared-ride taxi services. As some productivity loss may be naturally expected due to the time spent in charging, it is important to look at whether such performance loss from the passenger and system standpoints can be offset with ingenuity in operational design. In this study, an EV taxi charge-replenishing scheme that can be coupled with a real-time taxi-dispatch algorithm is designed. The proposed EV charging schemes for taxi services are studied via simulations and the effects of the limited driving range and battery-charging details are examined from a system performance viewpoint. The simulation study also reveals illustrative results on the impact of the EV taxi fleet's operation on the charging system. Next, a real-time shared-taxi operation scheme that allows ride sharing with other passengers is proposed to maximize the operational efficiency. The simulation results suggest that the shared-taxi concept can be a viable option to improve on the limitations caused by EV operation. In addition, the importance of projected charging demands and queue delays at different charging locations are also addressed. Some limitations and a future research agenda are also discussed.     

基于SBO-PP模型的水资源可持续发展能力评价模型及应用

为利用投影寻踪(PP)技术科学,客观评价区域水资源可持续发展能力,基于生态环境、水资源和经济社会因素选取20个指标构建区域水资源可持续发展能力评价指标体系。利用新型仿生群体智能算法——凉亭鸟优化(SBO)算法优化PP技术最佳投影方向,提出SBO-PP水资源可持续发展能力评价模型,并构建灰狼优化(GWO)算法-PP模型、人工蜂群(ABC)算法-PP模型、差分进化(DE)算法-PP模型、地理生物学优化(BBO)算法-PP模型、粒子群优化(PSO)算法-PP模型作对比,以云南省2006—2015年及2020年水资源可持续发展能力评价为例进行实例研究。结果表明:SBO算法优化PP技术获得的适应度值优于GWO、ABC、DE、BBO和PSO算法,具有较好的求解精度、稳健性能和极值寻优能力。SBO-PP模型对云南省2006—2007年水资源可持续发展能力评价为"较差",2008—2015年评价为"中等",2020年评价为"较强"。