Optimizing specimen collection for processing in clinical testing laboratories

We study the logistics of specimen collection for a clinical testing laboratory that serves sites dispersed in an urban area. The specimens that accumulate at the customer sites throughout the working day are transported to the laboratory for processing. The problem is to construct and schedule a series of tours to collect the accumulated specimens from the sites throughout the day. Two hierarchical objectives are considered: (i) maximizing the amount of specimens processed by the next morning, and (ii) minimizing the daily transportation cost. We show that the problem is NP-hard and formulate a linear Mixed Integer Programming (MIP) model to solve the bicriteria problem in two levels. We characterize properties of optimal solutions and develop a heuristic approach based on solving the MIP model with additional constraints that seeks for feasible solutions with specific characteristics. To evaluate the performance of this approach, we provide an upper bounding scheme on the daily processed amount, and develop two relaxed MIP models to generate lower bounds on the daily transportation cost. The effectiveness of the proposed solution approach is evaluated using realistic problem instances. Insights on key problem parameters and their effects on the solutions are extracted by further experiments.     

Type II sensitivity analysis of cost coefficients in the degenerate transportation problem

This paper focuses on sensitivity analysis of the degenerate transportation problem (DTP) when perturbation occurs on one cost coefficient. The conventional Type I sensitivity analysis of the transportation problem (TP) determines the perturbation ranges for the invariant optimal basis. Due to different degenerate optimal basic solutions yielding different Type I ranges, the Type I range is misleading for the DTP. Type II sensitivity analysis, which determines the perturbation ranges for the invariant shipping pattern, is more practical for the DTP. However, it is too tedious to obtain Type II ranges by enumerating all optimal basic solutions and all primal optimal basic solutions while getting the union of each corresponding Type I ranges. Here, we propose two labeling algorithms to determine the Type II ranges of the cost coefficient. Besides, three lemmas are provided for obtaining the upper bound or lower bound of the Type II ranges of the cost coefficient directly under specific conditions of the DTP. A numerical example is given to demonstrate the procedure of the proposed labeling algorithms and computational results have been provided.     

Anticipative control of switched queueing systems

The relevant dynamics of a queueing process can be anticipated by taking future arrivals into account. If the transport from one queue to another is associated with transportation delays, as it is typical for traffic or productions networks, future arrivals to a queue are known over some time horizon and, thus, can be used for an anticipative control of the corresponding flows. A queue is controlled by switching its outflow between “on” and “off” similar to green and red traffic lights, where switching to “on” requires a non-zero setup time. Due to the presence of both continuous and discrete state variables, the queueing process is described as a hybrid dynamical system. From this formulation, we derive one observable of fundamental importance: the green time required to clear the queue. This quantity allows to detect switching time points for serving platoons without delay, i.e., in a “green wave” manner. Moreover, we quantify the cost of delaying the start of a service period or its termination in terms of additional waiting time. Our findings may serve as a basis for strategic control decisions.     

The value function of a transportation problem

We investigate the value of an optimal transportation problem with the maximization objective as a function of costs and vectors of production and consumption. The value is concave in production. For generic costs, the numbers of linearity domains and peak points are independent of costs and consumption. The peak points are determined by an auxiliary assignment problem. The volumes of the linearity domains are independent of costs while their dependence on consumption can be expressed via the multinomial distribution.     

Rich vehicle routing problems: From a taxonomy to a definition

Over the last years, several variants of multi-constrained Vehicle Routing Problems (VRPs) have been studied, forming a class of problems known as Rich Vehicle Routing Problems (RVRPs). The purpose of the paper is twofold: (i) to provide a comprehensive and relevant taxonomy for the RVRP literature and (ii) to propose an elaborate definition of RVRPs. To this end, selected papers addressing various cases are classified using the proposed taxonomy. Once the articles have been classified, a cluster analysis based on two discriminating criteria is performed and leads to the definition of RVRPs.     

The correlation length of commodity markets 1. Empirical evidence

It is a common belief nowadays that the world economy is fairly well “integrated”. Yet, this belief often turns out to be in contradiction with empirical evidence. As a matter of fact the way distant markets interact is a question that has largely been ignored by economists. In this series of two papers we examine the role that space, that is to say geographical distance, plays in the economics of commodity markets. The first of these papers presents the empirical evidence while the second develops a theoretical framework. The empirical enquiry discloses several noteworthy features, e.g. (i) with respect to spatial interaction there is a sharp contrast between stock markets and commodity markets. While there is almost perfect spatial arbitrage in the first case, this is not true for commodity markets. (ii) In spite of their chaotic behavior in the course of time commodity prices display well defined spatial patterns, (iii) as in statistical physics and fluid dynamics interactions can be described in terms of correlation length. The correlation length of a set of markets is seen to increase along with the number of transactions; it also increases when transport costs decline as was the case during the “transportation revolution” of the mid-nineteenth century. Using the notion of correlation length one is able to give a quantitative meaning to the otherwise ill-defined concept of market integration. Received 17 May 1999 and Received in final form 31 May 1999     

The effects of time delay on the decline and propagation processes of population in the Malthus-Verhulst model with cross-correlated noises

This contribution presents a derivation of the steady-state distribution of velocities and distances of driven particles on a onedimensional periodic ring, using a Fokker-Planck formalism. We will compare two different situations: (i) symmetrical interaction forces fulfilling Newton’s law of “actio = reactio” and (ii) asymmetric, forwardly directed interactions as, for example in vehicular traffic. Surprisingly, the steady-state velocity and distance distributions for asymmetric interactions and driving terms agree with the equilibrium distributions of classical many-particle systems with symmetrical interactions, if the system is large enough. This analytical result is confirmed by computer simulations and establishes the possibility of approximating the steady state statistics in driven many-particle systems by Hamiltonian systems. Our finding is also useful to understand the various departure time distributions of queueing systems as a possible effect of interactions among the elements in the respective queue [Physica A 363, 62 (2006)].     

适用于真空管道交通的高温超导磁悬浮车低温液氮容器

真空管道运输系统的建成以及在全球的普及与应用,将是继火车、汽车、飞机和IT之后人类的又一大福祉。将使今天面临的交通困境从根本上得以解决,也将给全球经济与社会生活方式带来全新的变化。磁悬浮车是真空管道交通系统的运行主体,在各种不同模式的磁悬浮车中,高温超导磁悬浮车非常适合于真空管道交通。然而,由于真空管道中是低压环境,用于常压环境的高温超导磁悬浮车低温液氮容器不适合直接用于真空管道交通系统。提出在真空管道交通中,采用带压力阀的高温超导磁悬浮车低温液氮容器。这是一种压力容器,器壁要承受压差,当前常用的矩形高温超导磁悬浮车低温液氮容器则不适合,进一步提出能承受较高压力的圆柱形低温液氮容器的设计构想。还对真空管道交通中真空环境对提高液氮容器保温效果的意义进行了讨论。     

An optimization approach for communal home meal delivery service: A case study

This paper is the first to discuss the communal home meal delivery problem. The problem can be modelled as a multiple travelling salesman problem with time windows, that is closely related to the well-studied vehicle routing problem with time windows. Experimental results are reported for a real-life case study from Central Finland over several alternative scenarios using the SPIDER commercial solver. The comparison with current practice reveals that a significant savings potential can be obtained using off-the-shelf optimization tools. As such, the potential for supporting real-life communal routing problems can be considered to be important for VRP practitioners.     

Service network design with management and coordination of multiple fleets

We present a new optimization model for the tactical design of scheduled service networks for transportation systems where several entities provide service and internal exchanges and coordination with neighboring systems is critical. Internal exchanges represent border crossings necessitating changes of vehicles, while the coordination with neighboring systems represents intermodal operations. For a given demand, the model determines departure times of the services such that throughput time of the demand in the system is minimized. The model is an extension of the design-balanced capacitated multicommodity network design model that we denote service network design with asset management and multiple fleet coordination to emphasize the explicit modeling of different vehicle fleets. Data from a real-world problem addressing the planning of new rail freight services across borders serves to illustrate the capabilities of the formulation. We analyze how synchronization with collaborating services and removal of border-crossing operations impact the throughput time for the freight. We identify a significant potential for system performance enhancement from synchronization among collaborating services for the problem studied.