A Coverage Model for Improving Public Transit System Accessibility and Expanding Access

Accessible and efficient service are vital features of well-utilized public transit systems. Modeling approaches to support the evaluation of transit operations for management and planning are essential for continued improvement. A hybrid coverage model is developed in this paper for simultaneously expanding service access and increasing accessibility. This paper discusses the use and integration of this model in a geographic information system environment for strategic planning. Analysis is presented for public transit service in Brisbane, Australia. The structured model provides flexibility in developing viable policies for addressing system improvements and service expansion, all of which are likely to promote increased utilization of public transit.     

基于选址效益的联合覆盖模型研究

传统的覆盖模型含有“全有全无”和“单一覆盖”两个假设,即假设需求点在设施的服务半径内才被覆盖,否则不被覆盖;需求点只能被最近的设施覆盖。这两条假设在实际应用中均存在不合理之处。松弛了这两条假设,研究逐渐覆盖和联合覆盖。在保证每个需求点都享受到最低服务水平的情况下,提出了选址效益最大化的联合覆盖模型。由于目标函数中含有分式,通过引入辅助变量的方法,将含有分式目标函数的非线性规划转化成等价的线性规划。最后,通过数值算例分析了最低服务水平限制对最佳选址方案的影响,并得到选址成本、总服务水平和单位成本服务水平随最低服务水平限制的变化,同时对影响模型的重要参数做了敏感性分析。     

考虑繁忙率的多时段救护车优化布局研究

救护车布局对院前急救服务中需求的响应具有决定性作用。本文重点研究了考虑繁忙率的多时段救护车优化布局问题,在传统双覆盖模型基础上引入救护车繁忙率因素,提出改进后的双覆盖模型。首先计算考虑繁忙率的期望覆盖需求量,进而结合实际,将一天以早晚高峰划分为5个时段,探究不同时段下繁忙率差异带来的不同布局方案。以上海市松江区2014年数据为例,应用改进后的模型进行了系统深入的实证研究,并绘制繁忙率对需求覆盖率的影响曲线。结果表明,本文提出的布局方案比实际方案得到的期望覆盖需求量提高了3.19%,比传统双覆盖模型得到的期望覆盖需求量提高了0.54%,证明了改进后模型的有效性;需求覆盖率曲线随繁忙率增加而下降,与实际意义相符。该方法能够直观简洁地得出救护车布局方案,利于院前急救服务水平的提升,为社会安全提供有力保障。     

A multi-objective genetic algorithm for a bi-objective facility location problem with partial coverage

In this study, we present a bi-objective facility location model that considers both partial coverage and service to uncovered demands. Due to limited number of facilities to be opened, some of the demand nodes may not be within full or partial coverage distance of a facility. However, a demand node that is not within the coverage distance of a facility should get service from the nearest facility within the shortest possible time. In this model, it is assumed that demand nodes within the predefined distance of opened facilities are fully covered, and after that distance the coverage level decreases linearly. The objectives are defined as the maximization of full and partial coverage, and the minimization of the maximum distance between uncovered demand nodes and their nearest facilities. We develop a new multi-objective genetic algorithm (MOGA) called modified SPEA-II (mSPEA-II). In this method, the fitness function of SPEA-II is modified and the crowding distance of NSGA-II is used. The performance of mSPEA-II is tested on randomly generated problems of different sizes. The results are compared with the solutions of the most well-known MOGAs, NSGA-II and SPEA-II. Computational experiments show that mSPEA-II outperforms both NSGA-II and SPEA-II.     

Optimal design of a dry-type natural-draft cooling tower by geometric programming

In this paper, the optimal design of dry-type natural-draft cooling towers is investigated. Using physical laws and engineering design relations that govern the system, a rather detailed optimization model is developed. This model is then reformulated as a geometric programming problem. A primary consideration in this reformulation is how certain polynomial equations may be effectively replaced by inequalities. A numerical example follows.     

Incorporating the threat of terrorist attacks in the design of public service facility networks

In this paper, we consider the design problem of a public service facility network with existing facilities when there is a threat of possible terrorist attacks. The aim of the system planner, who is responsible for the operation of the network, is to open new facilities, relocate existing ones if necessary, and protect some of the facilities to ensure a maximum coverage of the demand that is assumed to be aggregated at customer zones. By doing so, the system planner anticipates that a number of unprotected facilities will be rendered out-of-service by terrorist attacks. It is assumed that the sum of the fixed cost of opening new facilities, the relocation costs, and the protection costs cannot exceed a predetermined budget level. Adopting the approach of gradual (or partial) coverage, we formulate a bilevel programming model where the system planner is the leader and the attacker is the follower. The objective of the former is the maximization of the total service coverage, whereas the latter wants to minimize it. We propose a heuristic solution procedure based on tabu search where the search space consists of the decisions of the system planner, and the corresponding objective value is computed by optimally solving the attacker??s problem using CPLEX. To assess the quality of the solutions produced by the tabu search (TS) heuristic, we also develop an exhaustive enumeration method, which explores all the possible combinations of opening new facilities, relocating existing ones, and protecting them. Since its time complexity is exponential, it can only be used for relatively small instances. Therefore, to be used as a benchmark method, we also implement a hill climbing procedure employed with the same type of moves as the TS heuristic. Besides, we carry out a sensitivity analysis on some of the problem parameters to investigate their effect on the solution characteristics.     

An Integer Programming Approach to the Vehicle Scheduling Problem

This paper describes an integer programming formulation of the vehicle scheduling problem and illustrates how such a formulation can be extended to incorporate restrictions on work load, coverage and service that occur in real world vehicle scheduling problems. The integer programme is solved using the Revised Simplex method, additional constraints being introduced to retain integrality during convergence. The feasible region of this integer programme is initially restricted so that only routes constructed through sets of radially contiguous locations are considered. The effect of relaxing these over-constraints is explored. The method is demonstrated on fifteen problems ranging in size from 21 to 100 locations and the results generally show an improvement on previously published results. This is particularly true of the larger problems. This method compares favourably with other methods in computational efficiency.     

Freight railway operator timetabling and engine scheduling

In this paper we consider timetable design at a European freight railway operator. The timetable is designed by choosing the time of service for customer unit train demands among a set of discrete points. These discrete points are all found within the a time-window. The objective of the model is to minimize cost while adhering to constraints regarding infrastructure usage, demand coverage, and engine availability. The model is solved by a column generation scheme where feasible engine schedules are designed in a label setting algorithm with time-dependent cost and service times.     

基于成本效益分析的救护车多时段布局优化研究

院前急救服务水平和救护资源之间存在悖反效益,本文综合考虑急救服务效果与急救网络成本,应用延误成本刻画急救效果,运营成本刻画急救资源使用,同时考虑需求规模、需求空间分布、救护车行驶速度以及救护车不可获得率随时间变化的影响,建立以最小化社会总成本为目标的救护车多时段布局优化模型,应用上海市松江区的实际数据,系统研究多时段救护车布局优化问题。计算结果表明优化后的系统在保证80%的高标准覆盖水平下,社会总成本比原系统下降32.23%。相比静态的情况,考虑时变因素可以使社会总成本下降15.8%,双覆盖率提高12.84%,各时段车辆繁忙率方差下降91.67%。     

Optimal operating strategy for a long-haul liner service route

This paper proposes an optimal operating strategy problem arising in liner shipping industry that aims to determine service frequency, containership fleet deployment plan, and sailing speed for a long-haul liner service route. The problem is formulated as a mixed-integer nonlinear programming model that cannot be solved efficiently by the existing solution algorithms. In view of some unique characteristics of the liner shipping operations, this paper proposes an efficient and exact branch-and-bound based ε-optimal algorithm. In particular, a mixed-integer nonlinear model is first developed for a given service frequency and ship type; two linearization techniques are subsequently presented to approximate this model with a mixed-integer linear program; and the branch-and-bound approach controls the approximation error below a specified tolerance. This paper further demonstrates that the branch-and-bound based ε-optimal algorithm obtains a globally optimal solution with the predetermined relative optimality tolerance ε in a finite number of iterations. The case study based on an existing long-haul liner service route shows the effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed solution method.     

Towers and Fibered Products of Model Structures

Given a left Quillen presheaf of localized model structures, we study the homotopy limit model structure on the associated category of sections. We focus specifically on towers and fibered products (pullbacks) of model categories. As applications we consider Postnikov towers of model categories, chromatic towers of spectra and Bousfield arithmetic squares of spectra. For stable model categories, we show that the homotopy fiber of a stable left Bousfield localization is a stable right Bousfield localization.     

基于覆盖模型的pm2.5监测站点布局优化方法研究

科学的监测站点选址与布局优化是pm2.5等空气污染监测面临的重要问题.针对pm2.5重点监测城市哈尔滨,分析了影响pm2.5浓度及分布的主要因素,构建了以区域地理邻接关系及覆盖水平为基础的监测设施覆盖模型.模型综合了人口、地域面积以pm2.5关注度等因素,实现了重点监测区域覆盖指数及总体覆盖水平最大化目标.实证分析说明了模型的有效性和实用性,为相关环境监测网点选址和优化问题提供了科学的依据和参考.     

Bi-criteria dynamic location-routing problem for patrol coverage

In this paper, we address the problem of dynamic patrol routing for state troopers for effective coverage of highways. Specifically, a number of state troopers start their routes at temporary stations (TS), patrol critical locations with high crash frequencies, and end their shifts at other (or the same) TS so the starting points for the next period are also optimized. We determine the number of state troopers, their assigned routes, and the locations of the TS where they start and end their routes. The TS are selected from a given set of potential locations. The problem, therefore, is a multi-period dynamic location-routing problem in the context of public service. Our objective is to maximize the critical location coverage benefit while minimizing the costs of TS selections, vehicle utilizations, and routing/travel. The multi-objective nature of the problem is handled using an ?-constraint approach. We formulate the problem as a mixed integer linear programming model and solve it using both off-the-shelf optimization software and a custom-built, efficient heuristic algorithm. The heuristic, utilizing the hierarchical structure of the problem, is built on the decomposition of location and routing problems. By allowing routing to start from multiple locations, our model improves the coverage by as much as 12% compared with the single-depot coverage model.     

Models and Algorithms for Terrestrial Digital Broadcasting

The service provided by a Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB) system in terms of coverage of territory and population is greatly affected by transmitters emission power and temporal offset. We show that the problem of computing the emission powers so as to guarantee the required signal to interference ratio can be formulated as a mixed integer linear program. We also model the optimization of temporal offsets as a maximum clique problem on interval graphs. We analyze the behaviour of the models and verify their practical applicability in a computational experience on the whole Italian territory. Both the models allow to manage large scale instances and to achieve high coverage of population and territory.     

基于改进NSGA-II算法的多级服务设施备用覆盖选址决策模型

为了应对跨区域突发事件过程中受灾点服务差异化需求的问题,建立了应急储备设施点的多级备用覆盖选址决策模型,即一个需求点由多个应急设施提供不同质量水平的服务,并考虑设施繁忙状态下由其他设施点提供服务的状况,使模型更加符合实际应用。首次通过设计分段的染色体编码方式改进NSGA-II算法提升运算效率以更好地解决多目标选址决策问题,将改进方法下得到的Pareto解分布与NSGA-II算法下的仿真结果进行对比分析,结合设施点的部署策略得到不同的空间布局方案。证明了模型的可行性及改进NSGA-II算法在解决设施点多目标选址决策问题时的有效性。     

基于博弈论的节能量保证型EPC合同决策分析

合同能源管理(EPC)是一种以未来节约的能源费用支付节能项目成本的节能管理机制。节能量保证型EPC模式中,耗能企业负责为项目融资,节能服务公司提供项目的全程服务并向客户企业保证一定的节能效益。若达不到承诺值,节能服务公司向客户进行补偿,若超出承诺值,客户给予节能服务公司一定的奖励。合同决策问题是该模式应用中的重要问题。本文以节能量保证型EPC合同中初始项目投资、合同期限和超额节能效益奖励的决策问题为研究对象,建立了客户和节能服务公司之间的决策博弈模型,分析二者的最优合同决策。数值试验结果表明,该方法不仅能让客户企业和节能服务公司均受益,还可以有效提高项目的投资报酬率,并且较高的节能服务公司技术水平和客户初始耗能水平能产生更高的节能效率。     

Optimizing the Design of a CDMA Cellular System Configuration with Multiple Criteria

This paper deals with the mathematical modeling and optimization of a code division multiple access (CDMA) cellular system configuration that seeks the optimal location, power, and antenna height of each base station in a service area, in order to optimize call quality, service coverage and total cost of system configuration. The factors affecting optimum selection are the non-uniform spatial demand in the service area, the propagation environment, the interference among users and among base stations, and other factors intrinsic to CDMA technology. The simulated annealing method supplemented by a demand allocation algorithm is implemented in a software package to solve this complex multiobjective nonlinear optimization problem. This research shows that simulated annealing is a viable method for obtaining good quality solutions to the wireless system configuration problem. A realistic case study dealing with the design of a cellular system configuration for the city of Cambridge, MA, and its surroundings, is developed to illustrate the modeling concept and the steps of the algorithm. Sensitivity analysis is performed to further analyze the configuration decision.     

Deterministic flow-demand location problems

In flow-covering (interception) models the focus is on the demand for service that originates from customers travelling in the network (not for the purpose of obtaining the service). In contrast, in traditional location models a central assumption is that the demand for service comes from customers residing at nodes of the network. In this paper we combine these two types of models. The paper presents four new problems. Two of the four deal with the problem of locating m facilities so as to maximize the total number of potential customers covered by the facilities (where coverage does not necessarily imply the actual consumption of service). In the two other problems the attention is directed to the consumption of service and thus the criteria is to maximize (minimize) the number of actual users (distance travelled). It is shown in the paper that all four problems have similar structure to other known location problems.     

Capacitated emergency facility siting with multiple levels of backup

In many service systems, the primary objective is to provide continuous service and/or service within a prespecified time interval. In the public sector, emergency service systems fit into this category. In the private sector, systems providing repair service to critical production facilities and computers constitute another example. In these systems, the concept of multiple service facilities providing backup to each other becomes an important element in the design process. In this paper, we study the capacitated facility siting problem with multiple levels of backup coverage. The problem is formulated as a mathematical program; an efficient solution procedure is developed and computational experiments are reported.     

VTS雷达站选址优化研究

雷达站选址及雷达配置方案对于提高整个船舶交通管理系统(简称VTS)的运行性能起到重要作用。针对当前VTS雷达站选址模型因较少考虑水域风险和环境遮挡等相关因素而较难进行实际应用的问题,提出了一种基于水域单元风险评价的VTS雷达站选址方法。该方法充分考虑水域风险和环境遮挡等环境因素,利用ArcGIS软件对水域进行划分、风险评价和视域分析,并建立雷达站选址配置双目标优化模型,设计多目标粒子群算法进行求解。最后,通过对肇庆市的VTS雷达站选址项目进行验证分析,结果表明最终方案能够满足模型约束并实现优化,在考虑水域风险、环境遮挡的情况下提高了VTS雷达站的运行效果,推动VTS雷达站选址模型的实际应用。