Multi-objective decision analysis for competence-oriented project portfolio selection

This paper develops a multi-objective optimization model for project portfolio selection taking employee competencies and their evolution into account. The objectives can include economic gains as well as gains expressed in terms of aggregated competence increments according to pre-defined profiles. In order to determine Pareto-optimal solutions, the overall problem is decomposed into a master problem addressing the portfolio selection itself, and a slave problem dealing with a suitable assignment of personnel to the work packages of the selected projects over time. We provide an asymptotic approximation of the problem by a linearized formulation, which allows an efficient and exact solution of the slave problem. For the solution of the master problem, we compare the multi-objective metaheuristics NSGA-II and P-ACO. Experimental results both for synthetically generated test instances and for real-world test instances, based on an application case from the E-Commerce Competence Center Austria, are presented.     

Diffusive semiconductor moment equations using Fermi�CDirac statistics

Diffusive moment equations with an arbitrary number of moments are formally derived from the semiconductor Boltzmann equation employing a moment method and a Chapman?CEnskog expansion. The moment equations are closed by employing a generalized Fermi?CDirac distribution function obtained from entropy maximization. The current densities allow for a drift-diffusion-type formulation or a ??symmetrized?? formulation, using dual-entropy variables from nonequilibrium thermodynamics. Furthermore, drift-diffusion and new energy-transport equations based on Fermi?CDirac statistics are obtained and their degeneracy limit is studied.     

Pulling rate, thermal and capillary conditions setting for rod growth

The purpose of this paper is to elaborate a procedure, based on a mathematical model, for the setting of the pulling rate, capillary and thermal conditions, in order to grow a cylindrical rod with prescribed radius and length, by edge-defined film-fed growth (EFG) method. First, in the case of an axisymmetric meniscus, we use simultaneously the catching and the angle fixation conditions in order to find a formula, which describes the fluctuation of the angle between the horizontal axis Or and the tangent line to the free surface of the meniscus at the three phase point. This angle appears in the system of differential equations which describes the evolution of the radius of the rod. During the growth this angle can fluctuate due to the fluctuations of the crystal radius, or crystallization front level, or pressure, respectively. In the second part of the paper it is shown in which kind this formula together with the energy balance equation at the crystallization front level can be used for setting the pulling rate, the thermal and capillary conditions to grow a cylindrical rod with prescribed radius and length. Numerical illustration and simulation are presented for rods having thermo-physical properties similar to NdYAG and InSb. This type of results can be useful for the experiment planning, since personal computer simulation is less expensive than experiment. With this aim the present study was undertaken.     

An inverse problem for infinitely divisible moving average random fields

Statistical Inference for Stochastic Processes - Given a low frequency sample of an infinitely divisible moving average random field $${int _{mathbb {R}^d} f(x-t)varLambda (dx); t in mathbb...     

Robust adaptive efficient estimation for semi-Markov nonparametric regression models

Statistical Inference for Stochastic Processes - We consider the nonparametric robust estimation problem for regression models in continuous time with semi-Markov noises. An adaptive model...     

How do we know who to include in collaborative research? Toward a method for the identification of experts

Collaborative research, defined as research involving actors participating in the problem situation under study, has an important role in operational research, strategic management and systems thinking. In a recent study, we found that a strong organizational focus incorporated into many soft operational research (OR) approaches is inadequate for studying societal problem situations, which are fragmented and have no clear boundary. Specifically, we failed to find a process of identifying individuals that is capable of representing the perspectives of actors and sufficient for research into societal problem situations. We found no clear terminology accounting for ontological differences between actors, individuals representing them and conceptual representations of acting entities. In response to this gap in the literature, we propose terminology that differentiates among actors (individuals or collective entities in the real world), experts (individuals capable of representing the perspective of an actor) and agents (ideal-typical representations of actors). Based on this terminology, we propose an iterative method to guide the assembly of an expert group to undertake collaborative research into societal problem situations. To demonstrate the application of our method, we present selected insights from our study in an electronic supplement.     

Fractional Weyl-Riesz Integrodifferentiation of Periodic Functions of Two Variables via the Periodization of the Riesz Kernel

We consider the periodization of the Riesz fractional integrals (Riesz potentials) of two variables and show that already in this case we come across different effects, depending on whether we use the repeated periodization, first in one variable, and afterwards in another one, or the so called double periodization. We show that the naturally introduced doubly-periodic Weyl-Riesz kernel of order 0< f <2 in general coincides with the periodization of the Riesz kernel, the repeated periodization being possible for all 0< f <2 , while the double one is applicable only for 0< f <1 . This is obtained as a realization of a certain general scheme of periodization, both repeated and double versions. We prove statements on coincidence of the corresponding periodic and nonperiodic convolutions and give an application to the case of the Riesz kernel.     

On the discovery of events in EEG data utilizing information fusion

One way to tackle brain computer interfaces is to consider event related potentials in electroencephalography, like the well established P300 phenomenon. In this paper a multiple classifier approach to discover these events in the bioelectrical signal and with them whether or not a subject has recognized a particular pattern, is employed. Dealing with noisy data as well as heavily imbalanced target class distributions are among the difficulties encountered. Our approach utilizes partitions of electrodes to create robust and meaningful individual classifiers, which are then subsequently combined using decision fusion. Furthermore, a classifier selection approach using genetic algorithms is evaluated and used for optimization. The proposed approach utilizing information fusion shows promising results (over 0.8 area under the ROC curve).