Abstract: In the context of the global pandemic, the practical management of the 2020 presidential election in the USA was a strong concern. To anticipate and prepare for this election accurately, one of the main challenges was to confront: (i) forecasts of voter turnout, (ii) capacities of the facilities and, (iii) potential configuration options of resources. The approach chosen to conduct this anticipative study consists of collecting data about forecasts and using simulation models to work simultaneously on resource allocation and facility configuration of polling places in Fulton County, Georgia’s largest county. This article presents the results of the simulations of such places facing pre-identified potential risks. These results are oriented towards the efficiency of these places according to different criteria (health, trust, comfort). Then a dynamic framework is introduced to describe risks as physical forces perturbing the efficiency of the observed system. Finally, the main benefits and contributions resulting from this simulation campaign are presented.
Abstract: Port authorities have many challenges in congested ports to allocate their resources to provide a safe and secure loading/unloading procedure for cargo vessels. Selecting a destination port is the decision of a vessel master based on many factors such as weather, wavelength and changes of priorities. Having access to a tool which leverages Automatic Identification System (AIS) messages to monitor vessel’s movements and accurately predict their next destination port promotes an effective resource allocation process for port authorities. In this research, we propose a method, namely, Reference Route of Trajectory (RRoT) to assist port authorities in predicting inflow and outflow traffic in their local environment by monitoring AIS messages. Our RRo method creates a reference route based on historical AIS messages. It utilizes some of the best trajectory similarity measures to identify the destination of a vessel using their recent movement. We evaluated five different similarity measures such as Discrete Frechet Distance (DFD), Dynamic Time ´ Warping (DTW), Partial Curve Mapping (PCM), Area between two curves (Area) and Curve length (CL). Our experiments show that our method identifies the destination port with an accuracy of 98.97% and an f-measure of 99.08% using Dynamic Time Warping (DTW) similarity measure.
Abstract: To improve the satisfaction of residents' travel, this paper analyzes the characteristics and influencing factors of urban residents' travel behavior. First, a Multinominal Logit Model (MNL) model is built to analyze the characteristics of residents' travel behavior, reveal the influence of individual attributes, family attributes and travel characteristics on the choice of travel mode, and identify the significant factors. Then put forward suggestions for policy improvement. Finally, Support Vector Machine (SVM) and Multi-Layer Perceptron (MLP) models are introduced to evaluate the policy effect. This paper selects Futian Street in Futian District, Shenzhen City for investigation and research. The results show that gender, age, education, income, number of cars owned, travel purpose, departure time, journey time, travel distance and times all have a significant influence on residents' choice of travel mode. Based on the above results, two policy improvement suggestions are put forward from reducing public transportation and non-motor vehicle travel time, and the policy effect is evaluated. Before the evaluation, the prediction effect of MNL, SVM and MLP models was evaluated. After parameter optimization, it was found that the prediction accuracy of the three models was 72.80%, 71.42%, and 76.42%, respectively. The MLP model with the highest prediction accuracy was selected to evaluate the effect of policy improvement. The results showed that after the implementation of the policy, the proportion of public transportation in plan 1 and plan 2 increased by 14.04% and 9.86%, respectively, while the proportion of private cars decreased by 3.47% and 2.54%, respectively. The proportion of car trips decreased obviously, while the proportion of public transport trips increased. It can be considered that the measures have a positive effect on promoting green trips and improving the satisfaction of urban residents, and can provide a reference for relevant departments to formulate transportation policies.
Abstract: Task Assignment and Scheduling is a challenging Operations Research problem when there is a limited number of resources and comparatively higher number of tasks. The Cost Management team at Cummins needs to assign tasks based on a deadline and must prioritize some of the tasks as per business requirements. Moreover, there is a constraint on the resources that assignment of tasks should be done based on an individual skill level, that may vary for different tasks. Another constraint is for scheduling the tasks that should be evenly distributed in terms of number of working hours, which adds further complexity to this problem. The proposed greedy approach to solve assignment and scheduling problem first assigns the task based on management priority and then by the closest deadline. This is followed by an iterative selection of an available resource with the least allocated total working hours for a task, i.e. finding the local optimal choice for each task with the goal of determining the global optimum. The greedy approach task allocation is compared with a variant of Hungarian Algorithm, and it is observed that the proposed approach gives an equal allocation of working hours among the resources. The comparative study of the proposed approach is also done with manual task allocation and it is noted that the visibility of the task timeline has increased from 2 months to 6 months. An interactive dashboard app is created for the greedy assignment and scheduling approach and the tasks with more than 2 months horizon that were waiting in a queue without a delivery date initially are now analyzed effectively by the business with expected timelines for completion.
Abstract: With the development of business competition, it is important for healthcare providers to improve their service qualities. In order to improve service quality of a clinic, four important dimensions are defined: tangibles, responsiveness, empathy, and reliability. Moreover, there are several service stages in hospitals such as financial screening and examination. One of the most challenging limitations for improving service quality is budget which impressively affects the service quality. In this paper, we present an approach to address budget uncertainty and provide guidelines for service resource allocation. In this paper, a service quality improvement approach is proposed which can be adopted to multistage service processes to improve service quality, while controlling the costs. A multi-objective function based on the importance of each area and dimension is defined to link operational variables to service quality dimensions. The results demonstrate that our approach is not ultra-conservative and it shows the actual condition very well. Moreover, it is shown that different strategies can affect the number of employees in different stages.
Abstract: The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of tourists’ culture on perception and evaluation of hotel service experience and behavioral intentions. Drawing on Hofested’s cultural dimensions, this study seeks to further contribute towards understanding the effect of culture on perception and evaluation of hotels’ services, and whether there are differences between Saudi and European tourists’ perceptions of hotel services evaluation. A descriptive cross-sectional design was used in this study. Data were collected from tourists staying in five-star hotels in Saudi Arabia using the self-completion technique. The findings show that evaluations of hotel services differ from one culture to another. T-test results reveal that Saudis were more tolerant and reported significantly higher levels of satisfaction, were more likely to return and recommend the hotel, and perceived the price for the hotel stay as being good value for money as compared to their European counterparts. The sample was relatively small and specific to only five-star hotel evaluations. As a result, findings cannot be generalized to the wider tourist population. The results of this research have important implications for management within the Saudi hospitality industry. The study contributes to the tourist cultural theory by emphasizing the relative importance of cultural dimensions in-service evaluation. The author argues that no studies could be identified that compare Saudis and Europeans in their evaluations of their experiences staying at hotels. Therefore, the current study would enhance understanding of the effects of cultural factors on service evaluations and provide valuable input for international market segmentation and resource allocation in the Saudi hotel industry.
Abstract: The intelligent management and optimisation of radio resource technologies will lead to a considerable improvement in the overall performance in Next Generation Networks (NGNs). Carrier Aggregation (CA) technology, also known as Spectrum Aggregation, enables more efficient use of the available spectrum by combining multiple Component Carriers (CCs) in a virtual wideband channel. LTE-A (Long Term Evolution–Advanced) CA technology can combine multiple adjacent or separate CCs in the same band or in different bands. In this way, increased data rates and dynamic load balancing can be achieved, resulting in a more reliable and efficient operation of mobile networks and the enabling of high bandwidth mobile services. In this paper, several distinct CA deployment strategies for the utilisation of spectrum bands are compared in indoor-outdoor scenarios, simulated via the recently-developed Realistic Indoor Environment Generator (RIEG). We analyse the performance of the User Equipment (UE) by integrating the average throughput, the level of fairness of radio resource allocation, and other parameters, into one summative assessment termed a Comparative Factor (CF). In addition, comparison of non-CA and CA indoor mobile networks is carried out under different load conditions: varying numbers and positions of UEs. The experimental results demonstrate that the CA technology can improve network performance, especially in the case of indoor scenarios. Additionally, we show that an increase of carrier frequency does not necessarily lead to improved CF values, due to high wall-penetration losses. The performance of users under bad-channel conditions, often located in the periphery of the cells, can be improved by intelligent CA location. Furthermore, a combination of such a deployment and effective radio resource allocation management with respect to user-fairness plays a crucial role in improving the performance of LTE-A networks.
Abstract: Construction technology and on-site construction activities have a direct influence on the life cycle costs of energy efficiently renovated apartment buildings. The systematic inadequacies of the External Thermal Insulation Composite System (ETICS) which occur during the construction phase increase the risk for all stakeholders, reduce mechanical durability and increase the life cycle costs of the building. The economic effect of these shortcomings can be minimised if the risk of the most significant on-site activities is recognised. The objective of the presented ETICS economic assessment concept is to evaluate the economic influence of on-site shortcomings and reveal their significance to the foreseeable future repair costs. The model assembles repair techniques, discusses their direct cost calculation methods, argues over the proper usage of net present value over the life cycle of the building, and proposes a simulation tool to evaluate the risk of on-site activities. As the technique is dependent on the selected real interest rate, a sensitivity analysis is anticipated to determine the validity of the recommendations. After the verification of the model on the sample buildings by the industry, it is expected to increase economic rationality of resource allocation and reduce high-risk systematic shortcomings during the construction process of ETICS.
Abstract: Big Data has been attracted a lot of attentions in many fields for analyzing research issues based on a large number of maternal data. Electronic Toll Collection (ETC) is one of Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) applications in Taiwan, used to record starting point, end point, distance and travel time of vehicle on the national freeway. This study, taking advantage of ETC big data, combined with urban planning theory, attempts to explore various phenomena of inter-city transportation activities. ETC, one of government's open data, is numerous, complete and quick-update. One may recall that living area has been delimited with location, population, area and subjective consciousness. However, these factors cannot appropriately reflect what people’s movement path is in daily life. In this study, the concept of "Living Area" is replaced by "Influence Range" to show dynamic and variation with time and purposes of activities. This study uses data mining with Python and Excel, and visualizes the number of trips with GIS to explore influence range of Tainan city and the purpose of trips, and discuss living area delimited in current. It dialogues between the concepts of "Central Place Theory" and "Living Area", presents the new point of view, integrates the application of big data, urban planning and transportation. The finding will be valuable for resource allocation and land apportionment of spatial planning.
Abstract: There has been renewal of interest in the relation between Green IT and cloud computing in recent years. Cloud computing has to be a highly elastic environment which provides stable services to users. The growing use of cloud computing facilities has caused marked energy consumption, putting negative pressure on electricity cost of computing center or data center. Each year more and more network devices, storages and computers are purchased and put to use, but it is not just the number of computers that is driving energy consumption upward. We could foresee that the power consumption of cloud computing facilities will double, triple, or even more in the next decade. This paper aims at resource allocation and scheduling technologies that are short of or have not well developed yet to reduce energy utilization in cloud computing platform. In particular, our approach relies on recalling services dynamically onto appropriate amount of the machines according to user’s requirement and temporarily shutting down the machines after finish in order to conserve energy. We present initial work on integration of resource and power management system that focuses on reducing power consumption such that they suffice for meeting the minimizing quality of service required by the cloud computing platform.
Abstract: In a conventional network, most network devices, such as routers, are dedicated devices that do not have much variation in capacity. In recent years, a new concept of network functions virtualisation (NFV) has come into use. The intention is to implement a variety of network functions with software on general-purpose servers and this allows the network operator to select their capacities and locations without any constraints. This paper focuses on the allocation of NFV-based routing functions which are one of critical network functions, and presents the virtual routing function allocation algorithm that minimizes the total power consumption. In addition, this study presents the useful allocation policy of virtual routing functions, based on an evaluation with a ladder-shaped network model. This policy takes the ratio of the power consumption of a routing function to that of a circuit and traffic distribution between areas into consideration. Furthermore, the present paper shows that there are cases where the use of NFV-based routing functions makes it possible to reduce the total power consumption dramatically, in comparison to a conventional network, in which it is not economically viable to distribute small-capacity routing functions.
Abstract: In 2013 and 2014, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) collected data from selected fast food restaurants and full service restaurants for tracking changes in the occurrence of foodborne illness risk factors. This paper discussed how we customized spatial random sampling method by considering financial position and availability of FDA resources, and how we enriched restaurants data with location. Location information of restaurants provides opportunity for quantitatively determining random sampling within non-government units (e.g.: 240 kilometers around each data-collector). Spatial analysis also could optimize data-collectors’ work plans and resource allocation. Spatial analytic and processing platform helped us handling the spatial random sampling challenges. Our method fits in FDA’s ability to pinpoint features of foodservice establishments, and reduced both time and expense on data collection.
Abstract: Cloud computing is the outcome of rapid growth of internet. Due to elastic nature of cloud computing and unpredictable behavior of user, load balancing is the major issue in cloud computing paradigm. An efficient load balancing technique can improve the performance in terms of efficient resource utilization and higher customer satisfaction. Load balancing can be implemented through task scheduling, resource allocation and task migration. Various parameters to analyze the performance of load balancing approach are response time, cost, data processing time and throughput. This paper demonstrates a two level load balancer approach by combining join idle queue and join shortest queue approach. Authors have used cloud analyst simulator to test proposed two level load balancer approach. The results are analyzed and compared with the existing algorithms and as observed, proposed work is one step ahead of existing techniques.
Abstract: The recent tendency of ”Internet of Things” (IoT) has
developed in the last years, causing the emergence of innovative
communication methods among multiple devices. The appearance of
Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) has allowed a push to IoT in relation
to smartphones. In this moment, a set of new applications related to
several topics like entertainment and advertisement has begun to be
developed but not much has been done till now to take advantage
of the potential that these technologies can offer on many business
areas and in everyday tasks. In the present work, the application of
BLE technology and smartphones is proposed on some business areas
related to the optimization of resource allocation in huge facilities
like airports. An indoor location system has been developed through
triangulation methods with the use of BLE beacons. The described
system can be used to locate all employees inside the building
in such a way that any task can be automatically assigned to a
group of employees. It should be noted that this system cannot
only be used to link needs with employees according to distances,
but it also takes into account other factors like occupation level or
category. In addition, it has been endowed with a security system
to manage business and personnel sensitive data. The efficiency of
communications is another essential characteristic that has been taken
into account in this work.
Abstract: Recent advances of Building Information Modeling (BIM) especially in the Middle East have increased remarkably. Dubai has been taking a lead on this by making it mandatory for BIM to be adopted for all projects that involve complex architecture designs. This is because BIM is a dynamic process that assists all stakeholders in monitoring the project status throughout different project phases with great transparency. It focuses on utilizing information technology to improve collaboration among project participants during the entire life cycle of the project from the initial design, to the supply chain, resource allocation, construction and all productivity requirements. In view of this trend, the paper examines the extent of applying BIM in the State of Kuwait, by exploring practitioners’ perspectives on BIM, especially their perspectives on main barriers and main advantages. To this end structured interviews were carried out based on questionnaires and with a range of different construction professionals. The results revealed that practitioners perceive improved communication and mitigated project risks by encouraged collaboration between project participants. However, it was also observed that the full implementation of BIM in the State of Kuwait requires concerted efforts to make clients demanding BIM, counteract resistance to change among construction professionals and offer more training for design team members. This paper forms part of an on-going research effort on BIM and its application in the State of Kuwait and it is on this basis that further research on the topic is proposed.
Abstract: Wireless Body Area Network (WBAN) is a short-range
wireless communication around human body for various applications
such as wearable devices, entertainment, military, and especially
medical devices. WBAN attracts the attention of continuous health
monitoring system including diagnostic procedure, early detection of
abnormal conditions, and prevention of emergency situations.
Compared to cellular network, WBAN system is more difficult to
control inter- and inner-cell interference due to the limited power,
limited calculation capability, mobility of patient, and
non-cooperation among WBANs.
In this paper, we compare the performance of resource allocation
scheme based on several Pseudo Orthogonal Codewords (POCs) to
mitigate inter-WBAN interference. Previously, the POCs are widely
exploited for a protocol sequence and optical orthogonal code. Each
POCs have different properties of auto- and cross-correlation and
spectral efficiency according to its construction of POCs. To identify
different WBANs, several different pseudo orthogonal patterns based
on POCs exploits for resource allocation of WBANs. By simulating
these pseudo orthogonal resource allocations of WBANs on
MATLAB, we obtain the performance of WBANs according to
different POCs and can analyze and evaluate the suitability of POCs
for the resource allocation in the WBANs system.
Abstract: A myriad of environmental issues face the Nigerian
industrial region, resulting from; oil and gas production, mining,
manufacturing and domestic wastes. Amidst these, much effort has
been directed by stakeholders in the Nigerian oil producing regions,
because of the impacts of the region on the wider Nigerian economy.
Although collaborative environmental management has been noted as
an effective approach in managing environmental issues, little
attention has been given to the roles and practices of stakeholders in
effecting a collaborative environmental management framework for
the Nigerian oil-producing region. This paper produces a framework
to expand and deepen knowledge relating to stakeholders aspects of
collaborative roles in managing environmental issues in the Nigeria
oil-producing region. The knowledge is derived from analysis of
stakeholders’ practices – studied through multiple case studies using
document analysis. Selected documents of key stakeholders –
Nigerian government agencies, multi-national oil companies and host
communities, were analyzed. Open and selective coding was
employed manually during document analysis of data collected from
the offices and websites of the stakeholders. The findings showed
that the stakeholders have a range of roles, practices, interests, drivers
and barriers regarding their collaborative roles in managing
environmental issues. While they have interests for efficient resource
use, compliance to standards, sharing of responsibilities, generating
of new solutions, and shared objectives; there is evidence of major
barriers and these include resource allocation, disjointed policy,
ineffective monitoring, diverse socio- economic interests, lack of
stakeholders’ commitment and limited knowledge sharing. However,
host communities hold deep concerns over the collaborative roles of
stakeholders for economic interests, particularly, where government
agencies and multi-national oil companies are involved. With these
barriers and concerns, a genuine stakeholders’ collaboration is found
to be limited, and as a result, optimal environmental management
practices and policies have not been successfully implemented in the
Nigeria oil-producing region. A framework is produced that describes
practices that characterize collaborative environmental management
might be employed to satisfy the stakeholders’ interests. The
framework recommends critical factors, based on the findings, which
may guide a collaborative environmental management in the oil
producing regions. The recommendations are designed to re-define
the practices of stakeholders in managing environmental issues in the
oil producing regions, not as something wholly new, but as an
approach essential for implementing a sustainable environmental
policy. This research outcome may clarify areas for future research as
well as to contribute to industry guidance in the area of collaborative
environmental management.
Abstract: This paper addresses the issue of resource allocation
in the emerging cognitive technology. Focusing the Quality of
Service (QoS) of Primary Users (PU), a novel method is proposed for
the resource allocation of Secondary Users (SU). In this paper, we
propose the unique Utility Function in the game theoretic model of
Cognitive Radio which can be maximized to increase the capacity of
the Cognitive Radio Network (CRN) and to minimize the
interference scenario. Utility function is formulated to cater the need
of PUs by observing Signal to Noise ratio. Existence of Nash
Equilibrium for the postulated game is established.
Abstract: This paper presents a state-of-the-art survey of the
operations research models developed for internal audit planning.
Two alternative approaches have been followed in the literature for
audit planning: (1) identifying the optimal audit frequency; and (2)
determining the optimal audit resource allocation. The first approach
identifies the elapsed time between two successive audits, which can
be presented as the optimal number of audits in a given planning
horizon, or the optimal number of transactions after which an audit
should be performed. It also includes the optimal audit schedule. The
second approach determines the optimal allocation of audit frequency
among all auditable units in the firm. In our review, we discuss both
the deterministic and probabilistic models developed for audit
planning. In addition, game theory models are reviewed to find the
optimal auditing strategy based on the interactions between the
auditors and the clients.
Abstract: Supply chains are the backbone of trade and
commerce. Their logistics use different transport corridors on regular
basis for operational purpose. The international supply chain
transport corridors include different infrastructure elements (e.g.
weighbridge, package handling equipments, border clearance
authorities, and so on). This paper presents the use of multi-agent
systems (MAS) to model and simulate some aspects of transportation
corridors, and in particular the area of weighbridge resource
optimization for operational profit. An underlying multi-agent model
provides a means of modeling the relationships among stakeholders
in order to enable coordination in a transport corridor environment.
Simulations of the costs of container unloading, reloading, and
waiting time for queuing up tracks have been carried out using data
sets. Results of the simulation provide the potential guidance in
making decisions about optimal service resource allocation in a trade
corridor.