scholarly journals Integration of Mixed-Integer Nonlinear Program and Project Management Tool to Support Sustainable Cost-Optimal Construction Scheduling

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (21) ◽  
pp. 12173
Author(s):  
Borna Dasović ◽  
Uroš Klanšek
Keyword(s):  
Project Management ◽  
Optimal Schedule ◽  
Indirect Costs ◽  
Management Tool ◽  
Mixed Integer ◽  
Task Completion ◽  
Nonlinear Program ◽  
Project Schedule ◽  
Construction Scheduling ◽  
Optimal Construction

This paper presents the integration of mixed-integer nonlinear program (MINLP) and project management tool (PMT) to support sustainable cost-optimal construction scheduling. An integrated structure of a high-level system for exact optimization and PMT was created. To ensure data compatibility between the optimization system and PMT and to automate the process of obtaining a cost-optimal schedule, a data transformation tool (DTT) was developed within a spreadsheet application. The suggested system can determine: (i) an optimal project schedule with associated network diagram and Gantt chart in continuous or discrete time units; (ii) optimal critical and non-critical activities, including their early start, late start, early finish, late finish along with total and free slack times; and (iii) minimum total project cost along with the allocation of direct and indirect costs. The system provides functionalities such as: (i) MINLP can be updated, and schedules can be re-optimized; (ii) the optimal schedule can be saved as a baseline to track changes; (iii) different optimization algorithms can be engaged whereby switching between them does not require model changes; (iv) PMT can be used to track task completion in the optimized schedule; (v) calendar settings can be changed; and (vi) visual reports can be generated to support efficient project management. Results of cost-optimal project scheduling are given in a conventional PMT environment, which raises the possibility that the proposed system will be more widely used in practice. Integration of MINLP and PMT allows each software to be used for what it was initially designed. Their combination leads to additional information and features of optimized construction schedules that would be significantly more difficult to achieve if used separately. Application examples are given in the paper to show the advantages of the proposed approach.

scholarly journals A Practical Experience on the Amazon Alexa Integration in Smart Offices

Sensors ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 734
Author(s):  
Răzvan Bogdan ◽  
Alin Tatu ◽  
Mihaela Marcella Crisan-Vida ◽  
Mircea Popa ◽  
Lăcrămioara Stoicu-Tivadar
Keyword(s):  
Project Management ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Practical Experience ◽  
Working Environment ◽  
Management Tool ◽  
Task Completion ◽  
Test Cases ◽  
Business World ◽  
Office Environment ◽  
The Voice

Smart offices are dynamically evolving spaces meant to enhance employees’ efficiency, but also to create a healthy and proactive working environment. In a competitive business world, the challenge of providing a balance between the efficiency and wellbeing of employees may be supported with new technologies. This paper presents the work undertaken to build the architecture needed to integrate voice assistants into smart offices in order to support employees in their daily activities, like ambient control, attendance system and reporting, but also interacting with project management services used for planning, issue tracking, and reporting. Our research tries to understand what are the most accepted tasks to be performed with the help of voice assistants in a smart office environment, by analyzing the system based on task completion and sentiment analysis. For the experimental setup, different test cases were developed in order to interact with the office environment formed by specific devices, as well as with the project management tool tasks. The obtained results demonstrated that the interaction with the voice assistant is reasonable, especially for easy and moderate utterances.

scholarly journals Optimal Policies for a Finite-Horizon Production Inventory Model

2012 ◽  
Vol 2012 ◽  
pp. 1-16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lakdere Benkherouf ◽  
Dalal Boushehri
Keyword(s):  
Simple Procedure ◽  
Optimal Schedule ◽  
Planning Horizon ◽  
Inventory Model ◽  
Mixed Integer ◽  
Nonlinear Program ◽  
Integer Variable ◽  
Optimal Production ◽  
Production Inventory ◽  
Varying Demand

This paper is concerned with the problem of finding the optimal production schedule for an inventory model with time-varying demand and deteriorating items over a finite planning horizon. This problem is formulated as a mixed-integer nonlinear program with one integer variable. The optimal schedule is shown to exist uniquely under some technical conditions. It is also shown that the objective function of the nonlinear obtained from fixing the integrality constraint is convex as a function of the integer variable. This in turn leads to a simple procedure for finding the optimal production plan.

Transit Planning Optimization Under Ride-Hailing Competition and Traffic Congestion

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Keji Wei ◽  
Vikrant Vaze ◽  
Alexandre Jacquillat
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Traffic Congestion ◽  
Service Providers ◽  
Public Transit ◽  
Mixed Integer ◽  
Nonlinear Program ◽  
Transit Planning ◽  
Planning Optimization ◽  
Transit Ridership ◽  
Transit Agencies

With the soaring popularity of ride-hailing, the interdependence between transit ridership, ride-hailing ridership, and urban congestion motivates the following question: can public transit and ride-hailing coexist and thrive in a way that enhances the urban transportation ecosystem as a whole? To answer this question, we develop a mathematical and computational framework that optimizes transit schedules while explicitly accounting for their impacts on road congestion and passengers’ mode choice between transit and ride-hailing. The problem is formulated as a mixed integer nonlinear program and solved using a bilevel decomposition algorithm. Based on computational case study experiments in New York City, our optimized transit schedules consistently lead to 0.4%–3% system-wide cost reduction. This amounts to rush-hour savings of millions of dollars per day while simultaneously reducing the costs to passengers and transportation service providers. These benefits are driven by a better alignment of available transportation options with passengers’ preferences—by redistributing public transit resources to where they provide the strongest societal benefits. These results are robust to underlying assumptions about passenger demand, transit level of service, the dynamics of ride-hailing operations, and transit fare structures. Ultimately, by explicitly accounting for ride-hailing competition, passenger preferences, and traffic congestion, transit agencies can develop schedules that lower costs for passengers, operators, and the system as a whole: a rare win–win–win outcome.

scholarly journals Influence of Project Approach Implementation on the Occurrence and Perception of Crises in Agricultural Enterprises in the Czech Republic

2017 ◽  
Vol 65 (3) ◽  
pp. 1039-1044
Author(s):  
Petr Řehoř ◽  
Jaroslav Vrchota
Keyword(s):  
Czech Republic ◽  
Project Management ◽  
Corporate Strategy ◽  
Average Rate ◽  
Management Tool ◽  
Primary Data ◽  
Project Approach ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
Agricultural Enterprises ◽  
Questionnaire Method

Project management is one of the most important management tool in many enterprises. Agricultural enterprises with project management are able to foresee their future. Their managers are able to identify upcoming problems earlier and get ready to them in advance. Crisis is seen as a phenomenon more common than rare and it is therefore essential that the enterprises respond by reflecting the aspects and impacts of the crisis in their corporate strategy, and the managers learn to manage crises effectively. The paper deals with a single research of the management of small and medium‑sized enterprises in the Czech Republic. It is focused on the use of projects in farm management and evaluation of the significance of the crisis managers of these enterprises. Only about 15 % of enterprises manage its organization by projects. The crisis occurs in all organizations, in varying degrees and intensity. Most often agricultural enterprises are faced with a crisis caused by the change in legislation and bureaucracy. The importance of a crisis was evaluated by the managers with an average rate of 3.6 (where 5 was the highest). The questionnaire method was used for primary data collection. The limitation of the paper covers areas such the sample (34 enterprises), methodology and data.

Microgrid Operation Optimization Considering Storage Devices, Electricity Transactions and Reserve

2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Wen Fan ◽  
Yuan Liao
Keyword(s):  
Electrical Power ◽  
Operating Cost ◽  
Optimal Schedule ◽  
Mixed Integer ◽  
Electrical Power System ◽  
Storage Devices ◽  
Optimal Dispatch ◽  
Integer Linear Programming Problem ◽  
Study Results ◽  
Solar Generation

Abstract This paper presents a new method for optimizing the operation of a microgrid, which minimizes the operating cost or maximizes solar generation of the microgrid. The microgrid consists of loads, storage devices, and distributed generations. The generation cost, capacity, ramp up and down rate, and minimum up and down time for each generator are considered. Characteristics of storage devices including charging and discharging rate, capacity, and charging and discharging efficiency are modelled. The microgrid can sell or buy electricity from the area electrical power system. A novel method for modeling system reserve requirement with storage devices is presented. The optimal schedule of generation and storage resources in the microgrid including on or off status of generators and optimal dispatch, and charging and discharging status and rate of storage devices is determined. The paper provides versatile strategies through different optimization formulations such as optimal storage sizing for operators to reduce solar generation curtailment due to duck curve phenomena. In this research, without losing generality, the simulation horizon is 24 hours day ahead, and simulation resolution is one hour. The optimization problem is formulated as a mixed integer linear programming problem. Case study results are reported.

Flexible Synthesis of Heat Exchanger Network with Particle Swarm Optimization Algorithm

2011 ◽  
Vol 214 ◽  
pp. 569-572 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xio Ling Zhang ◽  
Hong Chao Yin ◽  
Zhao Yi Huo
Keyword(s):  
Particle Swarm Optimization ◽  
Heat Exchanger ◽  
Operating Cost ◽  
Particle Swarm ◽  
Optimal Solution ◽  
Mixed Integer ◽  
Optimization Approach ◽  
Nonlinear Program ◽  
Heat Exchanger Network ◽  
Swarm Optimization

In this paper, the flexible synthesis problem for heat exchanger network(HEN) is formulated to a mixed integer nonlinear program(MINLP) model. The objection function of the model consists of two components: First, a candidate HEN structure has to satisfy flexible criterion during input span. Second, a minimized annual cost consisting of investment cost and operating cost is investigated. The solution strategy based on particle swarm optimization(PSO) algorithm is proposed to obtain the optimal solution of the presented model. Finally, a four streams example is investigated to show the advantage of the whole proposed optimization approach.

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