Study on the Inventory Routing Problem of Refined Oil Distribution Based on Working Time Equilibrium

Taking the distribution route optimization of refined oil as background, this paper studies the inventory routing problem of refined oil distribution based on working time equilibrium. In consideration of the constraints of vehicle capacity, time window for unloading oil, service time and demand of each gas station, we take the working time equilibrium of each vehicle as goal and establish an integer programming model for the vehicle routing problem of refined oil distribution, the objective function of the model is to minimize the maximum working time of vehicles. To solve this model, a Lingo program was written and a heuristic algorithm was designed. We further use the random generation method to produce an example with 10 gas stations. The local optimal solution and approximate optimal solution are obtained by using Lingo software and heuristic algorithm respectively. By comparing the approximate optimal solution obtained by heuristic algorithm with the local optimal solution obtained by Lingo software, the feasibility of the model and the effectiveness of the heuristic algorithm are verified. The results of this paper provide a theoretical basis for the scheduling department to formulate the oil distribution plan.

Mathematical Model and Algorithm for Link Community Detection in Bipartite Networks

In the past ten years, community detection in complex networks has attracted more and more attention of researchers. Communities often correspond to functional subunits in the complex systems. In complex network, a node community can be defined as a subgraph induced by a set of nodes, while a link community is a subgraph induced by a set of links. Although most researches pay more attention to identifying node communities in both unipartite and bipartite networks, some researchers have investigated the link community detection problem in unipartite networks. But current research pays little attention to the link community detection problem in bipartite networks. In this paper, we investigate the link community detection problem in bipartite networks, and formulate it into an integer programming model. We proposed a genetic algorithm for partition the bipartite network into overlapping link communities. Simulations are done on both artificial networks and real-world networks. The results show that the bipartite network can be efficiently partitioned into overlapping link communities by the genetic algorithm.

Study on the Transportation Problem of Petrol Secondary Distribution with Considering Shortage Cost

Petrol is a kind of strategic natural resources. Provide legitimate transportation plans for the petrol secondary distribution are the key links to guarantee the petrol provision. If the total supply is insufficient, some petrol stations can’t avoid shortage because their demands could not be met. So the shortage cost will appear. This paper studies the problem of how to arrange the transportation plan in order to minimize the total cost when the total volume of supply is insufficient. Given the storage volume, the sales rate and the unit shortage cost of every petrol station, considering the full loading constraints of the compartment vehicle, a mixed integer programming model for minimizing the total cost of petrol secondary distribution is established. A Lingo program is compiled for solving the model. Finally, simulation on an example has been done and a reasonable transportation plan is obtained. The model and algorithm in this paper can provide a theoretical basis for dispatching department to make transportation plan.

Genetic Algorithm for Scattered Storage Assignment in Kiva Mobile Fulfillment System

Scattered storage means an item can be stored in multiple inventory bins. The scattered storage assignment problem based on association rules in Kiva mobile fulfillment system is investigated, which aims to decide the pods for each item to put on so as to minimize the number of pods to be moved when picking a batch of orders. This problem is formulated into an integer programming model. A genetic algorithm is developed to solve the large-sized problems. Computational experiments and comparison between the scattered storage strategy and random storage strategy are conducted to evaluate the performance of the model and algorithm.

Research on Model and Algorithm of Task Allocation and Path Planning for Multi-Robot

Based on the modeling of robot working environment, the shortest distance matrix between points is solved by Floyd algorithm. With the objective of minimizing the sum of the fixed cost of robot and the cost of robot operation, an integer programming model is established and a genetic algorithm for solving the model is designed. In order to make coordination to accomplish their respective tasks for each robot with high efficiency, this paper uses natural number encoding way. The objective function is based on penalty term constructed with the total number of collisions in the running path of robots. The fitness function is constructed by using the objective function with penalty term. Based on elitist retention strategy, a genetic algorithm with collision detection is designed. Using this algorithm for task allocation and path planning of multi-robot, it can effectively avoid or reduce the number of collisions in the process of multi-robot performing tasks. Finally, an example is used to validate the method.

Study on Location of Wuhan Steel Logistics Distribution Center

This paper studies the location of Wuhan steel logistics distribution center. First of all, according to Wuhan Iron and Steel Plant sales in Hunan Province and the relative position of the city, the transport costs are calculated from Wuhan Iron and Steel Plant to the demand point. We further analyze the necessity of establishing steel logistics distribution center, using the precise center of gravity to determine the actual location of the distribution center. After the establishment of distribution center, the total freight is reduced by 15.46 million yuan from Wuhan Iron and Steel Plant to each city in Hunan province via distribution center each year. The results of this paper can provide theoretical basis for the logistics node planning of related enterprises.

Pod Layout Problem in Kiva Mobile Fulfillment System Using Synchronized Zoning

This article studies the pod layout problem in the Kiva mobile fulfillment system which adopts the synchronized zoning strategy. An integer programming model for the pod layout problem is formulated under the premise of knowing the relationship of the pods and items. A three-stage algorithm is proposed based on the Spectral Clustering algorithm. Firstly, the pod similarity matrix and the Laplacian matrix are constructed according to the relationship of the pods and items. Secondly, the pods are clustered by the Spectral Clustering algorithm and assigned to each zone based on the cluster results. Finally, the exact locations of pods in each zone are determined by the historical retrieval frequency of items, using the real data of a large-scale Kiva mobile fulfillment system to simulate and calculate the order picking efficiency before and after the adjustment of the pod layout. The results showed that the pod layout using synchronized zoning strategy can effectively improve the picking efficiency.

Mathematical Model and Algorithm for the Task Allocation Problem of Robots in the Smart Warehouse

In the smart warehousing system adopting cargo-to-person mode, all the items are stored in the movable shelves. There are some warehouse robots transporting the shelves to the working platforms for completing order picking or items replenishment tasks. When the number of robots is insufficient, the task allocation problem of robots is an important issue in designing the warehousing system. In this paper, the task allocation problem of insufficient warehouse robots (TAPIR) is investigated. Firstly, the TAPIR problem is decomposed into three sub-problems: task grouping problem, task scheduling problem and task balanced allocation problem. Then three sub-problems are respectively formulated into integer programming models, and the corresponding heuristic algorithms for solving three sub-problems are designed. Finally, the simulation and analysis are done on the real data of online bookstore. Simulation results show that the mathematical models and algorithms of this paper can provide a theoretical basis for solving the TAPIR problem.

Measuring the Evolution and Influence in Society’s Information Networks

We develop a series of mathematical models to describe flow of information in different periods of time and the relationship between flow of information and inherent value. We optimize the diffusion mechanism of information based on model SEIR and improve the diffusion mechanism. In order to explore how inherent value of the information affects the flow of information, we simulate the model by using Matalab. We also use the data that the number of people is connected to Internet in Canada from the year 2009 to 2014 to analysis the model’s reliability. Then we use the model to predict the communication networks’ relationships and capacities around the year 2050. Last we do sensitivity analysis by making small changes in parameters of simulation experiment. The result of the experiment is helpful to model how public interest and opinion can be changed in complex network.

Predicting the Number of Beijing Science and Technology Personnel Based on GM(1,N) Model

In this paper, based on the Science and Technology Statistics in Beijing Statistical Yearbook, grey theory is used to study the relationship among S&T (Science and Technology) activities personnel, R&D (research and development) personnel FTE (Full Time Equivalent), intramural expenditure for R&D and Patent Application Amount. According to the grey correlation coefficient, screening of grey GM(1,N) prediction variables, the grey prediction model is established. Meanwhile, time series model and GM(1,1) model are established for patent applications and R&D personnel equivalent FTE. By comparing the simulating results with the real data, the absolute relative error of prediction models is less than 10%. The results of the prediction model are tested. In order to improve the prediction accuracy, the mean values of the predicted values of the two models are brought into the GM(1,N) model to predict the number of scientific and technical personnel in Beijing during 2015-2025. Forecast results show that the number of science and technology personnel in Beijing will grow with exponential growth trend in the next ten years, which has a certain reference value for predicting the science and technology activities and formulating the policy in Beijing.

The Optimal Investment Strategy Based on the DEA Model

The Goodgrant Foundation is a charitable organization that wants to improve education performance of undergraduates attending colleges and universities in the US. So the foundation plans to contribute a total of US 50 million for a suitable team of schools per year under the condition of avoiding repeated other large grant organizations’ investment. The DEA (Data Estimate Analysis) model is developed to determine an optimal investment strategy for the Goodgrant Foundation. In this paper, two questions were solved: how to choose a suitable team of schools and how to allocate the investment. Before the establishment of the model, the EXCEL software is used to preprocess data. Then the DEA model which includes two models in the paper is developed. For the first question, the CCR model is established to rank schools which used efficiency from DEAP 2.1. For the second question, the resource allocation model is established to allocate investment amount by weights of allocation from MATLAB software. Accordingly, the optimal investment strategy is received for the Goodgrant Foundation. Through the analysis above, 23 from 293 schools are selected to invest. Then the schools are ranked and the investment of US 50 million for 23 schools is allocated.

Exploit latent Dirichlet allocation for collaborative filtering

Previous work on the one-class collaborative filtering （OCCF） problem can be roughly categorized into pointwise methods, pairwise methods, and content-based methods. A fundamental assumption of these approaches is that all missing values in the user-item rating matrix are considered negative. However, this assumption may not hold because the missing values may contain negative and positive examples. For example, a user who fails to give positive feedback about an item may not necessarily dislike it; he may simply be unfamiliar with it. Meanwhile, content-based methods, e.g. collaborative topic regression （CTR）, usually require textual content information of the items, and thus their applicability is largely limited when the text information is not available. In this paper, we propose to apply the latent Dirichlet allocation （LDA） model on OCCF to address the above-mentioned problems. The basic idea of this approach is that items are regarded as words, users are considered as documents, and the user-item feedback matrix constitutes the corpus. Our model drops the strong assumption that missing values are all negative and only utilizes the observed data to predict a user＇s interest. Additionally, the proposed model does not need content information of the items. Experimental results indicate that the proposed method outperforms previous methods on various ranking-oriented evaluation metrics.We further combine this method with a matrix factorizationbased method to tackle the multi-class collaborative filtering （MCCF） problem, which also achieves better performance on predicting user ratings.