Resource-Constrained Project Scheduling


Book Description

This title presents a large variety of models and algorithms dedicated to the resource-constrained project scheduling problem (RCPSP), which aims at scheduling at minimal duration a set of activities subject to precedence constraints and limited resource availabilities. In the first part, the standard variant of RCPSP is presented and analyzed as a combinatorial optimization problem. Constraint programming and integer linear programming formulations are given. Relaxations based on these formulations and also on related scheduling problems are presented. Exact methods and heuristics are surveyed. Computational experiments, aiming at providing an empirical insight on the difficulty of the problem, are provided. The second part of the book focuses on several other variants of the RCPSP and on their solution methods. Each variant takes account of real-life characteristics which are not considered in the standard version, such as possible interruptions of activities, production and consumption of resources, cost-based approaches and uncertainty considerations. The last part presents industrial case studies where the RCPSP plays a central part. Applications are presented in various domains such as assembly shop and rolling ingots production scheduling, project management in information technology companies and instruction scheduling for VLIW processor architectures.




Advances in Neural Networks - ISNN 2009


Book Description

This book and its companion volumes, LNCS vols. 5551, 5552 and 5553, constitute the proceedings of the 6th International Symposium on Neural Networks (ISNN 2009), held during May 26–29, 2009 in Wuhan, China. Over the past few years, ISNN has matured into a well-established premier international symposium on neural n- works and related fields, with a successful sequence of ISNN symposia held in Dalian (2004), Chongqing (2005), Chengdu (2006), Nanjing (2007), and Beijing (2008). Following the tradition of the ISNN series, ISNN 2009 provided a high-level inter- tional forum for scientists, engineers, and educators to present state-of-the-art research in neural networks and related fields, and also to discuss with international colleagues on the major opportunities and challenges for future neural network research. Over the past decades, the neural network community has witnessed tremendous - forts and developments in all aspects of neural network research, including theoretical foundations, architectures and network organizations, modeling and simulation, - pirical study, as well as a wide range of applications across different domains. The recent developments of science and technology, including neuroscience, computer science, cognitive science, nano-technologies and engineering design, among others, have provided significant new understandings and technological solutions to move the neural network research toward the development of complex, large-scale, and n- worked brain-like intelligent systems. This long-term goal can only be achieved with the continuous efforts of the community to seriously investigate different issues of the neural networks and related fields.




Project Scheduling


Book Description

Project scheduling problems are, generally speaking, the problems of allocating scarce resources over time to perform a given set of activities. The resources are nothing other than the arbitrary means which activities complete for. Also the activities can have a variety of interpretations. Thus, project scheduling problems appear in a large spectrum of real-world situations, and, in consequence, they have been intensively studied for almost fourty years. Almost a decade has passed since the multi-author monograph: R. Slowinski, 1. W~glarz (eds. ), Advances in Project Scheduling, Elsevier, 1989, summarizing the state-of-the-art across project scheduling problems, was published. Since then, considerable progress has been made in all directions of modelling and finding solutions to these problems. Thus, the proposal by Professor Frederick S. Hillier to edit a handbook which reports on the recent advances in the field came at an exceptionally good time and motivated me to accept the challenge. Fortunately, almost all leading experts in the field have accepted my invitation and presented their completely new advances often combined with expository surveys. Thanks to them, the handbook stands a good chance of becoming a key reference point on the current state-of-the-art in project scheduling, as well as on new directions in the area. The contents are divided into four parts. The first one, dealing with classical models -exact algorithms, is preceded by a proposition of the classification scheme for scheduling problems.




Population-Based Approaches to the Resource-Constrained and Discrete-Continuous Scheduling


Book Description

This book addresses two of the most difficult and computationally intractable classes of problems: discrete resource constrained scheduling, and discrete-continuous scheduling. The first part of the book discusses problems belonging to the first class, while the second part deals with problems belonging to the second class. Both parts together offer valuable insights into the possibility of implementing modern techniques and tools with a view to obtaining high-quality solutions to practical and, at the same time, computationally difficult problems. It offers a valuable source of information for practitioners dealing with the real-world scheduling problems in industry, management and administration. The authors have been working on the respective problems for the last decade, gaining scientific recognition through publications and active participation in the international scientific conferences, and their results are obtained using population-based methods. Dr E. Ratajczk-Ropel explores multiple agent and A-Team concepts, while Dr A. Skakovski focuses on evolutionary algorithms with a particular focus on the population learning paradigm.




Discrete-Event Simulation


Book Description

"This is an excellent and well-written text on discrete event simulation with a focus on applications in Operations Research. There is substantial attention to programming, output analysis, pseudo-random number generation and modelling and these sections are quite thorough. Methods are provided for generating pseudo-random numbers (including combining such streams) and for generating random numbers from most standard statistical distributions." --ISI Short Book Reviews, 22:2, August 2002










Handbook of Industrial and Systems Engineering


Book Description

Responding to the demand by researchers and practitioners for a comprehensive reference, Handbook of Industrial and Systems Engineering offers full and easy access to a wide range of industrial and systems engineering tools and techniques in a concise format. Providing state of the art coverage from more than 40 contributing authors, many of whom a




оrgаnіzаtіоnаl mаturіty іn prоjеct mаnаgеmеnt


Book Description

Thіs dіssеrtаtіоn rеvіеws thе knоwlеdgе mаnаgеmеnt‗s rоlе іn оrgаnіzаtіоnаl mаturіty іn prоjеct mаnаgеmеnt. Іt drаws а dіrеct lіnkеd bеtwееn оrgаnіzаtіоnаl mаturіty knоwlеdgе chаnnеls bоth іnfоrmаl аnd thеn fоrmаl аnd оrgаnіzаtіоnаl prоjеct mаnаgеmеnt mаturіty. Thе study usеs а mіxеd mеthоd аpprоаch thrоugh оnlіnе аnd tеlеphоnе survеys thаt drаws spеcіfіc cоnclusіоns thаt оrgаnіzаtіоns usе fіrst іnfоrmаl thеn fоrmаl knоwlеdgе chаnnеls аs thеy bеcоmе mаturе іn thе PM dоmаіn. Іt suggеsts, fоr prаctіcаl purpоsеs, thаt оrgаnіzаtіоns shоuld usе thе Prоjеct Mаnаgеmеnt Іnstіtutе‗s Оrgаnіzаtіоnаl Prоjеct Mаnаgеmеnt Mаturіty Mоdеl tо mеаsurе thеіr mаturіty аnd еffеctіvеnеss wіthіn thе dоmаіn, аnd fоr thеоrеtіcаl purpоsеs thаt thе PMІ shоuld updаtе thе mоdеl tо іncludе thеsе іnfоrmаl аnd fоrmаl knоwlеdgе shаrіng аnd trаnsfеr mеchаnіsms.




Informatics Engineering and Information Science, Part II


Book Description

This 4-Volume-Set, CCIS 0251 - CCIS 0254, constitutes the refereed proceedings of the International Conference on Informatics Engineering and Information Science, ICIEIS 2011, held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in November 2011. The 210 revised full papers presented together with invited papers in the 4 volumes were carefully reviewed and selected from numerous submissions. The papers are organized in topical sections on e-learning, information security, software engineering, image processing, algorithms, artificial intelligence and soft computing, e-commerce, data mining, neural networks, social networks, grid computing, biometric technologies, networks, distributed and parallel computing, wireless networks, information and data management, web applications and software systems, multimedia, ad hoc networks, mobile computing, as well as miscellaneous topics in digital information and communications.