Combinatorial Models for Scheduling Sports Tournaments


Book Description

This book introduces solutions for sports scheduling problems in a variety of settings. In particular the book covers timetabling, the traveling tournament problem, carryover minimization, breaks minimization, tournament design, tournament planning, and referee assignment. A rich selection of applications to sports such as football, baseball, basketball, cricket or hockey are employed to illustrate the methods and techniques. In a step-by-step tutorial format the book describes the use of graph theory concepts, local search operators and integer programming in the context of sports scheduling. The methods presented in this book are essential to sports scheduling in all its dimensions, from tournaments that are followed by millions of people across the world, with broadcast rights that amount to hundreds of millions of dollars in some competitions, to amateur leagues that require coordination and logistical efforts due to the large number of tournaments and competitors.




Handbook of Scheduling


Book Description

Researchers in management, industrial engineering, operations, and computer science have intensely studied scheduling for more than 50 years, resulting in an astounding body of knowledge in this field. Handbook of Scheduling: Algorithms, Models, and Performance Analysis, the first handbook on scheduling, provides full coverage of the most recent and advanced topics on the subject. It assembles researchers from all relevant disciplines in order to facilitate cross-fertilization and create new scheduling insights. The book comprises six major parts, each of which breaks down into smaller chapters: · Part I introduces materials and notation, with tutorials on complexity theory and algorithms for the minimization of makespan, total completion time, dual objectives, maximum lateness, the number of late jobs, and total tardiness. · Part II is devoted to classical scheduling problems. · Part III explores scheduling models that originate in computer science, operations research, and management science. · Part IV examines scheduling problems that arise in real-time systems, focusing on meeting hard deadline constraints while maximizing machine utilization. · Part V discusses stochastic scheduling and queueing networks, highlighting jobs that are not deterministic. · Part VI covers applications, discussing scheduling problems in airline, process, and transportation industries, as well as in hospitals and educational institutions.




Sports Leagues Scheduling


Book Description

In the context of sports leagues scheduling (SLS) several groups' interests must be taken into account. This book treats requirements for sport leagues schedules to be realizable from an operational and a security point of view, attractive for spectators and TV channels, and fair for the competing teams. Formal problem definitions as well as integer programming models are presented and analyzed.




Hybrid Optimization


Book Description

Hybrid Optimization focuses on the application of artificial intelligence and operations research techniques to constraint programming for solving combinatorial optimization problems. This book covers the most relevant topics investigated in the last ten years by leading experts in the field, and speculates about future directions for research. This book includes contributions by experts from different but related areas of research including constraint programming, decision theory, operations research, SAT, artificial intelligence, as well as others. These diverse perspectives are actively combined and contrasted in order to evaluate their relative advantages. This volume presents techniques for hybrid modeling, integrated solving strategies including global constraints, decomposition techniques, use of relaxations, and search strategies including tree search local search and metaheuristics. Various applications of the techniques presented as well as supplementary computational tools are also discussed.




Practice and Theory of Automated Timetabling IV


Book Description

Thisvolumecontainsaselectionofpapersfromthe4thInternationalConference on the Practice and Theory of Automated Timetabling (PATAT 2002) held in Gent, August 21–23, 2002. Since the ?rst conference in Edinburgh in 1995, the range of timetabling applications at the conferences has become broader and more diverse. In the s- ected papers volume from the 1995 conference, there were just two contributions (out of 22) which did not speci?cally address school and university timetabling. In the selected papers volume from the 1997 conference in Toronto, the number of papers which tackled non-educational problems increased. Two of the papers addressed more than one timetabling application. In both of these papers, educational applications were considered in addition to other applications. A further three papers were concerned with non-educational applications. The conference steering and programme committees have worked hard to attract a wide range of timetabling applications. In the conference held in Konstanz in 2000, the diversi?cation of timetabling problems increased signi?cantly. Of the 21 selected papers in the postconference volume, just 13 were speci?cally concerned with educational timetabling. In the previous volumes, the papers had been sectioned according to solution technique. In the Konstanz volume the papers were classi?ed according to application domains. One section of the volume was entitled “Employee Timetabling,” while sports timetabling, air?eet scheduling, and general software architectures for timetabling were also represented. In the present volume, more than one-third of the 21 papers discuss problems in application areas other than academic and educational ones. Sports timetabling and hospital timetabling are particularly well represented.




Handbook of Discrete and Combinatorial Mathematics


Book Description

The importance of discrete and combinatorial mathematics continues to increase as the range of applications to computer science, electrical engineering, and the biological sciences grows dramatically. Providing a ready reference for practitioners in the field, the Handbook of Discrete and Combinatorial Mathematics, Second Edition presents additional material on Google's matrix, random graphs, geometric graphs, computational topology, and other key topics. New chapters highlight essential background information on bioinformatics and computational geometry. Each chapter includes a glossary, definitions, facts, examples, algorithms, major applications, and references.




Integration of AI and OR Techniques in Constraint Programming for Combinatorial Optimization Problems


Book Description

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the Third International Conference on Integration of AI and OR Techniques in Constraint Programming for Combinatorial Optimization Problems, CPAIOR 2006, held in Cork, Ireland in May/June 2006. The 20 revised full papers presented together with 3 invited talks were carefully reviewed and selected from 67 submissions. The papers address methodological and foundational issues from AI, OR, and algorithmics and present applications to the solution of combinatorial optimization problems in various fields via constraint programming.




Introduction to Combinatorial Designs


Book Description

Combinatorial theory is one of the fastest growing areas of modern mathematics. Focusing on a major part of this subject, Introduction to Combinatorial Designs, Second Edition provides a solid foundation in the classical areas of design theory as well as in more contemporary designs based on applications in a variety of fields. After an o




Integration of AI and OR Techniques in Constraint Programming


Book Description

This book constitutes the proceedings of the International Conference on the Integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Operations Research (OR) Techniques in Constraint Programming, CPAIOR 2014, held in Cork, Ireland, in May 2014. The 33 papers presented in this volume were carefully reviewed and selected from 70 submissions. The papers focus on constraint programming and global constraints; scheduling modelling; encodings and SAT logistics; MIP; CSP and complexity; parallelism and search; and data mining and machine learning.




Decision Support Systems for Business Intelligence


Book Description

Praise for the First Edition "This is the most usable decision support systems text. [i]t is far better than any other text in the field" —Computing Reviews Computer-based systems known as decision support systems (DSS) play a vital role in helping professionals across various fields of practice understand what information is needed, when it is needed, and in what form in order to make smart and valuable business decisions. Providing a unique combination of theory, applications, and technology, Decision Support Systems for Business Intelligence, Second Edition supplies readers with the hands-on approach that is needed to understand the implications of theory to DSS design as well as the skills needed to construct a DSS. This new edition reflects numerous advances in the field as well as the latest related technological developments. By addressing all topics on three levels—general theory, implications for DSS design, and code development—the author presents an integrated analysis of what every DSS designer needs to know. This Second Edition features: Expanded coverage of data mining with new examples Newly added discussion of business intelligence and transnational corporations Discussion of the increased capabilities of databases and the significant growth of user interfaces and models Emphasis on analytics to encourage DSS builders to utilize sufficient modeling support in their systems A thoroughly updated section on data warehousing including architecture, data adjustment, and data scrubbing Explanations and implications of DSS differences across cultures and the challenges associated with transnational systems Each chapter discusses various aspects of DSS that exist in real-world applications, and one main example of a DSS to facilitate car purchases is used throughout the entire book. Screenshots from JavaScript® and Adobe® ColdFusion are presented to demonstrate the use of popular software packages that carry out the discussed techniques, and a related Web site houses all of the book's figures along with demo versions of decision support packages, additional examples, and links to developments in the field. Decision Support Systems for Business Intelligence, Second Edition is an excellent book for courses on information systems, decision support systems, and data mining at the advanced undergraduate and graduate levels. It also serves as a practical reference for professionals working in the fields of business, statistics, engineering, and computer technology.