Exact Solutions to the Symmetric and Asymmetric Vehicle Routing Problem with Simultaneous Delivery and Pick-Up

In reverse logistics networks, products (e.g., bottles or containers) have to be transported from a depot to customer locations and, after use, from customer locations back to the depot. In order to operate economically beneficial, companies prefer a simultaneous delivery and pick-up service. The resulting Vehicle Routing Problem with Simultaneous Delivery and Pick-up (VRPSDP) is an operational problem, which has to be solved daily by many companies. We present two mixed-integer linear model formulations for the VRPSDP, namely a vehicle-flow and a commodity-flow model. In order to strengthen the models, domain-reducing preprocessing techniques, and effective cutting planes are outlined. Symmetric benchmark instances known from the literature as well as new asymmetric instances derived from real-world problems are solved to optimality using CPLEX 12.1.

Entwicklung eines Dispositionsleitstandes zur Bestimmung optimaler Torbelegungen in Stückgutspeditionsanlagen

Im operativen Betrieb einer Stückgutspeditionsanlage entscheidet der Betriebslenker bzw. der Disponent in einem ersten Schritt darüber, an welche Tore die Fahrzeuge zur Be- und Entladung andocken sollen. Darüber hinaus muss er für jede Tour ein Zeitfenster ausweisen innerhalb dessen sie das jeweilige Tor belegt. Durch die örtliche und zeitliche Fahrzeug-Tor-Zuordnung wird der für den innerbetrieblichen Umschlagprozess erforderliche Ressourcenaufwand in Form von zu fahrenden Wegstrecken oder aber Gabelstaplerstunden bestimmt. Ein Ziel der Planungsaufgabe ist somit, die Zuordnung der Fahrzeuge an die Tore so vorzunehmen, dass dabei minimale innerbetriebliche Wegstrecken entstehen. Dies führt zu einer minimalen Anzahl an benötigten Umschlagmittelressourcen. Darüber hinaus kann es aber auch zweckmäßig sein, die Fahrzeuge möglichst früh an die Tore anzudocken. Jede Tour verfügt über einen individuellen Fahrplan, der Auskunft über den Ankunftszeitpunkt sowie den Abfahrtszeitpunkt der jeweiligen Tour von der Anlage gibt. Nur innerhalb dieses Zeitfensters darf der Disponent die Tour einem der Tore zuweisen. Geschieht die Zuweisung nicht sofort nach Ankunft in der Anlage, so muss das Fahrzeug auf einer Parkfläche warten. Eine Minimierung der Wartezeiten ist wünschenswert, damit das Gelände der Anlage möglichst nicht durch zuviele Fahrzeuge gleichzeitig belastet wird. Es kann vor allem aber auch im Hinblick auf das Reservieren der Tore für zeitkritische Touren sinnvoll sein, Fahrzeuge möglichst früh abzufertigen. Am Lehrstuhl Verkehrssysteme und -logistik (VSL) der Universität Dortmund wurde die Entscheidungssituation im Rahmen eines Forschungsprojekts bei der Stiftung Industrieforschung in Anlehnung an ein zeitdiskretes Mehrgüterflussproblem mit unsplittable flow Bedingungen modelliert. Die beiden Zielsetzungen wurden dabei in einer eindimensionalen Zielfunktion integriert. Das resultierende Mixed Integer Linear Programm (MILP) wurde programmiert und für mittlere Szenarien durch Eingabe in den Optimization Solver CPlex mit dem dort implementierten exakten Branch-and-Cut Verfahren gelöst. Parallel wurde im Rahmen einer Kooperation zwischen dem Lehrstuhl VSL und dem Unternehmen hafa Docking Systems, einem der weltweit führenden Tor und Rampenhersteller, für die gleiche Planungsaufgabe ein heuristisches Scheduling Verfahren sowie ein Dispositionsleitstand namens LoadDock Navigation entwickelt. Der Dispositionsleitstand dient der optimalen Steuerung der Torbelegungen in logistischen Anlagen. In dem Leitstand wird planerische Intelligenz in Form des heuristischen Schedulingverfahrens, technische Neuerungen in der Rampentechnik in Form von Sensoren und das Expertenwissen des Disponenten in einem Tool verbunden. Das mathematische Modell sowie der Prototyp mit der integrierten Heuristik werden im Rahmen dieses Artikels vorgestellt.

The Effects of Living in Segregated vs. Mixed Areas in Northern Ireland: A Simultaneous Analysis of Contact and Threat Effects in the Context of Micro-Level Neighbourhoods

This study examines the consequences of living in segregated and mixed neighbourhoods on ingroup bias and offensive action tendencies, taking into consideration the role of intergroup experiences and perceived threat. Using adult data from a cross-sectional survey in Belfast, Northern Ireland, we tested a model that examined the relationship between living in segregated (N = 396) and mixed (N = 562) neighbourhoods and positive contact, exposure to violence, perceived threat and outgroup orientations. Our results show that living in mixed neighbourhoods was associated with lower ingroup bias and reduced offensive action tendencies. These effects were partially mediated by positive contact. However, our analysis also shows that respondents living in mixed neighbourhoods report higher exposure to political violence and higher perceived threat to physical safety. These findings demonstrate the importance of examining both social experience and threat perceptions when testing the relationship between social environment and prejudice.

Increasing Realism and Supporting Content Planning for Dynamic Scenes in a Mixed Reality System incorporating a Time-of-Flight Camera

For broadcasting purposes MIXED REALITY, the combination of real and virtual scene content, has become ubiquitous nowadays. Mixed Reality recording still requires expensive studio setups and is often limited to simple color keying. We present a system for Mixed Reality applications which uses depth keying and provides threedimensional mixing of real and artificial content. It features enhanced realism through automatic shadow computation which we consider a core issue to obtain realism and a convincing visual perception, besides the correct alignment of the two modalities and correct occlusion handling. Furthermore we present a possibility to support placement of virtual content in the scene. Core feature of our system is the incorporation of a TIME-OF-FLIGHT (TOF)-camera device. This device delivers real-time depth images of the environment at a reasonable resolution and quality. This camera is used to build a static environment model and it also allows correct handling of mutual occlusions between real and virtual content, shadow computation and enhanced content planning. The presented system is inexpensive, compact, mobile, flexible and provides convenient calibration procedures. Chroma-keying is replaced by depth-keying which is efficiently performed on the GRAPHICS PROCESSING UNIT (GPU) by the usage of an environment model and the current ToF-camera image. Automatic extraction and tracking of dynamic scene content is herewith performed and this information is used for planning and alignment of virtual content. An additional sustainable feature is that depth maps of the mixed content are available in real-time, which makes the approach suitable for future 3DTV productions. The presented paper gives an overview of the whole system approach including camera calibration, environment model generation, real-time keying and mixing of virtual and real content, shadowing for virtual content and dynamic object tracking for content planning.

The MIRELA framework: modeling and analyzing mixed reality applications using timed automata

Mixed Reality (MR) aims to link virtual entities with the real world and has many applications such as military and medical domains [JBL+00, NFB07]. In many MR systems and more precisely in augmented scenes, one needs the application to render the virtual part accurately at the right time. To achieve this, such systems acquire data related to the real world from a set of sensors before rendering virtual entities. A suitable system architecture should minimize the delays to keep the overall system delay (also called end-to-end latency) within the requirements for real-time performance. In this context, we propose a compositional modeling framework for MR software architectures in order to specify, simulate and validate formally the time constraints of such systems. Our approach is first based on a functional decomposition of such systems into generic components. The obtained elements as well as their typical interactions give rise to generic representations in terms of timed automata. A whole system is then obtained as a composition of such defined components. To write specifications, a textual language named MIRELA (MIxed REality LAnguage) is proposed along with the corresponding compilation tools. The generated output contains timed automata in UPPAAL format for simulation and verification of time constraints. These automata may also be used to generate source code skeletons for an implementation on a MR platform. The approach is illustrated first on a small example. A realistic case study is also developed. It is modeled by several timed automata synchronizing through channels and including a large number of time constraints. Both systems have been simulated in UPPAAL and checked against the required behavioral properties.