Feasibility, normative heuristics and the proper place of historical responsibility – a reply to Ohndorf et al.

In this comment, we pick up three points raised by Ohndorf et al. (2015) in their reply to our ethical assessment of the German Advisory Council’s Budget Approach (WBGUBA). First, we discuss and clarify the relationship between ethics and political feasibility, highlighting that the way Ohndorf et el. use feasibility creates an unwarranted status quo bias. Second, we explain the proper place historical responsibility should have within the WBGUBA, stressing the fact that the reasons why we choose one policy proposal over another matter. Third, we analyze the limited extent to which a normative heuristic should motivate an ethically ambitious policy proposal like the WBGUBA.

Exploring problem-framing through behavioural heuristics

Design for behaviour change aims to influence user behaviour, through design, for social or environmental benefit. Understanding and modelling human behaviour has thus come within the scope of designers’work, as in interaction design, service design and user experience design more generally. Diverse approaches to how to model users when seeking to influence behaviour can result in many possible strategies, but a major challenge for the field is matching appropriate design strategies to particular behaviours (Zachrisson & Boks, 2012). In this paper, we introduce and explore behavioural heuristics as a way of framing problem-solution pairs (Dorst & Cross, 2001) in terms of simple rules. These act as a ‘common language’ between insights from user research and design principles and techniques, and draw on ideas from human factors, behavioural economics, and decision research. We introduce the process via a case study on interaction with office heating systems, based on interviews with 16 people. This is followed by worked examples in the ‘other direction’, based on a workshop held at the Interaction ’12 conference, extracting heuristics from existing systems designed to influence user behaviour, to illustrate both ends of a possible design process using heuristics.

Heuristics for the two-stage job shop scheduling problem with a bottleneck machine

Abstract not available

Heuristics for short route job shop scheduling problems

Abstract not available

Hybrid Graph Heuristics within a Hyper-heuristic Approach to Exam Timetabling Problems

This paper is concerned with the hybridization of two graph coloring heuristics (Saturation Degree and Largest Degree), and their application within a hyperheuristic for exam timetabling problems. Hyper-heuristics can be seen as algorithms which intelligently select appropriate algorithms/heuristics for solving a problem. We developed a Tabu Search based hyper-heuristic to search for heuristic lists (of graph heuristics) for solving problems and investigated the heuristic lists found by employing knowledge discovery techniques. Two hybrid approaches (involving Saturation Degree and Largest Degree) including one which employs Case Based Reasoning are presented and discussed. Both the Tabu Search based hyper-heuristic and the hybrid approaches are tested on random and real-world exam timetabling problems. Experimental results are comparable with the best state-of-the-art approaches (as measured against established benchmark problems). The results also demonstrate an increased level of generality in our approach.

Vehicle Routing Problems that Minimize the Completion Time: Heuristics, Worst-Case Analyses, and Computational Results

In the standard Vehicle Routing Problem (VRP), we route a fleet of vehicles to deliver the demands of all customers such that the total distance traveled by the fleet is minimized. In this dissertation, we study variants of the VRP that minimize the completion time, i.e., we minimize the distance of the longest route. We call it the min-max objective function. In applications such as disaster relief efforts and military operations, the objective is often to finish the delivery or the task as soon as possible, not to plan routes with the minimum total distance. Even in commercial package delivery nowadays, companies are investing in new technologies to speed up delivery instead of focusing merely on the min-sum objective. In this dissertation, we compare the min-max and the standard (min-sum) objective functions in a worst-case analysis to show that the optimal solution with respect to one objective function can be very poor with respect to the other. The results motivate the design of algorithms specifically for the min-max objective. We study variants of min-max VRPs including one problem from the literature (the min-max Multi-Depot VRP) and two new problems (the min-max Split Delivery Multi-Depot VRP with Minimum Service Requirement and the min-max Close-Enough VRP). We develop heuristics to solve these three problems. We compare the results produced by our heuristics to the best-known solutions in the literature and find that our algorithms are effective. In the case where benchmark instances are not available, we generate instances whose near-optimal solutions can be estimated based on geometry. We formulate the Vehicle Routing Problem with Drones and carry out a theoretical analysis to show the maximum benefit from using drones in addition to trucks to reduce delivery time. The speed-up ratio depends on the number of drones loaded onto one truck and the speed of the drone relative to the speed of the truck.

An evolutionary squeaky wheel optimisation approach to personnel scheduling

The quest for robust heuristics that are able to solve more than one problem is ongoing. In this paper, we present, discuss and analyse a technique called Evolutionary Squeaky Wheel Optimisation and apply it to two different personnel scheduling problems. Evolutionary Squeaky Wheel Optimisation improves the original Squeaky Wheel Optimisation’s effectiveness and execution speed by incorporating two additional steps (Selection and Mutation) for added evolution. In the Evolutionary Squeaky Wheel Optimisation, a cycle of Analysis-Selection-Mutation-Prioritization-Construction continues until stopping conditions are reached. The aim of the Analysis step is to identify below average solution components by calculating a fitness value for all components. The Selection step then chooses amongst these underperformers and discards some probabilistically based on fitness. The Mutation step further discards a few components at random. Solutions can become incomplete and thus repairs may be required. The repair is carried out by using the Prioritization step to first produce priorities that determine an order by which the following Construction step then schedules the remaining components. Therefore, improvements in the Evolutionary Squeaky Wheel Optimisation is achieved by selective solution disruption mixed with iterative improvement and constructive repair. Strong experimental results are reported on two different domains of personnel scheduling: bus and rail driver scheduling and hospital nurse scheduling.

“Constructive Paranoia” Applied to Education (The Case of English Language Teaching)

This paper analyzes the concept of constructive paranoia stated by journalist and author Andrés Oppenheimer to promote development in Latin America. Based on that concept, this paper discusses the effectiveness of current English Language Teaching, particularly, as well as what should be done in order to obtain better results. As a conclusion, a re-structure of approach, curriculum and methodology in teaching the language is proposed.

Biased Random-key Genetic Algorithms For The Winner Determination Problem In Combinatorial Auctions.

Abstract In this paper, we address the problem of picking a subset of bids in a general combinatorial auction so as to maximize the overall profit using the first-price model. This winner determination problem assumes that a single bidding round is held to determine both the winners and prices to be paid. We introduce six variants of biased random-key genetic algorithms for this problem. Three of them use a novel initialization technique that makes use of solutions of intermediate linear programming relaxations of an exact mixed integer-linear programming model as initial chromosomes of the population. An experimental evaluation compares the effectiveness of the proposed algorithms with the standard mixed linear integer programming formulation, a specialized exact algorithm, and the best-performing heuristics proposed for this problem. The proposed algorithms are competitive and offer strong results, mainly for large-scale auctions.

Avaliação de estrutura de bambu como elemento construtivo para casa de vegetação

The use of technology to protect and produce vegetables and ornamental plants was developed over several adaptation phases that supported the demand for quality and amount of products. These developments also reduced production costs and climate damage to the crops. Many of these adaptations were carried out by farmers on their own initiative, using different materials and devices to solve their problems. This study was carried out at Agricultural Engineering College - Campinas University/UNICAMP, from December 2002 to January 2003, with the objective of evaluating the deformations of the constructive system of bamboo structure for greenhouses, submitted to different spacing among columns, and different vertical strains. It was tested the use of beams and columns built with bamboo stems from the specie Bambusa tuldoides Munro. The beams and columns were tied together with plastic spacing parts, specially designed to facilitate and standardize the construction of the building, providing more resistance and stability. Three column spaces (2.0, 2.5 and 3.0 m) were evaluated under different load strains. The best result was obtained with a spacing of 2.5 m.

Configurações do conhecimento do corpo : subsidios para a pratica da Educação Fisica nas series iniciais de ensino

Universidade Estadual de Campinas . Faculdade de Educação Física

Educação fisica na 1ª serie do ensino medio : uma pratica por compromisso

Universidade Estadual de Campinas . Faculdade de Educação Física