Hierarchical microgrid control levels range from distributed device level controllers that run at a high frequency to centralized optimizing market integration much less frequently. Centralized are often subdivided into operational planning optimize decisions over time horizon of one or several days, and real-time optimization deal with actions in the current period. The coordination these is p...

Subject/Research problem Hospitals traditionally segregated resources into centralized functional departments such as diagnostic departments, ambulatory care centres, and nursing wards. In recent years this organizational model has been challenged by the idea that higher quality of care and efficiency in service delivery can be achieved when services are organized around patient groups. Example...

A reverse logistics system is a network of transportation logistics and processing functions that collect, consolidate, refurbish, and demanufacture end-of-life products. This paper examines centralized and decentralized models of decision-making for material flows and associated transaction prices in reverse logistics networks. We compare the application of a centralized model for planning rev...

Subject/Research problem Hospitals traditionally segregated resources into centralized functional departments such as diagnostic departments, ambulatory care centres, and nursing wards. In recent years this organizational model has been challenged by the idea that higher quality of care and efficiency in service delivery can be achieved when services are organized around patient groups. Example...

Providing reliable and affordable wastewater treatment in rural areas is a challenge in many parts of the world, particularly in developing countries. The problems and limitations of the centralized approaches for wastewater treatment are progressively surfacing. Centralized wastewater collection and treatment systems are costly to build and operate, especially in areas with low population dens...

Traditionally, the port management model has been characterized by the presence of a centralized public agent in charge of the long run planning and provision of most of the port services. Nowadays, in many cases the need to adjust public expenditure has motivated the search for the active participation of the private sector in many countries, not only for the provision of port services but als...

The paper considers the problem of planning a set of nonconflict trajectories for the coalition of intelligent agents (mobile robots). Two divergent approaches, e.g. centralized and decentralized, are surveyed and analyzed. Decentralized planner – MAPP is described and applied to the task of finding trajectories for dozens UAVs performing nap-of-the-earth flight in urban environments. Results o...

Dynamics in logistics are a subject of increasing importance in logistic processes. The more detailed dynamics are considered, the more complicated it becomes to handle them in centralized planning. Therefore, decentralized approaches with autonomous cooperating entities might become more efficient. This paper introduces some aspects of decentralized approaches, mainly focusing on the process o...