For many autonomous agents, such as mobile robots, autonomous vehicles and Computer Generated Forces, route planning in complex terrain is a critical task, as many of the agent’s higher-level goals can only be accomplished if the agent is in the right place at the right time. The route planning problem is often formulated as one of finding a minimum-cost route between two locations in a digitis...

An ad hoc wireless network supports data networking without an infrastructure, so that users can use network services while continually moving. Each move of the mobile host affects the topology of the network and the transmission route. The Ad Hoc Backup Node Setup Routing Protocol (ABRP) is proposed to focus attention on the intrinsic properties of the ad hoc wireless networks. Basically, ABRP...

OBJECTIVE This randomized controlled trial examined one aspect of child pedestrian behavior, route selection across intersections, to evaluate whether a combination of widely-available videos and websites effectively train children in safe pedestrian route selection compared to active pedestrian safety control training and a no-contact control group. METHODS A sample of 231 seven- and eight-y...

Critical peak pricing (CPP) is a demand response program that can be used to maximize profits for a load serving entity in a deregulated market environment. Like other such programs, however, CPP is not free from the payback phenomenon: a rise in consumption after a critical event. This payback has a negative effect on profits and thus must be appropriately considered when designing a CPP schem...

Considering fabrication variations, timing guardband is introduced to ensure design reliability. However, trade-off exists between guardband and design performance, especially the chip area discussed in this paper. To predict the variation of total chip area with guardband reduction, we construct the model from the basic Elmore delay theory and optimize the gate sizing and buffering to meet the...

This article explores a structural neighborhood decomposition for arc routing problems, in which the decisions about traversal orientations during services are made optimally as part of neighbor evaluation procedures. Using memory structures, bidirectional dynamic programming, and lower bounds, we show that a large neighborhood involving classical moves on the sequences of services along with o...

Methods for the selection of a research and development (R&D) project portfolio have attracted considerable interest among practitioners and academics. However, these methods have found limited use in practice, partly because they have encountered difficulties in capturing uncertainties and interdependencies related to R&D projects. Motivated by these difficulties, we develop Contingent Portfol...

Route Deviation Bus Lines (RDBLs) constitute a hybrid between traditional fixed-route bus lines and demand responsive, dial-a-ride systems; they are viewed as a promising way to combine responsive transportation services with high productivity. We investigate the performance of Route Deviation Bus Lines through development of some simplified probabilistic models. The dependence of performance o...