This paper addresses a variation of the Traveling Salesman Problem with Pickup and Delivery in which loading and unloading operations have to be executed in a first-in-first-out fashion. It provides an integer programming formulation of the problem. It also describes five operators for improving a feasible solution, and two heuristics that utilize these operators: a probabilistic tabu search al...

AIMS The purpose of this study was to evaluate the community risk of infection from bioaerosols to residents living near biosolids land application sites. METHODS AND RESULTS Approximately 350 aerosol samples from 10 sites located throughout the USA were collected via the use of six SKC Biosamplers. Downwind aerosol samples from biosolids loading, unloading, land application and background op...

Reasonable scheduling of a train’s loading and unloading equipment can reduce the energy consumption production operations; this has great value for green development terminals. The collaborative model Automated Rail Mounted Gantry (ARMG) Guided Vehicle (AGV) is used to minimize in scenario vertical railway entering port shared storage yard existing between under mixed operation mode “train–shi...

In this paper, we first describe a simplified scenario observed in mining operations, where trucks are loaded and emptied at different locations. We will then look at ways that we can model this subsystem using timed automata so we may be able to apply model checking techniques on such systems. Specifically, we will look at modifications to the Hourglass Automata and Interrupt Timed Automata to...

This paper presents a novel scheduling of resource-constrained Flexible Manufacturing System (FMS) with consideration the following sub-problems: (i) machine loading and unloading, (ii) manufacturing operation scheduling, (iii) assignment, (iv) Automated Guided Vehicle (AGV) scheduling. In proposed model, both AGV machinery are considered as required resources. Energy efficiency AGVs has been s...

A simulation model must be used to evaluate the impact of new operations policies, not only to validate the policies, but also as a tool to convince the decision-makers of the potential advantages in adopting the proposed enhancements in the management. Terminal resource allocation policies and ship loading/unloading policies are obtained by means of Operations Research techniques for the case ...

This paper provides an analytical solution for the time-dependent performance evaluation of truck handling operations at an air cargo terminal. The demand for loading and unloading operations is highly time-dependent and stochastic for two classes of trucks. Two heterogeneous handling facilities with multiple servers are available to handle trucks assuming exponentially distributed processing t...

This paper introduces a new generation of Automated Guided Vehicles, called IPSI® AGVs, which are evaluated in the operations of a Container Terminal. The objective is to identify number of automated guided vehicles and cassettes required in order to that a number of cranes will not be idle during ship loading and unloading operations. A protocol called Contract Net is evaluated in the coordina...

When you hold an object, a sudden unexpected perturbation can threaten the stability of your grasp. In such situations grasp stability is maintained by fast reflexive-like grip-force responses triggered by the somatosensory feedback. Here we use functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to investigate the neural mechanisms involved in the grip-force responses associated with unexpected incre...

The present investigation presents a stochastic model for a flexible manufacturing system consisting of flexible machine, loading/unloading robot and an automated pallethandling device. We consider unreliable flexible manufacturing cell (FMC) wherein machine and robot operate under individual as well as common cause random failures. The pallethandling system is completely reliable. The pallet o...