860 research outputs found
Aspects of computerised timetabling
This research considers the problem of constructing high school timetables using a
computer. In the majority of high schools, termly or yearly timetables are still
being produced manually. Constructing a timetable is a hard and time consuming
task which is carried out repeatedly thus a computer program for assisting with this
problem would be of great value. This study is in three parts. First. an overall
analysis of the problem is undertaken to provide background knowledge and to
identify basic principles in the construction of a school timetable. The
characteristics of timetabling problems are identified and the necessary data for the
construction of a timetable is identified. The first part ends with the production of
a heuristic model for generating an initial solution that satisfies all the hard
constraints embodied in the curriculum requirements.
The second stage of the research is devoted to designing a heuristic model for
solving a timetable problem with hard and medium constraints. These include
constraints like the various numbers of common periods, double periods and
reducing the repeated allocation of a subject within any day. The approaches taken
are based on two recently developed techniques, namely tabu search and simulated
annealing. Both of these are used and comparisons of their efficiency are
provided. The comparison is based on the percentage fulfilment of the hard and
medium requirements.
The third part is devoted to one of the most difficult areas in timetable
construction, that is the softer requirements which are specific to particular schools
and whose satisfaction is not seen as essential. This section describes the
development of an expert system based on heuristic production rules to satisfy a
range of soft requirements. The soft requirements are studied and recorded as
rules and a heuristic solution is produced for each of the general requirements.
Different levels of rule are developed, from which the best possible solution to a
particular timetable problem is expertly produced.
Finally, possible extensions of the proposed method and its application to other
types of the timetabling problem are discussed
Travel Demand Growth: Research on Longer-Term Issues. The Potential Contribution of Trip Planning Systems
INTRODUCTION
1.1 The growth in demand for travel
Over the 20 years hm 1965, National Travel Survey (NTS) data shows a 61% growth in total person - km of travel. More detailed analysis suggests that this is made up roughly as follows:-
due to increased population 4%
due to more journeys 22%
due to longer journeys 35%
This implies that around 60% of the growth in travel has been due to people travelling further, rather than making more journeys.
It is interesting to note, too, that the same phenomenon occurs even in the most congested areas. Between 1975 and 1985, NTS shows an 11% growth in person -km by London residents, at a time when population fell by 5%. In this case, the growth is made up roughly as follows:-
due to lost population -5%
due to more journeys 4%
due to longer journeys 12%
It is of course difficult to estimate the extent to which future growth in travel will be generated by longer journeys. The NRTF, which predicts a growth in car-km of between 120% and 180% between 1985 and 2025, is not based on a procedure which enables the effects of journey making and journey length to be separated. However, it is worth noting that if the same pattern were to exist at a national level in future, the predicted growth in car travel due to longer journeys could be equivalent to between 75% and 100% of today's car travel. It seems appropriate to ask whether it is a wise use of scarce resources to provide the infrastructure and energy needed to enable people to carry out their activities further from home.
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Curriculum-based course timetabling with student flow, soft constraints, and smoothing objectives: an application to a real case study
This paper deals with curriculum-based course timetabling. In particular, we describe the results of a real application at the University of Rome “Tor Vergata.” In this regard, we developed a multi-objective mixed-integer model which attempts to optimize (i) the flow produced by the students enrolled in the lectures, (ii) soft conflicts produced by the possible overlap among compulsory and non-compulsory courses, and (iii) the number of lecture hours per curriculum within the weekdays. The model has been implemented and solved by means of a commercial solver and experiments show that the model is able to provide satisfactory solutions as compared with the real scenario under consideration
A time predefined variable depth search for nurse rostering
This paper presents a variable depth search for the nurse rostering problem. The algorithm works by chaining together single neighbourhood swaps into more effective compound moves. It achieves this by using heuristics to decide whether to continue extending a chain and which candidates to examine as the next potential link in the chain. Because end users vary in how long they are willing to wait for solutions, a particular goal of this research was to create an algorithm that accepts a user specified computational time limit and uses it effectively. When compared against previously published approaches the results show that the algorithm is very competitive
Reducing the Cost of Technical and Vocational Education
Teaching/Communication/Extension/Profession,
Management of educational innovation : the case of computer aided administration
This thesis is concerned with the process of managing an educational innovation - computer-aided administration (CAA) for schools. From literature reviews in the areas of management of change and computer assisted school administration, together with findings from an observer case study in the United Kingdom, a model was generated for the CAA innovation process as a contribution to theory. The model was then put into practice as the framework for the CAA innovation process in a secondary school in Hong Kong. The innovation was successfully assimilated by the school in a period of about three years with the researcher acting as the change facilitator, and the model of the innovation process was subsequently refined. This refined "SIX-A" model it is hoped will be a contribution to practical change management. Before making conclusions, findings about the process of innovation as well as findings specific to CAA from the case school are compared and contrasted to data collected from three other schools' CAA innovations in Hong Kong
Havering College of Further and Higher Education: report from the Inspectorate (FEFC inspection report; 72/94 and 05/98)
Comprises two Further Education Funding Council (FEFC) inspection reports for the periods 1993-94 and 1997-9
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