VIKOR Technique:A Systematic Review of the State of the Art Literature on Methodologies and Applications

The main objective of this paper is to present a systematic review of the VlseKriterijuska Optimizacija I Komoromisno Resenje (VIKOR) method in several application areas such as sustainability and renewable energy. This study reviewed a total of 176 papers, published in 2004 to 2015, from 83 high-ranking journals; most of which were related to Operational Research, Management Sciences, decision making, sustainability and renewable energy and were extracted from the “Web of Science and Scopus” databases. Papers were classified into 15 main application areas. Furthermore, papers were categorized based on the nationalities of authors, dates of publications, techniques and methods, type of studies, the names of the journals and studies purposes. The results of this study indicated that more papers on VIKOR technique were published in 2013 than in any other year. In addition, 13 papers were published about sustainability and renewable energy fields. Furthermore, VIKOR and fuzzy VIKOR methods, had the first rank in use. Additionally, the Journal of Expert Systems with Applications was the most significant journal in this study, with 27 publications on the topic. Finally, Taiwan had the first rank from 22 nationalities which used VIKOR technique

Safe distance prediction for braking control of bridge cranes considering anti-swing

Cranes are widely deployed for lifting and moving heavy objects in dynamic environments with human coexistence. Suddenly appeared workers, vehicles, and robots can affect the safety of the cranes. To avoid possible collisions, the cranes must have prediction ability to know how dangerous the situation is. In this paper, we address the safety issues of bridge cranes based on its online physical states and control model. Due to the swing of the payload, the safe braking distance cannot be a constant value. Therefore, we here propose a model prediction control (MPC)-based anti-swing method for non-zero initial states, where a new reference trajectory and a new cost function for optimization are proposed, such that the proposed MPC method can control the crane to follow the proposed reference trajectory and achieve a stable stop state with anti-swing. Furthermore, an offline learning mechanism is introduced to learn a statistical model between the velocity of the crane and the safe braking distance achieved by using the proposed MPC braking control method. In this way, we can predict how far the crane would require to safely stop without swing based on its current velocity, which is the safe distance prediction to evaluate the dangerous level of the dynamic obstacle. Experiments using both a simulated crane and a real crane demonstrate that the proposed safe braking distance prediction method is effective for safe braking control of the bridge cranes

Strategies for Prioritizing Needs for Accelerated Construction after Hazard Events

There is a need for rapid and responsive infrastructure repair and construction after natural disaster events such as hurricanes, wildfires, and tornadoes. These natural disasters often shut down basic infrastructure systems, as experienced recently in several Region 6 states as well as in other states around the country. Accelerated construction practices are often used in these situations to speed up the traditional, and often slow, project delivery process. However, after a natural disaster, several and different types of transportation infrastructure components are in need of inspection, rehabilitation or reconstruction, and transportation agencies are challenged with the task of prioritizing these accelerated projects. This study conducted an extensive literature review of current accelerated methods, infrastructure prioritization practices, and institutional barriers. Interviews with professionals from the transportation industry, including both private and public services, were conducted. Significant input from the railroad industry was used to compare private and public transportation systems responses after disasters. The results of this survey were used to quantify the importance of the accelerate methods and prioritization criteria, and which are the barriers to implement a prioritization model. Lastly, a decision support tool for prioritizing needs for accelerated construction after disaster events, specifically hurricanes and flooding, which commonly affect Region 6, was developed using the data collected

Identification of time-varying cable forces based on parameter optimization variational mode decomposition.

Accumulated fatigue damage is one of the main causes of damage and destruction of actual bridge structures. for cable bridges, the cable is the key force component. the cumulative fatigue damage of the cable seriously threatens the safety of the bridge structure. the traditional cable force test based on the vibration method can only identify the average cable force of a bridge cable over a period of time. however, due to vehicle load and environmental factors, the cable force of the bridge cable is time-varying. time-varying cable force is the main cause of fatigue damage, and it is also the basis for the safety assessment of cable limit state and the evaluation of cumulative fatigue damage. to this end, this paper studies the identification method of bridge cable time-varying cable force based on variational mode decomposition. the main research contents of this article include: based on the time-frequency analysis method of variational mode decomposition, a new method for identifying time-varying cable forces is proposed. the time-frequency analysis method of variational modal decomposition is a new development method in the field of current signal processing. its principle is to obtain a limited number of imf and extract the instantaneous frequency of the time-varying system by performing hilbert transform on the obtained imf. firstly, according to the time-frequency analysis method of variational modal decomposition, the time-varying modal frequency is identified from the measured cable acceleration. then, the bridge cable is simplified into an ideal tension string, and the cable force is identified based on the relationship between the cable force and frequency established by the classic string vibration theory. the frequency-doubling relationship of the vibration of the cable is used to reduce the optimization variables of the method, improve the calculation efficiency, reduce the influence of noise on the different instantaneous frequencies of the cable, and improve the accuracy of frequency identification of time-varying modal. finally, the time-varying modal frequency of the identified cable is substituted into the cable force formula to obtain the time-varying cable force of the cable. in the practical application of variational modal decomposition, the choice of penalty factors and the number of components has a great influence on the final signal decomposition results. in order to automatically determine the best parameter combination, the particle swarm optimization algorithm is used to search for these two influencing parameters in parallel . simulation signal and engineering signal processing results show that the proposed method can achieve identification of time-varying frequency. for the end effect of the instantaneous frequency curve, the signal extension method is used. reduce the error of the instantaneous frequency at the end point. design and build a tilting cable vibration test platform, and compare the test results with the calculation results to further verify the correctness of the method in this paper. the results show that the cable force error is about ± 5.0%

Referral Patterns and Service Provision in Child Protective Services: Child, Caregiver, and Case Predictors

Child maltreatment, and recurrent maltreatment in particular, occurs at an alarmingly high rate. Frequency of reports to Child Protective Services (CPS) is associated with negative psychological outcomes, and children whose reports are unsubstantiated experience similar risk of behavioral, emotional, and substance use disorders as those whose reports are substantiated. Prior research has demonstrated that children with no CPS reports and children with one CPS report showed no significant differences in rates of maltreatment perpetration or substance use in adulthood, suggesting that prevention efforts after one report may have strong merit in reducing negative outcomes in adulthood. However, patterns and risk factors of unsubstantiated reports have been only minimally explored thus far, despite having been found to predict subsequent maltreatment. The current study extends upon previous research by (a) examining both substantiated and unsubstantiated reports to identify longitudinal patterns of timing and recurrence and (b) assessing the extent to which service provision mediates long-term recurrence after each type of report. Analyses were conducted using subsamples of a longitudinal national dataset from 2011-2015 containing data from CPS reports for 3,655,951 children. Measures included child, caregiver, and CPS case characteristics obtained at the time of first report in 2011. Latent class analysis of referral patterns indicated four classes of recurrence patterns: (1) 2011 unsubstantiation followed by moderate recurrence, (2) 2011 unsubstantiation followed by low recurrence, (3) 2011 substantiation followed by moderate recurrence, and (4) 2011 substantiation followed by low recurrence. Multinomial logistic regression with most likely class membership as the outcome variable indicated that domestic violence, caregiver substance abuse, and poverty were better predictors of initial substantiation status than of long-term recurrence. Prior victimization was predictive of initial substantiation status as well as long-term recurrence. Asian American race predicted low rates of recurrence. Latent class analysis of service provision revealed only two classes: a class of children who received services and a class of children who did not. Service provision partially mediated associations between initial substantiation status and five-year maltreatment recurrence, as measured by number of subsequent reports, number of subsequent substantiated reports, and number of subsequent years in foster care. Limitations are considered and implications of using predictive modeling to drive service prioritization are discussed

A Study of Risk-Taking Behavior in Investment Banking

This dissertation examines corporate risk-taking behavior by investment banks in the United States. This study was sparked by the collapse of Lehman Brothers, one of the largest bankruptcy filings in U.S. history. This dissertation examines the specific factors that drove investment banks such as Lehman Brothers to take excessive risks, and how the deregulation of the US financial services industry towards the end of the 1990s contributed to risk-taking behavior. I use four theoretical perspectives to examine corporate risk-taking behavior among investment banks. These perspectives include: institutional theory, behavioral theory of the firm, knowledge based view (KBV) of the firm, and agency theory. Risk research in strategic management has mostly tended to adopt three theoretical perspectives: behavioral theory of the firm (Cyert & March, 1963), prospect theory (Kahneman & Tversky, 1979), and agency theory (Jensen & Meckling, 1976). I included institutional theory and KBV perspectives because numerous studies suggest that the regulatory environment (Scott, 2003) and knowledge base of a firm (Grant, 1996b) matters in corporate risk-taking. A review of the practitioner literature also suggests that regulatory frameworks and lack of firm competence have played a role in firm risk-taking behavior (Pirson & Turnbull, 2011; Summers, 2011; Wallison, 2011). My analysis suggests that both external and internal factors were associated with excessive corporate risk-taking among investment banks. External factors associated with firm risk-taking include the institutional environment, such as regulation (or absence thereof). Internal factors associated with firm risk-taking include aspirations of executives, level of corporate diversification, knowledge base of company, number of interlocking directorships in the board, size of the board, ratio of insiders to outsiders on the board, and ownership of the stock by board members of investment banks. The findings of this study contribute to the literature on corporate risk-taking behavior, and suggest that the study of such a complex phenomenon as corporate-risk taking needs to be done using multiple theoretical perspectives

Aeronautical Engineering: A special bibliography with indexes, supplement 67, February 1976

This bibliography lists 341 reports, articles, and other documents introduced into the NASA scientific and technical information system in January 1976

Tradition and Innovation in Construction Project Management

This book is a reprint of the Special Issue 'Tradition and Innovation in Construction Project Management' that was published in the journal Buildings