Mandatory Vote Count Audit

Voters, candidates, citizens and election officials want high confidence in the integrity of the election process by subjecting electronic vote counts to independent manual audits; and by making reports available with which to evaluate rates of voter turnout, voting equipment allocation, under-votes, over-votes, spoiled ballots, voting equipment failure, absentee ballots, uncounted ballots, and provisional ballots. This bill requires routine independent audits of vote count accuracy and requires the release to vote count auditors of records and information necessary to verify the integrity of the vote count audits and to evaluate voter service levels

Handling Equipment Allocation Optimization of Railroad-highway Combined Transportation: Bi-Objective Model and MEACO Algorithm

Coordinating connection between railroad and highway in multimodal transportation is very complex and important. It is concerned with the time and cost consuming of containers, the operation efficiency, and resources allocation of railroad and highway. This paper studies the equipment allocation optimization in railway container center station. It establishes a bi-objective optimization model to solve the problem. The two objectives of the model are getting the minimum daily comprehensive costs of equipments, and getting the minimum dwelling time of railway container flatcars on loading and unloading line. Allocating more equipment will reduce the dwelling time obviously. But there are some risks of idle equipment and high costs, too. These are two irreconcilable objectives. The MEACO algorithm is used to solve this problem making Chongqing container center station as an example. The model is verified by actual data. The results suggest the optimal allocation of the handling equipments and are in accordance with the fact of the station

Differences in forecasting approaches between product firms and product-service systems (PSS)

This paper examines the forecasting implications for Product-Service Systems (PSS) applications in manufacturing firms. The approach taken is to identify the scope of operations for PSS applications by identifying all the activities associated with the total cost of ownership (TCO). The paper then develops a revenue model for manufacturing firms providing PSS applications. The revenue model identifies three generic revenue streams that provide the basis for discussion on the differences in forecasting approaches between product firms and Product-Service Systems (PSS) in manufacturing firms. The forecasting approaches are different due to the nature of customer involvement in the service aspect of PSS applications. This necessitates an understanding of the customer service experience and the factors affecting this such as the service profit chain which links profitability, customer loyalty and service value to employee satisfaction, capability and productivity. The forecasting approaches identified raises forecasting challenges for each of the three generic revenue sources. These challenges vary from the difficulty in obtaining the service user’s viewpoint through to difficulties in determining market acceptance of PSS applications

Modelo matemático e algoritmo de apoio para auxílio ao sequenciamento e à programação de lavra com alocação de equipamentos de carga

This paper focuses on the sequencing and scheduling problem of open pit mining,\ud with the allocation of loading equipment considering a medium-term horizon.\ud This study considers the existence of a heterogeneous loading equipment fleet and two\ud types of mineable material, namely ore or waste rock. For the mining of ore, the following\ud requirements are taken under consideration: the mixture quality, a crusher, the\ud processing plant capacity and a stockpile, called ROM stockpile. In this context, we\ud present a mathematical model in mixed integer linear programming, supported by an\ud algorithm that is responsible for moving the time horizon at each model run, aiming\ud to generate mining orders resolved with optimality. Together, these orders describe the\ud loading equipment mining plan.Esse trabalho tem seu foco no problema de sequenciamento e programação da\ud lavra em mina a céu aberto com a alocação de equipamentos de carregamento, considerando\ud um período de médio prazo. Nesse estudo, considera-se a existência de uma\ud frota heterogênea de equipamentos de carga e de dois tipos de materiais lavráveis,\ud sendo minério ou estéril. Para a lavra de minério, são contemplados requisitos de\ud qualidade da mistura, um britador, capacidade da usina de beneficiamento e uma pilha\ud de estoque, denominada pilha de ROM. Nesse contexto, apresenta-se um modelo\ud matemático em programação linear inteira mista, apoiado por um algoritmo responsável\ud por mover o horizonte de tempo, a cada execução do modelo, com intuito de\ud gerar ordens de lavra resolvidas com otimalidade. Juntas, essas ordens descreverão o\ud plano de lavra dos equipamentos de carga

A Decision Support System for Dynamic Integrated Project Scheduling and Equipment Operation Planning

Common practice in scheduling under limited resource availability is to first schedule activities with the assumption of unlimited resources, and then assign required resources to activities until available resources are exhausted. The process of matching a feasible resource plan with a feasible schedule is called resource allocation. Then, to avoid sharp fluctuations in the resource profile, further adjustments are applied to both schedule and resource allocation plan within the limits of feasibility constraints. This process is referred to as resource leveling in the literature. Combination of these three stages constitutes the standard approach of top-down scheduling. In contrast, when scarce and/or expensive resource is to be scheduled, first a feasible and economical resource usage plan is established and then activities are scheduled accordingly. This practice is referred to as bottom-up scheduling in the literature. Several algorithms are developed and implemented in various commercial scheduling software packages to schedule based on either of these approaches. However, in reality resource loaded scheduling problems are somewhere in between these two ends of the spectrum. Additionally, application of either of these conventional approaches results in just a feasible resource loaded schedule which is not necessarily the cost optimal solution. In order to find the cost optimal solution, activity scheduling and resource allocation problems should be considered jointly. In other words, these two individual problems should be formulated and solved as an integrated optimization problem. In this research, a novel integrated optimization model is proposed for solving the resource loaded scheduling problems with concentration on construction heavy equipment being the targeted resource type. Assumptions regarding this particular type of resource along with other practical assumptions are provided for the model through inputs and constraints. The objective function is to minimize the fraction of the execution cost of resource loaded schedule which varies based on the selected solution and thus, considered to be the model's decision making criterion. This fraction of cost which hereafter is referred to as operation cost, encompasses four components namely schedule delay cost, shipping, rental and ownership costs for equipment

Planning the asphalt construction process:Towards more consistent paving and compaction operations

This research addresses the challenge of linking paving and compaction given that they are mostly treated as detached activities, leading to a decrease in the quality of the compacted asphalt layer. The objective was to develop a support tool that can assist decision-making related to equipment allocation and compaction strategies to be followed, such that an asphalt layer- given the prevailing conditions at the construction site- can be compacted efficiently and uniformly within a limited time interval. A basic planning protocol was then developed based on variables such as asphalt cooling, paver characteristics, roller characteristics and road geometry. 12 road construction projects were monitored over a 3- month period. Empirical data on paver speed, roller speed and the number of roller passes served as input for the tool. The monitored projects were evaluated by calculating actual paver output and theoretical and actual roller output on an interval scale and checking whether the output rates were aligned to each other during the whole construction process. The results show that in most cases, paver output, roller output and the available time for compaction were not aligned. The theoretical concepts applied in this research and the developed support tool for decision making appear to be useful for planning and monitoring paving and compaction and for steering it towards a more uniform process. This may lead to an improvement in the quality of the final compacted asphalt layer