Multi-Criteria Optimal Planning for Energy Policies in CLP

In the policy making process a number of disparate and diverse issues such as economic development, environmental aspects, as well as the social acceptance of the policy, need to be considered. A single person might not have all the required expertises, and decision support systems featuring optimization components can help to assess policies. Leveraging on previous work on Strategic Environmental Assessment, we developed a fully-fledged system that is able to provide optimal plans with respect to a given objective, to perform multi-objective optimization and provide sets of Pareto optimal plans, and to visually compare them. Each plan is environmentally assessed and its footprint is evaluated. The heart of the system is an application developed in a popular Constraint Logic Programming system on the Reals sort. It has been equipped with a web service module that can be queried through standard interfaces, and an intuitive graphic user interface.Comment: Accepted at ICLP2014 Conference as Technical Communication, due to appear in Theory and Practice of Logic Programming (TPLP

LOGIC AND CONSTRAINT PROGRAMMING FOR COMPUTATIONAL SUSTAINABILITY

Computational Sustainability is an interdisciplinary field that aims to develop computational and mathematical models and methods for decision making concerning the management and allocation of resources in order to help solve environmental problems. This thesis deals with a broad spectrum of such problems (energy efficiency, water management, limiting greenhouse gas emissions and fuel consumption) giving a contribution towards their solution by means of Logic Programming (LP) and Constraint Programming (CP), declarative paradigms from Artificial Intelligence of proven solidity. The problems described in this thesis were proposed by experts of the respective domains and tested on the real data instances they provided. The results are encouraging and show the aptness of the chosen methodologies and approaches. The overall aim of this work is twofold: both to address real world problems in order to achieve practical results and to get, from the application of LP and CP technologies to complex scenarios, feedback and directions useful for their improvement

A MULTI-COMMODITY NETWORK FLOW APPROACH FOR SEQUENCING REFINED PRODUCTS IN PIPELINE SYSTEMS

In the oil industry, there is a special class of pipelines used for the transportation of refined products. The problem of sequencing the inputs to be pumped through this type of pipeline seeks to generate the optimal sequence of batches of products and their destination as well as the amount of product to be pumped such that the total operational cost of the system, or another operational objective, is optimized while satisfying the product demands according to the requirements set by the customers. This dissertation introduces a new modeling approach and proposes a solution methodology for this problem capable of dealing with the topology of all the scenarios reported in the literature so far. The system representation is based on a 1-0 multi commodity network flow formulation that models the dynamics of the system, including aspects such as conservation of product flow constraints at the depots, travel time of products from the refinery to their depot destination and what happens upstream and downstream the line whenever a product is being received at a given depot while another one is being injected into the line at the refinery. It is assumed that the products are already available at the refinery and their demand at each depot is deterministic and known beforehand. The model provides the sequence, the amounts, the destination and the trazability of the shipped batches of different products from their sources to their destinations during the entire horizon planning period while seeking the optimization of pumping and inventory holding costs satisfying the time window constraints. A survey for the available literature is presented. Given the problem structure, a decomposition based solution procedure is explored with the intention of exploiting the network structure using the network simplex method. A branch and bound algorithm that exploits the dynamics of the system assigning priorities for branching to a selected set of variables is proposed and its computational results for the solution, obtained via GAMS/CPLEX, of the formulation for random instances of the problem of different sizes are presented. Future research directions on this field are proposed

Bringing Governance Back Home — Lessons for Local Government regarding Rapid Climate Action

There is a growing recognition that rapid action in response to climate change is urgently necessary, and that many of the responsibilities for this action (e.g., relating to transport, land-use planning and economic development) rest at the local level. This is attested to by the growing number of local authorities that have declared climate emergencies across the globe. Responding to this emergency will require significant changes in the assumptions, expectations, priorities and procedures of locally elected representatives and government officials. This Special Issue will explore the responses of local government, as a key locus of sustainability governance, to the need for rapid climate action, drawing on examples from diverse locations (UK, western Europe, Chile and South Africa) and at various scales (from the smallest local areas, to city regions, counties and provinces)

Bio-inspired optimization in integrated river basin management

Water resources worldwide are facing severe challenges in terms of quality and quantity. It is essential to conserve, manage, and optimize water resources and their quality through integrated water resources management (IWRM). IWRM is an interdisciplinary field that works on multiple levels to maximize the socio-economic and ecological benefits of water resources. Since this is directly influenced by the river’s ecological health, the point of interest should start at the basin-level. The main objective of this study is to evaluate the application of bio-inspired optimization techniques in integrated river basin management (IRBM). This study demonstrates the application of versatile, flexible and yet simple metaheuristic bio-inspired algorithms in IRBM. In a novel approach, bio-inspired optimization algorithms Ant Colony Optimization (ACO) and Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) are used to spatially distribute mitigation measures within a basin to reduce long-term annual mean total nitrogen (TN) concentration at the outlet of the basin. The Upper Fuhse river basin developed in the hydrological model, Hydrological Predictions for the Environment (HYPE), is used as a case study. ACO and PSO are coupled with the HYPE model to distribute a set of measures and compute the resulting TN reduction. The algorithms spatially distribute nine crop and subbasin-level mitigation measures under four categories. Both algorithms can successfully yield a discrete combination of measures to reduce long-term annual mean TN concentration. They achieved an 18.65% reduction, and their performance was on par with each other. This study has established the applicability of these bio-inspired optimization algorithms in successfully distributing the TN mitigation measures within the river basin. Stakeholder involvement is a crucial aspect of IRBM. It ensures that researchers and policymakers are aware of the ground reality through large amounts of information collected from the stakeholder. Including stakeholders in policy planning and decision-making legitimizes the decisions and eases their implementation. Therefore, a socio-hydrological framework is developed and tested in the Larqui river basin, Chile, based on a field survey to explore the conditions under which the farmers would implement or extend the width of vegetative filter strips (VFS) to prevent soil erosion. The framework consists of a behavioral, social model (extended Theory of Planned Behavior, TPB) and an agent-based model (developed in NetLogo) coupled with the results from the vegetative filter model (Vegetative Filter Strip Modeling System, VFSMOD-W). The results showed that the ABM corroborates with the survey results and the farmers are willing to extend the width of VFS as long as their utility stays positive. This framework can be used to develop tailor-made policies for river basins based on the conditions of the river basins and the stakeholders' requirements to motivate them to adopt sustainable practices. It is vital to assess whether the proposed management plans achieve the expected results for the river basin and if the stakeholders will accept and implement them. The assessment via simulation tools ensures effective implementation and realization of the target stipulated by the decision-makers. In this regard, this dissertation introduces the application of bio-inspired optimization techniques in the field of IRBM. The successful discrete combinatorial optimization in terms of the spatial distribution of mitigation measures by ACO and PSO and the novel socio-hydrological framework using ABM prove the forte and diverse applicability of bio-inspired optimization algorithms

A systematic literature review on physical internet containers : Empirical evidence and research opportunities

The Physical Internet is an emerging concept that seeks to improve the efficiency and sustainability of global logistics by creating a network under a common structure. Containers are a key tool for implementing this concept, as they enable the efficient and secure transport of goods along standardized hubs. This systematic literature review aims to identify and analyze existing research on the use of containers in the Physical Internet and their contributions to the efficiency and sustainability of global logistics. This review emphasizes the growing significance and empirical evidence supporting the usefulness and benefits of adopting container systems, including improved cargo optimization, logistics operations, and the sustainability of the logistics network. To solve difficulties like standardization, cost implementation, privacy, and integration of technology, more study is required. Regarding the methodology used, first a qualitative study of the articles is made, which will allow us to have a vision of the evolution that has taken place in recent years. Next, a study of the findings and conclusions will be made, which will allow for the classification of the research approaches and contributions. By giving a thorough overview, it provides insightful information for supply chain management, logistics, and other professionals. Furthermore, limitations and unanswered questions will be discussed in order to guide future studies with the identified research opportunities, emphasizing areas that need attention to progress this field’s research. In the last instance, these gaps offer chances to improve our comprehension and use of containers in the supply chain networ

Operational Research IO2017, Valença, Portugal, June 28-30

This proceedings book presents selected contributions from the XVIII Congress of APDIO (the Portuguese Association of Operational Research) held in Valença on June 28–30, 2017. Prepared by leading Portuguese and international researchers in the field of operations research, it covers a wide range of complex real-world applications of operations research methods using recent theoretical techniques, in order to narrow the gap between academic research and practical applications. Of particular interest are the applications of, nonlinear and mixed-integer programming, data envelopment analysis, clustering techniques, hybrid heuristics, supply chain management, and lot sizing and job scheduling problems. In most chapters, the problems, methods and methodologies described are complemented by supporting figures, tables and algorithms. The XVIII Congress of APDIO marked the 18th installment of the regular biannual meetings of APDIO – the Portuguese Association of Operational Research. The meetings bring together researchers, scholars and practitioners, as well as MSc and PhD students, working in the field of operations research to present and discuss their latest works. The main theme of the latest meeting was Operational Research Pro Bono. Given the breadth of topics covered, the book offers a valuable resource for all researchers, students and practitioners interested in the latest trends in this field.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio