229,336 research outputs found
An Iterative Cyclic Algorithm for Designing Vaccine Distribution Networks in Low and Middle-Income Countries
The World Health Organization's Expanded Programme on Immunization (WHO-EPI)
was developed to ensure that all children have access to common childhood
vaccinations. Unfortunately, because of inefficient distribution networks and
cost constraints, millions of children in many low and middle-income countries
still go without being vaccinated. In this paper, we formulate a mathematical
programming model for the design of a typical WHO-EPI network with the goal of
minimizing costs while providing the opportunity for universal coverage. Since
it is only possible to solve small versions of the model optimally, we describe
an iterative heuristic that cycles between solving restrictions of the original
problem and show that it can find very good solutions in reasonable time for
larger problems that are not directly solvable.Comment: International Joint Conference on Industrial Engineering and
Operations Management- ABEPRO-ADINGOR-IISE-AIM-ASEM (IJCIEOM 2019). Novi Sad,
Serbia, July 15-17t
A philosophical context for methods to estimate origin-destination trip matrices using link counts.
This paper creates a philosophical structure for classifying methods which estimate origin-destination matrices using link counts. It is claimed that the motivation for doing so is to help real-life transport planners use matrix estimation methods effectively, especially in terms of trading-off observational data with prior subjective input (typically referred to as 'professional judgement'). The paper lists a number of applications that require such methods, differentiating between relatively simple and highly complex applications. It is argued that a sound philosophical perspective is particularly important for estimating trip matrices in the latter type of application. As a result of this argument, a classification structure is built up through using concepts of realism, subjectivity, empiricism and rationalism. Emphasis is put on the fact that, in typical transport planning applications, none of these concepts is useful in its extreme form. The structure is then used to make a review of methods for estimating trip matrices using link counts, covering material published over the past 30 years. The paper concludes by making recommendations, both philosophical and methodological, concerning both practical applications and further research
A philosophical context for methods to estimate origin-destination trip matrices using link counts.
This paper creates a philosophical structure for classifying methods which estimate origin-destination matrices using link counts. It is claimed that the motivation for doing so is to help real-life transport planners use matrix estimation methods effectively, especially in terms of trading-off observational data with prior subjective input (typically referred to as 'professional judgement'). The paper lists a number of applications that require such methods, differentiating between relatively simple and highly complex applications. It is argued that a sound philosophical perspective is particularly important for estimating trip matrices in the latter type of application. As a result of this argument, a classification structure is built up through using concepts of realism, subjectivity, empiricism and rationalism. Emphasis is put on the fact that, in typical transport planning applications, none of these concepts is useful in its extreme form. The structure is then used to make a review of methods for estimating trip matrices using link counts, covering material published over the past 30 years. The paper concludes by making recommendations, both philosophical and methodological, concerning both practical applications and further research
Three-phase traffic theory and two-phase models with a fundamental diagram in the light of empirical stylized facts
Despite the availability of large empirical data sets and the long history of
traffic modeling, the theory of traffic congestion on freeways is still highly
controversial. In this contribution, we compare Kerner's three-phase traffic
theory with the phase diagram approach for traffic models with a fundamental
diagram. We discuss the inconsistent use of the term "traffic phase" and show
that patterns demanded by three-phase traffic theory can be reproduced with
simple two-phase models, if the model parameters are suitably specified and
factors characteristic for real traffic flows are considered, such as effects
of noise or heterogeneity or the actual freeway design (e.g. combinations of
off- and on-ramps). Conversely, we demonstrate that models created to reproduce
three-phase traffic theory create similar spatiotemporal traffic states and
associated phase diagrams, no matter whether the parameters imply a fundamental
diagram in equilibrium or non-unique flow- density relationships. In
conclusion, there are different ways of reproducing the empirical stylized
facts of spatiotemporal congestion patterns summarized in this contribution,
and it appears possible to overcome the controversy by a more precise
definition of the scientific terms and a more careful comparison of models and
data, considering effects of the measurement process and the right level of
detail in the traffic model used.Comment: 18 pages in the published article, 13 figures, 2 table
Geometrically-exact time-integration mesh-free schemes for advection-diffusion problems derived from optimal transportation theory and their connection with particle methods
We develop an Optimal Transportation Meshfree (OTM) particle method for
advection-diffusion in which the concentration or density of the diffusive
species is approximated by Dirac measures. We resort to an incremental
variational principle for purposes of time discretization of the diffusive
step. This principle characterizes the evolution of the density as a
competition between the Wasserstein distance between two consecutive densities
and entropy. Exploiting the structure of the Euler-Lagrange equations, we
approximate the density as a collection of Diracs. The interpolation of the
incremental transport map is effected through mesh-free max-ent interpolation.
Remarkably, the resulting update is geometrically exact with respect to
advection and volume. We present three-dimensional examples of application that
illustrate the scope and robustness of the method.Comment: 19 pages, 8 figure
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