A linear fractional optimization over an integer efficient set

Mathematical optimization problems with a goal function, have many applications in various fields like financial sectors, management sciences and economic applications. Therefore, it is very important to have a powerful tool to solve such problems when the main criterion is not linear, particularly fractional, a ratio of two affine functions. In this paper, we propose an exact algorithm for optimizing a linear fractional function over the efficient set of a Multiple Objective Integer Linear Programming (MOILP) problem without having to enumerate all the efficient solutions. We iteratively add some constraints, that eliminate the undesirable (not interested) points and reduce, progressively, the admissible region. At each iteration, the solution is being evaluated at the reduced gradient cost vector and a new direction that improves the objective function is then defined. The algorithm was coded in MATLAB environment and tested over different instances randomly generated

The professional master's degree as a preferable model for training in family health

This article presents the legal background relating to professional master's degrees proposals; it describes the paths followed after proposing and introducing a professional master's degree program in health, with specialization in family health; it argues for the correctness and suitability of this model for developing interdisciplinary skills in health professionals, within a perspective of consolidating health reforms and the Brazilian national health care system, through Family Health Program, its most innovative strategy. The proposal, which has been running since 2003, is based on the multi-dimensionality of the health-sickness process and on the model of Health Surveillance which includes three levels of integrated care. The interdisciplinary nature is the pedagogical principle of the course, in an attempt to find solidarity spaces through teaching and investigative activities or social intervention among the subjects of the process. Although we do not have an evaluation of the impact of the Course on the Care Model, there are some indicators of its acceptance, such as: an increasing number of candidates in the selection process; satisfaction among students and teachers; adherence to the practices required for the consolidation of the Brazilian National Healthcare System (SUS) in the students' course conclusion works, and the recent recommendation by CAPES

Lead time and ordering cost reductions in budget and storage space restricted probabilistic inventory models with imperfect items

Regarding today’s business environment restrictions, one of significant concern of inventory manager is to determine optimal policies of inventory/production systems under some restrictions such as budget and storage space. Therefore here, a budget constraint on total inventory investment and a maximum permissible storage space constraint are added simultaneously to a stochastic continuous review mixed backorder and lost sales inventory system. This study also assumes that the received lot may contain some defective units with a beta-binomial random variable. Two lead time demand (LTD) distribution approach are proposed in this paper, one with normally distributed demand and another with distribution free demand. For each approach, a Lagrange multiplier method is applied in order to solve the discussed constrained inventory models and a solution procedure is developed to find optimal values. This study, also, shows that the respective budget and storage space constrained inventory models to be minimized are jointly convex in the decision variables. Numerical examples are also presented to illustrate the models