Delivery pattern planning in retailing with transport and warehouse workload balancing

Goods from warehouses must be scheduled in advance, prepared, routed, and delivered to shops. At least three systems directly interact within such a process: warehouse workforce scheduling, delivery scheduling, and routing system. Ideally, the whole problem with the preceding inventory management (restocking) would be solved in one optimization pass. In order to make the problem simpler, we first decompose the total problem by isolating the delivery scheduling. Then we connect the optimization model to the rest of the system by workload balancing goal that is a surrogate of coordination and criterion for the system robustness. This paper presents the practical application of top-down discrete optimization that streamlines operations and enables better reactivity to changes in circumstances. We search for repetitive weekly delivery patterns that balance the daily warehouse and transportation utilization in the absence of capacity constraints. Delivery patterns are optimized for the quality criteria regarding specific store-warehouse pair types, with a special focus on fresh food delivery that aims at reducing inventory write-offs due to aging. The previous setup included semimanual scheduling based on templates, historical prototypes, and domain knowledge. We have found that the system augmented with the new automated delivery scheduling system brings an improvement of 3% in the performance measure as well as speed in adjusting to the changes, such was the case with changes in policies during COVID-19 lockdowns

Thermal Characterization of Next-Generation Workloads on Heterogeneous MPSoCs

Next-generation High-Performance Computing (HPC) applications need to tackle outstanding computational complexity while meeting latency and Quality-of-Service constraints. Heterogeneous Multi-Processor Systems-on-Chip (MPSoCs), equipped with a mix of general-purpose cores and reconfigurable fabric for custom acceleration of computational blocks, are key in providing the flexibility to meet the requirements of next-generation HPC. However, heterogeneity brings new challenges to efficient chip thermal management. In this context, accurate and fast thermal simulators are becoming crucial to understand and exploit the trade-offs brought by heterogeneous MPSoCs. In this paper, we first thermally characterize a next-generation HPC workload, the online video transcoding application, using a highly-accurate Infra-Red (IR) microscope. Second, we extend the 3D-ICE thermal simulation tool with a new generic heat spreader model capable of accurately reproducing package surface temperature, with an average error of 6.8% for the hot spots of the chip. Our model is used to characterize the thermal behaviour of the online transcoding application when running on a heterogeneous MPSoC. Moreover, by using our detailed thermal system characterization we are able to explore different application mappings as well as the thermal limits of such heterogeneous platforms

Comparison of Swallowing Act Videofluoroscopy after Open and Laser Partial Supraglottic Laryngectomy

Introduction: The aim of this study was to compare the functional outcomes of swallowing act detected by videofluoroscopy of two different techniques in the treatment of laryngeal carcinoma.   Materials and Methods: This study was conducted on 41 patients undergoing two supraglottic laryngectomy techniques. The research population was assigned into two groups of open and laser supraglottic laryngectomy, including 21 and 20 patients, respectively.   Results: Food residue was present in most of the patients in the open laryngectomy group. Aspiration of the liquid and solid contrasts was observed in 16 and 4 patients, respectively. In the laser laryngectomy group undergoing a partial supraglottic laryngectomy via carbon dioxide (CO2) laser, aspiration was recorded in only six patients. There was a statistically significant difference between these two groups regarding the presence of aspiration as a marker of a bad functional outcome.   Conclusion: Techniques that include the endoscopic removal of the tumor via CO2 laser result in good oncologic and functional outcomes, along with reduced postoperative morbidity and mortality

The MANGO FET-HPC Project: an overview

© 2015 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other works.In this paper, we provide an overview of the MANGO project and its goal. The MANGO project aims at addressing power, performance and predictability (the PPP space) in future High-Performance Computing systems. It starts from the fundamental intuition that effective techniques for all three goals ultimately rely on customization to adapt the computing resources to reach the desired Quality of Service (QoS). From this starting point, MANGO will explore different but interrelated mechanisms at various architectural levels, as well as at the level of the system software. In particular, to explore a new positioning across the PPP space, MANGO will investigate system-wide, holistic, proactive thermal and power management aimed at extreme-scale energy efficiency.The MANGO project starts in October 2015 and is funded by the European Commission under the Horizon 2020 FET-HPC program. This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 671668.Flich Cardo, J.; Agosta, G.; Ampletzer, P.; Atienza Alonso, D.; Cilardo, A.; Fornaciari, W.; Kovac, M.... (2015). The MANGO FET-HPC Project: an overview. IEEE Computer Society. https://doi.org/10.1109/CSE.2015.57

Vitruvius+: An area-efficient RISC-V decoupled vector coprocessor for high performance computing applications

The maturity level of RISC-V and the availability of domain-specific instruction set extensions, like vector processing, make RISC-V a good candidate for supporting the integration of specialized hardware in processor cores for the High Performance Computing (HPC) application domain. In this article,1 we present Vitruvius+, the vector processing acceleration engine that represents the core of vector instruction execution in the HPC challenge that comes within the EuroHPC initiative. It implements the RISC-V vector extension (RVV) 0.7.1 and can be easily connected to a scalar core using the Open Vector Interface standard. Vitruvius+ natively supports long vectors: 256 double precision floating-point elements in a single vector register. It is composed of a set of identical vector pipelines (lanes), each containing a slice of the Vector Register File and functional units (one integer, one floating point). The vector instruction execution scheme is hybrid in-order/out-of-order and is supported by register renaming and arithmetic/memory instruction decoupling. On a stand-alone synthesis, Vitruvius+ reaches a maximum frequency of 1.4 GHz in typical conditions (TT/0.80V/25°C) using GlobalFoundries 22FDX FD-SOI. The silicon implementation has a total area of 1.3 mm2 and maximum estimated power of ~920 mW for one instance of Vitruvius+ equipped with eight vector lanes.This research has received funding from the European High Performance Computing Joint Undertaking (JU) under Framework Partnership Agreement No 800928 (European Processor Initiative) and Specific Grant Agreement No 101036168 (EPI SGA2). The JU receives support from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme and from Croatia, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland. The EPI-SGA2 project, PCI2022-132935 is also co-funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and by the UE NextGen- erationEU/PRTR. This work has also been partially supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (PID2019-107255GB-C21/AEI/10.13039/501100011033).Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Differential cross section measurements for the production of a W boson in association with jets in proton–proton collisions at √s = 7 TeV

Measurements are reported of differential cross sections for the production of a W boson, which decays into a muon and a neutrino, in association with jets, as a function of several variables, including the transverse momenta (pT) and pseudorapidities of the four leading jets, the scalar sum of jet transverse momenta (HT), and the difference in azimuthal angle between the directions of each jet and the muon. The data sample of pp collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV was collected with the CMS detector at the LHC and corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 5.0 fb[superscript −1]. The measured cross sections are compared to predictions from Monte Carlo generators, MadGraph + pythia and sherpa, and to next-to-leading-order calculations from BlackHat + sherpa. The differential cross sections are found to be in agreement with the predictions, apart from the pT distributions of the leading jets at high pT values, the distributions of the HT at high-HT and low jet multiplicity, and the distribution of the difference in azimuthal angle between the leading jet and the muon at low values.United States. Dept. of EnergyNational Science Foundation (U.S.)Alfred P. Sloan Foundatio

Optimasi Portofolio Resiko Menggunakan Model Markowitz MVO Dikaitkan dengan Keterbatasan Manusia dalam Memprediksi Masa Depan dalam Perspektif Al-Qur`an

Risk portfolio on modern finance has become increasingly technical, requiring the use of sophisticated mathematical tools in both research and practice. Since companies cannot insure themselves completely against risk, as human incompetence in predicting the future precisely that written in Al-Quran surah Luqman verse 34, they have to manage it to yield an optimal portfolio. The objective here is to minimize the variance among all portfolios, or alternatively, to maximize expected return among all portfolios that has at least a certain expected return. Furthermore, this study focuses on optimizing risk portfolio so called Markowitz MVO (Mean-Variance Optimization). Some theoretical frameworks for analysis are arithmetic mean, geometric mean, variance, covariance, linear programming, and quadratic programming. Moreover, finding a minimum variance portfolio produces a convex quadratic programming, that is minimizing the objective function ðð¥with constraintsð ð 𥠥 ðandð´ð¥ = ð. The outcome of this research is the solution of optimal risk portofolio in some investments that could be finished smoothly using MATLAB R2007b software together with its graphic analysis

Impacts of the Tropical Pacific/Indian Oceans on the Seasonal Cycle of the West African Monsoon

The current consensus is that drought has developed in the Sahel during the second half of the twentieth century as a result of remote effects of oceanic anomalies amplified by local land–atmosphere interactions. This paper focuses on the impacts of oceanic anomalies upon West African climate and specifically aims to identify those from SST anomalies in the Pacific/Indian Oceans during spring and summer seasons, when they were significant. Idealized sensitivity experiments are performed with four atmospheric general circulation models (AGCMs). The prescribed SST patterns used in the AGCMs are based on the leading mode of covariability between SST anomalies over the Pacific/Indian Oceans and summer rainfall over West Africa. The results show that such oceanic anomalies in the Pacific/Indian Ocean lead to a northward shift of an anomalous dry belt from the Gulf of Guinea to the Sahel as the season advances. In the Sahel, the magnitude of rainfall anomalies is comparable to that obtained by other authors using SST anomalies confined to the proximity of the Atlantic Ocean. The mechanism connecting the Pacific/Indian SST anomalies with West African rainfall has a strong seasonal cycle. In spring (May and June), anomalous subsidence develops over both the Maritime Continent and the equatorial Atlantic in response to the enhanced equatorial heating. Precipitation increases over continental West Africa in association with stronger zonal convergence of moisture. In addition, precipitation decreases over the Gulf of Guinea. During the monsoon peak (July and August), the SST anomalies move westward over the equatorial Pacific and the two regions where subsidence occurred earlier in the seasons merge over West Africa. The monsoon weakens and rainfall decreases over the Sahel, especially in August.Peer reviewe

Juxtaposing BTE and ATE – on the role of the European insurance industry in funding civil litigation

One of the ways in which legal services are financed, and indeed shaped, is through private insurance arrangement. Two contrasting types of legal expenses insurance contracts (LEI) seem to dominate in Europe: before the event (BTE) and after the event (ATE) legal expenses insurance. Notwithstanding institutional differences between different legal systems, BTE and ATE insurance arrangements may be instrumental if government policy is geared towards strengthening a market-oriented system of financing access to justice for individuals and business. At the same time, emphasizing the role of a private industry as a keeper of the gates to justice raises issues of accountability and transparency, not readily reconcilable with demands of competition. Moreover, multiple actors (clients, lawyers, courts, insurers) are involved, causing behavioural dynamics which are not easily predicted or influenced. Against this background, this paper looks into BTE and ATE arrangements by analysing the particularities of BTE and ATE arrangements currently available in some European jurisdictions and by painting a picture of their respective markets and legal contexts. This allows for some reflection on the performance of BTE and ATE providers as both financiers and keepers. Two issues emerge from the analysis that are worthy of some further reflection. Firstly, there is the problematic long-term sustainability of some ATE products. Secondly, the challenges faced by policymakers that would like to nudge consumers into voluntarily taking out BTE LEI

Penilaian Kinerja Keuangan Koperasi di Kabupaten Pelalawan

This paper describe development and financial performance of cooperative in District Pelalawan among 2007 - 2008. Studies on primary and secondary cooperative in 12 sub-districts. Method in this stady use performance measuring of productivity, efficiency, growth, liquidity, and solvability of cooperative. Productivity of cooperative in Pelalawan was highly but efficiency still low. Profit and income were highly, even liquidity of cooperative very high, and solvability was good