AN AGENT-BASED COOPERATIVE MECHANISM FOR INTEGRATED PRODUCTION AND TRANSPORTATION PLANNING

This paper presents a decentralized cooperative economic scheduling mechanism for a supply chain environment. For this purpose, we design autonomous agents that minimize the production or transportation costs and outsourcing costs incurred by the external execution of a task. The decentralized cooperative scheduling approach comprises two parts: the individual optimization an agent\u27s local schedule and the cooperative contract optimization, either by outsourcing the task or by (re-)contracting the release time and due time with the contract partners aiming to maximize their total profits. A negotiation mechanism based on trust accounts is employed to protect the agents against systematic exploitation by their partners

The Drone-Assisted Traveling Salesman Problem with Robot Stations

In this paper, we study the Drone-Assisted Traveling Salesman Problem with Robot Stations (TSP-D-RS). Specifically, we assume that there is a single truck that is equipped with a drone, and one or more potential sites of stations that might accommodate some robots. The TSP-D-RS asks for a valid route of the truck as well as feasible utilization of the drone and robots, such that all customers are served and minimal delivery time (makespan) or cost is accomplished. We provide a Mixed Integer Linear Programming formulation of the problem and perform a detailed numerical study. Through our numerical results, it is revealed that our formulation can be effectively addressed by a state-of-the-art solver. In addition, we demonstrate that optimizing the makespan coincides with reduced costs. In contrast, optimizing the operational costs might increase the makespan significantly. Furthermore, depending on the objective function, the operational utilization of the vehicles differs

Coordination of Supply Webs Based on Dispositive Protocols

A lot of curricula in information systems, also at master level, exists today. However, the strong need in new approaches and new curricula still exists, especially, in European area. The paper discusses the modern curriculum in information systems at master level that is currently under development in the Socrates/Erasmus project MOCURIS. The curriculum is oriented to the students of engineering schools of technical universities. The proposed approach takes into account integration trends in European area as well as the transformation of industrial economics into knowledge-based digital economics The paper presents main characteristics of the proposed curriculum, discuses curriculum development techniques used in the project MOCURIS, describes the architecture of the proposed curriculum and the body of knowledge provided by it

Injury mechanisms, patterns and outcomes of older polytrauma patients:An analysis of the Dutch Trauma Registry

BackgroundPolytrauma patients nowadays tend to be older due to the growth of the elderly population and its improved mobility. The aim of this study was to compare demographics, injury patterns, injury mechanisms and outcomes between younger and older polytrauma patients.MethodsData from polytrauma (ISS &gt;= 16) patients between 2009 and 2014 were extracted from the Dutch trauma registry (DTR). Younger (Group A: ages 18-59) and older (Group B: ages &gt;= 60) polytrauma patients were compared. Differences in injury severity, trauma mechanism (only data for the year 2014), vital signs, injury patterns, ICU characteristics and hospital mortality were analyzed.ResultsData of 25,304 polytrauma patients were analyzed. The older patients represented 47.8% of the polytrauma population. Trauma mechanism in the older patients was more likely to be a bicycle accident (A: 17%; B: 21%) or a low-energy fall (A: 13%; B: 43%). Younger polytrauma patients were more likely to have the worst scores on the Glasgow coma scale (EMV = 3, A: 20%, B: 13%). However, serious head injuries were seen more often in the older patients (A: 53%; B: 69%). The hospital mortality was doubled for the older polytrauma patients (19.8% vs. 9.6%).ConclusionElderly are involved more often in polytrauma. Although injury severity did not differ between groups, the older polytrauma patients were at a higher risk of dying than their younger counterparts despite sustaining less high-energy accidents.</p

Discovery of an old nova remnant in the Galactic globular cluster M 22

A nova is a cataclysmic event on the surface of a white dwarf in a binary system that increases the overall brightness by several orders of magnitude. Although binary systems with a white dwarf are expected to be overabundant in globular clusters (GCs) compared to the Galaxy, only two novae from Galactic globular clusters have been observed. We present the discovery of an emission nebula in the Galactic globular cluster M 22 (NGC 6656) in observations made with the integral-field spectrograph MUSE. We extract the spectrum of the nebula and use the radial velocity determined from the emission lines to confirm that the nebula is part of NGC 6656. Emission-line ratios are used to determine the electron temperature and density. It is estimated to have a mass of 1 to $17 \times 10^{-5}$ solar masses. This mass and the emission-line ratios indicate that the nebula is a nova remnant. Its position coincides with the reported location of a 'guest star', an ancient Chinese term for transients, observed in May 48 BCE. With this discovery, this nova may be one of the oldest confirmed extrasolar events recorded in human history.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures; accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysic