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The paper introduces the student‐coined term digital instinct which describes students' disposition to resorting to digital technology for solving problems and doing school assignments. Taking cues from the term digital instinct, the paper describes a student perspective on digital literacy emerging from 100 lived experience descriptions and interviews with 37 Danish upper secondary students. The findings show that students' digital practice is characterised by experience‐based, intuitive and familiar use of technologies. Most notably, students employ digital technologies as cognitive partners that help them carry on with assignments that they initially did not understand, but that they were able to complete with the help of the computer. The study examines the nature of this partnership through the words of the students and identifies how technologies expand student agency but fall short of a reflective use of digital technologies. Recognising the strengths and weaknesses of students' digital practices may inform the concept of digital literacy and encourage teachers to acknowledge the digital instinct as a steppingstone to foster students' reflective use of digital technologies. Practitioner notesWhat is already known about this topic Students have inadequate command of digital literacies as described in curricular terminology.Students have positive as well as negative perceptions of the value and usefulness of digital technologies in school.Students both over‐ and underestimate their own digital literacies.What this paper adds Students have a fundamental utilitarian conception of digital technologies that either make schoolwork easier or more difficult, and they do not articulate that their use of digital technologies provides them with digital literacies.Students' conception of a digital instinct describes an intuitive and familiar, albeit unreflected, use of technologies where students employ experience‐based and self‐taught methods for using digital technologies.The digital instinct accounts for a feeling of agency among students, manifested in a widespread confidence that they can do assignments and solve problems when they make use of their computer.Implications for practice and/or policy Curricular terminologies struggle to capture what students can and cannot do with technology, and how much they understand the underlying technology.Teachers can involve and build on students' experience‐based digital practices as a starting point for developing digital literacy among students—also as an entry to a curricular perspective.Teachers should acknowledge students' conception of a 'digital instinct' as an important disposition in its own right. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reviewer Assignment Problem (RAP) is a crucial problem for the conference due to time constraints and inadequate availability of expert reviewers. A fair evaluation of paper is key to an author's success, paper quality, conference reputation, and productive usage of funds. Recent studies reflect on the issue of reviewer bias in bids favoring authors belonging to the top institution and higher authority. Existing Conference Management Systems (CMS) are solely dependent upon self-declared Conflict of Interest (CoI) made by the authors, and reviewers. In literature, existing studies considers topic similarity , potential CoI , and reviewer's workload as trivial factors for ensuring review quality. Other factors include the diversity and authority of a reviewer. Past studies propose several theoretical optimization models. In this paper, we first individually model the factors using the best possible strategy in a constrained-based optimization framework. We tried to propose a completely novel framework that can be practically implemented to improve upon the performance of existing CMS. We map the RAP to an equilibrium multi-job assignment problem. Moreover, we propose a meta-heuristic greedy solution to solve it using weighted matrix factorization. We re-define an assignment quality metric required to validate such assignments. A real conference assignment data set collected from EasyChair is used for a comparative study. The TPMS is used as a baseline because it also uses similar factors, and due to its integration with widely used Microsoft CMS. The results show that the mean assignment quality of the proposed method is superior to other benchmark RAP systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reviewing is the most important step in the quality accreditation of scientific works, requires the professional expertise of the reviewer as well as there is no conflict of interest in the evaluation process. However, we also acknowledge that reviewers have limited knowledge, experience and opinions about the work of others, so they may misinterpret the author's point of view, leading to the rejection of excellent scientific work or a potentially successful project proposal. Manually selecting reviewers can lead to bias and time-consuming. To solve these problems, we have developed a support system for selecting a group of reviewers to evaluate a particular problem, such as a proposal or a research paper. Our support system consists of three main modules: data collection, reviewer identification and group prediction of reviewers. The Data Collection module collects data from a variety of sources to create the scientist profile database. The reviewer identification module recognizes reviewers on a specific topic. The reviewer prediction module provides a group of exp reviewers to evaluate a submitted paper or a proposal. Experiments on the DBLP computer science bibliography dataset showed that our system achieves better results in terms of accuracy in comparison to other methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, the demand for electronic products has been increasing rapidly. T mounting technology (SMT) line is one of the production areas for electronic products, directly affecting this situation. In an SMT line, multiple machines mount electronic parts to the board. The worker must complete work when the parts used in these machines are within the remaining parts available for replacement. When a worker fails to replace parts at the right time, the production line stops, and delays occur. Besides, there may be a designated worker who should be assigned to each task. In the current situation, workers' work procedures are not optimized, so they should schedule work procedures for each worker. This problem is called Worker Assignment Problem with Time Window (WAPTW). This paper proposes a method to solve WAPTW called Genetic Algorithm with Local Restriction (GALR). GALR combines a genetic algorithm (GA) and local search with local restriction. This paper's main contribution is introducing WAPTW as a novel real-world optimization problem in an electricity company, its mathematical formulation, and a proposed GALR to solve WAPTW. The experiment shows that the proposed method could yield the best result in real-world WAPTW compared with other methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we investigate a scenario in which protected and unprotected services coexist in an elastic optical network under dynamic traffic. In the investigated scenario, unprotected services can reuse the reserved idle bandwidth to provide protection to the protected services. Under this scenario, we propose a new heuristic algorithm that enables such reuse as well as define and introduce a new assignment problem in elastic optical networks, named a Transmission Spectrum Assignment (T-SA) problem. In this paper, we consider a scenario in which services may be routed using the multipath routing approach. Additionally, protection using bandwidth squeezing is also considered. We assess our proposal through simulations on three different network topologies and compare our proposal against the classical protection approach, in which bandwidth reuse is not allowed. For the simulated range of network loads, the maximum (minimum) blocking probability reduction obtained by our proposal is approximately 48% (10%) in the European topology, 46% (7%) in the NSFNET topology, and 32% (6%) in the German topology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new methodology for solving the fuzzy multiobjective optimization problems is proposed in this paper by considering the fusion of cooperative game theory and genetic algorithm. The original fuzzy multiobjective optimization problem needs to be transformed into a scalar optimization problem, which is a conventional optimization problem. Usually, the assignments of suitable coefficients to the corresponding scalar optimization problem are subjectively determined by the decision makers. However, these assignments may cause some biases by their subjectivity. Therefore, this paper proposes a mechanical procedure to avoid this subjective biases. We are going to formulate a cooperative game using the α -level functions of the multiple fuzzy objective functions. Under this setting, the suitable coefficients can be determined mechanically by involving the core values of the cooperative game, which is formulated using the multiple fuzzy objective functions. We shall prove that the optimal solutions of the transformed scalar optimization problem are indeed the nondominated solutions of fuzzy multiobjective optimization problem. Since the core-nondominated solutions will depend on the coefficients that are determined by the core values of cooperative game, there will be a lot of core-nondominated solutions that will also depend on the corresponding coefficients. In order to obtain the best core-nondominated solution, we shall invoke the genetic algorithms by evolving the coefficients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aiming at the problems of traditional dynamic weapon-target assignment algorithms in command decisionmaking, such as large computational amount, slow solution speed, and low calculation accuracy, combined with deep reinforcement learning theory, an improved Deep Deterministic Policy Gradient algorithm with dual noise and prioritized experience replay is proposed, which uses a double noise mechanism to expand the search range of the action, and introduces a priority experience playback mechanism to effectively achieve data utilization. Finally, the algorithmis simulated and validated on the ground-to-air countermeasures digital battlefield. The results of the experiment show that, under the framework of the deep neural network for intelligent weapon-target assignment proposed in this paper, compared to the traditional RELU algorithm, the agent trained with reinforcement learning algorithms, such asDeepDeterministic Policy Gradient algorithm, Asynchronous Advantage Actor-Critic algorithm, Deep Q Network algorithm performs better. It shows that the use of deep reinforcement learning algorithms to solve the weapon-target assignment problem in the field of air defense operations is scientific. In contrast to other reinforcement learning algorithms, the agent trained by the improved Deep Deterministic Policy Gradient algorithm has a higher win rate and reward in confrontation, and the use of weapon resources is more efficient. It shows that the model and algorithm have certain superiority and rationality. The results of this paper provide new ideas for solving the problem of weapon-target assignment in air defense combat command decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The solution to the assembly line balancing with the hierarchical worker assignment problem (ALBHWP) provides the optimal allocation of workers and tasks to the stations that minimise the total worker cost. In the ALBHWP, tasks differ in terms of the qualification requirements of workers, and the qualification levels of workers are hierarchical. In the hierarchical workforce structure, a lower qualified worker can be replaced by higher qualified ones with higher costs, while the vice versa is not applicable. This problem has only been studied for straight assembly lines so far. In this paper, we introduce the ALBHWP for U-shaped assembly lines. We developed integer and constraint programming models for solving the ALBHWP and compared their effectiveness using an extensive set of benchmark instances. We solved the ALBHWP for straight and U-shaped assembly lines comparatively. Constraint programming models have been statistically proven to provide better quality solutions faster than integer programming models. Besides, the CP model outperforms the only available metaheuristic in the literature for the S-ALBHWP in almost all problem sizes. Another observation is that a U-shaped line design is more cost-effective than a straight line design, but solving the ALBHWP for U-shaped lines is more difficult regarding computational complexity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Assignment Problem (AP) can be stated as n activities to be assigned to n resources in such a way that the overall cost of assignment is minimized and each activity is assigned to one and only one resource. In real-life, the parameters of the AP are presented as uncertain numbers due to the lack of knowledge, experiences or any other (internal or external) factor. In this paper, the AP is considered under intuitionistic triangular fuzzy number and solved by the novel constructive heuristic Dhouib-Matrix-AP1 (DM-AP1) with a time complexity of O(n). Actually, this paper presents the first enhancement of the novel heuristic DM-AP1 to solve the AP under intuitionistic triangular fuzzy environment. DM-AP1 is composed of three simple steps: computing the total cost, selecting the highest value and finding the minimal element. These steps are repeated in n iterations with the use of a standard deviation statistical metric. Two case studies of AP under intuitionistic triangular fuzzy set are taken from the literature and a step-by-step application of the novel DM-AP1 heuristic is presented for more clarification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to regulate work in process (WIP) to the desired value in the job shop production control system, capacity adjustment as an effective and efficient measure, which is typically achieved by flexible staffs and working time. In this paper, instead of traditional labour-oriented approaches, we consider a machinery-based capacity adjustment via reconfigurable machine tools (RMTs) to compensate for unpredictable events. To this end, we employ model predictive control (MPC) in combination with genetic algorithm (GA) to explicitly consider complex reconfiguration strategies and address the related integer assignment optimisation problems. To further reduce energy consumption and avoid frequent and unnecessary reconfigurations while keeping a certain level of performance, we adopt an event-triggered MPC scheme with the proposed 'Double-layer event-triggering conditions'. Through extensively illustrated simulations, we demonstrate the effectiveness and plug-and-play availability of the proposed method for a six-workstation four-product job shop system and compare it to a state-of-the-art method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates an energy-efficient scheduling problem on unrelated parallel machines considering general position-based deterioration which arises from the labour-intensive textile industry. The actual processing time of a job is not only associated with the job and the machine but also with its position in the processing sequence. The objective is to minimise the total energy consumption with a bounded makespan. To address this problem, we first establish a mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) model. Afterwards, the initial model is improved by deriving lower and upper bounds on the makespan, and an upper bound on the number of jobs processed on each machine. We also develop an iterative heuristic embedded with a variable neighbourhood search procedure (IHVNS). The algorithm obtains initial solutions iteratively by solving assignment problems and then repairs and improves them with the VNS procedure. Computational results demonstrate that the improved model is up to 230 times faster than the original one. Moreover, the proposed heuristic yields excellent solutions with average gaps of less than 0.73% for large-scale instances. Especially, the results reveal that the IHVNS algorithm is more suitable than MILP models for solving large-scale problems with tight makespan restrictions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In response to the practice of rescue channel blocking and a shortage of emergency materials in the event of sudden significant disasters, a multi-UAV collaborative distribution scheme was designed based on the demand for rapid and accurate distribution of materials. This paper constructed a multi-UAV collaborative task assignment and routing problem with simultaneous delivery and pick-up and time windows (MVTARPSDPTW), considering the factors of UAV load, energy consumption, cargo quality, and volume to minimize the total cost of UAV distribution and the full penalty of the task, as well as optimizing the balance of UAV efficiency. This paper proposes a multi-objective, improved brainstorming optimization algorithm based on Pareto dominance (MIBSO) to solve the MVTARPSDPTW problem. With DTLZ4, DTLZ5, and DTLZ6 benchmarks, this work tests the algorithm performance according to the characteristic attributes of the model sought, selecting the four indicators of GD, the Spacing metric, HV, and IGD, concerning convergence, solution distribution, and comprehensive performance. Case validation is based on a COVID-19 scenario in Changchun, China, and the results show that the model algorithm designed in this paper has good performance and feasibility in convergence and distribution of reconciliation. Finally, the multi-UAV emergency material distribution solution provides practical, theoretical support for rescue tasks in sudden significant disasters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Various approaches and algorithms have been proposed since the 1950s to solve the assembly line (AL) balancing problem. These methods have established an AL configuration from the beginning. However, a prebalanced AL may have to be rebalanced in real life for many reasons, such as changes in the cycle time, production demand, product features or task operation times. This problem has increasingly attracted the interest of scientists in recent years. This study aims to offer a detailed review of the assembly line rebalancing problems (ALRBPs) to provide a better insight into the theoretical and practical applications of ALRBPs. Design/methodology/approach: A structured database search was conducted, and 41 ALRBP papers published between 2005 and 2022 were classified based on the problem structure, objective functions, problem constraints, reasons for rebalancing, solution approaches and type of data used for solution evaluation. Finally, future research directions were identified and recommended. Findings: Single model, straight lines with deterministic task times were the most studied type of the ALRBPs. Eighteen percent of the studies solved worker assignment problems together with ALRBP. Product demand and cycle time changes were the leading causes of the rebalancing need. Furthermore, seven future research opportunities were suggested. Originality/value: Although there are many review studies on AL balancing problems, to the best of the authors' knowledge, there have been no attempts to review the studies on ALRBPs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Safefy-critical domains often employ autonomous agents which follow a sequential decision-making setup, whereby the agent follows a policy to dictate the appropriate action at each step. AI-practitioners often employ reinforcement learning algorithms to allow an agent to find the best policy. However, sequential systems often lack clear and immediate signs of wrong actions, with consequences visible only in hindsight, making it difficult to humans to understand system failure. In reinforcement learning, this is referred to as the credit assignment problem. To effectively collaborate with an autonomous system, particularly in a safety-critical setting, explanations should enable a user to better understand the policy of the agent and predict system behavior so that users are cognizant of potential failures and these failures can be diagnosed and mitigated. However, humans are diverse and have innate biases or preferences which may enhance or impair the utility of a policy explanation of a sequential agent. Therefore, in this paper, we designed and conducted human-subjects experiment to identify the factors which influence the perceived usability with the objective usefulness of policy explanations for reinforcement learning agents in a sequential setting. Our study had two factors: the modality of policy explanation shown to the user (Tree, Text, Modified Text, and Programs) and the "first impression" of the agent, i.e., whether the user saw the agent succeed or fail in the introductory calibration video. Our findings characterize a preference-performance tradeoff wherein participants perceived languagebased policy explanations to be significantly more useable; however, participants were better able to objectively predict the agent's behavior when provided an explanation in the form of a decision tree. Our results demonstrate that user-specific factors, such as computer science experience (p < 0.05), and situational factors, such as watching agent crash (p < 0.05), can significantly impact the perception and usefulness of the explanation. This research provides key insights to alleviate prevalent issues regarding innappropriate compliance and reliance, which are exponentially more detrimental in safety-critical settings, providing a path forward for XAI developers for future work on policy-explanations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the online facility assignment problem OFA (k , { c i } i = 1 k) , there exist k servers s 1 , ... , s k on a metric space where each s i has an integer capacity c i and a request arrives one-by-one. The task of an online algorithm is to irrevocably match a current request with one of the servers with vacancies before the next request arrives. As special cases for OFA (k , { c i } i = 1 k) , we consider OFA (k , { c i } i = 1 k) on a line , which is denoted by OFAL (k , { c i } i = 1 k) and OFAL eq (k , { c i } i = 1 k) , where the latter is the case of OFAL (k , { c i } i = 1 k) with equidistant servers. In this paper, we perform the competitive analysis for the above problems. As a natural generalization of the greedy algorithm grdy, we introduce a class of algorithms called MPFS (Most Preferred Free Servers) and show that any MPFS algorithm has the capacity-insensitive property, i.e., for any MPFS algorithm alg for OFA (k , { c i } i = 1 k) , if alg is c -competitive when c 1 = ⋯ = c k = 1 , then alg is c -competitive for general { c i } i = 1 k . By applying the capacity-insensitive property of the greedy algorithm grdy, we derive the matching upper and lower bounds 4 k − 5 on the competitive ratio of grdy for OFAL eq (k , { c i } i = 1 k). To investigate the capability of MPFS algorithms, we show that the competitive ratio of any MPFS algorithm alg for OFAL eq (k , { c i } i = 1 k) is at least 2 k − 1. Then, we propose a new MPFS algorithm idas (Interior Division for Adjacent Servers) for OFAL (k , { c i } i = 1 k) and show that the competitive ratio of idas for OFAL eq (k , { c i } i = 1 k) is at most 2 k − 1 , i.e., idas for OFAL eq (k , { c i } i = 1 k) is best possible in all the MPFS algorithms. We also give numerical experiments to investigate the performance of idas and grdy and show that idas performs better than grdy for distribution of request sequences with locality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers how an online food delivery platform can improve last-mile delivery services' performance using multi-source data. The delivery time is one critical but uncertain factor for online platforms that also regarded as the main challenges in order assignment and routing service. To tackle this challenge, we propose a data-driven optimization approach that combines machine learning techniques with capacitated vehicle routing optimization. Machine learning methods can provide more accurate predictions and have received increasing attention in the operations research field. However, different from the traditional predict-then-optimize paradigm, we use a new smart predict-then-optimize framework, whose prediction objective is constructed by decision error instead of prediction error when implementing machine learning. Using this type of prediction, we can obtain a more accurate decision in the following optimization step. Efficient mini-batching gradient and heuristic algorithms are designed to solve the joint order assignment and routing problem of last-mile delivery service. Besides, this paper considers the mutual effect between routing decision and delivery time, and provides the corresponding solution algorithm. In addition, this paper conducts a computational study and finds that the proposed method's performance has an approximate 5% improvement compared with other methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Task assignment is a key issue in mobile crowdsensing (MCS). Previous task assignment methods were mainly static offline assignment. However, the MCS platform needs to process dynamically changing workers and tasks online in the actual assignment process. Hence, a reliable dynamic assignment strategy is crucial to improving the platform's efficiency. This paper proposes an MCS dynamic task assignment framework to solve the task maximization assignment problem with spatiotemporal properties. First, a single worker is modeled for the Markov decision process, and a deep reinforcement learning algorithm (DDQN) is used to perform offline learning on historical task data. Then, in the dynamic assignment process, we consider the impact of current decisions on future decisions. Use the maximum flow model to maximize the number of tasks completed in each period while maximizing the expected Q value of all workers to achieve the optimal global assignment. Experiments show that the strategy proposed in this paper has good performance compared with the baseline strategy under different conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Correlation-based storage assignment approach has been intensively explored during the last three decades to improve the order picking efficiency. The purpose of this study is to present a comprehensive assessment of the literature about the state-of-the-art techniques used to solve correlated storage location assignment problems (CSLAP). Design/methodology/approach: A systematic literature review has been carried out based on content analysis to identify, select, analyze, and critically summarize all the studies available on CSLAP. This study begins with the selection of relevant keywords, and narrowing down the selected papers based on various criteria. Findings: Most correlated storage assignment problems are expressed as NP-hard integer programming models. The studies have revealed that CSLAP is evaluated with many approaches. The solution methods can be mainly categorized into heuristic approach, meta-heuristic approach, and data mining approach. With the advancement of computing power, researchers have taken up the challenge of solving more complex storage assignment problems. Furthermore, applications of the models developed are being tested on actual industry data to comprehend the efficiency of the models. Practical implications: The content of this article can be used as a guide to help practitioners and researchers to become adequately knowledgeable on CSLAP for their future work. Originality/value: Since there has been no recent state-of-the-art evaluation of CSLAP, this paper fills that need by systematizing and unifying recent work and identifying future research scopes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our new density functional theory calculations by Gaussian reproduce the bond lengths and Raman spectra of a number of model tetrahedral Si and P compounds [the ten compounds in the SiHxD4−x and SiFxCl4−x (x = 0–4) series, and the tetramer P4O10]. The number of symmetric A1 peaks is determined by group theory, and the center of mass is especially important for the assignment of the three A1 peaks for P4O10 to the two P–O stretches and the O–P–O bend. Additional Gaussian calculations on isolated C3v PO4 tetrahedra, using the P–O bond lengths and O–P–O bond angles from the P4O10 optimization, also reproduce the three peak P4O10 Raman spectra and provide an important guide to the assignment of the two low energy peaks at ∼500 and ∼700 cm−1 to the P–BO (BO = P–O–P) stretch and BO–P–BO bend, respectively, in contrast to all earlier assignments. In the SiFxCl4−x series, there is a regular increase in the Si–F A1 frequency and a decrease in the Si–Cl A1 frequency across the series. Similar trends are seen in the SiClx(CH3)4−x series, and these trends are due to changes in the electron densities in the tetrahedron when an electronegative F or Cl is replaced by a less electronegative Cl or CH3, as measured by previous Si 2p, F 1s, Cl 2p, and C 1s x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. These considerations serve as a guide for the interpretation of the Raman spectra of silicate glasses in Paper II [Bancroft et al., AIP Adv. 13, 125216 (2023)]. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studying the task assignment problem of multiple underwater robots has a broad effect on the field of underwater exploration and can be helpful in military, fishery, and energy. However, to the best of our knowledge, few studies have focused on multi-constrained underwater detection task assignment for heterogeneous autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) clusters with autonomous decision-making capabilities, and the current popular heuristicmethods have difficulty obtaining optimal cluster unit task assignment results. In this paper, a fast graph pointer network (FGPN) method, which is a hybrid of graph pointer network (GPN) and genetic algorithm, is proposed to solve the task assignment problem of detection/communication AUV clusters, and to improve the assignment efficiency on the basis of ensuring the accuracy of task assignment. A two-stage detection algorithmis used. First, the task nodes are clustered and pre-grouped according to the communication distance. Then, according to the clustering results, a neural network model based on graph pointer network is used to solve the local task assignment results. A large-scale cluster cooperative task assignment problem and a detection/communication cooperative work mode are proposed, which transform the cooperative cooperation problem of heterogeneous AUV clusters into a Multiple Traveling salesman problem(MTSP) for solving. We also conducted a large number of experiments to verify the effectiveness of the algorithm. The experimental results show that the solution efficiency of the method proposed in this paper is better than the traditional heuristic method on the scale of 300/500/750/1,000/1,500/2,000 task nodes, and the solution quality is similar to the result of the heuristic method. We hope that our ideas and methods for solving the large-scale cooperative task assignment problem can be used as a reference for large-scale task assignment problems and other related problems in other fields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the threat assessment method and target assignment algorithm in multi-UAV cooperative air combat decision-making. To address the uncertainty and dynamic changes in multiple threat attributes and attribute information of UAV targets, we propose a UAV target dynamic threat assessment method based on intuitionistic fuzzy multiattribute decision-making. Firstly, we propose a mixed situation information representation method to represent interval-valued fuzzy data appropriately. Secondly, we employ the normal distribution weight assignment method to fuse the multi-time situation information. Then, by incorporating the analytic hierarchy process and entropy method, we determine the normalized threat value of the target considering both objective situation data characteristics and decision-maker preferences. Finally, a simulation example is provided to validate the rationality of our proposed algorithm. For solving the multi-weapon multi-target assignment problem, a target assignment method based on the VNS-IBPSO algorithm is introduced. This method improves upon the limitations of the BPSO algorithm, such as limited local search capability and premature convergence, by combining variable neighborhood search and an improved binary particle swarm optimization algorithm. Simulation results show that the proposed threat assessment method can obtain reasonable threat assessment results under complex dynamic environments. The proposed VNS-IBPSO algorithm can solve the target assignment model quickly and efficiently based on the assessment results, therefore ensuring that the UAV mission planning system makes the correct combat plan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Linear assignment problems hold a pivotal role in combinatorial optimization, offering a broad spectrum of applications within the field of data sciences. They consist of assigning "agents" to "tasks" in a way that leads to a minimum total cost associated with the assignment. The assignment is balanced when the number of agents equals the number of tasks, with a one-to-one correspondence between agents and tasks, and it is and unbalanced otherwise. Additional options and constraints may be imposed, such as allowing agents to perform multiple tasks or allowing tasks to be performed by multiple agents. In this paper, we propose a novel framework that can solve all these assignment problems employing methodologies derived from the field of statistical physics. We describe this formalism in detail and validate all its assertions. A major part of this framework is the definition of a concave effective free energy function that encapsulates the constraints of the assignment problem within a finite temperature context. We demonstrate that this free energy monotonically decreases as a function of a parameter β representing the inverse of temperature. As β increases, the free energy converges to the optimal assignment cost. Furthermore, we demonstrate that when β values are sufficiently large, the exact solution to the assignment problem can be derived by rounding off the elements of the computed assignment matrix to the nearest integer. We describe a computer implementation of our framework and illustrate its application to multi-task assignment problems for which the Hungarian algorithm is not applicable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chromosomal fusion is a significant form of structural variation, but research into algorithms for its identification has been limited. Most existing methods rely on synteny analysis, which necessitates manual annotations and always involves inefficient sequence alignments. In this paper, we present a novel alignment-free algorithm for chromosomal fusion recognition. Our method transforms the problem into a series of assignment problems using natural vectors and efficiently solves them with the Kuhn-Munkres algorithm. When applied to the human/gorilla and swamp buffalo/river buffalo datasets, our algorithm successfully and efficiently identifies chromosomal fusion events. Notably, our approach offers several advantages, including higher processing speeds by eliminating time-consuming alignments and removing the need for manual annotations. By an alignment-free perspective, our algorithm initially considers entire chromosomes instead of fragments to identify chromosomal structural variations, offering substantial potential to advance research in this field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a mathematical model of the multi-objective faculty course assignment problem based on the double parametric form of fuzzy preferences. The fuzzy preferences are based on an analysis of faculty feedback given by students and an analysis of the results of the previous year's examination of students. The proposed model is developed utilizing faculty members' preferences, the preferences of an administrator for faculty members to courses, and fuzzy preferences based on faculty feedback and student result analysis. The double parametric approach solves a timetabling problem based on information from a university's hypothetical numerical data. The fuzzy programming technique with linear membership function is applied to generate efficient and non-dominated allocations with better optimal values and degree of satisfaction of objective functions for different values of parameters a and ß for fuzzy preferences. Results are found using LINGO19.0 software. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the paper a problem of assignment of tasks to machines is formulated and solved, where a criterion of data replication is used and a large size of data imposes additional constraints. This problem is met in practice when dealing with large genomic files or other types of vast data. The necessity of comparing all pairs of files within a big set of DNA sequencing results, which we collected, maintained, and analyzed within a national genomic project, brought us to the proposed results. This problem resembles that of generating a particular Steiner system, and a mechanism observed there is employed in one of our algorithms. Based on the problem complexity, we propose two heuristic algorithms, which work very well even for instances with tight constraints and a heterogeneous environment defined. In addition, we propose a simplified method, nevertheless capable of finding very good solutions and surpassing the algorithms in some special cases. The methods are validated in tests on a wide set of instances, where values of parameters reflect our real-world application and where their usefulness is proven. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the slack due-window assignment scheduling problem with deterioration effects and a deterioration maintenance activity on a single-machine. The machine deteriorates during the machining process, and at a certain moment performs a deterioration maintenance activity, that is, the duration time of the maintenance activity is a linear function of the maintenance starting time. It is needed to make a decision on when to schedule the deteriorating maintenance activity, the optimal common flow allowances and the sequence of jobs to minimize the weighted penalties for the sum of earliness and tardiness, weighted number of early and delayed, and weighted due-window starting time and size. This paper proposes a polynomial time algorithm to solve this problem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents ideas for constructing mathematics homework assignments based on lessons from the cognitive science of learning and memory. In particular, we focus on two popular techniques from the field: spaced practice and mixed practice. The paper describes the techniques and supporting research, and then discusses various straightforward ways to incorporate them into mathematics instruction via homework assignments. The ideas presented can be applied at virtually any level of instruction and may be of interest to educators looking to implement research-based practices from cognitive science. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Smart security based on object detection is one of the important applications of edge computing in IoT. Anchors in object detection refer to points on the feature map, which can be used to generate anchor boxes and serve as training samples. Current object detection models do not consider the aspect ratio of the ground-truth boxes in anchor assignment and are not well-adapted to objects with very different shapes. Therefore, this paper proposes the Lightweight Anchor Dynamic Assignment algorithm (LADA) for object detection. LADA does not change the structure of the original detection model; first, it selects an equal proportional center region based on the aspect ratio of the ground-truth box, then calculates the combined loss of anchors, and finally divides the positive and negative samples more efficiently by dynamic loss threshold without additional models. The algorithm solves the problems of poor adaptability and difficulty in the selection of the best positive samples based on IoU assignment, and the sample assignment for eccentric objects and objects with different aspect ratios was more reasonable. Compared with existing sample assignment algorithms, the LADA algorithm outperforms the MS COCO dataset by 1.66% over the AP of the baseline FCOS, and 0.76% and 0.24% over the AP of the ATSS algorithm and the PAA algorithm, respectively, with the same model structure, which demonstrates the effectiveness of the LADA algorithm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In an intelligent distribution warehouse, latent AGVs are used for horizontal handling, and forklift AGVs are used for horizontal or vertical handling. Studying the path planning and task assignment problem when the two types of AGVs are mixed can help improve the warehouse operation efficiency and reduce the warehouse operation cost. This paper proposes a two-stage optimization method to solve this problem. In the first stage, the warehouse plan layout is transformed into a raster map, and the shortest path between any two points of the warehouse without conflict with fixed obstacles is planned and stored using the A* algorithm combined with circular rules, and the planned shortest path is called directly in the subsequent stages. In the second stage, to minimize the task completion time and AGV energy consumption, a genetic algorithm combining penalty functions is used to assign horizontal handling tasks to submerged AGVs or forklift AGVs and vertical handling tasks to forklift AGVs. The experimental results show that the method can meet the 24 h operation requirements of an intelligent distribution warehouse and realize the path planning and task assignment of forklift AGVs and latent AGVs. And furthermore, the number of AGVs arranged in the warehouse can be further reduced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As mobile users gradually become the main force to enjoy network services, the demand for ubiquitous computing services accelerates the development of multi-access edge computing (MEC). To meet the business needs of any time and anywhere interconnection and break through the limitations of geographical location, the industry introduces the MEC fusion architecture based on the low earth orbit (LEO) satellite to solve the computing service problems of users located in complex geographical regions. In this paper, aiming at the task assignment problem in the process of task offloading, the user-first matching game algorithm and the edge service provider-first matching game algorithm are designed based on the matching game theory. Through simulation experiments, the user delay and edge service provider benefits of different algorithms are compared and analyzed, and the superiority of the proposed method is proved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Role assignment is an important and complex task in collaboration and management. Group role assignment (GRA) pursues the optimal team performance by assigning pertinent roles to agents in a team from the team’s viewpoint. There are many factors that should be considered when conducting role assignment. Budgets are such a factor. This paper presents a challenging role assignment problem in collaboration, called GRA with budget constraints (GRABC). This paper contributes a thorough investigation of the GRABC problem including: 1) the first formalization of the proposed problem; 2) a set of practical solutions to different forms of this problem by using the IBM ILOG CPLEX optimization package (CPLEX); 3) a set of necessary conditions for these problems to possess feasible solutions to improve the CPLEX solutions; and 4) a synthesized process to deal with GRABC problems. Contribution 2) actually clarifies a list of requirements in solving the GRABC problem. Simulations, experiments and a case study are used to verify the practicability and efficiency of the proposed solutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we present a redundancy allocation problem (RAP) with series-parallel sub-systems and repairable components. The repairmen will go on multiple vacations. In repairable systems, a fundamental aspect to be considered is to predict the reliability of the systems under study. Set a reliability model for repairable systems, however, is still a challenging problem when considering the dependency This paper aims to evaluate the number of components and repairmen in each sub-system. Because this RAP belongs to Np. Hard problems, also, a Genetic algorithm to solve the presented model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reviewers play a significant role in academic peer review activities, including conference paper assignment and funding selection, because their evaluation of proposals impacts the final decision. Several studies have proposed reviewer selection strategies or reviewer evaluation methods for solving the problem of selecting appropriate reviewers. Identifying reviewers who are familiar with the proposals to be reviewed is the objective of the reviewer assignment problem. However, the majority of the existing studies ignore quantitative constraints with respect to the articles assigned to the reviewers during the review process. In this study, we propose a novel optimization model with several review condition constraints to address the reviewer assignment problem. In the proposed model, the expertise and research areas of the candidate reviewers and proposals are identified using semantic topic models, which are demonstrated to be effective when measuring the relevance of the reviewers with respect to the proposals to be reviewed; further, the computational efficiency is improved owing to the reduced representation dimensionality. Herein, an improved heuristic algorithm is proposed to match reviewers and papers based on specific topic areas, and candidate reviewers are assigned to each proposal under the global optimum condition based on their overall performance values. Subsequently, an empirical test is conducted using a conference reviewer dataset. The obtained results show that the proposed model can help the managers to efficiently and effectively select reviewers in terms of the convergence rate and convergence level when compared with several classic benchmarks. • A novel optimization model is proposed to address the reviewer assignment problem. • The expertise and profiles are identified with the semantic topic models. • An improved heuristic algorithm is proposed to assign reviewer with global optimum. • The effectiveness and robustness is validated in three stages of experiments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Generally, when optimizing a rolling stock schedule, the locations of the depots, or places in the network where the composition changes and maintenance occurs, are assumed known. The locations where maintenance is performed naturally influence the quality of any resulting rolling stock schedules. In this paper, the problem of selecting new depot locations and their corresponding capacities is considered. A two-stage mixed integer programming approach for rolling stock scheduling with maintenance requirements is extended to account for depot selection. First, a conventional flow-based model is solved, ignoring maintenance requirements, to obtain a variety of rolling stock schedules with multiple depot locations and capacity options. Then, a maintenance feasible rolling stock schedule can be obtained by solving a series of assignment problems by using the schedules found in the first stage. The proposed methodology is tested on real-life instances, and the numerical experiments of different operational scenarios are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we consider different due-date assignment scheduling with group technology and resource allocation on a single machine, where the due date of each job may be different. Under constant processing times, the objective function is to minimize the scheduling cost (i.e., the weighted sum of earliness, tardiness, and due-date assignment cost, where the weights are position dependent). Under some optimal properties, we prove that this problem can be solved in  O (ζ log ζ)  time, where  ζ  is the number of jobs. The problem is also extended to cases which include linear and convex functions of the quantity of resource allocation. The objective function is minimizing the sum of the scheduling cost and the resource-consumption cost. For the special case of linear and convex functions, we show that the problem is polynomially solvable in  O (ζ 3)  time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The problem of traffic assignment consists of determining the routes taken by the users of transportation infrastructure. This problem has been the subject of numerous studies, particularly in analyzing scenarios for developing road infrastructure and pricing strategies. This paper reviews the major progress in the field. Accordingly, it shows that the evolution of intelligent transportation systems and the emergence of connected and autonomous vehicles present new challenges to classical approaches for solving the traffic assignment problem. It addresses two major perspectives: digital twins coupled with artificial intelligence to help decision-makers, and rule-based policy to offer users fair and efficient itineraries while respecting infrastructure capacity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the booming development of door-to-door housekeeping service, the platform faces the problem of order assignment. Improving the matching mechanism between orders and housekeepers based on a dynamic programming (DP) algorithm can not only achieve flexible order allocation but can also improve the service efficiency and service quality. In this paper, a single objective nonlinear programming model is established, which takes the maximum total weight value as the objective function to study the order allocation problem under offline and online conditions. Under the offline condition, the number of housekeepers is taken as the decision variable. The status of order and housekeeper, order time, and action trajectory are taken as constraints. For online assignment, the order backlog status is treated as the decision variable. The reliability of the model was verified using real data from 20 groups of housekeepers and 50 groups of orders. Finally, the effect of order backlog on online allocation is discussed and the optimal threshold and maximum weight are found. The online order assignment model is compared with the nearest distance assignment model. The results show that the online assignment model with a total weighted score of 1045.14 is better than the nearest distance assignment model with a score of 810.25. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Participatory crowdsensing (PCS) is an innovative data sensing paradigm that leverages the sensors carried in mobile devices to collect large-scale environmental information and personal behavioral data with the user's participation. In PCS, task assignment and path planning pose complex challenges. Previous studies have only focused on the assignment of individual tasks, neglecting or overlooking the associations between tasks. In practice, users often tend to execute similar tasks when choosing assignments. Additionally, users frequently engage in tasks that do not match their abilities, leading to poor task quality or resource wastage. This paper introduces a multi-task assignment and path-planning problem (MTAPP), which defines utility as the ratio of a user's profit to the time spent on task execution. The optimization goal of MATPP is to maximize the utility of all users in the context of task assignment, allocate a set of task locations to a group of workers, and generate execution paths. To solve the MATPP, this study proposes a grade-matching degree and similarity-based mechanism (GSBM) in which the grade-matching degree determines the user's income. It also establishes a mathematical model, based on similarity, to investigate the impact of task similarity on user task completion. Finally, an improved ant colony optimization (IACO) algorithm, combining the ant colony and greedy algorithms, is employed to maximize total utility. The simulation results demonstrate its superior performance in terms of task coverage, average task completion rate, user profits, and task assignment rationality compared to other algorithms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Port operations have been suffering from hybrid uncertainty, leading to various disruptions in efficiency and tenacity. However, these essential uncertain factors are often considered separately in literature during berth and quay crane assignments, leading to defective, even infeasible schedules. This paper addressed the integrated berth allocation and quay crane assignment problem (BACAP) with stochastic vessel delays under different conditions. A novel approach that combines both proactive and reactive strategies is proposed. First, a mixed-integer programming model is formulated for BACAP with quay crane maintenance activities under the ideal state of no delay. Then, for minor delays, buffer time is added to absorb the uncertainty of the arrival time of vessels. Thus, a robust optimization model for minimizing the total service time of vessels and maximizing the buffer time is developed. Considering that the schedule is infeasible when a vessel is seriously delayed, a reactive model is built to minimize adjustment costs. According to the characteristics of the problem, this article combined local search with the genetic algorithm and proposed an improved genetic algorithm (IGA). Numerical experiments validate the efficiency of the proposed algorithm with CPLEX and Squeaky Wheel Optimization (SWO) in different delay conditions and problem scales. An in-depth analysis presents some management insights on the coefficient setting, uncertainty, and buffer time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Multi-robot task assignment is one of the main processes in an intelligent warehouse. This paper models multi-robot task assignment in an intelligent warehouse as an open-path multi-depot asymmetric traveling salesman problem (OP-MATSP). A two-objective integer linear programming (ILP) model for solving OP-MDTSP is proposed. The theoretical bound on the computational time complexity of this model is O (n !) . We can solve the small multi-robot task assignment problem by solving the two-objective ILP model using the Gurobi solver. The multi-chromosome coding-based genetic algorithm has a smaller search space, so we use it to solve large-scale problems. The experiment results reveal that the two-objective ILP model is very good at solving small-scale problems. For large-scale problems, both EGA and NSGA3 genetic algorithms can efficiently obtain suboptimal solutions. It demonstrates that this paper's multi-robot work assignment methods are helpful in an intelligent warehouse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposed a new approaches for project scheduling via Hesitancy Fuzzy network diagram. This study helps to planning, controlling and managing the project. It is an essential tool to estimate the project completion or cost. In this paper we introduce the concept of Hesitancy Fuzzy Network diagram with algorithm to analyze the optimization techniques such as PERT and Assignment problems with real life examples. Conclusions: The Project evaluation and review techniques plays a vital role in applied Mathematical modeling. It is useful to assign work to the and determination of the time schedule for the activities of a construction project. In this paper, we construct the Hesitancy Fuzzy networks to find out the project completion time and also useful to assign work to the relevant persons. This algorithm is used for the following situations like Minimal spanning tree, Shortest path problem, Maximal flow and Critical path problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study focuses on the load balancing of the transactions in the blockchain. The problem is how to assign these transactions to the blocks. The objective is to guarantee a load balancing of the workload in the time of blocks. The proposed problem is an NP-hard one. To face the hardness of the studied problem, the challenge is to develop algorithms that solve the problem approximately. Finding an approximate solution is a real challenge. In this paper, nine algorithms are proposed. These algorithms are based on the dispatching-rules method, randomization approach, clustering algorithms, and iterative method. The proposed algorithms return approximate solutions in a remarkable time. In addition, in this paper, a novel architecture composed of blocks is proposed. This architecture adds the component "Balancer". This component is responsible to call the best-proposed algorithm and solve the scheduling problem in a polynomial time. In addition, the proposed work helps users to solve the problem of big data concurrency. These algorithms are coded and compared. The performance of these algorithms is tested over three classes of instances. These classes are generated based on uniform distribution. The total number of instances tested is 1350. The average gap, execution time, and the percentage of the best-reached value are used as metrics to measure the performance of the proposed algorithms. Experimental results show the performance of these algorithms and a comparison between them is discussed. The experimental results show that the best algorithm is best-mi-transactions iterative multi-choice with 93.9% in an average running time of 0.003 s. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we study a single machine scheduling problem with group-dependent due window assignment and further incorporate autonomous and induced learning effects. Here, autonomous learning refers to learning by doing, while induced learning denotes that proactive investments can promote the learning effect, i.e., the learning effect is controllable. The proactive spending could include any management efforts like professional training programs, among others. The objective is to find optimal strategies of due window assignments, sequence of groups and jobs, and level of induced learning that optimize the total cost comprising the due window-related penalty costs and the investment cost. We present a polynomial-time algorithm capable of solving this problem and an improved idea to further reduce the time complexity. In addition, a detailed numerical example is conducted. Our study shows that the learning effect can be tuned to fit the demand of the manufacturing system better and lead to a more flexible operating system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The power distribution network business gradually extends from the grid domain to the social service domain, and the new business keeps expanding. The edge device uses microservice architecture and container technology to realize the processing of different services by one physical device. Although the power distribution network IoT with cloud-edge architecture has good scalability, scenarios with insufficient resources for edge devices may occur. In order to support the scheduling and collaborative processing of tasks under the resource-constrained scenario from the edge device, this paper proposes a cloud-edge collaborative online scheduling method for the distribution of station area tasks under the microservice architecture. The article models the characteristics of power tasks and their constraints in the cloud-edge containerized scenario, designs the priority policy and task assignment policy based on the cloud-edge scheduling mechanism of containerized power tasks, and schedules the tasks in real time by an improved online algorithm. Simulation results show that the algorithm proposed in this paper has high task execution efficiency, can improve the completion rate of important tasks with limited resources of edge devices, and improves system security through resource replacement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Satellite edge computing (SEC) has garnered significant attention for its potential to deliver services directly to users. However, the uneven distribution of receiving tasks among satellites in the constellation can lead to uneven utilization of computing resources. This paper proposes a task offloading strategy for SEC that aims to minimize the average delay and energy consumption of tasks by assigning them to appropriate satellite nodes. The approach uses Lyapunov optimization to convert the long-term optimization problem with task queue length constraints into an assignment problem within a single time slot and solve it based on the Hungarian algorithm. Experimental simulations have shown that the proposed algorithm performs better than other baseline algorithms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We consider the incremental subgradient algorithm employing dynamic step sizes for minimizing the sum of a large number of component convex functions. The dynamic step size rule was firstly introduced by Goffin and Kiwiel [Math. Program., 1999, 85(1): 207‐211] for the subgradient algorithm, soon later, for the incremental subgradient algorithm by Nedic and Bertsekas in [SIAM J. Optim., 2001, 12(1): 109‐138]. It was observed experimentally that the incremental approach has been very successful in solving large separable optimizations and that the dynamic step sizes generally have better computational performance than others in the literature. In the present paper, we propose two modified dynamic step size rules for the incremental subgradient algorithm and analyse the convergence and complexity properties of them. At last, the assignment problem is considered and the incremental subgradient algorithms employing different kinds of dynamic step sizes are applied to solve the problem. The computational experiments show that the two modified ones converges dramatically faster and more stable than the corresponding one in [SIAM J. Optim., 2001, 12(1): 109‐138]. Particularly, for solving large separable convex optimizations, we strongly recommend the second one (see Algorithm 3.3 in the paper) since it has interesting computational performance and is the simplest one. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]