Min Qiu

Car trip attraction and route choice in Australia

Abstract The capacity of tourism destinations to attract visits and the propensity to make round trips to remote sites were approached through a model based on populations, travel times, traffic on road links, and identification of prime tourism destinations. A genetic algorithm was used to simultaneously estimate a gravity model of trip generation, incorporating an attraction population multiplier, and a route assignment model. Local residents and tourists were covered in separate but additive parts of the model. Results indicate an attraction multiplier of approximately four and a high propensity for long-distance car tourists to return home by a different route.

An integrated approach to the lot sizing and cutting stock problems

Various industries consist of the cutting stock and lot-sizing problems in successive stages. Traditionally, these two problems are dealt separately which may adversely affect the overall performance of the supply chain. In this paper, an integrated approach is advocated and a model is proposed to jointly optimize the changeover, inventory holding cost and trim loss for a paper mill. It also defines the sequence of the cutting patterns to be used during conversion process. Moreover, the relationship between the ensuing cycle service levels and the total joint costs is also discussed.

A review of planning and scheduling in the pulp and paper supply chain

This paper reviews the body of work on the operational planning and optimization of the supply chain in the pulp and paper industry, with an emphasis on integrated production planning and scheduling. The supply chain issues confronting the industry are discussed along with the apparent unexplored areas of its operational planning. It also suggests future directions of research. Moreover, it gives a synopsis of the heritage of operational planning tools available and tracks the evolution of the pioneering methods in to advanced planning systems of modern day.

Achieving residential connectivity and density goals with computer-generated plans in a greenfield area

An algorithm has been developed to generate, without external intervention, a road and land-use plan for a regular or irregular site. It starts from an ‘embryo’ and grows a plan rather than trying to modify an initial solution. The basic modules are universal building blocks which change and adapt in a guided search with random selection of branching points followed by operations to add links or make connections. Deletion operators guide development by removing branches which do not improve the outcome. A hypothetical application, maximizing combined everyone-to-everyone connectivity and dwelling density, has evolved a highly interconnected street plan. However, no step is specific to the example; the operators will grow a road and land-use network under various specifications and constraints guided by an objective function. Making the process applicable to an actual development might require more constraints and certainly an enlarged objective function. Cost and other goals can be included so long as each goal is functionally related in some way to every change in the plan made by the search procedure.