2008
December 5
Title: Decision Making in Evolutionary Multiobjective Optimization
Abstract:Evolutionary approaches to multiobjective optimisation have concentrated mainly on the task of approximating the set of Pareto-optimal solutions of a given problem as well as possible, by generating diverse sets of non-dominated alternatives.This has the advantage of removing subjective preference information from the optimisation problem formulation, but it also makes the resulting problem computationally more demanding. In order to concentrate the search effort on the regions of potential interest to the decision maker, techniques for the progressive articulation of preferences in evolutionary multiobjective optimisation (EMO) have been proposed, casting EMO as the interaction between an evolutionary search mechanism and a decision maker. More recently, others have noted that also the promotion of diversity across the Pareto-optimal front, which is usually handled separately, may be successfully addressed by the decision maker within this framework. Finally, determining the new candidate solution(s) to be evaluated at each iteration may be seen as a control problem, where actions (new solutions) are to be selected based on some model, however weak, of the underlying optimisation problem and on the information provided by the decision maker from the beginning of the optimisation run. In this talk, both the evaluation of current solutions and the generation of new candidate solutions in EMO will be discussed from a decision making perspective. From the discussion, opportunities for incorporating more explicit decision making in EMO will be identified.
Speaker:Carlos Fonseca
Affiliation:Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia da Universidade do Algarve and Center for Management Studies of Instituto Superior Técnico, Portugal
November 21
Title: Information, Conceptual Frameworks, Analysis and Assessment Tools in Support of Environmental Decision Making
Abstract:One of the main issues in the environmental decision making field is the necessity, sometimes obligation imposed by the legislation, to communicate the decision process and make it more comprehensible. In other words, the objective is to increase the transparency of the decision making available all the relevant information related to the decision process for all interested actors. For this reason, many tools have been developed over the last decades: indicators, conceptual frameworks, and impact assessment studies are examples. However, many of these tools try to represent the environmental situation or hypothetical future states without any explicit reference to how decisions are taken or should be taken.
Four major steps can be identified in the evaluation process of policies and decision making in terms of their contribution to environmental management and sustainable development. The first step relates to the identification of a wide array of indicators and measures available for monitoring development and environmental change. These indicators can, and should, vary depending upon place and scale. The second step deals with conceptual frameworks, which provide powerful insight and organising qualities. The third involves specific forms of analysis that rely on indicators that are best selected through the use of sound conceptual frameworks. Finally, all these steps contribute to a fourth one: sustainability assessment.
Each step can also be referred to as a 'tool' for assessing the effects and effectiveness of policy measures. Such tools are closely related to one another: indicators and measures are the pillars, as assessment and communication are their main function. Conceptual frameworks are ordering mechanisms that help organise indicators logically, for instance in cause-effect-response chains. Based on this information, analysis helps gain information and insight and contributes to the assessment of policy makers' decisions through specific and comprehensive decision support tools.
Within the environmental management context the initial task of decision makers is usually that of acquiring or consolidating knowledge about the territory they manage by collecting information about human activities and their relationships with the environmental systems. This may be based upon the identification of suitable indicators, which may provide concise quantification and temporal monitoring of the main human and environmental variables interacting within the given territorial systems.
The whole informative and decision process should be then formalized within a conceptual network, and in this seminar we present the benefits of the DPSIR approach, developed by the European Environmental Agency for that purpose. In such a conceptual framework, related to natural resources management, the Impacts describe the existing problems arising from the change detected in State variables, which affects their economic value, environmental function and social role (either in quantitative, or qualitative terms), thus allowing to support decision making within the perspective of sustainable development. Such a conceptual structure can support the establishment of new lines of communication between different actors and help to facilitate the collection and recording of public opinions.
This process may be undertaken in a group (e.g. the decision makers and the stakeholders together) using the framework to structure discussion between those who decide and those who are involved in the problem. In this seminar, we will try to describe the DPSIR approach, focusing on the experience gained with the end users involved in some environmental related projects. In particular, we present the use of the DPSIR approach to structure and communicate the decision context and its potentials for stakeholders' involvement in environmental decision making processes.
Speaker:Jacobo Feás Vázquez
Affiliation:University of Santiago de Compostela, Spain
November 7
Title: Energis: A geographical information based system for the evolution of integrated energy conversion systems in urban areas
Abstract:Following the pioneering work of the AGS Tokyo half project, a geographical information system has been developed to model the energy requirement of a urban area. The purpose of this platform is to model with sufficient details the energy services requirement of a given geographical area to allow the evaluation of the integration of advanced integrated energy conversion systems. This tool is used to study the emergence of more efficient cities that realize the integration of energy efficiency measures and of energy efficient conversion technologies and that valorize the use of endogenous renewable energy. The model first uses a geographical system to identify the building characteristics in the area. A typification procedure is used to define the energy characteristics of each building, to model its energy requirement and their perspectives. A data base of typified building models has been constituted. The parameters have been identified using data from monitoring tools installed in the area. In order to practically compute the annual performances of the energy conversion systems, the building requirement model considers heating and cooling requirements and provides the temperatures of the hydronic system as a function of the ambient temperature. Combining the requirements using the composite curves concepts defines the enthalpy- temperature of the requirement of each geographical sector. This information is then combined with the geographical catalog of the available energy resources like lake water, underground water, geological resources, or waste water treatment plants in order to compute the annual COP for each kind of decentralized heat pump. In addition, heat (cold) distribution system costs are estimated in order to evaluate the integration of combined heat and power options and/or centralized heat pumping systems. Considering the available resources, an aggregation method is then proposed to estimate the best coverage of heat distribution systems. The generated maps have then been used to define the heat and power production strategy in the concerned geographical sectors. An application to the Geneva canton will be presented.
Speaker:François Marechal
Affiliation:École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland
October 28
Title: A estatística multivariada na ciência regional: análise de 'clusters' socioeconómicos
Abstract:Este seminário aborda os aspectos metodológicos relacionados com a estimação multivariada de "clusters" socio-económicos de base regional, referindo diversos casos de aplicação presentes na literatura dos últimos anos.É discutido o problema da escolha das variáveis, da necessidade de redução de dados, e da escolha do método de classificação/agrupamento. É usado um caso de estudo envolvendo indicadores socio-económicos da base de dados Regio do Eurostat para comparar a variabilidade dos resultados causada pela selecção das variáveis com a resultante da escolha de diferentes métodos de classificação/agrupamento.
Speaker: João Soares
Affiliation:Center for Management Studies of Instituto Superior Técnico, Portugal
October 6
Title: Avaliação da Satisfação do Cliente no Sector do Turismo em Portugal
Abstract:De modo que o sector do turismo nacional se possa desenvolver e consolidar no futuro, este tem de ser pautado por intervenções de desenvolvimento que se fundamentem em estudos técnico-científicos rigorosos. A satisfação do cliente não surge como uma opção mas como uma questão fulcral para o êxito do sector, pois este depende em grande medida do agrado, retenção e fidelidade dos seus clientes. Nesta comunicação faz-se uma análise critica aos principais tipos de métodos usados na avaliação da satisfação do cliente no sector do turismo e apresenta-se o trabalho decorrente do desenvolvimento e teste de um método para avaliação da satisfação do cliente no sector do alojamento turístico.
Speaker:Isabel João
Affiliation:Center for Management Studies of Instituto Superior Técnico and ISEL, Portugal
July 21
Title: Airline fares and emergency care: two tales from the OR coalface
Abstract:This talk deals with two real-world operational research problems "from the coal-face". The first problem concerns the interpretation of a mathematical programming model used in the airline capacity control. The second problem concerns understanding the performance of Accident and Emergency Departments with a view to setting waiting time performance targets. In both cases, investigation and explanation was guided by insights from OR but also from other disciplines.
Speaker:Alec Morton
Affiliation:London School of Economics, UK
June 23
Abstract:A palestra procurará resumir a experiência do Departamento de Administração da FEA/USP com a criação da FIA em 1980, a criação do seu MBA em 1990 e a criação da educação continuada em Gestão de Projetos em 2000, no âmbito do PGT- Programa de Gestão da Inovação e Projetos Tecnológicos. Abordará com mais profundidade as características dos cursos oferecidos, o perfil dos participantes e dos docentes, os convênios internacionais e, por fim, as lições aprendidas em termos didático/pedagógicos.
Speaker:Roberto Sbragia
Affiliation:Universidade de São Paulo, Brasil
June 4
Title: Índices de Comparação entre Duas Participações dum Território
Abstract:Oproblema da partição territorial tem sido alvo, nas últimas décadas, de uma maior atenção por parte da comunidade científica da área da Investigação Operacional. O contributo duma partição criteriosa resulta numa mais-valia, que em problemas como o da definição de círculos eleitorais ou da definição de zonas a atribuir a vendedores, pode ser determinante na obtenção do sucesso. Um grupo de critérios que surge habitualmente no estudo destes problemas resulta da comparação de duas partições dum mesmo território. Neste seminário é apresentada uma análise do problema da comparação de diferentes partições dum mesmo território. O seu contexto teórico insere-se na comparação entre duas partições de um grafo não orientado, conexo e planar. Foram identificadas três classes de medidas de comparação que designámos por "Compatibilidade", "Inclusão" e "Distância". Definimos cada uma dessas classes e enunciámos as propriedade básicas que deverão respeitar. Para cada classe é proposto um índice que avalia o grau de afastamento da situação ideal. Realizou-se um estudo empírico que passou pela simulação de um ambiente real, onde se pôde observar o comportamento dos índices propostos.
Speaker:Fernando Tavares Pereira
Affiliation:Center for Management Studies of Instituto Superior Técnico and Universidade da Beira Interior, Portugal
May 9
Title: Operations Research in the Operating Room (OR in the OR)-Joint seminar CEG-IST and Biomedical Engineering
Abstract:With a background in manufacturing planning and scheduling, since five years we have ventured in the world of process optimization in hospitals. Up to now, the primary focus of this research has been the planning and scheduling of the Operating Room department, and subsequent departments like Intensive Care and wards. In this research we have intensively collaborated with Erasmus Medical Center, Rotterdam, Amsterdam Medical Center, and various regional hospitals. This presentation addresses our latest results, and discusses the OR-techniques we have applied to solve the problems. In addition the software in which we have implemented the operating room capacity analyses tools, planning and scheduling algorithms, and simulation model will be demonstrated. Recently, our research has shifted to the end-to-end optimization of patient flows through hospitals.
Speaker:Erwin Hans
Affiliation:University of Twente, The Netherlands
May 6
Title: Enterprise-wide Optimization (EWO) -Joint seminar CEG-IST and CMU Portugal
Abstract:EWO involves optimizing the operations of R&D, material supply, manufacturing, distribution and financial activities of a company. Key challenges involve integration of strategic, tactical and operational decision-making, as well as integration of the information, modeling and solution methods. We present major applications that illustrate handling integration issues, as well as handling of nonlinear and uncertain models.
Speaker:Ignacio Grossmann
Affiliation:Carnegie Mellon University, USA
April 17
Title: The Impact of Cognitive versus Affective Aspects on Consumer Usage of Technology-based Delivery Channels
Abstract:Technology continues to change the delivery function of companies and to affect customers' usage decisions regarding the delivery channels available. Understanding how customers react to the technology-content of channels and choose the delivery channel to use is a key asset for achieving profitability and differentiation. This conclusion is particularly valuable as firms address the financial impact of new technology-based channels and their success in transferring low value-added transactions to electronic channels. Despite the development of new technology-based delivery channels, there is limited knowledge about how customers react, choose and use these channels. This research void is addressed by developing a model that describes customers' attitudes and behavior in the context of banking delivery channels. A set of hypotheses concerning affective and cognitive determinants of consumers' behavior is derived from the model. These hypotheses were generated after extensive research into the fields of services marketing, psychology and innovation theories, together with insights provided by a series of in-depth interviews conducted with bank managers and customers. A questionnaire was mailed to users of the four main bank delivery channels. The findings demonstrate that consumer decision determinants differ between delivery channels, and illustrate which factors should be stressed in order to affect the usage decision.
Speaker:Ana Branca
Affiliation:Center for Management Studies of Instituto Superior Técnico, Portugal
March 28
Title: Transporte por Oleoduto e Gestão de Produtos Petrolíferos: o caso de Portugal
Abstract:A cadeia de abastecimento de petróleo é uma das mais importantes a nível mundial, tendo elevado impacto na economia de cada país. Desde que o petróleo é explorado e usado como matéria prima que os gestores de empresas petrolíferas procuram acções que permitam aumentar os seus lucros, flexibilizando as operações. A gestão de operações e a programação matemática têm vindo a desenvolver um papel fundamental no desenvolvimento de ferramentas de apoio à decisão para esta cadeia. No entanto, o foco dos trabalhos tem-se centrado nas operações de refinação, tendo deixado em aberto a possibilidade de abordar a distribuição e gestão de inventários na parte final da cadeia. O transporte de produtos por oleoduto é uma operação atractiva do ponto de vista empresarial e um desafio do ponto de vista académico. Nesta comunicação será apresentada a estrutura de uma ferramenta de apoio à decisão para gestão do transporte de produtos por oleoduto, com gestão de inventário para satisfação de um mercado local. A aplicabilidade do trabalho é demonstrada com a abordagem do caso Português, através da Companhia Logística de Combustíveis e a sua interacção no mundo que é a cadeia de abastecimento de petróleo.
Speaker:Susana Relvas
Affiliation:Center for Management Studies of Instituto Superior Técnico, Portugal
February 27
Abstract:This presentation is aimed at proposing Organizational Design and Engineering, a new research/intervention programme inspired on design science, as the way forward in achieving the levels of agility and change that organizations require in the Knowledge Economy. Organizational engineering as a concept and a field of study has already been proposed before (Tribolet & Sousa, 2004; Braun et al, 2005), mainly inspired by the fields of computer science and systems engineering. It is a third wave of the attempts to bring the technique and methods of engineering to the realm of organizations (the first being Taylor's scientific management and the second Hammer's business reengineering). However, the notion of organizational design has been left out of this third wave. In this presentation it is suggested that this omission might drive organizational engineering to the same unsuccessful fate as previous attempts. Organizational design brings the strategic and behavioural dimensions which are lacking in the current formulations of organizational engineering. Building on these premises, it is proposed that ODE should concern itself with supporting the imperatives of the new organizational designs: integration, agility and change. Inspired by the tenets of design science, it is suggested that ODE should make use of the combined knowledge of computer engineering and organization science. While engineering can offer rigour in organizational modelling, human-centered organizational design can offer relevance in implementation.
Speaker:Rodrigo Magalhães
Affiliation:Kuwait-Maastricht Business School, Kuwait
February 7
Title: Scheduling, Logistics, Planning, and Supply Chain Management in Petroleum Refineries
Abstract:The main objective of this work is to discuss scheduling, planning, and supply chain management strategies in the Chemical Processing Industry, with applications to the Oil Industry, that are based on mixed-integer linear and nonlinear optimization models. The first part of the work addresses production scheduling problems that are formulated as mixed integer optimization models and rely on both continuous and discrete time representations. The problem of crude oil inventory management that involves the optimal operation of crude oil unloading from pipelines, transfer to storage tanks and the charging schedule for each crude oil distillation unit is discussed. We report the real-world example of the fuel oil/asphalt area of the REVAP refinery in São José dos Campos (SP, Brazil), which must satisfy approximately 80% of the national demand for such products. The second part of the talk will address short-term scheduling problems in logistics, namely (1) the crude oil scheduling problem on a distribution complex that contains ports, refineries and a pipeline infrastructure, and (2) the scheduling of a system that is composed by an oil refinery that must transfer multiple oil derivative products through a single pipeline connected to several depots. The third part will address general modeling frameworks for supply chains A real-world application is presented for the planning of d iesel production in the RPBC refinery in Cubatão (SP, Brazil).Finally, challenges and research needs are discussed.
Speaker:José Pinto
Affiliation:Praxair Inc. and University of São Paulo, Brasil