Session ID: TH-E1-4 / SCIS & ISIS 2010, Joint 5th International Conference on Soft Computing and Intelligent Systems and 11th International Symposium on Advanced Intelligent Systems. December 8-12, 2010, Okayama Convention Center, Okayama, Japan

Liquid biofuels produced from biomass have the potential to partly replace gasoline. One of the most promising biofuels is butanol which is produced in acetone-butanol-ethanol (ABE) fermentation. The ABE fermentation is characterized by its low butanol concentration in the final fermentation broth. In this research, the simulation of three in situ recovery methods, namely, vacuum fermentation, gas stripping and pervaporation, were performed in order to increase the efficiency of the continuous ABE fermentation by decreasing the effect of butanol toxicity. The non-integrated and integrated butanol production systems were simulated and optimized based on a number of objectives such as maximizing the butanol productivity, butanol concentration, and butanol yield. In the optimization of complex industrial processes, where objectives are often conflicting, there exist numerous potentially-optimal solutions which are best obtained using multi-objective optimization (MOO). In this investigation, MOO was used to generate a set of alternative solutions, known as the Pareto domain. The Pareto domain allows to view very clearly the trade-offs existing between the various objective functions. In general, an increase in the butanol productivity resulted in a decrease of butanol yield and sugar conversion. To find the best solution within the Pareto domain, a ranking algorithm (Net Flow Method) was used to rank the solutions based on a set of relative weights and three preference thresholds. Comparing the best optimal solutions in each case study, it was clearly shown that integrating a recovery method with the ABE fermentation significantly increases the overall butanol concentration, butanol productivity, and sugar conversion, whereas butanol yield being microorganism-dependent, remains relatively constant.

Optimizing supply chain is the most successful key for manufacturing systems to be competitive. Supply chain (SC) has gotten intensive research works at all levels: strategic, tactical, and operational levels. These levels, in some researches, have integrated with each other or integrated with other planning issues such as inventory. Optimizing inventory location and level of safety stock at all supply chain partners is essential in high competitive markets to manage uncertain demand and service level. Many works have been developed to optimize the location of safety stock along supply chain, which is important for fast response to fluctuation in demand. However, most of these studies focus on the design stage of a supply chain. Because demand at different horizon times may vary according to different reasons such as the entry of different competitors on market or seasonal demand, safety stock should be optimized accordingly. At the planning (tactical) level, safety stock can be controlled according to each planning horizon to satisfy customer demand at lower cost instead of being fixed by a decision taken at the strategic level. On the other hand, most studies that consider safety stock optimization are tied to a specific system structure such as serial, assembly, or distribution structure. This research focuses on formulating two different models. First, a multi- echelon safety stock optimization (MESSO) model for general supply chain topology is formulated. Then, it is converted into a robust form (RMESSO) which considers all possible fluctuation in demand and gives a solution that is valid under any circumstances. Second, the safety stock optimization model is integrated with tactical supply chain planning (SCP) for manufacturing systems. The integrated model is a multi-objective mixed integer non-linear programming (MINLP) model. This model aims to minimize the total cost and total time. A case study for each model is provided and the numerical results are analyzed.

This research has been defined in response to the Winnipeg children's hospital (WCH) challenges such as long waiting times, delays and cancellations in surgical flow. Preliminary studies on the surgical flow revealed that definition and implementation of successful process improvement projects (PIPs) along with application of an efficient master surgical schedule (MSS) are efficient solutions to the critical problems in WCH. In the first phase of this work, a process improvement program including three major PIPs, is defined and implemented in WCH in order to improve the efficiency of the processes providing surgical service for patients. In the second phase, two new multi-objective mathematical models are presented to develop efficient MSSs for operating room department (OR) in WCH.

Multi-objective optimization metaheuristics (MOMs) are powerful methods for solving complex optimization problems but can require a large number of function evaluations to find optimal solutions. Thus, an efficient multi-objective optimization method should generate accurate and diverse solutions in a timely manner. Improving MOMs convergence speed is an important and challenging research problem which is the scope of this thesis. This thesis conducted the most comprehensive comparative study ever in MOMs. Based on the results, multi-objective (MO) versions of particle swarm optimization (PSO) and differential evolution (DE) algorithms achieved the highest performances; therefore, these two MOMs have been selected as bases for further acceleration in this thesis. To accelerate the selected MOMs, this work focuses on the incorporation of leadership concept to MO variants of DE and PSO algorithms. Two complex case studies of MO design of renewable energy systems are proposed to demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed MOMs. This thesis proposes three new MOMs, namely, leader and speed constraint multi-objective PSO (LSMPSO), opposition-based third evolution step of generalized DE (OGDE3), and multi-objective DE with leadership enhancement (MODEL) which are compared with seven state-of-the-art MOMS using various benchmark problems. LSMPSO was found to be the fastest MOM for the problem undertaken. Further, LSMPSO achieved the highest solutions accuracy for optimal design of a photovoltaic farm in Toronto area. OGDE3 is the first successful application of OBL to a MOM with single population (no-coevolution) using leadership and self-adaptive concepts; the convergence speed of OGDE3 outperformed the other MOMs for the problems solved. MODEL embodies leadership concept into mutation operator of GDE3 algorithm. MODEL achieved the highest accuracy for the 30 studied benchmark problems. Furthermore, MODEL achieved the highest solution accuracy for a MO optimization problem of hydrogen infrastructures design across the province Ontario between 2008 and 2025 considering electricity infrastructure constraints.

In this study, we consider the hub location problem of PTT, first realized by Cetiner (2003), and propose the evaluation of multiple decision criteria while locating hubs. Since the mathematical model for the problem is too large to be solved, we utilize heuristic methods in the solution procedure. While doing this, we first test two algorithms, NSGA-II and SPEA2, on different hub location problems and use the algorithm with better performance while solving the PTT problem.

This thesis introduces a multi-objective variation of the personnel assignment problem, by including additional hierarchical and team constraints, which put restrictions on possible matchings of the bipartite graph. Besides maximization of summation of weights that are assigned to the edges of the graph, these additional constraints are also treated as objectives which are subject to minimization. In this work, different genetic algorithm approaches to multi-objective optimization are considered to solve the problem. Weighted Sum &ndash / a classical approach, VEGA - a non-elitist multi-objective evolutionary algorithm, and SPEA &ndash / a popular elitist multi-objective evolutionary algorithm, are considered as means of solution to the problem, and their performances are compared with respect to a number of multi-objective optimization criteria.

Renewable energy (RE) resources are relatively unpredictable and dependent on climatic conditions. The negative effects of existing randomness in RE resources can be reduced by the integration of RE resources into what is called Hybrid Renewable Energy Systems (HRES). The design of HRES remains as a complicated problem since there is uncertainty in energy prices, demand, and RE sources. In addition, it is a multi-objective design since several conflicting objectives must be considered. In this thesis, an optimal sizing approach has been proposed to aid decision makers in sizing and performance analysis of this kind of energy supply systems. First, a straightforward methodology based on ε-constraint method is proposed for optimal sizing of HRESs containing RE power generators and two storage devices. The ε-constraint method has been applied to minimize simultaneously the total net present cost of the system, unmet load, and fuel emission. A simulation-based particle swarm optimization approach has been used to tackle the multi-objective optimization problem. In the next step, a Pareto-based search technique, named dynamic multi-objective particle swarm optimization, has been performed to improve the quality of the Pareto front (PF) approximated by the ε-constraint method. The proposed method is examined for a case study including wind turbines, photovoltaic panels, diesel generators, batteries, fuel cells, electrolyzers, and hydrogen tanks. Well-known metrics from the literature are used to evaluate the generated PF. Afterward, a multi-objective approach is presented to consider the economic, reliability and environmental issues at various renewable energy ratio values when optimizing the design of building energy supply systems. An existing commercial apartment building operating in a cold Canadian climate has been described to apply the proposed model. In this test application, the model investigates the potential use of RE resources for the building. Furthermore, the application of plug-in electric vehicles instead of gasoline car for transportation is studied. Comparing model results against two well-known reported multi-objective algorithms has also been examined. Finally, the existing uncertainties in RE and load are explicitly incorporated into the model to give more accurate and realistic results. An innovative and easy to implement stochastic multi-objective approach is introduced for optimal sizing of an HRES. / February 2016

Le contenu de cette thèse est divisé en deux parties. La première partie de cette thèse porte sur l'étude d'approches heuristiques pour approximer des fronts de Pareto. Nous proposons un nouvel algorithme de recherche locale pour résoudre des problèmes d'optimisation combinatoire. Cette technique est intégrée dans un modèle opérationnel générique où l'algorithme évolue vers de nouvelles solutions formées en combinant des solutions trouvées dans les étapes précédentes. Cette méthode améliore les algorithmes de recherche locale existants pour résoudre le problème d'assignation quadratique bi- et tri-objectifs.La seconde partie se focalise sur les algorithmes d'ordonnancement dans un contexte non-préemptif. Plus précisément, nous étudions le problème de la minimisation du stretch maximum sur une seule machine pour une exécution online. Nous présentons des résultats positifs et négatifs, puis nous donnons une solution optimale semi-online. Nous étudions ensuite le problème de minimisation du stretch sur une seule machinedans le modèle récent de la réjection. Nous montrons qu'il existe un rapport d'approximation en O(1) pour minimiser le stretch moyen. Nous montrons également qu'il existe un résultat identique pour la minimisation du flot moyen sur une machine. Enfin, nous étudions le problème de la minimisation du somme des flots pondérés dans un contexte online. / The content of this thesis is divided into two parts. The first part of the thesis deals with the study of heuristic based approaches for the approximation Pareto fronts. We propose a new Double Archive Pareto local search algorithm for solving multi-objective combinatorial optimization problems. We embed our technique into a genetic framework where our algorithm restarts with the set of new solutions formed by recombination and mutation of solutions found in the previous run. This method improves upon the existing Pareto local search algorithm for bi-objective and tri-objective quadratic assignment problem.In the second part of the thesis, we focus on non-preemptive scheduling algorithms. Here, we study the online problem of minimizing maximum stretch on a single machine. We present both positive and negative theoretical results. Then, we provide an optimally competitive semi-online algorithm. Furthermore, we study the problem of minimizing stretch on a single machine in a recently proposed rejection model. We show that there exists an O(1)-approximation ratio for minimizing average stretch. We also show that there exists an O(1)-approximation ratio for minimizing average flow time on a single machine. Lastly, we study the weighted average flow time minimization problem in online settings. We present a mathematical programming based framework that unifies multiple resource augmentation. Using the concept of duality, we show that there exists an O(1)-competitive algorithm for solving the weighted average flow time problem on unrelated machines. Furthermore, we proposed that this idea can be extended to minimizing l_k norms of weighted flow problem on unrelated machines.

A busca de soluções para a mobilidade urbana que minimizem a agressão do setor de tráfego e transportes ao meio ambiente está cada vez maior. Os veículos elétricos se posicionam como uma alternativa interessante, pois reduzem a emissão de gases poluentes na atmosfera, a poluição sonora e o consumo de petróleo. No entanto, sua limitada autonomia e a escassez de postos de recarga intimidam sua adoção. Por conta disso, políticas governamentais de incentivo têm sido desenvolvidas para a oferta de benefícios a quem optar por um veículo elétrico. Estima-se que dentro de poucas décadas toda a frota urbana será substituída por veículos dessa natureza. Por isso, é importante entender as mudanças no tempo de viagem e no consumo de energia oriundos da inclusão de veículos elétricos em cenários de tráfego. Trabalhos anteriores estudaram as diferenças entre os mecanismos internos de veículos convencionais e elétricos na determinação destas mudanças. Porém, dadas as características destes últimos, motoristas de veículos elétricos se preocupam com a economia de energia e podem optar por rotas diferentes. Logo, uma análise completa destes impactos deve considerar uma nova distribuição de tráfego. Este trabalho propõe um método biobjetivo de alocação de tráfego que considera o tempo de viagem e o consumo de energia para determinar a distribuição de veículos elétricos em cenários de tráfego urbano. Duas estratégias de distribuição de fluxo são propostas como mecanismos de escolha de rotas. Como parte da alocação de tráfego, é proposto um algoritmo biobjetivo de caminhos mínimos para veículos elétricos. A abordagem apresentada foi aplicada a três cenários distintos, onde percebeu-se uma diminuição de até 80% no consumo total de energia. Em cenários com congestionamento, observou-se um aumento de 10% no tempo de viagem. Já em cenários sem congestionamento o tempo de viagem diminuiu cerca de 2%. A recuperação de energia representa quase 6% da economia total dos veículos elétricos. Além disso, experimentos mostraram que investimentos na eficiência dos veículos elétricos podem resultar em uma economia de até 15% de energia. / The search for urban mobility solutions that minimize the aggression to the environment is increasing. Electric vehicles are an attractive alternative because they reduce greenhouse gas emissions, noise pollution, and oil consumption. However, their limited autonomy and the lack of charging stations restrict their popularization. Therefore, government incentive policies have been developed in order to offer benefits to those who choose an electric vehicle. It is estimated that the entire urban fleet will be replaced by these vehicles in a few decades. Therefore, it is important to understand the changes in travel time and energy consumption from the inclusion of electric vehicles in traffic scenarios. Previous works determined these changes by studying the differences between the internal engine of conventional and electric vehicles. However, given the characteristics of the latter, drivers of electric vehicles care about saving energy and may want to choose different routes. Thus, a complete analysis of these impacts should consider a redistribution of traffic. This work proposes a bi-objective traffic assignment method that considers the travel time and the energy consumption to determine the distribution of electric vehicles in urban traffic scenarios. We introduce two strategies for flow distribution as models of route choice. As a procedure of the traffic assignment method, we propose a bi-objective shortest path algorithm for electric vehicles. Our approach was applied to three different scenarios, which resulted in a decrease of up to 80% in total energy consumption. In congested scenarios, we observe an increase of about 10% in average travel time. In uncongested scenarios, travel time decreases about 2%. Energy recovery is almost 6% of the total savings of electric vehicles. Moreover, experiments have shown that investments in the efficiency of electric vehicles can result in up to 15% of energy savings.