Optimization of facility location and reallocation in an industrial plant through a multi-annual framework accounting for economic and safety issues

The industrial layout traditionally has been addressed accounting for the facilities distribution and installation since the first day of operation of the plant; this is, without considering future expansions that involve additional facilities in the future operation years. This way, this paper proposes a mathematical programming formulation for the optimal facility sitting and reallocation in an industry accounting for future expansions and involving simultaneously economic and safety objectives. The proposed formulation is based on a multi-annual framework and this corresponds to a multi-objective mixed integer linear programming problem. The proposed optimization approach was applied to a case study for the facility sitting (office buildings and control rooms) in an ethylene oxide plant. The economic objective function involves the minimization of the total annual cost accounting for the value of the money through the time and the safety objective function involves the minimization for the accumulated risk over the operation time. Results show the applicability of the proposed approach.     

The need for spatially explicit quantification of benefits in invasive‐species management

Worldwide, invasive species are a leading driver of environmental change across terrestrial, marine, and freshwater environments and cost billions of dollars annually in ecological damages and economic losses. Resources limit invasive‐species control, and planning processes are needed to identify cost‐effective solutions. Thus, studies are increasingly considering spatially variable natural and socioeconomic assets (e.g., species persistence, recreational fishing) when planning the allocation of actions for invasive‐species management. There is a need to improve understanding of how such assets are considered in invasive‐species management. We reviewed over 1600 studies focused on management of invasive species, including flora and fauna. Eighty‐four of these studies were included in our final analysis because they focused on the prioritization of actions for invasive species management. Forty‐five percent (n = 38) of these studies were based on spatial optimization methods, and 35% (n = 13) accounted for spatially variable assets. Across all 84 optimization studies considered, 27% (n = 23) explicitly accounted for spatially variable assets. Based on our findings, we further explored the potential costs and benefits to invasive species management when spatially variable assets are explicitly considered or not. To include spatially variable assets in decision‐making processes that guide invasive‐species management there is a need to quantify environmental responses to invasive species and to enhance understanding of potential impacts of invasive species on different natural or socioeconomic assets. We suggest these gaps could be filled by systematic reviews, quantifying invasive species impacts on native species at different periods, and broadening sources and enhancing sharing of knowledge.     

基于GPR-TOPSIS方法的充填配比多目标多属性优化

为获得某金矿尾砂胶结充填材料最优配比,基于试验结果,以海水比例、灰砂比和料浆质量浓度为输入参数,以充填体强度、塌落度及泌水率为输出参数,建立了充填配比与其响应量的高斯过程回归模型,分析了不同因素对充填性能的影响程度;采用遗传算法对高斯过程回归模型进行多目标参数优化,获得了Pareto非劣解,在此基础上,引入多属性决策的TOPSIS法对Pareto非劣解进行方案优选,确定了充填最优配比。研究结果表明:高斯过程回归模型相对误差值均小于6%,可靠性高;灰砂比及料浆质量浓度对充填性能影响较为显著,采用海水作为充填水源将降低充填体的强度;经优化后的充填配比与试验结果相符。     

基于情景构建的应急预案体系优化策略及方法

为了进一步优化我国现有应急预案体系,从应急管理实践中分析梳理出4方面问题,包括:“在指导理念上依然没有充分体现应急准备的理念”“应急预案体系在微观、中观和宏观层面依然存在结构性问题”“应急预案的内容存在‘概念性’内容较多的情况,导致操作性和针对性不强”“预案动态管理滞后,持续改进机制尚未形成”;针对现存问题,提出基于情景构建的优化策略和方法,认为“情景构建”不但可以指导编制者分析应急需求、明确应急目标、规划应急程序,有效支撑应急预案的编制,而且可以派生出“基于情景链条的预案衔接策略”“基于任务协同的预案衔接策略”“基于资源约束的预案衔接策略”,进而从微观层面上推进预案体系的优化。研究结果可以作为各级政府和企业应急预案体系构建的参考和借鉴。     

气固两相流90°弯管抗冲蚀结构优化

为了提高天然气输送管道90°弯管的耐磨性能,提出了1种三段弯曲式弯管,通过对弯管弯曲段进行三段式改进来减小弯管中二次流的大小,优化弯管内的流场,改善弯管的冲蚀磨损状况。利用COMSOL仿真软件建立三段式弯管模型,并以弯管弯曲段和出口段二次流平均值之和最小为优化目标,在约束条件下凭借COMSOL中的COBYLA优化算法得到了最优管形;用Fluent对优化后的三段式弯管进行冲蚀数值模拟并与一段式弯管的模拟结果进行对比分析。研究结果表明:与一段式90°弯管相比,优化后的三段式弯管流场更加平稳,其弯曲段的二次流强度大幅降低,弯管壁面的冲蚀磨损程度得到较大的改善。     

Resampling from stochastic simulations

To model the uncertainty of an estimate of a global property, the estimation process is repeated on multiple simulated fields, with the same sampling strategy and estimation algorithm. As opposed to conventional bootstrap, this resampling scheme allows for spatially correlated data and the common situation of preferential and biased sampling. The practice of this technique is developed on a large data set where the reference sampling distributions are available. Comparison of the resampled distributions to that reference shows the probability intervals obtained by resampling to be reasonably accurate and conservative, provided the original and actual sample has been corrected for the major biases induced by preferential sampling.Andre G. Journel is a Professor of Petroleum Engineering at Stanford University with a joint appointment in the Department of Geological and Environmental Sciences. He is, also, Director of the Stanford Center for Reservoir Forecasting. Professor Journel has pioneered applications of geostatistical techniques in the mining/petroleum industry and extended his expertise to environmental applications and repository site characterization. Most notably, he developed the concept of non-parametric geostatistics and stochastic imaging with application to modeling uncertainty in reservoir/site characterization. Although the research described in this article has been supported by the United States Environmental Protection Agency under Cooperative Agreement CR819407, it has not been subjected to Agency review and therefore does not necessarily reflect the views of the Agency and no official endorsement should be inferred.     

River water quality management model using genetic algorithm

Conventional mathematical programming methods, such as linear programming, non linear programming, dynamic programming and integer programming have been used to solve the cost optimization problem for regional wastewater treatment systems. In this study, a river water quality management model was developed through the integration of a genetic algorithm (GA). This model was applied to a river system contaminated by three determined discharge sources to achieve the water quality goals and wastewater treatment cost optimization in the river basin. The genetic algorithm solution, described the treatment plant efficiency, such that the cost of wastewater treatment for the entire river basin is minimized while the water quality constraints in each reach are satisfied. This study showed that genetic algorithm can be applied for river water quality modeling studies as an alternative to the present methods.     

米曲霉产氨基酰化酶条件及部分酶学性质研究

通过单因子和多因子摇瓶正交优化试验,确定了米曲霉液态发酵产氨基酰化酶的最佳发酵条件.优化发酵培养基组成(ρ/gL-1):葡萄糖40,蔗糖10,可溶性淀粉20,蛋白胨2.5,马铃薯液1000mL,pH自然.培养基装量50mL/250mL三角瓶,接种量4%.培养温度30℃,转速100r/min,发酵时间42h.每50mL培养物的总酶活由优化前的2627u提高到7338u,是优化前的2.79倍.研究了米曲霉氨基酰化酶的部分酶学性质.该酶催化反应的最适pH为7.0,最适温度为40℃,低浓度的Co2 (5×10-4mol/L)对酶活激活作用显著.图5表2参8     

Incorporating the Effects of Socioeconomic Uncertainty into Priority Setting for Conservation Investment

Abstract:  Uncertainty in the implementation and outcomes of conservation actions that is not accounted for leaves conservation plans vulnerable to potential changes in future conditions. We used a decision-theoretic approach to investigate the effects of two types of investment uncertainty on the optimal allocation of global conservation resources for land acquisition in the Mediterranean Basin. We considered uncertainty about (1) whether investment will continue and (2) whether the acquired biodiversity assets are secure, which we termed transaction uncertainty and performance uncertainty, respectively. We also developed and tested the robustness of different rules of thumb for guiding the allocation of conservation resources when these sources of uncertainty exist. In the presence of uncertainty in future investment ability (transaction uncertainty), the optimal strategy was opportunistic, meaning the investment priority should be to act where uncertainty is highest while investment remains possible. When there was a probability that investments would fail (performance uncertainty), the optimal solution became a complex trade-off between the immediate biodiversity benefits of acting in a region and the perceived longevity of the investment. In general, regions were prioritized for investment when they had the greatest performance certainty, even if an alternative region was highly threatened or had higher biodiversity value. The improved performance of rules of thumb when accounting for uncertainty highlights the importance of explicitly incorporating sources of investment uncertainty and evaluating potential conservation investments in the context of their likely long-term success.     

Metropolitan Open-Space Protection with Uncertain Site Availability

Abstract:  Urban planners acquire open space to protect natural areas and provide public access to recreation opportunities. Because of limited budgets and dynamic land markets, acquisitions take place sequentially depending on available funds and sites. To address these planning features, we formulated a two-period site selection model with two objectives: maximize the expected number of species represented in protected sites and maximize the expected number of people with access to protected sites. These objectives were both maximized subject to an upper bound on area protected over two periods. The trade-off between species representation and public access was generated by the weighting method of multiobjective programming. Uncertainty was represented with a set of probabilistic scenarios of site availability in a linear-integer formulation. We used data for 27 rare species in 31 candidate sites in western Lake County, near the city of Chicago, to illustrate the model. Each trade-off curve had a concave shape in which species representation dropped at an increasing rate as public accessibility increased, with the trade-off being smaller at higher levels of the area budget. Several sites were included in optimal solutions regardless of objective function weights, and these core sites had high species richness and public access per unit area. The area protected in period one depended on current site availability and on the probabilities of sites being undeveloped and available in the second period. Although the numerical results are specific for our study, the methodology is general and applicable elsewhere.