We present a heuristic search approach to solve partial satisfaction planning (PSP) problems. In these problems, goals are modeled as soft constraints with utility values, and actions have costs. Goal utility represents the value of each goal to the user and action cost represents the total resource cost (e.g., time, fuel cost) needed to execute each action. The objective is to find the plan th...

Global marine fisheries are currently underperforming, largely due to overfishing. An analysis of global databases finds that resource rent net of subsidies from rebuilt world fisheries could increase from the current negative US$13 billion to positive US$54 billion per year, resulting in a net gain of US$600 to US$1,400 billion in present value over fifty years after rebuilding. To realize thi...

Existing practice of solar water pumping in multi-floored buildings employs Top Floor Storage Method. In this method, considerable amount of water is pumped to unnecessary heights, resulting in energy wastage. Present paper discusses a novel scheme “Individual Floor Storage Method” for solar pumping. Here water is pumped to the required optimum heights thus avoiding wastage of energy. This resu...

Efficient organisations need to ensure that their business processes are flexible so that these processes can easily accommodate changes in regulations and policies. Appropriate techniques to model and verify these processes are required. In this paper, we present a rule-based approach, which is built upon the event-condition-action model (ECA) and supported by a rule-based business process def...

Project success is assessed based on various criteria, every one of which enjoys a different level of importance for the beneficiaries and decision makers. Time and cost are the most important objectives and criteria for the project success. On the other hand, reducing the risk of finishing activities until the predetermined deadlines should be taken into account. Having formulated the problem ...

Wood borers and bark beetles are among the most serious forest pests worldwide. Many such species have become successful invaders, often causing substantial, costly damages to forests. Here we design and evaluate the cost-efficiency of a trap-based surveillance program for early detection of wood borers and bark beetles at risk of establishing in New Zealand. Although costly, a surveillance prog...

OBJECTIVES To evaluate the economic impact of the 2009 routine US childhood immunization schedule, including diphtheria and tetanus toxoids and acellular pertussis, Haemophilus influenzae type b conjugate, inactivated poliovirus, measles/mumps/rubella, hepatitis B, varicella, 7-valent pneumococcal conjugate, hepatitis A, and rotavirus vaccines; influenza vaccine was not included. METHODS Deci...

BACKGROUND Occupational low back pain (OLBP) is widespread in industrialized societies. We present a model to estimate the net economic costs of investments in ergonomic interventions at the company level to reduce work-related low back pain. METHODS Costs of interventions are defined by incorporating not only the costs of investment of equipment and labor, but also by taking into account the...

the aim of a multi-mode resource-constrained project scheduling problem (mrcpsp) is to assign resource(s) with the restricted capacity to an execution mode of activities by considering relationship constraints, to achieve pre-determined objective(s). these goals vary with managers or decision makers of any organization who should determine suitable objective(s) considering organization strategi...

Due to unreliability of power supply from national grid, high cost diesel and maintenance generators being an alternate for there is need adopt a renewable energy source efficient reliable supply. Savings associated with conversion stand-alone generator powered system PV/Diesel hybrid storage in batteries Bayero University Kano Library using HOMER software was presented this study. The economic...