of Dissertation Presented to the Graduate School of the University of Florida in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy SOLVING REAL-LIFE TRANSPORTATION SCHEDULING PROBLEMS By Jian Liu August, 2003 Chair: Dr. Ravindra K. Ahuja Major Department: Industrial and Systems Engineering Transportation by railroads and airlines contains a rich set of optimization ...

This study is aimed at developing automated methods to recognize railroad infrastructure from 3D LIDAR data. Railroad infrastructure includes rail tracks, contact cables, catenary cables, return current cables, masts, and cantilevers. The LIDAR dataset used in this study is acquired by placing an Optech Lynx mobile mapping system on a railcar, operating at 125 km/h. The acquired dataset covers ...

The problem of stack sorting was introduced by Knuth in the 1960s. He described the stack sorting operation as the movement of railway cars across a railroad switching network. The problem is also similar to the childhood game of Hanoi Towers, in which the player is supposed to move concentric discs of varying sizes from one side across to another without placing a bigger disc above a smaller o...

A new solution to the Generalized Railroad Crossing problem, based on timed automata, invariants and simulation mappings, i s presented and evaluated. The solution shows formally the correspondence between four system descriptions: an axiomatic specification, an operational specification, a discrete system implementation, and a system implementatdon that works with a continuous gate model.

It is generally accepted that development of requirement models for real-time systems beneets from formal speciications. In order to be able to evaluate notations for use in the development of real-time software systems, we are performing a comparative review of some selected speciication notations. The study emphasizes the use of the notations in the domain of real-time (control) applications....

We give an evolving algebra solution for the well-known railroad crossing problem and use the occasion to experiment with agents that perform instantaneous actions in continuous time and in particular with agents that fire at the moment they are enabled.

Prior to 1980, the practice in multilevel autorack management was to load the railcars at various origin points, ship them to the destination ramps, unload them, and then return each car to the loading point where it originated. Recognizing the inefficiency of such a practice with respect to the fleet size that had to be maintained, and the associated poor utilization due to the excessive empty...

This paper investigates the relationship between railroad bond defaults and nancial outcomes in the National Banking System during the Panic of 1873. Contemporary accounts and anecdotal evidence indicate the importance of a boom and bust in the railroad industry to the onset of the panic. I use comprehensive balance sheet data for national banks before and after the panic, along with detailed G...