Construction contractors usually undertake multiple construction projects simultaneously. Such a situation involves sharing different types of resources, including monetary, equipment, and manpower, which may become a major challenge in many cases. In this study, the financial aspects of working on multiple projects at a time are addressed and investigated. The study considers dealing with financial shortages by proposing a multi-project scheduling optimization model for profit maximization, while minimizing the total project duration. Optimization genetic algorithm and finance-based scheduling are used to produce feasible schedules that balance the finance of activities at any time with the available funds. The model has been tested in multi scenarios, and the results are analyzed. The results show that negative cash flow is minimized from −693,784 to −634,514 in enterprise I and from −2,646,408 to −2,529,324 in enterprise II in the first scenario and also results show that negative cash flow is minimized to −612,768 with a profit of +200,116 in enterprise I and to −2,597,290 with a profit of +1,537,632 in enterprise II in the second scenario.
Wastewater projects are one of the most important infrastructure projects, which require developing strategic plans to manage these projects. Most of the wastewater projects in Iraq don’t have a maintenance plan. This research aims to prepare the maintenance management plan (MMP) for wastewater projects. The objective of the research is to predict the cost and time of maintenance projects by building a model using ANN. The research sample included (15) completed projects in Wasit Governorate, where the researcher was able to obtain the data of these projects through the historical information of the Wasit Sewage Directorate. In this research artificial neural networks (ANN) technique was used to build two models (cost
... Show MoreA new human-based heuristic optimization method, named the Snooker-Based Optimization Algorithm (SBOA), is introduced in this study. The inspiration for this method is drawn from the traits of sales elites—those qualities every salesperson aspires to possess. Typically, salespersons strive to enhance their skills through autonomous learning or by seeking guidance from others. Furthermore, they engage in regular communication with customers to gain approval for their products or services. Building upon this concept, SBOA aims to find the optimal solution within a given search space, traversing all positions to obtain all possible values. To assesses the feasibility and effectiveness of SBOA in comparison to other algorithms, we conducte
... Show MoreThis article aims to establish and evaluate standards for critical equipment and materials in highway projects in Iraq. Delphi technique has been used to analyze, explore, and discover the main criteria and sub-criteria that affect equipment and materials in highway construction projects in Iraq. To determine the correct response to the criteria presented in this study, a program (IBM, SPSS/V25) was used to assess the main criteria and sub-criteria using the mean score (MS) and standard deviation (SD) technique, as well as to check reliability using Cronbach's alpha factor (α). The experts' qualifications and the extent to which the person is ready to commit are both important factors in panel selection. The design of a
... Show MoreIn this paper, the problem of resource allocation at Al-Raji Company for soft drinks and juices was studied. The company produces several types of tasks to produce juices and soft drinks, which need machines to accomplish these tasks, as it has 6 machines that want to allocate to 4 different tasks to accomplish these tasks. The machines assigned to each task are subject to failure, as these machines are repaired to participate again in the production process. From past records of the company, the probability of failure machines at each task was calculated depending on company data information. Also, the time required for each machine to complete each task was recorded. The aim of this paper is to determine the minimum expected ti
... Show MoreCommunity detection is an important and interesting topic for better understanding and analyzing complex network structures. Detecting hidden partitions in complex networks is proven to be an NP-hard problem that may not be accurately resolved using traditional methods. So it is solved using evolutionary computation methods and modeled in the literature as an optimization problem. In recent years, many researchers have directed their research efforts toward addressing the problem of community structure detection by developing different algorithms and making use of single-objective optimization methods. In this study, we have continued that research line by improving the Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) algorithm using a
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Much attention has been paid for the use of robot arm in various applications. Therefore, the optimal path finding has a significant role to upgrade and guide the arm movement. The essential function of path planning is to create a path that satisfies the aims of motion including, averting obstacles collision, reducing time interval, decreasing the path traveling cost and satisfying the kinematics constraints. In this paper, the free Cartesian space map of 2-DOF arm is constructed to attain the joints variable at each point without collision. The D*algorithm and Euclidean distance are applied to obtain the exact and estimated distances to the goal respectively. The modified Particle Swarm Optimization al
... Show MoreThis paper describes the problem of online autonomous mobile robot path planning, which is consisted of finding optimal paths or trajectories for an autonomous mobile robot from a starting point to a destination across a flat map of a terrain, represented by a 2-D workspace. An enhanced algorithm for solving the problem of path planning using Bacterial Foraging Optimization algorithm is presented. This nature-inspired metaheuristic algorithm, which imitates the foraging behavior of E-coli bacteria, was used to find the optimal path from a starting point to a target point. The proposed algorithm was demonstrated by simulations in both static and dynamic different environments. A comparative study was evaluated between the developed algori
... Show MoreFinding communities of connected individuals in complex networks is challenging, yet crucial for understanding different real-world societies and their interactions. Recently attention has turned to discover the dynamics of such communities. However, detecting accurate community structures that evolve over time adds additional challenges. Almost all the state-of-the-art algorithms are designed based on seemingly the same principle while treating the problem as a coupled optimization model to simultaneously identify community structures and their evolution over time. Unlike all these studies, the current work aims to individually consider this three measures, i.e. intra-community score, inter-community score, and evolution of community over
... Show MoreThe Combined Economic Emission Dispatch (CEED) problem is crucial for optimizing power system operation by minimizing costs and emissions while ensuring grid stability and meeting demand. This paper addresses the complex, nonlinear, and nonconvex nature of CEED, arising from factors like valve-point effects and transmission losses, which necessitates efficient metaheuristic algorithms. We introduce an Improved Zebra Optimization Algorithm (IMZOA), an enhanced bio-inspired technique integrating advanced adaptive foraging and dynamic defense mechanisms, along with a cubic function for CEED modeling, to improve search efficiency and convergence. IMZOA demonstrates significant numerical improvements, achieving up to a 0.80 % cost reduction for
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