Title: Optimal material distribution decisions based on epidemic diffusion rule and stochastic latent period for emergency rescue

Authors: Haiyan Wang, Xinping Wang, Amy Z. Zeng

Addresses: Institute of Systems Engineering, Southeast University, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210096, P.R. China. ' Institute of Systems Engineering, Southeast University, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210096, P.R. China. ' Department of Management, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester, MA 01609, USA

Abstract: Demand of emergency materials is usually uncertain and varies quickly as the latent period changes. With the consideration of the delay caused by the latent period of an epidemic, we construct a multi-objective stochastic programming model with time-varying demand for the emergency logistics network based on the epidemic diffusion rule. The genetic algorithm coupled with Monte Carlo simulation is adopted to solve the optimisation model, and the application of the model as well as a sensitivity analysis of the latent period is given by a numerical example.

Keywords: emergency logistics; epidemic diffusion rule; genetic algorithms; GAs; latent period; optimisation; SEIR model; stochastic programming; emergency materials; emergency rescue; material distribution; distribution decisions; logistics networks; Monte Carlo simulation.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMOR.2009.022876

International Journal of Mathematics in Operational Research, 2009 Vol.1 No.1/2, pp.76 - 96

Published online: 31 Jan 2009 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article