Multiple Schedule Research Articles

TIME DOSING OF ANTIHYPERTENSIVE TREATMENT AND PROGNOSIS

Objective: Night BP is the most powerful estimate of cardiovascular prognosis. It has been suggested that bedtime administration of antihypertensive therapy may favour night BP reduction and prognosis. We aimed to evaluate the risk of total and cardiovascular mortality in a large cohort of treated hypertensives, depending on the schedule of treatment administration (entirely in the morning, entirely at bedtime, or combined morning and evening) at the time ABPM was performed. Design and method: Vital status and death due to cardiovascular causes were obtained from death certificates in 26751 treated hypertensives (mean age 62, 60% males), enrolled in the Spanish ABPM Registry between 2004 and 2014, and having a valid 24-h ABPM at entry. Cox-models adjusted for clinical confounders and 24-hour systolic BP were used for HR calculation in groups depending on treatment administration. Results: Among the 26751 evaluable patients, most (76.7%) received their medication exclusively in the morning; 13% exclusively in the evening, and 10.3% in a multiple schedule both in the morning and in the evening. Mortality incidence in these 3 groups were 13.7, 17.8 and 21.8 per 1000 patients/year, respectively. Compared to patients receiving their antihypertensive medication entirely in the morning (reference group), those receiving their medication entirely in the evening did not show a significant increase in the HR for total mortality (1.06; 95%CI: 0.93–1.21) or in cardiovascular mortality (1.15; 0.93–1.41) after adjustment for clinical confounders and 24-hour systolic BP. Patients receiving their antihypertensive medication both in the morning and at bedtime had an increased risk for mortality (1.29; 1.14–1.48) and for cardiovascular mortality (1.46; 1.18–1.80). Additional analyses using double-robust propensity score yielded similar results. Conclusions: Morning or bedtime dosing of the antihypertensive medication has no effect on prognosis. We have found that patients receiving their medication in a multiple schedule, including morning and evening dosing have an increased risk of mortality and cardiovascular mortality, even after adjustment for confounders. However, we cannot exclude other aspects, such as a poorer treatment adherence, being the responsible of this worse prognosis.

An application of the trial‐based functional analysis to assess problem behavior evoked by ritual interruption

AbstractChildren with autism spectrum disorder engage in restricted and repetitive behavior. Some of these children engage in problem behavior when these rituals are interrupted. The purpose of the current study was to evaluate the use of the trial‐based functional analysis to assess problem behavior related to ritual interruption and to treat the problem behavior using functional communication training plus a multiple schedule. We found that the trial‐based functional analysis correctly identified the presence of a rituals function and the treatment was effective in four of four participants, and the treatment generalized to additional rituals for three of three participants.

Study on Comprehensive Optimization of Electric Multiple Unit Trains Passing Station Route and Rolling Stock Scheduling

In order to overcome the contradiction between the rolling stock scheduling problem of EMU at a macro level and the problem of EMU train passing station route at a micro level in some special cases, this paper comprehensively optimizes the electric multiple unit train passing station route and rolling stock scheduling. By taking the operation of the Chinese high-speed railway EMU trains as the actual background and using the actual situation that the first-level inspection and repair cycle time is twice the cycle of a high-speed railway train timetable, based on the establishment of a 48-hour continuous network, a 0-1 type integer linear programming model is constructed. While obtaining the rolling stock scheduling of EMU trains, the EMU train passing station route scheme is obtained. The experimental results show that, compared with solving the problem in two stages, the comprehensive optimization according to the method in this paper can better ensure the feasibility of the passing station route scheme and provide decision support for the actual operation.

Rail Multi Vehicle Scheduling Method for Intermediate Depot of Steel Plant Based on Improved Genetic Algorithm

Appropriate transportation network plays a significant role in the economic development of country. The rising transport demand increases the congestion in railway networks, and thus, they become more interdependent and more complex to operate. A ground railway system is established in the reservoir area of steel plants to ensure smooth running of multi vehicle logistics transportation. In recent years, the development of the ground rail multi vehicle logistics system in the reservoir area of steel plants has been increased. However, such logistic systems need an intelligent dispatching control system to avoid the possibility of safety hazards, to follow optimal tracks and to effectively manage logistics operation. In this paper, an improved hybrid genetic algorithm is proposed to realize the decision making and control of multi vehicle scheduling. Task assignment to multiple vehicles and multi-stage subparent vehicle scheduling is performed based on the information obtained from the concerned subsection. The self-learning hybrid algorithm works on the data extracted from an improved population and suggests an optimized solution. The individual behavior and optimization process are updated by self-learning, which ensures the effectiveness of iterative evolution. The selection, cross mutation, and self-learning expert base operation methods of the hybrid genetic algorithm are optimized. The proposed system is evaluated by taking the multi vehicle logistics system of cold rolling intermediate steel depot as a case study. The improved algorithm is implemented in MATLAB and is compared with the traditional genetic and particle swarm optimization algorithms. Results of the analysis prove that the hybrid genetic algorithm of self-learning knowledge expert base is effective in solving the multi vehicle logistics scheduling optimization problem. With the inclusion of the self-learning knowledge expert base genetic algorithm, the convergence trend of the proposed algorithm is enhanced; the traditional genetic algorithm converges after 140 iterations, while in the proposed algorithm, it is reduced to 100 iterations. The evaluation reveals that the proposed algorithm is speedier than the traditional genetic algorithm (GA) and particle swam optimization (PSO); the average solution time of the proposed algorithm is 119.1 while that of GA, PSO is 137.4, 131.4, respectively. The proposed algorithm is applicable to improve the operation and efficiency of the logistics transportation system. The approach is beneficial in intelligent control of metallurgical production. The proposed algorithm has practical significance to be followed in the development of intelligent metallurgical production and logistics transportation.

Reinforcing effects of fentanyl and sufentanil aerosol puffs in rats.

Rapidly evolving e-cigarette technology developed for self-administering nicotine aerosol has the potential to be utilized to self-administer other aerosolized drugs of abuse. Rodent models which mirror characteristics of human e-cigarette use are necessary to explore the degree to which this may be a public health concern. Our goal was to develop a highly translational model of discrete nose-only aerosol puff drug delivery to explore the reinforcing effects of fentanyl and sufentanil aerosols in rats. Male and female Sprague-Dawley rats were trained to perform a multiple schedule FR1 lever-press, 4-s (second) nose hold operant during which the subject's orofacial areas were exposed to drug-free glycerol/propylene glycol aerosol produced by a commercial e-cigarette at a power setting of 18 watts. Each completed 4-s drug-free vehicle aerosol exposure resulted in a 3-s presentation of a 0.1-ml dipper of sweetened milk solution. After training, rats were then allowed to self-administer 4-s nose-only puffs of fentanyl (100-6000µg/ml) or sufentanil (30-500µg/ml) aerosol in the absence of paired milk dipper reinforcers. All 31 rats learned the lever-press/nose-poke multiple schedule for milk dippers alone and 25 accepted exposure to 4s of 18watts of drug-free vehicle aerosol when paired with milk dipper presentations. In the absence of paired milk dipper presentations, fentanyl aerosol puffs at concentrations of 1000 and 3000µg/ml as well as 100µg/ml puffs of sufentanil served as reinforcers compared to both air puffs and drug-free vehicle aerosol puffs. There were no significant differences between males and females in number of fentanyl or sufentanil puffs self-administered. Discrete nose-only puffs of two potent opioids under exposure conditions comparable to puff durations in human e-cigarette users serve as reinforcers in rats. This outcome suggests that under appropriate conditions e-cigarettes might be a potential alternative delivery mechanism for illicit opioids.

Research on Fresh Product Logistics Transportation Scheduling Based on Deep Reinforcement Learning

With the improvement of the economic level, people’s quality of life continues to improve, the demand for fresh food is increasing, and the logistics of fresh products is also developing rapidly. We effectively balance the relationship between transportation costs and service levels in fresh product logistics and transportation businesses, improve the transportation capacity and efficiency of logistics transportation businesses, and improve the resource utilization of businesses. It is important for the development of the logistics transportation scheduling industry for fresh products. Significance. Based on this, this paper proposes a DNQ algorithm based on pointer network, which solves the single fresh product distribution service center-regional efficient logistics scheduling problem, and a feasible logistics transportation scheduling scheme can be obtained through simulation experiments. The simulation results show that the algorithm is superior to other common intelligent algorithms in terms of accuracy and stability, which proves that the algorithm is effective and feasible (the research results cannot be directly shown in the abstract and need to be supplemented) At the same time, it further explored the DNQ algorithm to improve the correction network, which can solve the complex problem of multiple fresh product distribution service centers-regional efficient logistics scheduling. It is a successful attempt to improve the solution algorithm. Complex logistics and transportation scheduling problems provide ideas and have good guidance and reference significance.

A comparison of RIRD within chained and multiple schedules in the treatment of vocal stereotypy

Slaton and Hanley (2016) compared the effects of multiple and chained schedules on stereotypy and item engagement for 2 individuals who exhibited automatically maintained motor stereotypy. Contingent access to motor stereotypy (i.e., chained schedules) was more effective than time-based access (i.e., multiple schedules) at reducing motor stereotypy, increasing item engagement, and establishing stimulus control for both participants. We systematically replicated Slaton and Hanley with 2 participants by a) targeting vocal stereotypy, b) including response interruption and redirection as a treatment component across conditions, c) conducting sessions in the natural environment with teaching assistants as change agents, and d) conducting an analysis of the effective treatment component(s). Chained schedules were more effective for 1 participant, whereas both treatments were effective for the other participant. The component analysis showed that different components were necessary for effective treatment for each participant.

Feedback Control for QoS-Aware Radio Resource Allocation in Adaptive RAN

In order to meet the quality requirements of various communication services in the advanced 5G era around 2025, the authors have proposed an Adaptive radio access network (RAN) that changes the placement of virtualized base station functions according to the services. In Adaptive RAN, each base station function has its own scheduler, and multiple schedulers share common radio resources. Therefore, in order to guarantee communication quality for more users, it is necessary to control the allocation of the radio resources required for scheduling to each base station function with neither excess nor deficiency. This allocation control is performed based on the information collected from the base station functions by the RAN intelligent controller (RIC). If a large amount of information is used for control, allocation can be performed with higher accuracy, but the collection of information overuses the limited bandwidth of the network. Therefore, it is necessary to reduce the information volume required for control while at the same time guaranteeing communication quality. In this paper, we propose a method that guarantees communication quality while reducing the information volume required for control by combining a required resource estimation control in a long cycle and a resource allocation modification control based on feedback information related to communication quality in a short cycle. We evaluated the impact of the proposed method on communication quality compared to conventional methods through simulation, and verified that the proposed method can guarantee better communication quality than conventional methods while suppressing the increase in information volume.

Human Resource Scheduling in Project Management Using the Simulated Annealing Algorithm with the Human Factors Engineering Approach

Manpower scheduling means assigning a work pattern (shift day) according to the wants and needs of the system and the workforce with the goal of minimum cost. Many production and service systems require multiple scheduling. This problem is generally NP‐complete, and it takes a long time to solve it through the current method. Today, several innovative methods have been proposed to solve such problems. In this paper, the simulated annealing method (SA) has been used. The problem in this study is in an oil extraction project for human resource scheduling, which consists of three human resource groups in four task types in oil exploration operations, including geology, geophysics, petrophysics, and oil engineering. To solve the human resource scheduling problem, a meta‐heuristic algorithm called simulated annealing algorithm was applied, and the result indicated that the allocated human resource was scheduled with the least fatigue implementing the proper job rotation.

TSCH Multiflow Scheduling with QoS Guarantees: A Comparison of SDN with Common Schedulers

Industrial Wireless Sensor Networks (IWSN) are becoming increasingly popular in production environments due to their ease of deployment, low cost and energy efficiency. However, the complexity and accuracy demanded by these environments requires that IWSN implement quality of service mechanisms that allow them to operate with high determinism. For this reason, the IEEE 802.15.4e standard incorporates the Time Slotted Channel Hopping (TSCH) protocol which reduces interference and increases the reliability of transmissions. This standard does not specify how time resources are allocated in TSCH scheduling, leading to multiple scheduling solutions. Schedulers can be classified as autonomous, distributed and centralised. The first two have prevailed over the centralised ones because they do not require high signalling, along with the advantages of ease of deployment and high performance. However, the increased QoS requirements and the diversity of traffic flows that circulate through the network in today’s Industry 4.0 environment require strict, dynamic control to guarantee parameters such as delay, packet loss and deadline, independently for each flow. That cannot always be achieved with distributed or autonomous schedulers. For this reason, it is necessary to use centralised protocols with a disruptive approach, such as Software Defined Networks (SDN). In these, not only is the control of the MAC layer centralised, but all the decisions of the nodes that make up the network are configured by the controller based on a global vision of the topology and resources, which allows optimal decisions to be made. In this work, a comparative analysis is made through simulation and a testbed of the different schedulers to demonstrate the benefits of a fully centralized approach such as SDN. The results obtained show that with SDN it is possible to simplify the management of multiple flows, without the problems of centralised schedulers. SDN maintains the Packet Delivery Ratio (PDR) levels of other distributed solutions, but in addition, it achieves greater determinism with bounded end-to-end delays and Deadline Satisfaction Ratio (DSR) at the cost of increased power consumption.

Human temporal learning with mixed signals

The influence of cue informativeness on human temporal discrimination was evaluated using a peak-interval (PI) procedure. A target moved across the computer monitor, reaching the center at 2 or 4 s. Key presses shot the center of the screen. Participants earned points when shots hit the target and lost points for misses. The target was masked during occasional, extended PI trials, allowing for measurement of temporal discrimination. During PI trials, the screen background color could exert stimulus control by providing information about target speed. Cue informativeness was represented as the correlation (φ) between light or dark green backgrounds and the 2- or 4-s target and was manipulated across 4 conditions: a multiple schedule (φ = 1), mixed signals (φ = 0.8, 0.4), and a mixed schedule (φ = 0). In Experiment 1, participants were randomly assigned to one of the 4 conditions. In Experiment 2, each participant experienced all 4 conditions. Participants learned to respond at both intervals in all conditions. Cue informativeness did not affect peak time or spread. For the most part, temporal distributions of responses for the two background colors suggested a cover-both-bases strategy in the presence of mixed signals. Participants incorporated probabilistic information from cues to allocate responding in time.

Procedures for determining and then modifying the extinction component of multiple schedules for destructive behavior.

As a component of reinforcer schedule thinning following functional communication training, multiple schedules of reinforcement produce desirable rates and patterns of communication responses as an alternative response to destructive behavior. However, reinforcement schedule thinning is a gradual process that can take many sessions to obtain therapeutic goals. The desired outcome is that manding occurs only during signaled intervals of reinforcement with a sufficiently lean terminal schedule of reinforcement availability and low rates of destructive behavior. The purposes of this study were to (a) evaluate an assessment for informing the initial duration of extinction for alternative responding, (b) evaluate the utility of competing stimuli during extinction for alternative responding, and (c) assess a method for fading the availability of competing stimuli. With these procedures, all 4 participants experienced terminal schedules of reinforcement with rapid, robust reductions in destructive behavior soon after baseline. We discuss the implications and directions for future research.

27. Immunologic Hyporesponsiveness with Subsequent Dosing of Meningococcal Vaccines: Re-Evaluating the Current Paradigm

BackgroundImmunologic hyporesponsiveness (HyR) is considered as an inability to mount immune responses to vaccination of at least the same degree as earlier doses. For meningococcal vaccines, HyR has classically been associated with unconjugated but not conjugated polysaccharide (PS) vaccine dosing, but the clinical relevance is unclear. MethodsTo characterize meningococcal vaccine HyR, a PubMed search was conducted without date limits as follows: (hyporespons*) AND (meningococcal) AND (vaccine OR mechanism OR MOA OR causes). Papers from the authors’ files, including HyR insights with other vaccines, were included. ResultsClassic HyR with repeat unconjugated PS vaccine (MPV) dosing is thought to be associated with memory B-cell (BC) depletion, causing reduced responses on redosing with the same PS. This lack of immunologic memory and interference is seen years after MPV dosing across age groups. As data is added, other examples seem to fit the HyR definition but differ from the classical mechanism and its implications. First, passively transferred maternal antibodies (Abs) may interfere with neonatal adaptive immune response and ultimately those of childhood vaccination by binding to vaccine antigen (Ag) and inhibiting Ab production. Second, multiple dose schedules of meningococcal conjugate vaccines can show reduced responses to later doses in the series but memory is still established and amnestic booster response later achieved. Finally, carrier-induced epitopic suppression, occurring when PS Ag epitopes presented on a protein carrier are inhibited by prior/concurrent dosing with the same carrier, has also been reported. These 3 examples of alternative HyR mechanisms are not associated with memory BC depletion but are likely due to high circulatory Ab levels reducing responses, which is transient, reduces with Ab waning, immunologic memory remains intact, and is not clinically significant.ConclusionThis literature review identified HyR mechanisms other than the classic mechanism associated with memory BC depletion that may account for decreased immune response to subsequent vaccination. Understanding the type of HyR observed with meningococcal vaccines is crucial, as these mechanisms vary in terms of potential clinical significance and the duration of their impact.Disclosures Jamie Findlow, PhD, Pfizer (Employee, Shareholder) Paul Balmer, PhD, Pfizer (Employee, Shareholder)

Effects of advance notice on transition-related pausing in pigeons.

Transitions between tasks can produce behavioral disruptions that are characterized as problematic. Advance notice, a procedure designed to reduce disruptions, involves presenting a stimulus to warn of the end of the ongoing activity and the nature of the upcoming activity. Clinical evaluations of advance notice have produced mixed results. We studied advance notice in a controlled laboratory setting. Pigeons' keypecking was maintained on a multiple schedule with 2 fixed-ratio components. In the lean component, completing the ratio produced brief access to food; in the rich component, completing the ratio produced longer access. Disruptions in operant behavior, measured as pauses in pecking, were reliably produced in the transition from a rich component to a lean one. Advance notice was provided by flashing the houselight before transitions to lean components. Advance notice did not reduce pausing in the rich-lean transition; instead, it tended to increase it. When the flashing houselight warned of a transition but was equally likely to be followed by the rich component as the lean one, the stimulus had no reliable effect on pausing. Despite its limitations as a translational model of clinical settings, this experiment suggests that clinical use of advance notice should be approached with caution.

Abstract 9507: Evening Dosing of Antihypertensive Treatment is Not Associated With a Better Prognosis

Introduction: Night BP is the most powerful estimate of cardiovascular prognosis. It has been suggested that bedtime administration of antihypertensive therapy may favour night BP reduction and prognosis. Hypothesis: We aimed to evaluate the mortality risk in treated hypertensives, depending on the schedule of treatment administration (entirely in the morning, entirely at bedtime, or combined morning and evening) at the time ABPM was performed. Methods: Vital status and cardiovascular death were obtained from death certificates in 26751 treated hypertensives (mean age 62, 60% males), enrolled in the Spanish ABPM Registry, and having a valid 24-h ABPM at entry. Cox-models adjusted for clinical confounders and 24-hour systolic BP were used for HR calculation in groups depending on treatment administration. Results: Among the 26751 evaluable patients, most (76.7%) received their medication exclusively in the morning; 13% exclusively in the evening, and 10.3% in a multiple schedule both in the morning and in the evening. Mortality incidence in these 3 groups were 13.7, 17.8 and 21.8 per 1000 patients/year, respectively. Compared to patients receiving their antihypertensive medication entirely in the morning (reference group), those receiving their medication entirely in the evening did not show a significant increase in the HR for total mortality (1.06; 95%CI: 0.93-1.21) or in cardiovascular mortality (1.15; 0.93-1.41) after adjustment for clinical confounders and 24-hour systolic BP. Patients receiving their antihypertensive medication both in the morning and at bedtime had an increased risk for mortality (1.29; 1.14-1.48) and for cardiovascular mortality (1.46; 1.18-1.80). Additional analyses using double-robust propensity score yielded similar results. Conclusions: Morning or bedtime dosing of the antihypertensive medication has no effect on prognosis. We have found that patients receiving their medication in a multiple schedule, including morning and evening dosing have an increased risk of mortality and cardiovascular mortality, even after adjustment for confounders. However, we cannot exclude other aspects, such as a poorer treatment adherence, being the responsible of this worse prognosis.

Efficiency and preference for alternative activities during schedule thinning with functional communication training.

Functional communication training is an effective treatment for decreasing socially reinforced destructive behavior (Carr & Durand,1985). Clinicians frequently use multiple schedules to thin the reinforcement schedule (Hanley et al.,2001). Individuals are often taught to wait for functional reinforcers without alternative programmed stimuli. However, concurrently available items and activities are often accessible in the natural environment. In this study, we taught 4 participants a functional communication response to access functional reinforcers. We implemented a multiple schedule during schedule thinning, comparing a control condition (nothing available during SΔ intervals) to separate conditions with items/activities (moderately preferred tangible items, attention, demands) noncontingently available during SΔ intervals. After reaching the terminal schedule in one condition, therapists assessed participant preference across SΔ conditions. For all participants, the terminal schedule was reached with alternative items and activities, and participant preference corresponded with the most efficient schedule thinning condition. Therapists also indicated preference for alternative items/activities.

Analytical and Numerical Evaluation of Co-Scheduling Strategies and Their Application

Applications in high-performance computing (HPC) may not use all available computational resources, leaving some of them underutilized. By co-scheduling, i.e., running more than one application on the same computational node, it is possible to improve resource utilization and overall throughput. Some applications may have conflicting requirements on resources and co-scheduling may cause performance degradation, so it is important to take it into account in scheduling decisions. In this paper, we formalize the co-scheduling problem and propose multiple scheduling strategies to solve it: an optimal strategy, an online strategy and heuristic strategies. These strategies vary in terms of the optimality of the solution they produce and a priori information about the system they require. We show theoretically that the online strategy provides schedules with a competitive ratio that has a constant upper limit. This allows us to solve the co-scheduling problem using heuristic strategies that approximate this online strategy. Numerical simulations show how heuristic strategies compare to the optimal strategy for different input systems. We propose a method for measuring input parameters of the model in practice and evaluate this method on HPC benchmark applications. We show the high accuracy of the measurement method, which allows us to apply the proposed scheduling strategies in the scheduler implementation.

On the Efficacy of and Preference for Signaling Extinction in a Multiple Schedule.

Previous basic research has shown that signaling the extinction component of a compound schedule can be aversive and nonpreferred. However, such discriminative stimuli are common when thinning schedules of reinforcement in practice, and they provide several advantages to clinicians. A limitation of previous applied studies on different arrangements of discriminative stimuli is that researchers have used identical stimuli to signal the availability of reinforcement across conditions that do and do not signal extinction, often doubling exposure to the stimulus signaling the availability of reinforcement. The present experiments corrected this limitation by comparing multiple-schedule arrangements that do and do not signal extinction when unique stimuli signal each component across conditions. Results from three participants indicated that both multiple-schedule arrangements were similarly efficacious when teaching the successive discrimination. However, response patterns differed when testing under a concurrent-operants arrangement, suggesting different patterns of preference across various multiple-schedule arrangements.

Coadministration of a Clinically Relevant Dexamethasone Dosage With Ablative Radiation Therapy Reduces Peripheral Lymphocytes But Does Not Alter In Vivo Intratumoral Lymphocyte Phenotype or Inhibit Efficacy of Radiation Therapy in a Murine Colorectal Tumor Model.

Dexamethasone is commonly given during radiation therapy (RT) to manage toxicities. Our study examines if dexamethasone coadministration with RT inhibits the RT-induced antitumor T cell response in mouse. Intramuscularly implanted MC38 tumors were irradiated with 15 Gy after establishing for 7 days. Tumor bearing mice were administered dexamethasone using multiple schedules and doses. Peripheral lymphocyte reduction was monitored by complete blood count and intratumoral and tumor draining lymph node (tdLN) populations by flow cytometry. Effector phenotype and function of ex vivo stimulated tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) and naïve splenocytes as well as in vivo TILs with or without dexamethasone were monitored by flow cytometry and ELISA. Long course high dose, short course high dose, and short course human equivalent dose dexamethasone reduced peripheral lymphocytes yet did not inhibit survival after irradiation. Short course high dose administration decreased TIL and tdLN lymphocyte activation as well as tdLN mass but did not affect TIL frequencies or change tdLN cell population composition. Dexamethasone inhibited effector function of ex vivo stimulated naïve splenocytes and TILs, but magnitude of IFN-γ secretion was consistently higher in TILs regardless of dexamethasone dose. In vivo analysis of TILs after irradiation and HE dexamethasone treatment showed that TILs had a similar effector phenotype compared with vehicle controls. Dexamethasone reduces blood and tdLN lymphocytes. Dexamethasone also suppresses TIL activation/effector function yet does not affect survival in irradiated MC38 tumor bearing mice, which depend on RT-induced immune responses for therapy efficacy. Additional study in human subjects is warranted.

Controlling the Complexity of Hierarchical Scheduling Frameworks

Hierarchical scheduling frameworks are a new scheduling paradigm where multiple system schedules are integrated (one-within-another). HSFs presents a multi-layered complexity problem that system engineers are struggling to contain. A promising trend in the aerospace and defense industry is to employ Digital Engineering’s Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) to deal with the complexity of HSFs. MBSE permits the abstraction of application-specific details that can radically speed up system design exploration. Thus, this paper investigates how the output from an HSF algorithm can be converted into an MBSE modeling language that enables architectural exploration for resource allocation. The Unified Modeling Language (UML) Modeling and Analysis of Real-Time and Embedded Systems (MARTE) Profile is the chosen unified modeling language of MBSE. The modeling language is used with an HSF application for demonstration purposes. The approach in this paper seeks to limit tool use by combining an inline verification method (Genetic Algorithm) with a new MBSE workflow.