A time predefined variable depth search for nurse rostering

Burke, Edmund; Curtois, Tim; Qu, Rong; Vanden Berghe, Greet

Abstract

This paper presents a variable depth search for the nurse rostering problem. The algorithm works by chaining together single neighbourhood swaps into more effective compound moves. It achieves this by using heuristics to decide whether to continue extending a chain and which candidates to examine as the next potential link in the chain. Because end users vary in how long they are willing to wait for solutions, a particular goal of this research was to create an algorithm that accepts a user specified computational time limit and uses it effectively. When compared against previously published approaches the results show that the algorithm is very competitive.

Citation

Burke, E., Curtois, T., Qu, R., & Vanden Berghe, G. (2013). A time predefined variable depth search for nurse rostering. INFORMS Journal on Computing, 25(3), https://doi.org/10.1287/ijoc.1120.0510

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: Jan 1, 2013
• Deposit Date: Mar 15, 2015
• Publicly Available Date: Mar 15, 2015
• Journal: INFORMS Journal on Computing
• Print ISSN: 1091-9856
• Electronic ISSN: 1526-5528
• Publisher: INFORMS
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 25
• Issue: 3
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1287/ijoc.1120.0510
• Keywords: Timetabling, personnel, local search, heuristics
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1003462
• Publisher URL: http://pubsonline.informs.org/doi/abs/10.1287/ijoc.1120.0510