Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Hybrid Harmony Search Algorithm for Nurse Rostering Problem

  • Conference paper
  • First Online:
Harmony Search Algorithm

Part of the book series: Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing ((AISC,volume 382))

Abstract

This paper addresses the nurse rostering problem (NRP), whose objective is to minimize a total penalty caused by the roster. A large number of constraints required to be considered could cause a great difficulty of handling the NRP. A hybrid harmony search algorithm (HHSA) with a greedy local search is proposed to solve the NRP. A personal schedule is divided into several blocks, in which a subset of constraints is considered in advance. Based on these blocks, the pitch adjustment and randomization are carried out. Every time a roster is improvised, a coverage repairing procedure is applied to make the shift constraints satisfied, and the greedy local search is used to improve the roster’s quality. The proposed HHAS was tested on many well known real-world problem instances and competitive solutions were obtained.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 169.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 219.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  1. Burke, E.K., Causmaecker, P.De, Berghe, G.V., Landeghem, H.V.: The state of the art of nurse rostering. J. Sched. 7, 441–499 (2004)

    Article  MATH  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  2. Aickelin, U., Dowsland, K.A.: An indirect genetic algorithm for a nurse scheduling problem. Comput. Oper. Res. 31, 761–778 (2004)

    Article  MATH  Google Scholar 

  3. Burke, E.K., Curtois, T., Qu, R., Berghe, G.V.: A scatter search methodology for the nurse rostering problem. J. Oper. Res. Soc. 61, 1667–1679 (2010)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Dowsland, K.A.: Nurse scheduling with tabu search and strategic oscillation. Eur. J. Oper. Res. 106, 393–407 (1998)

    Article  MATH  Google Scholar 

  5. Burke, E.K., Li, J., Qu, R.: A pareto-based search methodology for multi-objective nurse scheduling. Ann. Oper. Res. 196, 91–109 (2012)

    Article  MATH  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  6. Post, G., Veltman, B.: Harmonious personnel scheduling. In: Proceedings of 5th International Conference on Practice and Automated Timetabling, pp. 557–559 (2004)

    Google Scholar 

  7. Burke, E.K., Curtois, T., Post, G., Qu, R.: A hybrid heuristic ordering and variable neighbourhood search for the nurse rostering problem. Eur. J. Oper. Res. 188, 330–341 (2008)

    Article  MATH  Google Scholar 

  8. Burke, E.K., Li, J., Qu, R.: A hybrid model of integer programming and variable neighbourhood search for highly-constrained nurse rostering problems. Eur. J. Oper. Res. 203, 484–493 (2010)

    Article  MATH  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  9. Cheang, B., Li, H., Lim, A., Rodrigues, B.: Nurse rostering problems—a bibliographic survey. Eur. J. Oper. Res. 151, 447–460 (2003)

    Article  MATH  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  10. Geem, Z.W., Kim, J.H., Loganathan, G.V.: A new heuristic optimization algorithm: harmony search. Simulation 76, 60–68 (2001)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Al-Betar, M.A., Khader, A.T.: A harmony search algorithm for university course timetabling. Ann. Oper. Res. 194, 3–31 (2012)

    Article  MATH  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  12. Geem, Z.W., Lee, K.S., Park, Y.: Application of harmony search to vehicle routing. Am. J. Appl. Sci. 2, 1552–1557 (2005)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Awadallah, M.A., Khader, A.T., Al-Betar, M.A., Bolaji, A.L.: Nurse rostering using modified harmony search algorithm. Swarm, Evolutionary, and Memetic Computing 7077, 27–37 (2011)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Awadallah, M.A., Khader, A.T., Al-Betar, M.A., Bolaji, A.L.: Nurse scheduling using harmony search. In: 6th International Conference on Bio-Inspired Computing: Theories and Applications, pp. 58–63 (2011)

    Google Scholar 

  15. Hadwan, M., Ayob, M., Sabar, N.R., Qu, R.: A harmony search algorithm for nurse rostering problems. Inform. Sciences. 233, 126–140 (2013)

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  16. Curtois, T.: Personnel scheduling data sets and benchmarks. University of Nottingham. http://www.cs.nott.ac.uk/~tec/NRP/

  17. Ikegami, A., Niwa, A.: A subproblem-centric model and approach to the nurse scheduling problem. Math. Program. 97, 517–541 (2003)

    Article  MATH  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  18. Brucker, P., Burke, E.K., Curtois, T., Qu, R., Berghe, G.V.: A shift sequence based approach for nurse scheduling and a new benchmark dataset. J. Heuristics 16, 559–573 (2010)

    Article  MATH  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Mechatronic Engineering and Automation, Shanghai University, Shanghai, 200072, China

    Yabing Nie, Bing Wang & Xianxia Zhang

Authors
  1. Yabing Nie
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Bing Wang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Xianxia Zhang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Bing Wang .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering, Korea University, Seoul, Korea (Republic of)

    Joong Hoon Kim

  2. Energy IT, Gachon University, Seongnam-Si, Korea (Republic of)

    Zong Woo Geem

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2016 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

About this paper

Cite this paper

Nie, Y., Wang, B., Zhang, X. (2016). Hybrid Harmony Search Algorithm for Nurse Rostering Problem. In: Kim, J., Geem, Z. (eds) Harmony Search Algorithm. Advances in Intelligent Systems and Computing, vol 382. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-47926-1_12

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-47926-1_12

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-662-47925-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-662-47926-1

  • eBook Packages: EngineeringEngineering (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation