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Task preference-based bottleneck assignment problem

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Abstract

The paper discusses a task preference-based bottleneck assignment problem in which there are n tasks that are divided into three phases in order of preference of performance of various tasks. The assignment problem is balanced with an equal number of agents and tasks. An agent can perform only one task and each task can be accomplished by exactly one agent. Tasks belonging to a particular phase cannot be commenced until the tasks of the previous phase have been completed. Given the performance time of each task by each agent, the aim is to find an assignment of agents to the tasks that minimize the total completion time of all tasks. The total completion time here refers to the sum of the overall completion times of three phases. An iterative algorithm for solving such a task preference-based bottleneck assignment problem is proposed in the paper. The proposed algorithm is validated with the help of theoretical results and numerical illustration. The algorithm has been coded in MATLAB and the computational results show that the algorithm performs well in terms of computing time for finding optimal assignments for task preference-based assignment problems of different sizes.

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Acknowledgements

The author Ekta Jain is very thankful to the mentor Dr. Anuj Sharma for his continuous guidance and encouragement.

Funding

The author Ekta Jain is thankful to Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, India (Sanction No. 09/135/(0724)/2015-EMR-I) and the author Kalpana Dahiya is thankful to Science and Engineering Research Board (File no. MTR/2019/000723) for financial support required to carry out this research work.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mathematics, MCM DAV College for Women, Chandigarh, India

    Ekta Jain

  2. University Institute of Engineering and Technology, Panjab University, Chandigarh, 160014, India

    Kalpana Dahiya

  3. Department of Computer Science and Applications, Panjab University, Chandigarh, 160014, India

    Anuj Sharma

  4. Department of Mathematics, Panjab University, Chandigarh, 160014, India

    Vanita Verma

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  1. Ekta Jain
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  2. Kalpana Dahiya
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  3. Anuj Sharma
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  4. Vanita Verma
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Correspondence to Kalpana Dahiya.

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Jain, E., Dahiya, K., Sharma, A. et al. Task preference-based bottleneck assignment problem. Comp. Appl. Math. 41, 298 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40314-022-01999-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40314-022-01999-9

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