Letter to submit work to 
19th Annual (2022) "Humies" Awards
For Human-Competitive Results – Produced by Genetic and Evolutionary Computation

1. The complete title of one (or more) paper(s) published in the open literature describing the work that the author claims describes a human-competitive result;

These articles two has the main contribution to the “Humies” Awards:

1. Automatic Generator of Loading Rules and Its Applications on Logistics Operations. 

2. On the Implementation of Simulation-based on Representation by Rules Methodology to Plan Port Logistics Operation. 

2. The name, complete physical mailing address, e-mail address, and phone number of EACH author of EACH paper(s);

The information of the Book author is given below:

Name: Anibal Tavares de Azevedo
E-mail: atanibal@unicamp.br
Phone number: 55-19-98142-0122

3. The name of the corresponding author (i.e., the author to whom notices will be sent concerning the competition);

Name: D

4. The abstract of the paper(s);

Abstract of the paper: “On the implementation of simulation-based on representation by rules methodology to plan port logistics operation”
This paper proposes a fast and agile methodology that enables the easy incorporation of different business rules for planning port logistics operations. The rules could be embedded in a simplified discrete-event and multi-agent simulation scheme that clearly shows the impacts of different rules in each part of the port operation. Furthermore, the developed approach enables an analysis of how operational decisions in one port could affect subsequent ports.

Abstract of the paper: “Automatic Generator of Loading Rules and Its Applications on Logistics Operations”
“This paper presents an algorithm useful for many logistic processes: from loading containers into a ship to organizing cargo into stacks in a warehouse or packing cargo in a vehicle cargo. It analyzed the feasible sequences to perform such operations and how it limits the possible sequences that could be created. Furthermore, it showed the computational performance to propose a feasible solution for large-scale problems of regular spaces with 28,800 cells that are related to loading cargo into a container ship problem.”

5. A list containing one or more of the eight letters (A, B, C, D, E, F, G, or H) that correspond to the criteria (see above) that the author claims that the work satisfies;

An automatically created result is considered "human-competitive" if it satisfies at least one of the eight criteria below.

(A) The result was patented as an invention in the past, is an improvement over a patented invention, or would qualify today as a patentable new invention.

To the best of my knowledge, no.

(B) The result is equal to or better than a result that was accepted as a new scientific result at the time when it was published in a peer-reviewed scientific journal.

Yes. With the automatic generator of rules is possible to fastly produce and test rules for any scenario which could help to tackle unexpected events in a container port which is the most sensible part of a supply chain. It is better than the results presented at the paper “Solving the 3D Stowage Planning Problem integrated with the Quay Crane Scheduling Problem by Representation by Rules and Genetic Algorithm”.

(C) The result is equal to or better than a result that was placed into a database or archive of results maintained by an internationally recognized panel of scientific experts.

The instances in the paper “Solving the 3D Stowage Planning Problem integrated with the Quay Crane Scheduling Problem by Representation by Rules and Genetic Algorithm” could be solved by the approach that uses the automatic generator of rules.

(D) The result is publishable in its own right as a new scientific result independent of the fact that the result was mechanically created.

Yes, since finding the best combination of rules on a large-scale problem for a certain range of container demand scenarios would give insights into optimal policies for several agents in a container port logistic.

(E) The result is equal to or better than the most recent human-created solution to a long-standing problem for which there has been a succession of increasingly better human-created solutions.

Yes, since the results of the paper “Solving the 3D Stowage Planning Problem integrated with the Quay Crane Scheduling Problem by Representation by Rules and Genetic Algorithm” depends on rules made by human insights and experience as all other papers before 2021. A combination of the developments made in “Automatic Generator of Loading Rules and Its Applications on Logistics Operations” with the methodology generalization made in “On the Implementation of Simulation-based on Representation by Rules Methodology to Plan Port Logistics Operation” to create an autonomous management system for container ports, but it could be adapted also for warehouses.

(F) The result is equal to or better than a result that was considered an achievement in its field at the time it was first discovered.

Yes, since available literature does not provide any means to integrate several problems on container port operations using mathematical programming models for real-scale data that could reach millions of binary variables or constraints. Furthermore, there is no fast and automatical way to generate rules which would help in solving the integrated problem. These two achievements had been addressed in the book.

(G) The result solves a problem of indisputable difficulty in its field.

One problem addressed by the proposed approach is the Stowage planning problem. This problem is connected to the problem of “Dynamic Stacking Optimization in Uncertain Environments” which is one of the GECCO 2022 competitions as could be seen at: 

https://gecco-2022.sigevo.org/Call-for-Competition-Entries#id_Dynamic%20Stacking%20Optimization%20in%20Uncertain%20Environments

As mentioned on the page of this particular competition:
“Stacking problems are central to multiple billion-dollar industries. The container shipping industry needs to stack millions of containers every year. In the steel industry, the stacking of steel slabs, blooms, and coils needs to be carried out efficiently, affecting the quality of the final product.”

(H) The result holds its own or wins a regulated competition involving human contestants (in the form of either live human players or human-written computer programs).

There is no human competition that proposes itself to solve the management coordination of the operations of an entire container port.

6. A statement stating why the result satisfies the criteria that the contestant claims (see examples of statements of human competitiveness as a guide to aid in constructing this part of the submission);

One part of the methodology consists of the automatic generator of rules algorithm which could create any possible rule that a human could create. This is possible since the algorithm is based on a combinatorial analysis construction. This automation enables a fast change in the container port management system due to unpredicted events which no human would be competitive to do it.


7. A full citation of the paper (that is, author names; title, publication date; the name of the journal, conference, or book in which the article appeared; the name of editors, if applicable, of the journal or edited book; publisher name; publisher city; page numbers, if applicable);

1. AZEVEDO, A. T.. Automatic Generator of Loading Rules and Its Applications on Logistics Operations. In: International Symposium on Distributed Computing and Artificial Intelligence DCAI 2021: Distributed Computing and Artificial Intelligence, Special Sessions 18th International Conference, 2021, Salamanca. Distributed Computing and Artificial Intelligence, Volume 2: Special Sessions 18th International Conference. DCAI 2021. Lecture Notes in Networks and Systems. Salamanca: Springer, Cham, 2021. v. 2. p. 141-150.

2. Tavares de Azevedo, Anibal. On the Implementation of Simulation-based on Representation by Rules Methodology to Plan Port Logistics Operation. In: 11th International Conference on Simulation and Modeling Methodologies, Technologies and Applications, 2021, Online Streaming. Proceedings of the 11th International Conference on Simulation and Modeling Methodologies, Technologies and Applications. Setúbal: SCITEPRESS DIGITAL LIBRARY, 2021. v. 1. p. 438-444.

8. A statement either that "any prize money, if any, is to be divided equally among the co-authors" OR a specific percentage breakdown as to how the prize money, if any, is to be divided among the co-authors;

The articles have just one author.

9. A statement stating why the authors expect that their entry would be the "best," 

I do not have information about the other entries, but about my contribution, I would like to cite again one of the GECCO 2022 competition problems:

“Stacking problems are central to multiple billion-dollar industries. The container shipping industry needs to stack millions of containers every year. In the steel industry, the stacking of steel slabs, blooms, and coils needs to be carried out efficiently, affecting the quality of the final product.”

Furthermore, the methodology that I developed could also affect several big companies whose supply chain costs are vital for their business, for example, Amazon.


10. An indication of the general type of genetic or evolutionary computation used, such as GA (genetic algorithms), GP (genetic programming), ES (evolution strategies), EP (evolutionary programming), LCS (learning classifier systems), GI (genetic improvement), GE (grammatical evolution), GEP (gene expression programming), DE (differential evolution), etc.

A used a simulation-optimization hyperheuristic scheme that employs a Genetic Algorithm (GA).

11. The date of publication of each paper.  If the date of publication is not on or before the deadline for submission, but instead, the paper has been unconditionally accepted for publication and is “in the press” by the deadline for this competition, the entry must include a copy of the documentation establishing that the paper meets the "in the press" requirement.

The papers had been published in the 2021 year.