This book defines and studies a combinatorial object called the pedigree and develops the theory for optimising a linear function over the convex hull of pedigrees (the Pedigree polytope). A strongly polynomial algorithm implementing the framework given in the book for checking membership in the pedigree polytope is a major contribution. This book challenges the popularly held belief in computer science that a problem included in the NP-complete class may not have a polynomial algorithm to solve. By showing STSP has a polynomial algorithm, this book settles the P vs NP question. This book has illustrative examples, figures, and easily accessible proofs for showing this unexpected result. This book introduces novel constructions and ideas previously not used in the literature. Another interesting feature of this book is it uses basic max-flow and linear multicommodity flow algorithms and concepts in these proofs establishing efficient membership checking for the pedigree polytope. Chapters 3-7 can be adopted to give a course on Efficient Combinatorial Optimization. This book is the culmination of the author's research that started in 1982 through a presentation on a new formulation of STSP at the XIth International Symposium on Mathematical Programming at Bonn.

"Schedule-Based Modeling of Transportation Networks: Theory and Applications" follows the book Schedule-Based Dynamic Transit Modeling, published in this series in 2004, recognizing the critical role that schedules play in transportation systems.

Conceived for the simulation of transit systems, in the last few years the schedule-based approach has been expanded and applied to operational planning of other transportation schedule services besides mass transit, e.g. freight transport. This innovative approach allows forecasting the evolution over time of the on-board loads on the services and their time-varying performance, using credible user behavioral hypotheses. It opens new frontiers in transportation modeling to support network design, timetable setting, and investigation of congestion effects, as well as the assessment of such new technologies, such as users system information (ITS technologies).

This proceedings volume convenes selected, peer-reviewed contributions presented at the POMS 2021 - International Conference on Production and Operations Management, which was virtually held in Lima, Peru, December 2-4, 2021. This book presents results in the field of Operations Management of key relevance to practitioners, instructors, and students. Topics focus on Operations Management, Logistics and Supply Chain Management, and Industrial and Production Engineering and Management, where mathematics and its applications play a role. In this work, readers will find a colorful collection of real-world case studies, accompanied by operations research-based managerial models. They touch on myriad topics, ranging from Artificial Intelligence and Data Analytics in Operations, Defense, Tourism, and other emerging issues in Operations Management to Healthcare Operations Management and Humanitarian Operations and Crisis Management. The POMS Lima 2021 International Conference has been organized by the Latin America & Caribbean Chapter of the Production and Operations Management Society, the most renowned professional and academic organization representing the interests of production and operations management professionals and academicians around the world. Since 2018, POMS International Conferences have been organized by POMS-LA, the first venue being in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Venue 2021 event was hosted by the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru and Pacific University, two Peruvian Latin-American leading academic institutions from Peru.

In trying to make a satisfactory decision when imprecise and multicriteria situations are involved, a decision maker has to use a fuzzy multicriteria decision making method. "Fuzzy Multi-Criteria Decision Making" (MCDM) presents fuzzy multiattribute and multiobjective decision-making methodologies by distinguished MCDM researchers.

In summarizing the concepts and results of the most popular fuzzy multicriteria methods, using numerical examples, this work examines all the fuzzy multicriteria methods recently developed, such as fuzzy AHP, fuzzy TOPSIS, interactive fuzzy multiobjective stochastic linear programming, fuzzy multiobjective dynamic programming, grey fuzzy multiobjective optimization, fuzzy multiobjective geometric programming, and more. Each of the 22 chapters includes practical applications along with new developments/results.

This book may be used as a textbook in graduate operations research, industrial engineering, and economics courses. It will also be an excellent resource, providing new suggestions and directions for further research, for computer programmers, mathematicians, and scientists in a variety of disciplines where multicriteria decision making is needed.

This book discusses machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) for agricultural economics. It is written with a view towards bringing the benefits of advanced analytics and prognostics capabilities to small scale farmers worldwide. This volume provides data science and software engineering teams with the skills and tools to fully utilize economic models to develop the software capabilities necessary for creating lifesaving applications. The book introduces essential agricultural economic concepts from the perspective of full-scale software development with the emphasis on creating niche blue ocean products. Chapters detail several agricultural economic and AI reference architectures with a focus on data integration, algorithm development, regression, prognostics model development and mathematical optimization. Upgrading traditional AI software development paradigms to function in dynamic agricultural and economic markets, this volume will be of great use to researchers and students in agricultural economics, data science, engineering, and machine learning as well as engineers and industry professionals in the public and private sectors.

This book on Applied Operations Research and Financial Modelling in Energy (AORFME) presents several applications of operations research (OR) and financial modelling. The contributions by a group of OR and Finance researchers focus on a variety of energy decisions, presenting a quantitative perspective, and providing policy implications of the proposed or applied methodologies. The content is divided into three main parts: Applied OR I: Optimization Approaches, Applied OR II: Forecasting Approaches and Financial Modelling: Impacts of Energy Policies and Developments in Energy Markets. The book appeals to scholars in economics, finance and operations research, and to practitioners working in the energy sector. This is the eighth volume in a series of books on energy organized by the Centre for Energy and Value Issues (CEVI). For this volume, CEVI collaborated with Hacettepe University's Energy Markets Research and Application Center. The previous volumes in the series are: Financial Aspects in Energy (2011), Energy Economics and Financial Markets (2012), Perspectives on Energy Risk (2014), Energy Technology and Valuation Issues (2015), Energy and Finance (2016), Energy Economy, Finance and Geostrategy (2018), and Financial Implications of Regulations in the Energy Industry (2020).

The contributions in this volume cover a broad range of topics including maximum cliques, graph coloring, data mining, brain networks, Steiner forest, logistic and supply chain networks. Network algorithms and their applications to market graphs, manufacturing problems, internet networks and social networks are highlighted. The "Fourth International Conference in Network Analysis," held at the Higher School of Economics, Nizhny Novgorod in May 2014, initiated joint research between scientists, engineers and researchers from academia, industry and government; the major results of conference participants have been reviewed and collected in this Work. Researchers and students in mathematics, economics, statistics, computer science and engineering will find this collection a valuable resource filled with the latest research in network analysis.

This book describes the latest microeconomic concepts and operations research (OR) techniques needed to comprehend the design and operation of power markets, as well as the actions of their agents: producers, consumers, operators, and regulators. This is critical when it comes to addressing a constantly evolving power system environment that incorporates an increasing number of no-marginal-cost renewable sources, increasingly competitive storage facilities, increasingly responsive demands, and widespread communication channels that allow distributed decision-making. Such evolving environments call for a re-examination of the microeconomic concepts and OR techniques required by graduate students and practitioners in the electric energy field. This accessible, tutorial-style book features numerous illustrative examples to help readers grasp the economic concepts and OR procedures used by power market professionals. The authors explian these concepts and procedures and present a vision of a renewable-dominated marketplace. Each chapter also includes exercises.

In the Administration building at Linkopi ] ng University we have one of Oscar Reutersvard' ] s "Impossible Figures" in three dimensions. I call it "Perspectives of Science." When viewed from a speci c point in space there is order and structure in the 3-dimensional gure. When viewed from other points there is disorder and no structure. If a speci c scienti c paradigm is used, there is order and structure; otherwise there is disorder and no structure. My perspective in Transportation Science has focused on understanding the mathematical structure and the logic underlying the choice probability models in common use. My book with N. F. Stewart on the Gravity model (Erlander and Stewart 1990), was written in this perspective. The present book stems from the same desire to understand underlying assumptions and structure. It investigateshow far a new way of de ning Cost-Minimizing Behavior can take us.Itturnsoutthatall commonlyusedchoiceprobabilitydistributionsoflogittype- log linear probability functions - follow from cost-minimizing behavior de ned in the new way. In addition some new nested models appear."

This book presents a structured approach to develop mathematical optimization formulations for several variants of facility layout. The range of layout problems covered includes row layouts, floor layouts, multi-floor layouts, and dynamic layouts. The optimization techniques used to formulate the problems are primarily mixed-integer linear programming, second-order conic programming, and semidefinite programming. The book also covers important practical considerations for solving the formulations. The breadth of approaches presented help the reader to learn how to formulate a variety of problems using mathematical optimization techniques. The book also illustrates the use of layout formulations in selected engineering applications, including manufacturing, building design, automotive, and hospital layout.

This book presents the state-of-the-art applications of machine learning in the finance domain with a focus on financial product modeling, which aims to advance the model performance and minimize risk and uncertainty. It provides both practical and managerial implications of financial and managerial decision support systems which capture a broad range of financial data traits. It also serves as a guide for the implementation of risk-adjusted financial product pricing systems, while adding a significant supplement to the financial literacy of the investigated study. The book covers advanced machine learning techniques, such as Support Vector Machine, Neural Networks, Random Forest, K-Nearest Neighbors, Extreme Learning Machine, Deep Learning Approaches, and their application to finance datasets. It also leverages real-world financial instances to practice business product modeling and data analysis. Software code, such as MATLAB, Python and/or R including datasets within a broad range of financial domain are included for more rigorous practice. The book primarily aims at providing graduate students and researchers with a roadmap for financial data analysis. It is also intended for a broad audience, including academics, professional financial analysts, and policy-makers who are involved in forecasting, modeling, trading, risk management, economics, credit risk, and portfolio management.

This book examines the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) method, its varied uses, as well as its limitations for solving real-world scenarios. While the simplicity of the method compels users to find shortcuts to a real-world problem, it also leads to obtaining wrong results that do not represent reality. By alerting practitioners about the core necessities of a new scenario, this book helps solve this problem, as well as contribute to the field of Multicriteria Decision Making Method (MDCM). The authors use a demonstrative, rather than a theoretical approach, and examine 30 subjects that displays the shortcomings and drawbacks of the AHP. Each one is examined in-depth, discussed, debated and reasoned, using examples, some of them numeric. The book highlights the rationality and common sense of the subjects, and in most cases, validates the criticism by showing through numerical examples, the impossibility of the AHP method to address, let alone solve real-world projects. At the conclusion of each subject, a table is built comparing the similarities and differences between the opinions of the authors and other experts, along with the respective pros and cons.

This monograph introduces a novel multiset-based conceptual, mathematical and knowledge engineering paradigm, called multigrammatical framework (MGF), used for planning and scheduling in resource-consuming, resource-producing (industrial) and resource-distributing (economical) sociotechnological systems (STS). This framework is meant to enable smart operation not only in a "business-as-usual" mode, but also in extraordinary, highly volatile or hazardous environments. It is the result of convergence and deep integration into a unified, flexible and effectively implemented formalism operating on multisets of several well-known paradigms from classical operations research and modern knowledge engineering, such as: mathematical programming, game theory, optimal scheduling, logic programming and constraint programming. The mathematical background needed for MGF, its algorithmics, applications, implementation issues, as well as its nexus with known models from operations research and theoretical computer science areas are considered. The resilience and recovery issues of an STS are studied by applying the MGF toolkit and on paying special attention to the multigrammatical assessment of resilience of energy infrastructures. MGF-represented resource-based games are introduced, and directions for further development are discussed. The author presents multiple applications to business intelligence, critical infrastructure, ecology, economy and industry. This book is addressed to scholars working in the areas of theoretical and applied computer science, artificial intelligence, systems analysis, operations research, mathematical economy and critical infrastructure protection, to engineers developing software-intensive solutions for implementation of the knowledge-based digital economy and Industry 4.0, as well as to students, aspirants and university staff. Foundational knowledge of set theory, mathematical logic and routine operations on data bases is needed to read this book. The content of the monograph is gradually presented, from simple to complex, in a well-understandable step-by-step manner. Multiple examples and accompanying figures are included in order to support the explanation of the various notions, expressions and algorithms.

From Robin Sickles: As I indicated to you some months ago Professor William Horrace and I would like Springer to publish a Festschrift in Honor of Peter Schmidt, our professor. Peter s accomplishments are legendary among his students and the profession. I have a bit of that student perspective in my introductory and closing remarks on the website for the conference we had in his honor this last July. I have attached the conference program from which selected papers will come (as well as from students who were unable to attend). You will also find the names of his students (40) on the website. A top twenty economics department could be started up from those 40 students. Papers from some festschrifts have a thematic link among the papers based on subject material. What I think is unique to this festschrift is that the theme running through the papers will be Peter s remarkable legacy left to his students to frame a problem and then analyze and examine it in depth using rigorous techniques but rarely just for the purpose of showcasing technical refinements per se. I think this would be a book that graduate students would find invaluable in their early research careers and seasoned scholars would find invaluable in both their and their students research."

Intelligent Speech Signal Processing investigates the utilization of speech analytics across several systems and real-world activities, including sharing data analytics, creating collaboration networks between several participants, and implementing video-conferencing in different application areas. Chapters focus on the latest applications of speech data analysis and management tools across different recording systems. The book emphasizes the multidisciplinary nature of the field, presenting different applications and challenges with extensive studies on the design, development and management of intelligent systems, neural networks and related machine learning techniques for speech signal processing.

This book presents a rich collection of studies on the analysis of sustainable development from a multiple criteria decision-making (MCDM) perspective, written by some of the most prominent authors in the field of MCDM/A. The book constitutes a unique international reference guide to the analysis, measurement, and management of sustainability in a multidimensional decision analysis context. Chiefly intended for academics and policymakers, it reflects some of the latest methodological advances in decision-making, which are illustrated in real-life applications to sustainability-related topics in both the private and public sector.

This textbook provides a comprehensive overview of noncooperative and cooperative dynamic games involving uncertain parameter values, with the stochastic process being described by an event tree. Primarily intended for graduate students of economics, management science and engineering, the book is self-contained, as it defines and illustrates all relevant concepts originally introduced in static games before extending them to a dynamic framework. It subsequently addresses the sustainability of cooperative contracts over time and introduces a range of mechanisms to help avoid such agreements breaking down before reaching maturity. To illustrate the concepts discussed, the book provides various examples of how dynamic games played over event trees can be applied to environmental economics, management science, and engineering.

The numerous advances in mathematical programming have opened up new insights about sensitivity analysis. The paradigm What if...?' question is no longer the only question of interest. Often, we want to know Why...?' and Why not...?' Such questions were not analyzed in the early years of mathematical programming to the same extent that they are now, and we have not only expanded our thinking about post-optimal analysis', but also about solution analysis', even if the solution obtained is not optimal. Therefore, it is now time to examine all the recent advances on sensitivity analysis and parametric programming. This book combines the origins of sensitivity analysis with the state of the art. It covers much of the traditional approaches with a modern perspective, and shows recent results using the optimal partition approach, stemming from interior methods, for both linear and quadratic programming. It examines the special case of network models. It presents a neglected topic, qualitative sensitivity analysis, as well as elements of mixed integer programming and gives a modern perspective of nonlinear programming. It provides recent advances in multi-criteria mathematical programming and also describes the state-of-the-art in stochastic programming. It covers recent advances in understanding redundancy in quadratic programs, considers an approach to diagnosing infeasibility in linear and nonlinear programs, and gives an overview of sensitivity analysis for fuzzy mathematical programming.

Matrix-analytic and related methods have become recognized as an important and fundamental approach for the mathematical analysis of general classes of complex stochastic models. Research in the area of matrix-analytic and related methods seeks to discover underlying probabilistic structures intrinsic in such stochastic models, develop numerical algorithms for computing functionals (e.g., performance measures) of the underlying stochastic processes, and apply these probabilistic structures and/or computational algorithms within a wide variety of fields. This volume presents recent research results on: the theory, algorithms and methodologies concerning matrix-analytic and related methods in stochastic models; and the application of matrix-analytic and related methods in various fields, which includes but is not limited to computer science and engineering, communication networks and telephony, electrical and industrial engineering, operations research, management science, financial and risk analysis, and bio-statistics. These research studies provide deep insights and understanding of the stochastic models of interest from a mathematics and/or applications perspective, as well as identify directions for future research.

This book showcases state-of-the-art advances in service science and related fields of research, education, and practice. It presents emerging technologies and applications in contexts ranging from healthcare, energy, finance, and information technology to transportation, sports, logistics, and public services. Regardless of its size and service, every service organization is a service system. Due to the socio-technical nature of service systems, a systems approach must be adopted in order to design, develop and deliver services aimed at meeting end users' utilitarian and socio-psychological needs alike. Understanding services and service systems often requires combining multiple methods to consider how interactions between people, technologies, organizations and information create value under various conditions. The papers in this volume highlight a host of ways to approach these challenges in service science and are based on submissions to the 2021 INFORMS Conference on Service Science.

This book is intended for those in the library community with an understanding of library processes and a desire to actually make use of scientific management techniques. The emphasis is on presenting insights into which tool may be appropriate for particular problems, not on the isolated understanding of theoretical issues. It does not require an extensive mathematical background. It shows well-developed examples of solving library problems and features chapter summaries and questions for further study.

This book is focused on quality management, and four different lenses which can be used to explore the phenomenon. It introduces emergence as a paradigm in thinking about quality, and explores conditions which are beneficial to radical innovation. The Emergence Paradigm in Quality Management provides an overview of the existing movements in thinking about quality, and discusses why these movements in fact represent paradigms. Three paradigms, the Empirical Paradigm, the Reference Paradigm and the Reflective Paradigm, are explained followed by a search for the Fourth Paradigm, the so-called Emergence Paradigm, which presents a route to radical innovation in organizations when plans, strategies and models fail. It presents the debates around the paradigms, and explores which is the best approach. This professional text will be ideal for strategy and policy makers wanting to establish a link between their conceived plans and the attention for quality, while finding ways to facilitate innovation. Professionals in a range of for-profit and non-profit organizations, including healthcare, will be able to expand their knowledge on quality management, operations management, and organizational studies.

Optimization in Science and Engineering is dedicated in honor of the 60th birthday of Distinguished Professor Panos M. Pardalos. Pardalos's past and ongoing work has made a significant impact on several theoretical and applied areas in modern optimization. As tribute to the diversity of Dr. Pardalos's work in Optimization, this book comprises a collection of contributions from experts in various fields of this rich and diverse area of science. Topics highlight recent developments and include: * Deterministic global optimization* Variational inequalities and equilibrium problems* Approximation and complexity in numerical optimization* Non-smooth optimization * Statistical models and data mining* Applications of optimization in medicine, energy systems, and complex network analysis This volume will be of great interest to graduate students, researchers, and practitioners, in the fields of optimization and engineering.

The present volume of essays on industrial organization, which are based on conferences held at Nijenrode and Brussels, differs considerably from its predecessor. Even more than in the first volume the essays demonstrate the broad scope of industrial organization analysis. Besides the traditional topics such as economies of scale, monopoly and competition policy, there are essays on methodology, on stagflation, and on the relationship between industrial struc ture and international trade and trade policies. The latter topics are of growing importance. The issue of restructuring industries and the question of whether free trade or some measure of protection is more appropriate are topics of increasing relevance today (and will no doubt continue to be in future years as well). The problem of persistent inflation which other essays address is also of major concern. Apart from being broad in scope and venturing into new fields, this volume is also controversial. Its central feature is a debate about welfare aspects. Here, more than in pure analysis, economists tend to entertain different points of view. One of the participants in the Nijenrode conference, Professor John Blair, who died in December 1976 and whom we honour as having been an active promoter of this kind of meeting, wrote to the editors shortly before his death to say that the first volume had succeeded very well in acquainting the reader with the results of empirical investigations, notably on trends and levels of concentration."