Optimization techniques have developed into a modern-day solution for real-world problems in various industries. As a way to improve performance and handle issues of uncertainty, optimization research becomes a topic of special interest across disciplines. Problem Solving and Uncertainty Modeling through Optimization and Soft Computing Applications presents the latest research trends and developments in the area of applied optimization methodologies and soft computing techniques for solving complex problems. Taking a multi-disciplinary approach, this critical publication is an essential reference source for engineers, managers, researchers, and post-graduate students.

This book presents the state-of-the-art methods in Linear Integer Programming, including some new algorithms and heuristic methods developed by the authors in recent years. Topics as Characteristic equation (CE), application of CE to bi-objective and multi-objective problems, Binary integer problems, Mixed-integer models, Knapsack models, Complexity reduction, Feasible-space reduction, Random search, Connected graph are also treated.

The advent of the internet largely changed the landscape of marketing to adopt a wide variety of communication techniques and creative selling on virtual platforms. Gaming provides a highly pervasive and influential mode of offering new media communication to consumers that can be further improved by digital innovation. Application of Gaming in New Media Marketing is a collection of vital research on the methods and applications of gaming in marketing, including its growth, recent trends, practices, issues, and main challenges. Highlighting a range of topics including digital advertising, media planning, and social media marketing, this book is ideally designed for marketers, software developers, managers, business researchers, academicians, and graduate-level students seeking current research on new and innovative methods to reach and connect with audiences through games in a highly interactive, measurable, and focused way.

This book describes concepts and tools needed for water resources management, including methods for modeling, simulation, optimization, big data analysis, data mining, remote sensing, geographical information system, game theory, conflict resolution, System dynamics, agent-based models, multiobjective, multicriteria, and multiattribute decision making and risk and uncertainty analysis, for better and sustainable management of water resources and consumption, thus mitigating the present and future global water shortage crisis. It presents the applications of these tools through case studies which demonstrate its benefits of proper management of water resources systems. This book acts as a reference for students, professors, industrial practitioners, and stakeholders in the field of water resources and hydrology.

This book establishes an important mathematical connection between cooperative control problems and network optimization problems. It shows that many cooperative control problems can in fact be understood, under certain passivity assumptions, using a pair of static network optimization problems. Merging notions from passivity theory and network optimization, it describes a novel network optimization approach that can be applied to the synthesis of controllers for diffusively-coupled networks of passive (or passivity-short) dynamical systems. It also introduces a data-based, model-free approach for the synthesis of network controllers for multi-agent systems with passivity-short agents. Further, the book describes a method for monitoring link faults in multi-agent systems using passivity theory and graph connectivity. It reports on some practical case studies describing the effectivity of the developed approaches in vehicle networks. All in all, this book offers an extensive source of information and novel methods in the emerging field of multi-agent cooperative control, paving the way to future developments of autonomous systems for various application domains

This contributed volume presents some of the latest research related to model order reduction of complex dynamical systems with a focus on time-dependent problems. Chapters are written by leading researchers and users of model order reduction techniques and are based on presentations given at the 2019 edition of the workshop series Model Reduction of Complex Dynamical Systems - MODRED, held at the University of Graz in Austria. The topics considered can be divided into five categories: system-theoretic methods, such as balanced truncation, Hankel norm approximation, and reduced-basis methods; data-driven methods, including Loewner matrix and pencil-based approaches, dynamic mode decomposition, and kernel-based methods; surrogate modeling for design and optimization, with special emphasis on control and data assimilation; model reduction methods in applications, such as control and network systems, computational electromagnetics, structural mechanics, and fluid dynamics; and model order reduction software packages and benchmarks. This volume will be an ideal resource for graduate students and researchers in all areas of model reduction, as well as those working in applied mathematics and theoretical informatics.

This invaluable book provides approximately eighty examples illustrating the theory of controlled discrete-time Markov processes. Except for applications of the theory to real-life problems like stock exchange, queues, gambling, optimal search etc, the main attention is paid to counter-intuitive, unexpected properties of optimization problems. Such examples illustrate the importance of conditions imposed in the theorems on Markov Decision Processes. Many of the examples are based upon examples published earlier in journal articles or textbooks while several other examples are new. The aim was to collect them together in one reference book which should be considered as a complement to existing monographs on Markov decision processes.The book is self-contained and unified in presentation.The main theoretical statements and constructions are provided, and particular examples can be read independently of others. Examples in Markov Decision Processes is an essential source of reference for mathematicians and all those who apply the optimal control theory to practical purposes. When studying or using mathematical methods, the researcher must understand what can happen if some of the conditions imposed in rigorous theorems are not satisfied. Many examples confirming the importance of such conditions were published in different journal articles which are often difficult to find. This book brings together examples based upon such sources, along with several new ones. In addition, it indicates the areas where Markov decision processes can be used. Active researchers can refer to this book on applicability of mathematical methods and theorems. It is also suitable reading for graduate and research students where they will better understand the theory.

This book includes up-to-date contributions in the broadly defined area of probabilistic analysis of voting rules and decision mechanisms. Featuring papers from all fields of social choice and game theory, it presents probability arguments to allow readers to gain a better understanding of the properties of decision rules and of the functioning of modern democracies. In particular, it focuses on the legacy of William Gehrlein and Dominique Lepelley, two prominent scholars who have made important contributions to this field over the last fifty years. It covers a range of topics, including (but not limited to) computational and technical aspects of probability approaches, evaluation of the likelihood of voting paradoxes, power indices, empirical evaluations of voting rules, models of voters' behavior, and strategic voting. The book gathers articles written in honor of Gehrlein and Lepelley along with original works written by the two scholars themselves.

This is a guide, in theory and in practice, to how current technological changes have impacted our interaction with texts and with each other. Henry Sussman rereads pivotal moments in literary, philosophical and cultural modernity as anticipating the cybernetic discourse that has increasingly defined theory since the computer revolution. Cognitive science, psychoanalysis and systems theory are paralleled to current trends in literary and philosophical theory. Chapters alternate between theory and readings of literary texts, resulting in a broad but rigorously grounded framework for the relation between literature and computer science. This book is a refreshing perspective on the analog-orientated tradition of theory in the humanities - and offers the first literary-textual genealogy of the digital.

Economic archaeology and ancient economic history have boomed the past decades. The former thanks to greatly enhanced techniques to identify, collect, and interpret material remains as proxies for economic interactions and performance; the latter by embracing the frameworks of new institutional economics. Both disciplines, however, still have great difficulty talking with each other. There is no reliable method to convert ancient proxy-data into the economic indicators used in economic history. In turn, the shared cultural belief-systems underlying institutions and the symbolic ways in which these are reproduced remain invisible in the material record. This book explores ways to bring both disciplines closer together by building a theoretical and methodological framework to evaluate and integrate archaeological proxy-data in economic history research. Rather than the linear interpretations offered by neoclassical or neomalthusian models, we argue that complexity economics, based on system theory, offers a promising way forward.

This book presents mathematical models of demand-side management programs, together with operational and control problems for power and renewable energy systems. It reflects the need for optimal operation and control of today's electricity grid at both the supply and demand spectrum of the grid. This need is further compounded by the advent of smart grids, which has led to increased customer/consumer participation in power and renewable energy system operations. The book begins by giving an overview of power and renewable energy systems, demand-side management programs and algebraic modeling languages. The overview includes detailed consideration of appliance scheduling algorithms, price elasticity matrices and demand response incentives. Furthermore, the book presents various power system operational and control mathematical formulations, incorporating demand-side management programs. The mathematical formulations developed are modeled and solved using the Advanced Interactive Multidimensional Modeling System (AIMMS) software, which offers a powerful yet simple algebraic modeling language for solving optimization problems. The book is extremely useful for all power system operators and planners who are concerned with optimal operational procedures for managing today's complex grids, a context in which customers are active participants and can curb/control their demand. The book details how AIMMS can be a useful tool in optimizing power grids and also offers a valuable research aid for students and academics alike.

This book focuses primarily on the nature-inspired approach for designing smart applications. It includes several implementation paradigms such as design and path planning of wireless network, security mechanism and implementation for dynamic as well as static nodes, learning method of cloud computing, data exploration and management, data analysis and optimization, decision taking in conflicting environment, etc. The book fundamentally highlights the recent research advancements in the field of engineering and science.

This book provides an in-depth analysis of the current evolutionary clustering techniques. It discusses the most highly regarded methods for data clustering. The book provides literature reviews about single objective and multi-objective evolutionary clustering algorithms. In addition, the book provides a comprehensive review of the fitness functions and evaluation measures that are used in most of evolutionary clustering algorithms. Furthermore, it provides a conceptual analysis including definition, validation and quality measures, applications, and implementations for data clustering using classical and modern nature-inspired techniques. It features a range of proven and recent nature-inspired algorithms used to data clustering, including particle swarm optimization, ant colony optimization, grey wolf optimizer, salp swarm algorithm, multi-verse optimizer, Harris hawks optimization, beta-hill climbing optimization. The book also covers applications of evolutionary data clustering in diverse fields such as image segmentation, medical applications, and pavement infrastructure asset management.

In everyday life we must often reach decisions while knowing that the outcome will not only depend on our own choice, but also on the choices of others. These situations are the focus of epistemic game theory. Unlike classical game theory, it explores how people may reason about their opponents before they make their final choice in a game. Packed with examples and practical problems based on stories from everyday life, this is the first textbook to explain the principles of epistemic game theory. Each chapter is dedicated to one particular, natural way of reasoning. The book then shows how each of these ways of reasoning will affect the final choices that can rationally be made and how these choices can be found by iterative procedures. Moreover, it does so in a way that uses elementary mathematics and does not presuppose any previous knowledge of game theory.

This bookdescribes computational financetools. It covers fundamental numerical analysis and computational techniques, such asoption pricing, and givesspecial attention tosimulation and optimization. Many chapters are organized as case studies aroundportfolio insurance and risk estimation problems. In particular, several chapters explain optimization heuristics and how to use them for portfolio selection and in calibration of estimation and option pricing models. Such practical examples allow readers to learn the steps for solving specific problems and apply these steps to others. At the same time, the applications are relevant enough to make the book a useful reference. Matlab and R sample code is provided in the text and can be downloaded from the book's website.
Shows ways to build and implement tools that help test ideasFocuses on the application of heuristics; standard methods receive limited attentionPresents as separate chapters problems from portfolio optimization, estimation of econometric models, and calibration of option pricing models"

This book presents efficient metaheuristic algorithms for optimal design of structures. Many of these algorithms are developed by the author and his graduate students, consisting of Particle Swarm Optimization, Charged System Search, Magnetic Charged System Search, Field of Forces Optimization, Democratic Particle Swarm Optimization, Dolphin Echolocation Optimization, Colliding Bodies Optimization, Ray Optimization. These are presented together with algorithms which are developed by other authors and have been successfully applied to various optimization problems. These consist of Partical Swarm Optimization, Big Band Big Crunch algorithm, Cuckoo Search Optimization, Imperialist Competitive Algorithm and Chaos Embedded Metaheuristic Algorithm. Finally a multi-objective Optimization is presented to Solve large scale structural problems based on the Charged System Search algorithm, In the second edition seven new chapters are added consisting of Enhance colliding bodies optimization, Global sensitivity analysis, Tug of War Optimization, Water evaporation optimization, Vibrating System Optimization and Cyclical Parthenogenesis Optimization algorithm. In the third edition, five new chapters are included consisting of the recently developed algorithms. These are Shuffled Shepherd Optimization Algorithm, Set Theoretical Shuffled Shepherd Optimization Algorithm, Set Theoretical Teaching-Learning-Based Optimization Algorithm, Thermal Exchange Metaheuristic Optimization Algorithm, and Water Strider Optimization Algorithm and Its Enhancement. The concepts and algorithm presented in this book are not only applicable to optimization of skeletal structure, finite element models, but can equally be utilized for optimal design of other systems such as hydraulic and electrical networks.

This book is about algebraic and differential methods, as well as fractional calculus, applied to diagnose and reject faults in nonlinear systems, which are of integer or fractional order. This represents an extension of a very important and widely studied problem in control theory, namely fault diagnosis and rejection (using differential algebraic approaches), to systems presenting fractional dynamics, i.e. systems whose dynamics are represented by derivatives and integrals of non-integer order. The authors offer a thorough overview devoted to fault diagnosis and fault-tolerant control applied to fractional-order and integer-order dynamical systems, and they introduce new methodologies for control and observation described by fractional and integer models, together with successful simulations and real-time applications. The basic concepts and tools of mathematics required to understand the methodologies proposed are all clearly introduced and explained. Consequently, the book is useful as supplementary reading in courses of applied mathematics and nonlinear control theory. This book is meant for engineers, mathematicians, physicists and, in general, to researchers and postgraduate students in diverse areas who have a minimum knowledge of calculus. It also contains advanced topics for researchers and professionals interested in the area of states and faults estimation.

This publication contributes to the serious games field by investigating original contributions and methods that use serious games in various domains. This comprehensive and timely publication works as an essential reference source, building on the available literature in the field of Serious Games for the economic and social development of countries while providing for further research opportunities in this dynamic and growing field. Thus, the book provides the opportunity for a reflection on this important issue, increasing the understanding of the importance of Serious Games in the context of organizations' improvements, providing relevant academic work, empirical research findings, and an overview of this relevant field of study. This text provides the resources necessary for policy makers, technology developers and managers to adopt and implement solutions for a more digital era.

This book discusses comprehensively the advanced manufacturing processes, including illustrative examples of the processes, mathematical modeling, and the need to optimize associated parameter problems. In addition, it describes in detail the cohort intelligence methodology and its variants along with illustrations, to help readers gain a better understanding of the framework. The theoretical and statistical rigor is validated by comparing the solutions with evolutionary algorithms, simulation annealing, response surface methodology, the firefly algorithm, and experimental work. Lastly, the book critically reviews several socio-inspired optimization methods.

Process Plant Operating Procedures presents an introduction to the theory and applications of procedure synthesis that is primarily concerned with the task of conjecturing the sequence of controller (or operator) actions needed to achieve designated operational goals in a given system. In order to facilitate practical implementation, the formal problem statement, two alternative approaches, their validation methods and a series of realistic examples are provided. The authors explore Petri nets and automata to identify the best paths leading to the specified goal of operation. The model-building methods for characterising all components in the given system, as well as the required control specifications, are explained with simple examples. The sequential control actions and the corresponding time schedule can then be identified accordingly. This book exposes practitioners to an important area of plant operations, teaching them effective approaches for procedure synthesis, enabling them to construct and solve scheduling models, and providing them with tools for simulation and validation of procedures and schedules. It is written for readers with a basic understanding of process design and control activities, and it will appeal to engineers in diverse fields with an interest in synthesizing operating procedures in process plants. Advances in Industrial Control reports and encourages the transfer of technology in control engineering. The rapid development of control technology has an impact on all areas of the control discipline. The series offers an opportunity for researchers to present an extended exposition of new work in all aspects of industrial control.

This book is intended to be a useful contribution for the modern teaching of applied mathematics, educating Industrial Mathematicians that will meet the growing demand for such experts. It covers many applications where mathematics play a fundamental role, from biology, telecommunications, medicine, physics, finance and industry. It is presented in such a way that can be useful in Modelation, Simulation and Optimization courses, targeting master and PhD students. Its content is based on many editions from the successful series of Modelling Weeks organized by the European Consortium of Mathematics in Industry (ECMI). Each chapter addresses a particular problem, and is written in a didactic way, providing the description of the problem, the particular way of approaching it and the proposed solution, along with the results obtained.

This book focuses on distributed and economic Model Predictive Control (MPC) with applications in different fields. MPC is one of the most successful advanced control methodologies due to the simplicity of the basic idea (measure the current state, predict and optimize the future behavior of the plant to determine an input signal, and repeat this procedure ad infinitum) and its capability to deal with constrained nonlinear multi-input multi-output systems. While the basic idea is simple, the rigorous analysis of the MPC closed loop can be quite involved. Here, distributed means that either the computation is distributed to meet real-time requirements for (very) large-scale systems or that distributed agents act autonomously while being coupled via the constraints and/or the control objective. In the latter case, communication is necessary to maintain feasibility or to recover system-wide optimal performance. The term economic refers to general control tasks and, thus, goes beyond the typically predominant control objective of set-point stabilization. Here, recently developed concepts like (strict) dissipativity of optimal control problems or turnpike properties play a crucial role. The book collects research and survey articles on recent ideas and it provides perspectives on current trends in nonlinear model predictive control. Indeed, the book is the outcome of a series of six workshops funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) involving early-stage career scientists from different countries and from leading European industry stakeholders.

This book is the first comprehensive tutorial on matheuristics. Matheuristics are based on mathematical extensions of previously known heuristics, mainly metaheuristics, and on original, area-specific approaches. This tutorial provides a detailed discussion of both contributions, presenting the pseudocodes of over 40 algorithms, abundant literature references, and for each case a step-by-step description of a sample run on a common Generalized Assignment Problem example. C++ source codes of all algorithms are available in an associated SW repository.