Business Information Systems ; 11th International Conference, BIS 2008, Innsbruck, Austria, May 5-7, 2008. Proceedings
This book contains the refereed proceedings of the 11th International Conference on Business Information Systems, BIS 2008, held in Innsbruck, Austria, in May 2008.
Branch-and-Bound Applications in Combinatorial Data Analysis
There are a variety of combinatorial optimization problems that are relevant to the examination of statistical data. Combinatorial problems arise in the clustering of a collection of objects, the seriation (sequencing or ordering) of objects, and the selection of variables for subsequent multivariate statistical analysis such as regression. The options for choosing a solution strategy in combinatorial data analysis can be overwhelming. Because some problems are too large or intractable for an optimal solution strategy, many researchers develop an over-reliance on heuristic methods to solve all combinatorial problems. However, with increasingly accessible computer power and ever-improving methodologies, optimal solution strategies have gained popularity for their ability to reduce unnecessary uncertainty. In this monograph, optimality is attained for nontrivially sized problems via the branch-and-bound paradigm.
Average-Cost Control of Stochastic Manufacturing Systems
This book is concerned with hierarchical control of manufacturing systems under uncertainty. It focuses on system performance measured in long-run average cost criteria, exploring the relationship between control problems with a discounted cost and that with a long-run average cost in connection with hierarchical control. A new theory is articulated that shows that hierarchical decision making in the context of a goal-seeking manufacturing system can lead to a near optimization of its objective. The approach in the book considers manufacturing systems in which events occur at different time scales.
Applied Stochastic Processes
Applied Stochastic Processes uses a distinctly applied framework to present the most important topics in the field of stochastic processes.
Applied Stochastic Control of Jump Diffusions
The main purpose of the book is to give a rigorous, yet mostly nontechnical, introduction to the most important and useful solution methods of various types of stochastic control problems for jump diffusions and its applications.
Applied Semi-Markov Processes
The book presents homogeneous and non-homogeneous semi-Markov processes, as well as Markov and semi-Markov rewards processes. These concepts are fundamental for many applications, but they are not as thoroughly presented in other books on the subject as they are here.This book is intended for graduate students and researchers in mathematics, operations research and engineering; it might also appeal to actuaries and financial managers, and anyone interested in its applications for banks, mechanical industries for reliability aspects, and insurance companies.
Applications of Supply Chain Management and E-Commerce Research
This volume contains a broad specturm of both research and applications in both supply chain management and e-business. Several chapters are written by practitioners at leading corporations. This volume is suitable for researchers in supply chain management, e-business, and applied operations research as well as graduate students in these and other related disciplines. It would also be of interest to industry practitioners in supply chain management and e-business with interests in operations managements and operations research.
Ant Colony Optimization and Swarm Intelligence ; 5th International Workshop, ANTS 2006, Brussels, Belgium, September 4-7, 2006, Proceedings
ANTS – The International Workshop on Ant Colony Optimization and Swarm Intelligence is now at its ?fth edition. The series started in 1998 with the - ganization of ANTS 1998. At that time the goal was to gather in a common meeting those researchers interested in ant colony optimization: more than 50 researchers from around the world joined for the ?rst time in Brussels, Belgium, to discuss ant colony optimization and swarm intelligence related research. A selectionofthebest paperspresentedatthe workshopwaspublished asa special issue of the Future Generation Computer Systems journal (Vol. 16, No. 8, 2000). Two years later, ANTS 2000, organized again in Brussels, attracted more than 70 participants. The 41 extended abstracts presented as talks or posters at the workshopwere collected in a booklet distributed to participants, and a selection of the best papers was published as a special section of the IEEE Transactions on Evolutionary Computation (Vol. 6, No. 4, 2002).
An Introduction to Queueing Theory : Modeling and Analysis in Applications
This introductory textbook is designed for a one-semester course on queueing theory that does not require a course in stochastic processes as a prerequisite. By integrating the necessary background on stochastic processes with the analysis of models, the work provides a sound foundational introduction to the modeling and analysis of queueing systems for a broad interdisciplinary audience of students in mathematics, statistics, and applied disciplines such as computer science, operations research, and engineering.
An annotated timeline of operations research: An informal history
An Annotated Timeline of Operations Research: An Informal History recounts the evolution of Operations Research (OR) as a new science - the science of decision making. Arising from the urgent operational issues of World War II, the philosophy and methodology of OR has permeated the resolution of decision problems in business, industry, and government. The Timeline chronicles the history of OR in the form of self-contained, expository entries. Each entry presents a concise explanation of the events and people under discussion, and provides key sources where further relevant information can be obtained. In addition, books and papers that have influenced the development of OR or helped to educate the first generations of OR academics and practitioners are cited throughout the book.
Algorithms – ESA 2005 ; 13th Annual European Symposium, Palma de Mallorca, Spain, October 3-6, 2005, Proceedings
This volume contains the 75 contributed papers and the abstracts of the threeinvited lectures presented at the 13th Annual European Symposium on Algo-rithms (ESA 2005), held in Spain, 2005. respectively.Papers were solicited in all areas of algorithmic research, including but notlimited to algorithmic aspects of networks, approximation and on-line algo-rithms, computational biology, computational geometry, computational financeand algorithmic game theory, data structures, database and information re-trieval, external memory algorithms, graph algorithms, graph drawing, machinelearning, mobile computing, pattern matching and data compression, quantumcomputing, and randomized algorithms. The algorithms could be sequential,distributed, or parallel. Submissions were especially encouraged in the area ofmathematical programming and operations research, including combinatorialoptimization, integer programming, polyhedral combinatorics, and semidefiniteprogramming.Each extended abstract was submitted to one of the two tracks.
Algorithmic Foundation of Robotics VII : Selected Contributions of the 7th International Workshop on the Algorithmic Foundations of Robotics
This book contains the proceedings from the 2006 Workshop on the Algorithmic Foundations of Robotics. The 32 papers in this book span a wide variety of topics: from fundamental motion planning algorithms to applications in medicine and biology, but they have in common a foundation in the algorithmic problems of robotic systems.
Agent-mediated electronic commerce VI ; Theories for and engineering of distributed mechanisms and systems, AAMAS 2004 Workshop, Amec 2004, New York, NY, USA, July 19, 2004, revised selected papers
The design of intelligent trading agents, mechanisms, and systems has receivedgrowing atttention in the agents and multiagent systems communities in aneffort to address the increasing costs of search, transaction, and coordinationwhich follows from the increasing number of Internet-enabled distibuted elec-tronic markets. Furthermore, new technologies and supporting business modelsare resulting in a growing volume of open and horizontally integrated markets fortrading of an increasingly diverse set of goods and services. However, growth oftechnologies for such markets requires innovative solutions to a diverse set of ex-isting and novel technical problems which we are only beginning to understand.Specifically, distributed markets present not only traditional
Agent-Based Models of Energy Investment Decisions
This book demonstrates how bounded rational decision models can be standardized and parameterized by socio-economic data. Focusing on private energy technology investment decisions, the author shows how different representative agents can be constructed using search rules, analysis tools and decision strategies. Diffusion curves for energy technologies such as solar collectors, boilers and efficiency upgrades for buildings are calculated. Further, the model is extended to study the impact of firms’ competition on technology diffusion. The modeling approach presented in this book may serve as a template for applications in other domain.
Advances in Metaheuristics for Hard Optimization
The book gathers contributions related to the following topics: theoretical developments in metaheuristics; adaptation of discrete metaheuristics to continuous optimization; performance comparisons of metaheuristics; cooperative methods combining different approaches; parallel and distributed metaheuristics for multiobjective optimization; software implementations; and real-world applications.
Advances in Industrial Engineering and Operations Research
Advances in Industrial Engineering and Operations Research compiles revised and extended articles written by prominent researchers participating in the International MultiConference of Engineers and Computer Scientists (IMECS) 2007. This volume addresses manufacturing processes and methods, optimization, experimental engineering design, and reliability and quality control techniques.
Advances in Energy System Optimization : Proceedings of the 2nd International Symposium on Energy System Optimization
The papers presented in this book address diverse challenges in decarbonizing energy systems, ranging from operational to investment planning problems, from market economics to technical and environmental considerations, from distribution grids to transmission grids, and from theoretical considerations to data provision concerns and applied case studies.
Advanced robust and nonparametric methods in efficiency analysis : Methodology and applications
This readable book makes available an intuitive yet rigorous presentation of advanced nonparametric and robust methods. This flexible toolbox can be used in theories based on the neoclassical theory of production and its alternatives, including evolutionary theories.
A Primer on Environmental Decision-Making: an integrative quantitative approach
Integrates decision-making and environmental science. For ecologists it will bridge the gap to economics. For practitioners in environmental economics and management it will be a major reference book. It probably contains the largest collection available of expressions and basic equations that are used in environmental sciences. Applying these expressions as "rules-of-thumb" will give participants in a decision-making process a common platform for discussion and arbitration.


















