In this paper we first develop two new results of variational analysis. One is a fixed point theorem for parametric dynamic systems in quasimetric spaces, which can also be interpreted as an existence theorem of minimal points with respect to reflexive and transitive preferences for sets in products spaces. The other one is a variational … Read more
Cooperative games with transferable utilities belong to a branch of game theory where groups of players can enter into binding agreements and form coalitions in order to jointly achieve some objectives. In a cooperative setting, one of the most important questions to address is how to establish a payoff distribution among the players in such … Read more
This study investigates a pump scheduling problem for the collection, transfer and storage of water in water supply systems in urban networks. The objective of this study is to determine a method to minimize the electricity costs associated with pumping operations. To address the dynamic and random nature of water demand, we propose a two-stage … Read more
Methods which do not use any derivative information are becoming popular among researchers, since they allow to solve many real-world engineering problems. Such problems are frequently characterized by the presence of discrete variables which can further complicate the optimization process. In this paper, we propose derivative-free algorithms for solving continuously differentiable Mixed Integer NonLinear Programming … Read more
This paper describes a revenue management project with a major airline that operates in a fiercely competitive market involving two major hubs and having more than 30 parallel daily flights. The market has a number of unusual characteristics including (1) almost half of customers choose not to purchase the tickets after booking; (2) about half … Read more
We consider several models of complex systems with active elements and show that the auction mechanism appears very natural in attaining proper equilibrium states, even in comparison with game theory ones. In particular, network equilibria are treated as implementation of the auction principle. An additional example of resource allocation in wireless communication networks is also … Read more
We study a number of variants of an abstract scheduling problem inspired by the scheduling of reclaimers in the stockyard of a coal export terminal. We analyze the complexity of each of the variants, providing complexity proofs for some and polynomial algorithms for others. For one, especially interesting variant, we also develop a constant factor … Read more
This study develops a data-driven group variable selection method for data envelopment analysis (DEA), a non-parametric linear programming approach to the estimation of production frontiers. The proposed method extends the group Lasso (least absolute shrinkage and selection operator) designed for variable selection on (often predefined) groups of variables in linear regression models to DEA models. … Read more
Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) is steadily becoming a common mode for commercializing natural gas. In this paper, we develop methods for improving both lower and upper bounds for a previously stated form of an LNG inventory routing problem. A Dantzig-Wolfe-based decomposition approach is developed for LNG inventory routing problem (LNG-IRP) attempting to overcome poor lower … Read more
We study a daily mine planning problem where, given a set of blocks we wish to mine, our task is to generate a mining sequence for the excavators such that blending resource constraints are met at various stages of the sequence. Such time-oriented resource constraints are not traditionally handled well by automated planners. On the … Read more