We study simulation optimization methods for the stochastic economic lot scheduling problem. In contrast to prior research, we focus on methods that treat this problem as a black box. Based on a large-scale numerical study, we compare approximate dynamic programming with a global search for parameters of simple control policies. We propose two value function … Read more
We describe experiments with parallel algorithms for computing adaptive controls for attenuating power grid cascading failures. Citation Columbia University, 2010 Article Download View Optimal adaptive control of cascading power grid failures
We address bilevel programming problems when the derivatives of both the upper and the lower level objective functions are unavailable. The core algorithms used for both levels are trust-region interpolation-based methods, using minimum Frobenius norm quadratic models when the number of points is smaller than the number of basis components. We take advantage of the … Read more
The goal of this paper is to address the problem of evaluating the performance of a system running under unknown values for its stochastic parameters. A new approach called LAD for Simulation, based on simulation and classification software, is presented. It uses a number of simulations with very few replications and records the mean value … Read more
In this paper, we study the pricing problem for the class of multiasset European options with piecewise linear convex payoff in the asset prices. We derive a simple upper bound on the price of this option by constructing a static super-replicating portfolio using cash and options on smaller subsets of assets. The best upper bound … Read more
We present a simulation-based analytic center cutting plane method to solve a sample average approximation of a call center problem of minimizing staffing costs, while maintaining an acceptable level of service in multiple time periods. We establish convergence of the method when the service level functions are discrete pseudoconcave. An extensive numerical study of a … Read more