Fairness As An Efficiency Enhancing Constraint

This thesis deals with two basic issues in resource allocation problems. The first issue pertains to how one approaches the problem of designing the "right" objective for a given resource allocation problem. The notion of what is "right" can be fairly nebulous; we consider two issues that we see as key: efficiency and fairness. We approach the problem of designing objectives that account for the natural tension between efficiency and fairness in the context of a framework that captures a number of problems of interest to operations managers. We state a precise version of the design problem, provide a quantitative understanding of the tradeoff between efficiency and fairness inherent to this design problem and demonstrate the approach in a case study that considers air traffic management. Secondly, we deal with the issue of designing implementable policies that serve such objectives, balancing efficiency and fairness in practice. We do so specifically in the context of organ allocation for transplantation. In particular, we propose a scalable, data-driven method for designing national policies for the allocation of deceased donor kidneys to patients on a waiting list, in a fair and efficient way. We focus on policies that have the same form as the one currently used in the U.S., that are policies based on a point system, which ranks patients according to some priority criteria, e.g., waiting time, medical urgency, etc., or a combination thereof. Rather than making specific assumptions about fairness principles or priority criteria, our method offers the designer the flexibility to select his desired criteria and fairness constraints from a broad class of allowable constraints. The method then designs a point system that is based on the selected priority criteria, and approximately maximizes medical efficiency, i.e., life year gains from transplant, while simultaneously enforcing selected fairness constraints. Using our method, we design a point system that has the same form, uses the same criteria and satisfies the same fairness constraints as the point system that was recently proposed by U.S. policymakers. In addition, the point system we design delivers an 8% increase in extra life year gains. We evaluate the performance of all policies under consideration using the same statistical and simulation tools and data as the U.S. policymakers use. We perform a sensitivity analysis which demonstrates that the increase in extra life year gains by relaxing certain fairness constraints can be as high as 30%.

OPTIMIZATION TECHNIQUES IN ENGINEERING The book describes the basic components of an optimization problem along with the formulation of design problems as mathematical programming problems using an objective function that expresses the main aim of the model, and how it is to be either minimized or maximized; subsequently, the concept of optimization and its relevance towards an optimal solution in engineering applications, is explained. This book aims to present some of the recent developments in the area of optimization theory, methods, and applications in engineering. It focuses on the metaphor of the inspired system and how to configure and apply the various algorithms. The book comprises 30 chapters and is organized into two parts: Part I — Soft Computing and Evolutionary-Based Optimization; and Part II — Decision Science and Simulation-Based Optimization, which contains application-based chapters. Readers and users will find in the book: An overview and brief background of optimization methods which are used very popularly in almost all applications of science, engineering, technology, and mathematics; An in-depth treatment of contributions to optimal learning and optimizing engineering systems; Maps out the relations between optimization and other mathematical topics and disciplines; A problem-solving approach and a large number of illustrative examples, leading to a step-by-step formulation and solving of optimization problems. Audience Researchers, industry professionals, academicians, and doctoral scholars in major domains of engineering, production, thermal, electrical, industrial, materials, design, computer engineering, and natural sciences. The book is also suitable for researchers and postgraduate students in mathematics, applied mathematics, and industrial mathematics.

Covers the methodology and state-of-the-art techniques of constrained verification, which is new and popular. It relates constrained verification with the also-hot technology called assertion-based design. Discussed and clarifies language issues, critical to both the above, which will help the implementation of these languages.

This book constitutes the proceedings of the 15th International Conference on Integration of Artificial Intelligence and Operations Research Techniques in Constraint Programming for Combinatorial Optimization Problems, CPAIOR 2018, held in Delft, The Netherlands, in June 2018. The 47 full papers presented together with 3 abstracts of invited talks and 3 abstracts of fast-track journal papers were carefully reviewed and selected from 111 submissions. The conference brings together interested researchers from constraint programming, artificial intelligence, and operations research to present new techniques or applications in the intersection of these fields and provides an opportunity for researchers in one area to learn about techniques in the others, and to show how the integration of techniques from different fields can lead to interesting results on large and complex problems.

Developments in the use of game theory have impacted multiple fields and created opportunities for new applications. With the ubiquity of these developments, there is an increase in the overall utilization of this approach. Game Theory: Breakthroughs in Research and Practice contains a compendium of the latest academic material on the usage, strategies, and applications for implementing game theory across a variety of industries and fields. Including innovative studies on economics, military strategy, and political science, this multi-volume book is an ideal source for professionals, practitioners, graduate students, academics, and researchers interested in the applications of game theory.

This book provides a comprehensive introduction to the underlying theory, design techniques and analytical results of wireless communication networks, focusing on the core principles of wireless network design. It elaborates the network utility maximization (NUM) theory with applications in resource allocation of wireless networks, with a central aim of design and the QoS guarantee. It presents and discusses state-of-the-art developments in resource allocation and performance optimization in wireless communication networks. It provides an overview of the general background including the basic wireless communication networks and the relevant protocols, architectures, methods and algorithms.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 10th International Conference on Formal Engineering Methods, ICFEM 2008, held in Kitakyushu-City, Japan, October 2008. The 20 revised full papers together with 3 invited talks presented were carefully reviewed and selected from 62 submissions. The papers address all current issues in formal methods and their applications in software engineering. They are organized in topical sections on specification and verification; testing; verification; model checking and analysis; tools; application of formal methods; semantics.