Generalized Networks


Book Description




Generalized Network Design Problems


Book Description

Combinatorial optimization is a fascinating topic. Combinatorial optimization problems arise in a wide variety of important fields such as transportation, telecommunications, computer networking, location, planning, distribution problems, etc. Important and significant results have been obtained on the theory, algorithms and applications over the last few decades. In combinatorial optimization, many network design problems can be generalized in a natural way by considering a related problem on a clustered graph, where the original problem's feasibility constraints are expressed in terms of the clusters, i.e., node sets instead of individual nodes. This class of problems is usually referred to as generalized network design problems (GNDPs) or generalized combinatorial optimization problems. The express purpose of this monograph is to describe a series of mathematical models, methods, propositions, algorithms developed in the last years on generalized network design problems in a unified manner. The book consists of seven chapters, where in addition to an introductory chapter, the following generalized network design problems are formulated and examined: the generalized minimum spanning tree problem, the generalized traveling salesman problem, the railway traveling salesman problem, the generalized vehicle routing problem, the generalized fixed-charge network design problem and the generalized minimum vertex-biconnected network problem. The book will be useful for researchers, practitioners, and graduate students in operations research, optimization, applied mathematics and computer science. Due to the substantial practical importance of some presented problems, researchers in other areas will find this book useful, too.




Algorithmic Aspects of Flows in Networks


Book Description

FEt moi ... sifavait sucommenten rcvenir, One service mathematics has rendered the jen'yseraispointall, : human race. It hasput rommon senseback JulesVerne whereit belongs, on the topmost shelf next tothedustycanisterlabelled'discardednon Theseriesis divergent; thereforewemaybe sense'. ahletodosomethingwithit. EricT. Bell O. Heaviside Mathematicsisatoolforthought. Ahighlynecessarytoolinaworldwherebothfeedbackandnon linearitiesabound. Similarly, allkindsofpartsofmathematicsserveastoolsforotherpartsandfor othersciences. Applyinga simplerewritingrule to thequoteon theright aboveonefinds suchstatementsas: 'One service topology hasrenderedmathematicalphysics ... '; 'Oneservicelogichasrenderedcom puterscience ... ';'Oneservicecategorytheoryhasrenderedmathematics ... '. Allarguablytrue. And allstatementsobtainablethiswayformpartoftheraisond'etreofthisseries. This series, Mathematics and Its Applications, started in 1977. Now that over one hundred volumeshaveappeareditseemsopportunetoreexamineitsscope. AtthetimeIwrote "Growing specialization and diversification have brought a host of monographs and textbooks on increasingly specialized topics. However, the 'tree' of knowledge of mathematics and related fields does not grow only by puttingforth new branches. It also happens, quiteoften in fact, that branches which were thought to becompletely disparatearesuddenly seento berelated. Further, thekindandlevelofsophistication of mathematics applied in various sciences has changed drastically in recent years: measure theory is used (non-trivially)in regionaland theoretical economics; algebraic geometryinteractswithphysics; theMinkowskylemma, codingtheoryandthestructure of water meet one another in packing and covering theory; quantum fields, crystal defectsand mathematicalprogrammingprofit from homotopy theory; Liealgebras are relevanttofiltering; andpredictionandelectricalengineeringcanuseSteinspaces. And in addition to this there are such new emerging subdisciplines as 'experimental mathematics', 'CFD', 'completelyintegrablesystems', 'chaos, synergeticsandlarge-scale order', whicharealmostimpossibletofitintotheexistingclassificationschemes. They drawuponwidelydifferentsectionsofmathematics." By andlarge, all this stillapplies today. Itis still truethatatfirst sightmathematicsseemsrather fragmented and that to find, see, and exploit the deeper underlying interrelations more effort is neededandsoarebooks thatcanhelp mathematiciansand scientistsdoso. Accordingly MIA will continuetotry tomakesuchbooksavailable. If anything, the description I gave in 1977 is now an understatement










Encyclopedia of Optimization


Book Description

The goal of the Encyclopedia of Optimization is to introduce the reader to a complete set of topics that show the spectrum of research, the richness of ideas, and the breadth of applications that has come from this field. The second edition builds on the success of the former edition with more than 150 completely new entries, designed to ensure that the reference addresses recent areas where optimization theories and techniques have advanced. Particularly heavy attention resulted in health science and transportation, with entries such as "Algorithms for Genomics", "Optimization and Radiotherapy Treatment Design", and "Crew Scheduling".




Interfaces in Computer Science and Operations Research


Book Description

The disciplines of computer science and operations research (OR) have been linked since their origins, each contributing to the dramatic advances of the other. This work explores the connections between these key technologies: how high-performance computing methods have led to advances in OR de ployment, and how OR has contributed to the design and development of ad vanced systems. The collected writings-from researchers and practitioners in Computer Science, Operations Research, Management Science, and Artificial Intelligence-were among those delivered at the Fifth INFORMS Computer Science Technical Section Conference in Dallas, Texas, January 8-10, 1996. The articles advance both theory and practice. Presented are new approaches to complex problems based on: metaheuristics (neural networks, genetic al gorithms, and Tabu Search), optimization and mathematical programming, stochastic methods, constraint programming, and logical analysis. These ad vanced methodologies are applied to new applications in such areas as: telecom munications network design, financial engineering, manufacturing, project man agement, and forecasting, airline and machine scheduling, vehicle routing, mod eling and decision support systems. Featured is a remarkable paper by keynote speaker Fred Glover, creator of the Tabu Search family of metaheuristics. In it he develops the principles of memory-based heuristic methods, contrasts them with the popular genetic algorithms and simulated annealing, provides a sweeping survey of application vignettes, and points to promising avenues for future research.




Financial Networks


Book Description

Financial analysis is concerned with the study of capital flows over time and space. This book presents a new theory of multi-sector, multi-instrument financial systems based on the visualization of such systems as networks. The framework is both qualitative and computational and depends crucially on the methodologies of finite-dimensional variational inequality theory for the study of statics and equilibrium states and on projected dynamical systems for the study of dynamics and disequilibrium behavior. Moreover, it adds a graphical dimension to the fundamental economic structure of financial systems and their evolution through time.




Innovative Issues in Intelligent Systems


Book Description

This book presents a broad variety of different contemporary IT methods and applications in Intelligent Systems is displayed. Every book chapter represents a detailed, specific, far reaching and original re-search in a respective scientific and practical field. However, all of the chapters share the common point of strong similarity in a sense of being innovative, applicable and mutually compatible with each other. In other words, the methods from the different chapters can be viewed as bricks for building the next generation “thinking machines” as well as for other futuristic logical applications that are rapidly changing our world nowadays.




Neural Networks and Analog Computation


Book Description

The theoretical foundations of Neural Networks and Analog Computation conceptualize neural networks as a particular type of computer consisting of multiple assemblies of basic processors interconnected in an intricate structure. Examining these networks under various resource constraints reveals a continuum of computational devices, several of which coincide with well-known classical models. On a mathematical level, the treatment of neural computations enriches the theory of computation but also explicated the computational complexity associated with biological networks, adaptive engineering tools, and related models from the fields of control theory and nonlinear dynamics. The material in this book will be of interest to researchers in a variety of engineering and applied sciences disciplines. In addition, the work may provide the base of a graduate-level seminar in neural networks for computer science students.