This open access book demonstrates all the steps required to design heuristic algorithms for difficult optimization. The classic problem of the travelling salesman is used as a common thread to illustrate all the techniques discussed. This problem is ideal for introducing readers to the subject because it is very intuitive and its solutions can be graphically represented. The book features a we…
In this book methods from Operations Research and Game Theory are used to determine companies’ profit-maximizing strategies related to pricing and (cooperative) advertising. It considers different supply chain structures as well as various distributions of power, making it possible to analyze both inter-echelon and intra-echelon dependencies between the companies’ decisions. Additionally, a…
This book is intended for researchers and postgraduates who are interested in the consensus reaching process in group decision-making problems. It puts forward new optimization-based decision support approaches to help decision-makers find roadmaps to consensus with minimum adjustments. Simulation experiments and comparison analysis are subsequently conducted to assess the validity of the propo…
Consolidating existing knowledge in Design Science, this book proposes a new research method to aid the exploration of design and problem solving within business, science and technology. It seeks to overcome a dichotomy that exists in the field between theory and practice to enable researches to find solutions to problems, rather than focusing on the explanation and exploration of the problems …
This book investigates several duality approaches for vector optimization problems, while also comparing them. Special attention is paid to duality for linear vector optimization problems, for which a vector dual that avoids the shortcomings of the classical ones is proposed. Moreover, the book addresses different efficiency concepts for vector optimization problems. Among the problems that app…
This handbook for the Methodology of Societal Complexity describes the theoretical development of the field and lays the foundation for the application of the Compram Methodology in the context of addressing complex societal problems. As such, it offers a valuable resource for scientists, practitioners, politicians, master and PhD students in the fields of methodology, the social sciences, oper…
Offering an up-to-date account of systems theories and its applications, this book provides a different way of resolving problems and addressing challenges in a swift and practical way, without losing overview and not having a grip on the details. From this perspective, it offers a different way of thinking in order to incorporate different perspectives and to consider multiple aspects of any g…
When no samples are available to estimate a probability distribution, we have to invite some domain experts to evaluate the belief degree that each event will happen. Perhaps some people think that the belief degree should be modeled by subjective probability or fuzzy set theory. However, it is usually inappropriate because both of them may lead to counterintuitive results in this case. In o…
This book aims at illustrating strategies to account for uncertainty in complex systems described by computer simulations. When optimizing the performances of these systems, accounting or neglecting uncertainty may lead to completely different results; therefore, uncertainty management is a major issues in simulation-optimization. Because of its wide field of applications, simulation-optimizati…
This book introduces methods for uncertain multi-attribute decision making including uncertain multi-attribute group decision making and their applications to supply chain management, investment decision making, personnel assessment, redesigning products, maintenance services, military system efficiency evaluation. Multi-attribute decision making, also known as multi-objective decision making w…