Left and right compatibility of strict orders with fuzzy tolerance and fuzzy equivalence relations

The notion of extensionality of a fuzzy relation w.r.t. a fuzzy equivalence was first introduced by Hohle and Blanchard. Belohlavek introduced a similar definition of compatibility of a fuzzy relation w.r.t. a fuzzy equality. In [14] we generalized this notion to left compatibility, right compatibility and compatibility of arbitrary fuzzy relations and we characterized them in terms of left and right traces introduced by Fodor. In this note, we will again investigate these notions, but this time we focus on the compatibility of strict orders with fuzzy tolerance and fuzzy equivalence relations

Domination and Decomposition in Multiobjective Programming

During the last few decades, multiobjective programming has received much attention for both its numerous theoretical advances as well as its continued success in modeling and solving real-life decision problems in business and engineering. In extension of the traditionally adopted concept of Pareto optimality, this research investigates the more general notion of domination and establishes various theoretical results that lead to new optimization methods and support decision making. After a preparatory discussion of some preliminaries and a review of the relevant literature, several new findings are presented that characterize the nondominated set of a general vector optimization problem for which the underlying domination structure is defined in terms of different cones. Using concepts from linear algebra and convex analysis, a well known result relating nondominated points for polyhedral cones with Pareto solutions is generalized to nonpolyhedral cones that are induced by positively homogeneous functions, and to translated polyhedral cones that are used to describe a notion of approximate nondominance. Pareto-oriented scalarization methods are modified and several new solution approaches are proposed for these two classes of cones. In addition, necessary and sufficient conditions for nondominance with respect to a variable domination cone are developed, and some more specific results for the case of Bishop-Phelps cones are derived. Based on the above findings, a decomposition framework is proposed for the solution of multi-scenario and large-scale multiobjective programs and analyzed in terms of the efficiency relationships between the original and the decomposed subproblems. Using the concept of approximate nondominance, an interactive decision making procedure is formulated to coordinate tradeoffs between these subproblems and applied to selected problems from portfolio optimization and engineering design. Some introductory remarks and concluding comments together with ideas and research directions for possible future work complete this dissertation

Mathematical Optimization of the Tactical Allocation of Machining Resources in Aerospace Industry

In the aerospace industry, efficient management of machining capacity is crucial to meet the required service levels to customers (which includes, measures of quality and production lead-times) and to maintain control of the tied-up working capital. We introduce a new multi-item, multi-level capacitated planning model with a medium-to-long term planning horizon. The model can be used by most companies having functional workshops where costly and/or time- and resource demanding preparations (or qualifications) are required each time a product needs to be (re)allocated to a machining resource. Our goal is to identify possible product routings through the factory which minimizes the maximum excess resource loading above a given loading threshold, while incurring as low qualification costs as possible. In Paper I (Bi-objective optimization of the tactical allocation of jobtypes to machines), we propose a new bi-objective mathematical optimization model for the Tactical Resource Allocation Problem (TRAP). We highlight some of the mathematical properties of the TRAP which are utilized to enhance the solution process. Another contribution is a modified version of the bi-directional $\epsilon$ -constraint method especially tailored for our problem. We perform numerical tests on industrial test cases generated for our class of problem which indicates computational superiority of our method over conventional solution approaches. In Paper II (Robust optimization of a bi-objective tactical resource allocation problem with uncertain qualification costs), we address the uncertainty in the coefficients of one of the objective functions considered in the bi-objective TRAP. We propose a new bi-objective robust efficiency concept and highlight its benefits over existing robust efficiency concepts. We also suggest a solution approach for identifying all the relevant robust efficient (RE) solutions. Our proposed approach is significantly faster than an existing approach for robust bi-objective optimization problems

Negation in natural language

Negation is ubiquitous in natural language, and philosophers have developed plenty of different theories of the semantics of negation. Despite this, linguistic theorizing about negation typically assumes that classical logic's semantics for negation---a simple truth-functional toggle---is adequate to negation in natural language, and philosophical discussions of negation typically ignore vital linguistic data. The present document is thus something of an attempt to fill a gap, to show that careful attention to linguistic data actually militates {\\em against} using a classical semantics for negation, and to demonstrate the philosophical payoff that comes from a nonclassical semantics for natural-language negation. I present a compositional semantics for natural language in which these questions can be posed and addressed, and argue that propositional attitudes fit into this semantics best when we use a nonclassical semantics for negation. I go on to explore several options that have been proposed by logicians of various stripes for the semantics of negation, providing a general framework in which the options can be evaluated. Finally, I show how taking non-classical negations seriously opens new doors in the philosophy of vagueness