Working Notes from the 1992 AAAI Spring Symposium on Practical Approaches to Scheduling and Planning

The symposium presented issues involved in the development of scheduling systems that can deal with resource and time limitations. To qualify, a system must be implemented and tested to some degree on non-trivial problems (ideally, on real-world problems). However, a system need not be fully deployed to qualify. Systems that schedule actions in terms of metric time constraints typically represent and reason about an external numeric clock or calendar and can be contrasted with those systems that represent time purely symbolically. The following topics are discussed: integrating planning and scheduling; integrating symbolic goals and numerical utilities; managing uncertainty; incremental rescheduling; managing limited computation time; anytime scheduling and planning algorithms, systems; dependency analysis and schedule reuse; management of schedule and plan execution; and incorporation of discrete event techniques

Reliable Decision-Making with Imprecise Models

The rapid growth in the deployment of autonomous systems across various sectors has generated considerable interest in how these systems can operate reliably in large, stochastic, and unstructured environments. Despite recent advances in artificial intelligence and machine learning, it is challenging to assure that autonomous systems will operate reliably in the open world. One of the causes of unreliable behavior is the impreciseness of the model used for decision-making. Due to the practical challenges in data collection and precise model specification, autonomous systems often operate based on models that do not represent all the details in the environment. Even if the system has access to a comprehensive decision-making model that accounts for all the details in the environment and all possible scenarios the agent may encounter, it may be intractable to solve this complex model optimally. Consequently, this complex, high fidelity model may be simplified to accelerate planning, introducing imprecision. Reasoning with such imprecise models affects the reliability of autonomous systems. A system\u27s actions may sometimes produce unexpected, undesirable consequences, which are often identified after deployment. How can we design autonomous systems that can operate reliably in the presence of uncertainty and model imprecision? This dissertation presents solutions to address three classes of model imprecision in a Markov decision process, along with an analysis of the conditions under which bounded-performance can be guaranteed. First, an adaptive outcome selection approach is introduced to devise risk-aware reduced models of the environment that efficiently balance the trade-off between model simplicity and fidelity, to accelerate planning in resource-constrained settings. Second, a framework that extends stochastic shortest path framework to problems with imperfect information about the goal state during planning is introduced, along with two solution approaches to solve this problem. Finally, two complementary solution approaches are presented to minimize the negative side effects of agent actions. The techniques presented in this dissertation enable an autonomous system to detect and mitigate undesirable behavior, without redesigning the model entirely

네트워크 기반 가상 사회의 신뢰 구축 법칙과 신뢰 관리

학위논문 (박사)-- 서울대학교 대학원 : 협동과정 기술경영·경제·정책전공, 2012. 8. 황준석.가상 사회에서 참여자가 입을 수 있는 손실은 크게 가상 커뮤니티의 일원으로 여겨지는 참여자로부터 입을 수 있는 피해와 커뮤니티 외부의 상대로부터 입을 수 있는 피해로 나뉜다. 다시, 커뮤니티 참여자들에 의해 발생하는 위험과 불확실성은 상대방의 유형이 감추어져 있거나 행동이 감추어져 있는 정보비대칭으로 인해 발생한다. 가상커뮤니티의 일원으로부터 입을 수 있는 피해는 일차적으로 구성원들 간의 자율적인 반복 소통과 학습을 통한 상대 선별 기준의 업데이트를 통해 점차 양질의 거래 상대를 선별하는 것으로 완화할 수 있다. 그러나, 한번 선별과정을 통해 커뮤니티에 진입한 구성원도 다시 배신할 유인은 있으며, 이는 평판 등 지속적인 구성원 간 반복 소통 혹은 이차적 수단인 신뢰할 수 있는 제3자의 개입을 통해 완화가 가능하다. 그러나 커뮤니티 외부의 상대로부터 입을 수 있는 피해는 커뮤니티 전체 수준에서 기술적으로 방어하거나, 혹은 동시에 개인이 피해를 예방할 수 있는 투자를 선행함으로써 완화해야 한다. 본 연구는 가상 사회에서 참여자의 손실 완화와 예방, 그리고 방어를 위한 커뮤니티의 구성 기준, 커뮤니티의 관리 방법, 그리고 외부로부터의 방어를 위한 투자를 사회와 개인의 효율성 확보라는 측면에서 접근하여 최선의 정책을 제안하고자 하였다. 우선 인터넷 기반의 가상 사회에서 참여자들이 상대를 선별하여 커뮤니티를 구성하는 기준으로 신뢰 신호 게임 모델을 구성하고, 신호만으로 신뢰성 있는 상대를 판별할 수 하기 위한 신호비용 기반 시스템을 제시하였다. 이렇게 신호를 통해 상대를 판별하여 거래하는 방법은 일부 조건에서는 사회적으로 최적은 아니며, 사회 후생 관점에서 효율적이기 위해서는 신호체계의 설계 혹은 신뢰성 낮은 사용자에 대한 규제라는 두 정책 중에서 선택해야 함을 제시하였다. 전통적으로 상대를 선택하기 위해 사용되어 온 방법인 평판은 일종의 신호체계라고 할 수 있는데, 우선 신호 체계를 통해 커뮤니티에 진입한 이후에는 이를 관리하는 것이 필요해진다. 이 과정에서 집합적인 신뢰의 보장과 개인의 프라이버시 보호 간의 긴장관계가 발생한다. 이를 해결하기 위한 모니터링과 처벌이라는 정책 변수를 제안하고, 최적 수준을 제시하였다. 따라서 거래 혹은 소통하는 전체 커뮤니티의 건전성 유지를 위해서 도입되는 신뢰받는 제3자의 정책이 중요하다. 마지막으로, 개인이 자신의 프라이버시를 지키기 위한 투자를 하는 상황에서 서로 거래할 때에, 방어자의 입장에서 전략을 세울 필요가 있다. 본 연구에서는 공격자 또한 하나의 게임 참여자라는 입장에서 이들의 유인을 고려한 의사결정 모델을 제안한다. 게임의 분석적 모델과 실험 모델을 통해 얻어진 결과에 따르면, 손실에 대한 공격자의 이익 비율이 상대적으로 클 수록 보안투자에 대한 기대이익이 줄어든다. 보안 투자를 통한 기대 이익을 극대화하는 최적 투자량과 투자 시점을 또한 제시하였다. 그리고 예상되는 공격의 종류와 확률에 따라 적절한 보안투자 포트폴리오를 구성하는 것이 필요하다는 결론을 제시하고, 몇 가지 사례에 대해 가상 포트폴리오를 제시하였다.The uncertainties and risks in a virtual society can be divided into those posed by a member of the community and those posed by an outsider of the community. The uncertainties and risks from a member of the community can be further divided into those stemming from the hidden type problem and those stemming from the hidden action problem in the context of information asymmetry. These uncertainties and risks posed by community members can be alleviated by a prudently designed selection mechanism that uses repeated communication and learning. Nevertheless, there exists an incentive to commit a violation for a community member who is selected by the selection mechanism. A complementary mechanism such as reputation or third party intervention is therefore required to resolve this problem. On the other hand, the alleviation of the uncertainty or risk posed by an outsider of the community requires the effort of the entire community and individual investment by each community member to protect their information and systems. Enhancing trust is a critical factor in the development of virtual and offline societies. Just as various policy tools have been used continuously to build trust in the real society, various policy guidelines also need to be suggested to build trust in the virtual society. Although previous studies have focused on suggesting policy guidelines based on observed phenomena, this study provides the theoretical foundation for analyzing the process of trust building in various environments of virtual society using the game theory approach. The theoretical analysis in this research suggests that the most critical task is to make a pool of trustworthy providers to establish an efficient market. Prudent policies also need to be designed to differentiate the signaling costs for different types of providers. The trusted third party method can be one of the possible alternatives. As this study suggests, even in a trustworthy market, minimum monitoring and penalty contracts are necessary and individual users need to invest in optimal security. This research also contributes to the development of a new trust-management mechanism that is not only more objective and robust but also has a simple structure that can be easily understood by users in the virtual society. Existing studies have merely focused on one of the two conflicting values or indicated the limitations of pervasive reputation mechanisms. Moreover, flexible-monitoring levels cannot be chosen when the service participants are highly concerned about their privacy or when the expected loss from the invasion of privacy is high. In such cases, the level of punishment is inevitably highlegal enforcement is therefore required to complement the voluntary punishment scheme for virtual society models such as the utility-computing service market. Finally, this research contributes to the decision-making process of the defender. The proposed model gives a defender more practical instruments to decide the optimal level of security investment through consideration of the attackers strategic decisions. The majority of existing studies have considered only the defenders perspective and have regarded the actions of attackers as a given. The last analysis suggested a model of interdependent decision-making processes of two players behaving strategically. The strategic attacker bases its strategies such as attack frequency on the actions of the defender, whereas the strategic defender bases its strategies such as the level of security investment on the actions of the attacker. The model used in this study aims to provide the defender more practical instruments to determine the optimal level of security investment through the consideration of the attackers decision-making process.Chapter 1. Introduction 1 1.1 Research Background 1 1.1.1 The characteristics of a virtual society 1 1.1.2 Approaches to investigation of virtual society 3 1.2 Problem Statement 6 1.3 Approach and Conceptual Framework 10 1.4 Research Questions 15 1.5 Outlines of the study 17 Chapter 2. Literature Review 21 2.1 Research on the trust building in various context 21 2.1.1 Social dilemmas and the trust 21 2.1.2 Traditional and behavioral approaches of game theory 22 2.1.3 Trust concepts in various contexts 23 2.2 Mechanisms to develop trustworthy environment 26 2.2.1 Signaling game approaches 28 2.2.2 Prisoners dilemma game approaches 30 2.2.3 Trusted third party interventions 34 2.2.4 Private solutions by individual dimension 36 2.2.5 Other game theoretical approaches 38 2.3 Agent based simulation 38 Chapter 3. Trust Signaling Game as a Fundamental Rule of Transactions on the Internet Based Virtual Society 40 3.1 Introduction 40 3.2 Model Description 41 3.3 Equilibrium Analysis 45 3.3.1 Separating equilibrium 45 3.3.2 Pooling equilibrium 47 3.3.3 The existence condition of the equilibrium 50 3.3.4 The social optimality of the equilibrium 51 3.3.5 The continuous needs of costly signals 53 3.3.6 The dynamics of the trust equilibrium shifts 53 3.4 The Simulation and Results 54 3.4.1 The simulation overview 54 3.4.2 The simulation description 56 3.4.3 The simulation results 60 3.4.4 The comparison with equilibrium analysis 63 3.5 Conclusion and Discussion 63 Chapter 4. Balancing between Privacy Protection and Security Robustness 66 4.1 Introduction 66 4.2 Motivation and Related Works 68 4.2.1 Prisoners dilemma 68 4.2.2 Demerits of the reputation mechanism 70 4.3 Model Description 75 4.3.1 Game Design 78 4.3.2 Investment in privacy protection 82 4.3.3 Implications 85 4.4 Simulation 85 4.4.1 Simulation Architecture 86 4.4.2 Simulation Results 89 4.5 Model Validation and Adaptation 93 4.5.1 Robustness against unfair or biased ratings 93 4.5.2 Long-term accuracy of the trust level 94 4.5.3 Validation and Sensitivity test 98 4.6 Conclusion and Discussion 100 Chapter 5. Modeling the Defenders Strategic Decision Process in Security Investment 102 5.1 Introduction 102 5.2 Model 103 5.2.1 Motivation 103 5.2.2 Attackers behavior 106 5.2.3 Defenders behavior 110 5.3 Equilibrium Analysis 112 5.3.1 Simultaneous game 113 5.3.2 Sequential game 116 5.3.3 Comparison of the equilibriums 119 5.4 Comparative Static 120 5.5 Conclusion and Discussion 126 Chapter 6. Discussion and Policy Implication 131 6.1 Results Summary and Discussion 131 6.2 Contributions and Policy Implications 133 6.3 Future Research 136Docto

Operational Research IO2017, Valença, Portugal, June 28-30

This proceedings book presents selected contributions from the XVIII Congress of APDIO (the Portuguese Association of Operational Research) held in Valença on June 28–30, 2017. Prepared by leading Portuguese and international researchers in the field of operations research, it covers a wide range of complex real-world applications of operations research methods using recent theoretical techniques, in order to narrow the gap between academic research and practical applications. Of particular interest are the applications of, nonlinear and mixed-integer programming, data envelopment analysis, clustering techniques, hybrid heuristics, supply chain management, and lot sizing and job scheduling problems. In most chapters, the problems, methods and methodologies described are complemented by supporting figures, tables and algorithms. The XVIII Congress of APDIO marked the 18th installment of the regular biannual meetings of APDIO – the Portuguese Association of Operational Research. The meetings bring together researchers, scholars and practitioners, as well as MSc and PhD students, working in the field of operations research to present and discuss their latest works. The main theme of the latest meeting was Operational Research Pro Bono. Given the breadth of topics covered, the book offers a valuable resource for all researchers, students and practitioners interested in the latest trends in this field.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

A World-Class University-Industry Consortium for Wind Energy Research, Education, and Workforce Development: Final Technical Report

During the two-year project period, the consortium members have developed control algorithms for enhancing the reliability of wind turbine components. The consortium members have developed advanced operation and planning tools for accommodating the high penetration of variable wind energy. The consortium members have developed extensive education and research programs for educating the stakeholders on critical issues related to the wind energy research and development. In summary, The Consortium procured one utility-grade wind unit and two small wind units. Specifically, the Consortium procured a 1.5MW GE wind unit by working with the world leading wind energy developer, Invenergy, which is headquartered in Chicago, in September 2010. The Consortium also installed advanced instrumentation on the turbine and performed relevant turbine reliability studies. The site for the wind unit is InvenergyÃÂÃÂÃÂâÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂs Grand Ridge wind farmin Illinois. The Consortium, by working with Viryd Technologies, installed an 8kW Viryd wind unit (the Lab Unit) at an engineering lab at IIT in September 2010 and an 8kW Viryd wind unit (the Field Unit) at the Stuart Field on IITÃÂÃÂÃÂâÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂs main campus in July 2011, and performed relevant turbine reliability studies. The operation of the Field Unit is also monitored by the Phasor Measurement Unit (PMU) in the nearby Stuart Building. The Consortium commemorated the installations at the July 20, 2011 ribbon-cutting ceremony. The ConsortiumÃÂÃÂÃÂâÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂs researches on turbine reliability included (1) Predictive Analytics to Improve Wind Turbine Reliability; (2) Improve Wind Turbine Power Output and Reduce Dynamic Stress Loading Through Advanced Wind Sensing Technology; (3) Use High Magnetic Density Turbine Generator as Non-rare Earth Power Dense Alternative; (4) Survivable Operation of Three Phase AC Drives in Wind Generator Systems; (5) Localization of Wind Turbine Noise Sources Using a Compact Microphone Array; (6) Wind Turbine Acoustics - Numerical Studies; and (7) Performance of Wind Turbines in Rainy Conditions. The ConsortiumÃÂÃÂÃÂâÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂs researches on wind integration included (1) Analysis of 2030 Large-Scale Wind Energy Integration in the Eastern Interconnection; (2) Large-scale Analysis of 2018 Wind Energy Integration in the Eastern U.S. Interconnection; (3) Integration of Non-dispatchable Resources in Electricity Markets; (4) Integration of Wind Unit with Microgrid. The ConsortiumÃÂÃÂÃÂâÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂs education and outreach activities on wind energy included (1) Wind Energy Training Facility Development; (2) Wind Energy Course Development; (3) Wind Energy Outreach

An investigation into the relationship between the leadership competencies, emotional intelligence, and leadership styles of Russian managers working for MNCs

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Business Administration and awarded by Brunel University.The need for greater understanding of international leadership models has escalated in tandem with the globalization of trade and commerce. This dissertation presents the comparative-cultural study undertaken to address these two critical issues; employing the Russian Federation as the cultural context for the investigation. Cross-cultural research highlights a deficit of up-to-date comparative data on Russian organizational leadership, whilst practitioners articulate the demand for Russia-appropriate leadership development expertise. Increasingly, scholars advocate the application of integrated theories for assessing organizational leadership; contributing to several scholars updating trait theory into competency terms (including emotional competencies). Recent studies in the UK have established linkages amongst the competencies required for effective leadership, executives’ emotional competencies, and the demonstrated leadership styles of managers. This research extends these UK findings, investigating the possible relationship between the leadership competencies, Emotional Intelligence (EI), and leadership styles of Russian managers working within domestic and foreign MNCs. The researcher employed the Leadership Dimensions Questionnaire (LDQ) as the standardized measurement instrument for conducting this “etic” (comparative) study. The LDQ assesses managers based on 15 dimensions, representing cognitive (IQ), Emotional Intelligence (EQ), and managerial competencies (MQ); generating a leadership style “profile” based on the respondent’s scores. A combination of online and paper-based self-report versions of the LDQ (recently validated and utilized in several key UK studies) facilitated the data collection from the participating Russian managers (n = 152), over a 12- month period. Major findings of this research include: the identification of a clear leadership style preference by the Russian manager-sample (“participative”); statistically significant differences between the Russian and UK samples – on 14 of the 15 dimensions; distinctive differences in the competencies required for senior versus junior managers; “communication” was predictive of Russian leader performance, whilst follower commitment was predicted by leaders’ levels of “sensitivity” and “communication”. Contributions of this research to theory include: the identification of an up-to-date leadership profile of Russian managers, in competency terms, which can be compared with other cultures; a comparative cultural assessment of Russian managers’ based on EI; a comparison of Russian managers at different levels of large companies, with special attention to their similarities and differences. Implications of this research for practitioners include: the ability for organizations operating in Russia to identify/develop leaders based on their personal leadership profiles (executive training and development), as assessed by the LDQ; the potential for identifying and fostering competencies required of managers at higher levels within the organization (promotion; as roles and responsibilities differ at various levels within an organization); the opportunity for matching appropriate leadership styles to conform with organizational strategies and the surrounding business environment (strategic leadership style/context fit)

Reinforcement Learning

Brains rule the world, and brain-like computation is increasingly used in computers and electronic devices. Brain-like computation is about processing and interpreting data or directly putting forward and performing actions. Learning is a very important aspect. This book is on reinforcement learning which involves performing actions to achieve a goal. The first 11 chapters of this book describe and extend the scope of reinforcement learning. The remaining 11 chapters show that there is already wide usage in numerous fields. Reinforcement learning can tackle control tasks that are too complex for traditional, hand-designed, non-learning controllers. As learning computers can deal with technical complexities, the tasks of human operators remain to specify goals on increasingly higher levels. This book shows that reinforcement learning is a very dynamic area in terms of theory and applications and it shall stimulate and encourage new research in this field