Automated Supply Chain Formation – A Theoretical Framework

The purpose of this paper is to review the different concepts and approaches regarding automated supply chain formation (SCF) in order to create a theoretical framework and identify gaps in existing research in SCF regarding the complexity of practical implementation in the context of Industry 4.0. The research is conducted through analyzing three perspectives regard-ing the complexity of the SCF process: 1) the existence of a central authority, 2) the mecha-nisms employed for communication between entities in the supply chain, 3) one/multi-unit dimension for the traded goods. A theoretical framework was created and the following gaps and issues were identified in the existing research literature: 1) Parameters used in order to pair-wise suppliers/consumers are limited. 2) The resulted supply chains are assessed mainly using a profit optimization function for the end-consumer. 3) The possible risks associated with participating entities in the supply chain are not considered

PERFORMANCE AND ANALYSIS OF SPOT TRUCK-LOAD PROCUREMENT MARKETS USING SEQUENTIAL AUCTIONS

Competition in a transportation marketplace is studied under different supply/demand conditions, auction formats, and carriers' behavioral assumptions. Carriers compete in a spot truck-load procurement market (TLPM) using sequential auctions. Carrier participation in a TLPM requires the ongoing solution of two distinct problems: profit maximization problem (chose best bid) and fleet management problem (best fleet assignment to serve acquired shipments). Sequential auctions are used to model an ongoing transportation market, where carrier competition is used to study carriers' dynamic vehicle routing technologies and decision making processes. Given the complexity of the bidding/fleet management problem, carriers can tackle it with different levels of sophistication. Carriers' decision making processes and rationality/bounded rationality assumptions are analyzed. A framework to study carrier behavior in TL sequential auctions is presented. Carriers' behavior is analyzed as a function of fleet management technology, auction format, carrier bounded rationality, market settings, and decision making complexity. The effects of fleet management technology asymmetries on a competitive marketplace are studied. A methodology to compare dynamic fleet management technologies is developed. Under a particular set of bounded rationality assumptions, bidding learning mechanisms are studied; reinforcement learning and fictitious play implementations are discussed. The performance of different auction formats is studied. Simulated scenarios are presented and their results discussed

Modeling social norms in real-world agent-based simulations

Studying and simulating social systems including human groups and societies can be a complex problem. In order to build a model that simulates humans\u27 actions, it is necessary to consider the major factors that affect human behavior. Norms are one of these factors: social norms are the customary rules that govern behavior in groups and societies. Norms are everywhere around us, from the way people handshake or bow to the clothes they wear. They play a large role in determining our behaviors. Studies on norms are much older than the age of computer science, since normative studies have been a classic topic in sociology, psychology, philosophy and law. Various theories have been put forth about the functioning of social norms. Although an extensive amount of research on norms has been performed during the recent years, there remains a significant gap between current models and models that can explain real-world normative behaviors. Most of the existing work on norms focuses on abstract applications, and very few realistic normative simulations of human societies can be found. The contributions of this dissertation include the following: 1) a new hybrid technique based on agent-based modeling and Markov Chain Monte Carlo is introduced. This method is used to prepare a smoking case study for applying normative models. 2) This hybrid technique is described using category theory, which is a mathematical theory focusing on relations rather than objects. 3) The relationship between norm emergence in social networks and the theory of tipping points is studied. 4) A new lightweight normative architecture for studying smoking cessation trends is introduced. This architecture is then extended to a more general normative framework that can be used to model real-world normative behaviors. The final normative architecture considers cognitive and social aspects of norm formation in human societies. Normative architectures based on only one of these two aspects exist in the literature, but a normative architecture that effectively includes both of these two is missing

A review of asset management literature on multi-asset systems

This article gives an overview of the literature on asset management for multi-unit systems with an emphasis on two multi-asset categories: fleet (a system of homogeneous assets) and portfolio (a system of heterogeneous assets). As asset systems become more complicated, researchers have employed different terms to refer to their specific problems. With an objective to facilitate readers in searching conducive studies to their interests, this paper establishes a novel classification scheme for multi-unit systems in accordance with essential features such as diversity of assets and intervention options. Moreover, discerning differences in characteristics between cross-component and cross-asset interactions, we select three types of potential multi-component dependencies (performance, stochastic, and resource) and extend their notions to be applicable to multi-asset systems. The investigation into these dependencies enables the identification of problems that could exist in real industrial settings but are yet to be determined in academia. Ultimately, we delve into modelling approaches adopted by previous researchers. This comprehensive information allows us to offer the insights into the current trends in multi-asset maintenance. We expect that the output of this review paper will not only stress research gaps on multi-asset systems, but more importantly help systematise future studies on this aspect

Interrelationship models in energy markets

This thesis aims to make two types of academic contributions. It includes both methodological insights about the application of quantitative methods to the study of network industries and theoretical results concerning the economics of energy markets. The theoretical literature on interconnectors has established their potential to mitigate local market power, but the relationship between capacity utilisation and locational market splitting has not been studied empirically. Thus, in the first essay of the thesis I apply Vector Autorregressive (VAR) modelling techniques to data from the Bacton (UK)-Zeebrugge (Belgium) natural gas pipeline. The analysis identifies a threshold of capacity utilisation after which the UK and Continental markets split. The relationship between local price differences and capacity use is increasing and convex. A difference between the UK and Continental markets is that while there are extensive crossholdings in the Continent, UK firms remain in general independent from each other. This raises the issue of how crossholdings affect the firms' ability to coordinate in higher prices. Hence, the second essay presents a set of simulations in which computational agents try to optimise their profit using parameters adapted from the Roth and Erev (1995) reinforcement algorithm. The auction setting is a double-sided stylisation of the European energy markets. The results indicate that market transparency leads to higher prices, that the functional form of the crossholdings to prices relationship is not linear but concave and that more downstream competition reduces the influence of information on wholesale prices. The model in the third essay is complementary to the crossholdings research and incorporates key aspects of the interlinked operations of gas and electricity wholesale markets in the short-run. These sequential multiple-unit auctions present many non-Pareto ranked equilibria and we propose another Roth and Erev (1995) simulation as an alternative. The simulations unveil a new market power mechanism that explains why vertical market power can be observed in the energy industry

Operational Research: Methods and Applications

Throughout its history, Operational Research has evolved to include a variety of methods, models and algorithms that have been applied to a diverse and wide range of contexts. This encyclopedic article consists of two main sections: methods and applications. The first aims to summarise the up-to-date knowledge and provide an overview of the state-of-the-art methods and key developments in the various subdomains of the field. The second offers a wide-ranging list of areas where Operational Research has been applied. The article is meant to be read in a nonlinear fashion. It should be used as a point of reference or first-port-of-call for a diverse pool of readers: academics, researchers, students, and practitioners. The entries within the methods and applications sections are presented in alphabetical order. The authors dedicate this paper to the 2023 Turkey/Syria earthquake victims. We sincerely hope that advances in OR will play a role towards minimising the pain and suffering caused by this and future catastrophes

Operational Research: Methods and Applications

Throughout its history, Operational Research has evolved to include a variety of methods, models and algorithms that have been applied to a diverse and wide range of contexts. This encyclopedic article consists of two main sections: methods and applications. The first aims to summarise the up-to-date knowledge and provide an overview of the state-of-the-art methods and key developments in the various subdomains of the field. The second offers a wide-ranging list of areas where Operational Research has been applied. The article is meant to be read in a nonlinear fashion. It should be used as a point of reference or first-port-of-call for a diverse pool of readers: academics, researchers, students, and practitioners. The entries within the methods and applications sections are presented in alphabetical order

Automated Negotiation Among Web Services

Software as a service is well accepted software deployment and distribution model that is grown exponentially in the last few years. One of the biggest benefits of SaaS is the automated composition of these services in a composite system. It allows users to automatically find and bind these services, as to maximize the productivity of their composed systems, meeting both functional and non-functional requirements. In this paper we present a framework for modeling the dependency relationship of different Quality of Service parameters of a component service. Our proposed approach considers the different invocation patterns of component services in the system and models the dependency relationship for optimum values of these QoS parameters. We present a service composition framework that models the dependency relations ship among component services and uses the global QoS for service selection