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    An adaptive robust optimization model for parallel machine scheduling

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    Real-life parallel machine scheduling problems can be characterized by: (i) limited information about the exact task duration at the scheduling time, and (ii) an opportunity to reschedule the remaining tasks each time a task processing is completed and a machine becomes idle. Robust optimization is the natural methodology to cope with the first characteristic of duration uncertainty, yet the existing literature on robust scheduling does not explicitly consider the second characteristic the possibility to adjust decisions as more information about the tasks duration becomes available, despite that re-optimizing the schedule every time new information emerges is standard practice. In this paper, we develop an adaptive robust optimization scheduling approach that takes into account, at the beginning of the planning horizon, the possibility that scheduling decisions can be adjusted. We demonstrate that the suggested approach can lead to better here-and-now decisions and better makespan guarantees. To that end, we develop the first mixed integer linear programming model for adaptive robust scheduling, and a two-stage approximation heuristic, where we minimize the worst-case makespan. Using this model, we show via a numerical study that adaptive scheduling leads to solutions with better and more stable makespan realizations compared to static approaches.Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository ‘You share, we take care!’ – Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public.Discrete Mathematics and Optimizatio

    Data-Driven Two-Stage Linear Optimization: Feasibility and Approximation Guarantees

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    An important and challenging class of two-stage linear optimization problems are those without relative-complete recourse, wherein there exists first-stage decisions and realizations of the uncertainty for which there are no feasible second-stage decisions. Previous data-driven methods for these problems, such as the sample average approximation (SAA), are asymptotically optimal but have prohibitively poor performance with respect to out-of-sample feasibility. In this talk, we present a data-driven method for two-stage linear optimization problems without relative-complete recourse which combines (i) strong out-of-sample feasibility guarantees and (ii) general asymptotic optimality. Our method employs a simple robustification of the data combined with a multi-policy approximation. A key contribution of this work is the development of novel geometric insights, which we use to show that the proposed approximation is asymptotically optimal. We demonstrate the benefit of using this method in practice through numerical experiments. This is a joint work with Dimitris Bertsimas and Brad Sturt.Non UBCUnreviewedAuthor affiliation: TechnionResearche

    Robust Radiotherapy

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    First-order algorithms for robust optimization problems via convex-concave saddle-point Lagrangian reformulation

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    Robust optimization (RO) is one of the key paradigms for solving optimization problems affected by uncertainty. Two principal approaches for RO, the robust counterpart method and the adversarial approach, potentially lead to excessively large optimization problems. For that reason, first order approaches, based on online-convex-optimization, have been proposed (Ben-Tal et al. (2015), Kilinc-Karzan and Ho-Nguyen (2018)) as alternatives for the case of large-scale problems. However, these methods are either stochastic in nature or involve a binary search for the optimal value. We propose deterministic first-order algorithms based on a saddle-point Lagrangian reformulation that avoids both of these issues. Our approach recovers the other approaches\u27 O(1/epsilon^2) convergence rate in the general case, and offers an improved O(1/epsilon) rate for problems with constraints which are affine both in the decision and in the uncertainty. Experiment involving robust quadratic optimization demonstrates the numerical benefits of our approach.4 figure

    Robust Radiotherapy

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    Robust Radiotherapy

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    Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis

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    The present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed

    Variations on the Author

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    “Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship

    Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis

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    We provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
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