Brown University SUMS 2007 - Prof. Anna Nagurney, University of Massachusetts

Описание: Operations Research and the Captivating Study of Networks and Complex Decision-Making
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In this talk, I will overview some of the major early and recent contributions to the formal mathematical study of networks and associated decision-making, from the perspective of an operations researcher. I will highlight novel mathematical tools, such as nonlinear optimization, game theory, variational inequalities, and projected dynamical systems, that have been utilized for the rigorous formulation of numerous network-based problems, and their effective and efficient solution. Some of the operation-research applications that I will discuss are: congested transportation networks and the Internet, including the Braess paradox (with fixed and time-varying demands), supply chains, financial and social networks, and energy/environmental networks.

The mathematical network-based discoveries continue to impact numerous disciplines, including: engineering, computer science, physics, economics, and biology, where the formalism of networks brings new, refreshing, and unifying insights. Interestingly, and, not surprisingly, several of the fundamental discoveries in the network-application domain have been made by Brown faculty and Brown graduates!