We consider an extension of the classical secretary problem where a decision maker observes only the relative ranks of a sequence of up to N applicants, whose true values are i.i.d. U[0,1] random variables. Applicants arrive according to a homogeneous Poisson Process, and the decision maker...

We extend economic analysis of the nuclear power industry by developing and employing three tools. They are 1) compilation and unification of operating and accounting data sets for plants and sites, 2) an abstract industry model with major economic agents and features, and 3) a model of nuclear...

This paper studies the consumption-investment problem of a consumer with a multi-period planning horizon under uncertainty. Such a setting occurs naturally in stochastic OLG models with multi-period-lived consumers. We provide a rigorous characterization of consumption-investment strategies...

The rapid growth in demand and supply of sophisticated data mining and analytical decision tools calls for research to understand the value of learning, as well as how learning interacts with firms’ day-to-day marketing strategies.In this paper, we consider a market in which the firm can...

This research examines state clustering in Markov Decision processes, specifically addressing the problem referred to as Markov Decision process with restricted observations. The general problem is a special case of a Partially Observable Markov Decision process where the state space is...

In this thesis, three procurement policies (Backup Policy, Blend Policy, and Partial Order Policy) are considered and evaluated using a Discrete Time Markov Decision Process. The following factors were analyzed: retailer's demand distribution, holding cost, purchasing cost and supplier's...

This dissertation develops a new methodology and associated solution tools toachieve optimal operations and maintenance strategies for wind turbines, helpingreduce operational costs and enhance the marketability of wind generation. Theintegrated framework proposed includes two optimization...

The profitability of power plant investments depends strongly on uncertain fuel and carbon prices. In this doctoral thesis, we combine fundamental electricity market models with stochastic dynamic programming to evaluate power plant investments under uncertainty. The application of...