We consider eight problems in which we maximize or minimize threshold probabilities in discounted Markov decision processes with bounded reward set. We show that such problems are classified to two equivalence classes and give a relationship between optimal values and optimal policies of...

Telecommunications providers' market share risks stem from uncertainties due to overall market performance and competition strategies adopted by providers. In this paper, a framework that allows risk-adjusted forecasting of a provider's market share is presented. Two different stochastic...

The intensive care unit (ICU) is one of the most crucial and expensive resources in a health care system. While high fixed costs usually lead to tight capacities, shortages have severe consequences. Thus, various challenging issues exist: When should an ICU admit or reject arriving patients in...

Biopharmaceuticals are the fastest-growing segment of the pharmaceutical industry. Their manufacture is complicated by the uncertainty exhibited therein. Scholars have studied the planning and operation of such production systems under some uncertainties, but the simultaneous consideration of...

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...

This paper studies how external incentives can help agents to coordinate in summary-statistic games. Agents follow a myopic best-reply rule and face a trade-off between efficiency and strategic uncertainty. A principal can help agents to coordinate on the Pareto optimal equilibrium by monitoring...

Many industries, including consumer electronics and telecommunications equipment, are characterized with short product life-cycles, constant technological innovations, rapid product introductions, and fast obsolescence. Firms in such industries need to make frequent design changes to incorporate...

In strategic situations, humans infer the state of mind of others, e.g., emotions or intentions, adapting their behavior appropriately. Nonetheless, evolutionary studies of cooperation typically focus only on reaction norms, e.g., tit for tat, whereby individuals make their next decisions by...

Many hierarchical techniques to solve large Markov decision processes (MDPs) are based on the partition of the state space into strongly connected components (SCCs) that can be classified into some levels. In each level, smaller problems named restricted MDPs are solved, and then these partial...

Morton and Wecker (1977) stated that the value iteration algorithm solves a dynamic program's policy function faster than its value function when the limiting Markov chain is ergodic. I show that their proof is incomplete, and provide a new proof of this classic result. I use this result to...