New Directions in Computational Economics brings together for the first time a diverse selection of papers, sharing the underlying theme of application of computing technology as a tool for achieving solutions to realistic problems in computational economics and related areas in the environmental, ecological and energy fields. Part I of the volume addresses experimental and computational issues in auction mechanisms, including a survey of recent results for sealed bid auctions. The second contribution uses neural networks as the basis for estimating bid functions for first price sealed bid auctions. Also presented is the `smart market' computational mechanism which better matches bids and offers for natural gas. Part II consists of papers that formulate and solve models of economics systems. Amman and Kendrick's paper deals with control models and the computational difficulties that result from nonconvexities. Using goal programming, Nagurney, Thore and Pan formulate spatial resource allocation models to analyze various policy issues. Thompson and Thrall next present a rigorous mathematical analysis of the relationship between efficiency and profitability. The problem of matching uncertain streams of assets and liabilities is solved using stochastic optimization techniques in the following paper in this section. Finally, Part III applies economic concepts to issues in computer science in addition to using computational techniques to solve economic models.

This volume gives an overview of the state-of-the-art with respect to the development of all types of parallel computers and their application to a wide range of problem areas. The international conference on parallel computing ParCo97 (Parallel Computing 97) was held in Bonn, Germany from 19 to 22 September 1997. The first conference in this biannual series was held in 1983 in Berlin. Further conferences were held in Leiden (The Netherlands), London (UK), Grenoble (France) and Gent (Belgium). From the outset the aim with the ParCo (Parallel Computing) conferences was to promote the application of parallel computers to solve real life problems. In the case of ParCo97 a new milestone was reached in that more than half of the papers and posters presented were concerned with application aspects. This fact reflects the coming of age of parallel computing. Some 200 papers were submitted to the Program Committee by authors from all over the world. The final programme consisted of four invited papers, 71 contributed scientific/industrial papers and 45 posters. In addition a panel discussion on Parallel Computing and the Evolution of Cyberspace was held. During and after the conference all final contributions were refereed. Only those papers and posters accepted during this final screening process are included in this volume. The practical emphasis of the conference was accentuated by an industrial exhibition where companies demonstrated the newest developments in parallel processing equipment and software. Speakers from participating companies presented papers in industrial sessions in which new developments in parallel computing were reported.

A key resource and framework for assessing the performance of competing entities, including forecasting models Advances in DEA Theory and Applications provides a much-needed framework for assessing the performance of competing entities with special emphasis on forecasting models. It helps readers to determine the most appropriate methodology in order to make the most accurate decisions for implementation. Written by a noted expert in the field, this text provides a review of the latest advances in DEA theory and applications to the field of forecasting. Designed for use by anyone involved in research in the field of forecasting or in another application area where forecasting drives decision making, this text can be applied to a wide range of contexts, including education, health care, banking, armed forces, auditing, market research, retail outlets, organizational effectiveness, transportation, public housing, and manufacturing. This vital resource: Explores the latest developments in DEA frameworks for the performance evaluation of entities such as public or private organizational branches or departments, economic sectors, technologies, and stocks Presents a novel area of application for DEA; namely, the performance evaluation of forecasting models Promotes the use of DEA to assess the performance of forecasting models in a wide area of applications Provides rich, detailed examples and case studies Advances in DEA Theory and Applications includes information on a balanced benchmarking tool that is designed to help organizations examine their assumptions about their productivity and performance.

When Harold Fried, et al. published The Measurement of Productive Efficiency: Techniques and Applications with OUP in 1993, the book received a great deal of professional interest for its accessible treatment of the rapidly growing field of efficiency and productivity analysis. The first several chapters, providing the background, motivation, and theoretical foundations for this topic, were the most widely recognized. In this tight, direct update, these same editors have compiled over ten years of the most recent research in this changing field, and expanded on those seminal chapters. The book will guide readers from the basic models to the latest, cutting-edge extensions, and will be reinforced by references to classic and current theoretical and applied research. It is intended for professors and graduate students in a variety of fields, ranging from economics to agricultural economics, business administration, management science, and public administration. It should also appeal to public servants and policy makers engaged in business performance analysis or regulation.

Because of their mutually influencing interactions, information systems and modern manufacturing systems are intertwined. They have been so integrated that information systems have become an embedded and critical component of any effective manufacturing system. The impact of the increasing focus on information permeates throughout the manufacturing life cycle, from product conceptualization, design, process planning, all the way to production, order fulfilment, and customer services. For these reasons, it is critical that we study information-based manufacturing in its entirety, crossing the traditional functional boundaries and building as much synergy between Information Systems (IS), Information Technology (IT), and manufacturing as possible. This is the motivation for this book and, to this end, the purpose of this book is threefold: to establish an up-to-date interdisciplinary research framework for information-based manufacturing that builds on the research foundation from IS and IT and manufacturing research; to develop a forward-looking research agenda for information-based manufacturing for identifying future directions for research and applications; and to foster a joint academic and industrial research agenda in information systems and manufacturing by identifying the greatest synergy possible between academic research and industrial practices.

This book gathers authoritative contributions in the field of Soft Computing. Based on selected papers presented at the 7th World Conference on Soft Computing, which was held on May 29–31, 2018, in Baku, Azerbaijan, it describes new theoretical advances, as well as cutting-edge methods and applications. New theories and algorithms in fuzzy logic, cognitive modeling, graph theory and metaheuristics are discussed, and applications in data mining, social networks, control and robotics, geoscience, biomedicine and industrial management are described. This book offers a timely, broad snapshot of recent developments, including thought-provoking trends and challenges that are yielding new research directions in the diverse areas of Soft Computing.

This book provides a comprehensive and rigorous, yet accessible, analysis of classical and Marxian price and value theory using the tools of contemporary economic analysis. The broad conceptual framework and methodology of Marx and the classical authors offers interesting and relevant perspectives on the basic structure and evolution of modern capitalist economies. Arguably, the book provides a deeper and more nuanced understanding of today's economic problems than can be gained via mainstream approaches.

Parallel Algorithms for Linear Models provides a complete and detailed account of the design, analysis and implementation of parallel algorithms for solving large-scale linear models. It investigates and presents efficient, numerically stable algorithms for computing the least-squares estimators and other quantities of interest on massively parallel systems. The monograph is in two parts. The first part consists of four chapters and deals with the computational aspects for solving linear models that have applicability in diverse areas. The remaining two chapters form the second part, which concentrates on numerical and computational methods for solving various problems associated with seemingly unrelated regression equations (SURE) and simultaneous equations models. The practical issues of the parallel algorithms and the theoretical aspects of the numerical methods will be of interest to a broad range of researchers working in the areas of numerical and computational methods in statistics and econometrics, parallel numerical algorithms, parallel computing and numerical linear algebra. The aim of this monograph is to promote research in the interface of econometrics, computational statistics, numerical linear algebra and parallelism.

Observers and Macroeconomic Systems is concerned with the computational aspects of using a control-theoretic approach to the analysis of dynamic macroeconomic systems. The focus is on using a separate model for the development of the control policies. In particular, it uses the observer-based approach whereby the separate model learns to behave in a similar manner to the economic system through output-injections. The book shows how this approach can be used to learn the forward-looking behaviour of economic actors which is a distinguishing feature of dynamic macroeconomic models. It also shows how it can be used in conjunction with low-order models to undertake policy analysis with a large practical econometric model. This overcomes some of the computational problems arising from using just the large econometric models to compute optimal policy trajectories. The work also develops visual simulation software tools that can be used for policy analysis with dynamic macroeconomic systems.

Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) is a relatively new “data-oriented” approach for evaluating the performances of a set of entities called Decision- Making Units (DMUs) which convert multiple inputs into multiple outputs. DEA has been used in evaluating the performances of many different kinds of entities engaged in many different kinds of activities in many different contexts. It has opened up possibilities for use in cases which have been resistant to other approaches because of the complex and often unknown nature of the relations between the multiple inputs and outputs involved in many of these activities, which are often reported in non-commeasurable units. DEA has also been used to supply new insights into activities and entities that have previously been evaluated by othermethods. This handbook is intended to represent a milestone in the progression of DEA. Written by experts, who are often major contributors to the topics to be covered, it includes a comprehensive review and discussion of basic DEA models, extensions to the basic DEA methods, and a collection of DEA applications in the areas of banking, education, sports, retail, health care, and a review of current DEA software technology. This handbook’s chapters are organized into three categories: (i) basic DEA models, concepts, and their extensions; (ii) DEA applications; and (iii) xii Preface DEA software packages. The first category consists of eleven chapters.