We consider a make-to-stock production/inventory system consisting of a single deteriorating machine which produces a single item. We formulate the integrated decisions of maintenance and production using a Markov Decision Process. The optimal dynamic policy is shown to have a rather complex structure which leads us to consider more implementable policies. We present a double-threshold policy a...

In heterogeneous wireless networks (HWNs), a scheme called Joint Call Admission Control (JCAC) is demanding for deciding whether or not an incoming service request will be accepted. In this paper, we propose an optimal JCAC policy for HWNs based on semi-Markov decision process (SMDP) to achieve the optimal resource management scheme in terms of minimal the network cost and acquire the required ...

This dissertation studies wireless scheduling by jointly optimizing the physical (PHY) layer and the medium-access-control (MAC) layer. It consists of the following three main thrusts. In the first thrust, rate optimization for multicast communications at the medium access control (MAC) layer is studied. For Threshold-T based multicast policies, the transmission rates are optimized to maximize ...

We consider the joint pricing and inventory control problem for a single product whose demand distribution in each period is determined both by whether or not a sale price is offered in the current period, and the number of periods since the last time the sale price was offered. We show that optimal inventory ordering policy is a state dependent base stock policy; however, the optimal pricing p...

In this article we study the implication of thresholds in preferences. To model this we extend the basic model of John and Pecchenino (1994) by allowing the current level of environmental quality to have a discrete impact on how an agent trades off future consumption and environmental quality. In other words, we endogenize the semi-elasticity of utility based on a step function. We motivate the...

The enhanced abilities of online retailers to learn about their customers’ shopping behavior have increased fears of dynamic pricing, a practice in which a seller sets prices based on the estimated buyer’s willingness-to-pay. However, among online retailers, a deviation from a one-price-for-all policy is the exception. When price discrimination is observed, it is often in the context of custome...

We study a variance reduction technique for Monte Carlo estimation of functionals in Markov chains. The method is based on designing sequential control variates using successive approximations of the function of interest V . Regular Monte Carlo estimates have a variance of O(1/N), where N is the number of sample trajectories of the Markov chain. Here, we obtain a geometric variance reduction O(...

This paper presents a model and theory for streaming layered video. We model the bandwidth available to the streaming application as a stochastic process whose statistical characteristics are unknown a priori. The random bandwidth models short term variations due to congestion control (such as TCP-friendly conformance). We suppose that the video has been encoded into a base and an enhancement l...

We study the sustainability of public debt in a closed production economy where a benevolent government chooses fiscal policies, including haircuts on its outstanding debt, in a discretionary manner. Government bonds are held by domestic agents to smooth consumption over time and because they provide collateral and liquidity services. We characterize a recursive equilibrium where public debt am...

Oblivious Transfer with Access Control (AC-OT) is a protocol which allows a user to obtain a database record with a credential satisfying the access policy of the record while the database server learns nothing about the record or the credential. The only AC-OT construction that supports policy in disjunctive form requires duplication of records in the database, each with a different conjunctio...