Coalition formation is an essential component for multi-agent systems in environments where tasks can be too complicated or resource intensive to be completed efficiently by a single agent. By forming coalitions, agents are able to work together and combine resources to complete a task that would not otherwise be possible. We propose a mechanism for forming stable, overlapping coalitions of sel...

In cooperative game theory, games in partition function form are real-valued function on the set of so-called embedded coalitions, that is, pairs (S, π) where S is a subset (coalition) of the set N of players, and π is a partition of N containing S. Despite the fact that many studies have been devoted to such games, surprisingly nobody clearly defined a structure (i.e., an order) on embedded co...

In cooperative games, the core is the most popular solution concept, and its properties are well known. In the classical setting of cooperative games, it is generally assumed that all coalitions can form, i.e., they are all feasible. In many situations, this assumption is too strong and one has to deal with some unfeasible coalitions. Defining a game on a subcollection of the power set of the s...

Power distributions of voting games in which only certain coalitions are allowed, due to the fact that the players are spread across an ideological spectrum, are considered. The paper extends Edelman’s model [Edelman, P., 1997. A note on voting. Math. Soc. Sci. 34, 37–50] concerning ́ allowable coalitions. The Markov-Polya index is introduced as a parametrized family of power indices which has E...

Map-based prioritization systems have become ubiquitous tools for allocating resources for biological conservation. Although the scientific basis for these systems continues to be debated, they have become a significant factor in international conservation. A recent study found that published conservation priorities are associated with over one third of conservation spending by major internatio...

This article provides an overview of health care performance measurement, including a chronological history of the major developments in the performance measurement field. It is not intended to be all-encompassing in its descriptions of events and organizations but, rather, its purpose is to provide a broad historical context for describing health care performance measurement activities of the ...

Recent public health emergencies including Hurricane Katrina (2005), the influenza H1N1 pandemic (2009), and the Ebola virus disease outbreak in West Africa (2014–2015) have demonstrated the importance of multiple-level emergency planning and response. An effective response requires integrating coordinated contributions from community-based health care providers, regional health care coalitions...