Anna Nagurney – författare

Fragile Networks: Identifying Vulnerabilities and Synergies in an Uncertain World presents a comprehensive study of network systems and the roles these systems play in our everyday lives. This book successfully conceptualizes, defines, and constructs mathematically rigorous, computer-based tools for the assessment of network performance and efficiency, along with robustness and vulnerability analysis. The result is a thorough exploration that promotes an understanding of the critical infrastructure of today''s network systems, from congested urban transportation networks and supply chain networks under disruption to financial networks and the Internet.

The authors approach the analyses by abstracting not only topological structures of networks, but also the behavior of network users, the demand for resources, the resulting flows, and the associated costs. Following an introduction to the fundamental methodologies and tools required for network analysis and network vulnerability, the book is organized into three self-contained parts:

Part I—Network Fundamentals, Efficiency Measurement, and Vulnerability Analysis explores the theoretical and practical foundations for a new network efficiency measure in order to assess the importance of network components in various network systems. Methodologies for distinct decision-making behaviors are outlined, along with the tools for qualitative analysis, the algorithms for the computation of solutions, and a thorough discussion of the unified network efficient measure and network robustness with the unified measure.

Part II—Applications and Extensions examines the efficiency changes and the associated cost increments after network components are eliminated or partially damaged. A discussion of the recently established connections between transportation networks and different critical networks is provided, which demonstrates how the new network measures and robustness indices can be applied to different supply chain, financial, and dynamic networks, including the Internet and electronic power networks.

Part III—Mergers and Acquisitions, Network Integration, and Synergies reveals the connections between transportation networks and different network systems and quantifies the synergies associated with the network systems, from total cost reduction to environmental impact assessment. In the case of mergers and acquisitions, the focus is on supply chain networks. The authors outline a system-optimization perspective for supply chain networks and also formalize coalition formation using game theory with insights into the merger paradox.

With its numerous network examples and real-world applications, Fragile Networks: Identifying Vulnerabilities and Synergies in an Uncertain World is an excellent book for courses in network science, transportation science, operations management, and financial networks at the upper-undergraduate and graduate levels. It is also a valuable reference for researchers and practitioners in the areas of applied mathematics, computer science, operations research, management science, finance, and economics, as well as industrial, systems, and civil engineering.

Listen to Dr. Nagurney''s podcast Supernetworks: Building Better Real and Virtual Highways at http://www.scienceofbetter.org/podcast/ .

Based on the “Fourth International Conference on Dynamics of Disasters” (Kalamata, Greece, July 2019), this volume includes contributions from experts who share their latest discoveries on natural and unnatural disasters. Authors provide overviews of the tactical points involved in disaster relief, outlines of hurdles from mitigation and preparedness to response and recovery, and uses for mathematical models to describe natural and man-made disasters. Topics covered include economics, optimization, machine learning, government, management, business, humanities, engineering, medicine, mathematics, computer science, behavioral studies, emergency services, and environmental studies will engage readers from a wide variety of fields and backgrounds.

The COVID-19 pandemic has vividly and dramatically demonstrated the importance of supply chains to the functioning of societies and our economies. The discussion in this timely book explores prominent issues concerning supply chain networks and labor. The readership is aimed to include students, researchers, practitioners, and policy-makers, interested in the wide range of topics presented in these pages. Labor has a particular focus as the driver behind supply chains, whether associated with food products, life-saving medicines and supplies, or high tech products that make innovation possible, just to name a few.  The impacts of policy interventions, in the form of wage bounds, and their ramifications, in terms of volume of attracted labor, product prices, product volumes, as well as profits, are explored. Profit-maximizing firms are considered (with relevant associated issues such as waste management in the case of the food sector, for example), but also non-profits, as in blood services, as well as humanitarian organizations engaged in disaster relief. The book is filled with many network figures, graphs, and tables with data, both input and output and includes an appendix that provides the foundations of the underlying mathematical methodologies used.

The book offers strong evidence for the need to provide a holistic, system-wide perspective for the modeling, analysis, and solution of supply chain problems with the inclusion of the critical labor resources. A formalism using the prism of supply chain networks, which yields a graphic representation of supply chains, consisting of multiple stakeholders, is constructed. Models that capture the behaviors and interactions of single decision-makers as well as multiple decision-makers engaged in supply chain activities of production, transportation, storage, and distribution, are considered. The models capture many realistic constraints faced by firms today, as they seek to produce and deliver products, while dealing with competition, various constraints on labor, a variety of disruptions, labor shortages, challenges associated with proper wage-determination, plus the computation of optimal investments in labor productivity subject to budget constraints. The book provides prescriptive suggestions in terms of how to ameliorate negative impacts of labor disruptions and demonstrate benefits of appropriate wage determination.

Based on the “Sixth International Conference on Dynamics of Disasters” (Piraeus, Greece, July 2023), this volume includes contributions from experts who share their latest discoveries on disasters either caused by natural phenomena or human activities. Authors provide overviews of the tactical points involved in disaster relief, outlines of hurdles from mitigation and preparedness to response and recovery and uses for mathematical models to describe disasters and their impacts. This volume includes additional invited manuscripts from other experts and leaders in the field. Topics covered include economics, optimization, machine learning, government, management, business, humanities, engineering, medicine, mathematics, computer science, behavioral studies, emergency services, and environmental studies and will engage readers from a wide variety of fields and backgrounds.