The rooted delay-constrained minimum spanning tree problem is an NP-hard combinatorial optimization problem arising for example in the design of centralized broadcasting networks where quality of service constraints are of concern. We present two new approaches to solve this problem heuristically following the concepts of ant colony optimization (ACO) and variable neighborhood search (VNS). The...

It has been discovered that in many organizations the information technology department is a separate entity, while in others each business unit incorporates their own information technology department. The former represents a centralized approach while the latter represents a decentralized approach. The centralized IT department suits some organizations better than others. However, it is becom...

This paper presents our work towards a decentralized reconfiguration strategy for self-reconfiguring modular robots, assembling furniture-like structures from Roombots (RB) metamodules. We explore how reconfiguration by locomotion from a configuration A to a configuration B can be controlled in a distributed fashion. This is done using Roombots metamodules—two Roombots modules connected seriall...

This paper addresses a notable gap at the intersection of organizational economics and organization science: how does context influence aggregation individual behavior in decisions? Using basic centralized versus decentralized structures as building blocks for our experimental design, we examine whether assignment positions, incentive schemes, structural configuration induce endogenous adaptati...

In the past, foreign borrowing by developing countries was comprised almost entirely of government borrowing. Recently, private firms and individuals in developing countries borrow substantially from foreign lenders. It is not clear whether the observed increase in private sector borrowing leads to overborrowing and frequent defaults by governments in developing countries. In this paper, we dev...

The use of wireless networking technologies has emerged over recent years in many application domains. The area of grids determines a potentially huge application domain, since the typical centralized computing centers require access from anywhere, e.g., from field engineers who are situated in a wireless network domain. Thus, the integration of suitable business views on mobile grids, of grid ...

In the current study, a dual-channel supply chain is considered containing one manufacturer and two retailers. It is assumed that the manufacturer and retailers have the same decision powers. A game-theoretic approach is developed to analyze pricing decisions under the centralized and decentralized scenarios. First, the Nash model is established to obtain the equilibrium decisions in the decent...

Multiparty conferencing is an important telephony service, provided in the PSTN by conference bridges. Internet telephony can enhance this basic service by video conferencing and collaborative work. The Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) can support many different conferencing architectures, including the centralized conferencing server model. We describe design issues and challenges in implemen...

In web transport systems, the main concern is to control independently speed and tension in spite of perturbations such as radius variations and changes of set point. In this paper we present multivariable H2 controllers, with and without integrator, applied to winding systems. Different controller structures are considered: a centralized and a semidecentralized controller with or without overl...