Proportional Optimization and Fairness

Book excerpt: Proportional Optimization and Fairness is a long-needed attempt to reconcile optimization with apportionment in just-in-time (JIT) sequences and find the common ground in solving problems ranging from sequencing mixed-model just-in-time assembly lines through just-in-time batch production, balancing workloads in event graphs to bandwidth allocation internet gateways and resource allocation in computer operating systems. The book argues that apportionment theory and optimization based on deviation functions provide natural benchmarks for a process, and then looks at the recent research and developments in the field. Individual chapters look at the theory of apportionment and just-in-time sequences; minimization of just-in-time sequence deviation; optimality of cyclic sequences and the oneness; bottleneck minimization; competition-free instances, Fraenkel’s Conjecture, and optimal admission sequences; response time variability; applications to the Liu-Layland Problem and pinwheel scheduling; temporal capacity constraints and supply chain balancing; fair queuing and stride scheduling; and smoothing and batching.