Related papers: The Anderson-Weber strategy is not optimal for sym…

We study a new search problem on the plane involving a robot and an immobile treasure, initially placed at distance $1$ from each other. The length $\beta$ of an arc (a fence) within the perimeter of the corresponding circle, as well as the…

We propose and study a strategic model of hiding in a network, where the network designer chooses the links and his position in the network facing the seeker who inspects and disrupts the network. We characterize optimal networks for the…

Consider a matching problem on a graph where disjoint sets of vertices are privately owned by self-interested agents. An edge between a pair of vertices indicates compatibility and allows the vertices to match. We seek a mechanism to…

We consider a two-player search game on a tree $T$. One vertex (unknown to the players) is randomly selected as the target. The players alternately guess vertices. If a guess $v$ is not the target, then both players are informed in which…

We consider the manipulability of tournament rules which map the results of $\binom{n}{2}$ pairwise matches and select a winner. Prior work designs simple tournament rules such that no pair of teams can manipulate the outcome of their match…

This paper introduces alignment games, a new class of zero-sum games modeling strategic interventions where effectiveness depends on alignment with an underlying hidden state. Motivated by operational problems in medical diagnostics,…

We study the problem of searching for a hidden target in an environment that is modeled by an edge-weighted graph. A sequence of edges is chosen starting from a given root vertex such that each edge is adjacent to a previously chosen edge.…

We provide a dual fitting technique on a semidefinite program yielding simple proofs of tight bounds for the robust price of anarchy of several congestion and scheduling games under the sum of weighted completion times objective. The same…

We study a natural combinatorial pricing problem for sequentially arriving buyers with equal budgets. Each buyer is interested in exactly one pair of items and purchases this pair if and only if, upon arrival, both items are still available…

We study $p$-Faulty Search, a variant of the classic cow-path optimization problem, where a unit speed robot searches the half-line (or $1$-ray) for a hidden item. The searcher is probabilistically faulty, and detection of the item with…

We study a variation of the game of best choice (also known as the secretary problem or game of googol) under an additional assumption that the ranks of interview candidates are restricted using permutation pattern-avoidance. We describe…

Particle swarm optimization comes under lot of changes after James Kennedy and Russell Eberhart first proposes the idea in 1995. The changes has been done mainly on Inertia parameters in velocity updating equation so that the convergence…

We consider the "Offline Ad Slot Scheduling" problem, where advertisers must be scheduled to "sponsored search" slots during a given period of time. Advertisers specify a budget constraint, as well as a maximum cost per click, and may not…

Local search is a widely used technique for tackling challenging optimization problems, offering simplicity and strong empirical performance across various problem domains. In this paper, we address the problem of scheduling a set of jobs…

Due to the lack of coordination, it is unlikely that the selfish players of a strategic game reach a socially good state. A possible way to cope with selfishness is to compute a desired outcome (if it is tractable) and impose it. However…

We study a generalized binary search problem on the line and general trees. On the line (e.g., a sorted array), binary search finds a target node in $O(\log n)$ queries in the worst case, where $n$ is the number of nodes. In situations with…

We consider the problem of identifying a subset of nodes in a network that will enable the fastest spread of information in a decentralized environment.In a model of communication based on a random walk on an undirected graph, the optimal…

We consider search by mobile agents for a hidden, idle target, placed on the infinite line. Feasible solutions are agent trajectories in which all agents reach the target sooner or later. A special feature of our problem is that the agents…

We investigate the number $V_p(n)$ of distinct sites visited by an $n$-step resetting random walker on a $d$-dimensional hypercubic lattice with resetting probability $p$. In the case $p=0$, we recover the well-known result that the average…

We study two-player reachability games on finite graphs. At each state the interaction between the players is concurrent and there is a stochastic Nature. Players also play stochastically. The literature tells us that 1) Player B, who wants…