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Main Authors: Semochkina, Daria, Forrester, Alexander I. J., Woods, David C
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
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Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2401.12031
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author Semochkina, Daria
Forrester, Alexander I. J.
Woods, David C
author_facet Semochkina, Daria
Forrester, Alexander I. J.
Woods, David C
contents Optimization under uncertainty is important in many applications, particularly to inform policy and decision making in areas such as public health. A key source of uncertainty arises from the incorporation of environmental variables as inputs into computational models or simulators. Such variables represent uncontrollable features of the optimization problem and reliable decision making must account for the uncertainty they propagate to the simulator outputs. Often, multiple, competing objectives are defined from these outputs such that the final optimal decision is a compromise between different goals. Here, we present emulation-based optimization methodology for such problems that extends expected quantile improvement (EQI) to address multi-objective optimization. Focusing on the practically important case of two objectives, we use a sequential design strategy to identify the Pareto front of optimal solutions. Uncertainty from the environmental variables is integrated out using Monte Carlo samples from the simulator. Interrogation of the expected output from the simulator is facilitated by use of (Gaussian process) emulators. The methodology is demonstrated on an optimization problem from public health involving the dispersion of anthrax spores across a spatial terrain. Environmental variables include meteorological features that impact the dispersion, and the methodology identifies the Pareto front even when there is considerable input uncertainty.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2401_12031
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Multi-objective optimisation using expected quantile improvement for decision making in disease outbreaks
Semochkina, Daria
Forrester, Alexander I. J.
Woods, David C
Methodology
Optimization under uncertainty is important in many applications, particularly to inform policy and decision making in areas such as public health. A key source of uncertainty arises from the incorporation of environmental variables as inputs into computational models or simulators. Such variables represent uncontrollable features of the optimization problem and reliable decision making must account for the uncertainty they propagate to the simulator outputs. Often, multiple, competing objectives are defined from these outputs such that the final optimal decision is a compromise between different goals. Here, we present emulation-based optimization methodology for such problems that extends expected quantile improvement (EQI) to address multi-objective optimization. Focusing on the practically important case of two objectives, we use a sequential design strategy to identify the Pareto front of optimal solutions. Uncertainty from the environmental variables is integrated out using Monte Carlo samples from the simulator. Interrogation of the expected output from the simulator is facilitated by use of (Gaussian process) emulators. The methodology is demonstrated on an optimization problem from public health involving the dispersion of anthrax spores across a spatial terrain. Environmental variables include meteorological features that impact the dispersion, and the methodology identifies the Pareto front even when there is considerable input uncertainty.
title Multi-objective optimisation using expected quantile improvement for decision making in disease outbreaks
topic Methodology
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2401.12031