[R] CRAN Task View: Optimization and Mathematical Programming

Jeff Newmiller
Wed, 06 Feb 2019 18:02:10 -0000

Rich's email did not reach me, so tagging off of S Ellison's reply...

Take a look at [1] for an example analysis that maximizes the firm yield
(amount that can be promised and subsequently delivered for irrigation
delivery each year) subject to required minimum capacity levels (for flood
protection) and available water input from precipitation. (Yes, it assumes
an omniscient knowledge of water flows, but estimating future firm yield
based on historical patterns is standard practice.) This is a classic type
of problem in civil engineering graduate school... it should not take much
work to find lots of literature on the topic of water management that
mentions various optimization techniques that you can then look up via
such resources as the subject CRAN Task View.

And no, I am not a water specialist either... this was a targeted set
of materials for illustrating the use of R to an audience of civil
engineers who were already familiar with these specific problems.

[1] https://github.com/jdnewmil/eci298sp2016 KernClimate.html

On Wed, 6 Feb 2019, S Ellison wrote:

>> Limited water resources need to be apportioned among various competing
>> users
>> (e.g,, agriculture, fish and wildlife, Tribes, potable human water
>> supplies).
> Water management is definitely not my field, but for interest - and
> maybe to help other folk respond - can I ask what the loss function
> would look like for this kind of problem? That may suggest particular
> optimisation approaches.
>
> Steve Ellison
>
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