@misc{SchlosserKossmannBoissier2019, author = {Schlosser, Rainer and Kossmann, Jan and Boissier, Martin}, title = {Efficient Scalable Multi-Attribute Index Selection Using Recursive Strategies}, series = {2019 IEEE 35th International Conference on Data Engineering (ICDE)}, journal = {2019 IEEE 35th International Conference on Data Engineering (ICDE)}, publisher = {IEEE}, address = {New York}, isbn = {978-1-5386-7474-1}, issn = {1084-4627}, doi = {10.1109/ICDE.2019.00113}, pages = {1238 -- 1249}, year = {2019}, abstract = {An efficient selection of indexes is indispensable for database performance. For large problem instances with hundreds of tables, existing approaches are not suitable: They either exhibit prohibitive runtimes or yield far from optimal index configurations by strongly limiting the set of index candidates or not handling index interaction explicitly. We introduce a novel recursive strategy that does not exclude index candidates in advance and effectively accounts for index interaction. Using large real-world workloads, we demonstrate the applicability of our approach. Further, we evaluate our solution end to end with a commercial database system using a reproducible setup. We show that our solutions are near-optimal for small index selection problems. For larger problems, our strategy outperforms state-of-the-art approaches in both scalability and solution quality.}, language = {en} } @article{SchlosserWaltherBoissieretal.2019, author = {Schlosser, Rainer and Walther, Carsten and Boissier, Martin and Uflacker, Matthias}, title = {Automated repricing and ordering strategies in competitive markets}, series = {AI communications : AICOM ; the European journal on artificial intelligence}, volume = {32}, journal = {AI communications : AICOM ; the European journal on artificial intelligence}, number = {1}, publisher = {IOS Press}, address = {Amsterdam}, issn = {0921-7126}, doi = {10.3233/AIC-180603}, pages = {15 -- 29}, year = {2019}, abstract = {Merchants on modern e-commerce platforms face a highly competitive environment. They compete against each other using automated dynamic pricing and ordering strategies. Successfully managing both inventory levels as well as offer prices is a challenging task as (i) demand is uncertain, (ii) competitors strategically interact, and (iii) optimized pricing and ordering decisions are mutually dependent. We show how to derive optimized data-driven pricing and ordering strategies which are based on demand learning techniques and efficient dynamic optimization models. We verify the superior performance of our self-adaptive strategies by comparing them to different rule-based as well as data-driven strategies in duopoly and oligopoly settings. Further, to study and to optimize joint dynamic ordering and pricing strategies on online marketplaces, we built an interactive simulation platform. To be both flexible and scalable, the platform has a microservice-based architecture and allows handling dozens of competing merchants and streams of consumers with configurable characteristics.}, language = {en} }