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Yakov Ben-Haim

Yakov Ben-Haim

Yitzhak Moda’i Chair in Technology and Economics

Education

  • 1973 – B.Sc., Beloit College, Beloit, Wisconsin, USA
  • 1978 – M.Sc., Nuclear Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA
  • 1978 – Ph.D., Chemistry, University of California, Berkeley, California, USA

Research Interests

  • Info-gap decision theory: decisions under severe uncertainty.
  • Reliability of mechanical systems.
  • Fault diagnosis
  • Modelling uncertain dynamic systems
  • Applications in engineering, biological conservation, economics, project management, medicine and homeland security

Guest Appointments

  • Fellow, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science. University of Tokyo and Kyoto University.
  • Visiting Scientist, Center for Nonlinear Studies, Los Alamos National Laboratory.
  • Visiting Scholar, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta.
  • Visiting Professor, Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering and School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology.
  • Department of Systems Design Engineering and Division of Solid Mechanics, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.
  • Department of Engineering Science and Mechanics, Virginia Polytechnic Institute, Blacksburg, VA.
  • Laboratory of Applied Mechanics, University of Franche-Comte, Besancon, France.
  • Curt-Risch Institute for Dynamics, Acoustics and Measurement Technology, University of Hannover, Germany.
  • Department of Nuclear Engineering, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC.
  • Leverhulme visiting professor, University of Oxford
  • Oxford-Martin visiting fellow, University of Oxford
  • Distinguished visiting scholar, University of Oxford

Honors and Awards

  • Alexander von Humboldt Foundation Fellowship
  • Phi Beta Kappa Society
  • Fellowship of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science

Original Books:

  • Y. Ben-Haim, 2018, Dilemmas of Wonderland: Decisions in the Age of Innovation, Oxford University Press.
  • Y. Ben-Haim, 2010, Info-Gap Economics: An Operational Introduction, Palgrave-Macmillan.
  • Y. Ben-Haim, 2006, Info-Gap Decision Theory: Decisions Under Severe Uncertainty, 2nd edition, Academic Press.
  • Y. Ben-Haim, 1996, Robust Reliability in the Mechanical Sciences, Springer-Verlag.
  • Y. Ben-Haim and I. Elishakoff, 1990, Convex Models of Uncertainty in Applied Mechanics, Elsevier Science Publishers.
  • Y. Ben-Haim, 1985, The Assay of Spatially Random Material, Kluwer Academic Publishers.

Edited Book:

  • H.G. Natke and Y. Ben-Haim, eds., 1997, Uncertainty: Models and Measures, Proceedings of a Volkswagen Foundation Workshop. Akademie-Verlag, Berlin.

Invited Articles:

  • Izuru Takewaki and Yakov Ben-Haim, 2008, Info-gap robust design of passively controlled structures with load and model uncertainties, to appear in Structural Design Optimization Considering Uncertainties, Yiannis Tsompanakis, editor. Taylor and Francis Publishers.
  • Izuru Takewaki and Yakov Ben-Haim, 2005, Info-gap robust design with load andmodel uncertainties, Journal of Sound and Vibration, 288: 551-570.
  • Yakov Ben-Haim, 2005, Info-gap Decision Theory For Engineering Design. Or: Why`Good’ is Preferable to `Best’, appearing as chapter 11 in Engineering Design Reliability Handbook, Edited by E. Nikolaides, D. Ghiocel and SurendraSinghal, CRC Press.
  • Yakov Ben-Haim, 2000, Robustness of model-based fault diagnosis: Decisions with information-gap models of uncertainty. International Journal of Systems Science, 31: 1511-1518.
  • Yakov Ben-Haim, 1998, Reliability of Vibrating Structures With Uncertain Inputs. Shock and Vibration Digest, 30:106-113.
  • Y. Ben-Haim, S. Cogan and L. Sanseigne, 1998, Usability of Mathematical Models in Mechanical Decision Processes, Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing. 12: 121-134.
  • Yakov Ben-Haim, 1997, Robust reliability of structures, Advances in Applied Mechanics, vol.33, pp.1-41.

Humanistic Publications:

  • Yakov Ben-Haim, Innovation dilemmas in military affairs, Maarachot, (in Hebrew) issue 454, April 2014, pp.28-31.
  • Yakov Ben-Haim, 2007, Peirce, Haack and Info-gaps, in Susan Haack, a lady of distinctions: the philosopher responds to her critics , edited by Cornelis de Waal, Prometheus Books.
  • Yakov Ben-Haim, 2001, New directions in information, uncertainty and decision for mechanical systems analysis, editorial introduction to special issue of Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing, 15: 453-455.
  • Avy Shtub, Sary Regev and Yakov Ben-Haim, 2000, Sikun m’hushav (Calculated Risk), Tasiah v’Nihul, issue #50, pp.32-37. In Hebrew.
  • Yakov Ben-Haim, Cheerful Curse, a poem. Physics Today, December 1997, vol.50, p.144.
  • Yakov Ben-Haim, Art and the Exponential: Graphical Exploration of the Matrix Exponential Function, Leonardo, Journal of the International Society for Arts, Sciences and Technology, 30: 49-52 (1997).
  • Yakov Ben-Haim, 2000, Why the best engineers should study humanities, International Journal of Mechanical Engineering Education. 28:195 – 200

Selected Articles:

  • Michael Ben-Gad, Yakov Ben-Haim and Dan Peled, Allocating security expenditures under Knightian uncertainty: An info-gap approach, Defence and Peace Economics, to appear.
  • Yakov Ben-Haim, Assessing `beyond a reasonable doubt’ without probability: An info-gap perspective, Law, Probability and Risk, to appear.Yakov Ben-Haim and Mike Smithson, 2018, Data-Based Prediction under Uncertainty: A Dual Approach. Journal of Mathematical Psychology,  87: 11-30.
  • Yakov Ben-Haim, 2018, WEI-WUV for assessing force effectiveness: Managing uncertainty with info-gap theory, Military Operations Research Journal, 23(4): 37-49.
  • Yakov Ben-Haim, 2018, Positivism and its limitations for strategic intelligence: A non-constructivist info-gap critique, Intelligence and National Security, 33(6): 904-917.
  • Yakov Ben-Haim, Maria Demertzis and Jan Willem Van den End, 2018, Evaluating monetary policy rules under fundamental uncertainty: An info-gap approach, Economic Modelling, 73: 55-70.
  • Yoshihiro Kanno, Shinnosuke Fujita and Yakov Ben-Haim, 2017, Structural Design for earthquake resilience: Info-gap management of uncertainty, Structural Safety, vol. 69, pp.23-33.
  • Yakov Ben-Haim, 2017, Does a better model yield a better argument? An info-gap analysis, Proceedings of the Royal Society, A, 5 April 2017.
  • Yakov Ben-Haim and Maria Demertzis, 2016, Decision making in times of Knightian uncertainty: An info-gap perspective,  Economics, The Open-Access, Open Assessment e-journal, Special Issue Radical Uncertainty and Its Implications for Economics. No. 2016-23: 1-29.
  • Yakov Ben-Haim, 2016, Uncertainty and deterrence, Air and Space Power Journal – A&F, vol. 7, issue 3, pp.26-49.
  • Yakov Ben-Haim, 2016, Policy neutrality and uncertainty: An info-gap perspective, Intelligence and National Security, published online 18.12.2015, vol.31, #7, pp.978-992.
  • Yakov Ben-Haim, 2015, Dealing with uncertainty in strategic decision-making, Parameters, the US Army War College Quarterly, 45(3) Autumn 2015.
  • Yakov Ben-Haim, Management of Invasive Species: Info-Gap Perspectives, to appear in Managing Invasive Species, Terry Walshe and Mark A. Burgman, eds., Cambridge University Press.
  • Michael Smithson and Yakov Ben-Haim, 2015, Reasoned decision making without math? Adaptability and robustness in response to surprise, to appear in Risk Analysis.
  • Yakov Ben-Haim, 2014, Strategy selection: An info-gap methodology, Defense & Security Analysis, 30(2): 106-119.
  • Yakov Ben Haim, Miriam Zacksenhouse, Ronit Eshel, Raphael Levi, Avi Fuerst and Wayne Bentley, 2014, Failure detection with likelihood ratio tests and uncertain probabilities: An info-gap application, Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing, vol. 48, pp.1-14.
  • Yakov Ben-Haim, 2014, Robust satisficing and the probability of survival, International Journal of Systems Science, 45(1): 3-19.
  • Yakov Ben-Haim, 2014, Order and Indeterminism: An Info-Gap Perspective, in Error and Uncertainty in Scientific Practice, Marcel Boumans, Giora Hon, and Arthur Petersen, editors, Pickering & Chatto Publishers, London.
  • Yakov Ben-Haim, Craig Osteen and L. Joe Moffitt, 2013, Policy Dilemma of Innovation: An Info-Gap Approach, Ecological Economics, 85: 130-138.
  • Yemshanov, Denys, Frank H. Koch, Yakov Ben-Haim, Marla Downing, Frank Sapio and Marty Siltanen, 2013, A new multi-criteria risk mapping approach based on a multi-attribute frontier concept, Risk Analysis, 33(9): 1694-1709.
  • Yakov Ben-Haim, 2013, Managing an innovation dilemma in policy formulation with info-gap theory: The case of an invasive species (in Hebrew), Ecology and Environment, vol.4, issue 4, pp.305-311.
  • Yakov Ben-Haim, Nicola M. Zetola and Clifford Dacso, 2012, Info-Gap Management of Public Health Policy for TB with HIV-Prevalence, BMC Public Health, 12: 1091.
  • Yakov Ben-Haim and Francois Hemez, 2012, Robustness, Fidelity and Prediction-Looseness of Models, Proceedings of the Royal Society, A, 468: 227-244.
  • Yakov Ben-Haim, 2012, Modeling and design of a Hertzian contact: An info-gap approach, Journal of Strain Analysis for Engineering Design, 47(3): 153-162.
  • Yakov Ben-Haim, 2012, Doing Our Best: Optimization and the Management of Risk, Risk Analysis, 32(8): 1326-1332.
  • Yakov Ben-Haim, 2012, Why risk analysis is difficult, and some thoughts on how to proceed, Risk Analysis, 32(10): 1638-1646.
  • Davidovitch, Lior and Yakov Ben-Haim, 2011, Is your profiling strategy robust?, Law, Probability and Risk, 10: 59-76.
  • Schwartz, Barry, Yakov Ben-Haim, and Cliff Dacso, 2011, What Makes a Good Decision? Robust Satisficing as a Normative Standard of Rational Behaviour, Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour, 41(2): 209-227.
  • Yoshihiro Kanno and Yakov Ben-Haim, 2011, Redundancy and Robustness, Or, When is Redundancy Redundant? ASCE Journal of Structural Engineering, 137(9): 935-945.
  • M.A. Burgman, B.A. Wintle, C.A. Thompson, A. Moilanen, M.C. Runge, and Yakov Ben-Haim, 2010, Reconciling uncertain costs and benefits in Bayes nets for invasive species management, Risk Analysis: An International Journal, vol. 30, #2, pp.277-284.
  • Yemshanov, Denys, Frank H. Koch, Yakov Ben-Haim and William D. Smith, 2010, Robustness of risk maps and survey networks to knowledge gaps about a new invasive pest, Risk Analysis: An International Journal, vol. 30, #2, pp.261-276.
  • Yemshanov, Denys, Frank H. Koch, Yakov Ben-Haim and William D. Smith, 2010, Detection capacity, information gaps and the design of surveillance programs for invasive forest pests, Journal of Environmental Management, 91: 2535-2546.
  • Lior Davidovitch and Yakov Ben-Haim, 2010, Robust satisficing voting: Why are uncertain voters biased towards sincerity? Public Choice, vol.145, Issue 1, pp.265-280.
  • Sisso, Itay, Tal Shima, and Yakov Ben-Haim, 2010, Info-gap approach to multi agent search under severe uncertainty, IEEE Transactions on Robotics, vol. 26, #6,
  • Yakov Ben-Haim, 2011, Interpreting Null Results from Measurements with uncertain correlations: An Info-gap approach, Risk Analysis-An International Journal, vol.31 (1), pp.78-85.
  • Tania Mirer and Yakov Ben-Haim, Reliability Assessment of Explosive Material Based on Penalty Tests: An Info-Gap Approach, Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part O, Journal of Risk and Reliability, to appear.
  • Lior Davidovitch, Richard Stoklosa, Jonathan Majer, Alex Nietrzeba, Peter Whittle, Kerrie Mengersen and Yakov Ben-Haim, 2009, Info-Gap theory and robust design of surveillance for invasive species: The case study of Barrow Island, Journal of Environmental Management, vol. 90, Issue 8, pp.2785-2793.
  • Yakov Ben-Haim, Clifford C. Dacso, Jonathon Carrasco and Nithin Rajan, 2009, Heterogeneous Uncertainties in Cholesterol Management, International Journal of Approximate Reasoning, 50: 1046-1065.
  • Yakov Ben-Haim and Clifford C. Dacso, 2010, Info-gap decision theory and its potential applications in the clinic, an editorial, Personalized Medicine, vol. 7, #1, pp.1-3.
  • Yakov Ben-Haim, 2009, Info-gap forecasting and the advantage of sub-optimal models, European Journal of Operational Research, 197: 203-213.
  • John K. Stranlund and Yakov Ben-Haim, 2008, Price-based vs. quantity-based environmental regulation under Knightian uncertainty: An info-gap robust satisficing perspective, Journal of Environmental Management, 87: 443-449.
  • David R. Fox, Yakov Ben-Haim, Keith R. Hayes, Michael McCarthy, Brendan Wintle, Piers Dunstan, 2007, An info-gap approach to power and sample size calculations, Environmetrics, vol. 18, pp.189-203.
  • Atte Moilanen, Michael C. Runge, Jane Elith, Andrew Tyre, Yohay Carmel, Eric Fegraus, Brendan Wintle, Mark Burgman and Yakov Ben-Haim, Planning for robust reserve networks using uncertainty analysis,Ecological Modelling, vol. 199, issue 1, pp.115-124.
  • Sary Regev, Avraham Shtub and Yakov Ben-Haim, 2006, Managing project risks as knowledge gaps, Project Management Journal, vol. 37, issue #5, pp.17-25.
  • S.Gareth Pierce, Yakov Ben-Haim, Keith Worden, Graeme Manson, 2006, Evaluationof neural network robust reliability using information-gap theory, IEEE Transactions on Neural Networks, vol.17, No.6, pp.1349-1361.
  • Yakov Ben-Haim, 2005, Value at risk with Info-gap uncertainty, Journal of Risk Finance, vol. 6, #5, pp.388-403.
  • Yohay Carmel and Yakov Ben-Haim, 2005, Info-gap robust-satisficing model of foraging behavior: Do foragers optimize or satisfice?, American Naturalist, 166: 633-641.
  • Helen M. Regan, Yakov Ben-Haim, Bill Langford, Will G. Wilson, Per Lundberg, Sandy J. Andelman, Mark A. Burgman, 2005, Robust decision making under severe uncertainty for conservation management, Ecological Applications, vol.15(4):1471-1477.
  • Francois M.Hemez and Yakov Ben-Haim, 2004, Info-gap robustness for thecorrelation of tests and simulations of a nonlinear transient, Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing, vol. 18, #6, pp.1443-1467.  Yakov Ben-Haim, 2004, Uncertainty, probability and information-gaps, Reliability Engineering and System Safety, 85: 249-266.
  • Yakov Ben-Haim and Keith W. Hipel, 2002, The graph model for conflict resolution with information-gap uncertainty in preferences, Applied Mathematics and Computation, 126: 319-340.
  • Yakov Ben-Haim, 2000, Robust rationality and decisions under severe uncertainty, Journal of the Franklin Institute, 337:171-199.
  • Yakov Ben-Haim, 1999, Set-models of information-gap uncertainty: Axioms and inference schemes, Journal of the Franklin Institute, 336: 1093-1117.
  • Yakov Ben-Haim, 1999, Design certification with information-gap uncertainty. Structural Safety. 21:269-289.
  • Keith W. Hipel and Yakov Ben-Haim, 1999, Decision making in an uncertain world: Information-gap modelling in water resources management, IEEE Trans., Systems, Man and Cybernetics, Part C. 29: 506-517.
  • Y. Ben-Haim, 1998, Sequential Tests Based on Convex Models of Uncertainty, Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing. 12:427-448.
  • Yakov Ben-Haim and Alexander Laufer, 1998, Robust Reliability of Projects With Activity-Duration Uncertainty, ASCE Journal of Construction Engineering and Management. 124: 125-132.
  • Y. Ben-Haim, 1997, Beyond maximum entropy: Exploring the structure of uncertainty, in H.G. Natke and Y. Ben-Haim, eds., Uncertainty: Models and Measures, Proceedings of a Volkswagen Foundation Workshop. Akademie-Verlag, Berlin.
  • S. Cogan, G. Lallement, F. Ayer and Y. Ben-Haim, 1997, Model order reduction by selective sensitivity, AIAA Journal, 35:557-562.
  • Y. Ben-Haim, G. Chen and T.T. Soong, 1996, Maximum Structural Response Using Convex Models, ASCE J. Engineering Mechanics, 122: 325-333.
  • S. Cogan, G. Lallement, F. Ayer and Y. Ben-Haim, 1995, Updating linear elastic models with modal selective sensitivity, Inverse Problems in Engineering, 2: 29-47.
  • Y. Ben-Haim, 1995, A non-probabilistic measure of reliability of linear systems based on expansion of convex models, Structural Safety, 17:91-109.
  • Y. Ben-Haim, 1995, A Note on Convex Models of Uncertainty for Small Initial Imperfections of Non-Linear Structures, Zeitschrift fuer Angewandte Mathematik und Mechanik, 75: 901-908.
  • Y. Ben-Haim, 1994, A non-probabilistic concept of reliability, Structural Safety, 14: 227-245.
  • Y. Ben-Haim, 1994, Fatigue lifetime with load uncertainty represented by convex model, ASCE, J. Engineering Mechanics, 120: 445-462.
  • Y. Ben-Haim, 1994, Convex Models of Uncertainty: Applications and Implications, Erkenntnis: An International Journal of Analytic Philosophy, 41: 139-156.
  • Y. Ben-Haim, 1993, Convex models for uncertainty in radial pulse buckling of shells, ASME Journal of Applied Mechanics, 60: 683-688.
  • Y. Ben-Haim and U. Prells, 1993, Selective sensitivity in the frequency domain, Part I: Theory. Part II: Applications. Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing, 7: 461-475, 551-574.
  • Y. Ben-Haim, 1993, Failure of an axially compressed beam with uncertain initial deflection of bounded strain energy, International Journal of Engineering Science, 31:989-1001.
  • Y. Ben-Haim, 1993, Identification of certain polynomial nonlinear structures by adaptive selectively-sensitive excitation, ASME Journal of Vibration and Acoustics, 115:246-255.
  • Y. Ben-Haim, 1992, Adaptive diagnosis of faults in elastic structures by static displacement measurement: The method of selective sensitivity, Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing, 6: 85-96.
  • Y. Ben-Haim, 1990, Optimizing multi-hypothesis diagnosis of control-actuator failures in linear systems, AIAA Journal of Guidance, Control and Dynamics, 13: 744-750.
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Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa

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