Thesis Defense – Serenay Ulaş (MSCS)

Serenay Ulaş – MSc Computer Science

Assoc. Prof. Reyhan Aydoğan

Date: 12/11/2025

Time: 13:45-15:00

Location: AB1 - 233

“Negotiating the Ride A Multi-Agent Framework for Optimizing Non-Emergency Medical Transport” 

Assoc. Prof. Reyhan Aydaoğan - Özyeğin University

Assoc. Prof. Ömer Korcak - Marmara University

Dr. İlknur Karadeniz - Özyeğin University

Abstract:

This paper addresses a multi-agent model for the Dial-A-Ride Problem (DARP) in non-emergency medical transportation involving multiple independent companies. Each company manages its vehicles and client information, with constraints such as time windows and vehicle capacities. To reduce costs, companies can decide to share specific client requests with other companies and engage in a negotiation process with the aim of reducing operating costs by making swaps with other companies. Due to privacy concerns, we assume that it is not feasible for companies to share all of their client requests due to the risk of losing them. Accordingly, this paper suggests solving this problem through negotiation and extends the Single Text Mediated Protocol for this scenario. The mediator has no access to private cost models or complete client data. Through this limited and iterative negotiation, companies collaborate without full disclosure. Experimental results show that the approach improves overall efficiency while preserving autonomy.

Bio:

Serenay Ulaş holds a B.Sc. in Computer Science from Ege University and is currently pursuing her M.Sc. in Computer Science at Özyeğin University. Her research and professional interests lie in artificial intelligence, big data analytics, and applied machine learning. She has five years of industry experience in the Big Data and AI team at Vestel Electronics, where she worked on developing large-scale, data-driven solutions. Serenay is currently