A new alternative in the analysis of manufacturing systems with finite buffers is presented. We propose and study a new approach in order to build tractable phase-type distributions, which are required by state-of-the-art analytical models. Called "probability masses fitting" (PMF), the approach...

Under the Mac Sharry and Agenda 2000 reforms, direct payments comprised a significant portion of farmers' income in the EU. Farmers had to engage in production to receive these payments but the payments were relatively risk-free and therefore risk may not have played an important role in the...

Decision making about portfolio selection problem under uncertainty is very important and critical, so it is rational and necessary to use ideas of a DM who is proficient in stochastic problems. For example, the Goal Attainment Programming (GAP) is one of the methods in priori category that...

A recent literature has analysed the Central Bank's credibility nature and determinants. In general, a Central Bank with higher credibility can implement a more efficient monetary policy, which is expressed through lower social costs in terms of volatility of relevant variables, such as output...

Disassembly is the most critical stage of remanufacturing activities. The condition of parts disassembled for reuse/remanufacturing display a high variance. Hence demand for different parts found in a core cannot always be satisfied by a single core. At this point the question is whether or not...

The aim of this study consists of proposing a sequential and hierarchical decision-making process of tourists divided into four stages: 1) going on holiday (or not); 2) choosing a national of international trip; 3) choosing a specific geographical area; and 4) choosing a type of trip...

This paper presents a bio-economic modelling technique which provides insight on the probable impacts on the management of natural resources of a land tax as an example of policy instrument. The paper is based on a case study carried out in arid natural rangelands of Namibia, where an...

Purpose – The purchase distribution of consumer packaged goods has been extensively modelled by the negative binomial distribution (NBD). As the characteristics of packaged goods differ from those of subscription services, the latter may be a boundary condition for NBD. In this study, the...