The analysis of stochastic models is often greatly complicated if there are censored observations of the random variables. This paper characterizes families of distributions which help keep tractable the analysis of such models. Our primary motivation is to provide guidance to practitioners in...

Decision analysts commonly use low-order discrete approximation of probability distributions to reduce computational effort. We have found that three popular discretization methods can lead to serious errors in certain applications, among them, news vendor problem and scheduling decisions for...

Providing the right staffing levels is of paramount importance in most service centers. Excess capacity is costly, yet a lack of sufficient capacity leads to unacceptably low service levels which may be even costlier. When determining staffing levels for a service center it is, therefore,...