Standardization and Expectations

Standardization and Expectations
Author: Tobias Langenberg
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 124
Release: 2005-12-19
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 3540281134

Over the last decades, technological progress has brought about a multitude of standardization problems. For instance, compatibility standards ensure the interoperability of goods, which is of decisive importance when users face positive externalities in consumption. Consumers' expectations are key to the problem of whether a new technology will prevail as de-facto standard or not. Early adopters must be confident that the network good will be successful. Thus, it may be worthwhile for firms to influence consumers' expectations. Consisting of three models on various aspects of standardization and expectations, this book aims at deepening our understanding of how standards and expectations interact. The models are applied to problems such as "Inter-Technology vs. Intra-Technology Competition" and "Standardization of Nascent Technologies".

Network Optimization

Network Optimization
Author: Panos M. Pardalos
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 495
Release: 2012-12-06
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 3642591795

Network optimization is important in the modeling of problems and processes from such fields as engineering, computer science, operations research, transportation, telecommunication, decision support systems, manufacturing, and airline scheduling. Recent advances in data structures, computer technology, and algorithm development have made it possible to solve classes of network optimization problems that until recently were intractable. The refereed papers in this volume reflect the interdisciplinary efforts of a large group of scientists from academia and industry to model and solve complicated large-scale network optimization problems.

Forecasting and Hedging in the Foreign Exchange Markets

Forecasting and Hedging in the Foreign Exchange Markets
Author: Christian Ullrich
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 206
Release: 2009-05-30
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 3642004954

Historical and recent developments at international ?nancial markets show that it is easy to loose money, while it is dif?cult to predict future developments and op- mize decision-making towards maximizing returns and minimizing risk. One of the reasons of our inability to make reliable predictions and to make optimal decisions is the growing complexity of the global economy. This is especially true for the f- eign exchange market (FX market) which is considered as one of the largest and most liquid ?nancial markets. Its grade of ef?ciencyand its complexityis one of the starting points of this volume. From the high complexity of the FX market, Christian Ullrich deduces the - cessity to use tools from machine learning and arti?cial intelligence, e.g., support vector machines, and to combine such methods with sophisticated ?nancial mod- ing techniques. The suitability of this combination of ideas is demonstrated by an empirical study and by simulation. I am pleased to introduce this book to its - dience, hoping that it will provide the reader with interesting ideas to support the understanding of FX markets and to help to improve risk management in dif?cult times. Moreover, I hope that its publication will stimulate further research to contribute to the solution of the many open questions in this area.

Performance Analysis and Optimization of Inbound Call Centers

Performance Analysis and Optimization of Inbound Call Centers
Author: Raik Stolletz
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 236
Release: 2003-04-17
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9783540008125

The focus of this book is on the management of inbound call centers. Based on technical performance measures this book develops economic performance measures for different classes of telephone service numbers. Both the numbers of agents and the number of offered phones lines are decision variables in the operational personnel planning process. Since call arrivals as well as call-handling times are random in inbound call centers, this book concentrates on performance analysis and optimization using queueing models. These models may differ with respect to several features, for example, the number of customer classes, the number of differently trained agent groups, the limitation of the waiting room, or the customer's impatience. This book describes mathematical methods and algorithms to relate these decision variables to technical as well as economic performance measures.

New Developments in Multiple Objective and Goal Programming

New Developments in Multiple Objective and Goal Programming
Author: Dylan Jones
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 167
Release: 2010-03-17
Genre: Mathematics
ISBN: 3642103545

This volume shows the state-of-the-art in both theoretical development and application of multiple objective and goal programming. Applications from the fields of supply chain management, financial portfolio selection, financial risk management, insurance, medical imaging, sustainability, nurse scheduling, project management, water resource management, and the interface with data envelopment analysis give a good reflection of current usage. A pleasing variety of techniques are used including models with fuzzy, group-decision, stochastic, interactive, and binary aspects. Additionally, two papers from the upcoming area of multi-objective evolutionary algorithms are included. The book is based on the papers of the 8th International Conference on Multi-Objective and Goal Programming (MOPGP08) which was held in Portsmouth, UK, in September 2008.

Networks, Topology and Dynamics

Networks, Topology and Dynamics
Author: Ahmad K. Naimzada
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 292
Release: 2008-11-14
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 3540684093

There is convergent consensus among scientists that many social, economic and ?nancial phenomena can be described by a network of agents and their inter- tions. Surprisingly, even though the application ?elds are quite different, those n- works often show a common behaviour. Thus, their topological properties can give useful insights on how the network is structured, which are the most “important” nodes/agents, how the network reacts to new arrivals. Moreover the network, once included into a dynamic context, helps to model many phenomena. Among the t- ics in which topology and dynamics are the essential tools, we will focus on the diffusion of technologies and fads, the rise of industrial districts, the evolution of ?nancial markets, cooperation and competition, information ?ows, centrality and prestige. The volume, including recent contributions to the ?eld of network modelling, is based on the communications presented at NET 2006 (Verbania, Italy) and NET 2007 (Urbino, Italy); offers a wide range of recent advances, both theoretical and methodological, that will interest academics as well as practitioners. Theory and applications are nicely integrated: theoretical papers deal with graph theory, game theory, coalitions, dynamics, consumer behavior, segregation models and new contributions to the above mentioned area. The applications cover a wide range: airline transportation, ?nancial markets, work team organization, labour and credit market.

Fuzzy Mathematical Programming

Fuzzy Mathematical Programming
Author: Young-Jou Lai
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 317
Release: 2012-12-06
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 364248753X

In the last 25 years, the fuzzy set theory has been applied in many disciplines such as operations research, management science, control theory,artificial intelligence/expert system, etc. In this volume, methods and applications of fuzzy mathematical programming and possibilistic mathematical programming are first systematically and thoroughly reviewed and classified. This state-of-the-art survey provides readers with a capsule look into the existing methods, and their characteristics and applicability to analysis of fuzzy and possibilistic programming problems. To realize practical fuzzy modelling, we present solutions for real-world problems including production/manufacturing, transportation, assignment, game, environmental management, resource allocation, project investment, banking/finance, and agricultural economics. To improve flexibility and robustness of fuzzy mathematical programming techniques, we also present our expert decision-making support system IFLP which considers and solves all possibilities of a specific domain of (fuzzy) linear programming problems. Basic fuzzy set theories, membership functions, fuzzy decisions, operators and fuzzy arithmetic are introduced with simple numerical examples in aneasy-to-read and easy-to-follow manner. An updated bibliographical listing of 60 books, monographs or conference proceedings, and about 300 selected papers, reports or theses is presented in the end of this study.

Input-Output Analysis and the Structure of Income Distribution

Input-Output Analysis and the Structure of Income Distribution
Author: K. Miyazawa
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 147
Release: 2012-12-06
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 3642481469

The purpose of this study is in keeping with the shift in concern over the eco nomic problems of growth to those of income distribution in recent years. Income distribution problems may be analyzed by not only the traditional procedures, but also by some extensions of the input-output technique as I shall demonstrate in this volume of the Lecture Notes. Some fruitful results are obtained by applying the extended input-output technique to income analysis as well as to output analysis. This volume consists of three parts. These parts may be viewed along two veins, with some overlapping unavoidable: (1) Parts One and Two contain extensions of the input-output analysis and (2) Parts One and Three contain studies of the effects of the structure of income distribution on some other economic relationships. First, as an extension of the input-output analysis, we present a synthesis of the Leontief interindustry matrix multiplier and the Keynesian income multiplier in disaggregated form, and introduce a new concept which may be called the "Interrela tional Income Multiplier" as a matrix. It is designed to analyze the interrelation ships among various income-groups in the process of income formation through the medium of industrial production activity. Although this multi-sector multiplier follows from Leontief's interindustry matrix multiplier, it is formulated by the inclusion of the income generation process, which is omitted in the usual input output open model, and by projecting the multiplier process into not only the output determination side, but also into the income-determination side.

New Tools of Economic Dynamics

New Tools of Economic Dynamics
Author: Jacek Leskow
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 397
Release: 2006-05-06
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 3540284443

New Tools of Economic Dynamics gives an introduction and overview of recently developed methods and tools, most of them developed outside economics, to deal with the qualitative analysis of economic dynamics. It reports the results of a three-year research project by a European and Latin American network on the intersection of economics with mathematical, statistical, and computational methods and techniques. Focusing upon the evolution and manifold structure of complex dynamic phenomena, the book reviews and shows applications of a variety of tools, such as symbolic and coded dynamics, interacting agents models, microsimulation in econometrics, large-scale system analysis, and dynamical systems theory. It shows the potential of a comprehensive analysis of growth, fluctuations, and structural change along the lines indicated by pioneers like Harrod, Haavelmo, Hicks, Goodwin, Morishima, and it highlights the explanatory power of the qualitative approach they initiated.

Artificial Economics and Self Organization

Artificial Economics and Self Organization
Author: Stephan Leitner
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 256
Release: 2013-08-27
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9783319009117

This volume presents recent advances in the dynamic field of Artificial Economics and its various applications. Artificial Economics provides a structured approach to model and investigate economic and social systems. In particular, this approach is based on the use of agent-based simulations and further computational techniques. The main aim is to analyze the outcomes at the overall systems’ level as results from the agents’ behavior at the micro-level. These emergent characteristics of complex economic and social systems can neither be foreseen nor are they intended. The emergence rather makes these systems function. Artificial Economics especially facilitates the investigation of this emergent systems’ behavior. ​