Purpose: To estimate the transition rates corresponding to the 2010 and 2012 elections to the Catalan Parliament for the four constituencies in which Catalonia is divided for this purpose. The main features of the results, which are obtained by means of mathematical programming, are commented....

Purpose: This paper introduces a procedure for solving the staffing problem in a service system (i.e., determining the number of servers for each staffing period). Design/methodology: The proposed algorithm combines the use of queueing theory to find an initial solution with the use of...

Purpose: Once a set of suppliers has been determined, according to criteria of quality, price and reliability, among others, there remains the problem of assigning orders to the selected suppliers, in order to cover the needs at the lowest cost. We consider the case in which the needs of a...

Purpose: This paper, devoted to the selection of strategic sourcing options as a part of the supply chain design, aims to provide supply chain designers with guidelines for selecting the best strategic sourcing option for each item (i.e., products, modules, parts and services)....

Purpose: This paper, devoted to the selection of strategic sourcing options as a part of the supply chain design, aims to provide supply chain designers with guidelines for selecting the best strategic sourcing option for each item (i.e., products, modules, parts and services)....

Purpose: This paper introduces a procedure for solving the staffing problem in a service system (i.e., determining the number of servers for each staffing period). Design/methodology: The proposed algorithm combines the use of queueing theory to find an initial solution with the use of...

Purpose: Once a set of suppliers has been determined, according to criteria of quality, price and reliability, among others, there remains the problem of assigning orders to the selected suppliers, in order to cover the needs at the lowest cost. We consider the case in which the needs of a...

A non-linear discrete-time mathematical program model is proposed to determining the optimal extraction policy for a single primary supplier of a durable non-renewable resource, such as gemstones or some metals. Karush, Kuhn and Tucker conditions allow obtaining analytic solutions and general...

Most metaheuristics lack a termination condition based on reasonable premises and guaranteeing the quality of the solution provided by the algorithm. We propose a methodological frame that distinguishes the concepts of properties of the final incumbent solution, rules and termination conditions....