The paper examines a new problem in the irregular packing literature that has many applications in industry: two-dimensional irregular (convex) bin packing with guillotine constraints. Due to the cutting process of certain materials, cuts are restricted to extend from one edge of the stock-sheet...

This paper considers a new variant of the two-dimensional bin packing problem where each rectangle is assigned a due date and each bin has a fixed processing time. Hence the objective is not only to minimize the number of bins, but also to minimize the maximum lateness of the rectangles. This...

Sequential meta-heuristic implementations for the irregular stock-cutting problem have highlighted a number of common problems. The literature suggests a consensus that it is more efficient to allow configurations with overlapping pieces in the solution space and to penalise these in the...

This paper compares the performance of Black-Scholes with an artificial neural network (ANN) in pricing European style call options on the FTSE 100 index. It is the first extensive study of the performance of ANNs in pricing UK options, and the first to allow for dividends in the closed-form...