The convex time budget (CTB) method is a widely used experimental method for eliciting an individual's time preference. Researchers adopting the CTB experiment usually assume quasi-hyperbolic discounting utility as a behavioural model and estimate the parameters of the utility function. However,...

Textbooks on Design of Experiments invariably start by explaining why one-factor-at-a-time (OAT) is an inferior method. Here we will show that in a model with all interactions a variant of OAT is extremely efficient, provided that we only have non-negative parameters and that there are only a...

Simulated annealing (SA) is a stochastic optimization method with principles taken from the physical process called “annealing” which aims to bring a solid to its ground state or state of minimum energy. SA is known as a simple heuristic tool suitable for providing direct or approximate...