Selecting the best suppliers is crucial for a company's success. Since competition is a determining factor nowadays, reducing cost and increasing quality of products are two key criteria for appropriate supplier selection. In the study, first the inventories of agglomeration plant of Isfahan...

We study model selection strategies based on penalized empirical loss minimization. We point out a tight relationship between error estimation and data-based complexity penalization: any good error estimate may be converted into a data-based penalty function and the performance of the estimate...

This work covers a substantial mosaic of related concepts in utility theory as applied to financial decision-making. It reviews some of the classical notions of Benthamite utility and the normative utility paradigm offered by the von Neumann-Morgenstern expected utility theory; exploring its...

ENGLISH ABSTRACT: In this thesis, we propose to use Levy processes to model the dynamics of asset prices. Inthe first part, we deal with single asset options and model the log stock prices with a Levyprocess. We employ pure jump Levy processes of infinite activity, in particular variancegamma...

ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This research report investigated whether evidence of volatility clustering exists on the FTSE/JSE Top 40 Index. The presence of volatility clustering has practical implications relating to market decisions as well as the accurate measurement and reliable forecasting of...

This study aims to investigate whether the phenomena found by Shnoll et al. when applying histogrampattern analysis techniques to stochastic processes from chemistry and physics are also present infinancial time series, particularly exchange rate and index data. The phenomena are related to...

An overview of modern and historical interest rate model theory is given with thespecific aim of derivative pricing. A variety of stochastic interest rate models arediscussed within a South African market context. The various models arecompared with respect to characteristics such as mean...

We consider the problem of model assessment by risk estimation. Variousapproaches to risk estimation are considered in a uni ed framework. This a discussion of various complexity dimensions and approaches to obtainingbounds on covering numbers is also presented.The second type of training sample...

Over the past decade, the increasing power and reliability of microcomputers and the development of sophisticated software designed specificallyfor use with them has led to significant changes in the way quantitative food policy analysis is conducted. These changes cover most aspects of...

The twenty-two papers collected in this volume illustrate the itinerary of Henry Tulkens, an applied theorist, on the occasion of his retirement from teaching. The collection is structured in four parts: I. Decentralized resource allocation processes for public and private goods - II....