Accurate prediction of medical operation times is of crucial importance for cost efficient operation room planning in hospitals. This paper investigates the possible dependence of procedure times on surgeon factors like age, experience, gender, and team composition. The effect of these factors...

Behaviours provide an elegant, parameter free characterization of deterministic systems. We discuss a possible application of behaviours in the approximation of stochastic systems. This can be seen as an extension to the dynamic case of the well-known static factor analysis model. An essential...

Model estimates of the pay-off of the Betuwe railway have played an important role for politicians to decide to build this railway. This has already been discussed extensively, especially with respect to the macro-economic effects of this investment. A deeper analysis shows that these effects...

We propose a new method of leading index construction that combines the need for data compression with the objective of forecasting. This so-called principal covariate index is constructed to forecast growth rates of the Composite Coincident Index. The forecast performance is compared with an...

Recent dynamics in iron ore markets are driven by rapid changes in economic activities that affect commodity markets, trade flows, and shipping activities. Time series models for the relation between these variables in Southeast Asia and the Australasian region are supplemented with models for...

Global total least squares (GTLS) is a method for the identification of linear systems where no distinction between input and output variables is required. This method has been developed within the deterministic behavioural approach to systems. In this paper we analyse statistical properties of...

Port of Rotterdam Authority is a publicly owned but corporatized port development company. In 2004, this organisation was transformed from a municipal department to an independently operating company. The corporatisation intended to improve the overall performance of the port of Rotterdam....

Pre-election polls can suffer from survey effects. For instance, individuals taking part in the poll may become more aware of the upcoming election so that they become more inclined to vote. Such effects cause biases in forecasted outcomes of elections. We propose a simple methodology that takes...

Safety management and risk profiling to identify substandard ships are of importance to the shipping industry. Whereas current methods rely heavily on detention risk and flag state performance, we extend the risk assessment by considering various risk dimensions and by evaluating a wide range of...

The effectiveness of safety inspections has been analysed from various angles, but until now, relatively little attention has been given to translate risk reduction into incident cost savings. This paper quantifies estimated cost savings based on port state control inspections and industry...