The Most Competitive Airline Routes in the World

I am using airline data to construct a network of competition in the airline industry.  As part of this, I am listing the routes that are the most competitive – not necessarily the ones that have the most flights, but the ones that have the most competitors. And here they are HKG-ICN  Hong Kong – …

Two Funded PhD Studentships in Agent-Based Modelling at Loughborough University School of Business and Economics [applications now closed]

I am looking for high quality, numerate, candidates to fill these exciting PhD studentships with me as a (co-) supervisor at Loughborough’s School of Business and Economics.  Please note that this post has been updated with new links (in blue, below). The first is modelling dynamic responses to dynamic threats; the second is using analytics …

Accessing Academic Journal Articles when away from a University

Now is the time when students, and indeed academics, are away from universities.  From having academic journal articles at your fingertips, you can find yourself confronted by previously good natured academic publishers persuading you to part with your hard earned cash in order to access an article. This is not a good thing. So, from …

Agent-Based Models for Simulating Human Behavior: IFORS Conference 2017

This presentation including joint work with Alberto Franco, was presented at the IFORS (International Federation of Operational Research Societies) conference in Quebec City, QC, Canada.  We present two different agent-based models for simulating human behavior. We use the example of group decision making. The first model uses a cognitive fitness landscape to model the quality …

The Conservative Manifesto: Care Fees as a Percentage of Initial Wealth

The Conservative Party have announced their manifesto for the 2017 General Election.  Included in this (on page 64-65) is proposed We will introduce a single capital floor, set at £100,000, more than four times the current means test threshold. This will ensure that, no matter how large the cost of care turns out to be, …

What does the ℮ mark mean on packaging?

The ‘℮’ symbol, or the ‘e-mark’ is a symbol you will see on packaging such as tins or packets in Europe.  Millions of us will see this symbol every day, but what does it actually mean? The raison d’etre for the e-mark comes from the problem of selling goods to the public.  We would all like to …

Eight Mile and the Emergence of Segregation

Eight Mile, epitomized by Eminem in the film of the same name, is a street in Detroit that marks the boundary between the majority white northern suburbs and the majority black neighborhoods closer to the inner city. But what causes this segregation in the first place? Hypothesis 1: The Central Planner In Detroit’s case, as …

The Unintended Consequences of Unintended Consequences

In 2003, as part of a project to document coastal erosion in California, the following photo was posted on the californiacoastline.org website.  It is a picture of a beach, some cliffs, lots of trees, and a rather nice house complete with swimming pool, that turns out to be the home of one Barbara Streisand. For those not …

Simulating (Human) Behavior Session at IFORS Conference in Quebec

I am organizing a session at IFORS on Simulating (Human) Behavior as part of a Behavioural Operational Research stream. It would be good if other agent-based models could be presented. To submit a paper, please do so here: http://ifors2017.ca/submit-abstract and use invitation code dfa90f58