Task force on applied mathematics

Tomas Garza relates how the Research Center for Applied Mathematics Systems and Services in Mexico became the Research Institute for Applied Mathematics and Systems and what the type of work performed is

Applied Mathematics, the Hans van Duijn way

This is a former PhD student's take on his teacher's scientific philosophy. I describe a set of 'principles' that I believe are conducive to good applied mathematics, and that I have learnt myself from observing Hans van Duijn in action.Comment: 11 page

Segmenting the heterogeneity of tourist preferences using a latent class model combined with the EM algorithm

An important component of conjoint analysis is market segmentation where the main objective is to address the heterogeneity of consumer preferences. Latent class methodology is one of the several conjoint segmentation procedures that overcome the limitations of aggregate analysis and a-priori segmentation. The main benefit of Latent class models is that they simultaneously estimate market segment membership and parameter estimates for each derived market segment. In this paper we present two latent class models. The first model is a latent class metric model using mixtures of multivariate conditional normal distributions to analyze rating data. The second is a latent class multinomial logit model used to analyze choice data. The EM algorithm is employed to maximize the likelihood in both models. The application focuses on tourists’ preference and choice behaviour when assessing package tours. A number of demographic and product related explanatory variables are used to generate segments that are accessible and actionable. A Monte Carlo study is also presented in this paper. This study examines how the number of hypothetical subjects, number of specified segments and number of predictors affect the performance of the latent class metric conjoint model with respect to parameter recovery and segment membership recovery.peer-reviewe

Self-Evaluation Applied Mathematics 2003-2008 University of Twente

This report contains the self-study for the research assessment of the Department of Applied Mathematics (AM) of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science (EEMCS) at the University of Twente (UT). The report provides the information for the Research Assessment Committee for Applied Mathematics, dealing with mathematical sciences at the three universities of technology in the Netherlands. It describes the state of affairs pertaining to the period 1 January 2003 to 31 December 2008