Time-constrained project scheduling

We study the Time-Constrained Project Scheduling Problem (TCPSP), in which the scheduling of activities is subject to strict deadlines. To be able to meet these deadlines, it is possible to work in overtime or hire additional capacity in regular time or overtime. For this problem, we develop a two stage heuristic. The key of our approach lies in the first stage in which we construct partial schedules with a randomized sampling technique. In these partial schedules, jobs may be scheduled for a shorter duration than required. The second stage uses an ILP formulation of the problem to turn a partial schedule into a feasible schedule, and to perform a neighbourhood search. The developed heuristic is quite flexible and, therefore, suitable for practice. We present experimental results on modified RCPSP benchmark instances. The two stage heuristic solves many instances to optimality, and if we substantially decrease the deadline, the rise in cost is only small

Winterganzenbeleid: het roer om? : ex ante evaluatie kosteneffectiviteit opvangbeleid winterganzen

Deze studie laat zien wat de kosteneffectiviteit is van verschillende scenario’s en opties voor het winterganzenbeleid hebben. Vergeleken met voortzetting van het huidige beleid levert het afschaffen van de schadevergoeding voor ganzen buiten de foerageergebieden en het verminderen van ganzenpopulaties door afschot (populatieregulatie) de grootste besparingen op. Het stoppen met het huidige Beleidskader, dat wil zeggen geen foerageergebieden meer, geen verjaging door ondersteunend afschot en in het hele land de schade van ganzen vergoeden, levert ook aanzienlijke besparing op. Het draagvlak voor deze opties verschilt sterk tussen agrariërs, terreinbeheerders, wildbeheereenheden, dierenbeschermingsorganisaties en Vogelbescherming

Nudging people out of poverty: Using behavioral economics to improve welfare policies

New insights within the field of behavioural economics have led to the discovery of irrational behaviour of economic agents. The concept of ‘nudging’ is one approach to tackle this irrationality. Weillustrate that behavioural economics could be especially helpful for tackling poverty, as the lives of the poor make them very vulnerable to income shocks. Also, the poor constantly deplete their mentalresources. Moreover, we discuss ethical regulations for policies based on behavioural economics, centered around the idea of transparency. Finally, we present ideas scholars have put forward thatcould be used to tackle poverty by using behavioural economics and evaluate them from our own perspective

Designing Healthy Consumption Support: Mobile application use added to (e)Coach Solution

Healthy living is an increasingly important topic on the agenda of policy makers. Containment of health care cost through public health and specific prevention programs is seen as a key element of the current social-economic policies in the western world. mHealth technology holds the promise to make healthy living more effective than traditional prevention programs. As part of a broad healthy living support program (including food, physical activity, stress management, social support and smoking cessation), we extended web-based and coach-based ‘healthy consumption’ support with smart phone application (mApp) assistance. This paper focuses on the design analysis phase, following a design research cycle. We start from a user needs analysis, then proceed to solution analysis and service development. The result is a design solution, using an mApp for the support of healthy food consumption, together with practical ‘optimal diet’ guidelines. This solution is embedded in a health coach relationship. For the future, we anticipate more personal and intelligent mobile applications for health behavior tracking and feedback, plus an increasing role in health provider processes

Agrarische natuurverenigingen in opkomst : een eerste verkenning naar natuurbeheeractiviteiten van agrarische natuurverenigingen

Analyse ten behoeve van het Natuurplanburea