The topic of this Master Thesis is quantitative methodologies for optional features and bundles. The frame is the one of Quantitative Marketing Research, a field whose goal is to give market...Show moreThe topic of this Master Thesis is quantitative methodologies for optional features and bundles. The frame is the one of Quantitative Marketing Research, a field whose goal is to give market intelligence in forms of, among others, market shares, population clustering and scenario simulations. The particular problem we have worked on is the one of optional features and bundles i.e. services that can be selected for an extra price when purchasing a product. The technique we have used in our analysis is a discrete choice model, Choicebased Conjoint. The content of this thesis is based on an internship at the international market research company SKIM. The internship was jointly supervised by Senior Methodologist Kees van der Wagt (SKIM) and Prof. Dr. Richard Gill (Mathematisch Instituut Leiden). The two most important results of the thesis are new methodologies to study products with optional features and bundles. These methodologies produce utilities that match the respondent’s observed choices. Only knowing the estimated utilities, we are able to answer the questionnaire producing answers similar to the observed ones. The methodologies enjoy all typical properties of conjoint methodologies and can be used to calculate market shares, simulate scenarios etc. Their most interesting feature is that it is possible to tell if offering an option makes a product too complicated. They can also tell if their simple presence makes the product more appealing (halo effect). As far as we know, this is the first study in this promising field. The methodologies we propose are tested on two different datasets arising from studies conducted by SKIM. They have been developed with tests on simulated datasets. The software of choice for the estimation procedure was Sawtooth’s implementation of CBC HB. For reproducibility of experiments we also wrote a package in the open source language R reproducing the same algorithm. This package and Matlab codes used in simulations are found in the Appendix.Show less
Dagelijks reizen er zo’n 1,1 miljoen mensen met de trein en deze mensen zijn verdeeld over zo’n 4.700 treinritten. Het reizen met de trein wordt mogelijk gemaakt door de Nederlandse Spoorwegen....Show moreDagelijks reizen er zo’n 1,1 miljoen mensen met de trein en deze mensen zijn verdeeld over zo’n 4.700 treinritten. Het reizen met de trein wordt mogelijk gemaakt door de Nederlandse Spoorwegen. Elke reiziger van de NS wil zo snel mogelijk op het eindstation aankomen en het liefst met zo min mogelijk overstappen. De NS zoekt dit voor je uit. Op de site van de NS kun je invullen waar je naar toe wilt en waar je wilt vertrekken. Met ´e´en druk op de knop vertelt de computer je hoe laat je op je beginstation moet opstappen, waar en hoe laat je moet overstappen, hoe laat je aankomt op je eindstation en hoe lang je daar in totaal over doet. Ideaal dat de computer dat zo voor je kan berekenen. Maar daar zit uiteraard een hoop techniek en computerwerk achter. Wat de computer eigenlijk voor je doet is een optimale route voor je vinden. De computer maakt hierbij gebruik van een graaf. In dit boekje staan een aantal problemen beschreven waarvoor we op zoek gaan naar een optimale oplossing. Alle problemen die worden beschreven maken gebruik van een graaf. Het doel van het boekje is om inzicht te geven in het maken van een graaf bij een probleem. Tevens geeft dit boekje aan hoe je optimale oplossingen kunt vinden van een probleem door gebruik te maken van de opgestelde graaf. Het boekje is als volgt opgebouwd. In het eerste hoofdstuk maken we kennis met het begrip graaf en het begrip netwerk. In hoofdstuk 2 wordt het probleem ’Netwerkstromen’ uitgelegd en opgelost. In hoofdstuk 3 wordt dit gedaan met het ’Koppelingsprobleem’ en hoofdstuk 4 licht het ’Knapzakprobleem’ verder toe. Wat de problemen precies inhouden vind je in de desbetreffende hoofdstukken. Hoofdstuk 5 bevat een aantal afsluitende opgaven. Deze kun je maken met behulp van de theorie die eerder in het boekje beschreven is. Het laatste hoofdstuk bevat een aantal korte uitwerkingen en antwoorden van een aantal opgaven die in de hoofdstukken staan. Er staat niet van alle opgaven een antwoord bij. Het is aan te raden om de opgaven die je tegenkomt eerst te maken voordat je verder gaat. De opgaven zorgen voor een verduidelijking van de tekst en zijn een oefening voor het begrijpen en het zelf toepassen van de theorie. Alleen de afsluitende opgaven zijn los van elkaar te maken.Show less
This thesis includes a technological and functional analysis of blades from the Late Uruk period settlement of Jebel Aruda in northern Syria. The settlement of Jebel Aruda has, together with...Show moreThis thesis includes a technological and functional analysis of blades from the Late Uruk period settlement of Jebel Aruda in northern Syria. The settlement of Jebel Aruda has, together with contemporary and neighbouring settlements like Habuba Kabira-süd, been interpreted as a southern Mesopotamian colonial emplacement in northern Mesopotamia, also known as ‘the Tabqa enclave’. Of these Jebel Aruda has been interpreted as a special administrative or religious centre, because of its unusual location and its large residential buildings centred around a temple. Together with the ‘Tabqa enclave’ many other southern Mesopotamian colonies have been discovered in northern Mesopotamia and on such a large scale that this phenomenon has been called an ‘Uruk expansion’. The underlying reasons for the Uruk expansion have been the subject of debate for many years. Among the theories seeking to explain the expansion, the ideas by Guillermo Algaze have been the most influential. According to Algaze the expansion was primarily motivated by the demand for important trade goods which were lacking in the south of Mesopotamia, through long-distance trade. Moreover in this view, the character of the expansion was one of a southern Mesopotamian dominance over the indigenous northern Mesopotamian communities, regarded as the periphery. The ‘Tabqa enclave’ specifically has always been regarded as unfit for agriculture, and dependent on trade for its survival. Interestingly, the Uruk period in northern Mesopotamia also saw the birth of a specialized and standardized blade product, the Canaanean blade. During the period immediately succeeding the Uruk expansion in northern Mesopotamia, the Ninevite V period, this blade type was produced specifically for the agricultural practice of threshing. The technological and functional analysis of the blades from Jebel Aruda indicate that the Canaanean blade also played a central role in agricultural activities during the Late Uruk period, functioning both as sickles and as threshing sledge implements. It further seems that the Canaanean blade was an important trade product already during the Late Uruk period. Its production was gradually intensified, and the blades were traded on a regional scale in the north. Not only has the functional analysis proven that agriculture was practiced around Jebel Aruda and at the ‘Tabqa enclave’, it seems to indicate that agriculture might have been the primary motivation behind the Uruk expansion. Finally, analysis of the blades suggests that Jebel Aruda’s lithic assemblage was very similar to other southern Mesopotamian colonies in the north, indicating that its character might not have been as different as assumed.Show less
In this study the sexual dimorphism in canines of a human population from Medieval Delft is analyzed. The buccolingual diameter, mesiodistal diameter, crown height and total length of the canines...Show moreIn this study the sexual dimorphism in canines of a human population from Medieval Delft is analyzed. The buccolingual diameter, mesiodistal diameter, crown height and total length of the canines of 74 individuals were measured, as well as the maxilla-alveolar breadth and length. The sex of the specimen was known through earlier performed ancient DNA analysis. The measurements were analyzed in graphs and Student’s T Tests were performed. It was found that even though the maxillo-alveolar breadth and length did not show any significant differences between males and females, the buccolingual and mesiodistal diameter as well as the root length did show a significant difference. Sexual dimorphism in the dentins is an interesting topic and has been studied by several researchers. Most of these researchers find some sort of dimorphism between males and females. The amount of dimorphism, however, varies per population. To use the canines, or dentins in general, as a sex indicator the analysis has to be compared and verified by a different standard method of sex determination. This study confirms those findings.Show less
The Taíno peoples were discovered by Columbus in 1492, although for a long time he thought to have arrived at the islands surrounding the Japanese coast. He became very interested in the peoples he...Show moreThe Taíno peoples were discovered by Columbus in 1492, although for a long time he thought to have arrived at the islands surrounding the Japanese coast. He became very interested in the peoples he met and ordered Fray Ramón Pané to live among the people of two caciques. As a result one of the most important reports were written about the Taíno and the first ethnological work in the Americas. This work knows a history of many problems. These started during the writing period and ended with the disappearance of the original manuscript, after Fernando Columbus handled it. The term Taíno is used for almost all cultures found on the Greater Antilles, the Bahamas and a couple of the Lesser Antilles. However, this term, Taíno, should be used with great care. The area is not as homogeneous as first thought. There are differences is language, religion practices and sociopolitical structures and as of yet no element has found that characterizes this area as a whole. This term can be regarded as similar to the term Europe, a certain landmass that possesses several distinct cultural groups. The word Taíno is used here for the two communities in which Pané resided for a couple of years and where he wrote his reports. The Taíno were a society that showed great creativity and energy, they were the most developed in the Caribbean region. They had complex chiefdoms and lived in a hierarchical society. Their religion had evolved as well. Among others Pané wrote about the myths of the Taíno. Stevens-Arroyo has ordered these stories into two groups, creation myths and hero myths. All of these have larger themes and smaller elements in them, important for the community that acts and reacts on them. These themes will be compared to myths found on the mainland of South America to find out where the Taíno, according to the myths, could have originated from.Show less
The Aztecs, people living in the Valley of Mexico at the arrival of the Spaniards, are a well-discussed group which is believed to have had an elaborate ritual way of living in which sacrifices...Show moreThe Aztecs, people living in the Valley of Mexico at the arrival of the Spaniards, are a well-discussed group which is believed to have had an elaborate ritual way of living in which sacrifices took place. The Spanish Conquistadores have documented many rituals in which victims are described to have been decapitated after their still pumping hearts were ripped out of their chests. Being described as cruel acts of the Devil, sacrifice was not tolerated among the Europeans and caused a lot of commotion and highly exaggerated cases on which people tended to rely completely since there are no real Aztec primary sources. While so many things have been written about these ceremonies and the personality of the Aztecs themselves, one starts to wonder what really happened during Aztec reign since these Spanish texts seemed to be highly biased with the influence of Christianity. This was what researchers started to wonder a few decades ago when another perspective on the matter kicked in. Anthropologists started to view things in their own perspective, using the Aztec world view as their guideline. The Aztecs shared this great belief in their pantheon of gods and the fact that their deities had sacrificed themselves in order to create the fifth sun in which the Aztecs lived. In order to pay of their debts to the gods, the Aztecs sacrificed impersonators of their deity to show that they were willing to give up the most precious thing, namely the human body. To be able to state if this is really the best way to analyze human sacrifice and to be able to state that this really happened, archaeological evidence has been searched for and was found in the offering of a child which showed signs of sacrifice by the extraction of the heart. This showed that there is upcoming evidence on the actual happening of human sacrifice but this thesis also shows that nowadays not everyone is relying completely on the sources of the Conquistadores anymore. However some still do and should keep in mind that Spanish sources are not just to be taken for granted but should be read with great care and caution.Show less
De scriptie is de eerste overzichtsstudie over het Europees verlof, een regeling die werknemers uit Nederlands-Indië met de Europese status het recht gaf meerdere maanden betaald verlof in Europa...Show moreDe scriptie is de eerste overzichtsstudie over het Europees verlof, een regeling die werknemers uit Nederlands-Indië met de Europese status het recht gaf meerdere maanden betaald verlof in Europa door te brengen. De centrale vraag van de scriptie luidt: wat is de plaats van Indische verlofgangers in de Nederlandse samenleving? Bij het beantwoorden van die vraag gaat de studie in op de afkomst van verlofgangers, hun sociale positie, hun vestigingspatroon in Nederland en hun relatie met niet-Indische Nederlanders. De periode van het interbellum is gekozen omdat uit deze periode de grootste hoeveelheid bronnen beschikbaar zijn. De focus op het interbellum sluit het gebruik van oudere bronnen echter niet uit, omdat veel ervaringen van verlofgangers hetzelfde bleven. Samengevat lijken verlofgangers voornamelijk een positief imago te hebben gehad. Vanuit Den Haag, de stad met de meeste verlofgangers, vertrokken bijvoorbeeld 3,5 keer zoveel mensen naar Indië als gemiddeld in Nederland. Vooral het feit dat er vanuit Den Haag meer vrouwen dan mannen naar Indië vertrokken wijst erop dat verlofgangers werden gezien als goede huwelijkskandidaten. Ook probeerden vele Nederlandse steden actief verlofgangers te werven. Indische verlofgangers verschilden (ongeacht hun afkomst) echter duidelijk van niet-Indische Nederlanders, wat voor een gevoel van wederzijdse bevreemding kon zorgen.Show less
