OR/MS Today articles from April 2005

OR/MS Today archives from April 2005

Reflections on global O.R.(operation research)
April 1, 2005... What do liquor stores and folk festivals have in common besides a bunch of customers looking for a good time? If you said complicated personnel scheduling problems, you're either an operations researcher, a Canadian or both. What could be...

Practice makes perfect O.R.(operations research)(Institute for Operations Research and Management Science)
April 1, 2005... Practice makes perfect! It's a well-known phrase. In my mind, practice makes the perfect operations researcher! By practice, I mean working on real problems. That does not mean doing routine consulting work. It does not mean using textbook...

O.R. abandoned its interdisciplinary roots.(LETTERS TO THE EDITOR)(Letter to the Editor)
April 1, 2005... To the Editor: I just finished reading the interview in OR/MS Today with Dr. Richard Larson ("The Science of Better Synergy," December 2004) and was pleased to note his mention of Phil Morse's use of qualitative methods, such as...

'Better' campaign goes international.(Brief Article)
April 1, 2005... Alexander Rusli, a special advisor with the Ministry of Communication and Information, Republic of Indonesia, sports a "Science of Better" hat courtesy of INFORMS President Richard Larson. Larson has turned the institute's "Science of Better"...

Another solution looking for a problem.(LETTERS TO THE EDITOR)(Letter to the Editor)
April 1, 2005... To the Editor: I was excited when I saw the title of the lead article, "It Takes a High-Tech Thief," in the February 2005 issue of OR/MS Today. Alas, the author sounds like another academic (retired, in this case) with a solution looking...

Patent/copyright world tour 2005.(INFORMS ONLINE)
April 1, 2005... In keeping with the international theme of this issue, here is a brief tour of some of the news related to intellectual property issues from around the world. Software Patents in Europe When last we left the European Parliament (my...

Journal rankings: U.K. perspective.(CYBERSPACE)
April 1, 2005... Every six years or so United Kingdom universities take stock of their research publications in quality journals in response to the U.K. government-led "research assessment exercise" (RAE, www.rae.ac.uk). Universities submit the publication...

Where is the "P" in OR/MS?(ISSUES IN EDUCATION)(Operations research and management science)
April 1, 2005... Operations research and management science modules are rarely the most exciting or popular modules in the business school curriculum. This seems to be the case in the United States and elsewhere around the world. Why? We believe that the...

'Success' often eludes project managers.(WAS IT SOMETHING I SAID?)
April 1, 2005... April 2005? Guess it's time to talk about project management again. This seems to have become an odd but dependable biennial tradition. The latest: I now teach an MBA elective course in project management. For regular readers of this column,...

The congressman's parable.(ORACLE)
April 1, 2005... The O.R. analyst had finally surmounted his most recent technical challenge, but it hadn't been easy. "You wouldn't believe it, Carol. I had to go over and over the data and keep going back through the system," he grumbled. "I finally did see...

Efficient patient flow: L.A. County/USC Hospital 'engineers' solutions to delays, overcrowding.(over crouding management in USC University Hospital )
April 1, 2005... More efficient ways of managing triage, scheduling and routing of patients through Los Angeles County/USC Hospital could trim delays dramatically and relieve overcrowded conditions, according to a team of engineers at the University of Southern...

CSIM 19 is now available!(Literature Files)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2005... Need to build models of highly complex systems? CSIM, the world's preferred low-cost simulation tool, just got even better. Using the popular C and C++ languages, this advanced simulation toolkit enables you to create process-oriented, discrete...

Frontier Analyst[R] efficiency and performance measurement.(Banxia Software Ltd's product)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2005... Banxia[R] Frontier Analyst[R] is a proven tool that gives you detailed insights into how your business units are performing, so that you can quickly identify and target those critical areas which will have the greatest impact on improved...

Introducing Micro Saint Sharp Version 2.0 with 3D Animation!(Brief Article)
April 1, 2005... Micro Analysis & Design is excited to announce the release of Micro Saint Sharp Version 2.0 and the new Animator3D! Now there are 3 ways to view your models: network diagram view, 2D animation and 3D animation. Regardless of what your needs are...

Distribution fitting software.(Geer Mountain Software Corp)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2005... Stat::Fit[R] statistically fits your data to the most useful analytical distribution. Version 2 includes 11 additional distributions and enhanced graphics capabilities. The Auto::Fit function automatically fits continuous and discrete...

Count on Arena for enterprise-wide simulation.(Arena[R] simulation software)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2005... Arena[R] simulation software offers the unparalleled ease-of-use, flexibility, and domain expertise required for modeling any aspect of a business enterprise. The Arena product family supports both in-depth analyses of a particular functional...

Logical Decisions[R] for Windows[TM].(Product Information)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2005... Logical Decisions[R] for Windows[TM], Version 5.1 helps you evaluate choices requiring critical preference and value judgements. LDW lets you combine qualitative and quantitative concerns in a single model. LDW also lets you simultaneously...

DEA SolverPro.(Data Envelopment Analysis)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2005... DEA SolverPro has been widely utilized all over the world. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] With popular demands on additional features. DEA SolverPro Version 4.1 is now available. With more than 130 models in 32 clusters, Version 4.1 added such...

Sobering thought: can IP solve liquor store scheduling woes? In the province of Quebec, where myriad union rules turn a seemingly simple employee scheduling problem into a logistical nightmare that perhaps only an operations researcher can appreciate, the answer is yes.(INTERNATIONAL O.R.)(internet protocol)
April 1, 2005... THE SAQ (IN FRENCH, SOCIETE DES ALCOOLS DU QUEBEC) is a public corporation of the province of Quebec responsible for distributing and selling alcohol-based products in its territory through a large network of more than 400 stores and...

The 'sound' science of scheduling: viable volunteer schedule produced by O.R. model is music to the ears of Edmonton Folk Festival organizers.(INTERNATIONAL O.R.)(operations research)
April 1, 2005... WHAT DO THE COWBOY JUNKIES, GORD DOWNIE, Oysterband, Ian Tyson, Ashley Maclsaac, Daniel Lanois, Taj Mahal, Bruce Cockburn, Blue Rodeo, Natalie Merchant and David Byrne have in common? They have all recently appeared at the Edmonton Folk Fest!...

Problem solving in airline operations: marrying end-user modeling and large-scale optimization pays off at SAS and other carriers.(INTERNATIONAL O.R.)(Scandinavian Airline Systems)
April 1, 2005... THE AIRLINE INDUSTRY EXPERIENCES VERY CHALLENGING TIMES, and many airlines need to undertake substantial changes to their business processes to get back to profitability. Because an airline's operations are generally considered a cost driver,...

Pulp fact, not fiction: by taking the guesswork out of the equation, operations research-based process control system helps cut costs, reduce environmental impact at Swedish paper mill.
April 1, 2005... THE FOREST INDUSTRY IS A VERY IMPORTANT SECTOR IN SWEDEN, a country with only 9 million inhabitants. Sweden is the world's fourth largest export of pulp and paper, and the second largest export country for sawn timber. The total export value...

Inside the Edelman competition: a behind-the-scenes look at the 'Super Bowl of O.R.' from two U.K.-based coaches.(INTERNATIONAL O.R.)
April 1, 2005... THE ANNUAL INFORMS FRANZ EDELMAN AWARD COMPETITION, first held in 1972, aims to reward excellence in operations research and management science practice from around the world. It was originally established by The Institute of the Management...

Crystal ball v7.0.1 Professional: intuitive, well-constructed Excel add-in offers aid to anyone modeling uncertainty or risk, or working with forecasting or optimization problems.(SOFTWAREREVIEW)
April 1, 2005... "The best way to predict the future is to invent it." Gypsy Rose-Lee might take issue with the words of Alan Kay and instead invite us to look into her crystal ball (which many would think was much the same thing). A more profitable option...

Sun, sand, surf & science.(INFORMS NEWS)(Calendar)
April 1, 2005... Aloha! The 17th Triennial Conference of the International Federation of Operational Research Societies (IFORS) will take place July 11-15 in Honolulu. The conference is being hosted by INFORMS. The conference Organizing and Program...

Big time in the big easy.(INFORMS Annual Meeting 2005)
April 1, 2005... New Orleans, home to world-famous cuisine, music, architecture, art and nightlife, is preparing to host the INFORMS Annual Meeting 2005, Nov. 13-16. The mild November climate and New Orleans hospitality, combined with an exciting technical...

2005 INFORMS Combined Colloquia.
April 1, 2005... The 2005 INFORMS Combined Colloquia will be held Nov. 11-12, the Friday and Saturday immediately preceding the INFORMS Annual Meeting in New Orleans. This year, the Combined Colloquia will feature the Seventh Teaching Effectiveness Colloquium,...

Applied probability.(2004 Erlang Prize awarded to David Gamarnik of Watson Research Center)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2005... The Erlang Prize: The 2004 Erlang Prize was awarded to David Gamarnik from the IBM T.J. Watson Research Center in Yorktown Heights, N.Y. This award recognizes David's deep and creative contributions to stability theory for queueing network...

Aviation Applications.(2004 Best Dissertation Award )(Brief Article)
April 1, 2005... Best Dissertation Award: The Aviation Applications Section presented the 2004 Best Dissertation Award to Laurie Anne Garrow of the Georgia Institute of Technology for the thesis, "Comparison of Choice Models Representing Correlation and Random...

Computing Society.(2004 INFORMS Computing Society)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2005... ICS Prize: The INFORMS Computing Society awarded the 2004 ICS Prize for research excellence in the interface between operations research and computer science to Nikolaos V. Sahinidis and Mohit Tawarmalani for their contributions to the field of...

CPMS, the Practice Section.(College on the Practice of Management Science)
April 1, 2005... Wagner Prize: Tom Duffy, Manos Hatzakis, Russ Labe, Bonnie Liao, Je Oh, Adeesh Setya and Lihua Yang of Merrill Lynch won this year's Wagner Prize for "Liquidity Risk of Revolving Credit Lines." Major Steven A. Stoddard, Dinesh Mehta, Alexandra...

Decision analysis Society.(INFORMS SUBDIVISION AWARDS)
April 1, 2005... Student Paper Competition Award: The 2004 Student Paper Competition Award was given to Warren J. Hahn for "A Discrete-Time Approach for Valuing Real Options with Underlying Mean-Reverting Stochastic Processes." The award is given annually to...

Energy, natural resources and the environment section.(2001 Best Paper in Forestry Sponsored Sessions Award)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2005... Best Paper in Forestry Sponsored Sessions Award: The 2001 Best Paper in Forestry Sponsored Sessions Award was given to Laurel Travis, Michael Bevers and Curtis Flather for the paper "Spatial Reserve Design: A Comparison of Methods for...

Financial services section.(2004 Best Presentation Award)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2005... Best Presentation Award: The 2004 Best Presentation Award was given to Dessislava Pachamanova, Michael Allietta and Thomas Malloy of Babson College for the paper, "The Profitability of Home Equity Protection." [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] ...

Health Applications Section.(Bonder Scholarship for Applied Operations Research in Health Applications)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2005... Bonder Scholarship for Applied Operations Research in Health Applications: The Health Applications Section presented the 2004 Bonder Scholarship for Applied Operations Research in Health Applications to Steven Shechter. The purpose of the...

INFORMS subdivision committee.(Judith Liebman Award for Student Chapter Service)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2005... Judith Liebman Award for Student Chapter Service: The Judith Liebman Award for Student Chapter Service was presented to Michele Pfund in appreciation of her outstanding service to the Arizona State University Student Chapter; to Deepak Rajan in...

INFORM-ED (Forum on Education).( honored Andres Weintraub )(Brief Article)
April 1, 2005... The INFORM-ED (Forum on Education) honored Andres Weintraub in recognition of two years as vice president of Education and Outreach. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Junior Faculty Interest Group Forum.(Paper Competition Award)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2005... JFIG Paper Competition Award: The Junior Faculty Interest Group Forum presented the 2004 JFIG Paper Competition Award to Ebru Bish and Qiong Wang of the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University Grado Department of Industrial and...

Manufacturing and Service Operations Management Society.(INFORMS SUBDIVISION AWARDS)
April 1, 2005... Distinguished Fellows Award: Morris A. Cohen of the University of Pennsylvania and Awi Federgruen of Columbia University received the Distinguished Fellows Award from the Manufacturing and Service Operations Management Society in recognition of...

Military Applications Society.(INFORMS SUBDIVISION AWARDS)
April 1, 2005... Bonder Scholarship for Applied Operations Research in Military Applications: The Military Applications Society presented the 2004 Bonder Scholarship for Applied Operations Research in Military Applications to Amanda Muller. The purpose of the...

Omega Rho.(International Honor Society Omega Rho)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2005... Distinguished Lecturer: The International Honor Society Omega Rho certified Seth Bonder as an honorary member of the Society. The objective of Omega Rho is to encourage operations research and management sciences related disciplines. ...

Optimization Section.(Optimization Prize for Young Researchers)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2005... Optimization Prize for Young Researchers: The Optimization Section presented the 2004 Optimization Prize for Young Researchers to Jiawei Zhang for his paper, "Approximating the Two-Level Facility Location Problem Via a Quasi-Greedy Approach."...

Quality, Statistics and Reliability Section.(Student Paper Award)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2005... Best Student Paper Award: The Quality, Statistics and Reliability (QSR) Section honored Abhyuday Mandal of the Georgia Institute of Technology with the 2004 Best Student Paper Award in recognition of the paper, "Sequential Elimination of Level...

Railroad Applications Section.(Student Competition Award)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2005... Management Science in Railroad Applications Student Competition Award: The Rail Applications Special Interest Group in conjunction with Railway Age awarded Michiel J. Vromans first place in the 2004 Management Science in Railroad Applications...

Revenue Management and Pricing Section.(Informs Subdivision Awards)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2005... Revenue Management and Pricing Section Historical Prize: The 2004 Revenue Management and Pricing Section Historical Prize was awarded to Kenneth Littlewood for work he conducted while at British Overseas Airways Corporation and published at the...

Technology Management Section.(INFORMS SUBDIVISION AWARDS)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2005... Best Dissertation Award: The Technology Management Section presented the 2004 Best Dissertation Award to Corrine Post of Pace University for the thesis, "Allocating Favorable Work Contexts in Industrial R & D: The Role of Race/Ethnicity,...

Transportation Science and Logistics Section.(INFORMS SUBDIVISION AWARDS)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2005... Best Paper Award: The Transportation Science and Logistics Section presented the first-place award for Best Paper in Transportation Science and Logistics to Gilbert Laporte, Francois V. Louveaux and Luc Van Hamme for the paper, "An Integer...

UMass Student Chapter reactivates.(University of Massachusetts Student Chapter of INFORMS' meeting)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2005... The reactivated University of Massachusetts Student Chapter of INFORMS held its first fall meeting last September, with participation by undergraduate and graduate students from various schools and departments including the Isenberg School of...

Dimitris J. Bertsimas, Howard Raiffa and Thomas L. Saaty.(appointments at National Academy of Engineering)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2005... Dimitris J. Bertsimas, Howard Raiffa and Thomas L. Saaty--three prominent members of the operations research community--were elected to the National Academy of Engineering. They were three of 74 new members and 10 foreign associates announced...

Jack P.C. Kleijnen.(appointed at Wageningen University and Research Centre )(Brief Article)
April 1, 2005... Jack P.C. Kleijnen has been appointed as a part-time professor in the Operations Research and Logistics group at Wageningen University and Research Centre (WUR) in Wageningen (the Netherlands), starting Jan. 17. He will continue to be a...

Fishman receives Simulation Society's Lifetime Achievement Award.(INFORMS NEWS)
April 1, 2005... The INFORMS Simulation Society awarded George S. Fishman, professor emeritus of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, its Lifetime Professional Achievement Award at the opening session of the 2004 Winter Simulation Conference held in...

In memoriam: Ward Edwards.(behavioral scientist)(Brief Article)(Obituary)
April 1, 2005... Ward Edwards, internationally known authority on decision analysis and behavioral decision research, died Feb. 1 in Glendale (Calif.) Memorial Hospital. Dr. Edwards retired from the University of Southern California in 1995 after a career...

Case Competition.(INFORMS NEWS)
April 1, 2005... The INFORMS Peer-Reviewed Case Competition is designed to encourage the creation, dissemination and use of new, unpublished cases in operations research and the management sciences. All submissions and supporting documentation are due by Aug....

Meetings.(INFORMS NEWS)(Calendar)
April 1, 2005... INFORMS National & International Meetings 2005 April 17-19 INFORMS Spring Conference 2005 Applying Science to the Art of Business Westin Mission Hills Resort Palm Springs, Calif. Chair: Rina Schneur, Verizon...

Palisade opens office down under.(Asia-Pacific Pty Limited)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2005... Palisade Corporation announced the opening of Palisade Asia-Pacific Pty Limited, a new office and training facility in the Sydney suburb of Milsons Point. Palisade develops software for risk analysis, decision analysis, optimization and...

Frontline Solvers power optimization capabilities in Lumina's Analytica.(Lumina Decisions Systems Inc. introduces Analytica 3.1 using Frontline Systems Inc.'s Solvers/Optimizers )(Brief Article)
April 1, 2005... Lumina Decision Systems, Inc.'s Analytica 3.1, the latest release of a visual tool for creating, analyzing and communicating decision models, empowers users to find optimal decision strategies thanks to Solvers/Optimizers licensed from...

ISO to develop analytic products.(Insurance Services Office Inc.'s ISO Innovative Analytics )(Brief Article)
April 1, 2005... The Insurance Services Office (ISO) has formed an independent division to develop new analytic solutions and enhance existing products and services for professionals who classify and evaluate risk and detect fraud. ISO Innovative Analytics...

Cube Route makes Canadian top 25 I.T. list.(Branham Group Inc.'s 25 Canadian I.T. Up and Comers award)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2005... Cube Route, a provider of on-demand logistics services, announced that it has been named by The Branham Group as one of the top 25 Canadian "I.T. Up and Comers." The annual Branham 300 Award provides a snapshot of the 300 leading private and...

Mobile functionality for fleet management.(GeoCom TMS Inc.'s A.MAZE )(Brief Article)
April 1, 2005... GEOCOM, a global provider of Fleet Optimization and Territory Design solutions, and Imagina, a provider of e-business solutions, announced plans to deliver the next generation of mobile functionality for fleet management applications, including...

Frontline's technology boosts Crystal Ball's speed.(Frontline Systems Inc.'s PSI Technology used to enhance Decisioneering Inc.'s decision support software)
April 1, 2005... Decisioneering's Crystal Ball 7.1, the latest release of a product for risk analysis and Monte Carlo simulation in Microsoft Excel, is up to 100 times faster than previous releases thanks to PSI Technology licensed from Frontline Systems, Inc....

OptTek, Halliburton's Landmark Graphics Corp. establish alliance.(OptTek Systems Inc.)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2005... OptTek Systems, Inc., developers of optimization solutions for simulation software, announced that Landmark Graphics Corporation, a wholly owned business unit of Halliburton, has incorporated OptTek Systems' OptQuest optimization technology...

Selling our wares: what we don't tell them can hurt us.(LAST WORD)
April 1, 2005... In spite of the large number of academics who provide instruction in the many institutions of higher education throughout our country, it is surprising how little is known and understood about the academic profession by those outside its...