OR/MS Today articles from June 2006

OR/MS Today archives from June 2006

Oh what a night!(INSIDE STORY)(Institute For Operations Research and The Management Sciences party)(Editorial)
June 1, 2006... Any time you walk into a ballroom and the first person you see is "Science of Better" champion Irv Lustig wearing a black top hat (and tux) right out of the Fred Astaire Collection instead of his trademark white fedora, you know something...

A great night for the profession.(PRESIDENT'S DESK)
June 1, 2006... "John, may I have the committee's decision, please." Even veteran Edelman competitors and observers had a heightened sense of anticipation as John Milne, chair of the 2006 Edelman competition, handed an envelope to Russ Labe, INFORMS vice...

Class warfare on the Internet.(INFORMS ONLINE)
June 1, 2006... The Internet has long had a reputation as a "Wild West," where rules are relatively few and businesses compete on a level playing field. Success in Internet commerce has depended on a content producer's ability to generate an audience. (I...

Rich, challenging, meaningful problems.(WAS IT SOMETHING I SAID)(Canadian Operational Research Society conference)
June 1, 2006... My most recent trip is the Canadian Operational Research Society (CORS) conference in Montreal (a big thanks to Pierre L'Ecuyer for inviting me to visit during CORS and for organizing a terrific one-day workshop on Call Center Research...

Ain't it all operations?(CYBERSPACE)(human bahavior)
June 1, 2006... One of the most enigmatic characters in English literature is Joe Christmas in William Faulkner's "Light in August" (1932). Christmas does not know whether he is black or white. He "passes for white" in a small Southern town but seems to both...

Cheaters never win, but sometimes they make better grades.(ISSUES IN EDUCATION)
June 1, 2006... When it comes to cheating, I admit I have always been a bit naive. At the start of each semester, I prepare a stern lecture about cheating to give to each of my classes. However, I always feel as if I am accusing the students before they've...

Requiem for beloved software.(FORUM)(Lotus Manuscript Word Processor)
June 1, 2006... In order to understand the future, one has to appreciate the present as a function of the past. The defunct Lotus Manuscript Word Processor (circa 1986) fits the bill as a tool on which present word processing functions were built. This article...

Book takes a novel approach to critical decision-making.(REAL WORLD)(Framed!)(Brief article)(Book review)
June 1, 2006... When economics professor Hari Singh set out to write a book about making decisions, he decided to wrap the lessons in a murder mystery to make them easier to understand. The resulting book--"Framed!"--teaches critical decision-making...

DoD announces winners of Modeling and Simulation Awards.(REAL WORLD)(Department of Defense)
June 1, 2006... The Department of Defense named five winners have for the eighth annual Department of Defense Modeling and Simulation Awards. The winners for each category are: Acquisition: Joint Attack Munitions Systems (JAMS) Project Office, U.S. Army...

Operational risk management market to grow to $1.38 billion by 2010.(REAL WORLD)(Brief article)
June 1, 2006... According to Chartis Research's latest report on operational risk management systems, the worldwide operational risk management (ORM) market (financial services sector only) will grow at a compound annual growth rate of 4.7 percent to $1.38...

An affair to remember everyone: INFORMS throws a spectacular, Oscar-like event in honor of the 2006 Edelman Award. And the winner is ...(Edelman Party 2006)(Institute For Operations Research and The Management Sciences party)(Editorial)
June 1, 2006... What if INFORMS and CPMS, the Practice Section of INFORMS, held a gala dinner party to announce the winner of the 2006 Franz Edelman Award and just about everybody showed up? [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] ...

Edelman award well worth the wait for Warner Robins.(Edelman Winner 2006)(Institute For Operations Research and The Management Services awards Warner Robins Air Logistics Center )
June 1, 2006... After an eight-month effort to identify and verify outstanding achievement in operations research, a day-long series of presentations from five finalists and a three-hour gala thrown in honor of it all, INFORMS bestowed the 2006 Franz Edelman...

To queue or not to queue? In a U.S. presidential election, that should not be a question!(VOTING QUEUES)
June 1, 2006... Will the 2008 U.S. presidential election be decided by election queues? We don't know, but operations research could be used to make every vote count and help secure the integrity of the voting process. Queues in U.S. presidential...

Patient flow: the new queueing theory for healthcare.
June 1, 2006... From birth to death, we are all part of the healthcare system. We rely on both public and private organizations to provide preventive care (such as inoculations) and to treat our illnesses, diseases and injuries. Healthcare is perhaps the...

Serving the services industry: the emerging science of service management opens opportunities for operations research and management science.
June 1, 2006... The services industry continues to be a rapidly growing segment of many developed economies, including the U.S. economy [1, 2]. Although a significant portion of the services industry is focused on providing services to individuals (medical,...

On the road to integration: 2006 survey of vehicle routing software spotlights critical supply chain management role.
June 1, 2006... In this fifth installment of the OR/MS Today vehicle routing survey, we examine the trend toward software and technology integration, with an eye on increasing prevalence of cell phones among commercial drivers. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] ...

MATLAB: software answers needs of users involved in numerical and symbolic analysis.
June 1, 2006... MATLAB STANDS FOR MATrix-LABoratory. It started as a utility to facilitate access to high-performance linear, algebraic, numerical analysis software, which is essential in many areas of science and practically all areas of business analysis. In...

Award for meeting's best interactive presentation.(INFORMS NEWS)
June 1, 2006... All interested parties are invited to submit an interactive presentation for display at the INFORMS Annual Meeting 2006 Pittsburgh. Presentations may consist of the use of 3-dimensional display, hands-on computer simulations or other visual...

Be part of the O.R. Renaissance.(operations research)
June 1, 2006... Among the many nicknames for Pittsburgh (City of Champions, the Steel City, the 'Burgh), the Renaissance City is perhaps the most appropriate. From a smoky steel town, Pittsburgh has grown into a vibrant medical, technical and educational hub....

2006 INFORMS Combined Colloquia.(INFORMS NEWS)
June 1, 2006... The 2006 INFORMS Combined Colloquia will be held Nov. 3-4, the Friday and Saturday immediately preceding the INFORMS Annual Meeting in Pittsburgh. This year, the Combined Colloquia will feature the eighth annual Teaching Effectiveness...

Kevin McCardle received the Anne C. Rosenfield Distinguished Community Partnership Prize.(PEOPLE)
June 1, 2006... Kevin McCardle, an INFORMS member and professor at the UCLA Anderson School of Management who has done extensive pro bono work for the St. Joseph Center (SJC) in Venice, Calif., received the Anne C. Rosenfield Distinguished Community...

William A. Massey received the 2006 Blackwell-Tapia Prize.(PEOPLE)
June 1, 2006... William A. Massey, the Edwin S. Wiley Professor of Operations Research and Financial Engineering at Princeton University, received the 2006 Blackwell-Tapia Prize. The prize is awarded every second year in honor of the legacy of David H....

Charles Bartlett 'Bart' McGuire.(died due to cancer)(Obituary)
June 1, 2006... Charles Bartlett "Bart" McGuire, an INFORMS member and emeritus professor of public policy at the University of California, Berkeley, known for his work on the first mathematical framework to predict travel and route choices in urban...

INFORMS meetings.(INFORMS NEWS)
June 1, 2006... INFORMS National & International Meetings 2006 June 25-28 INFORMS International Hong Kong 2006 Sheraton Hotel & Towers Hong Kong Hong Kong, China In conjunction with the Hong Kong Operational Research Society and the...

The programmer's parable.(ORACLE)
June 1, 2006... "I just don't get it, Rob," the frustrated OR analyst sighed. "I've been over this computer code a few dozen times. I've inserted print messages to track when key values get changed. I can see it's going through the logic pretty much as I...