This volume brings out recent developments and current activity in different areas of operational research. The topics covered include the following major areas: mathematical programming, queuing theory, reliability and maintenance, inventory and production control, statistical methods, networks and sequencing, and information technology. Recent Developments in Operational Research will be of considerable value and interest to operational researchers, both theoreticians and practitioners, as well as a reference source for research workers.
Operations Research: A Practical Introduction is just that: a hands-on approach to the field of operations research (OR) and a useful guide for using OR techniques in scientific decision making, design, analysis and management. The text accomplishes two goals. First, it provides readers with an introduction to standard mathematical models and algorithms. Second, it is a thorough examination of practical issues relevant to the development and use of computational methods for problem solving. Highlights: All chapters contain up-to-date topics and summaries A succinct presentation to fit a one-term course Each chapter has references, readings, and list of key terms Includes illustrative and current applications New exercises are added throughout the text Software tools have been updated with the newest and most popular software Many students of various disciplines such as mathematics, economics, industrial engineering and computer science often take one course in operations research. This book is written to provide a succinct and efficient introduction to the subject for these students, while offering a sound and fundamental preparation for more advanced courses in linear and nonlinear optimization, and many stochastic models and analyses. It provides relevant analytical tools for this varied audience and will also serve professionals, corporate managers, and technical consultants.
This book analyzes the underlying theoretical principles of multi-objective linear programming problems with multi-choice parameters. It studies transportation problems on the same domain with extension to fuzzy stochastic criteria, and offers insights into sensitivity analysis through symmetric duality and complementarity using non-convex programming. These analytical presentations provide ample scope for researchers to contemplate real-world problems with an innovative vision. The formulation, analysis and solution procedures on inventory control models in the book use both deterministic and fuzzy parameters, and provide novel optimal inventory policies. The book discusses a wide range of optimal operational techniques for policy makers, government and private agencies in the fields of e-governance and agricultural crop insurance, which are crucial for developing countries. The recommendations address the gaps and remedies in various schemes that influence decision-making in the context of the economic development of such countries.
"This is the book I have been waiting for. Community Operational Research has shown that analysis can be used not only for, but also with, community groups, helping them to gain more control of their situations. What Midgley and Ochoa-Arias' volume does is provide not only rich examples of grass-roots practice, but also thought-provoking theoretical explorations. The editors have a point of view, but they allow space for debate with those who interpret Community OR differently." Jonathan Rosenhead (Emeritus Professor of Operational Research, London School of Economics and Political Science; Ex-President of the ORS)
The interface of Operation Research and Computer Science - although elusive to a precise definition - has been a fertile area of both methodological and applied research. The papers in this book, written by experts in their respective fields, convey the current state-of-the-art in this interface across a broad spectrum of research domains which include optimization techniques, linear programming, interior point algorithms, networks, computer graphics in operations research, parallel algorithms and implementations, planning and scheduling, genetic algorithms, heuristic search techniques and data retrieval.
This book gathers a selection of refereed papers presented at the 4th International Symposium and 26th National Conference of the Hellenic Operational Research Society. It highlights recent scientific advances in operational research and management science (OR/MS), with a focus on linking OR/MS with other areas of quantitative methods in a multidisciplinary framework. Topics covered include areas such as business process modeling, supply chain management, organization performance and strategy planning, revenue management, financial applications, production planning, metaheuristics, logistics, inventory systems, and energy systems.
Operations research uses quantitative models to analyze and predict the behavior of systems and to provide information for decision makers. Two key concepts in operations research are optimization and uncertainty. This volume consists of a collection of peer reviewed papers from the International Workshop on Recent Advances in Stochastic Operations Research (RASOR 2005), August 25OCo26, 2005, Canmore, Alberta, Canada. In particular, the book focusses on models in stochastic operations research, including queueing models, inventory models, financial engineering models, reliability models, and simulations models."
Developments in Operational Research reviews developments in operational research (OR) and includes numerical examples to illustrate techniques and applications. Topics covered include some of the most widely used OR ""techniques"", such as mathematical programming and simulation, together with the contribution of OR methodology to specific application areas, such as capital investment appraisal and purchasing. This book is comprised of seven chapters and begins with an introduction to the state of mathematical programming systems, along with the relevance of other optimization algorithms to OR and techniques for handling certain types of nonlinearity. The discussion then turns to network optimization techniques and their applications for the New Zealand Justice Department as well as for the wheat and dairy industries. The following chapters focus on computer simulation as applied in OR, with emphasis on various approaches to discrete event modeling; application of OR to industrial maintenance and replacement; financial appraisal methods, including discounting methods; and the use of Bayesian decision analysis to decision making. This text concludes by looking at the purchasing function and the limitations of classical stock control theory in practice. Models and procedures are developed to cope with real situations. Materials requirements planning, quantity discounts, price inflation, commodity purchasing decisions, and blending problems are considered. This monograph will be of interest to planners, decision makers, and others involved in operations research.
Operations Research (OR) emerged in an effort to improve the effectiveness of newly inducted weapons and equipment during World War II. While rapid growth ofOR led to its becoming an important aid to decision making in all sectors including defense, its contribution in defense remained largely confined to classified reports. Very few books dealing with applications of quantitative decision making techniques in military have been published presumably due to limited availability ofrelevant information. The situation changed rapidly during the last few years. The recognition of the subject of Military Operations Research (MOR) gave tremendous boost to its development. Books and journals on MOR started appearing. The number of sessions on MOR at national and international conferences also registered an increase. The volume of teaching, training and research activities in the field of MOR at military schools and non-military schools enhanced considerably. Military executives and commanders started taking increasing interest in getting scientific answers to questions pertaining to weapon acquisition, threat perception and quantification, assessment of damage or casualties, evaluation of chance of winning a battle, force mix, deployment and targeting of weapons against enemy targets, war games and scenario evaluation. Most of these problems were being tackled on the basis of intuition, judgment and experience or analysis under very simple assumptions. In an increasingly sophisticated and complex defense scenario resulting in advances in equipment and communications, the need for supplementing these practices by scientific research in MOR became imperative.
This is the first of two projected volumes on the history of operational research (OR) in Britain commissioned by the UK Operational Research Society. Based upon a vast array of published and unpublished sources, the book provides an original account of the discipline's pre-war and wartime origins. This serves as a prelude to a wide-ranging analysis of the diffusion of OR into the public and private sectors after 1945. The chapters on the role of OR in iron and steel and coalmining, and its rapid adoption in the UK corporate sector after 1960, will be of particular interest to practitioners. The book also analyses and explains the diffusion of OR into local and central government and provides an informed commentary on the origins and subsequent history of the OR Society. Professor Kirby has related the development of OR in the UK to contemporary developments in the USA. The book concludes with a resume of the post-1970 debates concerning the future trajectory of OR.
