Operational Research (EPT 495/2): Electronic Books

For operators of nuclear research facilities, it is of particular importance to investigate minor incidents: indeed, as safety demonstrations are generally based on the presence of several independent "lines of defence", only through attentive investigation of every occurrence, usually minor and of no consequence, can the level of trust placed in each of these defensive lines be confirmed, or the potential risks arising out of a possible weakness in the system be anticipated.The efficiency of the system is based on a rigorous procedure: stringent attention to all incidents, consideration of the potential consequences of the incidents in their most pessimistic scenarios, and promotion of a broad conception of transpositions of the events, in time and space, for experience feedback.This efficiency presumes motivation on the part of all those involved, hence the importance of dissociating from the concept of an "incident" any notion of "error" or "blame" both in internal analysis and in public communications.The nuclear industry has developed some very progressive tools for experience feedback, which could interest also management of other technological risks.This book presents the proceedings of a NATO Advanced Workshop dedicated to this important matter of concern.

The ocean is a fundamental component of the earth's biosphere. It covers roughly 70 percent of Earth's surface and plays a pivotal role in the cycling of life's building blocks, such as nitrogen, carbon, oxygen, and sulfur. The ocean also contributes to regulating the climate system. Most of the primary producers in the ocean comprise of microscopic plants and some bacteria; and these photosynthetic organisms (phytoplankton) form the base of the ocean's food web. Monitoring the health of the ocean and its productivity is critical to understanding and managing the ocean's essential functions and living resources. Because the ocean is so vast and difficult for humans to explore, satellite remote sensing of ocean color is currently the only way to observe and monitor the biological state of the surface ocean globally on time scales of days to decades. Ocean color measurements reveal a wealth of ecologically important characteristics including: chlorophyll concentration, the rate of phytoplankton photosynthesis, sediment transport, dispersion of pollutants, and responses of oceanic biota to long-term climate changes. Continuity of satellite ocean color data and associated climate research products are presently at significant risk for the U.S. ocean color community. Assessing Requirements for Sustained Ocean Color Research and Operationsaims to identify the ocean color data needs for a broad range of end users, develop a consensus for the minimum requirements, and outline options to meet these needs on a sustained basis. The report assesses lessons learned in global ocean color remote sensing from the SeaWiFS/MODIS era to guide planning for acquisition of future global ocean color radiance data to support U.S. research and operational needs.

This volume is a collection of critical ideas relating organization science to both operations and accomplishments in the health care environment. A thematic guide for current leaders and practitioners, as well as health administration, business administration and organization development professors and students alike, this work pulls in a broad cross-section of perspectives on the important linkage of scholarship and practice with a solid global perspective. Covering key themes from culture, change, leadership, teams, IT and a systemic perspective of health care overall, it provides both practical insights and theoretical perspectives that will support immediate improvements and encourage longer term dialogue on how organization science can impact the delivery, structure and operations of health care systems globally. "Advances in Health Care Management" provides a forum for leading research on health care management with previous volumes providing reviews of the field, conference papers and research on selected topics including bioterrorism, international health care management, entrepreneurship, patient safety and nursing and health professional shortages.

Using a wide range of operational research (OR) optimization examples, Applied Operational Research with SAS demonstrates how the OR procedures in SAS work. The book is one of the first to extensively cover the application of SAS procedures to OR problems, such as single criterion optimization, project management decisions, printed circuit board assembly, and multiple criteria decision making. The text begins with the algorithms and methods for linear programming, integer linear programming, and goal programming models. It then describes the principles of several OR procedures in SAS. Subsequent chapters explain how to use these procedures to solve various types of OR problems. Each of these chapters describes the concept of an OR problem, presents an example of the problem, and discusses the specific procedure and its macros for the optimal solution of the problem. The macros include data handling, model building, and report writing. While primarily designed for SAS users in OR and marketing analytics, the book can also be used by readers interested in mathematical modeling techniques. By formulating the OR problems as mathematical models, the authors show how SAS can solve a variety of optimization problems.

An Annotated Timeline of Operations Research: An Informal History recounts the evolution of Operations Research (OR) as a new science - the science of decision making. Arising from the urgent operational issues of World War II, the philosophy and methodology of OR has permeated the resolution of decision problems in business, industry, and government. The Timeline chronicles the history of OR in the form of self-contained, expository entries. Each entry presents a concise explanation of the events and people under discussion, and provides key sources where further relevant information can be obtained. In addition, books and papers that have influenced the development of OR or helped to educate the first generations of OR academics and practitioners are cited throughout the book. Starting in 1564 with seminal ideas that form the precursors of OR, the Timeline traces the key ideas and events of OR through 2004. The Timeline should interest anyone involved in OR - researchers, practitioners, academics, and, especially, students - who wish to learn how OR came into being. Further, the scope and expository style of the Timeline should make it of value to the general reader interested in the development of science and technology in the last half of the twentieth century. - The U.S. World War II OR analyst assigned to the 8th Air force in England who later became a Supreme Court justice; - Who first solved the general n-point facility location problem when he was 16

This book provides an insight into the ‘hot’ field of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) SystemsIn this book, the authors provide an insight into the field of RFID systems with an emphasis on networking aspects and research challenges related to passive Ultra High Frequency (UHF) RFID systems. The book reviews various algorithms, protocols and design solutions that have been developed within the area, including most recent advances. In addition, authors cover a wide range of recognized problems in RFID industry, striking a balance between theoretical and practical coverage. Limitations of the technology and state-of-the-art solutions are identified and new research opportunities are addressed. Finally, the book is authored by experts and respected researchers in the field and every chapter is peer reviewed. Key Features: Provides the most comprehensive analysis of networking aspects of RFID systems, including tag identification protocols and reader anti-collision algorithms Covers in detail major research problems of passive UHF systems such as improving reading accuracy, reading range and throughput Analyzes other “hot topics” including localization of passive RFID tags, energy harvesting, simulator and emulator design, security and privacy Discusses design of tag antennas, tag and reader circuits for passive UHF RFID systems Presents EPCGlobal architecture framework, middleware and protocols Includes an accompanying website with PowerPoint slides and solutions to the problems (http://www.wiley.com/go/bolic-rfid) This book will be an invaluable guide for researchers and graduate students in electrical engineering and computer science, and researchers and developers in telecommunication industry.

The Constraint Handling Rules (CHR) language is a declarative concurrent committed-choice constraint logic programming language consisting of guarded rules that transform multisets of relations called constraints until no more change occurs. The CHR language saw the light more than 15 years ago. Since then, it has become a major declarative specification and implementation language for constraint-based algorithms and applications. In recent years, five workshops on constraint handling rules have spurred the exchange of ideas within the CHR community, which has led to increased international collaboration, new theoretical results and optimized implementations. The aim of this volume was to attract high-quality research papers on these recent advances in Constraint Handling Rules. The 7 papers presented together with an introductory paper on CHR cover topics on search, applications, theory, and implementation of CHR.