(Press-News.org) In the wake of the devastating Japanese tsunami, the 2010 Haitian earthquake, and the recent threat of pandemic flu, a new issue of the journal Interfaces: The INFORMS Journal on the Practice of Operations Research is dedicated to improving responses to disasters, health crises, and acute public issues, according to the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS®).
The Interfaces special issue on Humanitarian Logistics: Doing Good with Good O.R. is edited by Ozlem Ergun, Pinar Keskinocak, and Julie Swann, the directors of the Georgia Tech Center for Health and Humanitarian Logistics.
Podcast interviews with editors and authors are at http://www.scienceofbetter.org/podcast/swann.html and at www.scienceofbetter.org/podcast/.
The studies in the issue are:
Pre-Positioning of Emergency Items for CARE International by Serhan Duran, Marco A. Gutierrez, Pinar Keskinocak
Optimizing Schedules for Maritime Humanitarian Cooperative Engagements from a United States Navy Sea Base by Javier Salmerón, Jeffrey Kline, Greta Spitz Densham
Helping a Small Development Organization Manage Volunteers More Efficiently by Mauro Falasca, Christopher Zobel, Cliff Ragsdale
Quantitative Methods for a New Configuration of Territorial Units in a Chilean Government Agency Tender Process by Guillermo Durán, Rafael Epstein, Cristian Martinez, Gonzalo Andres Zamorano
A Mathematical Programming Approach to Applicant Selection for a Degree Program Based on Affirmative Action by Guillermo Durán, Rodrigo Wolf-Yadlin
Doing Good with Good OR: Supporting Cost-Effective Hepatitis B Interventions by David W. Hutton, Margaret L. Brandeau, Samuel K. So
A Nonhomogeneous Agent-Based Simulation Approach to Modeling the Spread of Disease in a Pandemic Outbreak by Dionne M. Aleman, Theodorus G. Wibisono, Brian Schwartz
INFORMATION:
Reporters can receive a copy of any study or the entire issue from INFORMS Communications Director Barry List, barry.list@informs.org, 443-757-3560.
About INFORMS
The Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS®) is an international scientific society with 10,000 members, including Nobel Prize laureates, dedicated to applying scientific methods to help improve decision-making, management, and operations. Members of INFORMS work in business, government, and academia. They are represented in fields as diverse as airlines, health care, law enforcement, the military, financial engineering, and telecommunications. INFORMS serves the scientific and professional needs of operations research analysts, experts in analytics, consultants, scientists, students, educators, and managers, as well as their institutions, by publishing a variety of journals that describe the latest research in operations research. INFORMS Online (IOL) is at www.informs.org. Further information about operations research can be found at www.scienceofbetter.org.
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A new image and video of major Hurricane Dora were released today from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.
Satellites provide a bird's eye view of a hurricane's eye, and NASA noticed Hurricane Dora's eye from several of them. Infrared imagery from NASA's Aqua satellite provided forecasters with a clear view of a cloud-free eye in hurricane Dora as she strengthens near Category 5 status today. Meanwhile the GOES-11 satellite captured a movie of Dora's intensification over the last two days that clearly shows a developing eye.
The Atmospheric Infrared ...
ANN ARBOR, Mich.---The results of a study on candidates' use of Twitter in the 2010 midterm elections suggest that Republicans and Tea Party members used the social medium more effectively than their Democratic rivals.
The University of Michigan study, among the first to examine the Tea Party's social media strategies, also showed that analyzing Twitter activity can lead to good predictions of election winners.
Various social media tools have become a key part of campaign strategies in recent years. In 2010, nearly a quarter of online adults used social networks including ...
COLUMBUS, Ohio – The development of a new cell-culture system that mimics how specific nerve cell fibers in the brain become coated with protective myelin opens up new avenues of research about multiple sclerosis. Initial findings suggest that myelin regulates a key protein involved in sending long-distance signals.
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune disease characterized by damage to the myelin sheath surrounding nerve fibers. The cause remains unknown, and it is a chronic illness affecting the central nervous system that has no cure.
MS has long been considered ...
Rockville, Md. — Several reports indicate that prolonged viewing of mobile devices and other stereo 3D devices leads to visual discomfort, fatigue and even headaches. According to a new Journal of Vision study, the root cause may be the demand on our eyes to focus on the screen and simultaneously adjust to the distance of the content.
Scientifically referred to as vergence-accommodation, this conflict and its effect on viewers of stereo 3D displays are detailed in a recent Journal of Vision article, The Zone of Comfort: Predicting Visual Discomfort with Stereo Displays. ...
Stem cell researchers at UCLA have generated the first genome-wide mapping of a DNA modification called 5-hydroxymethylcytosine (5hmC) in embryonic stem cells, and discovered that it is predominantly found in genes that are turned on, or active.
The finding by researchers with the Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at UCLA may prove to be important in controlling diseases like cancer, where the regulation of certain genes plays a role in disease development.
"Any way you can control genes will be hugely important for human ...
Red may mean STOP or I LOVE YOU! A red splash on a toxic butterfly's wing screams DON'T EAT ME! In nature, one toxic butterfly species may mimic the wing pattern of another toxic species in the area. By using the same signal, they send a stronger message: DON'T EAT US!
Now several research teams that include Smithsonian scientists in Panama, have discovered that Heliconius butterflies mimic each other's red wing patterns through changes in the same gene.
Not only does this gene lead to the same red wing patterns in neighboring species, it also leads to a large variety ...
MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL (July 21, 2011) – A normal but concerning consequence of pregnancy is the fact that pregnant women are more susceptible to infection. University of Minnesota Medical School researchers have identified the underlying mechanisms for this physiologic immune suppression that may lead to new therapies to help ward off infections during pregnancy.
In pregnancy, immune system suppressing cells (called regulatory T cells) increase in number to protect the baby from attack by the mother's immune system. Because these cells are busy protecting the developing ...
A genetic study focusing on the Central American river turtle (Dermatemys mawii) recently turned up surprising results for a team of Smithsonian scientists involved in the conservation of this critically endangered species. Small tissue samples collected from 238 wild turtles at 15 different locations across their range in Southern Mexico, Belize and Guatemala revealed a "surprising lack" of genetic structure, the scientists write in a recent paper in the journal Conservation Genetics.
The turtles, which are entirely aquatic, represent populations from three different ...
Recent research conducted at Harvard Medical School and the Harvard School of Public Health may have strong implications for informing the controversial debate currently surrounding national health care reform.
In a study published in the July edition of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, the Harvard research team, led by first author Aakanksha Pande, a doctoral student in the Department of Population Medicine at HMS and Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute, found that Massachusetts health reform has effectively increased access to health care and reduced disparities. ...
ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Children with public insurance are 22 percent less likely to receive comprehensive primary care than those with private insurance, according to new research from the University of Michigan Medical School.
Public insurance programs cover one-third of U.S. children, many of whom belong to the most vulnerable groups, including minorities, the underprivileged and those in poor health. This includes children covered by Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP).
The study, available online ahead of print in Academic Pediatrics, determined ...
