INFORMS journal announces special issue on using logistics, analytics in humanitarian relief

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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