Inside Story
Wacky World of OR
Peter Horner, editor
horner@lionhrtpub.com
We all know that Americans take their football way too seriously. The same could be said for most of the rest of the world about the brand of "football" known as soccer. In fact, when it comes to fanaticism, the soccer "hooligans" of the world make the "Black Hole" creatures from the Oakland Raider Football Nation seem like a bunch of Boy Scouts.
But what about cricket, the international game played out on fields of green by men in starched white pants and shirts? Surely cricket isn't visited by the vulgarities witnessed by other, less refined sporting endeavors?
You would think not, but how do you explain the cartoon that showed up in the South African press and on British television in early March, the one that depicted Frank Duckworth and Tony Lewis hung in effigy by a couple of disgruntled South African cricket fans? Their crime? Duckworth, a statistician, and Lewis, an operations researcher, devised an OR-based method to reset the target score of international cricket matches that are interrupted by rain. When South Africa failed to reach the "D/L" score and lost in the World Cup, the team's fans turned their wrath on the mathematicians.
"Thick skin does come in handy at times like this," Lewis quips. To find out more about cricket and the D/L method, check out "Batty Over Cricket" (page 42), one of several articles in this, our sixth Special International Issue of OR/MS Today. Once again our goal was to give readers a taste of the wide world of operations wherever it happens to be practiced or preached. Once again, Andres Weintraub of Chile, a past president of IFORS and current vice president of INFORMS, was instrumental in bringing much of the work to our attention. Andres and I also teamed up to coordinate a series of "snapshots" of OR based on a questionnaire sent to an international cast of professors and practitioners (page 46).
Our worldwide tour formally begins in Singapore where, according to contributor John Jarvis, logistics aren't always logical ("Logistics, Asia-Pacific Style," page 22). Jarvis, a professor at Georgia Tech and a former president of the Operations Research of America, has a unique vantage point as the director of The Logistics Institute-Asia Pacific.
Next, Martin L. Puterman and company outline a truly international problem we've all been concerned about since 9/11 — airport security — and how the screening process can be improved ("Right on Queue," page 26). The Vancouver International Airport serves as a valuable case study.
From Vancouver, we jet halfway around the world to South Africa, but not for cricket. Instead, Theodor J. Stewart gives us a peek at how a decision analysis process helps clarify the often politically and environmentally murky problem of water resource planning ("Thirsty for Consensus," page 30).
Our trip continues in New Zealand where a trio of researchers led by Andy Philpott developed a cutting-edge optical fibre network that connected with client and customers alike ("FIDO: Telecom's Best Friend," page 36).
As always, we hope you enjoy the ride.
OR/MS Today copyright © 2003 by the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences. All rights reserved.
Lionheart Publishing, Inc.
506 Roswell Rd., Suite 220, Marietta, GA 30060 USA
Phone: 770-431-0867 | Fax: 770-432-6969
E-mail: lpi@lionhrtpub.com
URL: http://www.lionhrtpub.com
Web Site © Copyright 2003 by Lionheart Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.