OR in healthcare: A European perspective

The European Working Group “Operational Research Applied to Health Services” (ORAHS) is one of the domain specific EURO Working Groups organized by EURO - the European Association of Operational Research Societies. In this paper we report on the development of ORAHS as a platform for OR in health, and analyse the papers presented at meetings over the 35 years of its existence. We propose a two-way framework for analysis, where one dimension is the nine stages of the product life cycle: identifying consumer requirements, designing a new service to meet these requirements, forecasting demand for such a service, securing resources for it, allocating these resources, developing Programs & Plans to use these resources for delivering the service, establishing criteria for service delivery, managing the performance of the service, and finally, evaluating its performance. The other dimension is a three-level classification into broad application areas referring to processes at different levels in healthcare: Patients & Providers, Units & Hospitals, and Regional & National. We use this framework to carry out a quantitative analysis of all the papers presented during the meetings of ORAHS since its inception in 1975. We then describe developments over this period in applying OR approaches and techniques to healthcare, and present an overview of the main application areas and challenges.     

International publishing in operational research

The primary literature in OR, as defined in International Abstracts in Operations Research, has grown by 47 per cent between 1975 and 1985. EURO and North-America together account for 85 percent of the primary literature. The USA is more than three times as productive per capita as EURO. English has become the standard language; its share in the primary literature increased from 86 to 93 per cent. Most primary journals are nationalist and many cannot be called international. These and more detailed results are presented in this cross-section analysis of the OR primary literature.     

A prospective look at the OR system

The paper examines the long term problems of operational research through an analysis of OR as a system. The general environment will change as a result of the transformations occurring within the developed societies and of the mutations in the North-South relations; the interaction between OR, mass media and public opinion will be influenced by the emerging ideologies; the naive conceptions of the division of labour between policy makers and OR specialists will have to be revised as OR studies will be more and more developed for governments through national administrations, international organizations or public opinions; the formulation of goals will no longer be separated from the search for institutions liable to elaborate suitable goals; the tendency towards a systems analysis inspired by general systems theory should be reinforced; and finally the OR people will have to rethink the relations between their applied studies, the central core of OR itself and the various social sciences. Time seems to have come for an epistemology and a prospective study of OR.     

Profiles of the European Working Groups

In addition to the EURO conferences and the European Journal of Operational Research, the third major justification so far for the very existence of EURO as an association is the European Working Groups (EWGs).Based upon the booklet, “Report on the EURO Working Groups”, produced in 1981 by EURO in cooperation with European Institute for Advanced Studies in Management, the present paper comprises profiles of 10 EWGs. To stimulate interest in the existing groups and possible also in the establishment of new groups, the “Charter of the European Working Groups” is provided in extenso in the concluding section.     

“Untiring Labor Overcomes All!” The History of the Dutch Mathematical Society in Comparison to Its Various Counterparts in Europe

The Netherlands, like some other European countries, witnessed the emergence of several amateur mathematical societies in a “philomathy” atmosphere during the 18th and early 19th century. One of them, the Amsterdam Mathematical Society “Untiring Labor Overcomes All” (nowadays known as the Wiskundig Genootschap), during the early 19th century became a national institution which embodied almost the entire Dutch mathematical community. It would fulfil its role as a national mathematical Society even before the 1860s, when pure mathematics became the subject of professional research and mathematical Societies of “professionals” were founded all over Europe. This article points out the Dutch social climate (the gap between the social classes was not as enormous as elsewhere in Europe, and engineering courses were part of the mathematics curriculum at the university) and changes within the Society itself, thus describing how it was possible for the Wiskundig Genootschap to become a link between two kinds of societies (“amateurs” vs “professionals”) which should be clearly distinguished. Copyright 2001 Academic Press.Zoals in vele Europese landen ontstonden er ook in Nederland gedurende de 18de en vroege 19de eeuw wiskundige genootschappen van “liefhebbers.” Een van deze amateurgezelschappen, het Amsterdams Wiskundig Genootschap onder de zinspreuk “onvermoeide arbeid komt alles te boven,” groeide gedurende de eerste decennia van de 19de eeuw uit tot een nationaal genootschap dat de Nederlandse wiskundige gemeenschap vertegenwoordigde. Het genootschap vervulde haar rol van nationaal genootschap zodoende reeds lang voordat in de jaren 1860 onder invloed van professionalisering van (wiskundig) onderzoek dergelijke genootschappen van “professionals” in de andere Europese landen opkwamen. In dit artikel wordt gewezen op het sociale klimaat (er was nauwelijks sprake van een kloof tussen de sociale klassen zoals elders in Europa, en ingenieurswiskunde maakte deel uit van het universitair curriculum) en veranderingen binnen het genootschap zelf, waarmee beschreven wordt hoe het Wiskundig Genootschap een verband vormt tussen twee soorten van genootschappen (“amateurs” vs “professionals”) die nadrukkelijk van elkaar onderscheiden dienen te worden. Copyright 2001 Academic Press.MSC 1991 subject classifications: 01A50, 01A55.     

1996~2017年《Operations Research》期刊发文统计分析

《Operations Research》(OR)是运筹与管理科学领域的顶级期刊,对其刊文进行统计分析,剖析国际运筹学科领域的主流研究机构及合作影响,探究当前研究热点问题及学科发展趋势,对于促进我国运筹学科领域的发展具有十分重要的指引作用.基于对WOS核心数据库中该期刊1996至2017年间全部刊文的统计分析,得出以下结论:近年来我国学者发文量稳步提升,表明我国运筹学科领域研究水平的显著提高,但其影响力仍有待进一步提升;机构合作、国际合作都有助于文章引文量的提升;引证分析显示柔性制造(流程柔性及效率)、巢式Logit模型的应用、网络收益管理等7个研究方向是当前、并继续成为运筹领域的研究热点.     

A look at the past and present of optimization – An editorial

This special issue of the European Journal of Operational Research is devoted to the EURO XXIV Conference, that was held at the facilities of the University of Lisbon (Portugal) from July 11 to July 14, 2010. With over 700 sessions for a total of approximately 2350 presentations, and with 2700 participants (delegates and accompanying persons) coming from 69 countries, this was the largest EURO conference ever.     

Operational research in the UK Ministry of Defence: an overview

The paper presents a survey of operational research (OR) as it is currently used in the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD). After a short historical introduction summarising developments since 1945, it identifies the impact which the end of the Cold War has had on defence operational analysis (OA), as the discipline is generally called within MoD, in terms of the problems studied, the technical challenges presented and the techniques employed. The factors, both external and internal, that have led to the MoD maintaining and indeed expanding its OA activity against a background of falling defence budgets are discussed in the context of previously reported research on the survival and success of OR groups.     

Intractable problems in discussing OR practice at a scientific conference: Reflections on a panel discussion at EURO XIV

Panel sessions on OR practice are a common event at conferences, but they often do not seem to lead to productive discussions or to generate new ideas. In this paper we identify reasons why this happens, based on our experiences with a semi-plenary panel session on the challenges of practicing OR, organized during the EURO XIV Conference in Jerusalem in July 1995 by the last two authors. Despite the initiators' efforts to the contrary, this session left those polled at the end with a sense of hopelessness about such discussions.We analyze the session using a taxonomy of the 15 issues addressed, almost all of which have been raised (many times) before. Together they form a complex collection of interdependent issues, which can be boiled down to some long-standing dilemmas in the field of OR. We believe that much of the disappointment voiced about the session stems from its remaining at the level of individual issues and failing to address the underlying dilemmas. We trace the design strategies of the organizers (a provocative question, a large and participating audience, a wide variety of views within the panel and a limited time frame) as key factors in creating conditions leading to a rather non-linear discussion, based much more on advocacy than on inquiry and which took place on a high level of abstraction. Finally, we generate some proposals for how to create a more effective interpenetration of the worlds of academics and practitioners, in particular in the context of future conferences.     

Justifying the methods of OR

Operational research practitioners use mathematical, statistical, scientific, and other methods to structure and analyse issues in order to advise and assist their clients. In doing so they apply values, follow rules and use methodologies. The paper examines the justification of these methods, values and methodologies. Starting with a conceptual model drawn from the philosophy of science, a justification framework is developed for operational research (OR). Making a distinction between OR academic research and OR practice helps to clarify the issues. OR research is similar to scientific, mathematical and social science research; OR practice, as technology, is closer to engineering. While OR academic researchers will seek justification in the academic discipline within which they choose to work, it is argued that the justification of OR practice lies in its usefulness. For academic OR, justification lies in the justification of mathematics, statistics, science and social science; for practice, it is practitioners who decide what usefulness means in their context.     

Design Science,the design of systems and Operational Research: back to the future?

The relationship between the science of decision making and the design of systems that support or automate the decision-making process is vital to both academic and practical Operational Research (OR). There is a long-standing need to better understand how OR can be structured so as to contribute to the design of systems, rather than just the science of decisions. This paper articulates the notion of design-oriented OR, particularly within the context of IT-enabled systems, as one approach to addressing this issue. It proposes Design Science (DS) as one way of achieving design-oriented OR, and suggests a reference model for DS as a design-oriented approach to OR. The use and value of DS within the broader remit of management research, and differences with existing systems methodologies, are briefly considered. It concludes by noting that a DS approach would return OR, at least partially, to the values and approach of early OR practitioners, and hence back to the future.     

To charge or not to charge?

Discussions on the success or failure of OR practice tend to focus on specific case studies which often highlight major dilemmas that face OR professionals: Model robustness, simplicity vs complexity, optimising vs satisficing, conflict between criteria, who is the ‘client’?, and so on. But above all, the following issues predominate: Should OR be concerned with tactical or strategic problems? Where should it be placed in the organisational structure and who should it report to? These issues inevitably raise the questions of accountability, coupled with that of charging for OR services. It is this issue in particular, whether to charge or not to charge for OR services, that the paper seeks to explore.     

Forecasting and operational research: a review

From its foundation, operational research (OR) has made many substantial contributions to practical forecasting in organizations. Equally, researchers in other disciplines have influenced forecasting practice. Since the last survey articles in JORS, forecasting has developed as a discipline with its own journals. While the effect of this increased specialization has been a narrowing of the scope of OR's interest in forecasting, research from an OR perspective remains vigorous. OR has been more receptive than other disciplines to the specialist research published in the forecasting journals, capitalizing on some of their key findings. In this paper, we identify the particular topics of OR interest over the past 25 years. After a brief summary of the current research in forecasting methods, we examine those topic areas that have grabbed the attention of OR researchers: computationally intensive methods and applications in operations and marketing. Applications in operations have proved particularly important, including the management of inventories and the effects of sharing forecast information across the supply chain. The second area of application is marketing, including customer relationship management using data mining and computer-intensive methods. The paper concludes by arguing that the unique contribution that OR can continue to make to forecasting is through developing models that link the effectiveness of new forecasting methods to the organizational context in which the models will be applied. The benefits of examining the system rather than its separate components are likely to be substantial.     

The Maximum Queue Length for Heavy-Tailed Service Times in the M/G/1 FB Queue

This paper treats the maximum queue length M, in terms of the number of customers present, in a busy cycle in the M/G/1 queue. The distribution of M depends both on the service time distribution and on the service discipline. Assume that the service times have a logconvex density and the discipline is Foreground Background (FB). The FB service discipline gives service to the customer(s) that have received the least amount of service so far. It is shown that under these assumptions the tail of M is bounded by an exponential tail. This bound is used to calculate the time to overflow of a buffer, both in stable and unstable queues.     

Operational research and ethics: A literature review

Any human activity raises ethical questions, questions about ‘good’ and ‘right’ ways to act and to live; or to put it differently, questions of values and responsibility. From its inception operational research (OR) has engaged with such questions in terms of professional behavior, the handling of preferences in OR, the societal role of OR, the process of OR intervention and the content of OR analysis. As a result, analytical methods and processes have been developed to help clients explore the ethical dimension of their decisions. The paper reviews the literature published in selected OR journals (Management Science; Operations Research; Interfaces; the European Journal of Operational Research; the Journal of the Operations Research Society; Omega; International Transactions in Operational Research; the Journal of Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis), organizing it along the lines of OR’s core competences. The review identifies a number of significant research programmes that are well established and are being energetically pursued; the research findings are being applied to a wide range of important issues. Ethical questions lie at the heart of the great governmental and commercial issues of the day: economic growth and instability; inequality and injustice; environmental degradation and sustainability. They also lie at the heart of the more mundane decisions of day-to-day OR. ‘Ethics’ therefore provides a useful focus for OR both in terms of raising the awareness of all concerned and in providing a theme for research. As a result of the review some research questions are suggested. There is much of interest, much to do.     

Interdisciplinarity in Operational Research — in the Past and in the Future: An Invitation to IFORS '84 in Washington D.C.

In anticipation of the main theme of the IFORS '84 Conference "Co-operation—The Culture for O.R. Success", the traditional concept of interdisciplinarity in operational research is discussed. Particular emphasis is put on two conditions for practising interdisciplinarity: (i) mutual appreciation between the disciplines and (ii) the systems terminology as a means for interdisciplinary communication.     

OR in developing countries: A review

The relevance of Operational Research (OR) in developing countries has increasingly engaged the attention of operational researchers in both the industrialised and less developed countries over the last 50 years. With this, there has been a considerable amount of interest in the potential for using OR in developing countries. One sign of this is the emergence of a number of initiatives to promote OR in developing countries and the number of new societies for OR that have emerged from the developing world. This paper is an attempt at providing an overall picture of the state of OR in the developing countries. In particular, it will look at the coverage in terms of countries and methods. It will also highlight the contribution OR is making towards the theme of poverty, the reduction of which is regarded as the key focus of development policy interventions as reflected in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).     

An equilibrium model of how regulative and normative institutions influence micro-economic and organizational behavior

This paper investigates how pre-existing institutions foster economic development through trade. A non-cooperative game-theoretic model is proposed that combines three strands of social science: economics, political science, and sociology. Idealized market participants follow rational decision theory within a reward structure that embodies two types of institutions. Regulative institutions operate on threat of punishment, and normative institutions on perceptions of what is good and right. This composite model allows a more quantitative analysis of the question, raised by Douglas North, of how societies diverge from the efficient state predicted by classical micro-economics. The main finding is that value can be created by different types of institution even when they are imperfect, and the range of minimum–maximum effectiveness varies with the types of economic transactions that are technologically possible. It is hoped that further refinements of the model will yield greater understanding of how the success of societies and organizations can be predicted by a few simple rules.     

The European O.R. congresses: What are we doing?, Where are we going?

The EURO K congresses become more scientific, as appears from a declining participant/paper ratio. International conferences of other international federations have higher ratios. Between two-thirds and three-quarters of the papers are theoretical, and come from universities.European congresses are dependent on a strong ‘home market’. Compared to North-America where there is about the same potential of OR/MS membership, the European market does not yet seem to be ‘saturated’. Medium-sized, central, high-income countries like Germany and France have relatively low shares, probably because of linguistic autarky. The East-European countries have a relatively low share as well.Compared to North-America, Europe suffers from formidable linguistic, economical and political barriers. But much can be gained by overcoming them. The EURO K congresses are expected to meet an increasing demand.