The literature describing operations research in the community is somewhat of a puzzle. On the one hand, several authors have denigrated the use of traditional operations approaches in addressing community problems, yet several studies document successful applications. Arguing that the...

As the 2000 election so vividly showed, it is Electoral College standings rather than national popular votes that determine who becomes President. But current pre-election polls focus almost exclusively on the popular vote. Here we present a method by which pollsters can achieve both point...

This article presents a model-based evaluation of a program designed to reduce HIV transmission from HIV-infected Ethiopian immigrants in Israel. Rather than rely on self-reported variables such as condom use, this study’s approach focuses on pregnancy rate reduction, estimated from...

In the discourse surrounding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, extreme criticisms of Israel (e.g., Israel is an apartheidstate,theIsraelDefenseForcesdeliberatelytargetPalestiniancivilians),coupled with extreme policy proposals (e.g., boycott of Israeli academics and institutions, divest from...

This article develops sequential game models for key operational terrorist (how often to attack) and government (how often to execute targeted killings) decisions taken during a (counter-) terror campaign such as the second intifada. Key results include the following: The government initiates...

This article evaluates the effectiveness of self-deferral, a social screen implemented to protect the U.S. blood supply from HIV infection prior to the advent of laboratory testing of donated blood. Following a brief discussion of the history of this program, mathematical models are developed to...

Given that no cure for AIDS or vaccine for HIV will be developed in the nearfuture, many have argued that AIDS education is the best approach to preventing further spread of the epidemic. However, a number of researchers have questioned the ultimate effectiveness of such educational...

Probabilistic uncertainty is caused by "chance", whereas strategic uncertainty is caused by an adverse interested party. Using linear impact functions, the problems of allocating a limited resource to defend sites that face either probabilistic risk or strategic risk are formulated as...