The application of stochastic heuristic, like tabu search or simulated annealing, to address hard discrete optimization problems has been an important advance for efficiently obtaining good solutions in a reasonable amount of computing time. A challenge when applying such heuristics is assessing...

This paper presents a Branch, Bound, and Remember (BB&R) exact algorithm using the Cyclic Best First Search (CBFS) exploration strategy for solving the <InlineEquation ID="IEq1"> <EquationSource Format="TEX">$${1|ST_{sd}|\sum T_{i}}$$</EquationSource> </InlineEquation> scheduling problem, a single machine scheduling problem with sequence dependent setup times where the objective is...</equationsource></inlineequation>

In 2002, several factors resulted in pediatric vaccine manufacturers not being able to produce a sufficient number of vaccines to vaccinate all the children in the United States according to the Recommended Childhood Immunization Schedule. The resulting vaccine supply shortage resulted in...

An effective emergency medical service (EMS) response to emergency medical calls during extreme weather events is a critical public service. Nearly all models for allocating EMS resources focus on normal operating conditions. However, public health risks become even more critical during extreme...

To mitigate the threat of nuclear terrorism within the US using nuclear material that has been smuggled into the country, the US Bureau of Customs and Border Protection has expanded its cargo container detection capabilities at ports of entry into the US This paper formulates a risk-based...