- Email: [email protected]
The analytic hierarchy process: applications and studies
562
BOOK NOTES
B. R. K. KASHYAPand M. L. CHAUDHRY:An Introduction to Queueing Theory. A & A, Ontario. The book is primarily intended as a text on queueing theory for students of graduate programmes in m~agement/b~in~ administration, mathematics, statistic, computer science and the like. It may also be found useful by advanced undergraduate students and OR practitioners. The theory of queues compromising description of various queueing models has been given in the first four chapters, pointing out applications to practical problems from time to time. The last, i.e. the fifth, chapter is exclusively on applications of queueing theory to telephone traffic, inventories, machine interference, scheduling and transportation. Special features in&de: (1) (2) (3) (4)
a text-book in~~ucing the subject in simple language worked-out exampies and problems sets for readers transform-free results after inversion the pre-requisites provided in appendices which make the book self-contained.
LUCIO BIANCO and AGOSTINO LA BELLA: Freight
Transport Planning and Logistics. Springer,
New York. Freight transport has a great economic relevance in most countries, since the efficiency of the transportation system and the associated pattern of trans~~ation costs influence the location decisions of the firms and the regional sectoral production levels. The possibility of improving the performance of the freight transport system are closely related to both technological innovation and the availability of advanced planning tools. The latter aspect is relatively less explored than other planning issues in transportation, like, for instance, urban transportation; therefore this volume attempts to fill a gap in the existing literature presenting selected contributions covering the main topics in freight transport planning, i.e. ( 1) analysis of current trends in developed countries and (2) demand analysis and forecasting.
LUCIO BIANCO and AMEDEOR. ODONI: Z~pacts of Lange-scale Technologies on Air Tra@c Control. Springer, New York.
Computational and Zn~r~atio~
MISCELLANEOUS
B. L. GOLDEN,E. A. WASIL and P. T. HARKER: The Analytic Hierarchy Process: Applications and Studies. Springer, Berlin. Since Saaty’s initial development of the AHP in the 1970s and the publication of his first book on the subject in 1980, numerous theoretical extensions and empirical applications have appeared in the literature. Saaty’s application of the AHP to develop a plan for designing the transportation infrastructure of the Sudan, begun in 1973, is one of the earliest full-scale applications reported. In recent years, special issues of several journals have been dedicated to the study of AHP. These journal issues illustrate the fact that the AHP has been accepted by the international scientific community as a very useful tool for dealing with complex decision problems. In addition, many corporations and governments are routinely using the AHP for major policy decisions. The purpose of this book is to provide a unified treatment of the basics of the AHP, its recent extensions, and the wide variety of potential applications to which it is suited. In particular, one of our key aims has been to assemble a colieetion of informative and interesting articles that focus on the application of the AHP to important, diverse, real-world decision problems. The book is divided into three sections. In the first section, a detailed tutorial and an extensive annotated bibliography serve to introduce the methodology. The second section includes two papers which present new methodological advances in the theory of the AHP. The third section, by far the largest, is dedicated to applications and case studies; it contains twelve chapters. Papers dealing with project selection, electric utility planning, governmentai decision making, medical decision making, conflict analysis, strategic planning, and others are used to illustrate how to successfuhy apply the AHP.
BOOKNOTES
563
Thus, this book should serve as a useful text in courses dealing with decision making as well as a valuable reference for those involved in the application of decision analysis techniques.
JAMES P. IIGNIZIO: Introduction
to Expert Systems. McGraw-Hill,
Hightstown.
This text presents an introduction to expert systems quite unlike that normally encountered. This is because the book is intended for the audience outside of the computer science sector. Specifically, the presentation assumes no previous exposure to either computers or computer programming and, instead, addresses the heart and soul of expert systems development; the process of the modeling of the knowledge base. Those in OR/MS, and particularly those with an interest in real world application, should find the book particularly valuable as it presents a pragmatic and effective approach to “messy”, real world problems that simply cannot be handled by conventional, analytical approaches. The book addresses all facets of expert systems development, from that of determining the appropriateness of a given problem to the maintenance of the implemented system. Exercises are included at the end of each chapter and a solutions manual is available from the publishers. Also included with the text is a floppy disk containing an educational version of EXSYS, a popular expert systems shell.
D. J. WHITE: Markov Decision Processes.
Wiley, New York.
This text contains eight chapters. It is intended for mathematically able postgraduate systems engineers, management scientists, industrial engineers and operations researchers. Chapter 1 gives an introduction to Markov systems with rewards, using z-transform analysis. Chapter 2 develops a general framework for Markov decision processes, developing the central optimality equations for discounted reward, average expected reward, and absorbing state problems. Chapter 3 covers value iteration and policy space algorithms, inclusive of the mathematical properties, and action elimination procedures. Chapter 4 covers primal and dual linear programming formulations. Chapter 5 comprises semi-Markov decision processes, as a natural extension of Markov decision processes; with the intervals between successive decision epochs being random variables. Chapter 6 includes partially observable and adaptive Markov decision processes, where states and/or states of nature are known only in terms of probability distributions. Chapter 7 covers a range of special topics in Markov decision processes. Chapter 8 comprises a number of special problem formulations. Exercises and solutions are provided.
REUVEN R. LEVARY: Engineering
North-Holland,
Design:
Better
Results
Through
Operations
Research
Methods.
New York.
The need for operations research techniques is often felt in engineering design. Both engineering design and operations research methods have developed considerably over the years, but little attention has been given to the interaction of the two disciplines. This book aims to inform operations researchers of several distinct engineering design problems and to inform design engineers of the value of using operations research techniques in engineering design. It aims to stimulate additional interest in the application of operations research methods to engineering design. It is hoped that design engineers and operations researchers will become more closely allied as they come to recognize the interrelatedness of their fields. This book can be used as a reference by a wide variety of professionals. It may be used as a text for courses in advanced engineering design or for a course in special topics in operations research. It is hoped that original student design projects that apply operations research methods to engineering design projects will be an outgrowth of this work. Thirty-six recognized authorities in a variety of distinct fields have contributed to this work. While it is not expected that all readers will agree with the views expressed by all authors, it is hoped that the book will be stimulating and informative to all who read it.
BOOK NOTES
B. R. K. KASHYAPand M. L. CHAUDHRY:An Introduction to Queueing Theory. A & A, Ontario. The book is primarily intended as a text on queueing theory for students of graduate programmes in m~agement/b~in~ administration, mathematics, statistic, computer science and the like. It may also be found useful by advanced undergraduate students and OR practitioners. The theory of queues compromising description of various queueing models has been given in the first four chapters, pointing out applications to practical problems from time to time. The last, i.e. the fifth, chapter is exclusively on applications of queueing theory to telephone traffic, inventories, machine interference, scheduling and transportation. Special features in&de: (1) (2) (3) (4)
a text-book in~~ucing the subject in simple language worked-out exampies and problems sets for readers transform-free results after inversion the pre-requisites provided in appendices which make the book self-contained.
LUCIO BIANCO and AGOSTINO LA BELLA: Freight
Transport Planning and Logistics. Springer,
New York. Freight transport has a great economic relevance in most countries, since the efficiency of the transportation system and the associated pattern of trans~~ation costs influence the location decisions of the firms and the regional sectoral production levels. The possibility of improving the performance of the freight transport system are closely related to both technological innovation and the availability of advanced planning tools. The latter aspect is relatively less explored than other planning issues in transportation, like, for instance, urban transportation; therefore this volume attempts to fill a gap in the existing literature presenting selected contributions covering the main topics in freight transport planning, i.e. ( 1) analysis of current trends in developed countries and (2) demand analysis and forecasting.
LUCIO BIANCO and AMEDEOR. ODONI: Z~pacts of Lange-scale Technologies on Air Tra@c Control. Springer, New York.
Computational and Zn~r~atio~
MISCELLANEOUS
B. L. GOLDEN,E. A. WASIL and P. T. HARKER: The Analytic Hierarchy Process: Applications and Studies. Springer, Berlin. Since Saaty’s initial development of the AHP in the 1970s and the publication of his first book on the subject in 1980, numerous theoretical extensions and empirical applications have appeared in the literature. Saaty’s application of the AHP to develop a plan for designing the transportation infrastructure of the Sudan, begun in 1973, is one of the earliest full-scale applications reported. In recent years, special issues of several journals have been dedicated to the study of AHP. These journal issues illustrate the fact that the AHP has been accepted by the international scientific community as a very useful tool for dealing with complex decision problems. In addition, many corporations and governments are routinely using the AHP for major policy decisions. The purpose of this book is to provide a unified treatment of the basics of the AHP, its recent extensions, and the wide variety of potential applications to which it is suited. In particular, one of our key aims has been to assemble a colieetion of informative and interesting articles that focus on the application of the AHP to important, diverse, real-world decision problems. The book is divided into three sections. In the first section, a detailed tutorial and an extensive annotated bibliography serve to introduce the methodology. The second section includes two papers which present new methodological advances in the theory of the AHP. The third section, by far the largest, is dedicated to applications and case studies; it contains twelve chapters. Papers dealing with project selection, electric utility planning, governmentai decision making, medical decision making, conflict analysis, strategic planning, and others are used to illustrate how to successfuhy apply the AHP.
BOOKNOTES
563
Thus, this book should serve as a useful text in courses dealing with decision making as well as a valuable reference for those involved in the application of decision analysis techniques.
JAMES P. IIGNIZIO: Introduction
to Expert Systems. McGraw-Hill,
Hightstown.
This text presents an introduction to expert systems quite unlike that normally encountered. This is because the book is intended for the audience outside of the computer science sector. Specifically, the presentation assumes no previous exposure to either computers or computer programming and, instead, addresses the heart and soul of expert systems development; the process of the modeling of the knowledge base. Those in OR/MS, and particularly those with an interest in real world application, should find the book particularly valuable as it presents a pragmatic and effective approach to “messy”, real world problems that simply cannot be handled by conventional, analytical approaches. The book addresses all facets of expert systems development, from that of determining the appropriateness of a given problem to the maintenance of the implemented system. Exercises are included at the end of each chapter and a solutions manual is available from the publishers. Also included with the text is a floppy disk containing an educational version of EXSYS, a popular expert systems shell.
D. J. WHITE: Markov Decision Processes.
Wiley, New York.
This text contains eight chapters. It is intended for mathematically able postgraduate systems engineers, management scientists, industrial engineers and operations researchers. Chapter 1 gives an introduction to Markov systems with rewards, using z-transform analysis. Chapter 2 develops a general framework for Markov decision processes, developing the central optimality equations for discounted reward, average expected reward, and absorbing state problems. Chapter 3 covers value iteration and policy space algorithms, inclusive of the mathematical properties, and action elimination procedures. Chapter 4 covers primal and dual linear programming formulations. Chapter 5 comprises semi-Markov decision processes, as a natural extension of Markov decision processes; with the intervals between successive decision epochs being random variables. Chapter 6 includes partially observable and adaptive Markov decision processes, where states and/or states of nature are known only in terms of probability distributions. Chapter 7 covers a range of special topics in Markov decision processes. Chapter 8 comprises a number of special problem formulations. Exercises and solutions are provided.
REUVEN R. LEVARY: Engineering
North-Holland,
Design:
Better
Results
Through
Operations
Research
Methods.
New York.
The need for operations research techniques is often felt in engineering design. Both engineering design and operations research methods have developed considerably over the years, but little attention has been given to the interaction of the two disciplines. This book aims to inform operations researchers of several distinct engineering design problems and to inform design engineers of the value of using operations research techniques in engineering design. It aims to stimulate additional interest in the application of operations research methods to engineering design. It is hoped that design engineers and operations researchers will become more closely allied as they come to recognize the interrelatedness of their fields. This book can be used as a reference by a wide variety of professionals. It may be used as a text for courses in advanced engineering design or for a course in special topics in operations research. It is hoped that original student design projects that apply operations research methods to engineering design projects will be an outgrowth of this work. Thirty-six recognized authorities in a variety of distinct fields have contributed to this work. While it is not expected that all readers will agree with the views expressed by all authors, it is hoped that the book will be stimulating and informative to all who read it.