Analytics Magazine

A quantum future for medical breakthroughs

The need for rapid development of vaccines and other therapeutics has never been greater. Nobody wants a repeat of 1918 or 2020, and the good news is we’ll likely be ready to beat the next once-a-century pandemic – as long as quantum computing lives up to the hype.

LATEST NEWS

MIT-Janssen’s COVID-19 Forecast Model

When COVID-19 emerged at the end of 2019, little was understood about the disease. MIT researchers and scientists at Janssen Research & Development (Janssen) leveraged real-world data and applied artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML) to help guide the company’s research efforts into a potential vaccine.

INFORMS Member Cynthia Rudin Wins $1 Million Artificial Intelligence Prize

Cynthia Rudin has been named the recipient of the Squirrel AI Award for Artificial Intelligence for the Benefit of Humanity from the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI).

Analytic framework to improve access for a state Medicaid agency

In an on-going project, AMA tasked the Institute of Data and Analytics (IDA) at the University of Alabama with developing and implementing a geographical information sciences (GIS) framework centered on contemporary evidence-based approaches connected to common geospatial determinants of health. The analytic framework allows AMA analysts to examine physical access to healthcare in the presence of factors unique to Medicaid populations, and identify regions in need of more AMA licensed providers.

Overcoming the robotic process automation paradox

Companies across industries are increasingly using automation technologies to improve their business processes or reinvent their organizations. However, reinventing a business through automation requires enlisting the entire organization, and many companies are still struggling to overcome hurdles. Bain & Company partnered with UiPath, an enterprise automation company, to understand the challenges that companies are facing on their automation journeys, including encouraging employees to more enthusiastically embrace these new technologies.

Operations research improves biomanufacturing efficiency at MSD Animal Health

2021 IAAA finalists, a multidisciplinary team of researchers from MSD Animal Health and Eindhoven University of Technology, collaborated over four years to develop a portfolio of optimization models and decision support tools aimed at improving biomanufacturing efficiency using a variety of operations research methodologies.

Digital transformation driving process discovery, task mining

According to a recent research report executed by Blueprint, there’s substantial evidence of the tangible returns organizations see from their process discovery efforts. Yet, even with those strong realized benefits and outcomes, the research has also uncovered considerable challenges with task mining tools and gaps in functionality, begging the question, what comes next?

Machine learning can predict which animal viruses risk infecting humans

Scientists at the University of Glasgow have developed a new machine-learning method that can accurately predict which animal viruses could go on to infect humans in the future, using only information encoded in the viral genome.

Gurobi 9.5 offers new features, enhancements and boosted speed

Gurobi Optimization recently announced the release of Gurobi 9.5 that provides customers with new enterprise features, product enhancements and an even faster compute engine – with impressive performance improvements across all supported problem types.

Why does your business need to maintain high-quality data?

Regardless of a company’s industry or specialty, it’s increasingly important for the organization to ensure ongoing access to high-quality data. Here’s a closer examination of why dependable information supports success.

Revenue Forecasting at RealWear

Measuring revenue or sales can provide monetizable and actionable insights about a business because important details about its customers, products, services, quantities, prices, discounts and more are reflected in revenue. Forecasting revenue helps a business be proactive, make good decisions and take companies to a higher level. RealWear, a world leader in assisted reality devices for frontline workers, requested a quarterly revenue forecasting model (RFM) to proactively manage its business.

Data Science

COVID-19

Artificial Intelligence

Quantum Computing

Biometrics: Beyond facial recognition

The world of biometrics is one of the most interesting and rapidly advancing fields of technology right now. New advancements in smart cameras and deep learning mean that the technology isn’t limited to just facial recognition and fingerprinting anymore. Seamless biometrics is the next tech buzzword on the horizon.

Phil Sutton

Was there anything about the CAP exam that surprised you?

How expansive it was! It truly tests you on your knowledge and capacity to facilitate end-to-end analytics. Also, that it wasn’t an examination in my ability to walk through an arbitrary algorithm by hand, but rather the emphasis was on my awareness and understanding of what models, methods, and techniques are appropriate in various situations. You can tell careful thought was put into what INFORMS is looking for in CAPs.

Read the full Q&A here.

Is Self-Service Analytics Compatible with Data Governance?

Organizations continue to struggle to control access to data sources spread across on-premises and cloud sources, while enabling business agility and competitive advantage through data analysis. There are a number of organizational dynamics and personas at work that make striking this balance difficult to achieve.

Seeing economic collapse and recovery
through the lens of complexity economics

Part 5: Applying the lessons learned to recovery

This blog has looked at 12 key concepts of complexity economics, listing them alphabetically and making recommendations for each. This fifth and final installment synthesizes the 12 recommendations, boiling them down to four key recommendations as we pull out of this economic depression.

Read More

ReCAP

Vishnu Vemuru

What is the best advice you can give to someone studying for the exam right now?

Do not overthink. This exam is a test of your breadth and common sense over your capabilities and depth of knowledge. The most important concept is the timeline of projects end-to-end, the order is very important and will help you solve many questions; the emphasis of the exam is to evaluate if you can figure out where you are along the project lifecycle.

Click here for the full Q&A.

DEPARTMENTS

Inside Story

Data is messy. Get over it.

Peter Horner

Thirty years ago as editor of OR/MS Today, I often heard members express frustration that if only they had enough data, they could address and solve many more of the complex problems facing governments, societies and businesses. About 10 years ago, as editor of Analytics magazine, I began hearing from analytics professionals that they were facing a firehose of data coming at them in terms of volume, velocity and veracity, that the data they were receiving was messy, and it was difficult to make sense of it all. Today, we seem to be back to square one with one change: not enough “good” data. So, which is it: not enough data, too much data or not enough “good, clean” data?

Letter from the Analytics Society President

Consider how we talk about data

Harrison Schramm

In the first of its series, president of the Analytics Society of INFORMS, Harrison Schramm, pens a "Letter from the Analytics Society President."

Analyze This!

Breaking through the ‘Mathematical Ceiling’

Vijay Mehrotra

Each of us has a “mathematical ceiling,” a cognitive limitation on just how much structured abstraction we can make sense of. Given my traumatic memories of trying to understand measure theory, this notion certainly resonated with me. But there is also an opposing point of view. In this formulation, one’s capacity for mathematical mastery is directly correlated with persistence, grit, good teaching, positive self-talk and time.

Healthcare Analytics

Pandemic recedes, but where do we go from here?

Rajib Ghosh

Many parts of the world, where economic losses are paramount, still have a year or more to go before they see recovery from the pandemic. For some, it might take years to get back to the pre-pandemic level of activity across all trades. Following are my top five do’s and don’ts for the leaders of the post-pandemic world.

Five-Minute Analyst

What’s an MCU superhero worth?

For the next round of Five-Minute Analyst, we’re going stay in the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe).

Developing Technology

‘Digital Twins’ drawing attention in multiple sectors

Prashant Prakash Deshpande

Long before today’s onset of Digital Twins (a virtual representation that serves as the real-time digital counterpart of a physical object or process), supporting simulation technologies made the adoption possible. These technologies are used in manufacturing, marketing and strategy, and the generated science will facilitate the widespread usage. Three main types of simulation methodologies aide the development of Digital Twins.

Conference Preview

2021 Winter Simulation Conference set for virtual and in person

Margaret Loper

The Winter Simulation Conference (WSC) is the premier international forum for disseminating recent advances in the field of dynamic systems modeling and simulation. WSC 2021 will be a hybrid conference, with both in-person (Dec. 13-15) and virtual (Dec. 15-17) components.