TY - CHAP AU - Kuodi Jian ED - Kuodi Jian Y1 - 2016-12-28 PY - 2016 T1 - Introductory Chapter - Operations Research N2 - This book is dedicated to operations research of broad applications, such as improving informational bases of performance measurement with grey relational analysis, application of lean methodologies in a neurosurgery high dependency unit, iteration algorithms in Markov decision processes with state-action-dependent discount factors and unbounded costs, financial feasibility analysis of Natura Rab business case study, and mathematical modeling of isothermal drying and its potential application in the design of the industrial drying regimes of clay products.Operations research is an important topic. In addition to its obvious benefits of winning a war, making most profit in a business endeavor, and constructing a correct mathematical model, it also provides a tool for efficient use of natural resources. Furthermore, both theory and practice of operations research and its related concepts are covered in the book, and a reader can benefit from this balanced coverage. BT - Operations Research SP - Ch. 1 UR - https://doi.org/10.5772/66835 DO - 10.5772/66835 SN - 978-953-51-2818-2 PB - IntechOpen CY - Rijeka Y2 - 2024-03-28 ER -