Guest Editorial: Stochastic models in reliability engineering, life sciences and operations management

Abstract

This special issue is devoted to papers from the International Symposium on {\it Stochastic Models in Reliability Engineering, Life Sciences and Operations Management (SMRLO'10)}. The Symposium was held at the Sami Shamoon College of Engineering, Beer Sheva, Israel in February 2010. The idea of the Symposium was to assemble researchers and practitioners from universities, institutions and industries, working in these fields. Theoretical issues and applied case-studies presented in the Symposium, ranged from academic considerations to industrial applications. Presenters came from twenty nine countries from around the world: Australia, Belarus, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Cyprus, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Latvia, The Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Russia, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom, USA, Uzbekistan. This clearly shows the international nature of this Symposium. One hundred and eighty six papers were accepted for presentation at the conference and publication in the Symposium Proceedings. These articles were later reviewed for possible extension and inclusion in this special issue. Authors of eight (8) articles were invited to submit their work for publication in this issue of the transdisciplinary international journal {\it Mathematics in Engineering, Science and Aerospace}. We hope that this selection of papers gives an idea of the diversity of topics covered in the Symposium.