Informs Annual Meeting 2017

TA60

INFORMS Houston – 2017

TA61

3 - A Rapid Modeling Method for High-speed Railway Terminal Simulation Guangyuan Zhang, Southwest Jiaotong University, Chengdu, Sichuan, 32202, China, gyzhang@swjtu.cn, Yuan Wang Each railway terminal has many specific features like rail network topology, connectivity structure and route conflicts conditions etc., which makes modeling process complicated and time consuming. This talk will demonstrate a rapid way of modeling the railway terminal simulation, including following procedures: 1) terminal railway network modeling; 2) routes and track connectivity recognition; 3) simulation preprocessing; 4) route conflicts detection; 5) timetable simulation; 6) rapid animation modeling; 7) statistics calculation. 370A OR/MS Education for MBAs Around the World Sponsored: INFORMEd Sponsored Session Chair: Nilakantan Sundara Raman Narasinganallur, K.J. Somaiya Institute of Management Studies & Research, K.J. Somaiya Institute of Management Studies & Rese, Mumbai, 400082, India, nilakantan@somaiya.edu 1 - A Game of Thrones Optimization Game for Teaching Linear Programming Jeroen Belien, KU. Leuven, Warmoesberg 26, Brussel, 1000, Belgium, jeroen.belien@kuleuven.be This paper presents an educational game for teaching LP modeling built entirely around the popular HBO series Game of Thrones. The student takes on the role of a miner’s son and encounters various important leading characters from the television series. Every encounter involves formulating and solving a linear programming problem correctly before being allowed to move on to the next one. The game has been used successfully in an introductory course of linear programming for Business Engineering students at KU Leuven (Belgium) in the academic years 2015-2016 and 2016-2017. 2 - O.R./MS Education for MBAS- in India and Around the World Nilakantan Sundara Raman Narasinganallur, K.J. Somaiya Institute of Management Studies & Research, B.602 Tulip Rachna Garden, Mulund Colony, Mumbai, 400082, India, nilakantan@somaiya.edu In the modern world, businesses are complex and their study requires quantitative analysis to predict an outcome or prescribe a decision. Operations Research (Management Science) breaks down the problems into a mathematical form and provides optimal or near optimal solutions. All managers are expected to have a good understanding of the OR techniques since such understanding assists in their mastery of the decision-making process. The presentation describes the experiences of researchers in India and around the World and identifies useful tips to deliver the knowledge base and skillsets of Operations Research to MBA students, who are aspiring to be managers in the real world. 3 - Introducing Web-based Spreadsheet Modeling in the MBA Classroom Neil Desnoyers, Saint Joseph’s University, 133 Green Valley Rd, Upper Darby, PA, 19082, United States, ndesnoye@sju.edu Web-based spreadsheets are different from computer-based spreadsheets. We explore several implications for teaching. 4 - Intelligent Tutoring Systems Driven Management Education Mark W. Chun, Pepperdine University, 6100 Center Drive, Los Angeles, CA, 90045, United States, mark.chun@pepperdine.edu, Owen P. Hall Business schools are under growing pressure to engage in significant programmatic reforms in light of the business community’s call for web-savvy, problem solving graduates. Some specific benefits for adopting intelligent tutoring systems throughout schools of business include:1) improve learning outcomes; 2) approach Bloom’s two-sigma learning goal; and 3) enhance employment opportunities. The purpose of this presentation is to highlight best practices in the use of intelligent tutoring systems throughout the management education universe. TA60

370B Sports Analytics I Sponsored: SpORts Sponsored Session Chair: Keith A Willoughby, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK, S7N 5A7, Canada, willoughby@edwards.usask.ca 1 - 2 Players, 5 Rocks, 8 Ends: Exploring the Analytics of Mixed Doubles Curling Keith A.Willoughby, University of Saskatchewan, Department of Finance and Mangement Science, Saskatoon, SK, S7N.5A7, Canada, willoughby@edwards.usask.ca, Kent J.Kostuk As a variant of traditional curling, mixed doubles curling features teams of two players. Each team plays five rocks during an eight-end game. The inclusion of mixed doubles curling in the 2018 Winter Olympics has precipitated an increase in the sport’s popularity. The decision-making environment within mixed doubles curling offers significant differences from that observed in traditional curling. We apply quantitative analysis to explore various decisions made during a mixed doubles game. 2 - What Does it Take to Win Consistently in Daily Fantasy Sports? Ryan Elmore, University of Denver, Denver, CO, United States, Ryan.Elmore@du.edu Daily fantasy sports (DFS) contests, or fantasy sports contests in general, are at their core a problem of choosing a set of players, or team, that will hopefully outperform the team chosen by one’s opponent(s). Individual team construction serves as the basis for variation within games and, hence, a player’s team choice is critically important in not going bankrupt. In this talk, we will present several mathematical results related to team choice, DFS player ability, and how good a particular player must be relative to his/her opponents in order to create a positive expected value. We will illustrate our work via a Monte Carlo experiment using hypothetical DFS contests from the 2016-7 NBA season. 3 - Teamwork in e-Sports: Evidence from League of Legends David Mendonca, RPI, Troy, NY, United States, mendod@gmail.com, W. Gray, M. Sangster, J. Eaton This talk explores prospects for understanding antecedents and consequences of teamwork through the analysis of data from e-sports: that is, online games that— because they may attract millions of dedicated teams worldwide—produce data of scale and scope that dwarf those of conventional sports. This talk explains how data from one such e-sport, League of Legends, are being used to explore how changes in the membership of teams over fairly long time scales can affect team processes (such as collaboration) and team outcomes (such as winning). Implications for research on conventional sports are also addressed. 4 - Working with Sports Media James Cochran, University of Alabama, Auburn, AL, United States, jcochran@cba.ua.edu Members of the various sports media often rely on support from experts for their stories and articles, and as the use of analytics has become more prevalent academics who work in sports analytics have been called on more frequently to provide such support. There are many benefits to providing such support, and one could argue that we are obliged to do so, but this can be daunting the first few (or perhaps several) times you are asked to do so. In this talk we provide guidelines punctuated with discussion of the speaker’s experiences. 5 - UFC PPV Buys and the Value of Celebrity Fighters Thomas Robbins, East Carolina University, 3212 Bate Building, Greenville, NC, 27858, United States, robbinst@ecu.edu In 2016 the Ultimate Fighting Championship was sold for a reported price of $4 billion, the highest price ever paid for a sports franchise. This was a remarkable turn-around for a promotion that 15 years earlier was saved from bankruptcy by a $2 million buyout. This turnaround was driven by the UFC’s ability to mainstream the promotion and the sport while establishing reliable revenue streams through television contracts and massive pay per view events. In this paper we analyze the pay per view record of the UFC and analyze the extent to which it is driven by high profile celebrity fighters with broad crossover appeal. We assess the economic value they generate for the UFC.

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