https://orion.journals.ac.za/pub/issue/feedORiON2025-06-30T21:51:43+00:00Jaco Visagiejaco.visagie@nwu.ac.zaOpen Journal Systems<p><strong>Aims & scope</strong><br>ORiON is the official journal of the Operations Research Society of South Africa (ORSSA) and is published biannually. Papers in the following categories are typically published in ORiON:<br><em> - Development of New Theory</em>, which may be useful to operations research practitioners, or which may lead to the introduction of new methodologies or techniques.<br><em> - OR Success Stories</em>, which describe demonstrably successful applications of operations research within the Southern African context (at the developing/developed economy interface) or similar environments elsewhere.<br><em> - OR Case Studies</em>, which might not be "success stories", but which emphasize novel approaches or describe pitfalls in the application of operations research.<br><em> - OR Methodological Reviews</em>, which survey new and potentially useful methodological developments, aimed at operations research practitioners especially in Southern Africa.</p> <p>The above list is by no means exhaustive.</p>https://orion.journals.ac.za/pub/article/view/800Editorial2025-06-30T21:51:42+00:00Jaco Visagiejaco.visagie@nwu.ac.za2025-06-30T00:00:00+00:00Copyright (c) 2025 ORiONhttps://orion.journals.ac.za/pub/article/view/799A guiding rubric and usage manual for the doctoral supervisor and doctoral student in the discipline of statistics2025-06-30T21:51:43+00:00Inger Fabris-Rotelliinger.fabris-rotelli@up.ac.zaMicheal von Maltitzvmaltitzmj@ufs.ac.zaAnsie Smitansie.smit@up.ac.zaDanielle Robertsrobertsd@ukzn.ac.zaSonali Dassonali.das@up.ac.zaDaniel Maposadaniel.maposa@ul.ac.zaFabio Correacorreaf@ufs.ac.za<p>Following the discussions documented by [3], guidelines were devised to support active earlycareer,<br>emerging doctoral supervisors in Statistics in South Africa. These guidelines developed<br>are incorporated into a guiding rubric and this associated usage manual. The rubric<br>is not presented as a formal set of rules, but rather a dynamic document encouraging the<br>growth of both the novice supervisor and the doctoral student. The rubric need not be used<br>in its entirety either, since it is only intended to aid in the supervision process within the<br>discipline of Statistics; it is not meant to be overwhelming or overbearing in the supervision<br>process.<br>We present the current evolution of this guiding rubric, after discussions with, and feedback<br>from, both novice and senior supervisors within South Africa over the period from 2022-2024.<br>If the rubric is used, the current paper and the conference paper [14] should be cited.<br>This document is compiled with the intention of improving the potential for emerging supervisors<br>in Statistics to be appointed as primary supervisor, while allowing for the inclusion of<br>senior academics as expert co-supervisors or mentors in the team. While the development<br>of the doctoral student is the primary goal of this guiding rubric, the development of the<br>novice supervisor is also important as a secondary goal, contributing to the sustainability of<br>academia in Statistics.</p>2025-06-30T00:00:00+00:00Copyright (c) 2025 ORiONhttps://orion.journals.ac.za/pub/article/view/801Investigating the proactive avoidance of pre-emption conflicts with emergency vehicle signal pre-emption and route selection integration2025-06-30T21:51:43+00:00James Bekkerjb2@sun.ac.zaC R D Broeksmajb2@sun.ac.za<p>The study aims to improve average emergency vehicle (EV) response times by proactively<br>avoiding pre-emption conflicts by integrating emergency vehicle signal pre-emption (EVSP)<br>and route selection. Pre-emption in this work means to anticipate an emergency vehicle<br>approaching a signalled intersection, and attempting to ensure it is provided with right of<br>way. While literature highlights the success of EVSP strategies, particularly when integrated<br>with route selection, few strategies consider pre-emption conflicts that can cause delays to<br>EVs. An EVSP and route selection strategy capable of proactively avoiding pre-emption<br>conflicts was subsequently proposed in this study. Using simulation modelling, the two<br>strategies were compared in a series of carefully constructed experimental runs. To test<br>the robustness of the proposed strategy, each experimental run was configured according<br>to a unique combination of variables. It was empirically observed that, while not robust<br>against these variables, the proposed strategy could perform equally well or better than the<br>reference strategy (when considering average EV response times) in most instances. This<br>indicates that an EVSP and route selection strategy capable of proactively anticipating and<br>attempting to avoid pre-emption conflicts is a promising approach to reducing the response<br>times of EVs.</p>2025-06-30T00:00:00+00:00Copyright (c) 2025 ORiON