K.V.S. SARMA, Ph.D., is Professor, Department of Statistics, Sri Venkateswara University, Tirupati. He has more than 30 years of teaching and research experience in statistics, operations research and quality control. He has authored several books on statistics. He is also a consultant in Data Analysis. He is a life member of the Operations Research Society of India and the Indian Society for Probability and Statistics. Professor Sarma has contributed to several national and international journals such as OPSEARCH, European Journal of Operations Research, Production Planning and Control, Economic Quality Control and the Indian Journal of Medical & Pediatric Oncology.