Modeling and simulation of healthcare pharmaceutical environments: a Petri nets approach

This study examines the drug distribution procedure in hospital, based on a bibliographic research and an interview with the pharmacy director of “Hospital de l Rio Ortega” in Vallado lid, Spain. It was necessary to elaborate a theoretical flux-gram of the medication distribution procedure describing the various stages in the process, as well as the objectives of the system, and its critical issues. All these steps depend on various health care providers and health care assistants directly linked. This systemization allowed the observance of the critical knots, understood as the processes and elements with critical impact over the quality of the distribution system. The understandi ng of the possible causes of the system‟s problems serves here as the basis for the formulation issues that make the evaluation possible. There are two basic known types of drug distribution systems: collective and individual. The collective system is the most primitive, although there are hospitals worldwide that adopt this system, considered to be the simplest and lowest in cost of deployment. The individual distribution system is more complex, it needs more professional pharmacists and a hospital pharmacy working around the clock and has as main features the fact that the product or drug is dispensed per patient, and not for the sector in which one may find himself hospitalized. The research of medication errors due to the type of distribution system adopted by hospitals has created a debate on the advantages and disadvantages of the existing systems. The use of a system model for distribution of medicines will provide a more appropriate reduction in risk of errors and foremost a reduction in hospital costs. One objective of this study is to show the best method of distribution of medicines in a hospital pharmacy, that is, the method of distribution in which the chance to experience a medication error would be smaller, and distribution times as well as staff needs were reduced to a minimum. The main objective of this work is to model the medication distribution process in Health-care environments, using Petri Net formalism, and extract information from those models through simulation, to support the decision making relating human resource availability. This work was done during a stage at the Cartif Foundation in Valladolid Spain, with the cooperation of the Valladolid University‟s School of Industrial Engineering. Este estudo examina o procedimento para distribuição de medicamentos dentro de um hospital, baseado numa pesquisa bibliográfica e uma entrevista com o director da farmácia do hospital “Hospital del Rio Ortega” em Valladolid, Espanha. Foi necessário elaborar um fluxogram teórico do procedimento de distribuição de medicamentos descrevendo os vários passos do processo, e ainda os objectivos do sistema e os seus pontos críticos. Todos estes passos dependem de vários assistentes e auxiliares de saúde directamente ligadas. Esta sistematização permitiu observar os pontos críticos, compreendido como os elementos com impacto critico na qualidade do sistema de distribuição. A compreensão das possíveis causas dos problemas do sistema servem de base para formular questões que tornam possível a sua avaliação. Existem dois sistemas básicos de distribuição de medicamentos: Colectivo e Individual. O sistema colectivo é o tipo de distribuição mais primitivo, mas apesar disso existem muitos hospitais do mundo que adoptam este sistema por ser considerado o mais simples e de implementação mais barata. O sistema individual é mais complexo e necessita de mais profissionais qualificados, nomeadamente farmacêutico e\ou técnico de farmácia, a trabalhar 24 horas por dia, tendo como principal característica o facto de que cada produto ou medicamento é dispensado por pessoa e não por sector ou andar em que um possa estar hospitalizado. A pesquisa de erros médicos devido ao tipo de distribuição de medicamentos adoptado pelos hospitais tem criado debate sobre as vantagens e desvantagens dos sistemas existentes. O uso de um modelo para a distribuição de medicamentos levará á redução de erros e acima de tudo pode contribuir para a redução de custos do hospital. Um dos objectivos deste estudo é mostrar o melhor método de distribuição de medicamentos de uma farmácia hospitalar, isto é, o método de distribuição em que se minimiza o risco de erros de medicação, tempos de distribuição assim como necessidade de recursos humanos. O objectivo principal deste trabalho é modelar o processo de distribuição de medicamentos em ambiente hospitalar, usando o formalismo das Redes de Petri, e extrair informação desses modelos através de simulação para apoiar tomadas de decisão relativas á disponibilidade de recursos humanos. Este trabalho foi desenvolvido durante uma estadia na Fundação Cartif de Valladolid em Espanha com a cooperação da Escola de Engenharias Industriais da Universidade de Valladolid

Simulation-Based Control of Complex Material Handling Systems

2008-2009Material Handling (MH) consists in the movement and storage of parts, in a manufacturing or distribution process, from one location to another. Material Handling Systems (MHSs) are everywhere in production plants, assembly lines, product distribution, logistics, intermodal activities (railways, road transportation, container ships, etc..). They usually are distributed, sometimes itinerant and often mixed manned and automated. Although not adding value in the manufacturing process, MH usually influences great part of a company’s operation costs, especially, for example, in the food distribution chain. Due to the increasing demand for a high variety of products, flexibility and efficiency are two important keywords in MHSs. Optimizing MH activities means having shorter response times and an increased throughput of the plant. The importance of this optimization process is very high in today’s companies. Nowadays, the interest in this process is growing rapidly since several new technologies, like the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) are available which finally allow to introduce an automation level to operating MHSs, almost without stopping operations and at a very low cost. In MHSs control iusses involve the problem of the optimal sequencing and scheduling of short-term activities. The so-called problem of "Dispatching” consists in defining a procedure to assign resources to missions. This is often made by using heuristic rules called Dispaching rules. For control purposes, a model of the system is necessary. Due to the complex and heterogeneous nature of MHSs, modeling approaches proposed in the literature are typically very specific and context-dependent. Moreover, the strong combinatorial nature of the control problem, and the presence of a great number of constraints to be considered, usually make the design of a control solution very tough. To devise a closed form analytical control action can require a great computational effort and could result not so convenient. Indeed, turbulence and variations in the input set of the system can suddenly make not more adequate a hardly designed control action. Thus, the choice of Dispatching rules as control actions, despite producing only local optimum solutions, is very usual for MHSs. Dispatching rules, indeed, result in a more reasonable and robust way to control MHSs since they are effective and computationally inexpensive. In the absence of a closed form control solution, Simulation is fundamental to evaluate the effects of a control action which cannot be analytically predicted. The outcome of the application of a rule or another can be easily tested via simulation and this is the reason why having a good model assumes a further major importance. In this thesis a unique arcchitecture for the modeling and the control of complex MHSs has been proposed.VIII n.s

Analyzing and improving air cargo terminal operations

Master'sMASTER OF ENGINEERIN

Hierarchical Communication Diagrams

Formal modelling languages range from strictly textual ones like process algebra scripts to visual modelling languages based on hierarchical graphs like coloured Petri nets. Approaches equipped with visual modelling capabilities make developing process easier and help users to cope with more complex systems. Alvis is a modelling language that combines possibilities of formal models verification with flexibility and simplicity of practical programming languages. The paper deals with hierarchical communication diagrams - the visual layer of the Alvis modelling language. It provides all necessary information to model system structure with Alvis, to manipulate a model hierarchy and to understand a model semantics. All considered concepts are discussed using illustrative examples

In-silico-Systemanalyse von Biopathways

Chen M. In silico systems analysis of biopathways. Bielefeld (Germany): Bielefeld University; 2004.In the past decade with the advent of high-throughput technologies, biology has migrated from a descriptive science to a predictive one. A vast amount of information on the metabolism have been produced; a number of specific genetic/metabolic databases and computational systems have been developed, which makes it possible for biologists to perform in silico analysis of metabolism. With experimental data from laboratory, biologists wish to systematically conduct their analysis with an easy-to-use computational system. One major task is to implement molecular information systems that will allow to integrate different molecular database systems, and to design analysis tools (e.g. simulators of complex metabolic reactions). Three key problems are involved: 1) Modeling and simulation of biological processes; 2) Reconstruction of metabolic pathways, leading to predictions about the integrated function of the network; and 3) Comparison of metabolism, providing an important way to reveal the functional relationship between a set of metabolic pathways. This dissertation addresses these problems of in silico systems analysis of biopathways. We developed a software system to integrate the access to different databases, and exploited the Petri net methodology to model and simulate metabolic networks in cells. It develops a computer modeling and simulation technique based on Petri net methodology; investigates metabolic networks at a system level; proposes a markup language for biological data interchange among diverse biological simulators and Petri net tools; establishes a web-based information retrieval system for metabolic pathway prediction; presents an algorithm for metabolic pathway alignment; recommends a nomenclature of cellular signal transduction; and attempts to standardize the representation of biological pathways. Hybrid Petri net methodology is exploited to model metabolic networks. Kinetic modeling strategy and Petri net modeling algorithm are applied to perform the processes of elements functioning and model analysis. The proposed methodology can be used for all other metabolic networks or the virtual cell metabolism. Moreover, perspectives of Petri net modeling and simulation of metabolic networks are outlined. A proposal for the Biology Petri Net Markup Language (BioPNML) is presented. The concepts and terminology of the interchange format, as well as its syntax (which is based on XML) are introduced. BioPNML is designed to provide a starting point for the development of a standard interchange format for Bioinformatics and Petri nets. The language makes it possible to exchange biology Petri net diagrams between all supported hardware platforms and versions. It is also designed to associate Petri net models and other known metabolic simulators. A web-based metabolic information retrieval system, PathAligner, is developed in order to predict metabolic pathways from rudimentary elements of pathways. It extracts metabolic information from biological databases via the Internet, and builds metabolic pathways with data sources of genes, sequences, enzymes, metabolites, etc. The system also provides a navigation platform to investigate metabolic related information, and transforms the output data into XML files for further modeling and simulation of the reconstructed pathway. An alignment algorithm to compare the similarity between metabolic pathways is presented. A new definition of the metabolic pathway is proposed. The pathway defined as a linear event sequence is practical for our alignment algorithm. The algorithm is based on strip scoring the similarity of 4-hierarchical EC numbers involved in the pathways. The algorithm described has been implemented and is in current use in the context of the PathAligner system. Furthermore, new methods for the classification and nomenclature of cellular signal transductions are recommended. For each type of characterized signal transduction, a unique ST number is provided. The Signal Transduction Classification Database (STCDB), based on the proposed classification and nomenclature, has been established. By merging the ST numbers with EC numbers, alignments of biopathways are possible. Finally, a detailed model of urea cycle that includes gene regulatory networks, metabolic pathways and signal transduction is demonstrated by using our approaches. A system biological interpretation of the observed behavior of the urea cycle and its related transcriptomics information is proposed to provide new insights for metabolic engineering and medical care

Towards resilient supply chain networks

In the past decade, events like 9/11 terror attacks, the recent financial crisis and other major crisis has proved that there is strong interaction and interdependency of a supply chain network with its external environments in various channels and thus a need to focus on building resiliency (in short, the ability of the system to recover from damage or disruption) of the entire network system. Although literature has discussed some way of improving resiliency of an individual firm which is a member of the network system, it lacked to capture a holistic view of the supply chain network. Pertaining to this observation, this work proposes to improve resiliency of a supply chain network from a system’s perspective rather concentrate on an individual firm. For this purpose, this thesis proposes a conceptual framework to promote early identification and timely information of the disruptions arising in a supply chain network and timely sharing of this information among all the members of the network. The key principle emphasized in this thesis is that recovery from an inevitable disruption has a better possibility if a member of the supply chain network has an early indication or knowledge of the upcoming disruption. A discrete event dynamic system simulation tool called Petri nets is utilized to realize the proposed conceptual framework. Furthermore, the practical benefits and implications of the proposed model and tool are demonstrated with help of two case studies. This thesis has several contributions to the field of operation management and supply chain. First, a new paradigm for supply chain management to avoid large scale failures such as financial crisis is available to the field, which may be applied by governments or regulatory bodies. Second, a new framework which allows for a quantitative analysis of failures of an entire supply chain network is available to the field, which is easy to be used. Third, a novel application of Petri nets to this new problem in supply chain management is available

Performance evaluation of warehouses with automated storage and retrieval technologies.

In this dissertation, we study the performance evaluation of two automated warehouse material handling (MH) technologies - automated storage/retrieval system (AS/RS) and autonomous vehicle storage/retrieval system (AVS/RS). AS/RS is a traditional automated warehouse MH technology and has been used for more than five decades. AVS/RS is a relatively new automated warehouse MH technology and an alternative to AS/RS. There are two possible configurations of AVS/RS: AVS/RS with tier-captive vehicles and AVS/RS with tier-to-tier vehicles. We model the AS/RS and both configurations of the AVS/RS as queueing networks. We analyze and develop approximate algorithms for these network models and use them to estimate performance of the two automated warehouse MH technologies. Chapter 2 contains two parts. The first part is a brief review of existing papers about AS/RS and AVS/RS. The second part is a methodological review of queueing network theory, which serves as a building block for our study. In Chapter 3, we model AS/RSs and AVS/RSs with tier-captive vehicles as open queueing networks (OQNs). We show how to analyze OQNs and estimate related performance measures. We then apply an existing OQN analyzer to compare the two MH technologies and answer various design questions. In Chapter 4 and Chapter 5, we present some efficient algorithms to solve SOQN. We show how to model AVS/RSs with tier-to-tier vehicles as SOQNs and evaluate performance of these designs in Chapter 6. AVS/RS is a relatively new automated warehouse design technology. Hence, there are few efficient analytical tools to evaluate performance measures of this technology. We developed some efficient algorithms based on SOQN to quickly and effectively evaluate performance of AVS/RS. Additionally, we present a tool that helps a warehouse designer during the concepting stage to determine the type of MH technology to use, analyze numerous alternate warehouse configurations and select one of these for final implementation

Tackling Dierent Business Process Perspectives

Business Process Management (BPM) has emerged as a discipline to design, control, analyze, and optimize business operations. Conceptual models lie at the core of BPM. In particular, business process models have been taken up by organizations as a means to describe the main activities that are performed to achieve a specific business goal. Process models generally cover different perspectives that underlie separate yet interrelated representations for analyzing and presenting process information. Being primarily driven by process improvement objectives, traditional business process modeling languages focus on capturing the control flow perspective of business processes, that is, the temporal and logical coordination of activities. Such approaches are usually characterized as \u201cactivity-centric\u201d. Nowadays, activity-centric process modeling languages, such as the Business Process Model and Notation (BPMN) standard, are still the most used in practice and benefit from industrial tool support. Nevertheless, evidence shows that such process modeling languages still lack of support for modeling non-control-flow perspectives, such as the temporal, informational, and decision perspectives, among others. This thesis centres on the BPMN standard and addresses the modeling the temporal, informational, and decision perspectives of process models, with particular attention to processes enacted in healthcare domains. Despite being partially interrelated, the main contributions of this thesis may be partitioned according to the modeling perspective they concern. The temporal perspective deals with the specification, management, and formal verification of temporal constraints. In this thesis, we address the specification and run-time management of temporal constraints in BPMN, by taking advantage of process modularity and of event handling mechanisms included in the standard. Then, we propose three different mappings from BPMN to formal models, to validate the behavior of the proposed process models and to check whether they are dynamically controllable. The informational perspective represents the information entities consumed, produced or manipulated by a process. This thesis focuses on the conceptual connection between processes and data, borrowing concepts from the database domain to enable the representation of which part of a database schema is accessed by a certain process activity. This novel conceptual view is then employed to detect potential data inconsistencies arising when the same data are accessed erroneously by different process activities. The decision perspective encompasses the modeling of the decision-making related to a process, considering where decisions are made in the process and how decision outcomes affect process execution. In this thesis, we investigate the use of the Decision Model and Notation (DMN) standard in conjunction with BPMN starting from a pattern-based approach to ease the derivation of DMN decision models from the data represented in BPMN processes. Besides, we propose a methodology that focuses on the integrated use of BPMN and DMN for modeling decision-intensive care pathways in a real-world application domain

User-Oriented Methodology and Techniques of Decision Analysis and Support

This volume contains 26 papers selected from Workshop presentations. The book is divided into two sections; the first is devoted to the methodology of decision analysis and support and related theoretical developments, and the second reports on the development of tools -- algorithms, software packages -- for decision support as well as on their applications. Several major contributions on constructing user interfaces, on organizing intelligent DSS, on modifying theory and tools in response to user needs -- are included in this volume