An Exploratory Study of Patient Falls

Debate continues between the contribution of education level and clinical expertise in the nursing practice environment. Research suggests a link between Baccalaureate of Science in Nursing (BSN) nurses and positive patient outcomes such as lower mortality, decreased falls, and fewer medication errors. Purpose: To examine if there a negative correlation between patient falls and the level of nurse education at an urban hospital located in Midwest Illinois during the years 2010-2014? Methods: A retrospective crosssectional cohort analysis was conducted using data from the National Database of Nursing Quality Indicators (NDNQI) from the years 2010-2014. Sample: Inpatients aged ≥ 18 years who experienced a unintentional sudden descent, with or without injury that resulted in the patient striking the floor or object and occurred on inpatient nursing units. Results: The regression model was constructed with annual patient falls as the dependent variable and formal education and a log transformed variable for percentage of certified nurses as the independent variables. The model overall is a good fit, F (2,22) = 9.014, p = .001, adj. R2 = .40. Conclusion: Annual patient falls will decrease by increasing the number of nurses with baccalaureate degrees and/or certifications from a professional nursing board-governing body

Research Trends and Outlooks in Assembly Line Balancing Problems

This paper presents the findings from the survey of articles published on the assembly line balancing problems (ALBPs) during 2014-2018. Before proceeding a comprehensive literature review, the ineffectiveness of the previous ALBP classification structures is discussed and a new classification scheme based on the layout configurations of assembly lines is subsequently proposed. The research trend in each layout of assembly lines is highlighted through the graphical presentations. The challenges in the ALBPs are also pinpointed as a technical guideline for future research works

Machine scheduling using the Bees algorithm

Single-machine scheduling is the process of assigning a group of jobs to a machine. The jobs are arranged so that a performance measure, such as the total processing time or the due date, may be optimised. Various swarm intelligence techniques as well as other heuristic approaches have been developed for machine scheduling. Previously, the Bees Algorithm, a heuristic optimisation procedure that mimics honeybee foraging, was successfully employed to solve many problems in continuous domains. In this thesis, the Bees Algorithm is presented to solve various single-machine scheduling benchmarks, all of which, chosen to test the performance of the algorithm, are NP-hard and cannot be solved to optimality within polynomially-bounded time. To apply the Bees Algorithm for machine scheduling, a new neighbourhood structure is defined. Several local search algorithms are combined with the Bees Algorithm. This work also introduces an enhanced Bees Algorithm. Several additional features are considered to improve the efficiency of the algorithm such as negative selection, chemotaxis, elimination and dispersal which is similar to the ‘site abandonment’ strategy used in the original algorithm, and neighbourhood change. A different way to deploy neighbourhood procedures is also presented. ii Three categories of machine scheduling problems, namely, single machine with a common due date, total weighted tardiness, and total weighted tardiness with sequence-dependent setup are used to test the enhanced Bees Algorithm’s performance. The results obtained compare well with those produced by the basic version of the algorithm and by other well-known techniques

A research survey: review of flexible job shop scheduling techniques

In the last 25 years, extensive research has been carried out addressing the flexible job shop scheduling (JSS) problem. A variety of techniques ranging from exact methods to hybrid techniques have been used in this research. The paper aims at presenting the development of flexible JSS and a consolidated survey of various techniques that have been employed since 1990 for problem resolution. The paper comprises evaluation of publications and research methods used in various research papers. Finally, conclusions are drawn based on performed survey results. A total of 404 distinct publications were found addressing the FJSSP. Some of the research papers presented more than one technique/algorithm to solve the problem that is categorized into 410 different applications. Selected time period of these research papers is between 1990 and February 2014. Articles were searched mainly on major databases such as SpringerLink, Science Direct, IEEE Xplore, Scopus, EBSCO, etc. and other web sources. All databases were searched for “flexible job shop” and “scheduling” in the title an

Planning and Scheduling Optimization

Although planning and scheduling optimization have been explored in the literature for many years now, it still remains a hot topic in the current scientific research. The changing market trends, globalization, technical and technological progress, and sustainability considerations make it necessary to deal with new optimization challenges in modern manufacturing, engineering, and healthcare systems. This book provides an overview of the recent advances in different areas connected with operations research models and other applications of intelligent computing techniques used for planning and scheduling optimization. The wide range of theoretical and practical research findings reported in this book confirms that the planning and scheduling problem is a complex issue that is present in different industrial sectors and organizations and opens promising and dynamic perspectives of research and development

A Comparative Analysis of Management Accounting Systems on Lean Implementation

The adoption of lean principles and practices has become widespread in many industries since the early 1990’s. Companies are now beginning to realize that traditional costing and accounting methods may conflict with lean initiatives they are implementing. Consequently, important research questions are being raised. Which cost management and accounting approach required for companies that adopt lean principles and practices? The primary objective of this research is to asses the impact of different management accounting systems on lean manufacturing as measured by performance metrics and to investigate the development of management accounting strategy which will support lean operations and will help to monitor the lean progress. Three management accounting alternatives investigated in this study are traditional management accounting, activity based costing and value stream costing. This study evaluates the overhead principles associated with management accounting alternatives to identify real product cost that will drive many business decisions. The financial measures commonly used are short-term and long-term profitability

Integration of production, maintenance and quality : Modelling and solution approaches

Dans cette thèse, nous analysons le problème de l'intégration de la planification de production et de la maintenance préventive, ainsi que l'élaboration du système de contrôle de la qualité. Premièrement, on considère un système de production composé d'une machine et de plusieurs produits dans un contexte incertain, dont les prix et le coût changent d'une période à l'autre. La machine se détériore avec le temps et sa probabilité de défaillance, ainsi que le risque de passage à un état hors contrôle augmentent. Le taux de défaillance dans un état dégradé est plus élevé et donc, des coûts liés à la qualité s’imposent. Lorsque la machine tombe en panne, une maintenance corrective ou une réparation minimale seront initiées pour la remettre en marche sans influer ses conditions ou le processus de détérioration. L'augmentation du nombre de défaillances de la machine se traduit par un temps d'arrêt supérieur et un taux de disponibilité inférieur. D'autre part, la réalisation des plans de production est fortement influencée par la disponibilité et la fiabilité de la machine. Les interactions entre la planification de la maintenance et celle de la production sont incorporées dans notre modèle mathématique. Dans la première étape, l'effet de maintenance sur la qualité est pris en compte. La maintenance préventive est considérée comme imparfaite. La condition de la machine est définie par l’âge actuel, et la machine dispose de plusieurs niveaux de maintenance avec des caractéristiques différentes (coûts, délais d'exécution et impacts sur les conditions du système). La détermination des niveaux de maintenance préventive optimaux conduit à un problème d’optimisation difficile. Un modèle de maximisation du profit est développé, dans lequel la vente des produits conformes et non conformes, les coûts de la production, les stocks tenus, la rupture de stock, la configuration de la machine, la maintenance préventive et corrective, le remplacement de la machine et le coût de la qualité sont considérés dans la fonction de l’objectif. De plus, un système composé de plusieurs machines est étudié. Dans cette extension, les nombres optimaux d’inspections est également considéré. La fonction de l’objectif consiste à minimiser le coût total qui est la somme des coûts liés à la maintenance, la production et la qualité. Ensuite, en tenant compte de la complexité des modèles préposés, nous développons des méthodes de résolution efficaces qui sont fondées sur la combinaison d'algorithmes génétiques avec des méthodes de recherches locales. On présente un algorithme mimétique qui emploi l’algorithme Nelder-Mead, avec un logiciel d'optimisation pour déterminer les valeurs exactes de plusieurs variables de décisions à chaque évaluation. La méthode de résolution proposée est comparée, en termes de temps d’exécution et de qualités des solutions, avec plusieurs méthodes Métaheuristiques. Mots-clés : Planification de la production, Maintenance préventive imparfaite, Inspection, Qualité, Modèles intégrés, MétaheuristiquesIn this thesis, we study the integrated planning of production, maintenance, and quality in multi-product, multi-period imperfect systems. First, we consider a production system composed of one machine and several products in a time-varying context. The machine deteriorates with time and so, the probability of machine failure, or the risk of a shift to an out-of-control state, increases. The defective rate in the shifted state is higher and so, quality related costs will be imposed. When the machine fails, a corrective maintenance or a minimal repair will be initiated to bring the machine in operation without influencing on its conditions or on the deterioration process. Increasing the expected number of machine failures results in a higher downtime and a lower availability rate. On the other hand, realization of the production plans is significantly influenced by the machine availability and reliability. The interactions between maintenance scheduling and production planning are incorporated in the mathematical model. In the first step, the impact of maintenance on the expected quality level is addressed. The maintenance is also imperfect and the machine conditions after maintenance can be anywhere between as-good-as-new and as-bad-as-old situations. Machine conditions are stated by its effective age, and the machine has several maintenance levels with different costs, execution times, and impacts on the system conditions. High level maintenances on the one hand have greater influences on the improvement of the system state and on the other hand, they occupy more the available production time. The optimal determination of such preventive maintenance levels to be performed at each maintenance intrusion is a challenging problem. A profit maximization model is developed, where the sale of conforming and non-conforming products, costs of production, inventory holding, backorder, setup, preventive and corrective maintenance, machine replacement, and the quality cost are addressed in the objective function. Then, a system with multiple machines is taken into account. In this extension, the number of quality inspections is involved in the joint model. The objective function minimizes the total cost which is the sum of maintenance, production and quality costs. In order to reduce the gap between the theory and the application of joint models, and taking into account the complexity of the integrated problems, we have developed an efficient solution method that is based on the combination of genetic algorithms with local search and problem specific methods. The proposed memetic algorithm employs Nelder-Mead algorithm along with an optimization package for exact determination of the values of several decision variables in each chromosome evolution. The method extracts not only the positive knowledge in good solutions, but also the negative knowledge in poor individuals to determine the algorithm transitions. The method is compared in terms of the solution time and quality to several heuristic methods. Keywords : Multi-period production planning, Imperfect preventive maintenance, Inspection, Quality, Integrated model, Metaheuristic

Mathematical Model and Meta-Heuristic Algorithm for Dual Resource Constrained Hybrid Flow-Shop Scheduling Problem with Job Rejection

In the real world, firms with hybrid flow-shop manufacturing environment generally facethe human resource constraint, salary cost increasment and efforts to make better use oflabor, in addition to machine constraint. Given the limitations of these resources, productdelivery requierements to customers have made the job rejection essential in order to meetdistinct customer requirements. Therefore, this research has studied the dual resourceconstrained hybrid flow-shop scheduling problem with job rejection in order to minimizethe total net cost (the sum of the total rejection cost and the total tardiness cost of jobs)which is widely used in many industries. In this article, a mixed integer linear programmingmodel has developed for the research problem. In addition, an improved sooty ternoptimization algorithm (ISTOA) has proposed to solve the large-sized problems as well asa decoding method due to the NP-hardness of the problem. In order to evaluate theproposed optimization algorithm, five well-known algorithms in the literature including(immunoglobulin-based artificial immune system (IAIS), genetic algorithm (GA), discreteartificial bee colony (DABC), improved fruit fly optimization (IFFO), effective modifiedmigrating birds optimization (EMBO)) have adapted with the proposed problem. Finally,the performance of the proposed optimization algorithm has investigated against theadapted algorithms. Results and evaluations show the good performance of the improvedsooty tern optimization algorithm