Network Flexibility for Recourse Considerations in Bi-Criteria Facility Location

What is the best set of facility location decisions for the establishment of a logistics network when it is uncertain how a company’s distribution strategy will evolve? What is the best configuration of a distribution network that will most likely have to be altered in the future? Today’s business environment is turbulent, and operating conditions for firms can take a turn for the worse at any moment. This fact can and often does influence companies to occasionally expand or contract their distribution networks. For most companies operating in this chaotic business environment, there is a continuous struggle between staying cost efficient and supplying adequate service. Establishing a distribution network which is flexible or easily adaptable is the key to survival under these conditions. This research begins to address the problem of locating facilities in a logistics network in the face of an evolving strategic focus through the implicit consideration of the uncertainty of parameters. The trade-off of cost and customer service is thoroughly examined in a series of multi-criteria location problems. Modeling techniques for incorporating service restrictions for facility location in strategic network design are investigated. A flexibility metric is derived for the purposes of quantifying the similarity of a set of non-dominated solutions in strategic network design. Finally, a multi-objective greedy random adaptive search (MOG) metaheuristic is applied to solve a series of bi-criteria, multi-level facility location problems

A Step Toward Improving Healthcare Information Integration & Decision Support: Ontology, Sustainability and Resilience

The healthcare industry is a complex system with numerous stakeholders, including patients, providers, insurers, and government agencies. To improve healthcare quality and population well-being, there is a growing need to leverage data and IT (Information Technology) to support better decision-making. Healthcare information systems (HIS) are developed to store, process, and disseminate healthcare data. One of the main challenges with HIS is effectively managing the large amounts of data to support decision-making. This requires integrating data from disparate sources, such as electronic health records, clinical trials, and research databases. Ontology is one approach to address this challenge. However, understanding ontology in the healthcare domain is complex and difficult. Another challenge is to use HIS on scheduling and resource allocation in a sustainable and resilient way that meets multiple conflicting objectives. This is especially important in times of crisis when demand for resources may be high, and supply may be limited. This research thesis aims to explore ontology theory and develop a methodology for constructing HIS that can effectively support better decision-making in terms of scheduling and resource allocation while considering system resiliency and social sustainability. The objectives of the thesis are: (1) studying the theory of ontology in healthcare data and developing a deep model for constructing HIS; (2) advancing our understanding of healthcare system resiliency and social sustainability; (3) developing a methodology for scheduling with multi-objectives; and (4) developing a methodology for resource allocation with multi-objectives. The following conclusions can be drawn from the research results: (1) A data model for rich semantics and easy data integration can be created with a clearer definition of the scope and applicability of ontology; (2) A healthcare system's resilience and sustainability can be significantly increased by the suggested design principles; (3) Through careful consideration of both efficiency and patients' experiences and a novel optimization algorithm, a scheduling problem can be made more patient-accessible; (4) A systematic approach to evaluating efficiency, sustainability, and resilience enables the simultaneous optimization of all three criteria at the system design stage, leading to more efficient distributions of resources and locations for healthcare facilities. The contributions of the thesis can be summarized as follows. Scientifically, this thesis work has expanded our knowledge of ontology and data modelling, as well as our comprehension of the healthcare system's resilience and sustainability. Technologically or methodologically, the work has advanced the state of knowledge for system modelling and decision-making. Overall, this thesis examines the characteristics of healthcare systems from a system viewpoint. Three ideas in this thesis—the ontology-based data modelling approach, multi-objective optimization models, and the algorithms for solving the models—can be adapted and used to affect different aspects of disparate systems

IAF Jahresbericht 2003

IAF- bzw. Forschungsjahresbericht 2003 der Fachhochschule Konstan

Socio-spatial analysis of small-area need and accessibility of Primary Healthcare Services in Nigeria: A sequential mixed methods study

Ph. D. Thesis.Accessibility of primary healthcare (PHC) services is crucial for maintaining the good health of a population. Not only is health(care) associated with quality of life and socioeconomic productivity, systematic variations in healthcare accessibility are matters of social justice. Consequently, the overall goal of this project is to comprehensively analyze and explain smallarea need and accessibility of PHC services in Nigeria through a case study of Kogi State, with a view to making policy-relevant recommendations. To this end, both quantitative and qualitative methods are synthesized in an ‘explanatory sequential mixed methods research design’, which also features innovative data exploitations. This entails a synergy of: Automated Zone Design method, Spatial Microsimulation Modelling, and Generalized TwoStep Floating Catchment Area method for quantitative analysis as well as qualitative framework thematic analysis, to obtain research findings that are more robust than existing studies. In this way, genuine small-area variations in PHC need and accessibility are revealed and explicated, including extreme Medically Underserved Areas (eMUAs). Urban areas are more accessible than rural areas, as expected. Of senatorial districts, Kogi Central has the best healthcare accessibility because of its topography. Furthermore, these variations are mediated by the extant sub-optimal zoning system in Nigeria, which is a product of problematic historical political processes. Not only are eMUAs both very remote and rural, they also lack basic social amenities. Hence, it is not surprising that research participants expressed a myriad of dire disincentives in meeting their PHC needs. These difficulties can be mitigated by improving the quality of road infrastructure and ensuring an optimal socio-spatial configuration of PHC services. Broad mechanisms of social exclusion are also implicated in causing access-related disutility of PHC. It is therefore crucial that holistic interventions to alleviate social exclusion are enacted, since previous efforts at addressing only proximal concerns of PHC accessibility have proven unsuccessful. Keywords: Primary Healthcare Needs, Spatial Accessibility, Mixed Methods Research, Automated Zone Design, Spatial Microsimulation, Small-Area Variations.Newcastle University Overseas Research Scholarship (NUORS), Research Excellence Academy of the Humanities and Social Science Faculty (HaSS RE

Machine Learning with Metaheuristic Algorithms for Sustainable Water Resources Management

The main aim of this book is to present various implementations of ML methods and metaheuristic algorithms to improve modelling and prediction hydrological and water resources phenomena having vital importance in water resource management

Sustainable Development Indicator Frameworks and Initiatives

Agricultural and Food Policy, Environmental Economics and Policy, Farm Management, Production Economics,

Globalistics and Globalization Studies: Global Transformations and Global Future

The present volume is the fifth in the series of yearbooks with the title Globalistics and Globalization Studies. The subtitle of the present volume is Global Transformations and Global Future. We become more and more accustomed to think globally and to see global processes. And our future can all means be global. However, is this statement justified? Indeed, in recent years, many have begun to claim that globalization has stalled, that we are rather dealing with the process of anti-globalization. Will not we find ourselves at some point again in an edifice spanning across the globe, but divided into national apartments, separated by walls of high tariffs and mutual suspicion? Of course, some setbacks are always possible, because the process of globalization cannot develop smoothly. It is a process which is itself emerging from contradictions and is shaped by a new contradiction. They often go much further than underlying systemic changes allow. They break forward, as the vanguard of a victorious army, and then often meet resistance of various social and political forces and may suddenly start to roll back just at the moment when everyone expects their further offensive. We believe that this is what is happening with globalization at present. The yearbook will be interesting to a wide range of researchers, teachers, students and all those who are concerned about global issues