132,662 research outputs found
Integration of simulation and DEA to determine the most efficient patient appointment scheduling model for a specific healthcare setting
Purpose: This study is to develop a systematic approach for determining the most efficient patient appointment scheduling (PAS) model for a specific healthcare setting with its multiple appointments requests characteristics in order to increase patientsâ accessibility and resource utilization, and reduce operation cost. In this study, three general appointment scheduling models, centralized scheduling model (CSM), decentralized scheduling model (DSM) and hybrid scheduling model (HSM), are considered.
Design/methodology/approach: The integration of discrete event simulation and data envelopment analysis (DEA) is applied to determine the most efficient PAS model. Simulation analysis is used to obtain the outputs of different configurations of PAS, and the DEA based on the simulation outputs is applied to select the best configuration in the presence of multiple and contrary performance measures. The best PAS configuration provides an optimal balance between patient satisfaction, schedulersâ utilization and the cost of the scheduling system and schedulersâ training.
Findings: In the presence of high proportion (more than 70%) of requests for multiple appointments, CSM is the best PAS model. If the proportion of requests for multiple appointments is medium (25%-50%), HSM is the best. Finally, if the proportion of requests for multiple appointments is low (less than 15%), DSM is the best. If the proportion is in the interval from 15% to 25% the selected PAS model could be either DSM or HSM based on expert idea. Similarly, if the proportion is in the interval from 50% to 70% the best PAS model could be either CSM or HSM.
Originality/value: This is the first study that determines the best PAS model for a particular healthcare setting. The proposed approach can be used in a variety of the healthcare settings.
Keywords: data envelopment analysis, discrete event simulation, patient appointment scheduling, multiple appointments, centralized scheduling model, decentralized scheduling model, hybrid scheduling modelPeer Reviewe
Structural Properties of an Open Problem in Preemptive Scheduling
Structural properties of optimal preemptive schedules have been studied in a
number of recent papers with a primary focus on two structural parameters: the
minimum number of preemptions necessary, and a tight lower bound on `shifts',
i.e., the sizes of intervals bounded by the times created by preemptions, job
starts, or completions. So far only rough bounds for these parameters have been
derived for specific problems. This paper sharpens the bounds on these
structural parameters for a well-known open problem in the theory of preemptive
scheduling: Instances consist of in-trees of unit-execution-time jobs with
release dates, and the objective is to minimize the total completion time on
two processors. This is among the current, tantalizing `threshold' problems of
scheduling theory: Our literature survey reveals that any significant
generalization leads to an NP-hard problem, but that any significant
simplification leads to tractable problem.
For the above problem, we show that the number of preemptions necessary for
optimality need not exceed ; that the number must be of order
for some instances; and that the minimum shift need not be
less than . These bounds are obtained by combinatorial analysis of
optimal schedules rather than by the analysis of polytope corners for
linear-program formulations, an approach to be found in earlier papers. The
bounds immediately follow from a fundamental structural property called
`normality', by which minimal shifts of a job are exponentially decreasing
functions. In particular, the first interval between a preempted job's start
and its preemption is a multiple of 1/2, the second such interval is a multiple
of 1/4, and in general, the -th preemption occurs at a multiple of .
We expect the new structural properties to play a prominent role in finally
settling a vexing, still-open question of complexity
Efficient parallel architecture for highly coupled real-time linear system applications
A systematic procedure is developed for exploiting the parallel constructs of computation in a highly coupled, linear system application. An overall top-down design approach is adopted. Differential equations governing the application under consideration are partitioned into subtasks on the basis of a data flow analysis. The interconnected task units constitute a task graph which has to be computed in every update interval. Multiprocessing concepts utilizing parallel integration algorithms are then applied for efficient task graph execution. A simple scheduling routine is developed to handle task allocation while in the multiprocessor mode. Results of simulation and scheduling are compared on the basis of standard performance indices. Processor timing diagrams are developed on the basis of program output accruing to an optimal set of processors. Basic architectural attributes for implementing the system are discussed together with suggestions for processing element design. Emphasis is placed on flexible architectures capable of accommodating widely varying application specifics
The stack resource protocol based on real time transactions
Current hard real time (HRT) kernels have their timely behaviour guaranteed at the cost of a rather restrictive use of the available resources. This makes current HRT scheduling techniques inadequate for use in a multimedia environment where one can profit by a better and more flexible use of the resources. It is shown that one can improve the flexibility and efficiency of real time kernels and a method is proposed for precise quality of service schedulability analysis of the stack resource protocol. This protocol is generalised by introducing real time transactions, which makes its use straightforward and efficient. Transactions can be refined to nested critical sections if the smallest estimation of blocking is desired. The method can be used for hard real time systems in general and for multimedia systems in particular
Reservation-Based Federated Scheduling for Parallel Real-Time Tasks
This paper considers the scheduling of parallel real-time tasks with
arbitrary-deadlines. Each job of a parallel task is described as a directed
acyclic graph (DAG). In contrast to prior work in this area, where
decomposition-based scheduling algorithms are proposed based on the
DAG-structure and inter-task interference is analyzed as self-suspending
behavior, this paper generalizes the federated scheduling approach. We propose
a reservation-based algorithm, called reservation-based federated scheduling,
that dominates federated scheduling. We provide general constraints for the
design of such systems and prove that reservation-based federated scheduling
has a constant speedup factor with respect to any optimal DAG task scheduler.
Furthermore, the presented algorithm can be used in conjunction with any
scheduler and scheduling analysis suitable for ordinary arbitrary-deadline
sporadic task sets, i.e., without parallelism
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