The Deployment of a Constraint-Based Dental School Timetabling System

International audienceWe describe a constraint-based timetabling system that was developed for the dental school based at Cork University Hospital in Ireland.This system has been deployed since 2010.Dental school timetabling differs from other university course scheduling in that certain clinic sessions can be used by multiple courses at the same time, provided a limit on room capacity is satisfied.Starting from a constraint programming solution using a web interface, we have moved to a mixed integer programming-based solver to deal with multiple objective functions, along with a dedicated Java application, which provides a rich user interface.Solutions for the years 2010, 2011 and 2012 have been used in the dental school, replacing a manual timetabling process, which could no longer cope with increasing student numbers and resulting resource bottlenecks.The use of the automated system allowed the dental school to increase student numbers to the maximum possible given the available resources.It also provides the school with a valuable "what-if" analysis tool

An Analytics Based Architecture and Methodology for Collaborative Timetabling in Higher Education

Class scheduling in higher education, also known as “timetabling”, is a complex process that involves many people across an institution for several months every year, and literature on the topic has been rapidly evolving over the last 15 years. We propose architecture and methodology to enable the implementation of systems that can help users gain insight on non-trivial existing and emerging enrollment patterns that need to be considered for planning purposes, and to facilitate collaborative timetabling activities. University of Pittsburgh data on undergraduate enrollments during six recent fall terms is used to illustrate the proposed ideas. Core components are specified by: First, modeling the problem using Association Rule Analysis where the sets of courses that individual students take in an academic term are treated as transactions. This renders combinations of courses called itemsets. A new backtracking algorithm called MASAI is proposed to determine the maximum number of seats available per itemset. This corresponds to the identification of itemsets of interest as in the case at hand course itemsets with no seats available are primary targets. MASAI is a novel approach to the identification of itemsets of interest that uses information that is not available in transactional data to determine the maximum number of seats possible in each itemset. Second, in order to facilitate deeper analyses that consider the relationships between course itemsets, the problem is modeled as a multi-mode graph that incorporates information obtained with the Association Rule Analysis and MASAI. A Generalized Clique Percolation Method (GCPM) is proposed to enable the identification of overlapping and hierarchical communities in graphs/networks. GCPM is used to identify communities in the multi-mode graph, enabling the discovery of non-trivial enrollment patterns, and the identification of scheduling practices that limit the enrollment options for students. Third, the elements that would form the core of a socially translucent environment that is based on the previous components are discussed. This collaborative environment is intended to provide scheduling authorities with access to shared information on enrollment patterns and how decisions on scheduling of courses in their departments impact the overall institution’s schedule and the enrollment options for students

Retirement home? France’s migrant worker hostels and the dilemma of late-in-life return.

Unlike many of their North African and West African compatriots who reunified with family and settled in France in the 1970s and 80s, the decision of migrant worker hostel residents not to return definitively to places of origin at retirement is puzzling. Firstly, it calls into question the assumptions of the ‘myth of return’ literature, which explains non-return on the basis of family localisation. In the case of ‘geographically-single’ hostel residents, however, the grounds for non-return cannot be family localisation, since the men’s families remain in places of origin. Secondly, older hostel residents also remain unmoved by the financial incentives of a return homewards, where their French state pensions would have far greater purchasing power. Instead of definitive return, the overwhelming preference of hostel residents is for back-and-forth migration, between the hostel in France and communities of origin. The aim of this dissertation is to resolve this puzzle, by asking: What explains the hostel residents’ preference for back-and-forth mobility over definitive return at retirement? In order to make sense of these mobility decisions, several theories of migration are presented and evaluated against qualitative data from a multi-sited research design incorporating ethnography, life story and semi-structured interviews, and archive material. This fieldwork was carried out across France, Morocco and Senegal. Although no one theory adequately accounts for all the phenomena observed, the added value of each theory becomes most apparent when levels of analysis are kept distinct: at the household level as regards remittances; at the kinship/village level as regards re-integration in the home context; at the meso-level of ethnic communities in terms of migrants’ transnational ties; and at the macro-level of social systems concerning inclusion in healthcare and administrative organisations. Widening the focus beyond the puzzle/dilemma of late-in-life mobility, the thesis concludes by questioning what ‘home’ can mean for the retired hostel residents. An innovative way of theorising home – building on conventional conceptions of home based on territory and community – is outlined, arguing that to be ‘at home’ can also mean to be ‘included’ in different ‘social systems’. With this argument the thesis aims to contribute to broader debates on what it means for immigrants to belong and achieve inclusion in society

An Integrated Framework for Staffing and Shift Scheduling in Hospitals

Over the years, one of the main concerns confronting hospital management is optimising the staffing and scheduling decisions. Consequences of inappropriate staffing can adversely impact on hospital performance, patient experience and staff satisfaction alike. A comprehensive review of literature (more than 1300 journal articles) is presented in a new taxonomy of three dimensions; problem contextualisation, solution approach, evaluation perspective and uncertainty. Utilising Operations Research methods, solutions can provide a positive contribution in underpinning staffing and scheduling decisions. However, there are still opportunities to integrate decision levels; incorporate practitioners view in solution architectures; consider staff behaviour impact, and offer comprehensive applied frameworks. Practitioners’ perspectives have been collated using an extensive exploratory study in Irish hospitals. A preliminary questionnaire has indicated the need of effective staffing and scheduling decisions before semi-structured interviews have taken place with twenty-five managers (fourteen Directors and eleven head nurses) across eleven major acute Irish hospitals (about 50% of healthcare service deliverers). Thematic analysis has produced five key themes; demand for care, staffing and scheduling issues, organisational aspects, management concern, and technology-enabled. In addition to other factors that can contribute to the problem such as coordination, environment complexity, understaffing, variability and lack of decision support. A multi-method approach including data analytics, modelling and simulation, machine learning, and optimisation has been employed in order to deliver adequate staffing and shift scheduling framework. A comprehensive portfolio of critical factors regarding patients, staff and hospitals are included in the decision. The framework was piloted in the Emergency Department of one of the leading and busiest university hospitals in Dublin (Tallaght Hospital). Solutions resulted from the framework (i.e. new shifts, staff workload balance, increased demands) have showed significant improvement in all key performance measures (e.g. patient waiting time, staff utilisation). Management team of the hospital endorsed the solution framework and are currently discussing enablers to implement the recommendation

Retirement Home? Ageing Migrant Workers in France and the Question of Return

Retirement Home? peers into the hidden world of France’s migrant worker hostels, documenting in intimate ethnographic detail the lives of older North and West African men who unexpectedly continue to live past retirement age in sub-standard accommodation which is patently ill-adapted for senior citizens, far away from their wives and children in places of origin. This paradox is the point of departure for a book which transports readers from the banlieues of Paris to the banks of the Senegal River and the villages of the High Atlas, all the time in the company of these ageing migrant pioneers. A policy initiative of the French state at the height of the Algerian war of independence (1954-62), the migrant worker hostels originally served a double purpose: a means of surveilling a suspect foreign population at a time of decolonisation and workers’ struggles, and a short-term housing solution for a supposedly temporary migrant labour force. Yet the hostels continue to exist today, now hosting a largely elderly population. During working life, the men retained significant connections to countries of origin, having not reunified their families in France but instead financially supporting their stay-at-home wives and children from a distance. Retirement is therefore the logical juncture at which to return definitively to loved ones in countries of origin. That they do not calls into question the assumptions of the ‘myth of return’ literature, which explains non-return on the basis of family location. Furthermore, older hostel residents also remain unmoved by the economic incentives of a return homewards, where their French state pensions would have far greater purchasing power. Unpacking these questions, this book sets out to contribute to broader debates on ‘home’ and what it means for immigrants to achieve inclusion in society