Mixed integer programming model for optimizing the layout of an ICU vehicle

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>This paper presents a Mixed Integer Programming (MIP) model for designing the layout of the Intensive Care Units' (ICUs) patient care space. In particular, this MIP model was developed for optimizing the layout for materials to be used in interventions. This work was developed within the framework of a joint project between the Madrid Technical Unverstity and the Medical Emergency Services of the Madrid Regional Government (SUMMA 112).</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The first task was to identify the relevant information to define the characteristics of the new vehicles and, in particular, to obtain a satisfactory interior layout to locate all the necessary materials. This information was gathered from health workers related to ICUs. With that information an optimization model was developed in order to obtain a solution. From the MIP model, a first solution was obtained, consisting of a grid to locate the different materials needed for the ICUs. The outcome from the MIP model was discussed with health workers to tune the solution, and after slightly altering that solution to meet some requirements that had not been included in the mathematical model, the eventual solution was approved by the persons responsible for specifying the characteristics of the new vehicles. According to the opinion stated by the SUMMA 112's medical group responsible for improving the ambulances (the so-called "coaching group"), the outcome was highly satisfactory. Indeed, the final design served as a basis to draw up the requirements of a public tender.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>As a result from solving the Optimization model, a grid was obtained to locate the different necessary materials for the ICUs. This grid had to be slightly altered to meet some requirements that had not been included in the mathematical model. The results were discussed with the persons responsible for specifying the characteristics of the new vehicles.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The outcome was highly satisfactory. Indeed, the final design served as a basis to draw up the requirements of a public tender. The authors advocate this approach to address similar problems within the field of Health Services to improve the efficiency and the effectiveness of the processes involved. Problems such as those in operation rooms or emergency rooms, where the availability of a large amount of material is critical are eligible to be dealt with in a simmilar manner.</p

Exploring Web-Based University Policy Statements on Plagiarism by Research-Intensive Higher Education Institutions

Plagiarism may distress universities in the US, but there is little agreement as to exactly what constitutes plagiarism. While there is ample research on plagiarism, there is scant literature on the content of university policies regarding it. Using a systematic sample, we qualitatively analyzed 20 Carnegie-classified universities that are “Very High in Research.” This included 15 public state universities and five high-profile private universities. We uncovered highly varied and even contradictory policies at these institutions. Notable policy variations existed for verbatim plagiarism, intentional plagiarism and unauthorized student collaboration at the studied institutions. We conclude by advising that the American Association of University Professors (AAUP), the American Association of Colleges and Universities (AACU) and others confer and come to accord on the disposition of these issues

State owned enterprises as bribe payers: the role of institutional environment

Our paper draws attention to a neglected channel of corruption—the bribe payments by state-owned enterprises (SOEs). This is an important phenomenon as bribe payments by SOEs fruitlessly waste national resources, compromising public welfare and national prosperity. Using a large dataset of 30,249 firms from 50 countries, we show that, in general, SOEs are less likely to pay bribes for achieving organizational objectives owing to their political connectivity. However, in deteriorated institutional environments, SOEs may be subjected to potential managerial rent-seeking behaviors, which disproportionately increase SOE bribe propensity relative to privately owned enterprises. Specifically, our findings highlight the importance of fostering democracy and rule of law, reducing prevalence of corruption and shortening power distance in reducing the incidence of SOE bribery

Formulating and Solving Sustainable Stochastic Dynamic Facility Layout Problem: A Key to Sustainable Operations

Facility layout design, a NP Hard problem, is associated with the arrangement of facilities in a manufacturing shop floor, which impacts the performance, and cost of system. Efficient design of facility layout is a key to the sustainable operations in a manufacturing shop floor. An efficient layout design not only optimizes the cost and energy due to proficient handling but also increase flexibility and easy accessibility. Traditionally, it is solved using meta-heuristic techniques. But these algorithmic or procedural methodologies do not generate effective and efficient layout design from sustainable point of view, where design should consider multiple criteria such as demand fluctuations, material handling cost, accessibility, maintenance, waste and more. In this paper, to capture the sustainability in the layout design these parameters are considered, and a new Sustainable Stochastic Dynamic Facility Layout Problem (SDFLP) is formulated and solved. SDFLP is optimized for material handling cost and rearrangement cost using various meta-heuristic techniques. The pool of layouts thus generated is then analyzed by Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) to identify efficient layouts. A novel hierarchical methodology of consensus ranking of layouts is proposed which combines the multiple attributes/criteria. Multi Attribute decision-making (MADM) Techniques such as Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS), Interpretive Ranking Process (IRP) and Analytic hierarchy process (AHP), Borda-Kendall and Integer Linear Programming based rank aggregation techniques are applied. To validate the proposed methodology data sets for facility size N=12 for time period T=5 having Gaussian demand are considered