Artificial Intelligence (AI), Operations Research (OR), and Decision Support Systems (DSS): A conceptual framework

In recent years there has been increasing interest in applying the computer based problem solving techniques of Artificial Intelligence (AI), Operations Research (OR), and Decision Support Systems (DSS) to analyze extremely complex problems. A conceptual framework is developed for successfully integrating these three techniques. First, the fields of AI, OR, and DSS are defined and the relationships among the three fields are explored. Next, a comprehensive adaptive design methodology for AI and OR modeling within the context of a DSS is described. These observations are made: (1) the solution of extremely complex knowledge problems with ill-defined, changing requirements can benefit greatly from the use of the adaptive design process, (2) the field of DSS provides the focus on the decision making process essential for tailoring solutions to these complex problems, (3) the characteristics of AI, OR, and DSS tools appears to be converging rapidly, and (4) there is a growing need for an interdisciplinary AI/OR/DSS education

Economics of Home Health Care in an Accountable Health Care System

Currently in the state of Minnesota, low income individuals have health care costs covered or supplemented through a variety of programs. The 2010 fiscal year-end report to the Minnesota legislature demonstrated that the federal government contributed 4.43 billion dollars to Minnesota Medical Assistance and the state government contributed nearly 2.8 billion dollars. Of this amount only 7% was devoted to providing home care services. This article reviews the economics and outcomes of state and federally funded home health services programs. It identifies how a small increase in the amount provided for home care could significantly decrease the overall cost of healthcare while improving prevention rather than treatment services, a goal of healthcare reform. Although this article is based on the experience of one home health agency in the state of Minnesota, barriers are identified that can change the reimbursement system which is relevant to every state

A Comparison of the Kinetics of Fatty-Acid Metabolism in Smokers and Nonsmokers

For many years, the United States government has required labels on all cigarette packages warning against the many ill effects associated with smoking. One of the major factors contributing to the unhealthy aspects of smoking is its profound impact on nutrient levels within the body. Free radicals found in both the gas and tar phases of cigarette smoke may pose a significant threat to the fatty-acid levels in the body. One method of assessing this threat is to examine the fatty-acid synthesis rates of smokers and nonsmokers. An assumption was made that a destruction of fatty-acids will be displayed as an increased rate of synthesis of longer-chain fatty-acids from shorter-chain precursors. A significant difference was found between the fatty-acid metabolic rates of smokers (n=10) and nonsmokers (n=8) with the smokers having an overall increase in rate. Further studies are required to determine if this difference in rate is due to lipid peroxidation brought about by smoking-induced free radical attack

Structural Liveness of Immediate Observation Petri Nets

We look in detail at the structural liveness problem (SLP) for subclasses of Petri nets, namely immediate observation nets (IO nets) and their generalized variant called branching immediate multi-observation nets (BIMO nets), that were recently introduced by Esparza, Raskin, and Weil-Kennedy. We show that SLP is PSPACE-hard for IO nets and in PSPACE for BIMO nets. In particular, we discuss the (small) bounds on the token numbers in net places that are decisive for a marking to be (non)live.Comment: Significantly extended w.r.t. the previous versio