A DISCRETE EVENT SIMULATION (DES) BASED APPROACH TO MAXIMIZE THE PATIENT THROUGHPUT IN OUTPATIENT CLINIC

The healthcare system is a complex system which exhibits conditions of uncertainty, ambiguity emergence that incurs incoming patient congestion. Discrete event simulation (FlexSim) is considered as a viable decision support tool in analyzing a system for improvement. Using a data-driven discrete event simulation approach, this paper portrays a comprehensive analysis to maximize the number of patients in an on-campus clinic, located at Mississippi State University. The outcome of the analysis of current system exhibits that deploying a few nurse practitioners results in bottlenecks which decreases the systems’ throughput substantially due to the overall longer patients’ waiting time.  Access to the laboratory is characterized through multi-server queuing network, arrival process is followed discrete distributions, and batch sizes and arrival times are stochastic in nature. In an effort to plummet inpatient congestion at the outpatient clinic, by using empirically calibrated simulation model, we will figure out the best balance between the number of the lab technician and incoming patient during working hour. An analysis of optimal solutions is demonstrated, which is followed by recommendation and avenues for future research

Enhancing Cyberweapon Effectiveness Methodology with SE Modeling Techniques: Both for Offense and Defense

A recent cyberweapons effectiveness methodology clearly provides a parallel but distinct process from that of kinetic weapons – both for defense and offense purposes. This methodology promotes consistency and improves cyberweapon system evaluation accuracy – for both offensive and defensive postures. However, integrating this cyberweapons effectiveness methodology into the design phase and operations phase of weapons systems development is still a challenge. The paper explores several systems engineering modeling techniques (e.g., SysML) and how they can be leveraged towards an enhanced effectiveness methodology. It highlights how failure mode analyses (e.g., FMEA) can facilitate cyber damage determination and target assessment, how block and parametric diagraming techniques can facilitate characterizing cyberweapons and eventually assess the effectiveness of such weapons and conversely assess vulnerabilities of systems to certain types of cyberweapons

The development of authentic virtual reality scenarios to measure individuals’ level of systems thinking skills and learning abilities

This dissertation develops virtual reality modules to capture individuals’ learning abilities and systems thinking skills in dynamic environments. In the first chapter, an immersive queuing theory teaching module is developed using virtual reality technology. The objective of the study is to present systems engineering concepts in a more sophisticated environment and measure students learning abilities. Furthermore, the study explores the performance gaps between male and female students in manufacturing systems concepts. To investigate the gender biases toward the performance of developed VR module, three efficacy measures (simulation sickness questionnaire, systems usability scale, and presence questionnaire) and two effectiveness measures (NASA TLX assessment and post-motivation questionnaire) were used. The second and third chapter aims to assess individuals’ systems thinking skills when they engage in complex multidimensional problems. A modern complex system comprises many interrelated subsystems and various dynamic attributes. Understanding and handling large complex problems requires holistic critical thinkers in modern workplaces. Systems Thinking (ST) is an interdisciplinary domain that offers different ways to better understand the behavior and structure of a complex system. The developed scenario-based instrument measures students’ cognitive tendency for complexity, change, and interaction when making decisions in a turbulent environment. The proposed complex systems scenarios are developed based on an established systems thinking instrument that can measure important aspects of systems thinking skills. The systems scenarios are built in a virtual environment that facilitate students to react to real-world situations and make decisions. The construct validity of the VR scenarios is assessed by comparing the high systematic scores between ST instrument and developed VR scenarios. Furthermore, the efficacy of the VR scenarios is investigated using the simulation sickness questionnaire, systems usability scale, presence questionnaire, and NASA TLX assessment

Systems Thinking: A Review and Bibliometric Analysis

Systems thinking (ST) is an interdisciplinary domain that offers different ways to better understand the behavior and structure of a complex system. Over the past decades, several publications can be identified in academic literature, focusing on different aspects of systems thinking. However, two critical questions are not properly addressed in the extant body of ST literature: (i) How to conduct the content analysis exclusively to derive the prominent statistics (i.e., influential journals, authors, affiliated organizations and countries) pertaining to the domain of ST? (ii) How to get better insights regarding the current and emerging trends that may evolve over time based on the existing body of ST literature? To address these gaps, the aim of this research study is to provide a comprehensive insight into the domain of systems thinking through bibliometric and network analysis. Beginning with over 6000 accumulated publications, the analysis narrowed down to 626 prominent articles with proven influence published over the past three decades. Leveraging rigorous bibliometric tools analysis, this research unveils the influential authors, leading journals and top contributing organizations and countries germane to the domain of systems thinking. In addition, citation, co-citation and page rank analysis used to rank top influential articles in the area of systems thinking. Finally, with the aid of the network analysis, key clusters in the existing literature are identified based on the research areas of systems thinking. The findings of this research will serve as a bluebook for practitioners and scholars to conduct future research within systems thinking context

Exploration and Assessment of Interaction in an Immersive Analytics Module: A Software-Based Comparison

The focus of computer systems in the field of visual analytics is to make the results clear and understandable. However, enhancing human-computer interaction (HCI) in the field is less investigated. Data visualization and visual analytics (VA) are usually performed using traditional desktop settings and mouse interaction. These methods are based on the window, icon, menu, and pointer (WIMP) interface, which often results in information clutter and is difficult to analyze and understand, especially by novice users. Researchers believe that introducing adequate, natural interaction techniques to the field is necessary for building effective and enjoyable visual analytics systems. This work introduces a novel virtual reality (VR) module to perform basic visual analytics tasks and aims to explore new interaction techniques in the field. A pilot study was conducted to measure the time it takes students to perform basic tasks for analytics using the developed VR module and compares it to the time it takes them to perform the same tasks using a traditional desktop to assess the effectiveness of the VR module in enhancing student’s performance. The results show that novice users (Participants with less programming experience) took about 50% less time to complete tasks using the developed VR module as a comrade to a programming language, notably R. Experts (Participants with advanced programming experience) took about the same time to complete tasks under both conditions (R and VR)

Exploration and Assessment of Interaction in an Immersive Analytics Module: A Software-Based Comparison

The focus of computer systems in the field of visual analytics is to make the results clear and understandable. However, enhancing human-computer interaction (HCI) in the field is less investigated. Data visualization and visual analytics (VA) are usually performed using traditional desktop settings and mouse interaction. These methods are based on the window, icon, menu, and pointer (WIMP) interface, which often results in information clutter and is difficult to analyze and understand, especially by novice users. Researchers believe that introducing adequate, natural interaction techniques to the field is necessary for building effective and enjoyable visual analytics systems. This work introduces a novel virtual reality (VR) module to perform basic visual analytics tasks and aims to explore new interaction techniques in the field. A pilot study was conducted to measure the time it takes students to perform basic tasks for analytics using the developed VR module and compares it to the time it takes them to perform the same tasks using a traditional desktop to assess the effectiveness of the VR module in enhancing student’s performance. The results show that novice users (Participants with less programming experience) took about 50% less time to complete tasks using the developed VR module as a comrade to a programming language, notably R. Experts (Participants with advanced programming experience) took about the same time to complete tasks under both conditions (R and VR)