Evaluation of patient transport service in hospitals using process mining methods: Patients\u27 perspective

Designing healthcare facilities and their processes is a complex task which influences the quality and efficiency of healthcare services. The ongoing demand for healthcare services and cost burdens necessitate the application of analytical methods to enhance the overall service efficiency in hospitals. However, the variability in healthcare processes makes it highly complicated to accomplish this aim. This study addresses the complexity in the patient transport service process at a German hospital, and proposes a method based on process mining to obtain a holistic approach to recognise bottlenecks and main reasons for delays and resulting high costs associated with idle resources. To this aim, the event log data from the patient transport software system is collected and processed to discover the sequences and the timeline of the activities for the different cases of the transport process. The comparison between the actual and planned processes from the data set of the year 2020 shows that, for example, around 36% of the cases were 10 or more minutes delayed. To find delay issues in the process flow and their root causes the data traces of certain routes are intensively assessed. Additionally, the compliance with the predefined Key Performance Indicators concerning travel time and delay thresholds for individual cases was investigated. The efficiency of assignment of the transport requests to the transportation staff are also evaluated which gives useful understanding regarding staffing potential improvements. The research shows that process mining is an efficient method to provide comprehensive knowledge through process models that serve as Interactive Process Indicators and to extract significant transport pathways. It also suggests a more efficient patient transport concept and provides the decision makers with useful managerial insights to come up with efficient patient-centred analysis of transportation services through data from supporting information systems

Towards Solving the Blockchain Trilemma: An Exploration of Zero-Knowledge Proofs

Research on blockchain has found that the technology is no silver bullet compared to traditional data structures due to limitations regarding decentralization, security, and scalability. These limitations are summarized in the blockchain trilemma, which today represents the greatest barrier to blockchain adoption and applicability. To address these limitations, recent advancements by blockchain businesses have focused on a new cryptographic technique called Zero-knowledge proofs . While these primitives have been around for some time and despite their potential significance on blockchains, not much is known in information systems research about them and their potential effects. Therefore, we employ a multivocal literature review to explore this new tool and find that although it has the potential to resolve the trilemma, it currently only solves it in certain dimensions, which necessitates further attention and research

The contribution of the German building sector to achieve the 1.5 °C target

The melting greenhouse gas emissions budget of the German building sector for the 1.5 °C target requires fast counteraction. In this paper, an analysis of the applicable legal and regulatory framework, the funding situation as well as national and international strategies on a transformation towards climate neutrality elucidates that the suggested approaches do not take a holistic view into account. They neglect, that embodied emissions from construction and emissions from operations phases of buildings must be oriented on the remaining budget, as well as material and human resources associated with the required actions. Therefore a framework to decarbonise the German building sector with eleven recommendations for action, which addresses these findings, is developed with a panel of experts. The results clarify, that the focus must be on adapting the existing building stock since renovation processes release significantly fewer emissions than the construction of new buildings. Stricter legal requirements for building envelopes have no significant effect on the reduction of emissions. Instead, fast-acting measures, such as the usage of district heating, photovoltaics, heat pumps, the optimisation of building operation and digitalisation, must be implemented in a prioritised manner to save resources and maintain the emissions budget longer. To be able to align effective measures it is necessary to engage all Stakeholders and to establish reliable political guidance down to the building level

The decarbonisation of Europe powered by lifestyle changes

Decision makers increasingly recognise the importance of lifestyle changes in reaching low emission targets. How the mitigation potential of changes in mobility, dietary, housing or consumption behaviour compare to those of ambitious technological changes in terms of decarbonisation remains a key question. To evaluate the interplay of behaviour and technological changes, we make use of the European Calculator model and show that changes in behaviour may contribute more than 20% of the overall greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reductions required for net-zero by 2050. Behaviour and technology-oriented scenarios are tested individually and in combination for the EU plus the UK and Switzerland. The impacts of behavioural change vary across sectors, with significant GHG emission reduction potential and broader benefits. Changes in travel behaviour limit the rising demand for electricity, natural resources and infrastructure costs from the electrification of passenger transport. Adopting a healthy diet reduces emissions substantially compared to intensifying agricultural practices, while at the same time making cropland available for conservation or bioenergy crops. The trade-offs between energy and food may be substantially alleviated when deploying technological and behavioural changes simultaneously. The results suggest that without behavioural change, the dependency of Europe on carbon removal technologies for its net-zero ambitions increases. Structural changes will be necessary to achieve full decarbonisation by 2050, yet changes in lifestyles are crucial, contributing to achieving climate targets sooner

FEM simulation for the development of data-based process models in mechanical joining technology

Due to the digitization of production the need for reliable process models increases. The development of data-based process models based on experimental data can be very time- and cost consuming. Therefore, the development of data-based process models based on numerically calculated data is a very promising approach. In this contribution the development and use of mathematical models based on data from FEM simulation for different applications in mechanical joining are described. The following topics are addressed: • Optimization of process parameters for the self-pierce riveting with semi-tubular rivet of 7xxx series aluminum alloys• Improvement of the flexibility of self-pierce riveting with semi tubular-rivet• Analysis of suitable process parameters for the clinching of thicker sheets