Search results for "System dynamics"
showing 10 items of 230 documents
Framing Caesarean Section Reduction Policies Through a Dynamic Performance Management Approach: A Maternity Pathway Case-Based Analysis
2017
The World Health Organization since the last three decades strongly encourages countries to reduce the caesarean section (CS) rate down to 10–15%. However, this goal nowadays appears still far from its achievement. Public decision-makers are indeed struggling to design and implement effective policies to reduce the CS rate. The literature provides a wide range of factors causing a change in the CS rate, such as the patient clinical profile and the healthcare service quality provided. Maternity pathway (MP) is considered a mean through which to standardize the cares and to reduce CSs. This study investigates the MP recently introduced in Sicilian local health authorities. Based on such an an…
Fostering Collaborative Governance in Chronic Disease Management Programs: A Dynamic Performance Management Approach
2020
Chronic diseases are the leading cause of disability and mortality in the world and represent a global health emergency due to the increase in frequency and complexity that has been occurring in recent years. The outcomes related to chronic care needs depend on the joint effort of a multi-provider, multi-disciplinary, and multi-professional service network, which operates along a clinical pathway. However, all the different players involved in the provision of services may have different interests and goals derived from their organizational structure and their role in the overall health system. This context of fragmented governance makes performance management of care services problematic. …
The communication breakdown in the generation of the adverse event in an obstetrics and gynecology ward: a System Dynamics perspective.
2013
During the last two decades, the issue of clinical risk management became one of the key topics in the Health care sector due to the increasing attention to the patient safety and the increase in monetary and non monetary costs (insurance fees, image etc.). For this reason, in the healthcare sector have been imported risk management methods that have been successfully applied in other sector. However they are too static and linear to study such a complex and dynamic issue as the risk management. The objective of the research is to investigate, with a system dynamics perspective, the relationship between the communication and the adverse event in the Health Care, referring to the studies of …
Modeling and design of Net ZEBs as integrated energy systems
2015
Net-zero energy buildings (Net ZEBs) are emerging as a quantifiable design concept and a promising solution to minimizing the environmental impact of buildings. This is the main concept that is focused on this chapter with emphasis on dynamic modeling and examples of technological approaches to achieve net-zero energy. Appropriate modeling of building-integrated solar energy systems is essential for the design of Net ZEBs and the study of optimal control strategies. The net-zero energy balance may be achieved through a combination of passive and active solar technologies, heat pumps, combined heat and power, and energy efficiency measures to reduce energy consumption for lighting and applia…
Individualizing deep dynamic models for psychological resilience data
2020
ABSTRACTDeep learning approaches can uncover complex patterns in data. In particular, variational autoencoders (VAEs) achieve this by a non-linear mapping of data into a low-dimensional latent space. Motivated by an application to psychological resilience in the Mainz Resilience Project (MARP), which features intermittent longitudinal measurements of stressors and mental health, we propose an approach for individualized, dynamic modeling in this latent space. Specifically, we utilize ordinary differential equations (ODEs) and develop a novel technique for obtaining person-specific ODE parameters even in settings with a rather small number of individuals and observations, incomplete data, an…
The superior effect of nature based solutions in land management for enhancing ecosystem services
2017
The rehabilitation and restoration of land is a key strategy to recover services -goods and resources- ecosystems offer to the humankind. This paper reviews key examples to understand the superior effect of nature based solutions to enhance the sustainabilit y of catchment systems by promoting desirable soil and landscape functions. The use of concepts such as connectivity and the theory of system thinking framework allowed to review coastal and river management as a guide to evaluate other strategies to achieve sustainability. In land management NBSs are not mainstream management. Through a set of case studies: organic farming in Spain; rewilding in Slovenia; land restoration in Iceland, s…
Demand and Supply Model for the Natural Gas Supply Chain in Colombia
2018
Natural gas is considered the transitional fuel for excellence between fossil and renewable sources, considering its low cost, greater efficiency and lesser effects on the environment. This has led to increased demand levels worldwide, requiring the intervention of public and private actors to meet such demand. In this research, we study the natural gas supply chain in Colombia using system dynamics modelling. The results allow to contrast both the behaviour of the production and transport levels and the behaviour of the demand from the consumption sectors, allowing to identify capacity levels to be developed considering implementation times and percentages of coverage in the supply.
Saving Process within a Zero Waste Strategy In Sicily: A System Dynamics Approach
2018
Disposable society represents a way of living that is not sustainable anymore, mainly in a context like our planet where resources are really scarce. As theorized by Paul Connett, the guru of zero waste strategy, there is no waste until that material still contains a drop of usefulness. The core point of the paper is the implementation of a zero waste strategy in a small municipality in Sicily. By building up a SD model we can figure out how saving process connected to the decrease of amount of waste piled up in the landfoll, has been boosting this virtuous cycle, which is bound to cope with the citizens claims about environmental care and lower tax burden level.
Introducing in a Non-Profit Organisation a CSR Strategy through a Learning Oriented Perspective: the Emssanar case-study
2008
A synthesis of feasible control methods for floating offshore wind turbine system dynamics
2021
Abstract During the past decade, the development of offshore wind energy has transitioned from near shore with shallow water to offshore middle-depth water regions. Consequently, the energy conversion technology has shifted from bottom-fixed wind turbines to floating offshore wind turbines. Floating offshore wind turbines are considered more suitable, but their cost is still very high. One of the main reasons for this is that the system dynamics control method is not well-adapted, thereby affecting the performance and reliability of the wind turbine system. The additional motion of the platform tends to compromise the system’s performance in terms of power maximization, power regulation, an…