Name
Title | ||
|---|---|---|
A multi-objective grouping Harmony Search algorithm for the optimal distribution of 24-hour medical emergency units |
Abstract | ||
|---|---|---|
This paper presents a novel multi-objective heuristic approach for the efficient distribution of 24-h emergency units. This paradigm is essentially a facility location problem that involves determining the optimum locations, within the existing health care centers, where to deploy 24-h emergency resources, as well as an efficient assignment of patients to such newly placed resources through the existing medical care infrastructure. The formulation of the underlying NP-complete problem is based on a bi-objective distance and cost metric, which is tackled in our approach by combining a Harmony Search algorithm with a grouping encoding and a non-dominated solution sorting strategy. Additionally, the nominal grouping encoding procedure has been redefined in order to reduce the dimension of the search space, thus allowing for a higher efficiency of the searching process. Extensive simulations in a real scenario - based on the geographic location of medical centers over the provinces of Guadalajara and Cuenca (Spain) - show that the proposed algorithm is statistically robust and provides a wide range of feasible solutions, hence offering multiple alternatives for the distribution of emergency units. |
Year | DOI | Venue |
|---|---|---|
2013 | 10.1016/j.eswa.2012.10.051 | Expert Syst. Appl. |
Keywords | Field | DocType |
24-hour medical emergency unit,existing medical care infrastructure,harmony search algorithm,24-h emergency resource,facility location problem,efficient assignment,efficient distribution,24-h emergency unit,optimal distribution,existing health care center,geographic location,emergency unit,multi objective optimization | Health care,Data mining,Heuristic,Location,Computer science,Facility location problem,Multi-objective optimization,Sorting,Harmony search,Encoding (memory) | Journal |
Volume | Issue | ISSN |
40 | 6 | 0957-4174 |
Citations | PageRank | References |
18 | 0.93 | 20 |
Authors | ||
5 | ||
Name | Order | Citations | PageRank |
|---|---|---|---|
| I. Landa-Torres | 1 | 45 | 2.59 |
| Diana Manjarres | 2 | 110 | 10.19 |
| Sancho Salcedo-Sanz | 3 | 408 | 27.91 |
| J. Del Ser | 4 | 99 | 4.28 |
| S. Gil-Lopez | 5 | 45 | 2.59 |