The hierarchical hub covering facility location problems are applied to distribution systems, transportation, waste disposal, treatment services, emergency services and remote communication. The problems attempt to determine the location of service providers' facilities at different levels and specify their linking directions in order to reduce costs and to establish an appropriate condition in...

In light of the exceptional circumstances that arose from hosting the Olympic Games in Athens in 2004 and from recent terrorist events internationally, Greece attributes the highest priority to security issues. According to its statutory role, the Greek Atomic Energy Commission is responsible for emergency preparedness and response in case of nuclear and radiological events, and advises the Gov...

BACKGROUND The Disaster Emergency Medical Personnel System (DEMPS) program provides a system of volunteers whereby active or retired Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) personnel can register to be deployed to support other VA facilities or the nation during national emergencies or disasters. Both early and ongoing volunteer training is required to participate. METHODS This study aims to iden...

This paper investigates the use of electricity demand response as a new measure for fast reserves inside of an autonomous (islanded) microgrid during different operating conditions including frequency controlled disturbance and normal ones. It is worth noting that demand response programs using under-frequency relays to shed the loads is used in the past, but these programs have, however, mainl...

Emergency medical service (EMS) providers continually seek ways to improve system performance particularly the response time to incidents. The demand for ambulances fluctuate throughout the week, depending on the day of week, and even the time of day, therefore EMS operators can improve system performance by dynamic relocation/redeployment of ambulances in response to fluctuating demand patters...

The impact of different energy storages on power systems has become more important due to the development of energy storage technologies. This paper optimizes the stochastic scheduling of a wind-based multiple energy system (MES) and evaluates the operation of the proposed system in combination with electrical and thermal demand-response programs and the three-mode CAES (TM-CAES) unit. The prop...

Demand for critical care services is increasing. Unless the supply of intensivists increases, critically ill patients will not have access to intensivists. Recent critical care society recommendations include increased graduate medical education support and expansion of the J-1 visa waiver program for foreign medical graduates. This article proposes additional recommendations, based on strength...