Applying queue theory for modeling of cloud computing: A systematic review

Classification of antecedents towards safety use of health information technology: A systematic review

PurposeBy applying a systematic literature review, this paper aims to identify the major healthcare problem domains (i.e. target areas) for lean supply chain management (LSCM) and to provide a list of the most common techniques for implementing LSCM in healthcare. Moreover, this study intends to investigate various contingency factors that may have influenced the selection of LSCM target areas or the application of LSCM techniques by healthcare organizations.Design/methodology/approachA systematic literature review was carried out following the method presented by Tranfield et al. (2003). Thereby, 280 peer-reviewed journal articles, published between 1995 and 2018, were selected, profiled and reviewed. In total, 75 papers were also selected for a qualitative analysis, known as meta-study, on the basis of high relevancy to the research objectives.FindingsThis work extracts, from previous research, a set of target areas for improving supply chain in healthcare by applying lean approaches. The work also unifies the language of lean thinking and supply chain in healthcare by defining metaphors in circumstances under which healthcare organizations pursue similar objectives from their supply chain management and lean programs (Schmitt, 2005). This paper also outlines a list of applications of lean for supply chain improvement in healthcare. Finally, a set of contingency factors in the field of lean supply chain in healthcare is found via the published literature.Practical implicationsThis paper provides insights for decision-makers in the healthcare industry regarding the benefits of implementing LSCM, and it identifies contingency factors affecting the implementation of LSCM principles for healthcare. Implementing LSCM can help healthcare organizations improve the following domains: internal interaction between employees, supply chain cost management, medication distribution systems, patient safety and instrument utilization.Social implicationsThe research shows potential synthesis of LSCM with the healthcare industry’s objectives, and, thus, the outcome of this research is likely to have positive influence on the quality and cost of healthcare services. The objectives of the healthcare industry are cost reduction and providing better service quality, and LSCM implementation could be an effective solution to help healthcare to achieve these objectives.Originality/valueThe prime value of this paper lies in conducting a systematic literature review using a meta-study to identify the major factors of implementing LSCM in healthcare. Only a few other studies have been published in the literature about LSCM in healthcare.

Machine learning (ML)-centric resource management in cloud computing: A review and future directions

One of the issues in cloud computing is workflow scheduling. A workflow models the process of executing an application comprising a set of steps and its objective is to simplify the complexity of application management. Workflow scheduling maps each task to a proper resource and sorts tasks on each resource to meet some efficiency measures such as processing and transmission costs, load balancing, quality of service, and etc. Task scheduling is an NP-Complete problem. In this study, meta-heuristic firefly algorithm (FA) is used to present a workflow scheduling algorithm. The purpose of the proposed scheduling algorithm is to explore optimal schedules such that the cost of processing and transmission of the whole workflow are minimized while there will be load balancing among the processing stations. The proposed algorithm is implemented in MATLAB and its efficiency is compared with cat swarm optimization (CSO) algorithm. The evaluations show that the proposed algorithm outperforms CSO in finding better solutions.

An extended Intelligent Water Drops algorithm for workflow scheduling in cloud computing environment

Context: Cloud computing has been one of the most promising computing paradigms in industry to provide a customizable and resourceful platform to deploy software. There are a number of competing providers and available services that allows organizations to access computing services without owning the corresponding infrastructure. Goal: Identify the main characteristics of opportunities to migrate to the cloud, the respective challenges and difficulties as well as factors that affect the cost-benefit relationship of such adoption. Method: This paper presents a systematic literature review to compare reported strategies of organizations to migrate and adopt cloud computing and their perception of the cost-benefit of this adoption. Results: The overall data collected from these studies depicts that a significant part of the companies perceived inclination towards for the innovation adoption process influenced by technological, organizational and environmental contexts. Conclusion: Due to the variety of strategies, approaches and tools reported in the primary studies, it is expected that the results in this systematic literature review would help in establishing knowledge on how the companies should adopt and migrate to the cloud, how the cost-benefit relationship can be evaluated as well as providers can be selected. These findings can be a useful reference to develop guidelines for an effective use of cloud computing.

Enhancing outpatient clinics management software by reducing patients' waiting time.

Systematic Reviews of the Literature: So What? Why Bother? Who Cares

Re-examining systematic literature review in management research: Additional benefits and execution protocols

<p><strong>BACKGROUND:</strong> Healthcare data are very sensitive records that should not be made available to unauthorized people in order for protecting patient's information security. However, in progressed technologies as cloud computing which are vulnerable to cyber gaps that pose an adverse impact on the security and privacy of patients’ electronic health records and in these situations, security challenges of the wireless networks need to be carefully understood and considered. Recently, security concerns in cloud computing environment are a matter of challenge with rising importance.</p><p><strong>OBJECTIVE:</strong> In this study a systematic review to investigate the security challenges in cloud computing was carried out. We focused mainly on healthcare cloud computing security with an organized review of 210 full text articles published between 2000 and 2015.</p><p><strong>METHOD:</strong> A systematic literature review was conducted including PubMed, Science direct, Embase, ProQuest, Web of science, Cochrane, Emerald, and Scopus databases.</p><p><strong>FINDINGS:</strong> Using the strategies described, 666 references retrieved (for research question one 365, research question two 201, and research question three 100 references).</p><p><strong>IMPROVEMENTS:</strong> Review of articles showed that for ensuring healthcare data security, it is important to provide authentication, authorization and access control within cloud's virtualized network. Issues such as identity management and access control, Internet-based access, authentication and authorization and cybercriminals are major concerns in healthcare cloud computing. To manage these issues<strong> </strong>many involved events such as Hybrid Execution Model, VCC-SSF, sHype Hypervisor Security Architecture, Identity Management, and Resource Isolation approaches<em> </em>have to be defined for using cloud computing threat management processes.</p>

Although child sexual abuse (CSA) is acknowledged as a worldwide social phenomenon, less is known about CSA within Arab societies. The current systematic literature review was designed to highlight the empirical knowledge on CSA in Arab societies. Guided by PRISMA principles, key databases were searched, with no time limit, for studies meeting the inclusion criteria. Fifty-seven studies were identified. The majority focused on the prevalence of CSA in various Arab societies around the world, with a wide range of rates reported. It is important to stress two main barriers addressed by the included studies. The first relates to the issue of taboo and the forbidden discussion of sexual content. The second is ethical, in which the researchers expressed their fear of creating emotional distress for their participants. A small group of studies examined parents’ perceptions of CSA and the need for parents’ involvement in the protection of their children. Another small group of studies focused on professionals’ perceptions and experiences in contending with CSA, as well as their distress, conflict, and urgent need for support and guidance. The conclusions from the systematic literature review emphasized the enormous challenge of conducting studies on CSA in Arab societies and the urgent need to advance this research while also including children and adult survivors, whose perceptions and experiences are currently understudied. Moreover, the discussion stresses the need to adopt an intersectionality paradigm in future studies to advance the improvement of CSA policy and practice.

A systematic literature review on the impact of artificial intelligence on workplace outcomes: A multi-process perspective

PurposeSupply chain risks specifically refer to risks that transmit among supply chain members, thus they should be understood and managed as a whole for an end-to-end supply chain. The purpose of this paper is to review literature of integrated supply chain risk management (ISCRM) that connects supply chain integration (SCI) with supply chain risk management.Design/methodology/approachThe systematic literature review methodology was used to select and categorize articles between 1998 and 2015 in peer-reviewed journals. A contingency analysis was further applied to detect association patterns and links between category items.FindingsThrough a systematic literature review, the research has clearly analyzed risk sources, scopes and dimensions of SCI, and scopes and dimensions of performance in the field of ISCRM. Furthermore, by applying the contingency analysis, the paper has proposed future research directions that are based on the extant literature findings.Originality/valueThe identified insights, gaps, and future research directions will encourage researchers as well as managers to drive the development of ISCRM.

Distributed Software Development (DSD) emerged from the need to achieve geographically distant customers and currently, allows organizations have global customers and other benefits. This scenario has given rise to new Software Engineering challenges resulting from DSD particularities. Several Systematic Reviews were conducted to address these new challenges. The objective of this paper is to categorize systematic reviews conducted in DSD context. We used the systematic review method to identify SLRs (Systematic Literature Reviews) that address DSD aspects. This study is categorized as a tertiary review. Of fourteen SLRs, seven address aspects of managing distributed development. Four SLRs addressed topics of engineering process. The three remaining are related to Requirements, Design and Software Engineering Education in DSD. The topic areas covered by SLRs are limited, where the majority are focused on summarize the current knowledge concerning a research question. Despite the number of SLRs, the amount of empirical studies is relatively small.

This article provides a step-by-step approach to conducting and reporting systematic literature reviews (SLRs) in the domain of healthcare design and discusses some of the key quality issues associated with SLRs. SLR, as the name implies, is a systematic way of collecting, critically evaluating, integrating, and presenting findings from across multiple research studies on a research question or topic of interest. SLR provides a way to assess the quality level and magnitude of existing evidence on a question or topic of interest. It offers a broader and more accurate level of understanding than a traditional literature review. A systematic review adheres to standardized methodologies/guidelines in systematic searching, filtering, reviewing, critiquing, interpreting, synthesizing, and reporting of findings from multiple publications on a topic/domain of interest. The Cochrane Collaboration is the most well-known and widely respected global organization producing SLRs within the healthcare field and a standard to follow for any researcher seeking to write a transparent and methodologically sound SLR. Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA), like the Cochrane Collaboration, was created by an international network of health-based collaborators and provides the framework for SLR to ensure methodological rigor and quality. The PRISMA statement is an evidence-based guide consisting of a checklist and flowchart intended to be used as tools for authors seeking to write SLR and meta-analyses.