NCSU supply chain expert warns price of diapers, paper towels, other products on the rise
RALEIGH, N.C. — Families, beware! The cost of diapers, paper towels and other related products is about to climb.
The INFORMS Analytics+ Conference showcased how companies are turning advanced analytics and AI into measurable operational results
In most emergency departments, beds are a hot commodity. But some patients don’t actually need a bed for their treatment – and accurately identifying those people is a low-lift but effective way to increase efficiency without sacrificing care quality, finds a study recently published in the journal Management Science.
The researchers developed a simple decision tree, informed by mathematical and machine learning models, to help staff decide whether a patient truly needs a bed or can be routed to a “vertical processing pathway” – that is, an area where they can be treated sitting up. Many hospitals already have such an area but don’t necessarily have a systematic way to decide which patients are treated there.
American teenagers start their school day too early.
Medical experts have been clear for years: sleep cycle changes during puberty make it hard for teenagers to learn in the early morning. Later school start times have been linked to better sleep, improved mental health, stronger academic performance and even safer driving.
Most school district leaders know about this problem and care about fixing it. But changing the schedule can feel operationally impossible.
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RALEIGH, N.C. — Families, beware! The cost of diapers, paper towels and other related products is about to climb.
The NCAA is not doing it the right way. COVID-19 chaos prompted the NCAA to give college athletes the ability to transfer with immediate eligibility. They are now making this permanent.
Cornell, Duke and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign all conduct COVID-19 surveillance testing. As of early December 2020, Cornell had 308 positive cases amongst students, faculty and staff, while Duke had 267 cases and the University of Illinois 4,407.
The National Science Foundation would get an extra $50 billion under a proposal from the Biden administration. The NSF would establish a technology directorate, and give out grants for advanced chip making, communications, and other technologies deemed crucial to American competitiveness. Biden also wants tens of billions for other research initiatives. North Carolina State University industrial and systems engineering professor Julie Swann joined Federal Drive with Tom Temin to talk about how this might all work.
In the late 1990s, West Bridgewater, Mass., was home to a thriving factory producing surgical equipment for Johnson & Johnson.

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