Part of Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Chicago, 1936. / Pages 109-145 photolithographed. "Private edition, distributed by the University of Chicago libraries, Chicago, Illinois." "Reprint of Studies in business administration, vol. vii, no. 1, October 1936."

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Due to an increasing demand from decision makers for proper economic evaluations of health care services, cost-effectiveness analyses are becoming increasingly frequent. The statistic of interest in cost-effectiveness analysis is the incremental cost effectiveness ratio (ICER). When patient-specific data on costs and effects of alternative interventions is available, it can be used to quantify the uncertainty in the estimate of the ICER. Expressing this uncertainty by using confidence intervals has been recommended. However, because the statistic of interest is a ratio of two correlated random variables, its variance cannot be estimated exactly. Furthermore, the distribution of the ratio is unknown. Recently, several approximate methods have been proposed for calculating confidence intervals for the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio. These include two parametric methods: one which relies on a Taylor's Series approximation of the variance, and one based on Fieller's theorem; as well as a number of methods which rely on bootstrapping methodology. In this manuscript, these methods were applied to data obtained from a randomized clinical trial in which both health resources consumed and health outcomes were observed. Furthermore, several variations of the bootstrapping methods were proposed and applied to the same data set. Probabilities of the true ICER being in given ranges were also estimated using a bootstrapping approach. Finally, issues of sample size and power were briefly considered. The relative advantages and disadvantages of the different approaches were discussed. / Thesis / Master of Science (MS)

<p>Today most innovations made within the automotive domain are driven by electronics. The automotive customers demand new functionality with every new product release and the time-to-market is constantly shortened. Automotive embedded systems are often resource constrained and trade-offs between the system behavior and the resources required is of great importance. The cost sensitive automotive industry has to optimize the use of the system's limited resources, but in the meantime also be flexible. The system needs to support a large number of vehicle configurations over many years of production. The design decisions are usually based on many factors that pull in different directions such as maintenance, portability, usability etc. The growing complexity of the product and the many uncertain factors create a need for support in the design process. To better understand this problem decision methods used within an R&D department of an international vehicle manufacturer has been investigated through interviews and surveys. The survey reveals that a majority of the respondents use unstructured methods for resolving decision issues. When respondents were asked about their preferences there was an expressed need for more structured methods. In this research several existing methods have been surveyed and the methods most relevant to this issue are further described in this thesis. The main contribution of this thesis is an evaluation method using Real Options. The method provides the opportunity to analyze the cost of designing for flexibility to cope with a future growth of the product, based on the estimated value of the future functionality. To improve the usability an evaluation process is defined to aid engineers. This process provides a way of valuing system designs and enables the engineer to think about the future in a systematic manor. To analyze the resource usage within an embedded system a method is proposed on how to evaluate the resource efficiency of functions implemented within an automotive embedded system. The challenge of this work has been to develop methods that are found helpful to the industry and are easy enough to use so that designers are willing to try them again</p>

CIVINS / The Non-Intrusive Load Monitor (NILM) is a device that utilizes voltage and current measurements to determine the operating schedule of all of the major loads on an electrical service. Additionally, the NILM can use its electrical measurements to diagnose impending failures in the mechanical systems that are actuated by the electric loads. Ongoing NILM research conducted at Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Laboratory for Electromagnetic and Electronic Systems (LEES) is exploring the application of NILM technology in shipboard environments. For the current shipboard applications, diagnostic software development is in progress. To aid in that process, research was done to understand the dynamics of a shipboard cycling system. This thesis presents an in-depth examination of the development of diagnostic indicators for a shipboard vacuum assisted waste disposal system. Measurements and experimentation were conducted onboard USCGC SENECA (WMEC-906), a 270-foot Coast Guard Cutter. In order to better understand the system dynamics, a computer based model was developed to simulate the system. The intent of creating an in-depth model was to develop diagnostic methods that are applicable to any shipboard cycling systems. First, a base model is designed followed by the exploration of a realistic model that includes variation commonly found in the system. Thirdly, a diagnostics section explores methods to detect increased pump operation and distinguish between high system usage and the presence of a leak. Lastly, a basic cost analysis is done on the sewage system to show the benefits of installing a NILM. / CIVINS / US Navy (USN) author.

Today most innovations made within the automotive domain are driven by electronics. The automotive customers demand new functionality with every new product release and the time-to-market is constantly shortened. Automotive embedded systems are often resource constrained and trade-offs between the system behavior and the resources required is of great importance. The cost sensitive automotive industry has to optimize the use of the system's limited resources, but in the meantime also be flexible. The system needs to support a large number of vehicle configurations over many years of production. The design decisions are usually based on many factors that pull in different directions such as maintenance, portability, usability etc. The growing complexity of the product and the many uncertain factors create a need for support in the design process. To better understand this problem decision methods used within an R&amp;D department of an international vehicle manufacturer has been investigated through interviews and surveys. The survey reveals that a majority of the respondents use unstructured methods for resolving decision issues. When respondents were asked about their preferences there was an expressed need for more structured methods. In this research several existing methods have been surveyed and the methods most relevant to this issue are further described in this thesis. The main contribution of this thesis is an evaluation method using Real Options. The method provides the opportunity to analyze the cost of designing for flexibility to cope with a future growth of the product, based on the estimated value of the future functionality. To improve the usability an evaluation process is defined to aid engineers. This process provides a way of valuing system designs and enables the engineer to think about the future in a systematic manor. To analyze the resource usage within an embedded system a method is proposed on how to evaluate the resource efficiency of functions implemented within an automotive embedded system. The challenge of this work has been to develop methods that are found helpful to the industry and are easy enough to use so that designers are willing to try them again

Thesis--PlanB (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Stout, 2004. / Field problem. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.S. in Systems Technology (Space Systems Operations))--Naval Postgraduate School, September 1990. / Thesis Advisor(s): Lacer, Donald A. Second Reader: Boger, Dan C. "September 1990." Description based on title screen as viewed on December 17, 2009. DTIC Identifier(s): Space Utilization. Author(s) subject terms: Space Shuttle, Budget, Costs, Shuttle-C, Advanced Launch System. Includes bibliographical references (p. 98-103). Also available in print.

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På en global marknad med allt tightare vinstmarginaler har fokus på produktkostnad ökat. I produktutvecklingsprocessen har ett allt större behov av förbättrade arbetssätt kring produktkostnadskalkylering uppstått för att företag skall vara konkurrenskraftiga. Produktkostnad är en väsentlig del av ett företags kostnadsmassa. Under en produktutvecklingsprocess tidiga skeden saknas ofta etablerade metoder och processer för beräkning av produktens kostnad. Speciellt svårt är det att uppskatta produktkostnad i tidiga faser av produktutvecklingsprocessen då osäkerheten kring konstruktionen är stor. Detta kan få till följd att till exempel avsaknad av vetskap kring materialkostnad eller investeringsbehov uppstår. Målet med denna uppsats är att hjälpa, utvärdera och supportera kring förbättringar av arbetssätt inom produktutvecklingsprojekten när det kommer till produktkostnadskalkylering. Syftet med detta examensarbete är att skapa en passande finansiell modell som kan användas vid val av koncept i tidiga stadier av produktutvecklingsprocessen för att säkerställa högsta möjliga lönsamhet för Volvo Construction Equipment. För att lösa detta problem så har insamling av teori i form av böcker, artiklar samt rapporter genomförts med fokus på produktutveckling och produktkostnad. Teoristudien påvisade mycket material kring produktutvecklingsprocessen men mindre kring detaljerad produktkostnadskalkylering. Den empiriska delen har genomförts i samarbete med Volvo Construction Equipment med syfte att få ökad förståelse för problemställningar i dess verkliga miljö. Från intervjuer, dokumentation samt övrig insamling så påvisades att förbättringspotential fanns kring produktkostnadskalkylering i tidiga faser av produktutvecklingsprojekt. För ytterligare ökad förståelse genomfördes en strukturerad jämförelse samt en diskussion kring respektive område av teori och empiri. Resultatet av jämförelsen visar att Volvo Construction Equipments hantering av problem korrelerar med den teori som existerar i uppsatsen. I de situationer där Volvo avviker från teorin så finns orsaker till att företaget inte väljer att följa denna. För att förbättra processen kring produktutveckling och produktkostnadskalkylering på Volvo Construction Equipment skapades en kalkylmodell. Modellen applicerades konkret i ett pågående produktutvecklingsprojekt i företaget och gav möjlighet till uppföljning av utvecklingen av produktkostnaden under de olika faserna av projektet. / On a global market with tighter gross margins the focus on product cost have increased. A demand for improved methods within product cost calculations in the product development process is important to sustain competitive. Product cost is a vital part of a company’s cost base. During a product development process early stage there is often a lack of established methods and processes for calculation of the product cost. Especially difficult is it to estimate product cost in early stages of the product development process when the uncertainty around the construction of the product is big. That might lead to lack of knowledge around material cost and need of investments occur. The goal with this thesis is to help, evaluate and support around improvements within the product development projects when it comes to product cost calculation. The purpose of this thesis is to create a suitable financial model that is applicable when choosing concept in early stages of the product development process to sustain highest possible profitability for Volvo Construction Equipment. To solve this problem a collection of theory in form of books, articles and reports has been made with focus on product development and product cost. The theory part showed a lot of material around the product development process but less data around detailed product cost calculation. The empirical part has been created in cooperation with Volvo Construction Equipment with purpose to increase knowledge for problems in its natural environment. From interviews, documentations and other collection has shown that improvement potential was found for product cost calculations in early stages of product development project. For further increased understanding a structured comparison and a discussion around each area of theory and empirical data was created. The result of the comparison shows that Volvo Construction Equipment’s handling of problems correlates with the theory that exists in the thesis. To improve the process with product development and product cost calculation at Volvo Construction Equipment a calculation model was created. The model was applied in a real product development project in the company and gave opportunity for estimations of the development of the product cost during the different stages of the project.