• Refine Query
  • Source
  • Publication year
  • to
  • Language
  • 11
  • 6
  • 5
  • 5
  • 1
  • 1
  • 1
  • Tagged with
  • 36
  • 36
  • 11
  • 11
  • 6
  • 6
  • 5
  • 5
  • 5
  • 5
  • 5
  • 5
  • 4
  • 4
  • 4
  • About
  • The Global ETD Search service is a free service for researchers to find electronic theses and dissertations. This service is provided by the Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations.
    Our metadata is collected from universities around the world. If you manage a university/consortium/country archive and want to be added, details can be found on the NDLTD website.
1

Διδασκαλία της στατιστικής στη δευτεροβάθμια εκπαίδευση με χρήση υπολογιστή

Καμπέλη, Πετρούλα 07 July 2015 (has links)
Η παρούσα διπλωματική εργασία αναφέρεται στη διδασκαλία του 4ου κεφαλαίου της Περιγραφικής Στατιστικής της Β’ Γυμνασίου με τη βοήθεια του Υπολογιστή. Για τον καλύτερο και πληρέστερο σχεδιασμό της διδασκαλίας δημιουργήσαμε ένα ερωτηματολόγιο το οποίο και συμπλήρωσαν 19 μαθητές της Β’ Γυμνασίου, του Ιδιωτικού Σχολείου Σωτηρχόπουλος, τη σχολική χρονιά 2012-2013, που είχαν ήδη διδαχθεί το κεφάλαιο της Περιγραφικής Στατιστικής με παραδοσιακή διδασκαλία από τον καθηγητή τους. Με το ερωτηματολόγιο θέλαμε να ελέγξουμε τι έχουν κατανοήσει οι μαθητές, τι τους δυσκόλεψε, τι θυμόντουσαν χωρίς να έχει γίνει επανάληψη σε από αυτά που είχαν διδαχθεί και πόσοι γνώριζαν το Microsoft Excel. Σύμφωνα με τα αποτελέσματα που προέκυψαν κατασκευάσαμε το σχέδιο διδασκαλίας. Το σχέδιο διδασκαλίας αναφέρεται στον τρόπο διδασκαλίας εισαγωγικών βασικών εννοιών της περιγραφικής στατιστικής (οι έννοιες του πληθυσμού, του δείγματος, της κατανομής συχνοτήτων, της κατανομής σχετικών συχνοτήτων, της μέσης τιμής και της διαμέσου, ο σχεδιασμός και η ερμηνεία ραβδογραμμάτων και κυκλικών διαγραμμάτων). Ακολουθούμε μαθητοκεντρική μέθοδο διδασκαλίας σε συνδυασμό με διδασκαλία με τη βοήθεια του Ηλεκτρονικού Υπολογιστή (χρήση λογισμικού Microsoft Office Excel 2007) με καθοδηγούμενη ανακαλυπτική προσέγγιση. Αναφέρουμε ενδεικτικά και περιληπτικά τι παρουσιάζεται σε κάθε κεφάλαιο της εργασίας: Στο 1ο κεφάλαιο αναπτύσσονται θεωρίες μάθησης με τους κύριους εκπρόσωπους τους, πιο συγκεκριμένα αναφέρονται οι συμπεριφοριστικές (Pavlov-Watson-Thorndike-Skinner), οι νεοσυμπεριφοριστικές (Gagne), οι διαλεκτικές υλιστικές (Piaget) και οι κατασκευαστικές (Bruner) θεωρίες μάθησης. Στο 2ο κεφάλαιο αναλύονται οι μέθοδοι διδασκαλίας που διακρίνονται σε δασκαλοκεντρικές, μαθητοκεντρικές, συνεργατικές ή συμμετοχικές και οι διδακτικές προσεγγίσεις που διακρίνονται σε αφηγηματικές, ανακαλυπτικές, καθοδηγούμενες ανακαλυπτικές, διαλογικές. Το 3ο κεφάλαιο αναφέρεται στην Διδασκαλία της Στατιστικής και στην ιστορική εξέλιξη της στην Ελλάδα με τα Νέα Προγράμματα Σπουδών. Παράλληλα γίνεται στη διάκριση μεταξύ των εννοιών του Στατιστικού Γραμματισμού, του Στατιστικού Συλλογισμού και της Στατιστικής Σκέψης. Το 4ο κεφάλαιο αναφέρεται στις Τεχνολογίες της Πληροφορίας και των Επικοινωνιών (ΤΠΕ), στο ρόλο και την σημαντική, καθοριστική αξία τους στη διαδικασία της διδασκαλίας και της μάθησης. Στο 5ο κεφάλαιο παρουσιάζονται το ερωτηματολόγιο και το σχέδιο διδασκαλίας. / This thesis refers to the teaching of the 4th chapter of the Descriptive Statistics with the computer. For the best and most complete design of teaching, we create a questionnaire which completed from 19 students of High School, Private School Sotirchopoulos, school year 2012-2013. They had already completed the chapter of Descriptive Statistics with traditional teaching. In the questionnaire we wanted to test what students had understood, what was difficult for them, what they remembered without repetition and how many knew the Microsoft Excel. According to the results, we constructed a teaching plan.
2

Secular and Longitudinal Trends in Body Weight in a Large Population of Veterans, 2000-2014

Tamas, Margery J 08 January 2016 (has links)
INTRODUCTION: The prevalence of obesity is increasing in the United States and globally, and impacts many aspects of health. To understand the contribution of body weight to chronic diseases such as diabetes, it is necessary to characterize secular and longitudinal weight trends prior to evaluating the weight effects that may result from medical interventions. The cross-sectional National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) indicates that mean body weight in the adult population increased from 152 lb (69 kg) to 181 lb (82 kg) between 1959 and 2008. However, there are no previously published studies on secular or longitudinal weight trends in a veteran population. OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study is to describe secular and longitudinal trends in body weight for a large population of male and female individuals with and without diabetes in the Veterans Administration (VA) healthcare system, the largest integrated healthcare system in the United States. METHODS: Retrospective observational analysis of data from VA facilities throughout the United States, in patients who had at least 4 outpatient visits within any consecutive 4-year interval during 2000–2014. The dataset included men and women with and without type 2 diabetes. The primary outcomes were longitudinal trends in body weight stratified by birth cohort, sex, and diabetes status. RESULTS: A total of 4,680,735 unique patients, 1,666,346 with diabetes, were included in the analysis. Regressions were performed on the patient-level data and segmented by birth cohort. A total of 176,034,543 weight observations were included in the analysis, with a median of 15 to 36 weight observations per patient in individuals without diabetes, and a median of 22 to 49 weight observations in individuals with diabetes across birth cohorts. In the year 2000, the y-intercept for the regression equations indicated a mean body weight for men without diabetes of 188 lb (85 kg), for women without diabetes of 166 lb (75 kg), for men with diabetes of 213 lb (97 kg), and for women with diabetes of 195 lb (88 kg). Secular trends in body weight during the study period had median linear increases of 0.53 lb/y (0.24 kg/y) in men with diabetes, 0.50 lb/y (0.23 kg/y) in women with diabetes, 0.53 lb/y (0.24 kg/y) in men without diabetes, and 0.86 lb/y (0.39 kg/y) among women without diabetes, respectively. In cohorts born before 1940, body weight decreased. In the cohorts born between 1940-1949, body weight was stable. In all cohorts born after 1950, body weight increased. Across birth cohorts, the rate of weight increase accelerated from older to younger groups, with higher rates in the groups with diabetes than in the groups without diabetes: β2 = 0.0260 lb2/y (0.01179 kg2/y) in men without diabetes, 0.0398 lb2/y (0.01805 kg2/y) in men with diabetes, 0.0127 lb2/y (0.00576 kg2/y) in women without diabetes, and 0.0895 lb2/y (0.04060 kg2/y) in women with diabetes. CONCLUSIONS: This is the first report of secular and longitudinal weight trends in a large, contemporary veteran population that includes both men and women. Consistent with findings from the Normative Aging Study, a longitudinal study of male veterans from the northeastern United States, weight changes varied from decreases among the oldest birth cohorts to increases in the youngest birth cohorts. Secular changes in body weight by birth cohort were consistent with the patterns reported in the Global Burden of Disease Study. The rate of weight change is accelerated in all younger birth cohorts relative to all older birth cohorts, with the highest rates in women with diabetes. Further analyses of this dataset are recommended to elucidate clinical characteristics associated with longitudinal weight change among individuals with and without diabetes in the veteran population.
3

Comparison of Lean Construction in India and United States of America

Mahashabde, Vedangi 01 October 2016 (has links)
The concept of Lean Construction has been introduced successfully into the Construction Industry to increase efficiency and profit by elimination of non-value adding activities or ‘Waste’. Lean Construction is an adaptation of Lean manufacturing principles and is the future of the Construction Industry in developing as well as developed countries. There has been much study and documentation conducted on ‘Lean Construction’ in USA. Even though people have started practicing Lean in India, there is lack of documented information available about it. Professionals within the Industry could already be minimizing ‘Waste’ and/or following Lean principles without the knowledge of the term ‘Lean Construction’. This thesis has reviewed and compared Lean Construction practices and awareness in India and USA. A questionnaire based study was used to examine practices and collect data about Construction for analysis. Descriptive statistics was primarily used to make inferences from the data. The Lean Construction characteristics of the construction professionals from both the countries were discussed and analyzed. It was inferred that the Construction Industry in both the countries could benefit further from the Lean practices and increase profitability by up to 25%. In general, personnel in the Construction Industry from both the countries need to receive regular knowledge and updates about Lean principles in order to optimize resources effectively.
4

Análise dos padrões espaciais de árvores em quatro formações florestais do estado de São Paulo, através de análisses de segunda ordem, como a função K de Ripley. / Spatial pattern analysis of trees of four forest communities in southeastern Brazil, using Ripley’s K function.

Capretz, Robson Louiz 17 December 2004 (has links)
O padrão espacial das árvores em uma floresta é influenciado por variáveis abióticas e bióticas. Entre as principais variáveis abióticas estão o relevo, a disponibilidade de luz, nutrientes e água, e a caracterização do solo. Entre as principais variáveis bióticas estão os processos dependentes da densidade, tais como a competição intraespecífica e interespecífica, a herbivoria, a ocorrência de doenças, a fenologia e dispersão de sementes. Desse modo, investigar o padrão espacial das árvores, segundo suas classes de tamanho, e segundo suas espécies mais abundantes, pode fornecer evidências sobre a estrutura da comunidade vegetal. A descrição do padrão espacial das árvores e das espécies mais abundantes em diferentes formações florestais foi realizada usando ferramentas estatésticas mais apropriadas para investigar mapas das árvores. A Função K de Ripley tem como principais vantagens a possibilidade de detectar o padrão espacial em diversas escalas de distâncias simultaneamente, e avaliar a dependência espacial entre grupos de árvores. Os padrões observados foram comparados com os modelos de Completa Aleatoriedade Espacial, para a função univariada, e de Completa Independência Espacial, para a função bivariada. Diferentes formações florestais, típicas da região sudeste do Brasil, foram comparadas neste estudo: Floresta Ombrófila Densa Submontana, Savana Florestada (Cerradão), Floresta Estacional Semidecidual e Formação Pioneira com Influência Marinha (Restinga). Esta dissertação de mestrado integra o Projeto "Diversidade, dinâmica e conservação em florestas do Estado de São Paulo: 40 ha de parcelas permanentes", do Programa Biota da FAPESP. Neste projeto, uma parcela de 10,24 ha foi montada em cada formação florestal, e todas as árvores com circunferência na altura do peito a partir de 15 cm foram medidas, mapeadas e identificadas. Os resultados obtidos neste estudo ressaltam o caráter agregado em florestas tropicais, uma vez que o padrão agregado foi observado em todas as florestas estudadas. As árvores do Cerradão e da Restinga apresentaram padrões muito próximos, com uma agregação definida até uma certa escala de distâncias. Para a Floresta Ombrófila, o padrão agregado foi significativo em toda a escala de distâncias. Na Floresta Estacional, tendência à aleatoriedade foi observada, embora uma agregação significativa tenha sido notada para curtas distâncias. A análise do padrão espacial segundo classes de tamanho mostrou que as primeiras classes possuem, em geral, padrões agregados significativos, enquanto para as classes seguintes o padrão aleatório foi predominante. Em linhas gerais, o padrão espacial das espécies acompanhou o padrão geral de cada formação florestal. O padrão das espécies dominantes é sempre muito semelhante ao padrão espacial da floresta como um todo. Como era esperado, as espécies dominantes desempenham importante papel na ocupação do espaço horizontal em tais florestas, contribuindo de modo decisivo para a caracterização do padrão espacial da comunidade. Espécies que ocorreram em diferentes florestas apresentaram pequenas diferenças no seu padrão espacial, ressaltando-se assim a importância da sua autoecologia e dos processos ecológicos intrínsecos a cada comunidade. / Tree spatial patterns are influenced by abiotic and biotic environment. Among the main abiotic factors are topography, light, nutrients, soil and water availability. Among biotic factors are density-dependent processes, as intraespecific and interespecific competition, herbivory, pathogens, phenology and seed dispersion. Investigation of tree spatial patterns, patterns in size classes, and dominant species patterns can show evidences about the structure of plant communities. Description of trees spatial pattern was made using the most appropriate statistical tools for mapped data. Ripley’s K Function has as its main attributes the power to detect the spatial patterns in different distance scales simultaneously, and to investigate spatial independence among groups of trees. Observed patterns were compared to Complete Spatial Randomness model, in univariate function, and to Complete Spatial Independence model, in bivariate function. Different forests, typical from Southeastern Brazil, were compared in this study: Forest Savanna (Cerrad˜ao), Dense Rain Forest, Seasonal Semideciduous Forest and Restinga. This mastership thesis is part of Project "Diversity, dynamics and conservation in forests in the State of São Paulo: 40 ha of permanent plots", from FAPESP Biota Program. In this project, one permanent plot of 10.24 ha was located in each forest stand, and all its trees with circunference at breast height equals 15 cm or higher were measured, mapped and identified. The results obtained in this study shows the aggregated pattern as the most common pattern in tropical forests. The trees spatial pattern in Cerradão and Restinga were very similar, aggregation was observed in the same distance scales. For the Dense Rain Forest, the spatial pattern was significant for all the distance scales. In Semidecidous Forest, a tendency towards randomness was observed, but a significant aggregation appeared for short distances. The spatial analysis for size classes showed that the newer classes have aggregated patterns, while the following classes have random ones. The dominant species spatial patterns were close to the general patterns of its community. As expected, dominant species play important rules in characterizing the horizontal pattern of their forests. Common species between different forests showed small differences in its spatial pattern, indicating the importance of its autoecology and the intrinsic ecological processes of each community.
5

Study On Crash Characteristics And Injury Severity At Roadway Work Zones

Wang, Qing 26 March 2009 (has links)
In USA, despite recent efforts to improve work zone safety, the number of crashes and fatalities at work zones has increased continuously over several past years. For addressing the existing safety problems, a clear understanding of the characteristics of work zone crashes is necessary. This thesis summarized a research study focusing on work zone traffic crash analysis to investigate the characteristics of work zone crashes and to identify the factors contributing to injury severity at work zones. These factors included roadway design, environmental conditions, traffic conditions and vehicle/driver features. Especially, special population groups, which divided into older, middle Age, and young, were inspected. This study was based on history crash data from the Florida State, which were extracted from the Florida CAR (Crash Analysis Reporting) system. Descriptive statistics method was used to find the characteristics of crashes at work zones. After then, an injury severity predict model, using the ordered probit regression technology, was developed to investigate the impacts of various factors on different the injury severity at work zones. From the model, it can be concluded that some factors, including the road section with curve, alcohol/drugs involved, a high speed, angle crash and too young or old drivers are more likely to increase the probability of angle crashes. Based on the magnitudes of the variable coefficients, the factor of maximum posted speed have a great impact to injury severity, which shows restriction to driving speed is principle countermeasure for improving work zone safety.
6

Analys av kvalitet i en webbpanel : Studie av webbpanelsmedlemmarna och deras svarsmönster

Tran, Vuong, Öhgren, Sebastian January 2013 (has links)
During 2012, the employer of this essay carried out a telephone survey with 18000 participants and a web panel survey with 708 participants. Those who partook in the telephone survey were given a choice to join the web panel. The purpose of this work is to study the participants of the telephone survey and see if they reflect the Swedish population with regards to several socio-demographic factors. Also, we intend to investigate if the propensity to join the web panel differs for participants of the telephone survey with regards to various socio-demographic affiliations. It is also of interest to study if the response pattern is different for participants of the telephone survey that would like to join the web panel and those who reject. A comparison of response pattern between the telephone survey and web panel survey has also been done, to see if there exist any differences for these two groups of surveys. The statistical methods used in this essay are descriptive statistics, multiple logistic regression and decision trees. Conclusions to be drawn with result from these methods are that the participants from the telephone survey do reflect the Swedish population regarding certain socio-demographic factors and that there is a slight difference in propensity to join the web panel for people which have dissimilar socio-demographic affiliation. It has also been found that there is a slight difference in response pattern for participants who would or would not like to join the web panel, as well as differences in response pattern also exist between the telephone survey and the web panel survey.
7

Vivid moments long remembered: the lifetime impact of elementary school musical theatre

Ogden, Holly Christine 27 August 2008 (has links)
This phenomenological study examined the long-term significance of participation in elementary school musical theatre productions. The research aimed to explore the common and unique themes that emerged from adults recalling their childhood experiences, and how these experiences affected the development of musical and life-related skills. A questionnaire was used as the initial exploratory tool. It was distributed to a diverse group of 134 individuals, in retail, business and education settings, representing a stratified sample in two Ontario communities. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with six participants to elicit further memories of significant experiences related to their participation in elementary school musical theatre. The data analysis revealed five core themes and qualities related to the elementary school musical theatre experience including community and gender roles. The most significant meaning of school musical experiences for the participants had little to do with the skills developed in the arts, but rather focused on an increased sense of community and growth in self-awareness and confidence. Suggestions for future research on other salient aspects of elementary school are offered to shed further light on this phenomenon, which appears to have life-long and deep effects on those who are able to participate in elementary school musical theatre. / Thesis (Master, Education) -- Queen's University, 2008-08-26 09:05:17.979
8

Análise dos padrões espaciais de árvores em quatro formações florestais do estado de São Paulo, através de análisses de segunda ordem, como a função K de Ripley. / Spatial pattern analysis of trees of four forest communities in southeastern Brazil, using Ripley’s K function.

Robson Louiz Capretz 17 December 2004 (has links)
O padrão espacial das árvores em uma floresta é influenciado por variáveis abióticas e bióticas. Entre as principais variáveis abióticas estão o relevo, a disponibilidade de luz, nutrientes e água, e a caracterização do solo. Entre as principais variáveis bióticas estão os processos dependentes da densidade, tais como a competição intraespecífica e interespecífica, a herbivoria, a ocorrência de doenças, a fenologia e dispersão de sementes. Desse modo, investigar o padrão espacial das árvores, segundo suas classes de tamanho, e segundo suas espécies mais abundantes, pode fornecer evidências sobre a estrutura da comunidade vegetal. A descrição do padrão espacial das árvores e das espécies mais abundantes em diferentes formações florestais foi realizada usando ferramentas estatésticas mais apropriadas para investigar mapas das árvores. A Função K de Ripley tem como principais vantagens a possibilidade de detectar o padrão espacial em diversas escalas de distâncias simultaneamente, e avaliar a dependência espacial entre grupos de árvores. Os padrões observados foram comparados com os modelos de Completa Aleatoriedade Espacial, para a função univariada, e de Completa Independência Espacial, para a função bivariada. Diferentes formações florestais, típicas da região sudeste do Brasil, foram comparadas neste estudo: Floresta Ombrófila Densa Submontana, Savana Florestada (Cerradão), Floresta Estacional Semidecidual e Formação Pioneira com Influência Marinha (Restinga). Esta dissertação de mestrado integra o Projeto "Diversidade, dinâmica e conservação em florestas do Estado de São Paulo: 40 ha de parcelas permanentes", do Programa Biota da FAPESP. Neste projeto, uma parcela de 10,24 ha foi montada em cada formação florestal, e todas as árvores com circunferência na altura do peito a partir de 15 cm foram medidas, mapeadas e identificadas. Os resultados obtidos neste estudo ressaltam o caráter agregado em florestas tropicais, uma vez que o padrão agregado foi observado em todas as florestas estudadas. As árvores do Cerradão e da Restinga apresentaram padrões muito próximos, com uma agregação definida até uma certa escala de distâncias. Para a Floresta Ombrófila, o padrão agregado foi significativo em toda a escala de distâncias. Na Floresta Estacional, tendência à aleatoriedade foi observada, embora uma agregação significativa tenha sido notada para curtas distâncias. A análise do padrão espacial segundo classes de tamanho mostrou que as primeiras classes possuem, em geral, padrões agregados significativos, enquanto para as classes seguintes o padrão aleatório foi predominante. Em linhas gerais, o padrão espacial das espécies acompanhou o padrão geral de cada formação florestal. O padrão das espécies dominantes é sempre muito semelhante ao padrão espacial da floresta como um todo. Como era esperado, as espécies dominantes desempenham importante papel na ocupação do espaço horizontal em tais florestas, contribuindo de modo decisivo para a caracterização do padrão espacial da comunidade. Espécies que ocorreram em diferentes florestas apresentaram pequenas diferenças no seu padrão espacial, ressaltando-se assim a importância da sua autoecologia e dos processos ecológicos intrínsecos a cada comunidade. / Tree spatial patterns are influenced by abiotic and biotic environment. Among the main abiotic factors are topography, light, nutrients, soil and water availability. Among biotic factors are density-dependent processes, as intraespecific and interespecific competition, herbivory, pathogens, phenology and seed dispersion. Investigation of tree spatial patterns, patterns in size classes, and dominant species patterns can show evidences about the structure of plant communities. Description of trees spatial pattern was made using the most appropriate statistical tools for mapped data. Ripley’s K Function has as its main attributes the power to detect the spatial patterns in different distance scales simultaneously, and to investigate spatial independence among groups of trees. Observed patterns were compared to Complete Spatial Randomness model, in univariate function, and to Complete Spatial Independence model, in bivariate function. Different forests, typical from Southeastern Brazil, were compared in this study: Forest Savanna (Cerrad˜ao), Dense Rain Forest, Seasonal Semideciduous Forest and Restinga. This mastership thesis is part of Project "Diversity, dynamics and conservation in forests in the State of São Paulo: 40 ha of permanent plots", from FAPESP Biota Program. In this project, one permanent plot of 10.24 ha was located in each forest stand, and all its trees with circunference at breast height equals 15 cm or higher were measured, mapped and identified. The results obtained in this study shows the aggregated pattern as the most common pattern in tropical forests. The trees spatial pattern in Cerradão and Restinga were very similar, aggregation was observed in the same distance scales. For the Dense Rain Forest, the spatial pattern was significant for all the distance scales. In Semidecidous Forest, a tendency towards randomness was observed, but a significant aggregation appeared for short distances. The spatial analysis for size classes showed that the newer classes have aggregated patterns, while the following classes have random ones. The dominant species spatial patterns were close to the general patterns of its community. As expected, dominant species play important rules in characterizing the horizontal pattern of their forests. Common species between different forests showed small differences in its spatial pattern, indicating the importance of its autoecology and the intrinsic ecological processes of each community.
9

Drivers of direct cost of inpatient care for HIV-infected adults at Amajuba Memorial Hospital, Mpumalanga

Nhlapo, Sibusiso G January 2013 (has links)
Introduction: Sub-Saharan Africa remains the region worst affected by the HIV/AIDS pandemic in the world. South Africa (SA) is the country with the highest population of people living with HIV/AIDS in the world and Mpumalanga province is the province with the second highest prevalence of HIV/AIDS in SA. The district of Gert Sibande has the highest prevalence in the province of Mpumalanga (38.9%) in 2006. Since many patients living with HIV/AIDS usually present to district hospitals as the first point of contact it is important to understand the implications of HIV/AIDS in a resource limited health system. Study setting: The setting for this study was Amajuba Memorial Hospital (AMH) a district hospital in the Gert Sibande district of the Mpumalanga province. Objective: To analyse direct costs of providing inpatient care to adult patients with HIV/AIDS-related illnesses at AMH from the perspective of the provider (hospital) Study methods: The population of study comprised adult patients with HIV/AIDS-related illnesses admitted to the medical wards during the period of October 2009 and March 2010 at AMH. A detailed retrospective record review of patients admitted to the adult wards at AMH with HIV/AIDS-related illnesses over a 6-month period was conducted. After the record review the costs were estimated using standard costs and utilisation. Demographic and clinical patient profiles were determined then descriptive statistics were calculated with total costs as an outcome variable. Subsequently univariate and multivariate regression analysis were performed. Results: The demographic and clinical profiles revealed that most patients admitted with HIV/AIDS-related illnesses were: between the ages of 39 & 49 years (35.3%), male (54.9%), urban residents (82.0%), unemployed (87.2%), single (80.5%), were not on HAART (70.7%), had CD4 counts between 0 & 50 x 106 /L (38.3%), had pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) (38.4%), were admitted for the first time (60.9%) and of the total admitted to hospital 79.0% survived the index admission during the study period. Descriptive statistics of the continuous data variables were determined. Minimums, maximums, inter-quartile ratios, means and modes were determined and tabulated. 5 Consultation costs followed by investigation costs were the two major contributors to total admission costs (77.7% of the median total admission cost). Univariate analysis revealed these significant associations with total admission costs: admission diagnosis, discharge diagnosis, first admission, outcome, pre-admission consults and preceding admissions. In multivariate regression, admission diagnosis and pre-admission consults were analysed. Significant associations were found between the following categories: retroviral disease versus other diseases (p=0.001), retroviral disease versus anaemia (p=0.035), no pre-admission consults versus 1 pre-admission consult (p=0.007), no pre-admission consult versus 4 pre-admission consults (p=0.039) and no pre-admission consult versus 5 or more pre-admission consults (p=0.006). Conclusion: In our study we successfully determined demographic and clinical profiles of patients admitted with HIV-related illnesses at AMH. Emerging from the results of our study were patterns of burden of HIV disease, health seeking behaviour and risky sexual behaviour that all had implications for admission costs in the hospital. Major cost drivers were consultation and investigation costs, which were increased significantly by disease categories; other diseases, anaemia and PTB. Pre-admission consults emerged as a cost reducing parameter in our study. / Dissertation (MSc)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / gm2014 / Clinical Epidemiology / unrestricted
10

Influences on Health Related Quality of Life in Community Dwelling Adults Aged 60 Years and Over

Greenberger, Hilary Beth 01 January 2006 (has links)
Interest in patient-reported health care outcomes such as health related quality of life (HRQL) has increased dramatically over the past two decades. Typically, HRQL has been conceptualized as having at least three domains: physical, psychological, and social functioning. Although research has attempted to identify factors that influence HRQL,few studies have simultaneously examined how various factors impact HRQL in the elderly. The purpose of this study was to develop and test a causal model to identify factors influencing HRQL. The constructs and observed variables hypothesized to influence HRQL included medical burden, housing satisfaction, socioeconomic status,religion/spirituality, age, gender, and marital status.Three hundred and sixty three (363) participants were drawn from a random sample of community dwelling elderly living in Tompkins County, NY (mean age, 74.9; SD, 8.5; range 60-103). Tompkins County is located in central NY, and home to a large university and mid-size college.This study was a non-experimental retrospective design using secondary survey data from the "Pathways to Life Quality" study. Using confirmatory factor analysis, a measurement model of HRQL was tested and validated. The final HRQL model was defined by four constructs: general health perception, physical functioning, psychological functioning, and social functioning. Once this model was validated, structural equation modeling was used to test the full model examining factors influencing HRQL. Several goodness-of-fit indices were used to assess model fit. Modification indices were used to provide clues as to what changes would be appropriate to improve model fit. Respecifications to the model were based on theoretical rationale.Greater levels of medical burden, increased frequency of attendance at religious events, and increased satisfaction with housing significantly influenced HRQL (pThe results of this study suggest that there are other constructs and variables particularly salient and that directly influence HRQL in older community dwelling adults. These variables and constructs should be accounted for when conducting randomized clinical trials and cohort studies examining HRQL outcomes in older adults.

Page generated in 0.5034 seconds