Thesis (M.S.)--University of Michigan, 1991.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Michigan, 1993. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.S. in Management)--Naval Postgraduate School, September 2002. / Thesis advisor(s): E. Cory Yoder, Ron B. Tudor. Includes bibliographical references (p. 83-85). Also available online.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1993. / Typescript. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 46-50).

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Michigan, 1991.

Abstract A study is made of the volume of hospital treatment provided for cases of pneumonia in Finland from 1972 to 1993, employing as a source the National Hospital Discharge Register. The results are used to predict changes in the utilization of hospital resources in this respect up to the year 2020. A total of 452 474 treatment periods and 5 935 615 hospitalization days attributable to pneumonia were recorded for the total population over the given period, of which just under 20% applied to children aged under 15 years, over 30% to persons of working age, 15-64 years, and over 50% to elderly persons aged 65 years and over. The mean duration of hospitalization was reduced from 18.4 days to 14.3 days for males and from 19.6 days to 17.5 days for females over the period in question. The number of treatment periods for pneumonia in children per year relative to population decreased by 28.3%, the greatest reduction being in the group under one year of age, 5.7% for boys and 5.5% for girls. The mean duration of treatment decreased from 9.6 days to 4.1 days for boys and 9.7 days to 4.3 days for girls. The numbers of treatment periods and hospitalization days were consistently greater for men than for women in the working-age population, the difference between the sexes being most pronounced in the age group 15 - 24 years, where the number of treatment periods for men was 7.2 times that for women. Likewise, the number of treatment periods for men began to increase with age from 40 years onwards and that for women from 50 years onwards. The mean treatment time for patients of working-age decreased over the period studied, from 10.5 days to 8.2 days for men and from 9.9 days to 8.2 days for women. The duration of treatment similarly increased with advancing age. The absolute numbers of treatment periods increased by 139% among the elderly population, even when standardized for age, whereas the number of hospitalization days diminished. The clearest increase in treatment periods of all was recorded for men aged over 84 years, 3.16%. The mean duration of treatment increased with age in both sexes, being significantly longer for women than for men in each age group. The forecast for changes in the utilization of hospital services for the treatment of pneumonia up to the year 2020 was examined by methods based on both an age structure model and a time series model. Both predicted an increase of over 50% in the total number of treatment periods for the population as a whole, being of the order of 70% for men and 30% for women. The predicted increase in the age group over 64 years was in excess of 90% with both models. The use of hospital services for the treatment of childhood pneumonia decreased significantly over the period examined here, while the majority of the treatment periods recorded for the working-age population concerned young men or persons aged over 40 years. The most significant increase was seen in treatment periods for persons aged over 64 years, and this figure is also predicted to increase in the future, on account of the frequent use made of hospital services by the elderly in general. Preparations should be made for dealing with this increase in demand by improving treatment methods, developing the treatment system and undertaking preventive measures.

Class of 2014 Abstract / Specific Aims: The objective of this study was to perform follow-up phone calls to patients after discharge to determine if it had a significant effect in lowering 30- day readmission rates. Methods: Men and women aged 18 years and older who provided informed consent participated in this prospective, pre-post study. The intervention consisted of a scripted follow-up phone call to each patient after discharge. At three to seven days post-discharge, a pharmacy student on an advanced pharmacy practice experience rotation at a teaching hospital called each patient discharged from a designated ward (Med/Surg I), which admits patients with a variety of conditions, such as liver cirrhosis, pneumonia, osteomyelitis, those who are uninsured, or those who require placement after discharge. Information was collected regarding prescription filling, understanding of medication(s), concerns regarding medications, and the community pharmacy he/she used to fill the discharge medications. The specified community pharmacy was then called to verify that the patient filled discharge medications at that pharmacy. The results were compared to the readmission rate in the same ward over the same time period one year prior to implementation of the intervention. Chi-square and descriptive analysis was used and the alpha a priori is 0.05. The institutional review board approved this study. Main Results: Of the 315 people contacted, a total of 89 people completed the survey (28% response rate) and 11 of these participants were readmitted at least once. There was no statistically significant difference between the participant readmission rate and the readmission rates of the total unique admission population of Med/Surg I in 2013 (χ2 = 1.206; p = 0.272). Conclusion: Follow-up phone calls did not significantly impact 30-day readmission rates; however, a downward trend was observed in the participant group.

Self-excited vibration, known as chatter, limits material removal rate, surface finish and accuracy in machining, and may even cause structural damage to components of the machining system. Machining stability may be enhanced by a variety of methods, from moving machining parameters to stable regions, or using actively actuated tools specially designed to obstruct self-excitation, or even by passively enhancing the stiffness or damping of the system as to soften the critical mode of vibration. Although there are many approaches to reduce chatter, not all of them are always effective in every situation. Moving machining parameters is restricted by workpiece machinability. Active damping mechanisms require large contraptions to function and have limited effectiveness when dealing with high frequency chatter. Passive damping approaches have essentially entailed tuned mass dampers which require delicate finetuning and drastic alterations to the tool structure in order mount the vibration absorber system. This research presents an elegant and innovative application involving electrical discharge texturing for chatter suppression that takes advantage of frictional forces to passively damp self-excited vibrations. This technique proved effective in a frequency range from 100 to 4000 Hz achieving damping enhancements of more than 400% without the need of any tuning and showing repeatable damping values after subsequent assembly and disassembly cycles. When applied to a grooving operation the technique proved effective in increasing the limiting width of cut by more than 120%. / Thesis / Master of Applied Science (MASc)

No description available.

Electrical discharge machining (EDM) is perhaps the most prevalent non-traditional machining process in industry. Therefore, a great amount of effort has been invested towards improving the process. One result of these efforts was the introduction of CNC capabilities to EDM machine tools. Though CNC capabilities are predominantly used for performing orbital EDM, they may also be used for electrical discharge (ED) milling. Cylindrical tools are typically used in ED milling. While other tooling concepts have been developed for use with CNC EDM, this area of EDM is lacking in research. In this work an oblong set of tools for ED milling is presented. The set contains tools capable of machining cavities with both round and sharp features. Motivation for development of the tool set is discussed along with the benefits accompanied by the use of these tools. The cavity profiles considered in this work are divided into three groups based on concavity, continuity and geometric composition. Based on these groups, algorithms are presented for tool type selection and tool size calculation. Tool path planning strategies for each of the tool types are also presented. Two examples are presented in which the algorithms are applied to 2D profiles. The first of these profiles is star shaped, while the second is gear shaped. Both examples were machined on a 4-axis CNC EDM using the oblong tools presented in this work. When compared to equivalent cylindrical/square tools, the oblong tools used for the machining of the cavities provided a substantial increase in frontal area corresponding to improved material removal rates. Furthermore, for both examples, the complete machining of a single layer is accomplished with only one pass of the tool. / Thesis / Master of Applied Science (MASc)