Techn. Universiẗat, Diss.--Berlin, 1996.

Zugl.: Oestrich-Winkel, Europ. Business School, Diss., 2008

Techn. Hochsch., Diss., 2001--Aachen.

Syftet med denna uppsats var att beskriva hur makar till kvinnor med bröstcancer upplevde att sjukvården påverkade hanterbarheten och hade kunnat öka hanterbarheten i den stödjande rollen. Nio djupgående, semistrukturerade kvalitativa intervjuer ägde rum och kvalitativ, induktiv innehållsanalys användes för att analysera de transkriberade intervjuerna. Makarna som deltog i studien upplevde sig vara ett stöd för sina hustrur och den stödjande rollen upplevdes vara hanterbar men också förenad med en del krav. Sjukvården upplevdes kunna öka hanterbarheten genom att göra makarna delaktiga i vården av hustrurna. Sjukvården kunde även minska hanterbarheten genom att inte tillgodose makarnas behov av stöd. Genomgående efterfrågades information från sjukvården om hur makarna skulle kunna vara bättre stöd för sina hustrur. Även ökat psykosocialt stöd riktat mot makarna önskades från sjukvården. Om familjefokuserad omvårdnad hade tillämpats i större utsträckning hade möjligtvis hanterbarheten i den stödjande rollen kunnat öka ytterligare.

Bakgrund: Den palliativa vården ska tillgodose patientens behov med bland annat symtomlindring, kommunikation och relation i samarbete med övriga i vårdteamet. Stödet till de närstående är centralt. Sjuksköterskan ska ge stöd och bemöta partnerna i deras individuella kontext med skiftande behov, bakgrund, ålder och förförståelse. Syfte: Syftet med litteraturstudien var att beskriva upplevelsen av att vara partner till en patient i palliativ vård. Metod: En kvalitativ, systematisk litteraturstudie med induktiv ansats utfördes. Analysen baserades på tio granskade, kvalitativa artiklar. Resultat: Fyra kategorier framkom: Behov av stöd vilket ibland saknades, Hålla fast vid hoppet utmaningar till trots, Att finnas för sin partner oavsett vad och Slutet närmar sig. Slutsats: Litteraturstudien är ett bidrag till sjuksköterskans arbete att skapa en god, personcentrerad omvårdnad vid livets slutskede, framför allt för den sjuka patientens partner.

With the success of Revenue Management (RM) techniques over the past three decades in various segments of the service industry, many manufacturing firms have started exploring innovative RM technologies to improve their profits. This dissertation studies RM for make-to-order (MTO) and make-to-stock (MTS) systems. We start with a problem faced by a MTO firm that has the ability to reject or accept the order and set prices and lead-times to influence demands. The firm is confronted with the problem to decide, which orders to accept or reject and trade-off the price, lead-time and potential for increased demand against capacity constraints, in order to maximize the total profits in a finite planning horizon with deterministic demands. We develop a mathematical model for this problem. Through numerical analysis, we present insights regarding the benefits of price customization and lead-time flexibilities in various demand scenarios. However, the demands of MTO firms are always hard to be predicted in most situations. We further study the above problem under the stochastic demands, with the objective to maximize the long-run average profit. We model the problem as a Semi-Markov Decision Problem (SMDP) and develop a reinforcement learning (RL) algorithm-Q-learning algorithm (QLA), in which a decision agent is assigned to the machine and improves the accuracy of its action-selection decisions via a “learning" process. Numerical experiment shows the superior performance of the QLA. Finally, we consider a problem in a MTS production system consists of a single machine in which the demands and the processing times for N types of products are random. The problem is to decide when, what, and how much to produce so that the long-run average profit. We develop a mathematical model and propose two RL algorithms for real-time decision-making. Specifically, one is a Q-learning algorithm for Semi-Markov decision process (QLS) and another is a Q-learning algorithm with a learning-improvement heuristic (QLIH) to further improve the performance of QLS. We compare the performance of QLS and QLIH with a benchmarking Brownian policy and the first-come-first-serve policy. The numerical results show that QLIH outperforms QLS and both benchmarking policies.

Techn. Hochsch., Diss.--Aachen, 2002.

Postponement is widely recognised as an approach that can lead to superior supply chains, and its application is widely observed as a growing trend in manufacturing. Form postponement (FPp) involves the delay of final manufacturing until a customer order is received and is commonly regarded as an approach to mass customisation. However, while much is written in the literature on the benefits and strategic impact of FPp, little is still known about its application. Thus this research project aims to address how FPp is applied in terms of the operational implications within the manufacturing facility. Here the ‘postponed’ manufacturing processes are performed in the factory where the preceding processes are carried out. An in-depth case study research design was developed and involved case studies at three manufacturing facilities, which provided diverse contexts in which to study FPp applications. Each case study incorporated multiple units of analysis which were based around product groups subject to different inventory management policies – FPp, make to order (MTO) and make to stock (MTS). The same research design was used in each study and involved both qualitative and quantitative evidence. Qualitative evidence was gathered via structured interviews and included the operational changes required to apply FPp in a previously MTO and MTS environment. Eleven quantitative variables, providing a broad based measurement instrument, were compared across the three units of analysis to test the hypotheses. This combination of qualitative and quantitative evidence in the case studies helped to triangulate the research findings. Comparison between the three case studies provided further conclusions regarding operational implications that were context specific and those which were not. The research concludes that the manufacturing planning system presents a major obstacle to the application of FPp in a MTO and MTS environment. In spite of this, and even when the FPp application is flawed, the benefits of FPp still justify its application. The research also contributes two frameworks: one which determines when FPp is a viable alternative to MTO or MTS; and another that illustrates the major operational implications of applying FPp to a product exhibiting component swapping modularity.

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