No description available.

This thesis addresses the capital replacement modelling problems associated with a mixed, or inhomogeneous, fleet and also takes account of the fleet size problem. Applications considered relate to a fleet of buses and a fleet of medical equipment. The initial chapters introduce the notion of capital replacement modelling and review previous work in the field, as well as reviewing the fleet size problem. Replacement policies are also put in the context of the fleet rather than the context of a 'typical plant'. In the third chapter, we present our first attempt to model capital replacement with variable fleet size over a finite planning horizon. A two cycle model is developed in which the notion of penalty cost for breakdown is introduced. This cost is incurred when demand is not met. To take account of the cost of unmet demand, a simple failure model for plant is proposed. The replacement model is applied to a fleet of ventilators in an intensive care unit of a hospital. In the fourth chapter we develop various models for the case of replacement of a sub-fleet within a mixed fleet. These models themselves have variable finite planning horizon of variable length and build on developments described earlier in the thesis. Other aspects such as the increased cost of sub-optimal policy due to delayed replacement, smaller replacement sub-fleet etc. are also considered. The models developed in chapter 4 are applied, in the following chapter, to a fleet of buses operated by a Malaysian inter-city bus company. Sensitivity analysis on different factors is also carried out. Finally the sensitivity of optimal decision policy to the choice of the replacement model is described in the context of the bus application.

No description available.

Thesis (M.S.N.)--Marshall University, 2008. / Title from document title page. Includes abstract. Document formatted into pages: contains vi, 57 p. Includes bibliographical references p. 39-41.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1980. / Typescript. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 83-84).

Present methods of monitoring, anesthetic breathing circuits for mechanical faults are flawed by inadequacies in the design of disconnect/pressure monitors (DPMs), devices which monitor breathing circuit pressure waveforms. Such inadequacies are investigated, and their cause is identified. A microprocessor based DPM, which applies pattern recognition techniques to the task of disconnect monitoring is proposed, and its design and implementation are presented. Technical and clinical trials show that the prototype DPM consistently detects almost all mechanical faults in the anesthetic breathing circuit. It is concluded that pattern recognition based DPMs are significantly more effective than their present day counterparts. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Electrical and Computer Engineering, Department of / Graduate

Bakgrunden till detta arbete är att det saknas riktlinjer från den tekniska avdelningen när vårdavdelningar på Astrid Lindgrens barnsjukhus skall köpa in infusionspumpar. Syftet med arbetet är att rekommendera ett antal pumpar vilka möter de krav och önskemål som ställs på dessa. Krav och önskemål kommer framförallt ifrån sjuksköterskorna men även ifrån rapportskrivarna. I resultatet presenteras sammanfattningar från de intervjuer som hållits med sjuksköterskor. I diskussionen kommenterar vi sjuksköterskornas önskemål och lyfter fram våra egna. Vi spekulerar även om infusionspumpens framtid. I slutsatsen anges vilka pumpmodeller som bäst möter de krav och önskemål som ställts på pumparna och varför vi rekommenderar Brauns pumpar före CareFusions.

No description available.

Family physicians are often tasked with ensuring patients have the durable medical equipment (DME) they need for a given ailment. This includes nebulizers, rolling walkers, crutches, wheelchairs, and hospital beds. Family physicians are expected to be familiar with the DME indications and ordering procedures in order to obtain these items for their patients. For many of our family medicine residents, this is a vast and overwhelming facet of primary care that is often dreaded due to lack of knowledge concerning medical indications and processes of ordering DME. Therefore, our project at ETSU Family Medicine Residency of Bristol aimed to improve our residents comfort with and understanding of the clinic’s protocol surrounding the ordering of DME. We started with an evaluation of our residents’ knowledge and comfort with the indications, ordering protocol, and documentation requirements of durable medical equipment. We then conducted an educational didactic on the information needed to be able to document and order DME in our clinic. Additionally, we provided our physicians with “dot phrase macros” for proper documentation required when ordering DME through insurance. After the presentation, we re-assessed the resident’s knowledge and comfort with understanding and ordering DME in our clinic. We found that overall there was an improvement in the residents’ comfort and understanding of the DME ordering processes as well as an improvement in their knowledge of DME ordering requirements. As a result of these findings, we plan to continue DME education for all future residents at ETSU Family Medicine Residency of Bristol.

The utilisation of electrical impedance measurements within the medical profession has broadened greatly since the advent of blood flow analysis in the 1950s. This thesis considers some of the important electrical impedance measurements currently used at a research stage in medicine, with specific emphasis on three major application. These are: the analysis of human body composition, particularly the quantification of body fat, the analysis of gastric motility using electrical impedance epigastrography and electrical impedance tomographic imaging of the abdomen in order to monitor gastric motility.