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.

Magister Economicae - MEcon / Since the 1980s China had different exchange rate regimes. For example, in 1981, a dual-exchange rate system was introduced, with the official exchange rate applying to non-trade-related foreign exchange transactions and the depreciated internal settlement rate (ISR) applying to trade related transactions. This system was discontinued in 1985, but after the establishment of special economic zones to boost the country's export performance, the dual-exchange rate system was reintroduced in 1986. In 1994 the country informed the IMF that it will be switching to a managed floating exchange rate system and this was the official policy for almost ten years. However, de facto, the country chose to peg its currency to the USD during all these years (whilst Japan was the most important trading partner).The report provides a descriptive analytical overview of how China in this era of globalization and with the importance of the World Trade Agreement, managed to keep its currency pegged to the USD over such a long period of time. The most important factors explaining this choice were identified as the desire to stimulate export-let economic growth, the risk related to capital mobility, financial sector liberalization, relative price level stability, dollarization and politics. / South Africa

South African electricity tariffs were relatively low compared to the rest of the world. The average South African business has for long taken this advantage for granted and is now surprised to realise that electricity is becoming an expensive and scarce commodity. The South African electricity supply industry is far more complex than the average person may think. The infrastructure supporting this industry is extremely costly; takes long to develop and build and requires careful planning and management. There are many sources of energy and many technologies for generating electricity. However, many of these do not appear quite ready to serve the needs of the industry. The manufacturing industry depends heavily on electricity. The recent power outages and tariff increases have served as a cruel reminder of this fact. The automotive sector has lost many days of production and the increasing electricity costs erode the profitability of the affected companies. The automotive suppliers and vehicle manufacturers have expressed their concerns. Indications are that some have reduced the number of employees and may even face bankruptcy. This research aims to gain the perspective of senior managers in the automotive industry regarding the impact of the increased electricity tariffs on their manufacturing costs. Naturally, all electricity consumers will be affected by this. However, this research aims to investigate the significance of the effect on the automotive industry as well as obtain some indication of which factors determine the level of dependency. Each company has to react strategically to the situation and apply those measures which are available to them. This research determines how strongly the industry feels about reacting and which strategic measures they will apply. The outcome is descriptive of the circumstances in the industry and indisputably serves as an indication of the financial impact of electricity tariff increases.

Canadian geography and the development of Canada since Confederation have dictated that the Dominion should be divided into several almost distinct regions with different views regarding rates for the transportation of their products. In this essay the author endeavours to trace the history of the strong representations which the provincial governments, independently or in groups, have made to the Dominion Government, from time to time, regarding various freight questions or the need for railway facilities and also what they have attempted to do on their own behalf. / Arts, Faculty of / Political Science, Department of / Graduate

Economic regulation of business activities appears to be contrary to the philosophy of free enterprise. It can be justified only if it is imposed as a means to serve the public interest - to enhance the economic welfare of society - when the self interest of the producer is likely to prove harmful to the general interest of society. Public utilities are enterprises which have to be regulated in the interest of society and particularly the rates they may charge. In the regulation of utility rates, cost is often accepted as the proper basis for fixing the rates. Among the costs of rendering a utility service is the cost associated with the use of a capital asset, that is, depreciation expense. There are various bases on which depreciation expense is computed. Thus, there arises the problem of selecting a proper basis for determining the depreciation expense that is consistent with the purpose of rate regulation. An examination of current literature suggested that there is a case, on theoretical grounds, for adopting the current replacement cost approach to depreciation accounting when the purpose of fixing a utility rate is to serve the interest of society. The case appears strong when a marginal-cost standard is accepted for rate regulation since, under the assumption of continuity of operations, the cost of replacing the services of a capital asset is the long-run marginal (opportunity) cost of employing the asset in the enterprise; thus, a rate that is fixed on the basis of current replacement cost will promote optimum allocation of resources in the economy. Even if a "full-cost" standard is employed in the regulation of utility rates, there is still a case for determining depreciation expense on the basis of current replacement cost. A utility rate that is fixed on this basis is more comparable to the price charged in the non-utility sector of the economy and, thus, promotes better allocation of resources between the utility sector and the rest of the economy. It also provides the enterprise an opportunity to maintain intact its productive capacity if this is in the interest of society; for the ability of the enterprise to continue production in the future will not be impaired. It is recognized that there are practical problems associated with the application of the proposal to a real life situation. However, they are not insurmountable. They appear no greater than the problems associated with the use of reproduction cost new - a concept which has been applied in practice in the history of rate regulation. / Business, Sauder School of / Graduate

Considerable attention has been devoted in the past to documenting the impact of prepaid group practices and community health centres on inpatient hospital utilization. The thesis develops and applies a methodology designed to allow estimation of the fiscal implications of such evidence. An equation relating average hospital inpatient costs to a number of explanatory variables is specified. The maximum likelihood estimation technique is employed in a time-series/cross-section analysis to determine parameter estimates for that equation over the period 1966-73. The variables are constructed from data deriving from eighty-seven British Columbia public general hospitals. Empirical results indicate the importance of case mix, average length of inpatient stay, rate of case flow and education-related hospital activities in explaining the variance across the eighty-seven hospitals in average cost per separation. The parameter estimates derived in the unit cost analysis are utilized in a comparative static determination of the implications for unit costs of changes in a hospital's case mix. The impact of case-specific case mix changes on unit (per separation) costs is determined, from which analysis case-specific marginal costs are derived. Finally, the marginal case costs are combined with utilization statistics from matched population studies involving community health centres or prepaid group practices. This allows determination of the expenditure implications of the utilization differentials reported in that literature. A subsequent extrapolative and conjectural analysis considers the cost implications of more widespread use of community health centres as a mode of medical care delivery in British Columbia. The conclusions suggest that the fiscal impact on the overall medical care budget in B.C. would be minimal in the absence of corresponding reductions in numbers of hospital beds. A number of other applications of the case cost derivation methodology are suggested. / Arts, Faculty of / Vancouver School of Economics / Graduate

The motion of bacteria in the environment is relevant to several fields. At very small scales and with simple helical shapes, we are able to describe experimentally and mathematically the motion of solid spirals falling freely within a liquid pool. Using these shapes we intend to mimic the motion of bacteria called Spirochetes. We seek to experimentally investigate the linear and the rotational motion of such shapes. A better understanding of the dynamics of this process will be practical not only on engineering and physics, but the bioscience and environmental as well. In the following pages, we explore the role of the shape on the motion of passive solid helixes in different liquids. We fabricate three solid helical shapes and drop them under gravity in water, glycerol and a mixture of 30% glycerol in water. That generated rotation due to helical angle in water. However, we observe the rotation disappear in glycerol. The movement of the solid helical shapes is imaged using a high-speed video camera. Then, the images are analyzed using the supplied software and a computer. Using these simultaneous measurements, we examine the terminal velocity of solid helical shapes. Using this information we computed the drag coefficient and the drag force. We obtain the helical angular velocity and the torque applied to the solid. The results of this study will allow us to more accurately predict the motion of solid helical shape. This analysis will also shed light onto biological questions of bacteria movement.

<p>Cancer and cardiac diseases are the major causes of morbidity and mortality in the western world. Cardiovascular hemodynamics is increasingly being used to understand the pathophysiological progression of these diseases. Advancements in imaging modalities and development of multiscale numerical models have opened avenues for innovative quantification of flow metrics that may potentially aid in clinical diagnosis. The motivation behind this dissertation is to investigate three different physiological flow phenomena and develop new flow specific parameters as explained in the following paragraphs.</p> <p>Drug transport efficacy in treating breast tumors has a strong correlation with tissue architecture, nanoparticle transport parameters and hemodynamic metrics that varies from one patient to another. The exact time interval between nanoparticle introduction and drug release must be accurately determined to achieve therapeutic efficacy. The first chapter of the current work implements a numerical model based on mixture theory equations to investigate effect of varying inter-capillary separation on solute transport in dual-channel tissues for various solute sizes (0.5-15 nm) and molecular weights (0.1-70 kDa). The predictive capability of the numerical model is validated by measurements of dextran transport in an invitro tumor platform containing multiple blood vessels. The main contribution of this work is in reporting a unique non-dimensional time at which solute concentration peaks in any location in the tissue in absence of pharmacokinetics.</p> <p> The second chapter focuses on the development of a physics-based metric from color-m-mode (CMM) echocardiography scans to correctly diagnose different stages of left ventricle diastolic dysfunction (LVDD). Current practice of diagnosing LVDD involves calculating a combination of parameters like intraventricular pressure difference (IVPD) and propagation velocity (Vp) from the CMM scans. The conventional Vp measurement is based on heuristics. This definition does not utilize the entire information from the spatio-temporal velocity distribution of the ventricle filling cycle. The present work challenges the underlying assumption of the early ventricle filling wave moving with a constant velocity. The proposed method in this chapter uses wavelets to analyze the early diastolic ventricle filling wave and introduces a wavelet based peak propagation velocity (Peak-Vw). Peak-Vw is free of the inherent assumptions of the subjective selection of an iso-contour in the scan and measuring a slope from it. The novelty of the Peak-Vw measurement can provide new insights for understanding the complicated pathophysiology of the left ventricle (LV) diastolic function.</p> <p>The final focus of this dissertation is to investigate the evolving hemodynamics of the cardiovascular system of Japanese medaka while it is growing from embryonic state to larval stages. Cross-correlation of red blood cell patterns from 2D micro-particle image velocimetry (µPIV) images provide measurements of velocity fields in the fish heart and vessels. Accurate velocity gradient measurements are required to further derive flow quantities like wall shear stress (WSS), pressure drop across valves and cardiac strain. </p> <p>WSS experienced by endocardial cells and vascular endothelial cells are linked to changes in cardiac specific gene expressions. Previous studies with other vertebrate models investigating mechano-genetic correlations were focused on mutating genes or introducing some perturbation in the blood circulation. In the third chapter of this dissertation, a baseline longitudinal study tracking the change in cardiovascular WSS and gene expressions with natural progression of fish age is presented for the first time. Peak WSS changes with fish age calculated at the valves located at the ventricle inflow (AVC) and outflow (OFT), at the caudal artery (CA) showed an inflection trend that coincides with developmental landmarks of cardiac morphogenesis. Retrograde flow in the medaka heart valve locations have been documented for the first time. Contrary to intuition, the caudal and dorsal vessels in the fish tail displayed a reduction in cross-sectional area with age progression. Identification of these unique trends in the mechano-genetic tapestry of vertebrates prepares the ground for future studies that can test the mechano-transduction mechanisms.</p> <p>The fourth chapter delves deeper into the flow induced pressure drop (<a>ΔP</a>) across the AVC and OFT of the ventricle and the peak strain experienced by the ventricle wall remodeling through fish age progression. Valve regions record the dynamic variations of ΔP that may induce WSS fluctuations with age progression. A variation of cardiac strain with age is the key driver of varying chamber morphology. This is the first study in teleost species literature that analyzes the endocardial work (EW) calculated from a ΔP-strain loop. The increase in EW observed across fish age progression can be directly related to the heart’s metabolic demand. EW can be used in future studies of human hearts to distinguish between healthy and diseased ventricles.</p> <p>Overall, this dissertation provides an in-depth study of three separate biophysical processes of the vertebrate cardiovascular system and designs new metrics that have translational clinical potential.</p>

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The literature indicates a continuous cycle of difficulties for transfer students, leading to a failure to acclimate, persist, and obtain a degree. The purpose of this study was to examine the effect the Promise Student Support Program (PSSP) had on community college transfer students. More specifically, the study examined the effect of the PSSP on transfer shock, retention, and graduation rates. Two groups were compared: (a) community college transfer students entering the 4-year university as part of the PSSP between 2006 and 2011, and (b) community college transfer students entering the 4-year university between 2006 and 2011 who met the criteria for the PSSP but did not participate. A comparison was made between the 2 groups to determine if significant differences exist between students benefiting from the programming and support of the PSSP and those students without it. The study utilized the quantitative, quasi-experimental study research design. The research was conducted using descriptive statistics to analyze data related to GPA, retention, and graduation rates. Then, an independent sample t-test was administered to assess if statistical differences existed for GPA from transfer GPA to the 1st semester GPA at the 4-year institution between participants and non-participants in the PSSP. Finally, chi-square test of independence was used to determine if there were differences in retention and graduation rates. The findings, as determined by this study, concluded that participants of the PSSP experienced less transfer shock and had higher rates of retention. However, the PSSP showed no effect on graduation rates. This study is expected to provide 4-year institutions clear evidence of the importance of bridging the gap for transfer students, in general, with transitional programs of support.