No description available.

Thesis (M.S. in Management) Naval Postgraduate School, December 2001.2001. / "December 2001." Thesis Advisor(s): Jones, Lawrence R. Includes bibliographical references (p. 47-48). Also available online.

A digital statistical watthour meter which operates by polarity-coincidence correlation is proposed. The output represents a continuously 'up-dated', time-multiplied estimate of the current and voltage cross-correlation function for zero delay. In previous correlators of this type, bounded uniformly-distributed random noise has been added to each input before clipping to linearize the input/output correlation function relationship. In the work reported here, the noise sources have been replaced by deterministic triangular wave generators. These have the advantage of being much simpler to construct and of enabling the statistical watthour meter to produce an acceptable estimate of the energy (for certain types of inputs) more quickly than with the former type of auxiliary function generator. An attempt has been made to predict the performance of the device using deterministic auxiliary functions by means of both analogue and digital computer simulations„ A prototype has also been constructed and tested with d-c and a-c inputs. The results of the simulations and prototype tests suggest that, if the meter electronics were refined and constructed for the most part as an integrated circuit, the statistical watthour meter could become a practical energy-measuring device in domestic, industrial and laboratory applications. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Electrical and Computer Engineering, Department of / Graduate

Despite the fact that high sodium intake has been linked to high blood pressure and an increased risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD), sufficient and irrevocable evidence to support extremely low dietary sodium intake has been lacking. The best method used for the estimation of daily sodium intake is indirectly by using 24-hour urinary sodium excretion, combined with para-aminobenzoic acid (PABA), which is used for validating completeness of urinary collection. However, the PABA validation method is not favored among researchers and the validity of high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analysis for PABA has not been evaluated in a large-scale study. This study validated an improved PABA HPLC method and applied it in the sub-set of the Prospective Urban Rural Epidemiology (PURE) – 24-hour Urinary Excretion (24USE) Study for the examination of the sodium-blood pressure association. In addition, participants’ self-reported assessment of urinary collection completeness was compared to the PABA method. The HPLC analysis method for measuring PABA levels was downscaled and the reaction time lengthened to achieve higher through-put and reaction yield. By applying the optimized PABA method for evaluating urinary completeness, 612 of 681 participants’ samples contained 70%-110% PABA recovery and were extracted from the PURE24USE Study for further analysis. The average adjusted sodium excretion or intake was 3,673 ± 1,637 mg/day. The participants’ self-reports predict urinary collection completeness as measured by PABA with a sensitivity of 76.9% (95% CI: 74.4%-79.6%) and specificity of 31.7% (95% CI: 27.0%-36.4%). This moderate agreement suggests that PABA still has to be considered the gold standard, until further convincing evidence is available that self-report is more accurate than PABA. / Thesis / Master of Science in Medical Sciences (MSMS)

Thesis (D. Min.)--Trinity International University, 2000. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 104-110).

Thesis (D. Min.)--Trinity International University, 2000. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 104-110).

Abstract Due to the implementation of shortening working-hour, a lot of enterprises chose to respond to the coming of the ¡§84 working-hour policy¡¨ by reducing salary and freezing personnel matters. Since the medical treatment industry different from other industries considering the fact that the medical treatment industry is a non-profitable institute and also a manpower and cost-intensive industry. This research aims to learn, as far as the shortening working-hour is concerned, whether or not exercising manpower for the medical treatment industry is more difficult than that in other industries. The cognition and viewpoints of the medical treatment industry towards shortening working-hour, and what types of working-hour strategies, educational training strategies, operation cost strategies, and management strategies, should be applied in terms of hospital management. This research aims to study the understanding of the medical treatment industry concerning the shortening of working-hour and their corresponding strategies. 540 copies of questionnaire were dispensed and 133 copies were collected and analyzed through SPSS. The followings are the findings of this research: 1. The understanding of hospitals on shortening working-hour: On the one hand, 56.4% agreed with the implementation of shortening working-hour policy because it helps to moderate the unemployment. On the other hand, over 50% disagreed with the above statement on half of the other entries. The results suggested that hospitals were generally not satisfied by the implementation of the said policy. 2. Hospitals¡¦ strategies corresponding to the shortening working-hour policy: ¡]1¡^57.1% (the highest percentage) choose not to complement when having job vacancy as their working-hour strategy. ¡]2¡^69.9% applied educational training in improving their employees¡¦ to understand on time and cost-reducing as their educational strategy; 64.7% focused to train their employees to have multiple specialties; 54.1% choose to enhance the training on information and computer application, and operating skills. ¡]3¡^75.6% choose to reduce the manpower and expenses under the existing scope as the operation cost strategy; 56.5% choose to enhance the internal information passing and increase the efficiency. ¡]4¡^83.5% choose to improve the manpower exercising as the management strategy; 66.9% choose to simplify the working procedures; 55.6% choose to improve the communications between employer and employees and the collaboration; 54.9% focused on the implementation of the merit system to improve the working efficiency 3. The current situation of hospitals after the implementation of shortening working-hour policy: Over half of the hospitals conform to the Labor Law on daily normal working hour and weekly normal working hour. However, few changes have been made on the ways of employment. For example, although 66.9% hired part-time works, most of them were under 10 part-time workers. Furthermore, as far as contract taking and outsourcing are concerned, the percentage has not exceeded 50%. Nonetheless, as far as educational training is concerned, 51.9% choose to have partial public-holiday and partial private-holiday which suggested that hospitals expected their employees to adopt the partial private-holiday way to improve their professional ability when they have more leisure time after the working hour has been shortened Keywords: shortening working-hour, flexible working hour, working-hour strategy, educational training strategy, operation cost strategy, management strategy

Aim: To describe medical nurses’ experiences caring for patients and families within an environment with open visiting hours (OVH). Background: OVH is an approach where families and friends can visit patients without restrictions. OVH is a strategy used by hospitals to promote patient-and-family-centered care (PFCC). In an OVH environment, the increased presence of family can alter nurses’ working environments. However, research examining nurses’ perspectives on OVH is limited. As OVH becomes more widely implemented, it is essential to understand the influence of OVH on the nurse. Design: A qualitative descriptive approach was used. Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 10 registered nurses on two medical units in a large urban Canadian hospital. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the data inductively. Strategies were used to enhance rigour. Results: Four main themes resulted which described participants’ experiences with OVH as they related to the processes and philosophy of OVH, the care of patients and family, and the influence families had on patient care and nurses working environments. An overarching theme of Reliance and Resistance reflected participants’ mixed feelings toward OVH. While OVH facilitated PFCC and alleviated nurses’ work, at times it also hindered opportunities for nurses to get to know patients and added to their work. Further, increased family presence created challenges related to space, overcrowding, increased noise levels, and created concerns about safety. Conclusion: The findings add to an understanding of the clinical realities of OVH from the perspectives of medical nurses, and the potential implications for PFCC and nurses’ working environment. Relevance to clinical practice: OVH creates an environment to foster PFCC. However, nurses may benefit from training to facilitate communication and engagement with families. Organizations who wish to implement OVH should consider how contextual factors may influence nurses’ environments and their practice.

Thesis (D. Min.)--Trinity International University, 2000. / Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 104-110).

The purpose of this study was to determine reserves of riboflavin in urine of college women.