Thesis supervisor: Timothy Lowe. Thesis supervisor: Renato de Matta. Includes bibliographical references (p. 133-137).

The global anti-dyslipidemic market grew by 19% from 2000 to 2001, achieving sales of over $21 billion (Smith, 2004: 2). This market is currently well sewed by a number of effective and well-tolerated treatments. Lipid-lowering drugs are considered as the first choice drugs in control of dyslipidemias and they are well tolerated by most patients. As with many drug therapies, there should be a balance between the benefits of cholesterol lowering agents, increased medication cost and the overall risk of adverse drug reactions. According to Ballesteros (2001: 514), hypolipidemic drugs are consumed on a large scale and most consumers are elderly. This warrants a study of expenditure incurred because of inadequate prescribing of these agents. The general objective of this study was to determine the utilisation and cost of hypolipidemic drugs in the private health care environment in South Africa. A quantitative retrospective drug utilisation review was performed using a medicine claims database. Data for twenty-four consecutive months (May 1, 2001 to April 30, 2003) were used to determine and compare the utilisation patterns and cost of drugs associated with the management of dyslipidemia a year before (1st May 2001 to 30 April 2002) and a year after (1st May 2002 to 30 April 2003) the implementation of a medicine reference price system (MPL). Data analysis was done by calculating the average value, the standard deviation, effect size, and cost-prevalence indices. The results of this study revealed that hypolipidemic drugs constituted 2.70% (n = 21820911) and 2.78% (n =27277825) of the total number of all medicine items for the first and the second study years respectively. On the other hand, the total cost of all hypolipidemic drugs accounted for 6.33% (n= R3 097 604 602) and 6.23 % (n= R 4 053 280 295) of the total cost of all medicine items claimed during the first and the second study years respectively. The prevalence of generic hypolipidemic drugs accounted for 0.89% (n=589036) and 4.88% (n=759675) of the total number of hypolipidemic drugs claimed during the first and second study year respectively. Innovator drugs, on the other hand, constituted 99.1 1% (n=589036) and 95.11% (n=759675) of the total number of hypolipidemic drugs claimed during the first and second study years respectively. It was found that R23 694.5 and R603 277.36 could have been saved for generic bezafibrate and generic simvastatin respectively if they had been sold at ME'L prices. The total cost of generic hypolipidemic drugs accounted for 0.60% and 2.94%. The total cost of innovator hypolipidemic drugs accounted for 99.40% and 97.06% of the total cost of hypolipidemic drugs claimed during the first (n=R 196 076 050) and second (n=R 252 919 285) study year respectively. With respect to the prescribed daily dose, it was found that most prescriptions for individual hypolipidemic drugs did not conform to the defined daily dose. It was, however, found that most prescriptions whose prescribed daily dose was for one tablet once daily and whose strength was similar to the defined daily dose conformed to the defined daily dose. The conclusion is that there was an insignificant difference in both the prevalence and cost of hypolipidemic drugs a year before and after the implementation of MPL. It was further concluded that increased utilisation of generic hypolipidemic medicine items a year after the implementation of the MPL, could have been brought about by the introduction of generic simvastatin into the market as opposed to the implementation of the MPL. Recommendations for further studies will be formulated. / Thesis (M.Pharm. (Pharmacy Practice))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2005.

The global anti-dyslipidemic market grew by 19% from 2000 to 2001, achieving sales of over $21 billion (Smith, 2004: 2). This market is currently well sewed by a number of effective and well-tolerated treatments. Lipid-lowering drugs are considered as the first choice drugs in control of dyslipidemias and they are well tolerated by most patients. As with many drug therapies, there should be a balance between the benefits of cholesterol lowering agents, increased medication cost and the overall risk of adverse drug reactions. According to Ballesteros (2001: 514), hypolipidemic drugs are consumed on a large scale and most consumers are elderly. This warrants a study of expenditure incurred because of inadequate prescribing of these agents. The general objective of this study was to determine the utilisation and cost of hypolipidemic drugs in the private health care environment in South Africa. A quantitative retrospective drug utilisation review was performed using a medicine claims database. Data for twenty-four consecutive months (May 1, 2001 to April 30, 2003) were used to determine and compare the utilisation patterns and cost of drugs associated with the management of dyslipidemia a year before (1st May 2001 to 30 April 2002) and a year after (1st May 2002 to 30 April 2003) the implementation of a medicine reference price system (MPL). Data analysis was done by calculating the average value, the standard deviation, effect size, and cost-prevalence indices. The results of this study revealed that hypolipidemic drugs constituted 2.70% (n = 21820911) and 2.78% (n =27277825) of the total number of all medicine items for the first and the second study years respectively. On the other hand, the total cost of all hypolipidemic drugs accounted for 6.33% (n= R3 097 604 602) and 6.23 % (n= R 4 053 280 295) of the total cost of all medicine items claimed during the first and the second study years respectively. The prevalence of generic hypolipidemic drugs accounted for 0.89% (n=589036) and 4.88% (n=759675) of the total number of hypolipidemic drugs claimed during the first and second study year respectively. Innovator drugs, on the other hand, constituted 99.1 1% (n=589036) and 95.11% (n=759675) of the total number of hypolipidemic drugs claimed during the first and second study years respectively. It was found that R23 694.5 and R603 277.36 could have been saved for generic bezafibrate and generic simvastatin respectively if they had been sold at ME'L prices. The total cost of generic hypolipidemic drugs accounted for 0.60% and 2.94%. The total cost of innovator hypolipidemic drugs accounted for 99.40% and 97.06% of the total cost of hypolipidemic drugs claimed during the first (n=R 196 076 050) and second (n=R 252 919 285) study year respectively. With respect to the prescribed daily dose, it was found that most prescriptions for individual hypolipidemic drugs did not conform to the defined daily dose. It was, however, found that most prescriptions whose prescribed daily dose was for one tablet once daily and whose strength was similar to the defined daily dose conformed to the defined daily dose. The conclusion is that there was an insignificant difference in both the prevalence and cost of hypolipidemic drugs a year before and after the implementation of MPL. It was further concluded that increased utilisation of generic hypolipidemic medicine items a year after the implementation of the MPL, could have been brought about by the introduction of generic simvastatin into the market as opposed to the implementation of the MPL. Recommendations for further studies will be formulated. / Thesis (M.Pharm. (Pharmacy Practice))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2005.

Made available in DSpace on 2015-03-03T15:36:12Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 EduardoSS_DISSERT.pdf: 804086 bytes, checksum: 7991c16751047e96e7a210e52bd8df36 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-08-14 / The aim of this work is to provide a text to support interested in the main systems of amortization of the current market: Constant Amortization System (SAC) and French System, also known as Table Price. We will use spreadsheets to facilitate calculations involving handling exponential and decimal. Based on [12], we show that the parcels of the SAC become smaller than the French system after a certain period. Further then that, we did a comparison to show that the total amount paid by SAC is less than the French System / O objetivo deste trabalho e oferecer um texto de apoio aos interessados nos principais sistemas de amortizac??o do mercado atual: Sistema de Amortiza??o Constante (SAC) e Sistema Franc?s, tamb?m conhecido por Tabela Price. Utilizamos planilhas eletr?nicas para facilitar os c?lculos que envolvem manipula??o de exponenciais e decimais. Baseados em [12], mostramos que as presta??es do SAC tornam-se menores que as do Sistema Franc?s a partir de certo per?odo de financiamento. Al?m disso, fazemos uma compara??o para mostrar que o montante total pago pelo SAC e menor que o do Sistema Franc?s

This diploma thesis focuses mainly on designing projects using BIM technology, specifically on the field of budgeting. In the theoretical part the current 2D project documentation and the current price system is described. Furthermore, the thesis deals with information modeling and its implementation into common building practice. At the end, it is described how to use current pricing system for budgeting in the BIM environment.

No description available.

With the aim for higher economical efficiency, considerable and radical changes have occurred in the worldwide electricity sector since the beginning of 1980s. By that time, the electricity sector has been controlled by the state-owned vertically integrated monopolies which manage and control all generation, transmission, distribution and retail activities and the consumers buy electricity with a price set by these monopolies in that system. After the liberalization and restructuring of the electricity power sector, separation and privatization of these activities have been widely seen. The main purpose is to ensure competition in the market where suppliers and consumers compete with each other to sell or buy electricity from the market and the consumers buy the electricity with a price which is based on competition and determined according to sell and purchase bids given by producers and customers rather than a price set by the government. Due to increasing competition in the electricity market, accurate electricity price forecasts have become a very vital need for all market participants. Accurate forecast of electricity price can help suppliers to derive their bidding strategy and optimally design their bilateral agreements in order to maximize their profits and hedge against risks. Consumers need accurate price forecasts for deriving their electricity usage and bidding strategy for minimizing their utilization costs. This thesis presents the determination of system day ahead price (SGOF) at the day ahead market and system marginal price (SMF) at the balancing power market in detail and develops artificial neural network models together with multiple linear regression models to forecast these electricity prices in Turkish electricity market. Also the methods used for price forecasting in the literature are discussed and the comparisons between these methods are presented. A series of historical data from Turkish electricity market is used to understand the characteristics of the market and the necessary input factors which influence the electricity price is determined for creating ANN models for price forecasting in this market. Since the factors influencing SGOF and SMF are different, different ANN models are developed for forecasting these prices. For SGOF forecasting, historical price and load values are enough for accurate forecasting, however, for SMF forecasting the net instruction volume occurred due to real time system imbalances is needed in order to increase the forecasting accuracy.

No description available.

Diploma thesis deals with comparing of current awards by Classification of building structures and works and awards by Functional parts. It is possible to calculate Building life cycle costs by Functional parts. This is definately the advantage of the system because the calculation cannot be done by Classification of building structures and works. A new law on public procurement deals with Building life cycle costs as an evaluation criterion. So it is recommended to use Functional parts awards. The other goal of the thesis is to find bridges between Functional parts and the issue of BIM. BIM is a trend of global construction industry.