The primary goal of this dissertation is to gain a better understanding, in thecontext of a dynamic stochastic general equilibrium framework, of the role of inventories and capacity utilization (of both capital and labor) and, in particular, therelationship among them. These are variables which have long been recognized asplaying an important role in the business cycle. An analysis of the association between inventories and capital utilization seems natural, for physical capital could beseen as a stock ultimately destined to be transformed into an inventory of finishedgoods. In the same way, inventories could be seen as a stock of physical capital already transformed into finished goods. Introducing variable rates of utilization ofcapacity, then both can be seen as providing a short-run adjustment "buffer stock"mechanism.The analysis of the relationship between those variables is centered on the effectsof two possible shocks: preference (demand) shocks and technology shocks. Impulse-response experiments show that inventories and the rate of capital utilization aremostly complements, while inventories and the rate of labor utilization are mostlysubstitutes. Moreover, low-persistence shocks emphasize the role of inventories asbeing a "shock absorber", whereas high-persistence shocks emphasize the role of inventories as being a complement to consumption. Consistent with the stylized facts inthe literature, simulation results show that inventory holdings are pro-cyclical, while the inventory-to-sales ratio is counter-cyclical.Two additional "themes" are explored. The first has to do with the treatmentof uncertainty and the consequences of using, as it is done in most of the literature, afirst-order approximation. By approximating the decision rules to a second order, weobserve that higher exogenous uncertainty enhances the importance of the precautionary motive to holding inventories. The second additional theme is a more generalframework for the analysis of capital utilization. We find that the two most commonways of modeling capital utilization can t in a more general specification that incorporates spending on capital maintenance. Though the aforementioned results do notvary qualitatively after that concept is introduced, quantitative answers do.

The profit of semiconductor industry became slight while the industry is mature today, new competitors enter this market with these strategies such as low price, join venture, committed capacity to build up the good relationship of customers in order to acquire order. How do the IC foundries use their competitive advantage to keep growth when they face the forceful competitors? The IC foundries should focus on the development of advance technology, capacity expansion, and keep proper capacity utilization to increase revenue and growth. At the same time, they also need to keep good customer services on production cycle and on time delivery. The study is to discuss the past history, current status, and future developed trend for global semiconductor industry and IC foundry first. Then uses the performance of operation and capacity utilization to do the relative data analysis. Finally, refer the Five-Forces Framework, Diamond Structure, Value Chain, and Dynamic Strategy to find out the competitive advantage of IC foundries, also provide the best proper model of capacity utilization to create the maximum value for customers.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Indiana University of Pennsylvania. / Includes bibliographical references.

No description available.

Tourism industry in Sri Lanka shares a substantial amount of GDP (Gross Domestic Product) and predicts an immense expansion within a short time frame. Owing to its energy intensiveness and competitiveness, a scrutiny in the energy utilization and the related impact on the environment is crucial. Furthermore, trend towards ecotourism forces the requirement of foreseeing a green energy supply to meet the ever rising demand.   In this study, utilization of energy in the graded hotels in the country was modeled through LEAP (Long Range Energy Alternatives Planning System) software to predict the future energy demand. Monthly energy consumption data for three consecutive years for a sample of hotels covering classified and unclassified hotel establishments were used for modeling. Four scenarios were then analyzed based on the baseline scenario representing the country’s tourism industry profile of year 2010.  It is shown that the energy intensiveness of the tourism industry will be overwhelming unless the DSM (Demand Side Management) tools are properly amalgamated for mitigation. Further the results of the study revealed that the existing electricity generation plan does not accommodate fuel diversification and energy mix, and needs revisions to induct renewable sources for greening energy supply of the country. The study provides an insight in identifying socially acceptable policy scenarios in energy supply and use of the tourism industry.

For several years scientific research has provided ample evidence to support the fact that the health of an individual is dependent on more than merely the absence of the symptoms of disease. This is the view that has been accepted by the World Health Organisation and therefor it was included in its definition of health. In the field of practiced psychology, a lot of attention was drawn to the relation between the psyche and physical health, of which various researchers have found that psychological well-being has an influence, and is influenced by, the health of the individual. From the pharmaceutical dimension of health management, it is clear that disease symptoms correlate with the drug utilisation of patients, although only completely in those cases in which the economic considerations do not play a role. As mentioned earlier there is existing evidence indicating the relationship between psychological well-being and health. This relation might influence, in another dimension, the drug utilisation of the individual. Drug utilisation studies may be the ideal tool to reveal evidence that will enable someone to improve the health of SAPS members, as well as members of the economically disadvantaged South African public. The general objective of this study was to determine the drug utilisation and psychological well-being of South African Police Service members. This empirical study can be classified as a one-shot cross sectional design, and consisted of two phases. In the first phase, a random sample of 170 SAPS participants from a specified rural area was requested to complete questionnaires including a Demographic questionnaire, Sense of Coherence Scale (Antonovsky, 1987), Affectometer II (Kammann & Flett, 1983) and Satisfaction With Life Scale (Diener et al., 1985). The data from the questionnaires were processed and statistically analysed. In the second phase, the study population consisted of all polmed® patients stationed in the specified area. The medical data of the participants, extracted from the polmed® database, was processed and statistically analysed. It was concluded that the level of psychological well-being, in particular the affect balance, of the SAPS members is distressfully low, and that this is mainly due to their working environment. Further it was found that the doctor visits of the SAPS members occur very frequently and are accompanied with high costs. In the inquiry to the medication usage of polmed® members, 8 medication groups were implicated as high frequency and cost groups (in particular medication that work in on the central nervous system), regardless of gender or age. The specified groups represented the most of the products used by the study population. It was found that the majority of products used, are patent or brand name products. Finally, results have indicated that the hospitalisation of SAPS members is very frequent and therefore very costly. Recommendations for further research, as well as the practice, were formulated. / Thesis (M.Pharm.)--Potchefstroom University for Christian Higher Education, 2002.

Background: Hospital care utilization has been described as a key measurable indicator of care quality in patients with terminal respiratory diseases. Knowledge about patterns in service utilization for patients with advanced Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), however, is fairly limited. The goal of this study was to investigate health care utilization patterns in the last six months of life among patients who died with COPD compared with those who died of lung cancer, and also to examine variations in health care among individuals living with COPD between sex, age, comorbidity, and temporal trends. Methods: We conducted a retrospective study using administrative health data in the province of Saskatchewan to identify indicators associated with greater hospital care utilization between 1997 and 2006. Those with either COPD or lung cancer as the underlying cause of death (UCOD) were included in this study. Characteristics examined in this study included socio-demographics, comorbidity, location of death, and use of institutional services. Multiple logistic regression was the primary method of analysis. Results: Between 1997 and 2006, 7,114 persons covered by Saskatchewan Health were identified as having COPD (N=2,332) or lung cancer as the UCOD (N=4,782). Approximately 60% were males with an average age of 74.2 years (S.D. =10.1 years). Half of the decedents were rural dwellers (47.0%), and were married or common law (51.6%). The majority had multiple comorbid conditions (60.3%), died in hospitals (73.5%), and had never received services from long-term supportive care institutions (74.3%). Compared with those who died from lung cancer, people dying from COPD were less likely to be admitted to hospitals (OR=0.71, 95%CI: 0.64-0.80 in the last six months of life; OR=0.81, 95%CI: 0.70- 0.93 in the last month of life) and had shorter LOS for each admission (OR=0.78, 95%CI: 0.70-0.87 in the six months of life; OR=0.67, 95%CI: 0.60-0.75 in the last month of life). However, persons with COPD were more likely to be managed in an intensive care settings (5.3% of COPD subjects vs. 1.7% of lung cancer subjects in the last six months of life; 4.3% of COPD subjects vs. 0.06% of lung cancer subjects in the last month of life) and had higher numbers of transfers between long-term care facilities (7.7% of COPD subjects vs. 3.2% of lung cancer subjects). Between 1997 and 2006, there was no significant change in the hospital utilization among patients who died of COPD or those who died of lung cancer. Conclusions: Marked differences in terms of hospital service utilization in the last six months of life were observed between subjects dying with COPD and lung cancer. Our study results support previous work indicating that the nature of care management at the end of life for people who died of advanced COPD is different from those who died from lung cancer, which was reflected by reduced likelihood of hospital service usage, more ICU admissions, and frequent transfers between supportive care facilities. There is no significant change observed regarding the patterns of hospitalization over 10-year study period. We would suggest collecting more information on services managed in other care settings, such as emergency departments, out-patient settings, and clinics, etc. This would allow an in-depth examination regarding what types of institutional services influenced the usage of in-patient care. In addition, education of all health care professionals on the complex needs of patients living with respiratory illnesses is required.

This thesis uses observational study design methods to explore the relationship between depression and various outcomes following acute myocardial infarction (AMI). There are three main studies. First, the relationship between depression and mortality following AMI was measured. The main finding was that the factor determining the increased mortality rate in depressed patients is reduced cardiac functional status. The main implication was that efforts to address increased mortality in depressed patients with cardiovascular illnesses should focus on processes that impact cardiac functional status. Second, the impact of depression on service consumption following AMI was examined. Depressive symptoms were associated with a 24% (Adjusted RR:1.24; 95% CI:1.19-1.30, P<0.001), 9% (Adjusted RR:1.09; 95% CI:1.02-1.16, P=0.007) and 43% (Adjusted RR: 1.43; 95% CI:1.34-1.52, P<0.001) increase in total, cardiac, and non-cardiac hospitalization days post-AMI respectively, after adjusting for baseline patient and hospital characteristics. Depressive-associated increases in cardiac health service consumption were significantly more pronounced among patients of lower than higher cardiac risk severity. The disproportionately higher cardiac health service consumption among lower-risk AMI depressive patients may suggest that health seeking behaviors are mediated by psychosocial factors more so than by objective measures of cardiovascular risk or necessity. Third, methodological issues related to missing data were explored. A systematic review of three psychiatric journals revealed that a small minority of studies (5.8%) addressed the impact of missing data in a meaningful way. An example using real data demonstrated the potential bias introduced by missing data and different ways to address this bias. The paper concludes with recommendations for both reporting and analyzing studies with substantial amounts of missing data. Overall, the studies add to the literature exploring the relationship between depression and outcomes following acute myocardial infarction. Future studies measuring the relationship between depression and mortality will need to factor the mediating relationship between depression and cardiac functional status. The increased health service utilization associated with depression will need to be replicated in other illness models. Together, the studies add to the existing conceptual framework for measuring relationships between depression and outcomes in patients with cardiovascular illnesses.

Thesis (MNursing (Advanced Practice))--University of South Australia, 1996

Thesis (MNursing (Advanced Practice))--University of South Australia, 1996