Pancreatic function,quality of life and costs at long-term follow-up after acute pancreatitis

AIM:To evaluate long-term endocrine and exocrine pancreatic function,quality of life and health care costs after mild acute pancreatitis and severe acute pancreatitis(SAP).METHODS:Patients prospectively included in 2001-2005 were followed-up after 42(36-53)mo.Pancreatic function was evaluated with laboratory tests,the oral glucose tolerance test(OGTT),fecal elastase-1 and a questionnaire.Short Form(SF)-36,was completed.RESULTS:Fourteen patients with a history of SAP and 26 with mild acute pancreatitis were included.Plasma glucose after OGTT was higher after SAP(9.2 mmol/L vs 7.0 mmol/L,P=0.044).Diabetes mellitus or impaired glucose tolerance in fasting plasma glucose and/or 120 min plasma glucose were more common in SAP patients(11/14 vs 11/25,P=0.037).Sick leave,time until the patients could take up recreational activities and time until they had recovered were all longer after SAP(P <0.001).No significant differences in SF-36 were seen between the groups,or when comparing with age and gender matched reference groups.Total hospital costs,including primary care,follow-up and treatment of complications,were higher after SAP(median€16572 vs €5000,P<0.001).CONCLUSION:Endocrine pancreatic function was affected,especially after severe disease.SAP requires greater resource use with long recovery,but most patients regained a good quality of life.

Research on Optimal Delivery Days and Customer Satisfaction Based on Quality Costs

Customer satisfaction is an important index to evaluate the competitiveness and efficiency of an enterprise. Every enterprise is confront with the subject of supplying with the customer satisfactory products at the lowest costs and the highest manufacturing speed. Regarding the delivery days of a coach company as a design variable, this paper builds up an optimization model of customer satisfaction, and suggests an effective method to reduce costs and increase customer satisfaction based on analysis and research.

VPLS Based Quality and Cost Control for Tennessee Eastman Process

Product quality and operation cost control obtain increasing emphases in modern chemical system engineering. To improve the fault detection power of the partial least square (PLS) method for quality control, a new QRPV statistic is proposed in terms of the VP (variable importance in projection) indices of monitored process variables, which is significantly advanced over and different from the conventional Q statistic. QRPV is calculated only by the residuals of the remarkable process variables (RPVs). Therefore, it is the dominant relation between quality and RPV not all process variables (as in the case of the conventional PLS) that is monitored by this new VP-PLS (VPLS) method. The combination of QRPV and T2 statistics is applied to the quality and cost control of the Tennessee Eastman (TE) process, and weak faults can be detected as quickly as possible. Consequently, the product quality of TE process is guaranteed and operation costs are reduced.

Research on goal-setting method of rock drivage based on the balance among period, cost and quality

On the basis of the analysis on the disadvantages of the original goal-setting about rock drivage, this paper defined the ＂life cycle quality＂. With project management theory and the Cobb-Douglas function, ＂quality-cost and quality-price curve model＂ and the ＂total cost-period prediction model＂ were built. Then the goal-setting method of the balance among quality, cost and period of rock drivage was constructed by finding ＂life cycle cost＂ through ＂life cycle quality＂ using ＂quality-cost and quality-price curve model＂ and ensuring period through ＂life cycle cost＂ using ＂total cost-period prediction model＂ （hereinafter referred to as the ＂three goals balance method＂）. ＂Value contribution＂ which is the value of the contribution to a mine because of rock drivage, was found in the process of constructing the ＂quality-cost and quality-price curve model＂. An industrial test was done in coal mine A with the research results, staff footage efficiency improved by 24.24%, the period shortened by 14.3%, the ＂life cycle cost＂ dropped by 2.09%, the ＂life cycle quality price＂ improved by 3.29%, and value contribution increased by 25.3%. The result shows that the new goal method setting on the basis of coal mine profit maximization can ensure construc- tion period. At the same time, it can realize cost and quality objectives and the optimization and balance of relationship among them; rewarding excavation teams by ＂value contribution＂ can combine organizational goal with personal goal, it significantly raise the employee＇s work efficiency.

Study on Generation Cost Prediction Based on Coal Quality and Generating Unit Performance

燃料变化条件下发电成本的预测是火电厂普遍关心的重要课题。分析了影响机组性能及发电电量成本的各种煤质指标，重点研究了基于结构参数及燃烧传热机理的锅炉稳态热力性能分析计算方法，讨论了制粉系统、风机、脱硫和脱硝装置性能随燃料等运行条件的变化关系，最终提出了基于煤质和机组性能分析计算的发电电量成本预测模型并研发了“煤炭选配与机组发电成本预测系统”。该系统在我国某600MW火电厂的实际应用经验表明：提出的电量成本分析预测模型合理，研发的软件系统有助于辅助火电厂的选煤和购煤决策，优化动力配煤方案，从而提高火电厂的运行经济性。

An Empirical Analysis on the Relationships Between Service Quality and Customer Satisfaction in the Malaysian Healthcare Services

The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationships between service quality （SQ） and customer satisfaction （CS） in the Malaysian healthcare system. The study is significant due to the environmental pressures such as the demographic changes, the aging of populations, the emergence of new treatments and technologies, and the increased insistence on grater quality of service. A service satisfaction survey was conducted among visitors （either patients or their relatives and friends） that visited hospitals （both public and private） in 10 regions in Malaysia. A total of 1,000 questionnaires were distributed purposively to these visitors, of which 925 questionnaires were returned for further analysis, yielding a response rate of 92.5 percent. The study found that among the eight dimensions of SQ tested, safety measures were not at all significantly related to CS as compared with the other seven dimensions. On a detailed note, the quality satisfaction of customers is very much influenced by infrastructure （0.121）, clinical care （0.601）, and trustworthiness of the hospitals （0.139）. Also as noted, the time satisfaction of customers is influenced by personnel quality （0.102）, administrative procedures （0.562）, and trustworthiness of the hospitals （0.168）. Whilst the cost satisfaction of customers is influenced by administrative procedure （0.101）, corporate image （0.130）, social responsibility （0.315）, and trustworthiness of the hospitals （0.261）. On overall, the findings of this study suggest that trustworthiness and administrative procedures are the two most important factors that influence satisfaction of customers that the Malaysian healthcare industry should take a good care of.

Quality-Oriented Facade Systems： Technical Data Referred to Maintenance Phase and Residual Value

Nowadays, clients require solutions that are efficient during the service life as a whole. In this view, maintenance has functional value and greatly contributes to increasing quality in environments. With reference to maintenance phase and residual value of building products upon dismantling, the present manuscript investigates a set of technological packages of quality and technical value referred to two alternative facade systems available for recovery actions on Italian council buildings--the ETICS （external thermal insulation composite system） and the external cladding system--complying with one thermal-insulation strategy, but different in terms of service life duration. Preservation of technical value and value increases are strictly related to maintenance quality and efficiency. Volume of investments in maintenance is not the only parameter to be considered to assess facade-system-management quality. Time-accurate economic assessment requires the entity to be related to periodical checks on performance quality in the building system and in its parts. Effective technical data to draw up consistent estimates and appraisals are rarely available in literature. With all that stated above, the present manuscript aims at introducing technical data related to drawing up reliable cost estimates and effective appraisals in terms of economics, quality and environmental sustainability. Conclusions will be drawn from the end of the manuscript.

Optimal Resource Allocation and Quality of Service Prediction in Cloud

In the present scenario,cloud computing service provides on-request access to a collection of resources available in remote system that can be shared by numerous clients.Resources are in self-administration;consequently,clients can adjust their usage according to their requirements.Resource usage is estimated and clients can pay according to their utilization.In literature,the existing method describes the usage of various hardware assets.Quality of Service(QoS)needs to be considered for ascertaining the schedule and the access of resources.Adhering with the security arrangement,any additional code is forbidden to ensure the usage of resources complying with QoS.Thus,all monitoring must be done from the hypervisor.To overcome the issues,Robust Resource Allocation and Utilization(RRAU)approach is developed for optimizing the management of its cloud resources.The work hosts a numerous virtual assets which could be expected under the circumstances and it enforces a controlled degree of QoS.The asset assignment calculation is heuristic,which is based on experimental evaluations,RRAU approach with J48 prediction model reduces Job Completion Time(JCT)by 4.75 s,Make Span(MS)6.25,and Monetary Cost(MC)4.25 for 15,25,35 and 45 resources are compared to the conventional methodologies in cloud environment.

Low-Cost Stormwater Filtration System to Improve Urban Water Quality: The Case of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Urbanization in developing countries often negatively impacts water re-sources by polluting surface waters. Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, is currently experiencing rapid urbanization accompanied by significant water shortages, unmanaged stormwater, and increasing river water pollution. To supplement the need for non-potable water and address stormwater runoff pollution, we constructed a low cost stormwater filtration system. The filtration system is comprised of a sedimentation area followed by three gravel grain sizes arranged horizontally from coarse to medium to fine filter media. We compared the quality of pretreatment water with post-treatment water by measuring physicochemical parameters, heavy metals and nutrients. We found that the filtration system reduced turbidity by 87%, TSS by 80%, Cu by 87% and Zn by 90%. Further, it positively increased the concentration of DO by 42%. However, the filtration system did not remove nitrates and nitrites. Implementing this system at outfalls in the rapidly expanding condominium housing areas can increase residents’ supply of non-potable water and reduce the amount of polluted stormwater entering nearby streams and rivers.

Effect of Irrigation Method and Non-Uniformity of Irrigation on Potato Performance and Quality

Potato growth, yield, and quality under improved irrigation methods and non-uniformity of their irrigation applications are important to enhance water management in arid regions. A field experiment was conducted in 2014 spring and fall growing seasons using potato (Solanum tuberosum) grown in northern Egypt at Shibin El Kom, Menofia, Egypt to evaluate potato response to furrow or trickle irrigation. A Randomized Split-Plot Design with irrigation method randomly distributed and non-uniformity of irrigation applications evaluated along either irrigation furrow or trickle lateral as dependent variables measured at the 3rd, 13th, 23rd, 33rd, 43rd and 53rd m along the 55 m irrigation line. Traditional (TF) and partial (PF) furrows as well as trickle point (TP) and line (TL) sources were used as irrigation methods. Each treatment was repeated three times. For a 33rd m treatment, seasonal optimum water use by potato was 328, 234, 269 and 292 mm over 118 days in spring and 200, 164, 178 and 186 mm over 122 days in fall under TF, PF, TP and TL irrigation methods, respectively. Potato tuber yield and quality were significantly affected by growing season (S), irrigation method (I) and non-uniformity of irrigation application (U). Tuber yield, total soluble solid (TSS) and leaf area index (LAI) were significantly affected by I and U, and their interaction I * U;harvest index (HI) was not affected by I but U. Except for TSS by S * I and HI by U * I and S * I, results showed no significant differences. Moreover, tuber weight, number and marketable yield were significantly affected by S, I, U and I * U interaction, except medium tuber size and culls by S. A given 33rd treatment under partial furrow and trickle irrigation, relative to that of traditional furrow, enhanced tuber yield and improved quality in both growing seasons. In non-un- iform irrigation application over two growing seasons, potato crop response was developed under varied irrigation methods. Tuber yields were significantly affected in a linear relationship (r2 ≥ 0.75) by either water deficit or excessive water under irrigation methods.

The Impact of Health Care Reform Initiatives on Ethical Conflict and Opportunities for Nurses to Improve Quality of Care While Enhancing Their Work Environments

Background: After more than a decade of the nursing profession contending that healthcare reform based almost exclusively on cost cutting was creating an array of serious ethical issues for nurses, healthcare organizations and other providers are now facing increasing demands primarily from payers to demonstrate improvement in both quality of care and patient experience along with continued cost reduction. Research Question: Have efforts by healthcare organizations to comply with these recently imposed requirements influenced the ethical environment faced by nurses and nurse leaders and if so, how? Materials and Methods: Data for assessing the current ethical environment was gathered with a close-ended survey mailed in October 2012 to a random sample of 3000 members of the American Organization of Nurse Executives. Results and Discussion: Statistical analysis of the data and comparison with the findings of a similar study conducted in 2000 indicated that along with five highly rated issues in the earlier study attributed largely to economic constraints imposed by healthcare organizations, the top-10 key ethical issues today included five issues primarily attributable to interprofessional conflict. Conclusion: Given the success of many ongoing efforts aimed at weakening these key sources of ethical conflict that have blocked many proposals to improve the quality of care, opportunities should arise for the nursing profession to more fully achieve its goals of improving the quality of care, safety and patient satisfaction and enhancing nurses’ work environments essential to that effort.

Total Quality Management and Environmental Management Applications in the Agricultural Production Process

The purpose of the work that is a teaching plan is the study and teaching of some aspects of TQM(Total Quality Management)in the agricultural production process.In our case we select an agricultural company that has waste biomass by-products.Then,an analysis is made on the necessity of adopting the principle of continuous improvement by the company,its implementation steps,requirements and general principles of application of the TQM.It also examines the quality cost elements of a business,the defective product diagram,the typical operating curve of our sampling plan,and how these changes affect the business financially.Finally,hypothetical experts compile the multi-criteria decision table for the optimal utilization of the discarded biomass.Students come into contact with the basic tools of TQM and environmental management.

Quality-Oriented Facade Systems： Initial Investments vs. Global Cost Approach

An analysis applied to an existing building considering the whole service life, regulated or, if any, measured, of energy/technological upgrading action does not only require initial investments to be taken into account. Of course, such investments are significant and will have to be considered at a first stage, but it is not the only aspect to be considered. Provisions of Construction Procurement Guidance, No.7 Whole Life Costs state： ＂All procurement must be made solely on the basis of value for money in terms of the optimum combination of global costs--and not only initial investment costs--and quality to meet the user＇s requirements＂.

The Application of Quality Control Circles to Reduce the Cost of Non-priced Consumables in Department of Oncology

Objective:To investigate the effectiveness of using quality control circle(QCC)techniques to reduce the cost of non-priced consumables in medical oncology.Methods:Analytic statistics were compiled on the performance appraisal form.Aiming at the key points of improvement with respect to the excess cost of non-valuable consumables,the reasons were analyzed,and corresponding measures were formulated to compare the cost before and after the improvement.Results:After the QCC activity,the cost of non-priced consumables decreased from RMB 6.57/bed day to RMB 3.96/bed day.Conclusion:QCC has effectively reduced the cost of non-priced consumables in the oncology department,and it is worthy of promotion.

Low-Cost Sensors Calibration for Monitoring Air Quality in the Federal District—Brazil

Critical situations that cannot be solved by conventional approaches (traditional air quality monitoring networks), have the possibility of being managed quickly by a wide network of portable systems with sensors. The purpose of this research was to calibrate and validate low-cost sensors. Pilot indoor and outdoor areas, in the central area of Brasilia (Brazil’s capital city) were chosen for corporative performance evaluation of the sensors. The CO at 99.999% volumetric injection method has been used in a gas test box, among two MiCS-5521 (CO/VOC) sensors, one being new and the other one with a short useful life. The number of injections adopted to each volume (from 1 ml to 6 ml) was 10, rising each sensor’s confidence interval mean. A increase of the injected volume (ml) of CO resulted in significant decrease in a resistance (Ohms), as shown by a good inverse relationship on the interaction of these two variables (r = 0.88), with good measurement accuracy, when compared to the manufacturer’s reference datasheet. Finally, a geospatial management system was built for the pollution data measured by the low-cost sensors.

Study on Model for Assessment of Quality Management Performance of Coal Preparation Plant in CIMS

In this paper the method to calculate intangible quality cost is put forward for the first time based on the production and management characteristics of coal preparation plant. A model for assessment of quality management performance of coal preparation plant is established on the ground of quality cost. By using of CIMS integration environment the strategy to carry out the model and the application example are also offered. It provides a new and feasible way to assess performance quality management of coal preparation plant.

Scheduling Algorithm with Quality of Service Support in IEEE 802.16 Networks

The MAC layer in IEEE802.16 is designed to differentiate service among traffic categories with different multimedia requirements.In this paper,a scheduling algorithm at MAC layer for multiple connections with diverse QoS requirements is proposed.As for this algorithm,each connection is assigned a priority,which is updated dynamically based on its service status concluding queue characteristic and channel state.A connection with the highest priority is scheduled each time.Analytical model is developed by assuming a Finite State Markov Chain(FSMC)channel model.Simulation results show that the proposed scheduling algorithm can improve the performance of mean waiting time and throughput in broadband wireless networks.

Effects of feeding rate and formula fineness degree of ring die pellet mill on mechanical property, physical quality, energy requirements, and production cost of poultry diets

The effect of a machine feeding rate(FR;1,1.5 and 2 Mg/h)and/or three levels of selected fineness degree(FD;3,5 and 7 mm)on machine performance,pellet physical parameters,required energy and production cost of three main types of broilers diets were examined in this experiment.The examined broiler diets were formulated to meet the Ross 308 strain requirements.A complete factorial design(3×3×3)was used to identify the effects of studied factors on the pellet mill machine and pellet production.The obtained results indicated that the pellet mill productivity significantly(p˂0.001)improved through increased pellet mill feeding rate level.In addition,the machine pelleting efficiency was found to be significantly affected by all studied variables and their interactions.While the total power consumption of the machine showed no variations under the impact of the tested factors or with any of their combinations.Regarding the pellet physical quality indices,all broiler diets with all selected FD and lower FR had the maximum durability and bulk density levels.Furthermore,lower feeding rates were associated with higher hardness degrees.The lowest production costs were substantially correlated with high FR and intermediate FD(5 mm).Furthermore,production costs were determined to be reduced in finisher broiler diets under different feeding rates.Moreover,manufacturing costs of finisher broiler meals were observed to decrease in several feeding rates.Overall,these findings indicate the capabilities of producing high-quality pellets and reducing the needed production costs by optimizing feeding rates to 2 Mg/h and 2 mm fineness in broiler diets.

Multi-objective optimization of rolling schedule based on cost function for tandem cold mill

In terms of tandem cold mill productivity and product quality, a multi-objective optimization model of rolling schedule based on cost fimction was proposed to determine the stand reductions, inter-stand tensions and rolling speeds for a specified product. The proposed schedule optimization model consists of several single cost fi.mctions, which take rolling force, motor power, inter-stand tension and stand reduction into consideration. The cost function, which can evaluate how far the rolling parameters are from the ideal values, was minimized using the Nelder-Mead simplex method. The proposed rolling schedule optimization method has been applied successfully to the 5-stand tandem cold mill in Tangsteel, and the results from a case study show that the proposed method is superior to those based on empirical formulae.

Analyses on schedule-cost coefficient correlation of spaceflight project based on historical statistics and its application

When analyze the uncertainty of the cost and the schedule of the spaceflight project, it is needed to know the value of the schedule-cost correlation coefficient. This paper deduces the schedule distribution, considering the effect of the cost, and proposes the estimation formula of the correlation coefficient between the in（schedule） and the cost. On the basis of the fact and Taylor expansion, the relation expression between the schedule-cost correlation coefficient and the in-schedule-cost correlation coefficient is put forward. By analyzing the value features of the estimation formula of the in-schedule-cost correlation coefficient, the general rules are proposed to ascertain the value of the schedule-cost correlation coefficient. An example is given to demonstrate how to approximately amend the schedule-cost correlation coefficient based on the historical statistics, which reveals the traditional assigned value is inaccurate. The universality of this estimation method is analyzed.