Introduction: Nowadays, organizations working in dynamic and competitive environments have to change their processes from both the inside and outside of the organization. One of the most effective strategies for monitoring and controlling these changes is re-engineering. This study aimed to refine the collection and classification process of data through re-engineering. <...

As digital loop carrier (DLC) architectures carry fiber deeper and deeper into the local loop to satisfy everincreasing bandwidth demands, techniques and costs for powering these architectures are sometimes ignored. Here, we examine the costs associated with delivering power to nodes where optical-to-electric conversions (O/Es) occur, sometimes referred to as optical network units (ONUs), as di...

There is interest in large-scale and unbiased monitoring of biodiversity status and trend, but there are few published examples of such monitoring being implemented. The New Zealand Department of Conservation is implementing a monitoring program that involves sampling selected biota at the vertices of an 8-km grid superimposed over the 8.6 million hectares of public conservation land that it ma...

BACKGROUND Tight glycemic control is important in critically ill patients and involves insulin infusions and monitoring of blood glucose levels. Hourly measurements of blood glucose levels and adjustments of intravenous insulin doses require additional work by nurses. OBJECTIVES To evaluate the nursing work incurred with and nursing perceptions about tight glycemic control and blood glucose m...

A cost utility analysis and budget impact (BI) were developed using a decision model to compare the incremental outcomes and costs of monitoring the depth of anaesthesia with BIS monitors compared with using clinical signs, electrocardiography (ECG) and other devices (standard clinical monitoring) over a five-year period. The health outcomes included are utility values associated with adverse e...

We report on the design and implementation of ecological monitoring for an Australian biodiversity conservation incentive scheme - the Environmental Stewardship Program. The Program uses competitive auctions to contract individual land managers for up to 15 years to conserve matters of National Environmental Significance (with an initial priority on nationally threatened ecological communities)...

INTRODUCTION Pressurized metered-dose inhalers (pMDI) such as fluticasone propionate and salmeterol (FP/SAL) are commonly used for the treatment of asthma in the UK. Previously, a budget impact analysis demonstrated that use of FP and formoterol fumarate (FP/FORM) pMDI as an alternative to FP/SAL pMDI, would be a cost-saving option for the UK National Health Service (NHS). This budget impact an...

OBJECTIVE To estimate diabetes-related direct health care costs in pediatric patients with early-onset type 1 diabetes of long duration in Germany. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS Data of a population-based cohort of 1,473 subjects with type 1 diabetes onset at 0-4 years of age within the years 1993-1999 were included (mean age 13.9 (SD 2.2) years, mean diabetes duration 10.9 (SD 1.9) years, as o...

Minimal pediatric data describe hospitalization causes and associated costs for children who receive maintenance hemodialysis, and no data exist to evaluate methods to decrease hospitalization. In 1999, two common causes of hemodialysis patient hospitalization at Texas Children's Hospital were fluid overload/hypertension (FO/HTN) and vascular access thrombosis (VAT). Evaluated is the effect of ...