with the growth in customers’ demand diversification, mixed-model u-lines (mmul) have acquired increasing importance in the area of assembly systems. there are generally two different approaches in the literature for balancing such systems. some researchers believe that since the types of models can be very diverse, a balancing approach without simultaneously sequencing of models will not yield...

The transmission line project cost index, which reflects price changes of transmission line project components affecting project cost, is an integrated indicator. Based on the constitution of the transmission line project cost index, 324 transmission line project cost index during 2002 and 2010 were selected, in order to describe variation tendency of the transmission line project cost index in...

BACKGROUND In a randomized, controlled trial (RCT) on childhood eczema we reported that substituting nurse practitioners (NPs) for dermatologists resulted in similar outcomes of eczema severity and in the quality of life, and higher patient satisfaction. OBJECTIVES To determine costs and cost-effectiveness of care provided by NPs vs. dermatologists and to compare our results with those in stu...

In this study, 10 normal volunteers and 5 sports-trained paraplegics with lesions between T6 and L2 were studied whilst walking with axillary crutches and knee-anlde-foot orthoses. All subjects walked at their preferred speed on a figureof- eight track. Normal subjects also walked at slower and faster speeds. Oxygen consumption, heart rate and rating of perceived exertion were measured. In...

In some data envelopment analysis (DEA) applications, some inputs of DMUs have negative values with positive cost. This paper generalizes the global cost Malmquist productivity index to compare the productivity of dierent DMUs with negative inputs in any two periods of times under variable returns to scale (VRS) technology, and then the generalized index is decomposed to several components. The...