this paper studies a maintenance policy for a system composed of two components, which are subject to continuous deterioration and consequently stochastic failure. the failure of each component results in the failure of the system. the components are inspected periodically and their deterioration degrees are monitored. the components can be maintained using different maintenance actions (repair...

During the operation, the distribution transformer performance will deteriorate. The maintenance is an essential task in enhancing the safety of distribution transformer. Based on equal deterioration theory, the relationship among distribution transformer failure rate in each period of maintenance was deduced. After analyzing the maintenance costs and the failure costs in detail, the model of o...

Maintenance costs of Information Systems (ISs) are high and are growing. Part of the costs come from low software quality. The quality of software can be measured when it is maintained. By improving the quality of maintenance prone modules future maintenance costs may be lowered for those modules. In this article we will discuss how to measure software quality and we will also present a prototy...

Three replications of mouse selection populations for high heat loss (MH), low heat loss (ML), and a nonselected control (MC) were used to estimate the feed energy costs of maintenance and gain and to test whether selection had changed these costs. At 21 and 49 d of age, mice were weighed and subjected to dual x-ray densitometry measurement for prediction of body composition. At 21 d, mice were...

Preventive maintenance actions over the warranty period have an impact on the warranty servicing cost to the manufacturer and the cost to the buyer of fixing failures over the life of the product after the warranty expires. However, preventive maintenance costs money and is worthwhile only when these costs exceed the reduction in other costs. The paper deals with a model to determine when preve...

OBJECTIVE To assess the impact of increased prescription drug copayments on the therapeutic classes of drugs received and health status of the elderly. HYPOTHESES TESTED: Increased prescription drug copayments will reduce the relative exposure to, annual days use of, and prescription drug costs for drugs used in self-limiting conditions, but will not affect drugs used in progressive chronic con...

Much evidence points to the fact that managed care plans (health maintenance organizations and preferred provider insurance) reduce costs and offer value for money. Yet they apparently have not helped to slow national health expenditures. One explanation is that the practices of purchasers (including government and employers), the tax laws, and other market imperfections have reduced the demand...

A pilot study to evaluate the direct cost of treating 51 adults and 50 children with bronchial asthma was conducted. All aspects of the medical care provided over a 6-month period were considered. The mean treatment costs per month were US dollars 22.97 (adults) and US dollars 15.56 (children). The cost of maintenance therapy accounted for 55.5% and 73.4% of the total direct cost treatment for ...

This paper investigates how hospital affiliation in a multi-hospital system (contract managed, owned, sponsored), the number of system hospitals, HMO and PPO contracts, and other factors, impacts hospital cost efficiency. Using a 1996-1999 panel of 248 hospitals, results show that for urban hospitals, increasing the number of hospitals in the system, system ownership and contract management/spo...

This study provided a national profile of health insurance of certain vulnerable populations including children, racial/ethnic minorities, low-income families, non-metropolitan statistical area (MSA) residents, and those with poor health status. The study shows an increase in the proportion of uninsured nonelderly population. While public insurance helped reduce the employment- and health-relat...