Optimal design for inspection and maintenance policy based on the CCC chart

In this paper, the concept of cumulative count of conforming chart (CCC chart) is applied in inspection and maintenance planning for systems where minor inspection, major inspection, minor maintenance and major maintenance are available. Several inspection and maintenance plans are defined and studied quantitatively. Analytic expressions of relevant statistics and their expectations are derived. These inspection and maintenance plans are optimized from an economic consideration

An Index for Measuring Community Resilience to Flooding in Baton Rouge, Louisiana

The greater Baton Rouge area in Louisiana has been impacted by repeated floods throughout its history. The most recent flood in August 2016 resulted in damages to over 80,000 homes and businesses and upwards of $430 million in public assistance granted by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. East Baton Rouge Parish and neighboring Livingston and Ascension parishes are expected to face compounded pressures and risks with the threat of increasing frequency of flood events coupled with expanding populations due to continuing suburbanization and inland migration from those living on Louisiana\u27s coast. The purpose of this research is to create and validate an index to measure community resilience to flooding across Ascension, East Baton Rouge, and Livingston parishes from 1983- 2016. Using a combination of environmental and socioeconomic variables, the index is applied to three different years where historic and devastating flooding has occurred in the region: 1983, 1993, and 2016. A brief history of suburban sprawl, flood mitigation strategies, and land use changes provides a framework to measure the efficacy of the index. This historic perspective allows for a better understanding of how capacity for building resilience has evolved, and how we might expect it to progress in the future. This research helps understand how community resilience has changed over time after repeated flood events. Furthermore, this will help quantify the components that lend themselves to community resilience, so that future natural hazards may be recognized and their harmful effects may be mitigated

Correlation between crime and vegetation : a case study of Jefferson County, Kentucky.

Conflicting evidence exists about environmental determinants of crime. While scholars agree there is a relationship between environmental factors and crime, there is not consistency among measures of associations. Looking specifically at the influence of vegetation, there is disagreement as to whether vegetation promotes or deters crime. Some studies show criminals use vegetation as a tool to conceal themselves, while others show vegetation serves as a territory marker, which discourages criminals. My research explores these factors within Jefferson County, Kentucky’s largest and most urban, using NDVI as a proxy for vegetation cover and spatially explicit crime densities aggregated to the census block group level. Of over 30 types of crime, I subset crimes to those that tend to occur outdoors: assault, auto theft, burglary, robbery, and theft. Percent of occupied houses, percent owned/mortgaged houses, median age, per capita income, educational attainment, population density and percent in poverty were considered as potentially cofounding aspects of this relationship. The explanatory power of vegetation in regards to crime density was tested using multivariate ordinary least squares regression. The study found that even after accounting for other socioeconomic factors, crime and vegetation have a statistically significant negative relationship. This research provides evidence in exploring the influence of vegetation on crime and, combined with ongoing research into criminal motivations, provides insight into how vegetation conditions might better be included in managing crime in urban areas

Smooth representation of thin shells and volume structures for isogeometric analysis

The purpose of this study is to develop self-contained methods for obtaining smooth meshes which are compatible with isogeometric analysis (IGA). The study contains three main parts. We start by developing a better understanding of shapes and splines through the study of an image-related problem. Then we proceed towards obtaining smooth volumetric meshes of the given voxel-based images. Finally, we treat the smoothness issue on the multi-patch domains with C1 coupling. Following are the highlights of each part. First, we present a B-spline convolution method for boundary representation of voxel-based images. We adopt the filtering technique to compute the B-spline coefficients and gradients of the images effectively. We then implement the B-spline convolution for developing a non-rigid images registration method. The proposed method is in some sense of “isoparametric”, for which all the computation is done within the B-splines framework. Particularly, updating the images by using B-spline composition promote smooth transformation map between the images. We show the possible medical applications of our method by applying it for registration of brain images. Secondly, we develop a self-contained volumetric parametrization method based on the B-splines boundary representation. We aim to convert a given voxel-based data to a matching C1 representation with hierarchical cubic splines. The concept of the osculating circle is employed to enhance the geometric approximation, where it is done by a single template and linear transformations (scaling, translations, and rotations) without the need for solving an optimization problem. Moreover, we use the Laplacian smoothing and refinement techniques to avoid irregular meshes and to improve mesh quality. We show with several examples that the method is capable of handling complex 2D and 3D configurations. In particular, we parametrize the 3D Stanford bunny which contains irregular shapes and voids. Finally, we propose the B´ezier ordinates approach and splines approach for C1 coupling. In the first approach, the new basis functions are defined in terms of the B´ezier Bernstein polynomials. For the second approach, the new basis is defined as a linear combination of C0 basis functions. The methods are not limited to planar or bilinear mappings. They allow the modeling of solutions to fourth order partial differential equations (PDEs) on complex geometric domains, provided that the given patches are G1 continuous. Both methods have their advantages. In particular, the B´ezier approach offer more degree of freedoms, while the spline approach is more computationally efficient. In addition, we proposed partial degree elevation to overcome the C1-locking issue caused by the over constraining of the solution space. We demonstrate the potential of the resulting C1 basis functions for application in IGA which involve fourth order PDEs such as those appearing in Kirchhoff-Love shell models, Cahn-Hilliard phase field application, and biharmonic problems

Correlations between anthropometric measurements, biochemical indicators, dietary intake and Dialysis Malnutrition Score among haemodialysis patients in Sibu, Sarawak

Introduction: Malnutrition is a common problem associated with increased risk of morbidity and mortality among haemodialysis (HD) patients. Methods: This study determined the correlation between anthropometric measurements, biochemical indicators, dietary intake and dialysis malnutrition score among HD patients in Sibu, Sarawak. A total of 55 patients were recruited by purposive sampling and their biochemical parameters were retrieved from dialysis records. Anthropometric measurements and dietary intake were determined using standardised protocols while Dialysis Malnutrition Score (DMS) was computed to determine patients’ nutritional status. Results: Mean age of the patients was 53.0±12.2 years. Mean DMS was low, indicating low tendency of malnutrition among the patients. Approximately one-third of the patients had high interdialytic weight gain (IDWG), indicating a poor adherence on fluid recommendation. Mean intakes of dietary energy (DEI) and protein (DPI) were low, with only approximately 15% achieving the recommendations according to Kidney Disease Outcomes Quality Initiative (K/ DOQI). Increase in age (r=0.337, p=0.012) and dialysis vintage (r=0.403, p=0.002) were associated with poorer nutritional status while higher BMI, MUAC, and serum albumin were associated with better nutritional status. Conclusion: This study revealed a high proportion of the HD patients with poor adherence on fluid intake, and the prevalence of inadequate DEI and DPI, indicating the importance of regular dietary counselling for HD patients. In view of their non-invasive nature and close relationship with nutritional status, body mass index, mid-upper arm circumference, and serum albumin should be included as part of the comprehensive periodic nutrition assessment of HD patients

Master of Science

thesisIn many seasonally snow-covered forests, productivity is highest in the spring period when air temperature is warm enough for photosynthesis to occur and soil moisture is not limiting. Due to the relative importance of this period, even small changes in the onset date of tree activity can have large impacts on annual productivity. Therefore, understanding the environmental controls on the onset of the active season is crucial in predicting the future state of our forests. While most studies to date have focused on measuring the seasonal patterns of forest productivity using eddy-covariance or remote sensing techniques, we employed the use of thermal dissipation sap flux sensors to make year-round continuous measurements of tree activity. This approach has the advantage of allowing us to distinguish between co-located species and to assess how changes in environmental conditions are likely to affect particular tree species. After testing and verifying in a laboratory setting that thermal dissipation sap flux sensors could accurately measure transpiration during cold periods, we installed sap flux sensors in Abies concolor and Populus tremuloides at a low elevation site and A. lasiocarpa and P. tremuloides at a high elevation site to monitor seasonal transpiration patterns. Our study included two spring periods with very different precipitation and air temperature, which allowed us to compare how interannual variability in environmental conditions affected the onset of transpiration and early season transpiration patterns. We found that warmer air temperature and earlier snowmelt advanced the onset of the active season for A. concolor and A. lasiocarpa, but that a shift in timing of precipitation events contributed to a delay in P. tremuloides activity. Overall, variability in tree activity between years was greater at the low elevation site, highlighting the susceptibility of lower elevation montane forests to climate change effects

MEDICATION CHANGES & RECOMMENDATIONS IN A CLINICAL GERONTOLOGY SERVICE

The purpose of this prospective study was to assess medication changes instituted during geriatric assessment and to determine compliance with medication recommendations three months post-discharge. Additional information to be studied included physicians' opinions of a Clinical Gerontology Service (CGS) discharge summary and the impact of the addition of a pharmacist-prepared medication discharge summary. Patients who underwent geriatric assessment had their medication regimens assessed on admission, discharge, and three months post-discharge. As an intervention, a pharmacist-prepared medication discharge section was added to the multidisciplinary discharge summary. A questionnaire was used to determine referring and primary care physicians' opinions of the CGS discharge summary. A total of 104 patients (two patients with readmissions, therefore 106 study cases) participated. The mean age of the study population was 80.6 (SD=6.8) years. Patients were admitted on an average of 5.5 (SD=3.3) total medications. They were discharged on an average of 4.3 (SD=2.3) and were again on an average of 5.5 (SD=2.9) total medications by three months post-discharge. There were no significant differences in scheduled medication costs between admission, discharge, and follow-up. Numerous drug additions, discontinuations, dose and administration interval changes occurred during and after assessment. There were also many changes in the choice of therapeutic agents prescribed. A number of variables were identified which were significantly correlated with the number of medication changes which occurred. The overall response rate for the questionnaires was 67.5%. For two of the three CGS study sites, physicians reported that discharge summaries were not received within a desirable time period. The overall quality of the discharge summary and the quality of the medication information provided received median rank scores of 4 (on a five point Likert scale labelled as 1=poor and 5=excellent). Physicians rated as "very important" the inclusion of information in discharge summaries about discharge medications along with their therapeutic rationale, changes in dose and reasons for this change, medications discontinued and reasons for the discontinuations, and medications added and reasons for the additions. The pharmacy discharge summary had no significant impact on decreasing medication numbers, costs, or changes between discharge and follow-up. Because the control group may have been sicker (possible selection bias), it was not possible to determine if polypharmacy occurred less frequently in intervention patients, or whether the more favorable questionnaire responses from physicians of these patients were actually due to the presence of the pharmacy discharge summary