Environmental Efficiency Measurement with Translog Distance Functions: A Parametric Approach

We use a flexible parametric hyperbolic distance function to estimate environmental efficiency when some outputs are undesirable. Cuesta and Zofio (J. Prod. Analysis (2005), 31-48) introduced this distance function specification in conventional input-output space to estimate technical efficiency within a stochastic frontier context. We extend their approach to accommodate undesirable outputs and to estimate environmental efficiency within a stochastic frontier context. This provides a parametric counterpart to Färe et al.’s popular nonparametric environmental efficiency measures (Rev. Econ. Stat. 75 (1989), 90-98). The distance function model is applied to a panel of U.S. electricity generating units that produce marketed electricity and non-marketed SO2 emissions.Undesirable outputs; parametric distance functions; stochastic frontier analysis; environmental efficiency

An Engineering Approach towards Action Refinement

In the abstract modelling of distributed systems we may need methods to replace abstract behaviours by more concrete behaviours which are closer to implementation mechanisms. Furthermore, we may want these methods to preserve the correctness of such a replacement. This paper introduces an approach towards action refinement in which an abstract action is replaced by a concrete activity. This approach is based on a careful consideration of the `action' and `causality relation' architectural concepts, which enable an abstract action to be replaced by many alternative concrete activities in a general way. This approach is based on the application of abstraction rules to determine whether a concrete activity conforms to an abstract action, considering the context in which the concrete activity and the abstract action are embedde

Hospital effect on infections after four major surgeries: Outlier and volume-outcome analysis using all-inclusive state data

Hospital volume is known to have a direct impact on outcomes of major surgeries. However, it is unclear if the evidence applies specifically to surgical site infections. To determine if there are procedure-specific hospital outliers (with higher surgical site infection rates [SSIR]) for four major surgical procedures, and to examine if hospital volume is associated with SSIR in the context of outlier performance in New South Wales (NSW), Australia. Adults who underwent one of four surgical procedures (colorectal, joint replacement, spinal and cardiac procedures) at a NSW healthcare facility from 2002 through 2013 were included. The hospital volume for each of the four surgical procedures was categorised into tertiles (low, medium and high). Multivariable logistic regression models were built to estimate the expected SSIR for each procedure. The expected SSIR were used to compute an indirect standardised SSIR which was then plotted in funnel plots to identify hospital outliers. One hospital was identified to be an overall outlier (higher SSIR for 3 out of the 4 procedures performed in its facilities); whereas two hospitals were outliers for one specific procedure throughout the entire study period. Low-volume facilities performed the best for colorectal surgery and worst for joint replacement and cardiac surgery. One high-volume facility was an outlier for spinal surgery. Surgical site infections seem to be mostly a procedure-specific as opposed to a hospital-specific phenomenon in NSW. The association between hospital volume and SSIRs differs for different surgical procedures.ACAC is funded by an Australian National Health and Medical Research Council Senior Research Fellowship (#1058878)

Complementarity and the uncertainty relations

We formulate a general complementarity relation starting from any Hermitian operator with discrete non-degenerate eigenvalues. We then elucidate the relationship between quantum complementarity and the Heisenberg-Robertson's uncertainty relation. We show that they are intimately connected. Finally we exemplify the general theory with some specific suggested experiments.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures, REVTeX, uses epsf.sty and multicol.st

The electronic structure of metal/alkane thiol self-assembled monolayers/metal junctions for magnetoelectronics applications

Long-chain alkane thiols use in metal to organic self-assembled monolayer to metal junctions may be limited by orientational disorder, and photoemission studies suggest that several molecular layers may be needed for the dielectric layer to be effective. Several alkane thiols were investigated in a range of junctions areas 10–102 μm2. Top layer contact deposition, activated with Pd clusters resulted in a high yield of junctions that were not electrically shorted and are stable over a wide temperature range. Zerobias anomalies, observed at low temperatures, are attributed to a Coulomb blockade associated with the Pd clusters

Geographical outcome disparities in infection occurrence after colorectal surgery: An analysis of 58,096 colorectal surgical procedures

Background Despite improved surgical practices and in-hospital surveillance systems, surgical site infections remain a major public health problem worldwide and often require readmission to hospital. The aim was to apply an advance and innovative spatial analysis approach to identify spatial pattern and clustering (hotspots) of surgical site infection rate (CSIR), and quantifying disparities across communities. Methods We used the Admitted Patient Data Collection for patients aged 18 years and over who underwent colorectal surgery in a public hospital between 2002 and 2013 in the Australian State of New South Wales (NSW). The colorectal surgical infection rate (CSIR) was computed. We assessed geographical variation and clustering in CSIR patterning to demonstrate spatial pattern and clustering across communities in NSW, Australia. Results There were 58,096 colorectal surgical procedures conducted in NSW from 2002 to 2013. The overall occurrence of CSIR was 9.64% (95%CI 9.40-9.88%). We found significant clusters of both high and low CSIR in outer regional and remote areas of NSW. Conclusion Use of advanced spatial analyses allows identification of hotspots/clusters of adverse events that can help policy makers and clinicians better understand national patterns and initiate research to address disparities/geographical variation, and clustering of adverse events after surgery. 1 2017 IJS Publishing Group LtdScopu

Social robots as psychometric tools for cognitive assessment: a pilot test

Recent research demonstrated the benefits of employing robots as therapeutic assistants and caregivers, but very little is known on the use of robots as a tool for psychological assessment. Socially capable robots can provide many advantages to diagnostic practice: engage people, guarantee standardized administration and assessor neutrality, perform automatic recording of subject behaviors for further analysis by practitioners. In this paper, we present a pilot study on testing people’s cognitive functioning via social interaction with a humanoid robot. To this end, we programmed a social robot to administer a psychometric tool for detecting Mild Cognitive Impairment, a risk factor for dementia, implementing the first prototype of robotic assistant for mass screening of elderly population. Finally, we present a pilot test of the robotic procedure with healthy adults that show promising results of the robotic test, also compared to its traditional paper version

Detection of G12 Human Rotaviruses in Nepal

Of 731 stool specimens collected from children with diarrhea in Kathmandu, Nepal, from August 2004 through July 2005, 170 (23.3%) tested positive for rotavirus. Reverse transcription–PCR, including a revised G12-specific primer set, identified 56 (32.9%) as G2P[4] and 39 (23.0%) as G12 with P[6], P[8], or P[4]