Hasil untuk "Costs"

Xiangming Fang, Derek S. Brown, C. Florence et al.

OBJECTIVES To present new estimates of the average lifetime costs per child maltreatment victim and aggregate lifetime costs for all new child maltreatment cases incurred in 2008 using an incidence-based approach. METHODS This study used the best available secondary data to develop cost per case estimates. For each cost category, the paper used attributable costs whenever possible. For those categories that attributable cost data were not available, costs were estimated as the product of incremental effect of child maltreatment on a specific outcome multiplied by the estimated cost associated with that outcome. The estimate of the aggregate lifetime cost of child maltreatment in 2008 was obtained by multiplying per-victim lifetime cost estimates by the estimated cases of new child maltreatment in 2008. RESULTS The estimated average lifetime cost per victim of nonfatal child maltreatment is $210,012 in 2010 dollars, including $32,648 in childhood health care costs; $10,530 in adult medical costs; $144,360 in productivity losses; $7,728 in child welfare costs; $6,747 in criminal justice costs; and $7,999 in special education costs. The estimated average lifetime cost per death is $1,272,900, including $14,100 in medical costs and $1,258,800 in productivity losses. The total lifetime economic burden resulting from new cases of fatal and nonfatal child maltreatment in the United States in 2008 is approximately $124 billion. In sensitivity analysis, the total burden is estimated to be as large as $585 billion. CONCLUSIONS Compared with other health problems, the burden of child maltreatment is substantial, indicating the importance of prevention efforts to address the high prevalence of child maltreatment.

R. Sandler, J. Everhart, M. Donowitz et al.

M. Sokol, K. McGuigan, R. Verbrugge et al.

K. Palmer, W. Oates, P. Portney

P. Greenberg, T. Sisitsky, Ronald C. Kessler et al.

L. Glosten, Lawrence E. Harris

Jose-Maria Blanc, Isabel Jimeno-Sanz, Valentín Hernández-Barrera et al.

Herpes zoster (HZ) is a vaccine-preventable disease with increasing incidence and hospitalization burden, particularly among older adults and immunocompromised individuals, who have an increased risk. In 2021, Spain introduced systematic vaccination with the recombinant zoster vaccine (RZV). We conducted a retrospective, descriptive study using hospital discharge data from the Spanish Minimum Basic DataSet (MBDS) for the years 2022–2023. Hospitalization rates (HR), mortality rates (MR), case fatality rates (CFR), length of stay, comorbidities, and costs were analyzed nationally and for the region of Madrid. A total of 16,277 HZ-related hospitalizations were recorded in Spain, with 80% occurring in individuals aged ≥65 y. The HR was 16.85 per 100,000 inhabitants, and the CFR was 7.44%. In Madrid, 3263 hospitalizations were recorded, with a higher HR (23.73 per 100,000) and CFR (6.41%) compared to the national average. Complicated HZ cases accounted for over 64% of hospitalizations nationally and 69% in Madrid. Total hospitalization costs were €98.1 million in Spain and €21.4 million in Madrid. This is the first study to assess HZ hospitalization burden in Spain and Madrid following the introduction of RZV. The findings highlight the substantial toll of HZ on older and immunocompromised populations. Future studies with longer follow-up are needed to assess vaccine impact.

Fuqiang Lu, Jialong Liu, Hualing Bi

Drone delivery has gained significant traction in e-commerce, particularly for parcel and food delivery. However, existing systems face challenges such as limited delivery range, low efficiency, high costs, and suboptimal customer satisfaction. This paper proposes a novel drone–rider joint delivery model incorporating an Arc Obstacle Avoidance (AOA) strategy to address these issues in complex urban environments. We formulate a multi-objective optimization model aimed at minimizing delivery costs and maximizing customer satisfaction, solved by a Logistic-Logarithmic Dung Beetle Optimization algorithm (LLDBO). Using a modified Solomon dataset and real-world urban simulations in Shenzhen, our experiments demonstrate that the proposed model achieves a 15.3% reduction in delivery costs and a 27.1% increase in delivery efficiency compared to traditional rider-only delivery. Furthermore, customer satisfaction, measured by the on-time delivery rate, shows a 12.4% improvement (from 83.1% to 95.5%) over the rider-only baseline. The AOA strategy also extends the effective delivery range by up to 22.5% compared to conventional linear obstacle avoidance approaches, as measured by the maximum service radius achievable while maintaining 95% on-time delivery performance. These findings validate the practicality and scalability of the proposed approach for real-world last-mile logistics.

Yih-Shyh Chiou, Yang-Ke Lin, Chun-Yi Chou et al.

With the rapid development of positioning, localization, navigation, and self-driving car systems, the implementation of intelligent and robust localization systems for real-time location-based services (LBSs) has become increasingly attractive. This article presents high-performance positioning and tracking approaches characterized by a pipelined structure, high computational efficiency, flexibility, and real-time processing, implemented using field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs). In triangulation-based positioning approaches, estimated distance information is derived from communication signals and the path loss model, while vertical localization is achieved through the characteristics of barometric pressure (BP). After integrating positioning approaches with tracking methods and BP sensors, the results illustrate that the proposed localization algorithms closely estimate the trajectory of mobile devices. For FPGA-implemented algorithms, the proposed approaches effectively handle floating-point operations, reduce computing resource usage, and provide real-time processing capabilities, surpassing software-based designs and implementations. In terms of performance, the results demonstrate that the localization accuracy of the proposed hardware-based implementation is nearly identical to that of the software-based approach. Regarding vertical location accuracy, based on the proposed calibration approach, the BP value increases by 11.6 Pa for every one-meter decrease in altitude. To maintain floor-level accuracy over time despite atmospheric fluctuations, a real-time dynamic calibration mechanism using a fixed reference sensor is employed. In summary, the proposed localization algorithms, implemented with FPGAs and BP sensors, offer advantages such as lower circuit costs, higher processing efficiency, and reliable vertical location accuracy for real-time public safety LBS.

Petrukha Nina M., Petrukha Serhii V. , Tiurmenko Yaroslav M. et al.

The article surveys the introduction of rational allocation of financial and material resources in the sphere of security and defense as a factor that significantly enhances the resilience of the State against modern challenges. The conditions of dynamic changes in the security environment that necessitate the use of the latest methods for assessing economic feasibility and optimizing strategic planning in the sphere of security and defense capability are considered. Special attention is given to the development of scientifically grounded approaches and econometric models to enhance the resilience and adaptability of the new defense economy. In the study, statistical data from 20 security and defense projects implemented in Ukraine, which encompass the development of new weaponry prototypes and the modernization of existing defense and security systems, were analyzed. The multiple regression method was used to assess the impact of key factors on current costs, as well as the least squares method to build a mathematical model for forecasting expenditure levels and optimizing the material and financial resources involved. It is determined that the largest impact on costs comes from management and operational items, main supply resources, and long-term investment needs. A level model of strategic management has been developed, taking into account innovative, risk, and inflation components, which confirms that high-tech projects with significant innovative potential ensure long-term economic efficiency. Prospects for further research include expanding the database to analyze a larger number of projects, implementing digital cost monitoring tools, and adapting the constructed econometric model to the conditions of other countries and defense systems. A priority direction is the development of integrated methods for assessing risks and effectiveness in the context of global transformational challenges.

B. L. Talgamer, I. A. Meshkov, N. V. Murzin et al.

Reducing the cost of finished products by using the most economically advantageous processes and techniques for the extraction and beneficiation of minerals is one of the most pressing tasks in mining industry. The width of front bank has a significant impact on the cost of placer deposits mining. Existing methods for calculating the most advantageous width of front bank are based on ensuring dredge maximum productivity that is justified in placer bulk mining. With increasing depth of a placer deposit occurrence and thickness of overburden, traditional methods for calculating the optimal width of a front bank do not ensure minimizing production costs. The aim of the research is to determine the most advantageous width of a front bank, taking into account a peat (overburden) thickness and acceptable stripping flow sheet. The idea behind this work is that the optimal width of a front bank should be determined not only based on the maximum productivity of a dredge, but also on the condition of ensuring the lowest cost of extraction of valuable components (taking into account the productivity of all mining equipment and the stripping costs). The study analyzes the impact of placer parameters (peat thickness and productive layer thickness, front bank width) on the cost of sand extraction and processing, and identifies the dependencies of mining parameters on technical and economic performance. The study examined more than 100 process flow sheets for the integrated operation of stripping and mining equipment and provided an economic assessment of their effectiveness. Recommended values for correction factors for determining the optimum front bank width are given. The study findings serve as methodological material for substantiating the parameters of a placer mining system.

Takeshi INABA, Mio SAKUMA, Fumihiro SAKAKIBARA et al.

This study aimed to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of mechanical thrombectomy (MT) in patients aged 90 years and older with acute ischaemic stroke (AIS). We developed a cost-effectiveness model to compare MT with standard medical care (SMC) to SMC alone. The model, incorporating parameters for the effectiveness and costs of MT with SMC and SMC alone, was simulated until the cohort reached 100 years of age. The parameters were estimated from the prospective cohort study of the RESCUE-Japan Registry 2, claims databases, and published literature, with the perspective being Japan's public healthcare system. In the base-case model for an 8-year simulation period, the quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) for MT with SMC and SMC alone were 1.463 and 1.054 years, respectively. The expected costs were 14,553,772 Yen and 13,732,646 Yen, respectively. The incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) of MT with SMC compared to SMC alone was 2,009,744 Yen per QALY. A probabilistic sensitivity analysis showed a 66% probability that MT with SMC would be below the ICER threshold of 5,000,000 Yen per QALY. The cost-effectiveness analyses demonstrated that performing MT in addition to SMC for AIS in patients aged 90 years and older was acceptable from a cost-effectiveness perspective.

David Arquati, Liam McGrath

Improving public transport connectivity is crucial for decarbonisation and economic growth. Current transport planning approaches to addressing connectivity problems rely on trial-and-error approaches to identify problems and generate options, limited by planners' incomplete knowledge and the overwhelming volume of available travel data.We introduce a machine-assisted approach to identify opportunities for connectivity enhancements from origin-destination data and generate prioritised intervention options. Using an origin-destination matrix for Greater London covering approximately 1200 activity centres, our method applies trajectory clustering to identify potential high-demand corridors with poor public transport quality.Our prototype automatically generates multiple public transport scheme options (local bus, express bus, metro) within these corridors along with approximate operating costs. These options are batch-tested using accelerated assignment modelling that optimises mode choice, frequency, and route generation, and the results are given ordered according to benefit-cost ratios.This approach is now being used to supplement human planners’ knowledge in the development of new express bus services in London.

Kaiwei Jia, Xinbei Liu

The aim of this paper is to analyze the impact of the digital transformation of banks on their systemic risks. We find that the digital transformation of commercial banks can significantly inhibit the systemic risk of banks, and this conclusion is still valid after considering the endogeneity of the model. The bank’s digital transformation reduces its systemic risk by increasing its own competitiveness. Further analysis shows that the reduction of banks’ marginal costs due to digital transformation is a key factor in promoting banks’ competitiveness as the mechanism by which digital transformation reduces banks’ systemic risk. The role of bank digital transformation in reducing systemic risk is heterogeneous, which is more obvious in large commercial banks, commercial banks that have not established financial technology subsidiaries, and systemically important banks.

Hojoon You, Kunyoung Lee, Jaemu Oh et al.

Skin segmentation involves segmenting the human skin region in an image. It is a preprocessing technique mainly used in many applications such as face detection, hand gesture recognition, and remote biosignal measurements. As the performance of skin segmentation directly affects the performance of these applications, precise skin segmentation methods have been studied. However, previous skin segmentation methods are unsuitable for real-world environments because they rely heavily on color information. In addition, deep-learning-based skin segmentation methods incur high computational costs, even though skin segmentation is mainly used for preprocessing. This study proposes a lightweight skin segmentation model with a high performance. Additionally, we used data augmentation techniques that modify the hue, saturation, and values, allowing the model to learn texture or contextual information better without relying on color information. Our proposed model requires 1.09M parameters and 5.04 giga multiply-accumulate. Through experiments, we demonstrated that our proposed model shows high performance with an F-score of 0.9492 and consistent performance even for modified images. Furthermore, our proposed model showed a fast processing speed of approximately 68 fps, based on 3 × 512 × 512 images and an NVIDIA RTX 2080TI GPU (11GB VRAM) graphics card.

Andrzej Piotrowski, Zahra Nikkhah-Farkhani

Background Confidential personal data breaches are a serious problem for medical service providers. They may result in high financial costs for medical care facilities and unnecessary stress for patients. Research on information security (IS) in healthcare has been insufficient thus far. International studies may add a new perspective on this issue. Participants and procedure A quantitative approach was assumed to analyse relationships between IS climate and IS indicators in countries with dif-ferent cultures (Iran and Poland). The Information Security Climate Index was used in the study. The software PLS3 and SPSS 22 was used for data analysis. Results The results showed that the predicted factors of nurses’ IS participation were different in Iran and Poland. In both coun-tries, nurses’ perception of the importance of IS had an effect on IS participation, but in Poland, IS compliance had an addi-tional positive effect. In addition, IS compliance moderated the relationship between IS motivation and IS participation. Conclusions Components of IS climate have a significant effect on nurses’ IS participation in both Iran and Poland, though nationality can modify this relation. However, in both countries, by linking IS policies with human resource management activities such as performance appraisal and training, nurses’ perception of IS importance can be increased and IS participation can be facilitated.

Lucia Violeta Melnic, Marian Andrei Gurău, Ruxandra Marin

The main objective of the “AOA critical networks” concept in the manufacturing flow is to support companies that want to improve their processes so that they become more competitive by implementing various tools and techniques for continuous improvement. At present, it is known that a high level of productivity can be obtained and maintained only by involving all the actors involved in the production process, and to optimize the production flow as a whole, action must be taken to increase flexibility, the means of production and therefore their reactivity. The AON critical networks method can be integrated in the analysis of production systems, especially regarding the optimization of production flows. The main object of the research is the development of an adaptive production planning system that can optimize the flow of materials, which will lead to an optimal cost of the production project.

Markus Schmidt, Christian Frings, Tobias Tempel

We examined selective directed forgetting in motor memory using a new variant of a three-list approach, to distinguish between accounts of directed forgetting. Participants consecutively studied three lists (L1, L2, and L3) of four sequential four-finger movements each. After studying L2, participants in the forget group were instructed to selectively forget the just studied four items of L2 but to retain the previously studied four items of L1, whereas the remember group did not receive any forget instruction for L2 but was encouraged to retain the items of both lists. In addition, we switched (switch groups) or repeated the items-enacting hand (no-switch groups) between L2 and L3 for a manipulation of post-forget-cue material competition for L2. A final memory test assessed recall performance for all three lists. Selective directed forgetting (lower L2 recall in the forget group as compared to the remember group) only occurred if the same hand was used for L2 and L3 (high interference between L2 and L3 encoding) whereas no selective directed forgetting occurred if the hand switched between L2 and L3 (low interference between L2 and L3 encoding). These results suggest that an inhibitory mechanism caused (selective) directed-forgetting costs that was triggered when items studied after the forget instruction had the potential to interfere with already stored items (i.e. were to be enacted by the same hand). When subsequently studied items pertained to the other hand no directed-forgetting costs occurred.

Jennifer F. Reinganum, Louis L. Wilde

Baumgartner, Andrew, Kunkes, Taylor, Clark, Collin M et al.

BackgroundDespite making great strides in improving the treatment of diseases, the minimization of unintended harm by medication therapy continues to be a major hurdle facing the health care system. Medication error and prescription of potentially inappropriate medications (PIMs) represent a prevalent source of harm to patients and are associated with increased rates of adverse events, hospitalizations, and increased health care costs. Attempts to improve medication management systems in primary care have had mixed results. Implementation of new interventions is difficult because of complex contextual factors within the health care system. Abstraction hierarchy (AH), the first step in cognitive work analysis (CWA), is used by human factors practitioners to describe complex sociotechnical systems. Although initially intended for the nuclear power domain and interface design, AH has been used successfully to aid the redesign of numerous health care systems such as the design of decision support tools, mobile patient monitoring apps, and a telephone triage system. ObjectiveThis paper aims to refine our understanding of the primary care office in relation to a patient’s medication through the development of an AH. Emphasis was placed on the elements related to medication safety to provide guidance for the design of a safer medication management system in primary care. MethodsThe AH development was guided by the methodology used by seminal CWA literature. It was initially developed by 2 authors and later fine-tuned by an expert panel of clinicians, social scientists, and a human factors engineer. It was subsequently refined until an agreement was reached. A means-ends analysis was performed and described for the nodes of interest. The model represents the primary care office space through functional purposes, values and priorities, function-related purposes, object-related processes, and physical objects. ResultsThis model depicts the medication management system at various levels of abstraction. The resulting components must be balanced and coordinated to provide medical treatment with limited health care resources. Understanding the physical and informational constraints on activities that occur in a primary care office depicted in the AH defines areas in which medication safety can be improved. ConclusionsNumerous means-ends relationships were identified and analyzed. These can be further evaluated depending on the specific needs of the user. Recommendations for optimizing a medication management system in a primary care facility were made. Individual practices can use AH for clinical redesign to improve prescribing and deprescribing practices.