110 research outputs found
Correction to : Cost-Effectiveness of Parent–Child Interaction Therapy in Clinics versus Homes : Client, Provider, Administrator, and Overall Perspectives (Journal of Child and Family Studies, (2018), 27, 10, (3329-3344), 10.1007/s10826-018-1159-4)
No full textThe original version of this article unfortunately contained a mistake. The Author contributions section currently states: “A.F.: designed and conducted data analyses for this study, supervised by B.Y. with input by T.F. A.F. and T.F. assisted B.Y. in writing and revising the manuscript.” In fact, B.Y. and T.F. assisted A.F. in writing and revising the manuscript. Although T.F. and B.Y. were both involved in the writing, primary credit should go to A.F. (Alexis French, the first author). The authorship order above is accurate.</p
Evaluating cost benefits from a heat health warning system in Adelaide, South Australia
No full textAccepted: November 2021Objective: To examine the cost benefits of a heat health warning system (HHWS) in South Australia. Methods: Information from key agencies was used to estimate the costs associated with the South Australian HHWS, including for three targeted public health interventions. Health cost savings were estimated based on previously reported HHWS-attributable reductions in hospital and emergency department (ED) admissions and ambulance callouts. Results: The estimated cost for a one-week activation of the HHWS was AU$593,000. Activation costs compare favourably with the potential costs averted through HHWS-attributable reductions in hospital admissions and ambulance callouts with an estimated benefit-cost ratio of 2.0–3.3.Conclusions: On the basis of estimated cost benefit, the South Australian HHWS is a no-regret public health response to heatwaves. Implications for public health: As global temperatures rise there are likely to be significant health impacts from more frequent and intense heatwaves. This study indicates that HHWSs incorporating targeted supports for vulnerable groups are likely to be cost-effective public health interventions.Susan Williams, Monika Nitschke, Berhanu Yazew Wondmagegn, Michael Tong, Jianjun Xiang, Alana Hansen, John Nairn, Jonathan Karnon, Peng B
What do we know about the healthcare costs of extreme heat exposure? A comprehensive literature review
No full textExposure to extreme heat can lead to a range of heat-related illnesses, exacerbate pre-existing health conditions and cause increased demand on the healthcare system. A projected increase in temperature may lead to greater healthcare expenditure, however, at present the costs of heat-related healthcare utilization is under-researched. This study aims to review the literature on heat-related costs for the healthcare system with a focus on ED visits, hospitalization, and ambulance call-outs. PubMed, Scopus, and Embase were used to search relevant literature from database inception to December 2017 and limited to human studies and English language. After screening, a total of ten papers were identified for final inclusion. In general, the healthcare costs of heat extremes have been poorly investigated in developed countries and not reported in developing countries where the largest heat-vulnerable populations reside. Studies showed that exposure to extreme heat was causing a substantial economic burden on healthcare systems. Females, the elderly, low-income families, and ethnic minorities had the highest healthcare costs on a range of health services utilization. Although a few studies have estimated heat healthcare costs, none of them quantified the temperature-healthcare cost relationship. There is a need to systematically examine heat-attributable costs for the healthcare system in the context of climate change to better inform heat-related policy making, target interventions and resource allocation.Berhanu Y.Wondmagegn, Jianjun Xiang, Susan Williams, Dino Pisaniello, Peng B
The Effect of Electro-Magnetic Stirring on the Weld Microstructure of Aluminium Alloys
No full textTechnische MateriaalwetenschappenMechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineerin
A novel network prediction error identification method
No full textWith advancing technology, systems are becoming increasingly interconnected and form more complex networks. Additionally, measurements are more available due to cheaper sensors. Hence there is a need for identification methods specifically designed for networks. System identification is a wide-spread technique that handles open-loop and closed-loop identification problems well, and has explicit consistency and variance results for them. The application of these methods to complex networks is currently under development. Several methods have been proposed in order to obtain consistent estimates. Beside consistency, the variance of the obtained estimates is also crucial because the variance defines confidence regions for the model. A common feature when studying dynamic networks is that measurements can be taken at various locations in the network. These measurements are taken using sensors, which in reality always have some noise. In this thesis it is shown that combining the data of multiple (noisy) sensors to estimate a network internal variable can be beneficial for the estimate’s variance, even if the sensors are measuring different internal variables. This multiple measurements phenomenon is studied and its insight is used to devise a novel network system identification method: the partial tailor-made method. It is shown that the partial tailor-made method provides consistent estimates with lower variance than the celebrated two-stage method.Delft Center for Systems and ControlMechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineerin
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No full textMotion control of a contactless stage
No full textIn the manufacturing process of flat panel displays (FPD), such as the making of the photomasks and the lithographic process of the glass substrates, the demand for a larger but thinner substrate is increasing. Consequently, the moving stage of these manufacturing machines become larger in size and heavier in weight. The high velocity and acceleration specifications for positioning a moving stage of several tons will require much more power and higher power rate output than any usual positioning tasks. One solution to eliminate the moving mass of the stage is to use a contactless stage. A contactless positioning stage which is capable of controlling a 100 mm wafer in three in-plane degrees of freedom has been developed successfully in the Mechatronic System Design group of the Precision and Microsystems Department. The deployed controller on the contactless stage is a decoupled three-loop Single Input Single Output (SISO) cascaded controller designed by classical loop shaping methods. An initial study shows that the in-plane rotational DoF is disturbed when the center of mass of the wafer is moved from the center of the concatenated air actuators and the planar translational axes are accelerating or decelerating. In addition, the power spectral densities of the measured pressure signals indicate that a high power pressure disturbance affects each control pressure channel. Therefore, the contactless positioning stage should be treated as a Multi Input Multi Output (MIMO) system and controlled with control schemes tailored to the wafer dynamics and the spectrum of disturbances as a potential alternative positioning mechanism at nano/micro levels. In this thesis, the goal is to develop a three in-plane degrees of freedom, multivariable model of the contactless stage, and identify its dynamics or estimate its parameters. With a determined control configuration, design and develop control schemes on the contactless stage that achieves a positioning specification with sub-micrometer precision when performing positioning tasks similar to an industrial precision positioning stage used in FPD manufacturing. With a cascaded control scheme, the dynamics of the contactless stage consist of pressure dynamics and wafer dynamics. The pressure dynamics of the air channels are identified by the Closed-loop Multivariable Output Error Subspace (CL-MOESP) algorithm first. Then the wafer dynamics are modeled from the Newton-Euler equations and the model parameters with disturbance forces in plane are estimated with an extended Kalman filter. Both dynamic models are validated by the comparisons of the frequency response functions (FRFs) of the derived models with the measured FRFs of the system. The pressure and position control problems are formulated with the required performance specifications. Then, both the pressure and position controller are synthesized using pole placement with sensitivity function shaping techniques. With high bandwidth inner pressure loops, a MIMO triangular controller is designed to control the positions and rotation of the wafer in plane. Moreover, a repetitive control scheme is adopted to enhance the tracking performance of the translational DoFs. Performances of both the MIMO triangular controller and repetitive controller are evaluated experimentally.Delft Center for Systems and ControlMechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineerin
Understanding current and projected emergency department presentations and associated healthcare costs in a changing thermal climate in Adelaide, South Australia
No full textPublished online 4 April 2022Background: Exposure to extreme temperatures is associated with increased emergency department (ED) presentations. The resulting burden on health service costs and the potential impact of climate change is largely unknown. This study examines the temperature-EDs/ cost relationships in Adelaide, South Australia and how this may be impacted by increasing temperatures. Methods: A time series analysis using a distributed lag nonlinear model was used to explore the exposure– response relationships. The net-attributable, cold-attributable and heat-attributable ED presentations for temperature-related diseases and costs were calculated for the baseline (2014–2017) and future periods (2034–2037 and 2054–2057) under three climate representative concentration pathways (RCPs). Results: The baseline heat-attributable ED presentations were estimated to be 3600 (95% empirical CI (eCI) 700 to 6500) with associated cost of $A4.7 million (95% eCI 1.8 to 7.5). Heat-attributable ED presentations and costs were projected to increase during 2030s and 2050s with no change in the cold-attributable burden. Under RCP8.5 and population growth, the increase in heat-attributable burden would be 1.9% (95% eCI 0.8% to 3.0%) for ED presentations and 2.5% (95% eCI 1.3% to 3.7%) for ED costs during 2030s. Under the same conditions, the heat effect is expected to increase by 3.7% (95% eCI 1.7% to 5.6%) for ED presentations and 5.0% (95% eCI 2.6% to 7.1%) for ED costs during 2050s. Conclusions: Projected climate change is likely to increase heat-attributable emergency presentations and the associated costs in Adelaide. Planning health service resources to meet these changes will be necessary as part of broader risk mitigation strategies and public health adaptation actions.Berhanu Yazew Wondmagegn, Jianjun Xiang, Keith Dear, Susan Williams, Alana Hansen, Dino Pisaniello, Monika Nitschke, John Nairn, Ben Scalley, Alex Xiao, Le Jian, Michael Tong, Hilary Bambrick, Jonathan Karnon, Peng B
Emergency department visits and associated healthcare costs attributable to increasing temperature in the context of climate change in Perth, Western Australia, 2012-2019
No full textIncreasing temperature and its impact on population health is an emerging significant public health issue in the context of climate change in Australia. While previous studies have primarily focused on risk assessment, very few studies have evaluated heat-attributable emergency department (ED) visits and associated healthcare costs, or projected future health and economic burdens. This study used a distributed lag non-linear model to estimate heat attributable ED visits and associated healthcare costs from 13 hospitals in Perth, Western Australia, and to project the future healthcare costs in 2030s and 2050s under three climate change scenarios—Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs)2.6, RCP4.5 and RCP8.5. There were 3697 ED visits attributable to heat (temperatures above 20.5 °C) over the study period 2012–2019, accounting for 4.6% of the total ED visits. This resulted in AU 4.6–7.6 million in heat associated healthcare costs. The heat attributable fraction for ED visits and associated healthcare costs would increase from 4.6% and 4.1% in 2010s to 5.0%–6.3% and 4.4%–5.6% in 2030s and 2050s, respectively. Future heat attributable ED visits and associated costs will increase in Perth due to climate change. Excess heat will generate a substantial population health challenge and economic burdens on the healthcare system if there is insufficient heat adaptation. It is vital to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, develop heat-related health interventions and optimize healthcare resources to mitigate the negative impact on the healthcare system and population health in the face of climate change.Michael Xiaoliang Tong, Berhanu Yazew Wondmagegn, Jianjun Xiang, Susan Williams, Alana Hansen, Keith Dear ... et al
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