Integral resource capacity planning for inpatient care services based on bed census predictions by hour

The design and operations of inpatient care facilities are typically largely historically shaped. A better match with the changing environment is often possible, and even inevitable due to the pressure on hospital budgets. Effectively organizing inpatient care requires simultaneous consideration of several interrelated planning issues. Also, coordination with upstream departments like the operating theatre and the emergency department is much-needed. We present a generic analytical approach to predict bed census on nursing wards by hour, as a function of the Master Surgical Schedule and arrival patterns of emergency patients. Along these predictions, insight is gained on the impact of strategic (ie, case mix, care unit size, care unit partitioning), tactical (ie, allocation of operating room time, misplacement rules), and operational decisions (ie, time of admission/discharge). The method is used in the Academic Medical Center Amsterdam as a decision-support tool in a complete redesign of the inpatient care operations.     

Anhydrous deuterium β-alumina: Powder neutron diffraction studies at 4.2, 298, 573, and 720 K

The structure of anhydrous stoichiometric deuterium β-alumina, Dal₁₁O₁₇, has been determined at 4.2, 298, 573, and 720 K by profile refinement of powder neutron diffraction data. At each temperature the deuterium is found to lie in well-defined threefold sites close to the spacer oxygen, O(5). There is no evidence for delocalization of the deuterium away from O(5) and such a hydroxyl linkage is in accord with the low protonic conductivity observed in related materials. The effect of this unusual mirror-plane arrangement on the remainder of the structure and the variation with temperature of the lattice constants, bond lengths, and angles are discussed.     

Vanadyl hydrogenphosphate hydrates: VO(HPO4) · 4H2O and VO(HPO4) · 0.5H2O

Two vanadyl(IV) monohydrogenphosphate hydrates have been crystallized from aqueous media and their structures determined by single-crystal X-ray diffraction. The first, a tetrahydrate, VO(HPO₄) · 4H₂O, is triclinic, $\text{P}\text{1}$, with a = 6.379(2), b = 8.921(2), c = 13.462(3) Å, α = 79.95(2), β = 76.33(3), γ = 71.03(3)°. Final residuals of R₁ = 0.058 and R₂ = 0.065 were obtained using 1250 unique data and 140 parameters. The second was found to be the hemihydrate, VO(HPO₄) · 0.5H₂O, with orthorhombic symmetry, Pmmn. Complete structure solution and refinement using data from a 2.7 × 10⁵ μm³ crystal gave atomic parameters in close agreement with those recently reported in a parallel study (C. C. Torardi and J. C. Calabrese, Inorg. Chem.23, 1308, 1984). Final residuals R₁ = 0.041 and R₂ = 0.042 were obtained on optimizing the 45 structural variables using 458 observed intensities. The structures of these two hydrates and that of the pyrophosphate, (VO)₂P₂O₇, show a close correspondence. The degree of condensation of the vanadyl octahedra and phosphate tetrahedra, and the amount of water of crystallization in these materials are closely coupled and depend on the formation temperature.     

Effects of Adsorbed Polyaniline on Redox Processes on As(2)O(3) Surfaces

Polyaniline deposited on As(2)O(3) surface resulted in a new material, which was characterized by infrared spectoscopy, thermogravimetry, differential scanning calorimetry, scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and cyclic voltammetry. The mass percentage of polymer deposited on oxide surface is approximately 13%. The scanning electron microscopy images as well as the X-ray diffraction patterns provided conclusive evidence that the oxide surface is coated by the polymer. The cyclic voltammograms of the polyaniline adsorbed on As(2)O(3) surface showed that the adsorbate exerts remarkable effects on redox processes on this oxide. The pure oxide exhibited two oxidation/reduction peaks at 0.25/-0.06 and 0.47/-0.25 V attributed tentatively to the processes As(2)O(3)(s)+6H(+)+6e(-)=2As(s)+3H(2)O and As(s)+3H(+)+3e(-)=AsH(3)(g), respectively. The polyaniline-coated sample exhibited a better-defined voltammogram in which the first oxidation peak of the oxide had its intensity increased about four times. Copyright 2000 Academic Press.