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In this paper, a two-stage dispatching rule for the on-time delivery of an order-driven FAB is presented. Dispatching rules have a significant impact on the performance of FABs. Consequently, many such rules have been created, such as first in first out, earliest due data, operation due date, and critical ratio. Because these conventional dispatching rules make decisions only by considering the due date of each lot, they might not be suitable for dynamic order-driven FABs, for which it is very essential to monitor not only the due date of each lot but also the production rate of each step. In the first stage of the proposed two-stage dispatching rule, the production rate of each step is taken into account, and the due date of each lot is considered in the second stage. In this paper, the production rates of steps are computed by combining forward simulation and backward pegging. A simulation model, based on a wafer FAB data-set, has been developed, and simulation is conducted using commercial software SEEPLAN®. The simulation results clearly show the advantages of the proposed dispatching rule over existing rules. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Prevention capacity of local health organisations is associated with the performance and outcomes in public health. In Colombia, where cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality, there is limited knowledge about the capacity of local health departments to prevent this condition. Efforts are needed to address problems, potential solutions and expected outcomes regarding cardiovascular disease. In this study, a conceptual model for cardiovascular disease prevention capacity in Colombian local health departments was developed, a questionnaire based on this model was validated, the overall cardiovascular disease prevention capacity in a subsample of these organisations was measured, and the association between cardiovascular disease prevention capacity and political, population, and organisational factors was examined. Once the acceptable performance of the questionnaire was verified, variability in cardiovascular prevention capacity was found among a subsample of local health departments. Furthermore, this study provides primary evidence regarding the association between the size of local health departments and overall cardiovascular disease prevention capacity in Colombia. Future studies should focus on measuring this capacity on a larger scale and developing, implementing, and evaluating interventions aimed at strengthening cardiovascular prevention capacity in Colombian local jurisdictions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Infertility can have adverse effects on sexuality of women. This study aims to examine the effect of sexual counseling based on the BETTER Model on the sexual function of Iranian women with infertility. Method: Eighty women with infertility were randomly assigned to either intervention or control groups. Female Sexual Function Index and Enrich Marital Satisfaction Scale were completed by participants at baseline and two months after. Results: All domains of FSFI (except for pain) were significantly increased (p < 0.001) after the intervention. Conclusions: Results showed that two sessions of sexual counseling can be used to improve the sexual health of infertile women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Objectives: There is still no clear portrayal of women's empowerment in managing menopause. The present study was conducted to design a model for the empowerment of Iranian women in managing menopause. Materials and Methods: This qualitative study was conducted using the grounded theory on 40-60-year-old women who were first selected through purposive sampling and then by theoretical sampling from November 2013 to July 2016. Data were collected using 33 in-depth, semi-structured, individual interviews with 30 participants. Data were analyzed using the Strauss and Corbin(2008) approach and organized in MAXQDA-10. Results: The analysis of the data led to the emergence of "active coping with menopause" as the core variable with four themes. The two themes "threat to feminine identity" and "latent opportunity" explained the context of the study, and "redefining the feminine identity" and "self-retrieval" explained its process. Conclusion: In our social context, the phenomenon of menopause is a coin with two sides and its experience leans more on the threat to feminine identity and less on latent opportunity. The model of postmenopausal women's empowerment for managing menopause might offer health policy-makers a realistic and divergent understanding of the challenges of empowering women by explaining key concepts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Matching estimators are commonly used to estimate causal effects in nonexperimental settings. Covariate measurement error can be problematic for matching estimators when observational treatment groups differ on latent quantities observed only through error-prone surrogates. We establish necessary and sufficient conditions for matching and weighting with functions of observed covariates to yield unconfounded causal effect estimators, generalizing results from the standard (i.e., no measurement error) case. We establish that in common covariate measurement error settings, including continuous variables with continuous measurement error, discrete variables with misclassification, and factor and item response theory models, no single function of the observed covariates computed for all units in a study is appropriate for matching. However, we demonstrate that in some circumstances, it is possible to create different functions of the observed covariates for treatment and control units to construct a variable appropriate for matching. We also demonstrate the counterintuitive result that in some settings, it is possible to selectively contaminate the covariates with additional measurement error to construct a variable appropriate for matching. We discuss the implications of our results for the choice between matching and weighting estimators with error-prone covariates. Supplementary materials for this article are available online. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]