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The purpose of this paper is to present a computational framework for the simulation of patient‐specific atherosclerotic arterial walls. Such simulations provide information regarding the mechanical stress distribution inside the arterial wall and may therefore enable improved medical indications for or against medical treatment. In detail, the paper aims to provide a framework which takes into account patient‐specific geometric models obtained by in vivo measurements, as well as a fast solution strategy, giving realistic numerical results obtained in reasonable time.

A method is proposed for the construction of three‐dimensional geometrical models of atherosclerotic arteries based on intravascular ultrasound virtual histology data combined with angiographic X‐ray images, which are obtained on a routine basis in the diagnostics and medical treatment of cardiovascular diseases. These models serve as a basis for finite element simulations where a large number of unknowns need to be calculated in reasonable time. Therefore, the finite element tearing and interconnecting‐dual primal (FETI‐DP) domain decomposition method is applied, to achieve an efficient parallel solution strategy.

It is shown that three‐dimensional models of patient‐specific atherosclerotic arteries can be constructed from intravascular ultrasound virtual histology data. Furthermore, the application of the FETI‐DP domain decomposition method leads to a fast numerical framework. In a numerical example, the importance of three‐dimensional models and thereby fast solution algorithms is illustrated by showing that two‐dimensional approximations differ significantly from the 3D solution.

The decision for or against intravascular medical treatment of atherosclerotic arteries strongly depends on the mechanical situation of the arterial wall. The framework presented in this paper provides computer simulations of stress distributions, which therefore enable improved indications for medical methods of treatment.

The authors compare perspectives on external evaluation of health service provision between Norway and the USA. External inspection and accreditation are examples of internationally wide-spread external evaluation methods used to assess the quality of care given to patients. Different countries have different national policy strategies and arrangements set up to do these evaluations. Although there is growing attention to the impact and effects on quality and safety from external evaluation, there is still a gap in knowledge to how structures and processes influence these outcomes. Accordingly, the purpose of this article is to describe the structures and processes in external evaluation designed to promote quality improvement in Norway and the USA with attention to comparison of enablers and barriers in external evaluation systems.

Data collection consisted of documentary evidence retrieved from governmental policies, and reviews of the Joint Commission (the US), international guidelines, recommendations and reports from the International Society for Quality in Health Care, and the World Health Organization, and policies and regulations related to Norwegian governmental bodies such as the Ministry of Health and Care Services, the Norwegian Directorate of Health, and the Norwegian Board of Health Supervision . Data were analyzed inspired by a deductive, direct content analytical framework.

The authors found that both accreditation and inspection are strategies put in place to ensure that healthcare providers have adequate quality systems as well as contributing to the wider risk and safety enhancing management and implementation processes in the organizations subjected to evaluation. The US and the Norwegian external regulatory landscapes are complex and include several policymaking and governing institutions. The Norwegian regulatory framework for inspection has replaced an individual blame logic with a model which “blames” the system for inadequate quality and patient harm. This contrasts with the US accreditation system, which focuses on accreditation visits. Although findings indicate an ongoing turning point in accreditation, findings also demonstrate that involving patients and next of kin directly in adverse event inspections is a bigger part of a change in external inspection culture and methods than in processes of accreditation.

The message of this paper is important for policymakers, and bodies of inspection and accreditation because knowledge retrieved from the comparative document study may contribute to better understanding of the implications from the different system designs and in turn contribute to improving external evaluations.

Although there is a growing attention to the impact and effects on quality and safety from external evaluation, the implications of different regulatory strategies and arrangements for evaluation on quality and safety remain unclear.

Purpose – Intravenous leiomyomatosis (IVL) is a very rare subtype of leiomyoma, involving the right obstruction of the heart, and is an unusual cause of outflow tract obstruction. The IVL grows from the vessel’s smooth muscle, protruding into the vessel’s lumen, and can expand to the right atrium and even beyond causing death due to blood flow obstruction into the right atrium and even to pulmonary artery.

Design/Methodology/Approach – We present a 33-year-old Indonesian woman with cardiopulmonary symptoms predominantly, and marked by an intravascular leiomyoma extending from inferior vena cava (IVC) to right chamber atrium, with the chief complaint being easily fatigued since seven months.

Findings – Echocardiography observations found a mass in the right atrium and the IVC that caused dynamics obstructed in tricuspid valve, right atrium and ventricle were dilated, no left ventricular (LV) hypertrophy, normal LV and right ventricular (RV) functions, and no valve abnormality except the tricuspid valve gradient being 21 mmHg with mild regurgitation. Venography resulted in a mobile tumor mass in IVC mouth which partially flew into the right atrium, and partially blocked the IVC mouth. Tumor size was 6.4 cm × 4.8 cm. Abdominal multislice computed tomography resulted in a residual soft tissue mass (leiomyoma) along the IVC extended to the right atrium. The tumor mass size in the IVC and the right atrium was bigger compared to tumor mass on July 2008. The correct diagnosis was established during surgery; therefore a two-stage resection was done.

Originality/Value – Surgical resection is the best treatment for intracardiac extension of intravenous leiomyoma. To remove the ilio-caval portion, iliac venotomy was recommended for the tumor in both stages of the surgeries.

Waiting for a bus may represent a period of intense exposure to traffic particles in hot and noisy conditions in the street. To lessen the particle load and tackle heat in bus stops a shelter was equipped with an electrostatic precipitator and a three-step adiabatic cooling system capable of dynamically adjust its operation according to actual conditions. This study evaluates the effectiveness of the Airbitat Oasis Smart Bus Stop, as the shelter was called, to provide clean and cool air.

The particle exposure experienced in this innovative shelter was contrasted with that in a conventional shelter located right next to it. Mass concentrations of fine particles and black carbon, and particle number concentration (as a proxy of ultrafine particles) were simultaneously measured in both shelters. Air temperature, relative humidity and noise level were also measured.

The new shelter did not perform as expected. It only slightly reduced the abundance of fine particles (−6.5%), but not of ultrafine particles and black carbon. Similarly, it reduced air temperature (−1 °C), but increased relative humidity (3%). Its operation did not generate additional noise.

The shelter's poor performance was presumably due to design flaws induced by a lack of knowledge on traffic particles and fluid dynamics in urban environments. This is an example where harnessing technology without understanding the problem to solve does not work.

It is uncommon to come across case studies like this one in which the performance and effectiveness of urban infrastructure can be assessed under real-life service settings.

The purpose of this paper is to determine accreditation effects on Iranian military hospital health service quality through nurses’ viewpoints.

The paper is a cross-sectional questionnaire-based study. Sampling drew from a hospital nurse census (n=160). Descriptive statistics were used to analyze participant demographics and nurses’ views. Linear regression analysis determined the independent variables’ overall effect on the accreditation quality results dimension (dependent variable).

From the nurses’ viewpoints, accreditation effects on services quality mean score was 3.60±0.61. Linear regression analysis showed that leadership and quality management were identified as the most important accreditation quality predictors. The R² value (0.698) showed that nearly 70 percent of the dependent variable changes were affected by the independent variables.

This study gives hospital managers a deeper insight into accreditation and its effects on military hospital service quality. Military hospitals benefit from military organization such as hierarchy and command chain, so managers should employ these characteristics to adopt appropriate policies to promote human resource management as a competitive advantage. Furthermore, results will guide public and private hospital managers on how to manage organizational variables that benefit from accreditation.

Accreditation was introduced as a hospital quality improvement program. However, implementing accreditation programs should be cost-effective. Hospital managers and employees should feel that accreditation can improve service quality. Nurses had positive viewpoints about accreditation and its effects on military hospital service quality.

Food choices profoundly affect one's dietary, nutritional and health outcomes. Using alcoholic beverages as a case study, the authors assess the potential of genetic data in predicting consumers' food choices combined with conventional socio-demographic data.

A discrete choice experiment was conducted to elicit the underlying preferences of 484 participants from seven provinces in China. By linking three types of data (—data from the choice experiment, socio-demographic information and individual genotyping data) of the participants, the authors employed four machine learning-based classification (MLC) models to assess the performance of genetic information in predicting individuals' food choices.

The authors found that the XGBoost algorithm incorporating both genetic and socio-demographic data achieves the highest prediction accuracy (77.36%), significantly outperforming those using only socio-demographic data (permutation test p-value = 0.033). Polygenic scores of several behavioral traits (e.g. depression and height) and genetic variants associated with bitter taste perceptions (e.g. TAS2R5 rs2227264 and TAS2R38 rs713598) offer contributions comparable to that of standard socio-demographic factors (e.g. gender, age and income).

This study is among the first in the economic literature to empirically demonstrate genetic factors' important role in predicting consumer behavior. The findings contribute fresh insights to the realm of random utility theory and warrant further consumer behavior studies integrating genetic data to facilitate developments in precision nutrition and precision marketing.

Organizational happiness has received exponential attention in recent years. To offer an over-view for future research gap, this article produces a comprehensive review by combining bibliometric analysis and interviews to key authors in the field. The main objective of this paper is to show the state of research regarding the environment in the management of happiness in organizations: the evolution of scientific activity, current trends in authorship, topics and future setting research agenda.

The methodological process focuses on a mixed method. A systematic review of the relevant literature; bibliometric analysis and network mapping in the Web of Science and Scopus data-bases; bibliometric network analysis of authorship, citation and co-occurrence of key words in scientific publications.

The results reveal that happiness management is gaining importance and, moreover, more than half of the publications about happiness management are related to the environment in which the organizations are immersed. Therefore, the study provides some research directions and insists on role of environment to better understand the theoretical and practical perspectives. Likewise, bibliometric analysis and interviews allow to measure quality, impact, productivity and scientific evolution which are increasingly valued in order to identify the main concepts and topics that are considered key, drivers of research and those gaps that should be addressed in future research work for the conceptual framework of happiness management in organizations.

Conclusions are drawn that promoting corporate social responsibility strategies, aimed at fostering sustainability and care for the environment result in the well-being of organizations and the performance of their workers are highlighted.

The purpose of this paper is to review the accreditation research in specific to its effect on the performance of healthcare organizations.

A comprehensive search and analysis of literature on the effect of healthcare accreditation were conducted between June 2017 and May 2018. The study identified 62 empirical research studies that examined the effect of healthcare accreditation programmes. Study particulars such as year of publication, objectives, focus of the study, research settings and key findings were recorded. A content analysis was performed to identify the frequency of the main themes in the literature. Knowledge gaps needing further examination were identified.

Majority of the accreditation impact studies were carried out in the developed nations (n = 49). The thematic categories, that is the impact on “patient safety and healthcare quality” (n = 26), “healthcare professionals’ views” (n = 28) and “clinical process and outcomes” (n = 17) were addressed more times. Whereas the other two thematic categories “organizational performance” and “consumers’ views or satisfaction,” each was examined less than 10 instances. This review reveals mixed views on effect of healthcare accreditation. The varied quality of studies and the availability of a few studies on consumers’ perception of accreditation effectiveness were the important limiting factors of this review.

The findings are valuable to healthcare managers and hospital administrators in accreditation decisions, whereas findings are of value to researchers and academicians in terms of gaps identified for future research studies pertaining to the impact of healthcare accreditation. Future studies need to consider holistic theoretical frameworks for assessing the effect of accreditation on performance of healthcare organizations to achieve precise results.

Accreditation and external peer review play important roles in assessing and improving healthcare quality worldwide. Evidence on the impact on the quality of care remains indecisive because of programme features and methodological research challenges. The purpose of this paper is to create a general methodological research framework to design future studies in this field.

A literature search on effects of external peer review and accreditation was conducted using PubMed/Medline, Embase and Web of Science. Three researchers independently screened the studies. Only original research papers that studied the impact on the quality of care were included. Studies were evaluated by their objectives and outcomes, study size and analysis entity (hospitals vs patients), theoretical framework, focus of the studied programme, heterogeneity of the study population and presence of a control group.

After careful selection 50 articles were included out of an initial 2,025 retrieved references. Analysis showed a wide variation in methodological characteristics. Most studies are performed cross-sectionally and results are not linked to the programme by a theoretical framework.

Based on the methodological characteristics of previous studies the authors propose a general research framework. This framework is intended to support the design of future research to evaluate the effects of accreditation and external peer review on the quality of care.

The purpose of this paper was to clarify the influence of H2PO4-, HCO3-, pH increase and phosphate coating on corrosion rate and localized corrosion tendency of AZ31 magnesium alloy.

The corrosion behavior of AZ31 magnesium alloy in physiological environments was investigated by hydrogen evolution collection measurements, electrochemical techniques and by use of a three-dimensional digital microscope.

H2PO4- and HCO3- have corrosion inhibition effects on AZ31 magnesium alloy in normal saline solutions. After immersing for 54 h, the surface undulations decrease from 100 to about 60 μm and 45 μm. The average corrosion rate decreased with increasing pH value. The localized corrosion tendency, however, increased significantly. CaHPO4·2H2O [dicalcium phosphate dehydrate (DCPD)] coating could decrease the initial i_corr of AZ31 substrate in Hank’s solution. With partial dissolution of the coating, localized corrosion was readily evident on the AZ31 substrate surface, and a large corrosion pit with depth of over 350 μm appeared. The combined effect of the presence of inhibited ions, the increase in pH during corrosion process and the DCPD coating caused the decrease in the average corrosion rate while enhancing the localized corrosion tendency, resulting in the observed localized attack.

The paper provides an essential insight into the localized corrosion mechanism of AZ31 magnesium alloy in physiological environments.