Natural drying of fuel wood is a feasible option to increase resource efficiency in biomass based energy supply. Meteorological data based drying models are the state-of-the-art to monitor the drying progress. The continuous weighing approach is used to gain data for developing these models. The aim of this study was to investigate the drying performance of oak (Quercus L.) logs stored in piles...

BACKGROUND Typically, little consideration is given to the allocation of indirect costs (overheads and capital) to hospital services, compared to the allocation of direct costs. Weighted service allocation is believed to provide the most accurate indirect cost estimation, but the method is time consuming. OBJECTIVE To determine whether hourly rate, inpatient day, and marginal mark-up allocati...

A new short-term probabilistic forecasting method is proposed to predict the probability density function of the hourly active power generated by a photovoltaic system. Firstly, the probability density function of the hourly clearness index is forecasted making use of a Bayesian auto regressive time series model; the model takes into account the dependence of the solar radiation on some meteoro...

The authors argue that the strength of the relationship between income and happiness can be influenced by exposure to organizational practices, such as being paid by the hour, that promote an economic evaluation of time use. Using cross-sectional data from the United States, two studies found that income was more strongly associated with happiness for individuals paid by the hour compared to th...

OBJECTIVES A rational payment system is being sought in Japanese health care-one that accurately reflects the required time and the level of technical difficulty when valuing physician activity. The objective of this study is to examine the current surgical payment system in Japan by clarifying the hourly values allocated to physician activity. METHODS This study focused on the 22 surgical pr...

A novel solution to the estimation of catchment rainfall at a sub-hourly resolution from measured streamflow is introduced and evaluated for two basins with markedly different flow pathways and rainfall regimes. It combines a continuous-time transfer function model with regularised derivative estimates obtained using a recursive method with capacity for handling missing data. The method has gen...

OBJECTIVE To determine if repeated dosing with methylphenidate hydrochloride (MPD) (Ritalin; Novartis Pharmaceuticals, East Hanover, NJ), an inhibitor of the dopamine transporter, would augment the effects of oral levodopa in patients with Parkinson disease. DESIGN The study was a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled crossover trial. SETTING The trial was conducted at the General Cl...