A new maintenance policy which minimizes the total expected servicing cost for an item with two–dimensional warranty is proposed. An iterative procedure to estimate the item’s failure rate function from historical observations and an optimization algorithm based on Monte Carlo simulation are applied to obtain the best maintenance policy. Numerical examples and sensitivity analysis are presented.

The design and performance of health systems are now at the centre of the international health agenda. This month’s special section of the Bulletin and The World Health Report 2000 are both devoted to health systems. The next decade will witness a lively debate on these issues, increasingly fuelled by multicountry evidence and analysis. Historically, the World Health Organization has not been h...

Employment and unemployment in the Central East European countries are a major concern in the process of integration of those countries into the European Union. Hence, the proposal of policies for employment is a controversial issue. The existence of opposing conceptual frameworks is the main cause of this divergence. Since the debate is still open and no definite conclusions have yet been reac...

National ecosystem assessments form an essential knowledge base for safeguarding biodiversity and ecosystem services. We analyze eight European (sub-)national ecosystem assessments (Portugal, United Kingdom, Spain, Norway, Flanders, Netherlands, Finland, and Germany) and compare their objectives, political context, methods, and operationalization. We observed remarkable differences in breadth o...

In many product recovery situations returned products can be reused in multiple ways. Under these circumstances the problem arises in which quantities reusable items should be allocated to the different remanufacturtng options, especially in case of insufficient stock of returns. For this problem a pertodic review model Is formulated which also includes a disposal option and incorporates uncert...

This perspective is an ethical brief overview and examination of “wellness” policies in the modern workplace using practical examples and a general application of utilitarianism. Many employers are implementing policies that provide incentives to employees who lead a “healthy” lifestyle. The authors address how these policies could adversely affect “non-healthy” employees. There are a wide vari...

Several screening policies have been recommended for implementation in England and Wales in the last 20 years, although no evidence as to their relative effectiveness or efficiency has been provided. Using a computer simulation model, the outcomes expected from those policies had they been implemented over a 30 year period (1961-90) have been examined. The original policies based on five-yearly...

BACKGROUND The importance of health policy and systems research and analysis (HPSR+A) has been increasingly recognised, but it is still unclear how most effectively to strengthen the capacity of the different organisations involved in this field. Universities are particularly crucial but the expansive literature on capacity development has little to offer the unique needs of HPSR+A activity wit...

BACKGROUND Despite a wealth of research and policy initiatives, progress in tackling the UK's health inequalities has been limited. This article explores whether there appears to be consensus among researchers about the kinds of policies likely to reduce health inequalities. METHODS Ninety-nine proposals for addressing health inequalities were identified from multiple sources. Forty-one resea...