ASSISTANT MULTI-PARAMETRIC METHOD TO THE SELECTION IN THE PROCESS OF INCORPORATION OF HOSPITAL EQUIPMENT

This project aims to demonstrate a multi-parametric method of hospital technology comparison. The main goal was to develop a method to assist the clinical and hospital engineering team, in the process of acquisition and incorporation of medical-hospital equipment, to be used as a tool in the comparison stage of brand options and models of available equipment in the market. The method is composed by groups of criteria or characteristics that can be evaluate referring to the technologies to be compared. This method was applied to compare autoclaves and disinfecting machines that would be purchased to install in a Material Central and Sterilization (CME) in a hospital in the south of Brazil. As a result, it was obtained the classifications with the final scoring referring to each brand and model of technology. It also contributed significantly to assist the choice definition of the equipment, considering the hospital and technology profile, as well as the requirements and expectations of the multi-professional technical group of evaluators and users.

Evaluation of Urban Regeneration Project Plans with an Integrated Model Based on Analytic Network Process

An integrated model based on ANP method which contains three major criteria, thirteen sub-criteria and thirty six factors was developed to evaluate urban regeneration project plans. To improve the traditional ANP method, a non-linear Programming equation which can be solved by the PS method was used to measure the inconsistency as well as to calculate the priorities in the pair-wise comparison stage of ANP. In addition, a DEMATEL method was employed to analyze the interdependencies of criteria/factors comprehensively. Five alternative plans of an urban regeneration project were adopted to test the effectiveness of the developed model. It was found the integrated model was feasible and effective to solve the problem of evaluation of the urban regeneration project plans.

Storage and retrieval of addition facts: The role of number comparison

It is proposed that arithmetical facts are organized in memory in terms of a principle that is unique to numbers—the cardinal magnitudes of the addends. This implies that sums such as 4 + 2 and 2 + 4 are represented, and searched for, in terms of the maximum and minimum addends. This in turn implies that a critical stage in solving an addition problem is deciding which addend is the larger. The COMP model of addition fact retrieval incorporates a comparison stage, as well as a retrieval stage and a pronunciation stage. Three tasks, using the same subjects, were designed to assess the contribution of these three stages to retrieving the answers to single-digit addition problems. Task 3 was the addition task, which examined whether reaction times (RTs) were explained by the model; Task 1 was a number naming task to assess the contribution of the pronunciation stage; Task 2 was a magnitude comparison task to assess the contribution, if any, of the comparison stage. A regression equation that included just expressions of these three stages was found to account for 71% of the variance. It is argued that the COMP model fits not only the adult RT data better than do alternatives, but also the evidence from development of additional skills.

Memory Search of Words and Nonwords

Classification of single-letter probes as members or nonmembers of a list of letters held in memory is faster if the memory list spells a word than if it does not. In terms of Sternberg's theory of memory search, the results seem to show that the speed of the letter-by-letter memory-comparison stage is increased when the letters in the memory set spell a word.