The study applies the principles behind the SERVQUAL model and uses Donabedian’s framework to compare and contrast Malta’s public and private hospital care service quality. Through the identification of 16 service quality indicators and the use of a Likert‐type scale, two questionnaires were developed. The first questionnaire measured patient pre‐admission expectations for public and private hospital service quality (in respect of one another). It also determined the weighted importance given to the different service quality indicators. The second questionnaire measured patient perceptions of provided service quality. Results showed that private hospitals are expected to offer a higher quality service, particularly in the “hotel services”, but it was the public sector that was exceeding its patients’ expectations by the wider margin. A number of implications for public and private hospital management and policy makers were identified.
This version is available at https://strathprints.strath.ac.uk/52822/ Strathprints is designed to allow users to access the research output of the University of Strathclyde. Unless otherwise explicitly stated on the manuscript, Copyright © and Moral Rights for the papers on this site are retained by the individual authors and/or other copyright owners. Please check the manuscript for details of any other licences that may have been applied. You may not engage in further distribution of the material for any profitmaking activities or any commercial gain. You may freely distribute both the url (https://strathprints.strath.ac.uk/) and the content of this paper for research or private study, educational, or not-for-profit purposes without prior permission or charge.Any correspondence concerning this service should be sent to the Strathprints administrator: strathprints@strath.ac.ukThe Strathprints institutional repository (https://strathprints.strath.ac.uk) is a digital archive of University of Strathclyde research outputs. It has been developed to disseminate open access research outputs, expose data about those outputs, and enable the management and persistent access to Strathclyde's intellectual output. Local Heat Generation and Material Flow in Friction Stir AbstractIn friction stir welding (FSW), assemblies are joined by means of practising, shearing and stirring non-molten material. The heat generation is directly related to the viscous behaviour of plasticised material, through coupled Navier-Stokes thermo-fluid flow stress equations. A significant amount of research has been conducted on aluminium FSW but studies on mild steel assemblies are limited. The aim of this work is to understand the influence of the tool rotational and traverse speed on the resulting material stir zone shape and the heat power generated in FSW of mild steel assemblies. A numerical and experimental approach is adopted in this study. Material visco-plastic properties are primarily established experimentally and are then applied to a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model through user defined material flow stress constitutive laws. The model was further validated through a series of thermocouple and macrograph measurements and later on used to fulfil the aims of this work. This study identifies that the total heat generated for different welding parameters follows a non-linear variation with radial and angular tool position. These results provide a platform for the accurate definition of heat flux inputs and thermal strains to global thermoelasto-plastic models, replacing more simplified linear specifications currently used in the literature.
Abstract:The main aim of the work was to investigate a simplified finite element simulation of the out-of-plane distortion caused by fusion butt welding. The thermal transient part of the simulation made use of a finite element analysis of the two-dimensional cross-section of the weld joint and the thermoelastic-plastic treatment was based on analytical algorithms describing transverse and longitudinal deformations, leading to predictions of transverse angular deformation and longitudinal contraction force. These results were then applied to a non-linear elastic finite element model to provide predictions of the final angular and overall deformations of the butt-welded plates. The validity of the simulation was investigated via full-scale tests on 4 m  1.4 m  5 mm steel plates, butt welded using a flux-cored Ar-CO 2 metal-inert gas process. Thermography and thermocouple arrays were used to validate the thermal transient computations and out-of-plane deformations were measured using displacement transducers for transient deformations and a laser scanning system to measure the profiles of the whole plates before and after welding. The results of six full-scale tests are given and comparison with the simulations shows that the procedure provides good prediction of the angular and overall out-of-plane deformations. Prediction accuracy requires account to be taken of initial shape, gravity loading, and support conditions.
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