According to current estimates, more than 54 million Americans live with some type of long lasting condition or disability [1]. While these conditions are diverse and some are due to trauma (e.g., spinal cord injury), many are the result of common chronic diseases such as arthritis, heart disease, emphysema, and multiple sclerosis [2]. In an effort to influence the trajectory of functional limitations, disability, and quality of life in persons with chronic disabling conditions, a number of investigators and clinicians have begun to develop and test innovative interventions to promote the health (rather than control the disease or condition) of persons with chronic disabling conditions [3]. Some interventions have focused on a single behavior such as exercise or stress management, while others have taken a more comprehensive "lifestyle" approach [4,5]. As a group, these interventions clearly reflect the philosophical perspective of the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health that individuals with chronic and disabling conditions (e.g. multiple sclerosis, spinal cord injury) are fully capable of being healthy and experiencing a good quality of life [6}. The purpose of this study was to review and evaluate existing evidence supporting the use of wellness/health promotion interventions in persons with chronic disabling conditions. Health Promotion within the Context of Chronic Disabling ConditionsIn the U.S. Surgeon General's Call to Action to Improve the Health and Wellness of Persons with Disabilities [7], one of the four broad program statements to be achieved is "Persons with disabilities can promote their own good health by developing and maintaining healthy lifestyles" [7, p2]. Health promotion, activities "motivated by the desire to increase well-being and actualize human potential ' [8, p.7], encompasses a number of self-initiated health behaviors and emphasizes the need to enhance each person's responsibility and commitment to a healthy lifestyle. A variety of health promoting behaviors such as physical activity, stress © 2009 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. ** Corresponding Author: Alexa Stuifbergen, The University of Texas at Austin, School of Nursing, 1700 Red River, Austin, TX 78701-1499, Phone: 512-232-4764, Fax: 512-475-8755, astuifbergen@mail.utexas.edu. Publisher's Disclaimer: This is a PDF file of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication. As a service to our customers we are providing this early version of the manuscript. The manuscript will undergo copyediting, typesetting, and review of the resulting proof before it is published in its final citable form. Please note that during the production process errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain. It is important to differentiate conceptually between health promotion/wellness interventions and the disease and symptom management interventions for persons with varied chronic conditions commonly described in the literature. Pen...

In this paper, we suggest optimal scheduling strategies for serial multiproduct batch processes to minimize the makespan as an objective function. The strategies are formulated as mixed-integer nonlinear programming (MINLP) for various storage policies under consideration of nonzero transfer and setup times. The major storage policies for multiproduct multiunit batch processes considered in this paper are unlimited intermediate storage (UIS), no intermediate storage (NIS), finite intermediate storage (FIS), zero wait (ZW), and mixed intermediate storage (MIS). The algorithms to calculate the process completion times are developed for each policy. Two examples are tested to evaluate the robustness of this strategy and reasonable computational times.

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In this study, the issues of complicated interactions between process variables were solved by decoupling techniques; in particular, simplified decoupling was used due to its simplicity and robustness. A new approach to solving decoupling realizability was developed by using the modified particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm. However, time delays still existed in the diagonal elements of the decoupled matrix, and they resulted in a more sophisticated controller design and sluggish responses in the outputs. To overcome the adverse effects of time delays, a Smith predictor, also known as a dead time compensator, is normally used. In this work, a Smith predictor structure in combination with simplified decoupling for multivariable processes was proposed in order to enhance system performances in terms of the servomechanism problem. The proportional integral or proportional integral derivative (PI/PID) controller tuning rules for several common industrial processes, such as first-order, second-order, and second-order with negative zero systems, were obtained. Many multivariable industrial processes were adopted to simulate the effectiveness of the proposed method in terms of the servomechanism problem and robust response.