Search results for: health promotion process

Authors: M. Elham Ghabouli

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Intermediate cities which also called medium size cities have an important role in the process of globalization. It is argued that, in some cases this type of cities may be depopulated or in otherwise may be transformed as the periphery of metropolitans so that the personal identity of the city and its local cultural heritage could suffer from its neighbor metropolitan. Over the last decades, the role of tourism in development process and the cultural heritage is increased. The effect of tourism in socio-economic growth makes motivation for study on tourism development in regional and urban planning process. Tourism potentially has a specific role in promoting sustainable development especially by its economic and socio-cultural effects. The positive role of tourism in local development and in cultural heritage should be empowered by urban and regional planning. Damavand is an intermediate city located in Tehran province, Iran. Considering its local specific characteristic like social structure, antiquities and natural monuments made a suitable case study for studying on urban tourism planning method. Focusing on recognition of historical and cultural heritage of Damavand, this paper tried to peruse cultural-historical heritage protecting issue through “base plan methodology” which is introduced as a first step of urban planning for intermediate cities.

Keywords: urban planning, tourism, cultural heritage, intermediate cities

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Authors: Flavio Campos

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This paper describes an implementation of a STEM curriculum program using robotics as a technological resource at a private school in Brazil. Emphasized the pedagogic and didactic aspects and brings a discussion about STEM curriculum and the perspective of using robotics and the relation between curriculum, science and technologies into the learning process. The results indicate that STEM curriculum integration with robotics as a technological resource in K-12 students learning process has complex aspects, such as relation between time/space, the development of educators and the relation between robotics and other subjects. Therefore, the comprehension of these aspects could indicate some steps that we should consider when integrating STEM basis and robotics into curriculum, which can improve education for science and technology significantly.

Keywords: STEM curriculum, educational robotics, constructionist approach, education and technology

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Authors: Amit Kumar, Rajdeep Chakrabarty, Ganesh Gupta

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This paper illustrates the detailed accreditation process of Accreditation Board of Engineering and Technology (ABET) for accrediting engineering and Technology programs. ABET is a non-governmental agency that accredits engineering and technology, applied and natural sciences, and computing sciences programs. ABET was founded on 10th May 1932 and was founded by Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineering. International industries accept ABET accredited institutes having the highest standards in their academic programs. In this accreditation, there are eight criteria in general; criterion 1 describes the student outcome evaluations, criteria 2 measures the program's educational objectives, criteria 3 is the student outcome calculated from the marks obtained by students, criteria 4 establishes continuous improvement, criteria 5 focus on curriculum of the institute, criteria 6 is about faculties of this institute, criteria 7 measures the facilities provided by the institute and finally, criteria 8 focus on institutional support towards staff of the institute. In this paper, we focused on the calculative part of each criterion with equations and suitable examples, the files and documentation required for each criterion, and the total workflow of the process. The references and the values used to illustrate the calculations are all taken from the samples provided at ABET's official website. In the final section, we also discuss the criterion-wise score weightage followed by evaluation with timeframe and deadlines.

Keywords: Engineering Accreditation Committee, Computing Accreditation Committee, performance indicator, Program Educational Objective, ABET Criterion 1 to 7, IEEE, National Board of Accreditation, MOOCS, Board of Studies, stakeholders, course objective, program outcome, articulation, attainment, CO-PO mapping, CO-PO-SO mapping, PDCA cycle, degree certificates, course files, course catalogue

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Authors: Ernest Tambo, Ghislaine Madjou, Jeanne Y. Ngogang, Shenglan Tang, Zhou XiaoNong

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Implementing national to community-based 'One Health' surveillance approach for human, animal and environmental consequences mitigation offers great opportunities and value-added in sustainable development and wellbeing. 'One Health' surveillance approach global partnerships, policy commitment and financial investment are much needed in addressing the evolving threats and epidemics crises mitigation in African countries. The paper provides insights onto how China-Africa health development cooperation in promoting “One Health” surveillance approach in response advocacy and mitigation. China-Africa health development initiatives provide new prospects in guiding and moving forward appropriate and evidence-based advocacy and mitigation management approaches and strategies in attaining Universal Health Coverage (UHC) and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Early and continuous quality and timely surveillance data collection and coordinated information sharing practices in malaria and other diseases are demonstrated in Comoros, Zanzibar, Ghana and Cameroon. Improvements of variety of access to contextual sources and network of data sharing platforms are needed in guiding evidence-based and tailored detection and response to unusual hazardous events. Moreover, understanding threats and diseases trends, frontline or point of care response delivery is crucial to promote integrated and sustainable targeted local, national “One Health” surveillance and response approach needs implementation. Importantly, operational guidelines are vital in increasing coherent financing and national workforce capacity development mechanisms. Strengthening participatory partnerships, collaboration and monitoring strategies in achieving global health agenda effectiveness in Africa. At the same enhancing surveillance data information streams reporting and dissemination usefulness in informing policies decisions, health systems programming and financial mobilization and prioritized allocation pre, during and post threats and epidemics crises programs strengths and weaknesses. Thus, capitalizing on “One Health” surveillance and response approach advocacy and mitigation implementation is timely in consolidating Africa Union 2063 agenda and Africa renaissance capabilities and expectations.

Keywords: Africa, one health approach, surveillance, response

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Authors: Hyeon-Kyo Lim, Hyunjung Kim, Kune-Woo Lee

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Decommissioning process of nuclear facilities can be said to consist of a sequence of problem solving activities, partly because there may exist working environments contaminated by radiological exposure, and partly because there may also exist industrial hazards such as fire, explosions, toxic materials, and electrical and physical hazards. As for an individual hazard factor, risk assessment techniques are getting known to industrial workers with advance of safety technology, but the way how to integrate those results is not. Furthermore, there are few workers who experienced decommissioning operations a lot in the past. Therefore, not a few countries in the world have been trying to develop appropriate counter techniques in order to guarantee safety and efficiency of the process. In spite of that, there still exists neither domestic nor international standard since nuclear facilities are too diverse and unique. In the consequence, it is quite inevitable to imagine and assess the whole risk in the situation anticipated one by one. This paper aimed to find out an appropriate technique to integrate individual risk assessment results from the viewpoint of experts. Thus, on one hand the whole risk assessment activity for decommissioning operations was modeled as a sequence of individual risk assessment steps, and on the other, a hierarchical risk structure was developed. Then, risk assessment procedure that can elicit individual hazard factors one by one were introduced with reference to the standard operation procedure (SOP) and hierarchical task analysis (HTA). With an assumption of quantification and normalization of individual risks, a technique to estimate relative weight factors was tried by using the conventional Analytic Hierarchical Process (AHP) and its result was reviewed with reference to judgment of experts. Besides, taking the ambiguity of human judgment into consideration, debates based upon fuzzy inference was added with a mathematical case study.

Keywords: decommissioning, risk assessment, analytic hierarchical process (AHP), fuzzy inference

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Authors: Kimberly Winnie Achieng Otieno

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The Nairobi Hospital plays a pivotal role in healthcare provision in East and Central Africa, yet it faces challenges in providing accessible dialysis care. This paper explores strategic interventions to enhance dialysis care, improve access and streamline health information management, with an aim of fostering an integrated and patient-centered healthcare system in our region. Challenges at The Nairobi Hospital The Nairobi Hospital currently grapples with insufficient dialysis machines which results in extended turn around times. This issue stems from both staffing bottle necks and infrastructural limitations given our growing demand for renal care services. Our Paper-based record keeping system and fragmented flow of information downstream hinders the hospital’s ability to manage health data effectively. There is also a need for investment in expanding The Nairobi Hospital dialysis facilities to far reaching communities. Setting up satellite clinics that are closer to people who live in areas far from the main hospital will ensure better access to underserved areas. Community Outreach and Education Implementing education programs on kidney health within local communities is vital for early detection and prevention. Collaborating with local leaders and organizations can establish a proactive approach to renal health hence reducing the demand for acute dialysis interventions. We can amplify this effort by expanding The Nairobi Hospital’s corporate social responsibility outreach program with weekend engagement activities such as walks, awareness classes and fund drives. Enhancing Efficiency in Dialysis Care Demand for dialysis services continues to rise due to an aging Kenyan population and the increasing prevalence of chronic kidney disease (CKD). Present at this years International Nursing Conference are a diverse group of caregivers from around the world who can share with us their process optimization strategies, patient engagement techniques and resource utilization efficiencies to catapult The Nairobi Hospital to the 21st century and beyond. Plans are underway to offer ongoing education opportunities to keep staff updated on best practices and emerging technologies in addition to utilizing a patient feedback mechanisms to identify areas for improvement and enhance satisfaction. Staff empowerment and suggestion boxes address The Nairobi Hospital’s organizational challenges. Current financial constraints may limit a leapfrog in technology integration such as the acquisition of new dialysis machines and an investment in predictive analytics to forecast patient needs and optimize resource allocation. Streamlining Health Information Management Fully embracing a shift to 100% Electronic Health Records (EHRs) is a transformative step toward efficient health information management. Shared information promotes a holistic understanding of patients’ medical history, minimizing redundancies and enhancing overall care quality. To manage the transition to community-based care and EHRs effectively, a phased implementation approach is recommended. Conclusion By strategically enhancing dialysis care access and streamlining health information management, The Nairobi Hospital can strengthen its position as a leading healthcare institution in both East and Central Africa. This comprehensive approach aligns with the hospital’s commitment to providing high-quality, accessible, and patient-centered care in an evolving landscape of healthcare delivery.

Keywords: Africa, urology, diaylsis, healthcare

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Authors: M. A. Mulatu, L. C. Chang, Y. S. Han

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Energy harvesting tags with cooperative communication capabilities are emerging as possible infrastructure for internet of things (IoT) applications. This paper studies about the \ cooperative transmission strategy for a network of energy harvesting active networked tags (EnHANTs), that is adapted to the available energy resource and identification request. We consider a network of EnHANT-equipped objects to communicate with the destination either directly or by cooperating with neighboring objects. We formulate the the problem as a Markov decision process (MDP) under synchronised On/Off keying (S-OOK) pulse modulation format. The simulation results are provided to show the the performance of the cooperative transmission policy and compared against the greedy and conservative policies of single-link transmission.

Keywords: cooperative communication, transmission strategy, energy harvesting, Markov decision process, value iteration

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Authors: Sabina-Adriana Floria, Marius Gavrilescu, Florin Leon, Silvia Curteanu, Costel Anton

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Neuroevolution is a subfield of artificial intelligence used to solve various problems in different application areas. Specifically, neuroevolution is a technique that applies biologically inspired methods to generate neural network architectures and optimize their parameters automatically. In this paper, we use different biologically inspired optimization algorithms in an ensemble strategy with the aim of training multilayer perceptron neural networks, resulting in regression models used to simulate the industrial chemical process of obtaining bricks from silicone-based materials. Installations in the raw ceramics industry, i.e., bricks, are characterized by significant energy consumption and large quantities of emissions. In addition, the initial conditions that were taken into account during the design and commissioning of the installation can change over time, which leads to the need to add new mixes to adjust the operating conditions for the desired purpose, e.g., material properties and energy saving. The present approach follows the study by simulation of a process of obtaining bricks from silicone-based materials, i.e., the modeling and optimization of the process. Optimization aims to determine the working conditions that minimize the emissions represented by nitrogen monoxide. We first use a search procedure to find the best values for the parameters of various biologically inspired optimization algorithms. Then, we propose an adaptive ensemble strategy that uses only a subset of the best algorithms identified in the search stage. The adaptive ensemble strategy combines the results of selected algorithms and automatically assigns more processing capacity to the more efficient algorithms. Their efficiency may also vary at different stages of the optimization process. In a given ensemble iteration, the most efficient algorithms aim to maintain good convergence, while the less efficient algorithms can improve population diversity. The proposed adaptive ensemble strategy outperforms the individual optimizers and the non-adaptive ensemble strategy in convergence speed, and the obtained results provide lower error values.

Keywords: optimization, biologically inspired algorithm, neuroevolution, ensembles, bricks, emission minimization

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Authors: Soorya Vennila

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The present study answers the questions; how does climate change affect the water security in drought prone Ramanathapuram district? and what has water insecurity done to the health of the coastal community? The study area chosen is Devipattinam in Ramanathapuram district. Climate change evidentially wreaked havoc on the community with saltwater intrusion, water quality degradation, water scarcity and its eventual economic, social like power inequality within family and community and health hazards. The climatological data such as rainfall, minimum temperature and maximum temperature were statistically analyzed for trend using Mann-Kendall test. The test was conducted for 14 years (1989-2002) of rainfall data, maximum and minimum temperature and the data were statistically analyzed. At the outset, the water quality samples were collected from Devipattinam to test its physical and chemical parameters and their spatial variation. The results were derived as shown in ARC GIS. Using the water quality test water quality index were framed. And finally, key Informant interview, questionnaire were conducted to capture the gender perception and problem. The data collected were thereafter interpreted using SPSS software for recommendations and suggestions to overcome water scarcity and health problems.

Keywords: health, watersecurity, water quality, climate change

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Authors: Kiurski S. Jelena, Kecić S. Vesna, Oros B. Ivana, Ranogajec G. Jonjaua

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The paper represents the dependence of ammonia concentration on microclimate parameters and photocopying shop circulation. The concentration of ammonia was determined during 8-hours working time over five days including three sampling points of a photocopying shop in Novi Sad, Serbia. The obtained results pointed out that the room temperature possesses the highest impact on ammonia release. The obtained ammonia concentration was in the range of 1.53 to 0.42ppm and decreased with the temperature decreasing from 24.6 to 20.7 °C. As the detected concentrations were within the permissible levels of The Occupational Safety and Health Administration, The National Institute for Occupational Safety and The Health and Official Gazette of Republic of Serbia, in the range of 35 to 200ppm, there was no danger to the employee’s health in the photocopying shop.

Keywords: ammonia, emission, indoor environment, photocopying procedure

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Authors: Salam Abukhadrah

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This research advocates for the use of feminist evaluation (FE) as a tool of great potential in policy and program assessment in relation to women’s empowerment. This research explores the journey of women’s place into the evaluation and international development. Moreover, this research presents a case example of the use of FE on the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), in Ganaparthi village in rural India, in Andhra Pradesh state (AP). This evaluation is formed on the basis of women’s empowerment framework that seeks to examine empowerment as a process and an end in itself rather than as just simplified quantifiable outcomes. This framework is used to conduct in-depth semi-structured interviews that are later cross-validated by a focus group discussion. In addition, this evaluation draws on secondary data from the MGNREGA website and on extracted data from the National Family Health Survey of AP.

Keywords: feminist evaluation, MGNREGA, women’s empowerment, case example, India

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Authors: Evgeni Baratashvili, Nino Pailodze, Ana Bolkvadze, Giorgi Sulashvili

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At the present stage in our country intensifies cooperation with different business cultures, actively developing the process of implementation of Georgia in the global business system that requires us to develop a specific concept, including in the field of management. With the entry of Georgia into the international community, exchange of experience will only intensify. It is clear that the achievement of goals such as the doubling of the National Product increase the competitiveness of Georgian enterprises can’t be recorded without foreign management experience. On the other hand, knowledge of the areas of comparative management can be used in the process of choosing the path of socio-economic development of Georgia.

Keywords: business cultures, comparative management, corporate culture, Georgian business, Anglo-Saxon model, Georgian civilization, anti-capitalist mentality, culture management

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Authors: T. L. Granzyk, S. Scarborough, J. DeCosmo

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The use of health-related or medical narratives has gained increasing anecdotal and research-based support as a successful device for changing health behavior and outcomes. These narratives, in the form of oral storytelling, short films, and educational documentaries, for example, are most effective when including empathetic characters that transport viewers into the story and command both their attention and emotional response. This case study outlines how and why one large health system created a short narrative film for their internal Sepsis Awareness campaign, which told the dramatic story of a patient recovering from a missed sepsis diagnosis, leaving her a quad-amputee. Results include positive global anecdotal response to the film from healthcare professionals and patients, as well as use of the film to support legislation, ultimately passed in favor of the formation of Sepsis Awareness Workgroups in Maryland. Authors conclude that narrative films can be used successfully to initiate healthcare legislation and to increase internal and external awareness of health-related areas in need of greater improvement and support. As such, healthcare leaders and stakeholders would benefit from learning how to intentionally create, cultivate, and curate narratives from within their own health systems that elicit an empathetic response.

Keywords: healthcare policy, healthcare narratives, sepsis awareness, short films

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Authors: Mohsin Shahab, Shagufta Rehmat, Faisal F. Khan

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Background: The global COVID-19 pandemic has generated health problems worldwide. Health care workers are the front-line warriors against the pandemic. The aim of this study was to find out the prevalence of COVID-19 (7th May 2021 to 3rd August 2021) amongst Health Care Workers (HCWs) and to assess the complications associated with it and its effects on their quality of life. Material and Method: The study was conducted in healthcare facilities which serve as pandemic hospitals in district Swat. A total of 140 healthcare workers, who were employed in the COVID-19 health care facilities, including the department of Pulmonology, Intensive Care Unit (ICU), and COVID-19 wards. Participants were tested for COVIID-19 using RT PCR test. A Case Report Form (CRF) for conditions during and post COVID-19 was filled to assess the complications and quality of life of health care workers. Results: A total of 140 Health Care Workers were studied, out of which 40% were doctors, 22% nursing staff, 17% paramedic staff, 9% cleaning staff, lab technologist 6%, 2% operation theater staff, administration staff, and pharmacist. The respondents were also investigated for pre-existing illness prior to SARS-CoV-2 infection, hypertension was the most prevalent, followed by chronic heart diseases and neurological disorders. Fever was the most common symptom, recorded 76.42% in the participants, while 55.71% of participants had dry cough, 55% had a sore throat, following by chest pain 43.56%. Reinfection rate was 10%, with chest pain being recorded in 85.71%. Post disease complication analysis showed that 47.14% of the participants were diagnosed with a new diagnosis after the COVID-19 recovery. Pulmonological diseases were recorded the most as a new diagnosis in, followed by gastrointestinal and psychological problems. Conclusions: The results of the study illustrates how COVID-19 has affected the overall health and quality of life of HCWs in District Swat of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan.

Keywords: SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19, HCW's, symptoms, questionnaire, post COVID-19

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Authors: Hyunsun Lee, Yi Zhu

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Wireless ad-hoc network is a decentralized type of temporary machine-to-machine connection that is spontaneous or impromptu so that it does not rely on any fixed infrastructure and centralized administration. As unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), also called drones, have recently become more accessible and widely utilized in military and civilian domains such as surveillance, search and detection missions, traffic monitoring, remote filming, product delivery, to name a few. The communication between these UAVs become possible and materialized through Flying Ad-hoc Networks (FANETs). However, due to the high mobility of UAVs that may cause different types of transmission interference, it is vital to design robust routing protocols for FANETs. In this talk, the multicast routing method based on a modified stochastic branching process is proposed. The stochastic branching process is often used to describe an early stage of an infectious disease outbreak, and the reproductive number in the process is used to classify the outbreak into a major or minor outbreak. The reproductive number to regulate the local transmission rate is adapted and modified for flying ad-hoc network communication. The performance of the proposed routing method is compared with other well-known methods such as flooding method and gossip method based on three measures; average reachability, average node usage and average branching factor. The proposed routing method achieves average reachability very closer to flooding method, average node usage closer to gossip method, and outstanding average branching factor among methods. It can be concluded that the proposed multicast routing scheme is more efficient than well-known routing schemes such as flooding and gossip while it maintains high performance.

Keywords: Flying Ad-hoc Networks, Multicast Routing, Stochastic Branching Process, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

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Authors: Abigaba Sophia

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Artificial intelligence (AI) has transformed the education sector by revolutionizing educational frameworks by providing new opportunities and innovative advanced platforms for language translation during the teaching and learning process. In today's education sector, the primary key to scholarly communication is language; therefore, translation between different languages becomes vital in the process of communication. KIU-T being an International University, admits students from different nations speaking different languages, and English is the official language; some students find it hard to grasp a word during teaching and learning. This paper explores the practical aspect of using artificial intelligence technologies in an advanced language translation manner during teaching and learning. The impact of this technology is reflected in the education strategies to equip students with the necessary knowledge and skills for professional activity in the best way they understand. The researcher evaluated the demand for this practice since students have to apply the knowledge they acquire in their native language to their countries in the best way they understand. The main objective is to improve student's language competence and lay a solid foundation for their future professional development. A descriptive-analytic approach was deemed best for the study to investigate the phenomena of language translation intelligence alongside Microsoft Office during the teaching and learning process. The study analysed the responses of 345 students from different academic programs. Based on the findings, the researcher recommends using the artificial intelligence language translation technique during teaching, and this requires the wisdom of human content designers and educational experts. Lecturers and students will be trained in the basic knowledge of this technique to improve the effectiveness of teaching and learning to meet the student’s needs.

Keywords: artificial intelligence, language translation technique, teaching and learning process, Microsoft Office

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Authors: Carolyn Scott, Rachel Nugent

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The agricultural industry in Ireland and worldwide is one of the most dangerous occupations with respect to occupational health and safety accidents and fatalities. Many accident causation models have been developed in safety research to understand the underlying and contributory factors that lead to the occurrence of an accident. Due to the uniqueness of the agricultural sector, current accident causation theories cannot be applied. This paper presents an accident causation model named the Irish Farm Accident Causation Model (IFACM) which has been specifically tailored to the needs of Irish farms. The IFACM is a theoretical and practical model of accident causation that arranges the causal factors into a graphic representation of originating, shaping, and contributory factors that lead to accidents when unsafe acts and conditions are created that are not rectified by control measures. Causes of farm accidents were assimilated by means of a thorough literature review and were collated to form a graphical representation of the underlying causes of a farm accident. The IFACM was validated retrospectively through case study analysis and peer review. Participants in the case study (n=10) identified causes that led to a farm accident in which they were involved. A root cause analysis was conducted to understand the contributory factors surrounding the farm accident, traced back to the ‘root cause’. Experts relevant to farm safety accident causation in the agricultural industry have peer reviewed the IFACM. The accident causation process is complex. Accident prevention requires a comprehensive understanding of this complex process because to prevent the occurrence of accidents, the causes of accidents must be known. There is little research on the key causes and contributory factors of unsafe behaviours and accidents on Irish farms. The focus of this research is to gain a deep understanding of the causality of accidents on Irish farms. The results suggest that the IFACM framework is helpful for the analysis of the causes of accidents within the agricultural industry in Ireland. The research also suggests that there may be international applicability if further research is carried out. Furthermore, significant learning can be obtained from considering the underlying causes of accidents.

Keywords: farm safety, farm accidents, accident causation, root cause analysis

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Authors: Maria Karidakis, Barbara Kelly

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The challenges precipitated by the advent of COVID-19 have brought to the fore the task governments and key stakeholders are faced with; ensuring public health communication is readily accessible to vulnerable populations. COVID-19 has presented challenges for the provision and reception of timely, accessible, and accurate health information pertaining to vaccine health messaging to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. The aim of this qualitative study was to explore strategies used by Aboriginal-led organisations to improve communication about COVID-19 and vaccination for their communities and to explore how these mediation and outreach strategies were received by community members. We interviewed 6 Aboriginal-led organisations and 15 community members from several states across Australian, and these interviews were analysed thematically. The findings suggest that effective public health communication is enhanced when aFirst nations-led response defines the governance that happens in First Nations communities. Pro-active and self-determining Aboriginal leadership and decision-making helps drive the response to counter a growing trend towards vaccine hesitancy. Other strategies include establishing partnerships with government departments and relevant non-governmental organisations to ensure services are implemented and culturally appropriate. The outcomes of this research will afford policymakers, stakeholders in healthcare, and cultural mediators the capacity to identify strengths and potential problems associated with pandemic health information and to subsequently implement creative and culturally specific solutions that go beyond the provision of written documentation via translation or interpreting. It will also enable governing bodies to adjust multilingual polices and to adopt mediation strategies that will improve information delivery and intercultural services on a national and international level.

Keywords: intercultural communication, qualitative, public health communication, COVID-19, pandemic, mediated communication, first nations people

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Authors: Samuel Onyije Igbedion

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The Nigerian film industry, commonly known as Nollywood, has grown to become the second largest in the world in terms of the volumes of films produced. Many scholars have argued that the themes in most Nollywood films do not let themselves to the issue of film-induced tourism, which can be used to improve tourism in Nigeria and the economy at large. This study, therefore, seeks to examine the validity of this statement in the context of one film that attempts to address the issue. This paper examines the features of tourism-induced films to determine if tourism-inducing themes were used in the film and how they were used in order to confirm or refute the thesis statement. The agenda-setting theory of the media underpinned the study. A qualitative research approach was adopted and content analysis was used to review literature from relevant secondary sources that determined the content criteria, which was then used to analyze the film. The findings reveal that the filmmakers of Up North (2018) did feature themes and scenes that promoted tourism through the use and filming of exotic scenery. It also revealed that the film introduced these tourism-inducing features of the north through the setting, the storyline, the choice of locations and chosen shot types. The study concludes that the prominent and intentional featuring all of these beautiful scenery, history, culture, adventure activities and personalities point to a deliberate attempt at convincing the audiences of the tourist potential of Nigeria. Thus, the validity of the statement does not apply to the film Up North (2018).

Keywords: film-tourism, nollywood, agenda-setting theory, filmmaking, culture

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Authors: Temitope O. Tokosi, Visvanathan Naicker

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Patient health records contain sensitive information for which an electronic patient record (EPR) system can safely secure and transmit amongst clinicians for use in improving health delivery. Clinician’s use of the behaviour of these systems is under scrutiny to assess their attributes towards health technology. South Africa (SA) clinicians responded to a pilot study survey to assess their understanding of EPR, what attributes are important towards technology use and more importantly streamlining the survey for a larger study. Descriptive statistics using mean scores was used because of the small sample size of 11 clinicians who completed the survey. Nine (9) constructs comprising 62 items were used and a Cronbach alpha score of 0.883 was obtained. Limitations and discussions conclude the study.

Keywords: EPR, clinicians, pilot study, South Africa

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Authors: Maitree Thamma, Witchupong Wiboonjaroen, Thanat Suknuan, Karan Homchat

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First order plus dead time (FOPDT) is a high dynamic system. Therefore, the controller must be intelligent. This paper presents the development and implementation of self-tuning Fuzzy-PID controller for controlling the FOPDT system. The water level process used represented FOPDT system and the mathematical model of the system was approximated by using System Identification toolbox in Matlab. The control programming and Fuzzy-PID algorithm used Matlab/Simulink and run on Microcontroller STM32.

Keywords: real-time control, self-tuning fuzzy-PID, FOPDT system, the water lever process

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Authors: Ola Jon Mork, Lars Andre Giske, Emil Bjørlykhaug

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Stabilization of critical processes in order to have the right quality of the products, more efficient production and smoother flow is a key issue in lean production. This paper presents how simulation of key welding processes can stabilize complicated welding processes in small scale production, and how simulation can impact the entire production concept seen from the perspective of lean production. First, a field study was made to learn the production processes in the factory, and subsequently the field study was transformed into a value stream map to get insight into each operation, the quality issues, operation times, lead times and flow of materials. Valuable practical knowledge of how the welding operations were done by operators, appropriate tools and jigs, and type of robots that could be used, was collected. All available information was then implemented into a simulation environment for further elaboration and development. Three researchers, the management of the company and skilled operators at the work floor where working on the project over a period of eight months, and a detailed description of the process was made by the researchers. The simulation showed that simulation could solve a number of technical challenges, the robot program can be tuned in off line mode, and the design and testing of the robot cell could be made in the simulator. Further on the design of the product could be optimized for robot welding and the jigs could be designed and tested in simulation environment. This means that a key issue of lean production can be solved; the welding operation will work with almost 100% performance when it is put into real production. Stabilizing of one key process is critical to gain control of the entire value chain, then a Takt Time can be established and the focus can be directed towards the next process in the production which should be stabilized. Results show that industrial parameters like welding time, welding cost and welding quality can be defined on the simulation stage. Further on, this gives valuable information for calculation of the factories business performance, like manufacturing volume and manufacturing efficiency. Industrial impact from simulation is more efficient implementation of lean manufacturing, since the welding process can be stabilized. More research should be done to gain more knowledge about simulation as a tool for implementation of lean, especially where there complex processes.

Keywords: simulation, lean, stabilization, welding process

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Authors: Hancy Issac, Gerben Keijzers, Ian Yang, Clint Moloney, Jackie Lea, Melissa Taylor

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Introduction: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease guideline non-adherence is associated with a reduction in health-related quality of life in patients (HRQoL). Improving guideline adherence has the potential to mitigate fragmented care thereby sustaining pulmonary function, preventing acute exacerbations, reducing economic health burdens, and enhancing HRQoL. The development of an electronic proforma stemming from expert consensus, including digital guideline resources and direct interdisciplinary referrals is hypothesised to improve guideline adherence and patient outcomes for emergency department (ED) patients with COPD. Aim: The aim of this study was to develop consensus among ED and respiratory staff for the correct composition of a COPD electronic proforma that aids in guideline adherence and management in the ED. Methods: This study adopted a mixed-method design to develop the most important indicators of care in the ED. The study involved three phases: (1) a systematic literature review and qualitative interdisciplinary staff interviews to assess barriers and solutions for guideline adherence and qualitative interdisciplinary staff interviews, (2) a modified Delphi panel to select interventions for the proforma, and (3) a consensus process through three rounds of scoring through a quantitative survey (ED and Respiratory consensus) and qualitative thematic analysis on each indicator. Results: The electronic proforma achieved acceptable and good internal consistency through all iterations from national emergency department and respiratory department interdisciplinary experts. Cronbach’s alpha score for internal consistency (α) in iteration 1 emergency department cohort (EDC) (α = 0.80 [CI = 0.89%]), respiratory department cohort (RDC) (α = 0.95 [CI = 0.98%]). Iteration 2 reported EDC (α = 0.85 [CI = 0.97%]) and RDC (α = 0.86 [CI = 0.97%]). Iteration 3 revealed EDC (α = 0.73 [CI = 0.91%]) and RDC (α = 0.86 [CI = 0.95%]), respectively. Conclusion: Electronic proformas have the potential to facilitate direct referrals from the ED leading to reduced hospital admissions, reduced length of hospital stays, holistic care, improved health care and quality of life and improved interdisciplinary guideline adherence.

Keywords: COPD, electronic proforma, modified delphi study, interdisciplinary, guideline adherence, COPD-X plan

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Authors: Celeste E. van Rinsum, Sanne M. P. L. Gerards, Geert M. Rutten, Ien A. M. van de Goor, Stef P. J. Kremers

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Combined lifestyle interventions have shown to be effective in changing and maintaining behavioral lifestyle changes and reducing overweight and obesity. A lifestyle coach is expected to promote lifestyle changes in adults related to physical activity and diet. The present Coaching on Lifestyle (CooL) study examined participants’ physical activity level, dietary behavioral, and motivational changes immediately after the intervention and at 1.5 years after baseline. In CooL intervention a lifestyle coach coaches individuals from eighteen years and older with (a high risk of) obesity in group and individual sessions. In addition a process evaluation was conducted in order to examine the implementation process and to be able to interpret the changes within the participants. This action-oriented research has a pre-post design. Participants of the CooL intervention (N = 200) completed three questionnaires: at baseline, immediately after the intervention (on average after 44 weeks), and at 1.5 years after baseline. T-tests and linear regressions were conducted to test self-reported changes in physical activity (IPAQ), dietary behaviors, their quality of motivation for physical activity (BREQ-3) and for diet (REBS), body mass index (BMI), and quality of life (EQ-5D-3L). For the process evaluation, we used individual and group interviews, observations and document analyses to gain insight in the implementation process (e.g. the recruitment) and how the intervention was valued by the participants, lifestyle coaches, and referrers. The study is currently ongoing and therefore the results presented here are preliminary. On average, the participants that finished the intervention and those that have completed the long-term measurement improved their level of vigorous-intense physical activity, sedentary behavior, sugar-sweetened beverage consumption and BMI. Mixed results were observed in motivational regulation for physical activity and nutrition. Moreover, an improvement on the quality of life dimension anxiety/depression was found, also in the long-term. All the other constructs did not show significant change over time. The results of the process evaluation have shown that recruitment of clients was difficult. Participants evaluated the intervention positively and the lifestyle coaches have continuously adapted the structure and contents of the intervention throughout the study period, based on their experiences and feedback from research. Preliminary results indicate that the CooL-intervention may have beneficial effects on overweight and obese participants in terms of energy balance-related behaviors, weight reduction, and quality of life. Recruitment of participants and embedding the position of the lifestyle coach in traditional care structures is challenging.

Keywords: combined lifestyle intervention, effect evaluation, lifestyle coaching, process evaluation, overweight, the Netherlands

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Authors: Samir Ranjbar, Nasrullah Istanekzai

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According to a report published in The Guardian, Kabul, the capital city of Afghanistan is the fifth fastest growing city in the world, whose population has increased fourfold since 2001 from 1.2 million to 4.8 million people. The main reason for this increment is identified as the return of Afghans migrated during the civil war. In addition to the return of immigrants, a steep economic growth due to foreign assistance in last decade creating lots of job opportunities in Kabul resulted in the attraction of individuals from the neighboring provinces as well. However, the development of urban facilities such as water supply system, housing transportation and waste management systems has yet to catch up with this rapid increase in population. Since Kabul city has developed traditionally and municipal governance had very limited capacity to implement municipal bylaws. As an unwanted consequence of this growth 70% of Kabul citizens contributed to developing informal settlement for which we can say that around three million people living in informally settled areas, lacking the very vital social and physical infrastructures of livelihood. This research focuses on a region with 30 ha area and 2100 people residents in the center of Kabul city. A comprehensive land readjustment concept plan has been formulated for this area. Through this concept plan, physical and social infrastructure has been demonstrated and analyzed. Findings of this paper propose a solution for the problems of this unplanned area in Kabul which is readjusting of unplanned area by a self-supporting process. This process does not need governmental budget and can be applied by government, private sectors and landowner associations. Furthermore, by implementing the Land Readjustment process, conceptual plans can be built for unplanned areas, maximum facilities can be brought to the residents’ urban life, improve the environment for the users’ benefit, promote the culture and sense of cooperation, participation and coexistence in the mind of people, improving the transport system, improvement in economic status (the value of land increases due to infrastructure availability and land legalization). In addition to all these benefits for the public, we can raise the revenue of government by collecting the taxes from landowners. This process is implemented in most of countries of the world, it was implemented for the first time in Germany and after that in most cities of Japan as well, and is known as one of the effective processes for infrastructural development. To sum up, the notable characteristic of the Land readjustment process is that it works on the concept of mutual interest in which both landowners and the government take advantage. However, in this process, the engagement of community is very important and without public cooperation, this process can face the failure.

Keywords: land readjustment, informal settlement, Kabul, Afghanistan

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Authors: Shane David van Zyl, A. J. Burger

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The global green energy shift has placed significant value on the production of green hydrogen and its derivatives. The study examines the impact on capital expenditure (CAPEX), operational expenditure (OPEX), levelized cost, and environmental impact, depending on the relationship between various production capacities of potable water, green hydrogen, and green ammonia. A model-based sensitivity analysis approach was used to determine the relevance of various process parameters in the production of potable water combined with green hydrogen or green ammonia production. The effects of changes on CAPEX, OPEX and levelized costs of the products were determined. Furthermore, a qualitative environmental impact analysis was done to determine the effect on the environment. The findings indicated the individual process unit contribution to the overall CAPEX and OPEX while also determining the major contributors to changes in the levelized costs of products. The results emphasize the difference in costs associated with potable water, green hydrogen, and green ammonia production, indicating the extent to which potable water production costs become insignificant in the complete process, which, therefore, can have a large social benefit through increased potable water production resulting in decreased water scarcity in the south-west African region.

Keywords: CAPEX and OPEX, desalination, green hydrogen and green ammonia, sensitivity analysis

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Authors: Durga Prasad Neupane

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This study investigates the impacts of homestay tourism on the traditional lifestyle and culture of the indigenous Tharu people in Nepal. It explores how this form of tourism has influenced the lives of Tharu individuals and their community as a whole. The study delves into the effects of tourism on various aspects, including language, socio-economic development, and cultural promotion and revival. Employing a qualitative approach and a case study design, the study gathers in-depth and comprehensive data on the impacts of homestay tourism on the Amaltari Tharu community. Building rapport with respondents, including homestay management committees, Tharu homestay owners, and non-Tharu residents, is achieved through various channels like personal interactions, phone conversations, and repeated visits. The research further combines document analysis with in-depth interviews to glean diverse perspectives and insights. The study's findings reveal that while homestay tourism presents challenges, it also holds significant potential for promoting and revitalizing the Tharu culture. Tourism has not only fostered the flourishing of Tharu traditions but has also contributed to improved educational opportunities within the community. However, the study recognizes the influence of globalization in driving changes to Tharu customs and rituals, potentially leading to a new form of cultural colonization. In this context, homestay tourism emerges as a crucial tool for preserving and revitalizing the unique ethnic identity and traditions of the Amaltari Tharu community.

Keywords: homestay, tourism, Tharu culture, cultural revival, linguistic variations

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Authors: Rasha Shoumar

Abstract:

Background: Since the onset of the Syria crisis in 2011, Jordan has hosted many Syrian refugees, many of which are residing in urban and rural areas. Vulnerability of refugees has increased due to the COVID-19 pandemic, adding to their already existing challenge in access to medical services, rendering them vulnerable to the complications of untreated medical conditions and amplifying their risk for severe COVID-19 disease. To improve health outcomes and access to health care services in a COVID-19 context, IOM (The International Organization for Migration) provided health services including awareness raising, direct primary health care through mobile teams and referrals to secondary services were extended to the vulnerable populations of refugees. Method: 6 community health volunteers were trained and deployed to different governorates to provide COVID-19 and non-communicable disease awareness and collect data rated to non-communicable disease and access to medical health services. Primary health care services were extended to 7 governorates through a mobile medical team, providing medical management. The collected Data was reviewed and analyzed. Results: 2150 refugees in rural areas were reached out by community health volunteers, out of which 78 received their medications through the Ministry of Health, 121 received their medications through different non-governmental organizations, 665 patients couldn’t afford buying any medications, 1286 patients were occasionally buying their medications when they were able to afford it. 853 patients received medications and follow up through IOM mobile clinics, the most common conditions were hypertension, diabetes, hyperlipidemia, anemia, heart disease, thyroid disease, asthma, seizures, and psychiatric conditions. 709 of these patients had more than 3 of the comorbidities. Multiple cases were referred for secondary and tertiary lifesaving interventions. Conclusion: Non communicable diseases are highly prevalent among refugee population in Jordan, access to medical services have proven to be a challenge in rural areas especially during the COVID-19 era, many of the patients have multiple uncontrolled medical conditions placing them at risk for complications and risk for severe COVID-19 disease. Deployment of mobile clinics to rural areas plays an essential role in managing such medical conditions, thus improving the continuum of health care approach, physical and mental wellbeing of refugees and reducing the risk for severe COVID-19 disease among this group, taking us one step forward toward universal health access.

Keywords: COVID-19, refugees, mobile clinics, primary health care

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Authors: Mohammad H. Yarmohammadian, Fatemeh Rezaei

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Introduction: Improving patient safety in health systems is one of the main priorities in healthcare systems, so clinical risk management in organizations has become increasingly significant. Although several tools have been developed for clinical risk management, each has its own limitations. Aims: This study aims to develop a comprehensive tool that can complete the limitations of each risk assessment and management tools with the advantage of other tools. Methods: Procedure was determined in two main stages included development of an initial model during meetings with the professors and literature review, then implementation and verification of final model. Subjects and Methods: This study is a quantitative − qualitative research. In terms of qualitative dimension, method of focus groups with inductive approach is used. To evaluate the results of the qualitative study, quantitative assessment of the two parts of the fourth phase and seven phases of the research was conducted. Purposive and stratification sampling of various responsible teams for the selected process was conducted in the operating room. Final model verified in eight phases through application of activity breakdown structure, failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA), healthcare risk priority number (RPN), root cause analysis (RCA), FT, and Eindhoven Classification model (ECM) tools. This model has been conducted typically on patients admitted in a day-clinic ward of a public hospital for surgery in October 2012 to June. Statistical Analysis Used: Qualitative data analysis was done through content analysis and quantitative analysis done through checklist and edited RPN tables. Results: After verification the final model in eight-step, patient's admission process for surgery was developed by focus discussion group (FDG) members in five main phases. Then with adopted methodology of FMEA, 85 failure modes along with its causes, effects, and preventive capabilities was set in the tables. Developed tables to calculate RPN index contain three criteria for severity, two criteria for probability, and two criteria for preventability. Tree failure modes were above determined significant risk limitation (RPN > 250). After a 3-month period, patient's misidentification incidents were the most frequent reported events. Each RPN criterion of misidentification events compared and found that various RPN number for tree misidentification reported events could be determine against predicted score in previous phase. Identified root causes through fault tree categorized with ECM. Wrong side surgery event was selected by focus discussion group to purpose improvement action. The most important causes were lack of planning for number and priority of surgical procedures. After prioritization of the suggested interventions, computerized registration system in health information system (HIS) was adopted to prepare the action plan in the final phase. Conclusion: Complexity of health care industry requires risk managers to have a multifaceted vision. Therefore, applying only one of retrospective or prospective tools for risk management does not work and each organization must provide conditions for potential application of these methods in its organization. The results of this study showed that the integrated clinical risk management model can be used in hospitals as an efficient tool in order to improve clinical governance.

Keywords: failure modes and effective analysis, risk management, root cause analysis, model

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Authors: Hoda Ghavamipoor, S. Alireza Hashemi Golpayegani

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An approach to model the customer interaction with e-commerce websites is presented. Considering the service quality level as a predictive feature, we offer an improved method based on the Customer Behavior Model Graph (CBMG), a state-transition graph model. To derive the Quality of Service sensitive-CBMG (QoS-CBMG) model, process-mining techniques is applied to pre-processed website server logs which are categorized as ‘buy’ or ‘visit’. Experimental results on an e-commerce website data confirmed that the proposed method outperforms CBMG based method.

Keywords: customer behavior model, electronic commerce, quality of service, customer behavior model graph, process mining

Procedia PDF Downloads 398