Search results for: decision support technique

Authors: Irina Canco, Amela Malaj

Abstract:

It is evident that there exists a relationship between supply chain management and business performance. Surveys have showed that in many cases the manager's beliefs and expectations on supply chain management do not match the reality of the business. In this context, the study of supply chain issues is of particular importance and interest considering specifically the current period. The economic problems of this period, are present in Albania as well. The complexity of the supply chain focuses on order fulfilment. Therefore, in this paper, attention will be paid to the impact of supply chain management on business performance. The objective of the paper is to find a relationship between the good supply chain management and business performance. This research is based on the results of surveys referring to the experience of successful businesses on issues related to sustainable supply chain management and its synchronization with the provision of products and services required by the final customers. This study clearly evidenced the impact of the speed of meeting customer requirements on AMAZONA performance. This was also confirmed mathematically through one of the decision criteria in conditions of uncertainty—Laplace criterion.

Keywords: supply chain management, AMAZONA, business performance, Laplace criteria

Procedia PDF Downloads 169

Authors: Amal Abdou, Yasser ElSayed, Nora Selim

Abstract:

Public urban spaces are an essential component in any urban settlement. They are quite important in enhancing the quality of urban life while offering social, health, environmental and economic benefits to a city and its residents. Place-making assessment of public urban spaces has been one of the major guiding principles for urban planning and policymaking, of which the definition and evaluation have become the crucial research topic. It is increasingly being essential to mitigate the undesirable impacts of urbanization in cities while improving public urban space’s resilience to environmental, social, and economic changes. Globally, several place-making assessment tools (PATs) have been developed to make such informed decision-making. They act as a catalyst to increase market demand for sustainable products and services by providing a mechanism for recognizing excellence. Assessing how placemaking can positively contribute to urban environments is critical to inform both the continued development of the place and the way placemaking is done as a practice. Therefore, this study aims to review different themes for assessing urban placemaking in public urban spaces.

Keywords: urban placemaking, public urban spaces, placemaking assessment, literature review

Procedia PDF Downloads 98

Authors: A. G. Back

Abstract:

In the context of global climate change, extreme weather events are increasingly intense and frequent, challenging the adaptability of urban space. In this sense, urban planning is a relevant instrument for addressing, in a systemic manner, various sectoral policies capable of linking the urban agenda to the reduction of social and environmental risks. The Master Plan of the Municipality of Sao Paulo, 2014, presents innovations capable of promoting the transition to sustainability in the urban space. Among such innovations, the following stand out: i) promotion of density in the axes of mass transport involving mixture of commercial, residential, services, and leisure uses (principles related to the compact city); ii) vulnerabilities reduction based on housing policies, including regular sources of funds for social housing and land reservation in urbanized areas; iii) reserve of green areas in the city to create parks and environmental regulations for new buildings focused on reducing the effects of heat island and improving urban drainage. However, long-term implementation involves distributive conflicts and may change in different political, economic, and social contexts over time. Thus, the central objective of this paper is to identify which factors limit or support the implementation of these policies. That is, to map the challenges and interests of converging and/or divergent urban actors in the sustainable urban development agenda and what resources they mobilize to support or limit these actions in the city of Sao Paulo. Recent proposals to amend the urban zoning law undermine the implementation of the Master Plan guidelines. In this context, three interest groups with different views of the city come into dispute: the real estate market, upper middle class neighborhood associations ('not in my backyard' movements), and social housing rights movements. This paper surveys the different interests and visions of these groups taking into account their convergences, or not, with the principles of sustainable urban development. This approach seeks to fill a gap in the international literature on the causes that underpin or hinder the continued implementation of policies aimed at the transition to urban sustainability in the medium and long term.

Keywords: adaptation, ecosystem-based adaptation, interest groups, urban planning, urban transition to sustainability

Procedia PDF Downloads 121

Authors: Zongyan Li, Matt Best

Abstract:

This paper presents an optimization method for reducing the number of input channels and the complexity of the feed-forward NARX neural network (NN) without compromising the accuracy of the NN model. By utilizing the correlation analysis method, the most significant regressors are selected to form the input layer of the NN structure. An application of vehicle dynamic model identification is also presented in this paper to demonstrate the optimization technique and the optimal input layer structure and the optimal number of neurons for the neural network is investigated.

Keywords: correlation analysis, F-ratio, levenberg-marquardt, MSE, NARX, neural network, optimisation

Procedia PDF Downloads 371

Authors: J. P. P. Andrade, V. A. F. Campos

Abstract:

This work presents an application of Linear Matrix Inequalities (LMI) for the robust control of an F-16 aircraft through an algorithm ensuring the damping factor to the closed loop system. The results show that the zero and gain settings are sufficient to ensure robust performance and stability with respect to various operating points. The technique used is the pole placement, which aims to put the system in closed loop poles in a specific region of the complex plane. Test results using a dynamic model of the F-16 aircraft are presented and discussed.

Keywords: F-16 aircraft, linear matrix inequalities, pole placement, robust control

Procedia PDF Downloads 306

Authors: Anna Guitart Atienza, Ana Fernández del Río, Madhav Nekkar, Jelena Ljubicic, África Periáñez, Eura Shin, Lauren Bellhouse

Abstract:

The use of digital devices in healthcare or mobile health (mHealth) has increased in recent years due to the advances in digital technology, making it possible to nudge healthy behaviors through individual interventions. In addition, mHealth is becoming essential in poor-resource settings due to the widespread use of smartphones in areas where access to professional healthcare is limited. In this work, we evaluate mHealth interventions in low-income countries with a focus on causal inference. Counterfactuals estimation and other causal computations are key to determining intervention success and assisting in empirical decision-making. Our main purpose is to personalize treatment recommendations and triage patients at the individual level in order to maximize the entire intervention's impact on the desired outcome. For this study, collected data includes mHealth individual logs from front-line healthcare workers, electronic health records (EHR), and external variables data such as environmental, demographic, and geolocation information.

Keywords: causal inference, mHealth, intervention, personalization

Procedia PDF Downloads 132

Authors: Nizar Souiden, Riadh Ladhari

Abstract:

Like tobacco and alcohol, recreational marijuana falls under the umbrella of ‘sin’ industries’. Notwithstanding this general negative image surrounding marijuana use, some scholars argue that most of the widely believed claims made about recreational marijuana users are irrelevant and that marijuana use can even improve individuals’ decision-making. This study intends to shed light on this particular product category (i.e., marijuana) often overlooked or portrayed as taboo from a business view. More specifically, it investigates whether legalizing the consumption of recreational marijuana would be perceived as ethical and whether companies/organizations involved in the commercialization of this particular product would be held socially responsible. Based on primary data collected in Canada, this study aims to answer the following questions: 1) What moral thoughts do individuals hold with regard to the consumption of recreational marijuana? 2) How do these moral thoughts determine consumers’ attitude toward the consumption of recreational marijuana? Regardless of the legalization of recreational marijuana in some countries such as Canada, probing people’s opinions, and investigating their attitudes toward the consumption of recreational marijuana is of important interest to different stakeholders such as consumers, public organizations, private businesses, and trade associations.

Keywords: recreational marijuana, moral thoughts, ethics, attitude

Procedia PDF Downloads 146

Authors: Melissa C. Monney

Abstract:

Psychological testing has been of interest to researchers for many years as useful tools in assessing and diagnosing various disorders as well as to assist in understanding human behavior. However, for over 20 years now, researchers and laypersons alike have been interested in using them for other purposes, such as determining factors in employee selection, promotion, and even termination. In recent years, psychological assessments have been useful in facilitating workplace decision processing, regarding employee circulation within organizations. This literature review explores four of the most commonly used psychological tests in workplace environments, namely cognitive ability, emotional intelligence, integrity, and personality tests, as organizations have used these tests to assess different factors of human behavior as predictive measures of future employee behaviors. The findings suggest that while there is much controversy and debate regarding the validity and reliability of these tests in workplace settings as they were not originally designed for these purposes, the use of such assessments in the workplace has been useful in decreasing costs and employee turnover as well as increase job satisfaction by ensuring the right employees are selected for their roles.

Keywords: cognitive ability, personality testing, predictive validity, workplace behavior

Procedia PDF Downloads 242

Authors: Natnicha Hasoontree

Abstract:

This purpose of this paper was to investigate the influence of loyalty of inbound tourists towards tourist destinations in Bangkok, Thailand. The antecedents of loyalty in this study included tourists’ satisfaction towards tourist destinations, perceived value of tourist destinations, feelings of engagement with tourist destinations, acquaintance with tourist destinations, and seeking novelty. By using multi-stage sampling technique, 400 tourists were sampled: 200 male and 200 female inbound tourists. The findings revealed that inbound tourists’ satisfaction was the most important factor that could influence the factor of loyalty. The findings indicated that the overall antecedents had a mean of 4.416 with the overall standard deviation of 0.808.

Keywords: antecedents, loyalty, inbound tourists, tourist destinations

Procedia PDF Downloads 514

Authors: Claerchille Jhulia Robin

Abstract:

This paper discusses the perspective of ESL learners towards pronunciation instruction. It sought to determine how these learners view the type of feedback their speech teacher gives and its impact on their own classroom practice of providing feedback. This study utilized a quantitative-qualitative approach to the problem. The respondents were Education students majoring in English. A survey questionnaire and interview guide were used for data gathering. The data from the survey was tabulated using frequency count and the data from the interview were then transcribed and analyzed. Results showed that ESL learners favor immediate corrective feedback and they do not find any issue in being corrected in front of their peers. They also practice the same corrective technique in their own classroom.

Keywords: ESL, feedback, learner perspective, pronunciation instruction

Procedia PDF Downloads 233

Authors: Hsin-Yi Huang, Ming-Sheng Liu, Jiun-Yan Shiau

Abstract:

Planning the order picking lists of warehouses to achieve when the costs associated with logistics on the operational performance is a significant challenge. In e-commerce era, this task is especially important productive processes are high. Nowadays, many order planning techniques employ supervised machine learning algorithms. However, the definition of which features should be processed by such algorithms is not a simple task, being crucial to the proposed technique’s success. Against this background, we consider whether unsupervised algorithms can enhance the planning of order-picking lists. A Zone2 picking approach, which is based on using clustering algorithms twice, is developed. A simplified example is given to demonstrate the merit of our approach.

Keywords: order picking, warehouse, clustering, unsupervised learning

Procedia PDF Downloads 159

Authors: Ismail Haddad, Djamel Herbadji, Aissa Belmeguenai, Selma Boumerdassi

Abstract:

in this paper, we provide a novel approach for image encryption that employs the Fibonacci matrix and an enhanced fractional order chaotic map. The enhanced map overcomes the drawbacks of the classical map, especially the limited chaotic range and non-uniform distribution of chaotic sequences, resulting in a larger encryption key space. As a result, this strategy improves the encryption system's security. Our experimental results demonstrate that our proposed algorithm effectively encrypts grayscale images with exceptional efficiency. Furthermore, our technique is resistant to a wide range of potential attacks, including statistical and entropy attacks.

Keywords: image encryption, logistic map, fibonacci matrix, grayscale images

Procedia PDF Downloads 317

Authors: Hyun-Woo Cho

Abstract:

Continuous monitoring of industrial plants is one of necessary tasks when it comes to ensuring high-quality final products. In terms of monitoring and diagnosis, it is quite critical and important to detect some incipient abnormal events of manufacturing processes in order to improve safety and reliability of operations involved and to reduce related losses. In this work a new multivariate statistical online diagnostic method is presented using a case study. For building some reference models an empirical discriminant model is constructed based on various past operation runs. When a fault is detected on-line, an on-line diagnostic module is initiated. Finally, the status of the current operating conditions is compared with the reference model to make a diagnostic decision. The performance of the presented framework is evaluated using a dataset from complex industrial processes. It has been shown that the proposed diagnostic method outperforms other techniques especially in terms of incipient detection of any faults occurred.

Keywords: data mining, empirical model, on-line diagnostics, process fault, process monitoring

Procedia PDF Downloads 401

Authors: Reyhaneh Saeedi, Nima Ghasemloo

Abstract:

Iran is a capable zone for earthquake that follows loss of lives and financial damages. To have sheltering for earthquake victims is one of the basic requirements although it is hard to select suitable places for temporary resettling after an earthquake happens. Before these kinds of disasters happen, the best places for resettling the victims must be designated. This matter is an important issue in disaster management and planning. Geospatial Information System (GIS) has a determining role in disaster management; it can determine the best places for temporary resettling after such a disaster. In this paper the best criteria have been determined associated with their weights and buffers by use of research and questionnaire for locating the best places. In this paper, AHP method is used as decision model and to locate the best places for temporary resettling is done based on the selected criteria. Also in this research are made the buffer layers of criteria and change them to the raster layers. Later on, the raster layers are multiplied on desired weights then, the results are added together. Finally there are suitable places for resettling of victims by desired criteria by different colors with their optimum rate in QGIS software.

Keywords: disaster management, temporary resettlement, earthquake, criteria

Procedia PDF Downloads 464

Authors: Y. Tahat, T. Dunne, S. Fifield, D. Power

Abstract:

Information about a firm’s usage of Financial Instruments (FIs) plays a very important role in determining its financial position and performance. Yet accounting standard-setters have encountered problems when deciding on the FI-related disclosures which firms must make. The primary objective of this paper is to review the extant literature on FI disclosure. This objective is achieved by surveying the literature on: the corporate usage of FIs; the different accounting standards adopted concerning FIs; and empirical studies on FI disclosure. This review concludes that the current research on FI disclosure has generated a number of useful insights. In particular, the paper reports that: FIs are a very important risk management mechanism in ensuring that companies have the cash available to make value-enhancing investments, however, without a clear set of risk management objectives, using such instruments can be dangerous; accounting standards concerning FIs have resulted in enhanced transparency about the usage of these instruments; and FI-related information is a key input into investors’ decision-making processes. Finally, the paper provides a number of suggestions for future research in the area.

Keywords: financial instruments, financial reporting, accounting standards, value relevance, corporate disclosure

Procedia PDF Downloads 411

Authors: Medjadj Tarek, Ghribi Hayet

Abstract:

This study aims to develop a flood sensitivity assessment tool using machine learning (ML) techniques and geographic information system (GIS). The importance of this study is integrating the geographic information systems (GIS) and machine learning (ML) techniques for mapping flood risks, which help decision-makers to identify the most vulnerable areas and take the necessary precautions to face this type of natural disaster. To reach this goal, we will study the case of the city of M'sila, which is among the areas most vulnerable to floods. This study drew a map of flood-prone areas based on the methodology where we have made a comparison between 3 machine learning algorithms: the xGboost model, the Random Forest algorithm and the K Nearest Neighbour algorithm. Each of them gave an accuracy respectively of 97.92 - 95 - 93.75. In the process of mapping flood-prone areas, the first model was relied upon, which gave the greatest accuracy (xGboost).

Keywords: Geographic information systems (GIS), machine learning (ML), emergency mapping, flood disaster management

Procedia PDF Downloads 95

Authors: Carolina Beltran, Carlos De Los Reyes

Abstract:

Acquired brain injury (ABI) is any physical and functional injury secondary to events that affect the brain tissue. It is one of the biggest causes of disability in the world and it has a high annual incidence in the pediatric population. There are several causes of ABI such as traumatic brain injury, central nervous system infection, stroke, hypoxia, tumors and others. The consequences can be cognitive, behavioral, emotional and functional. The cognitive rehabilitation is necessary to achieve the best outcomes for pediatric people with ABI. Cognitive orientation to daily occupational performance (CO-OP) is an individualized client-centered, performance-based, problem-solving approach that focuses on the strategy used to support the acquisition of three client-chosen goals. It has demonstrated improvements in the pediatric population with other neurological disorder but not in Spanish speakers with ABI. Aim: The main objective of this study was to determine the efficacy of cognitive orientation to daily occupational performances (CO-OP) adapted to Spanish speakers, in the level of independence and behavior in a pediatric population with ABI. Methods: Case studies with measure pre/post-treatment were used in three children with ABI, sustained at least before 6 months assessment, in school, aged 8 to 16 years, age ABI after 6 years old and above average intellectual ability. Twelve sessions of CO-OP adapted to Spanish speakers were used and videotaped. The outcomes were based on cognitive, behavior and functional independence measurements such as Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL), Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF), The Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales (VINELAND, Social Support Scale (MOS-SSS) and others neuropsychological measures. This study was approved by the ethics committee of Universidad del Norte in Colombia. Informed parental written consent was obtained for all participants. Results: children were able to identify three goals and use the global strategy ‘goal-plan-do-check’ during each session. Verbal self-instruction was used by all children. CO-OP showed a clinically significant improvement in goals regarding with independence level and behavior according to parents and teachers. Conclusion: The results indicated that CO-OP and the use of a global strategy such as ‘goal-plan-do-check’ can be used in children with ABI in order to improve their specific goals. This is a preliminary version of a big study carrying in Colombia as part of the experimental design.

Keywords: cognitive rehabilitation, acquired brain injury, pediatric population, cognitive orientation to daily occupational performance

Procedia PDF Downloads 106

Authors: Shreyansh Adesara, Sneha Pandiya

Abstract:

The mobile ad-hoc network (MANET) is an important and open area research for the examination and determination of the performance evolution. Temporary ordered routing algorithm (TORA) is adaptable and distributed MANET routing algorithm which is totally dependent on internet MANET Encapsulation protocol (IMEP) for the detection of the link and sensing of the link. If IMEP detect the wrong link failure then the network suffer from congestion and unnecessary route maintenance. Thus, the improvement in link detection method of TORA is introduced by various methods on IMEP by different perspective from different person. There are also different reactive routing protocols like AODV, TORA and DSR has been compared for the knowledge of the routing scenario for different parameter and using different model.

Keywords: IMEP, mobile ad-hoc network, protocol, TORA

Procedia PDF Downloads 441

Authors: Ladislas Havugimana, Véronique Zinnen, Mary Hadley, Jean Claude Mwumvaneza, Francois Régis Habarugira, Silas Rudasingwa, Victor Ndaruhutse, Evelyne Bocquet

Abstract:

Rwanda's health systems face various challenges, including low health infrastructure coverage (the objective is to have at least one health center per administrative sector) and insufficient qualified human resources for infrastructure maintenance and financing. Moreover, there is no policy for the preventive maintenance of infrastructures for the health sector. This paper presents action research conducted in seven districts, focusing on the impact of health infrastructure's quality on maternal and neonatal care, with the support of the Belgian cooperation agency through Enable Barame project.

Keywords: health infrastructure, maintenance, maternity, neonatology

Procedia PDF Downloads 144

Authors: R. Hurtado-Ortiz, D. Clermont, M. Schüngel, C. Bizet, D. Smith, E. Stackebrandt

Abstract:

Microbiological resources and their derivatives are the essential raw material for the advancement of human health, agro-food, food security, biotechnology, research and development in all life sciences. Microbial resources, and their genetic and metabolic products, are utilised in many areas such as production of healthy and functional food, identification of new antimicrobials against emerging and resistant pathogens, fighting agricultural disease, identifying novel energy sources on the basis of microbial biomass and screening for new active molecules for the bio-industries. The complexity of public collections, distribution and use of living biological material (not only living but also DNA, services, training, consultation, etc.) and service offer, demands the coordination and sharing of policies, processes and procedures. The Microbial Resource Research Infrastructure (MIRRI) is an initiative within the European Strategy Forum Infrastructures (ESFRI), bring together 16 partners including 13 European public microbial culture collections and biological resource centres (BRCs), supported by several European and non-European associated partners. The objective of MIRRI is to support innovation in microbiology by provision of a one-stop shop for well-characterized microbial resources and high quality services on a not-for-profit basis for biotechnology in support of microbiological research. In addition, MIRRI contributes to the structuring of microbial resources capacity both at the national and European levels. This will facilitate access to microorganisms for biotechnology for the enhancement of the bio-economy in Europe. MIRRI will overcome the fragmentation of access to current resources and services, develop harmonised strategies for delivery of associated information, ensure bio-security and other regulatory conditions to bring access and promote the uptake of these resources into European research. Data mining of the landscape of current information is needed to discover potential and drive innovation, to ensure the uptake of high quality microbial resources into research. MIRRI is in its Preparatory Phase focusing on governance and structure including technical, legal governance and financial issues. MIRRI will help the Biological Resources Centres to work more closely with policy makers, stakeholders, funders and researchers, to deliver resources and services needed for innovation.

Keywords: culture collections, microbiology, infrastructure, microbial resources, biotechnology

Procedia PDF Downloads 444

Authors: Şeyda Akçalı

Abstract:

This study explores the concept of social sustainability and its characteristics in terms of neighborhood (mahalle) which is a social phenomenon in Turkish urban life. As social sustainability indicators that moving away traditional themes toward multi-dimensional measures, the solutions for urban strategies may be achieved through learning lessons from historical precedents. It considers the inherent values of traditional urban forms contribute to the evolution of the city as well as the social functions of it. The study aims to measure non-tangible issues in order to evaluate social sustainability in historic urban environments and how they could contribute to the current urban planning strategies. The concept of neighborhood (mahalle) refers to a way of living that represents the organization of Turkish social and communal life rather than defining an administrative unit for the city. The distinctive physical and social features of neighborhood illustrate the link between social sustainability and historic urban environment. Instead of having a nostalgic view of past, it identifies both the failures and successes and extract lessons of traditional urban environments and adopt them to modern context. First, the study determines the aspects of social sustainability which are issued as the key themes in the literature. Then, it develops a model by describing the social features of mahalle which show consistency within the social sustainability agenda. The model is used to analyze the performance of traditional housing area in the historical city center of Bursa, Turkey whether it meets the residents’ social needs and contribute collective functioning of the community. Through a questionnaire survey exercised in the historic neighborhoods, the residents are evaluated according to social sustainability criteria of neighborhood. The results derived from the factor analysis indicate that social aspects of neighborhood are social infrastructure, identity, attachment, neighborliness, safety and wellbeing. Qualitative evaluation shows the relationship between key aspects of social sustainability and demographic and socio-economic factors. The outcomes support that inherent values of neighborhood retain its importance for the sustainability of community although there must be some local arrangements for few factors with great attention not to compromise the others. The concept of neighborhood should be considered as a potential tool to support social sustainability in national political agenda and urban policies. The performance of underlying factors in historic urban environment proposes a basis for both examining and improving traditional urban areas and how it may contribute to the overall city.

Keywords: historical city center, mahalle, neighborhood, social sustainability, traditional urban environment, Turkey

Procedia PDF Downloads 289

Authors: M. Amanipour, J. Towfighi, E. Ganji Babakhani, M. Heidari

Abstract:

Cylindrical alumina microfiltration membrane (GMITM Corporation, inside diameter=9 mm, outside diameter=13 mm, length= 50 mm) with an average pore size of 0.5 micrometer and porosity of about 0.35 was used as the support for membrane reactor. This support was soaked in boehmite sols, and the mean particle size was adjusted in the range of 50 to 500 nm by carefully controlling hydrolysis time, and calcined at 650 °C for two hours. This process was repeated with different boehmite solutions in order to achieve an intermediate layer with an average pore size of about 50 nm. The resulting substrate was then coated with a thin and dense layer of silica by counter current chemical vapour deposition (CVD) method. A boehmite sol with 10 wt.% of nickel which was prepared by a standard procedure was used to make the catalytic layer. BET, SEM, and XRD analysis were used to characterize this layer. The catalytic membrane reactor was placed in an experimental setup to evaluate the permeation and hydrogen separation performance for a steam reforming reaction. The setup consisted of a tubular module in which the membrane was fixed, and the reforming reaction occurred at the inner side of the membrane. Methane stream, diluted with nitrogen, and deionized water with a steam to carbon (S/C) ratio of 3.0 entered the reactor after the reactor was heated up to 500 °C with a specified rate of 2 °C/ min and the catalytic layer was reduced at presence of hydrogen for 2.5 hours. Nitrogen flow was used as sweep gas through the outer side of the reactor. Any liquid produced was trapped and separated at reactor exit by a cold trap, and the produced gases were analyzed by an on-line gas chromatograph (Agilent 7890A) to measure total CH₄ conversion and H₂ permeation. BET analysis indicated uniform size distribution for catalyst with average pore size of 280 nm and average surface area of 275 m².g^-1. Single-component permeation tests were carried out for hydrogen, methane, and carbon dioxide at temperature range of 500-800 °C, and the results showed almost the same permeance and hydrogen selectivity values for hydrogen as the composite membrane without catalytic layer. Performance of the catalytic membrane was evaluated by applying membranes as a membrane reactor for methane steam reforming reaction at gas hourly space velocity (GHSV) of 10,000 h⁻¹ and 2 bar. CH₄ conversion increased from 50% to 85% with increasing reaction temperature from 600 °C to 750 °C, which is sufficiently above equilibrium curve at reaction conditions, but slightly lower than membrane reactor with packed nickel catalytic bed because of its higher surface area compared to the catalytic layer.

Keywords: catalytic membrane, hydrogen, methane steam reforming, permeance

Procedia PDF Downloads 256

Authors: Rahbel Rahman, Rogério Meireles Pinto, Margareth Santos Zanchetta

Abstract:

Background: Existing shortcomings of current health-service delivery include poor teamwork, competencies that do not address consumer needs, and episodic rather than continuous care. Brazil’s Sistema Único de Saúde (Unified Health System, UHS) is acknowledged worldwide as a model for delivering community-based care through Estratégia Saúde da Família (FHS; Family Health Strategy) interdisciplinary teams, comprised of Community Health Agents (in Portuguese, Agentes Comunitário de Saude, ACS), nurses, and physicians. FHS teams are mandated to collectively offer clinical care, disease prevention services, vector control, health surveillance and social services. Our study compares medical providers (nurses and physicians) and community-based providers (ACS) on their perceptions of work environment, professional skills, cognitive capacities and job context. Global health administrators and policy makers can leverage on similarities and differences across care providers to develop interprofessional training for community-based primary care. Methods: Cross-sectional data were collected from 168 ACS, 62 nurses and 32 physicians in Brazil. We compared providers’ demographic characteristics (age, race, and gender) and job context variables (caseload, work experience, work proximity to community, the length of commute, and familiarity with the community). Providers perceptions were compared to their work environment (work conditions and work resources), professional skills (consumer-input, interdisciplinary collaboration, efficacy of FHS teams, work-methods and decision-making autonomy), and cognitive capacities (knowledge and skills, skill variety, confidence and perseverance). Descriptive and bi-variate analysis, such as Pearson Chi-square and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) F-tests, were performed to draw comparisons across providers. Results: Majority of participants were ACS (64%); 24% nurses; and 12% physicians. Majority of nurses and ACS identified as mixed races (ACS, n=85; nurses, n=27); most physicians identified as males (n=16; 52%), and white (n=18; 58%). Physicians were less likely to incorporate consumer-input and demonstrated greater decision-making autonomy than nurses and ACS. ACS reported the highest levels of knowledge and skills but the least confidence compared to nurses and physicians. ACS, nurses, and physicians were efficacious that FHS teams improved the quality of health in their catchment areas, though nurses tend to disagree that interdisciplinary collaboration facilitated their work. Conclusion: To our knowledge, there has been no study comparing key demographic and cognitive variables across ACS, nurses and physicians in the context of their work environment and professional training. We suggest that global health systems can leverage upon the diverse perspectives of providers to implement a community-based primary care model grounded in interprofessional training. Our study underscores the need for in-service trainings to instill reflective skills of providers, improve communication skills of medical providers and curative skills of ACS. Greater autonomy needs to be extended to community based providers to offer care integral to addressing consumer and community needs.

Keywords: global health systems, interdisciplinary health teams, community health agents, community-based care

Procedia PDF Downloads 229

Authors: Samir Bentata, Fatima Bendahma

Abstract:

We have numerically investigated the effect of Aluminium concentration on the the laser wavelength of random trimer barrier AlxGa1-xAs superlattices (RTBSL). Such systems consist of two different structures randomly distributed along the growth direction, with the additional constraint that the barriers of one kind appear in triply. An explicit formula is given for evaluating the transmission coefficient of superlattices (SL's) with intentional correlated disorder. The method is based on Airy function formalism and the transfer-matrix technique. We discuss the impact of the Aluminium concentration associate to the structure profile on the laser wavelengths.

Keywords: superlattices, correlated disorder, transmission coefficient, laser wavelength

Procedia PDF Downloads 336

Authors: Carlos M. Parra, Matthew Sutherland, Ranjita Poudel

Abstract:

Reduced mental-bandwidth related to low socioeconomic status (low-SES) might lead to impulsivity and risk-taking behavior, which poses as a major hurdle towards asset building (savings) behavior. Understanding the relationship between risk-related personality metrics as well as laboratory risk behavior and real-life savings behavior can help facilitate the development of effective asset building programs, which are vital for mitigating financial vulnerability and income inequality. As such, this study explored the relationship between personality metrics, laboratory behavior in a risky decision-making task and real-life asset building (savings) behaviors among individuals with low-SES from Miami, Florida (FL). Study participants (12 male, 15 female) included racially and ethnically diverse adults (mean age 41.22 ± 12.65 years), with incomplete higher education (18% had High School Diploma, 30% Associates, and 52% Some College), and low annual income (mean $13,872 ± $8020.43). Participants completed eight self-report surveys and played a widely used risky decision-making paradigm called the Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART). Specifically, participants played three runs of BART (20 trials in each run; total 60 trials). In addition, asset building behavior data was collected for 24 participants who opened and used savings accounts and completed a 6-month savings program that involved monthly matches, and a final reward for completing the savings program without any interim withdrawals. Each participant’s total savings at the end of this program was the main asset building indicator considered. In addition, a new effective use of average pump bet (EUAPB) indicator was developed to characterize each participant’s ability to place winning bets. This indicator takes the ratio of each participant’s total BART earnings to average pump bet (APB) in all 60 trials. Our findings indicated that EUAPB explained more than a third of the variation in total savings among participants. Moreover, participants who managed to obtain BART earnings of at least 30 cents out of their APB, also tended to exhibit better asset building (savings) behavior. In particular, using this criterion to separate participants into high and low EUAPB groups, the nine participants with high EUAPB (mean BART earnings of 35.64 cents per APB) ended up with higher mean total savings ($255.11), while the 15 participants with low EUAPB (mean BART earnings of 22.50 cents per APB) obtained lower mean total savings ($40.01). All mean differences are statistically significant (2-tailed p  .0001) indicating that the relation between higher EUAPB and higher total savings is robust. Overall, these findings can help refine asset building interventions implemented by policy makers and practitioners interested in reducing financial vulnerability among low-SES population. Specifically, by helping identify individuals who are likely to readily take advantage of savings opportunities (such as matched savings programs) and avoiding the stipulation of unnecessary and expensive financial coaching programs to these individuals. This study was funded by J.P. Morgan Chase (JPMC) and carried out by scientists from Florida International University (FIU) in partnership with Catalyst Miami.

Keywords: balloon analogue risk task (BART), matched savings programs, asset building capability, low-SES participants

Procedia PDF Downloads 145

Authors: Rajasekhar Mamilla, G. Janardhana, G. Anjan Babu

Abstract:

The present research studies analyses the students’ satisfaction with university performance regarding the reliability dimension, ability of professors and staff to perform the promised services with quality to students in the post-graduate courses offered by Sri Venkateswara University in India. The research is done with the notion that the student compares the perceived performance with prior expectations. Customer satisfaction is seen as the outcome of this comparison. The sample respondents were administered with the schedule based on the stratified random technique for this study. Statistical techniques such as factor analysis, t-test and correlation analysis were used to accomplish the respective objectives of the study.

Keywords: satisfaction, reliability, service quality, customer

Procedia PDF Downloads 549

Authors: S. S. Rwanga, J. M. Ndambuki

Abstract:

Groundwater quantification needs a method which is not only flexible but also reliable in order to accurately quantify its spatial and temporal variability. As groundwater is dynamic and interdisciplinary in nature, an integrated approach of remote sensing (RS) and GIS technique is very useful in various groundwater management studies. Thus, the GIS water balance model (WetSpass) together with remote sensing (RS) can be used to quantify groundwater recharge. This paper discusses the concept of WetSpass in combination with GIS on the quantification of recharge with a view to managing water resources in an integrated framework. The paper presents the simulation procedures and expected output after simulation. Preliminary data are presented from GIS output only.

Keywords: groundwater, recharge, GIS, WetSpass

Procedia PDF Downloads 450

Authors: Snezhana G. Gocheva-Ilieva, Maya P. Stoimenova

Abstract:

Ambient air pollution with fine particulate matter (PM10) is a systematic permanent problem in many countries around the world. The accumulation of a large number of measurements of both the PM10 concentrations and the accompanying atmospheric factors allow for their statistical modeling to detect dependencies and forecast future pollution. This study applies the classification and regression trees (CART) method for building and analyzing PM10 models. In the empirical study, average daily air data for the city of Pleven, Bulgaria for a period of 5 years are used. Predictors in the models are seven meteorological variables, time variables, as well as lagged PM10 variables and some lagged meteorological variables, delayed by 1 or 2 days with respect to the initial time series, respectively. The degree of influence of the predictors in the models is determined. The selected best CART models are used to forecast future PM10 concentrations for two days ahead after the last date in the modeling procedure and show very accurate results.

Keywords: cross-validation, decision tree, lagged variables, short-term forecasting

Procedia PDF Downloads 194

Authors: Ashan Wijekoon, Abi Beane, Subashini Jayawardana

Abstract:

Background: Soldiers' physical rehabilitation and long term health status has been hindered due to limited investment in and access to rehabilitation services. Home-based rehabilitation programmes could offer a potentially feasible alternative to facilitate long-term recovery. Objectives: To explore Sri Lankan soldiers' perceptions of barriers and facilitators to a home-based physical rehabilitation programme.Methods and Materials: We conducted qualitative semi-structured interviews with community re-integrated army veterans who had undergone unilateral lower limb amputation following war related trauma. Veterans were identified from five districts of Sri Lanka, based on a priori knowledge of veteran community settlements (Disabled Category Registry) obtained from Directorate of Rehabilitation, MoD, Sri Lanka. Individuals were stratified for purposive selection. The interview guide was developed from existing methods and adapted for context. Verbatim transcripts of interviews were analyzed for emerging themes using an inductive approach. Following consent, participants met the researcher (AW- a trained physiotherapist fluent in Sinhalese). Results: Twenty-five Interviews were conducted, totaling 7.2 hours of new data (Mean±SD: 0.28±0.11). All participants were male, aged 30-55 years (Mean±SD: 46.1±7.4), and had experienced traumatic amputation as a result of conflict. Twenty-four sub themes were identified. Inadequate space for exercises, absence of equipment and assistance to conduct the exercises at home, alongside absence of community healthcare services were all barriers. Burden of comorbidities, including chronic pain and disability level, were also barriers. Social support systems, including soldier societies, family, and kinship with other amputees, were seen as facilitators to an at-home programme. Motivation for independence was a strong indicator of engagement. Conclusion: Environment, chronic pain, and absence of well-established community health services were key barriers. Family and soldier support was a facilitator. Engagement with community healthcare providers (physiotherapist and primary care physicians) will be essential to the success of an at-home rehabilitation program.

Keywords: physical rehabilitation, home-based, soldiers, disability, lower-limb amputation, qualitative

Procedia PDF Downloads 168

Authors: Haodong Huang, Zida Zhao, Shilong Sun, Chiyao Li, Wenfu Xu

Abstract:

The control methods for legged robots based on deep reinforcement learning have seen widespread application; however, the inherent black-box nature of neural networks presents challenges in understanding the decision-making motives of the robots. To address this issue, we propose a fully interpretable deep reinforcement learning training method to elucidate the underlying principles of legged robot motion. We incorporate the dynamics of legged robots into the policy, where observations serve as inputs and actions as outputs of the dynamics model. By embedding the dynamics equations within the multi-layer perceptron (MLP) computation process and making the parameters trainable, we enhance interpretability. Additionally, Bayesian optimization is introduced to train these parameters. We validate the proposed fully interpretable motion control algorithm on a legged robot, opening new research avenues for motion control and learning algorithms for legged robots within the deep learning framework.

Keywords: deep reinforcement learning, interpretation, motion control, legged robots

Procedia PDF Downloads 21