Search results for: model for identification of attributes quality

Authors: K. Rowan

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In this paper, the author will discuss how developing a specialized orientation has improved nursing satisfaction and decrease the incidence of incivility among staff. With the predicted shortages in nursing, we must provide an environment that reflects the needs of the current workforce while also focusing on the sustainability of nursing. Each generation has different qualities and methods in which he or she prefers to learn. The Baby Boomer has a desire to share their knowledge. They feel that the quality of undergraduate nursing education has declined. Millennials have grown up with 'helicopter parents' and expect the preceptor to behave in the same manner. This information must be shared with the Baby Boomer, as it is these staff members who are passing the torch of perioperative nursing. Currently, nurse fellows are trained with the Association of periOperative Nurse’s Periop 101 program, with a didactic and clinical observation program. There is no specialized perioperative preceptor program. In creation of a preceptor program, the concept of Novice to Expert, communication techniques, dealing with horizontal violence and generational gap education is reviewed with the preceptor. The fellows are taught communication and de-escalation skills, and generational gaps information. The groups are then brought together for introductions and teamwork exercises. At the program’s core is the knowledge of generational differences. The preceptor training has increased preceptor satisfaction, as well as the new nurse fellows. The creation of a specialized education program has significantly decreased incivility amongst our nurses, all while increasing nursing satisfaction and improving nursing retention. This model of program can translate to all nursing specialties and assist in overcoming the impending shortage.

Keywords: baby boomers, education, generational gap, millennials, nursing, perioperative

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Authors: Maria Lazari, Lorenzo Sanavia

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Mechanics of unsaturated soils has been an active field of research in the last decades. Efficient constitutive models that take into account the partial saturation of soil are necessary to solve a number of engineering problems e.g. instability of slopes and cuts due to heavy rainfalls. A large number of constitutive models can now be found in the literature that considers fundamental issues associated with the unsaturated soil behaviour, like the volume change and shear strength behaviour with suction or saturation changes. Partially saturated soils may either expand or collapse upon wetting depending on the stress level, and it is also possible that a soil might experience a reversal in the volumetric behaviour during wetting. Shear strength of soils also changes dramatically with changes in the degree of saturation, and a related engineering problem is slope failures caused by rainfall. There are several states of the art reviews over the last years for studying the topic, usually providing a thorough discussion of the stress state, the advantages, and disadvantages of specific constitutive models as well as the latest developments in the area of unsaturated soil modelling. However, only a few studies focused on the coupling between partial saturation states and time effects on the behaviour of geomaterials. Rate dependency is experimentally observed in the mechanical response of granular materials, and a viscoplastic constitutive model is capable of reproducing creep and relaxation processes. Therefore, in this work an elasto-viscoplastic constitutive model for unsaturated soils is proposed and validated on the basis of experimental data. The model constitutes an extension of an existing elastoplastic strain-hardening constitutive model capable of capturing the behaviour of variably saturated soils, based on energy conjugated stress variables in the framework of superposed continua. The purpose was to develop a model able to deal with possible mechanical instabilities within a consistent energy framework. The model shares the same conceptual structure of the elastoplastic laws proposed to deal with bonded geomaterials subject to weathering or diagenesis and is capable of modelling several kinds of instabilities induced by the loss of hydraulic bonding contributions. The novelty of the proposed formulation is enhanced with the incorporation of density dependent stiffness and hardening coefficients in order to allow the modeling of the pycnotropy behaviour of granular materials with a single set of material constants. The model has been implemented in the commercial FE platform PLAXIS, widely used in Europe for advanced geotechnical design. The algorithmic strategies adopted for the stress-point algorithm had to be revised to take into account the different approach adopted by PLAXIS developers in the solution of the discrete non-linear equilibrium equations. An extensive comparison between models with a series of experimental data reported by different authors is presented to validate the model and illustrate the capability of the newly developed model. After the validation, the effectiveness of the viscoplastic model is displayed by numerical simulations of a partially saturated slope failure of the laboratory scale and the effect of viscosity and degree of saturation on slope’s stability is discussed.

Keywords: PLAXIS software, slope, unsaturated soils, Viscoplasticity

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Authors: Boris Djartov, Sanaz Mostaghim

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This paper presents a number-based dominance method. The main idea is how to fragment the many attributes of the problem into subsets suitable for the well-established concept of Pareto dominance. Although other similar methods can be found in the literature, they focus on comparing the solutions one objective at a time, while the focus of this method is to compare entire subsets of the objective vector. Given the nature of the method, it is computationally costlier than other methods and thus, it is geared more towards selecting an option from a finite set of alternatives, where each solution is defined by multiple objectives. The need for this method was motivated by dynamic alternate airport selection (DAAS). In DAAS, pilots, while en route to their destination, can find themselves in a situation where they need to select a new landing airport. In such a predicament, they need to consider multiple alternatives with many different characteristics, such as wind conditions, available landing distance, the fuel needed to reach it, etc. Hence, this method is primarily aimed at human decision-makers. Many methods within the field of multi-objective and many-objective decision-making rely on the decision maker to initially provide the algorithm with preference points and weight vectors; however, this method aims to omit this very difficult step, especially when the number of objectives is so large. The proposed method will be compared to Favour (1 − k)-Dom and L-dominance (LD) methods. The test will be conducted using well-established test problems from the literature, such as the DTLZ problems. The proposed method is expected to outperform the currently available methods in the literature and hopefully provide future decision-makers and pilots with support when dealing with many-objective optimization problems.

Keywords: multi-objective decision-making, many-objective decision-making, multi-objective optimization, many-objective optimization

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Authors: Ayse Demirbas, Bruce A. Welt, Yavuz Yagiz

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Oxidation of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA), eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) in fish causes loss of product quality. Oxidative rancidity causes loss of nutritional value and undesirable color changes. Therefore, powerful antioxidant extracts may provide a relatively low cost and natural means to reduce oxidation, resulting in longer, higher quality and higher value shelf life of foods. In this study, we measured effects of red cabbage antioxidant on lipid oxidation in fresh tilapia filets using thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) assay, peroxide value (PV) and color assesment analysis. Extraction of red cabbage was performed using an efficient microwave method. Fresh tilapia filets were dipped in or sprayed with solutions containing different concentrations of extract. Samples were stored for up to 9 days at 4°C and analyzed every other day for color and lipid oxidation. Results showed that treated samples had lower oxidation than controls. Lipid peroxide values on treated samples showed benefits through day-7. Only slight differences were observed between spraying and dipping methods. This work shows that red cabbage antioxidant extracts may represent an inexpensive and all natural method for reducing oxidative spoilage of fresh fish.

Keywords: antioxidant, shelf life, fish, red cabbage, lipid oxidation

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Authors: Gideon C. Joseph

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The ability to localize mobile devices is quite important, as some applications may require location information of these devices to operate or deliver better services to the users. Although there are several ways of acquiring location data of mobile devices, the WLAN fingerprinting approach has been considered in this work. This approach uses the Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI) measurement as a function of the position of the mobile device. RSSI is a quantitative technique of describing the radio frequency power carried by a signal. RSSI may be used to determine RF link quality and is very useful in dense traffic scenarios where interference is of major concern, for example, indoor environments. This research aims to design a system that can predict the location of a mobile device, when supplied with the mobile’s RSSIs. The developed system takes as input the RSSIs relating to the mobile device, and outputs parameters that describe the location of the device such as the longitude, latitude, floor, and building. The relationship between the Received Signal Strengths (RSSs) of mobile devices and their corresponding locations is meant to be modelled; hence, subsequent locations of mobile devices can be predicted using the developed model. It is obvious that describing mathematical relationships between the RSSIs measurements and localization parameters is one option to modelling the problem, but the complexity of such an approach is a serious turn-off. In contrast, we propose an intelligent system that can learn the mapping of such RSSIs measurements to the localization parameters to be predicted. The system is capable of upgrading its performance as more experiential knowledge is acquired. The most appealing consideration to using such a system for this task is that complicated mathematical analysis and theoretical frameworks are excluded or not needed; the intelligent system on its own learns the underlying relationship in the supplied data (RSSI levels) that corresponds to the localization parameters. These localization parameters to be predicted are of two different tasks: Longitude and latitude of mobile devices are real values (regression problem), while the floor and building of the mobile devices are of integer values or categorical (classification problem). This research work presents artificial neural network based intelligent systems to model the relationship between the RSSIs predictors and the mobile device localization parameters. The designed systems were trained and validated on the collected WLAN fingerprint database. The trained networks were then tested with another supplied database to obtain the performance of trained systems on achieved Mean Absolute Error (MAE) and error rates for the regression and classification tasks involved therein.

Keywords: indoor localization, WLAN fingerprinting, neural networks, classification, regression

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Authors: Wendy Lee

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From the mid-twentieth century onward, the notion of ‘attachment’ has been used to define the optimum relationship between young children and their carers; first applied to parents and young children and more recently with early childhood educators and children in their care. However, it is seldom, if ever, asked whether the notion of ‘attachment’ and more especially so-called Attachment Theory, as propounded by John Bowlby and others, provides a sound basis for conceptualising child-adult relationships in early years. Even if appropriate in the context of family, the use of the term raises a number of questions when used in early childhood education. Research has shown that our youngest children (infants) in early childhood centre based care settings, are given the utmost priority to build 'attachments' with their educators. But exactly when, how and why does this priority diminish - and should it (for preschoolers)? This presentation will elaborate on such issues and will argue that there is a need to reconceptualise and redefine how 'quality relationships' should be measured and implemented in the daily practices and pedagogical methods adopted by early childhood educators. Moreover, this presentation will include data collected from the empirical study conducted, that observed various early childhood educators and children in Australian early childhood centres. Lastly, the thoughts, feelings and desires of parents of children in early childhood centre-based care, regarding the term 'attachment' and 'quality relationships' will be shared in the hope that we can take one step closer in bridging the needs of families, children, early childhood centres, educators, and the wider community.

Keywords: attachment, early childhood education, pedagogy, relationships

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Authors: Budoor Al Abid

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Educational systems are increasingly provided as open online services, providing guidance and support for individual learners. To adapt the learning systems, a proper evaluation must be made. This paper builds the evaluation model Fuzzy C Means Adaptive System (FCMAS) based on data mining techniques to assess the difficulty of the questions. The following steps are implemented; first using a dataset from an online international learning system called (slepemapy.cz) the dataset contains over 1300000 records with 9 features for students, questions and answers information with feedback evaluation. Next, a normalization process as preprocessing step was applied. Then FCM clustering algorithms are used to adaptive the difficulty of the questions. The result is three cluster labeled data depending on the higher Wight (easy, Intermediate, difficult). The FCM algorithm gives a label to all the questions one by one. Then Random Forest (RF) Classifier model is constructed on the clustered dataset uses 70% of the dataset for training and 30% for testing; the result of the model is a 99.9% accuracy rate. This approach improves the Adaptive E-learning system because it depends on the student behavior and gives accurate results in the evaluation process more than the evaluation system that depends on feedback only.

Keywords: machine learning, adaptive, fuzzy logic, data mining

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Authors: P.P. Rupasinghe, A.H. Farid

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The Aleutian mink disease virus (AMDV, Carnivore amdoparvovirus 1) causes persistent infection, plasmacytosis, and formation and deposition of immune complexes in various organs in adult mink, leading to glomerulonephritis, arteritis and sometimes death. The disease has no cure nor an effective vaccine, and identification and culling of mink positive for anti-AMDV antibodies have not been successful in controlling the infection in many countries. The failure to eradicate the virus from infected farms may be caused by keeping false-negative individuals on the farm, virus transmission from wild animals, or neighboring farms. The identification of sources of infection, which can be performed by comparing viral sequences, is important in the success of viral eradication programs. High mutation rates could cause inaccuracies when viral sequences are used to trace back an infection to its origin. There is no published information on the mutation rate of AMDV either in vivo or in vitro. The in vivo estimation is the most accurate method, but it is difficult to perform because of the inherent technical complexities, namely infecting live animals, the unknown numbers of viral generations (i.e., infection cycles), the removal of deleterious mutations over time and genetic drift. The objective of this study was to determine the mutation rate of AMDV on which no information was available. A homogenate was prepared from the spleen of one naturally infected American mink (Neovison vison) from Nova Scotia, Canada (parental template). The near full-length genome of this isolate (91.6%, 4,143 bp) was bidirectionally sequenced. A group of black mink was inoculated with this homogenate (descendant mink). Spleen sampled were collected from 10 descendant mink after 16 weeks post-inoculation (wpi) and from anther 10 mink after 176 wpi, and their near-full length genomes were bi-directionally sequenced. Sequences of these mink were compared with each other and with the sequence of the parental template. The number of nucleotide substitutions at 176 wpi was 3.1 times greater than that at 16 wpi (113 vs 36) whereas the estimates of mutation rate at 176 wpi was 3.1 times lower than that at 176 wpi (2.85×10-3 vs 9.13×10-4 substitutions/ site/ year), showing a decreasing trend in the mutation rate per unit of time. Although there is no report on in vivo estimate of the mutation rate of DNA viruses in animals using the same method which was used in the current study, these estimates are at the higher range of reported values for DNA viruses determined by various techniques. These high estimates are logical based on the wide range of diversity and pathogenicity of AMDV isolates. The results suggest that increases in the number of nucleotide substitutions over time and subsequent divergence make it difficult to accurately trace back AMDV isolates to their origin when several years elapsed between the two samplings.

Keywords: Aleutian mink disease virus, American mink, mutation rate, nucleotide substitution

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Authors: Barry Ardley, Abi Hunt, Nick Taylor

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As a theoretical and practical framework, this study uses the student-as-producer approach to learning in higher education, as adopted by the Lincoln International Business School, University of Lincoln, UK. Students as producer positions learners as skilled and capable agents, able to participate as partners with tutors in live research projects. To illuminate the nature of this approach to learning and to highlight its critical issues, the authors report on two guided student consultancy projects. These were set up with the assistance of two local organisations in the city of Lincoln, UK. Using the student as a producer model to deliver the projects enabled learners to acquire and develop a range of key skills and knowledge not easily accessible in more traditional educational settings. This paper presents a systematic case study analysis of the eight organising principles of the student-as-producer model, as adopted by university tutors. The experience of tutors implementing students as producers suggests that the model can be widely applied to benefit not only the learning and teaching experiences of higher education students and staff but additionally a university’s research programme and its community partners.

Keywords: consultancy, learning, student as producer, research

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Authors: Hala Zaghloul, Taymoor Nazmy

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One of the great challenges of the 21st century is to build a robot that can perceive and act within its environment and communicate with people, while also exhibiting the cognitive capabilities that lead to performance like that of people. The Pulse Coupled Neural Network, PCNN, is a relative new ANN model that derived from a neural mammal model with a great potential in the area of image processing as well as target recognition, feature extraction, speech recognition, combinatorial optimization, compressed encoding. PCNN has unique feature among other types of neural network, which make it a candid to be an important approach for perceiving in cognitive systems. This work show and emphasis on the potentials of PCNN to perform different tasks related to image processing. The main drawback or the obstacle that prevent the direct implementation of such technique, is the need to find away to control the PCNN parameters toward perform a specific task. This paper will evaluate the performance of PCNN standard model for processing images with different properties, and select the important parameters that give a significant result, also, the approaches towards find a way for the adaptation of the PCNN parameters to perform a specific task.

Keywords: cognitive system, image processing, segmentation, PCNN kernels

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Authors: B. A. Alwahaby

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Background: The number of Total Knee Replacement (TKR) and Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction (ACLR) performed every year is increasing. The main aim of physiotherapy early recovery rehabilitation after these surgeries is to control pain and edema and regain Range of Motion (ROM) and physical activity. All of these outcomes need to be managed by safe and effective modalities. Kinesiotaping (KT) is an elastic non-invasive therapeutic tape that has become recognised in different physiotherapy situation as injury prevention, rehabilitation, and performance enhancement and been used with different conditions. However, there is still clinical doubt regarding the effectiveness of KT due to inconclusive supporting evidence. The aim of this systematic review is to collate all the available evidence on the effectiveness of KT in the early rehabilitation of ACLR and TKR patients and analyse whether the use of KT combined with standard rehabilitation would facilitate recovery of postoperative outcome than standard rehabilitation alone. Methodology: A systematic review was conducted. Medline, EMBASE, Scopus, AMED PEDro, CINAHL, and Web of Science databases were searched. Each study was assessed for inclusion and methodological quality appraisal was undertaken by two reviewers using the JBI critical appraisal tools. The studies were then synthesised qualitatively due to heterogeneity between studies. Results: Five moderate to low quality RCTs were located. All five studies demonstrated statistically significant improvements in pain, swelling, ROM, and functional outcomes (p < 0.05). Between group comparison, KT combined with standardised rehabilitation were shown to be significantly more effective than standardised rehabilitation alone for pain and swelling (p < 0.05). However, there were inconstant findings for ROM, and no statistically significant differences reported between groups for functional outcomes (p > 0.05). Conclusion: Research in the area is generally low quality; however, there is consistent evidence to support the use of KT combined with standardised post-operative rehabilitation for reducing pain and swelling. There is also some evidence that KT may be effective in combination with standardised rehabilitation to regain knee extension ROM faster than standardised rehabilitation alone, but further primary research is required to confirm this.

Keywords: anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction, ACLR, kinesio taping, KT, postoperative, total knee replacement, TKR

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Authors: T. Qasim, M. Alqawasmi, M. Hawash, M. Betar, W. Qasim

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Over the last decade, the over population that has happened in urban areas has been reflecting on the services that various local institutions provide to car users in the form of car parks, which is becoming a daily necessity in our lives. This study focuses on car parks at Jordan University of Science and Technology, in Irbid, Jordan, to understand the university parking needs. Data regarding arrival and departure times of cars and the parking utilization were collected, to find various options that the university can implement to solve and develop an efficient car parking system. Arena software was used to simulate a parking model. This model allows measuring the different solutions that solve the parking problem at Jordan University of Science and Technology.

Keywords: car park, simulation, modeling, service time

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Authors: A. F. Huseynov, N. T. Mardanov, J. Y. Nakhchivanski

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This practical research is aimed to improve the management quality and efficiency of public administration agencies providing e-services. The monitoring system developed will provide continuous review of the websites compliance with the selected indicators, their evaluation based on the selected indicators and ranking of services according to the quality criteria. The responsible departments in the government agencies were surveyed; the questionnaire includes issues of management and feedback, e-services provided, and the application of information systems. By analyzing the main affecting factors and barriers, the recommendations will be given that lead to the relevant decisions to strengthen the state agencies competencies for the management and the provision of their services. Component 1. E-services monitoring system. Three separate monitoring activities are proposed to be executed in parallel: Continuous tracing of e-government sites using built-in web-monitoring program; this program generates several quantitative values which are basically related to the technical characteristics and the performance of websites. The expert assessment of e-government sites in accordance with the two general criteria. Criterion 1. Technical quality of the site. Criterion 2. Usability/accessibility (load, see, use). Each high-level criterion is in turn subdivided into several sub-criteria, such as: the fonts and the color of the background (Is it readable?), W3C coding standards, availability of the Robots.txt and the site map, the search engine, the feedback/contact and the security mechanisms. The on-line survey of the users/citizens – a small group of questions embedded in the e-service websites. The questionnaires comprise of the information concerning navigation, users’ experience with the website (whether it was positive or negative), etc. Automated monitoring of web-sites by its own could not capture the whole evaluation process, and should therefore be seen as a complement to expert’s manual web evaluations. All of the separate results were integrated to provide the complete evaluation picture. Component 2. Assessment of the agencies/departments efficiency in providing e-government services. - the relevant indicators to evaluate the efficiency and the effectiveness of e-services were identified; - the survey was conducted in all the governmental organizations (ministries, committees and agencies) that provide electronic services for the citizens or the businesses; - the quantitative and qualitative measures are covering the following sections of activities: e-governance, e-services, the feedback from the users, the information systems at the agencies’ disposal. Main results: 1. The software program and the set of indicators for internet sites evaluation has been developed and the results of pilot monitoring have been presented. 2. The evaluation of the (internal) efficiency of the e-government agencies based on the survey results with the practical recommendations related to the human potential, the information systems used and e-services provided.

Keywords: e-government, web-sites monitoring, survey, internal efficiency

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Authors: John G. Skelly, Peter K. Dearden, Thomas W. R. Harrop, Sarah N. Inwood, Joseph Guhlin

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The Argentine stem weevil (ASW; L. bonariensis) is an economically important pasture pest in New Zealand, which causes about $200 million of damage per annum. Microctonus hyperodae (Mh), a parasite of the ASW in its natural range in South America, was introduced into New Zealand to curb the pasture damage caused by the ASW. Mh is an endoparasitic wasp that lays its eggs in the ASW halting its reproduction. Mh was initially successful at preventing ASW proliferation and reducing pasture damage. The effectiveness of Mh has since declined due to decreased parasitism rates and has resulted in increased pasture damage. Although the mechanism through which ASW has developed resistance to Mh has not been discovered, it has been proposed to be due to the different reproductive modes used by Mh and the ASW in New Zealand. The ASW reproduces sexually, whereas Mh reproduces asexually, which has been hypothesised to have allowed the ASW to ‘out evolve’ Mh. Other species within the Microctonus genus reproduce both sexually and asexually. Strains of Microctonus aethiopoides (Ma), a species closely related to Mh, reproduce either by sexual or asexual reproduction. Comparing the genomes of sexual and asexual Microctonus may allow for the identification of the mechanism of asexual reproduction and other characteristics that may improve Mh as a biocontrol agent. The genomes of Mh and three strains of Ma, two of which reproduce sexually and one reproduces asexually, have been sequenced and annotated. The French (MaFR) and Moroccan (MaMO) reproduce sexually, whereas the Irish strain (MaIR) reproduces asexually. Like Mh, The Ma strains are also used as biocontrol agents, but for different weevil species. The genomes of Mh and MaIR were subsequently upgraded using Hi-C, resulting in a set of high quality, highly contiguous genomes. A subset of the genes involved in mitosis and meiosis, which have been identified though the use of Hidden Markov Models generated from genes involved in these processes in other Hymenoptera, have been catalogued in Mh and the strains of Ma. Meiosis and mitosis genes were broadly conserved in both sexual and asexual Microctonus species. This implies that either the asexual species have retained a subset of the molecular components required for sexual reproduction or that the molecular mechanisms of mitosis and meiosis are different or differently regulated in Microctonus to other insect species in which these mechanisms are more broadly characterised. Bioinformatic analysis of the chemoreceptor compliment in Microctonus has revealed some variation in the number of olfactory receptors, which may be related to host preference. Phylogenetic analysis of olfactory receptors highlights variation, which may be able to explain different host range preferences in the Microctonus. Hi-C clustering implies that Mh has 12 chromosomes, and MaIR has 8. Hence there may be variation in gene regulation between species. Genome alignment of Mh and MaIR implies that there may be large scale genome structural variation. Greater insight into the genetics of these agriculturally important group of parasitic wasps may be beneficial in restoring or maintaining their biocontrol efficacy.

Keywords: argentine stem weevil, asexual, genomics, Microctonus hyperodae

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Authors: J. H. Boonzaaier, A. C. Brent

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South Africa, a water scarce country, experiences the phenomenon that its life supporting natural water resources is seriously threatened by the users that are totally dependent on it. South Africa is globally applauded to have of the best and most progressive water laws and policies. There are however growing concerns regarding natural water resource quality deterioration and a critical void in the management of natural resources and compliance to policies due to increasing institutional uncertainties and failures. These are in accordance with concerns of many South African researchers and practitioners that call for a change in paradigm from talk to practice and a more constructive, practical approach to governance challenges in the management of water resources. A qualitative theory-building case study through longitudinal action research was conducted from 2014 to 2017. The research assessed whether a strategic positioned institutional agent can be parlayed to facilitate and execute WRM on catchment level by engaging multiple stakeholders in a polycentric setting. Through a critical realist approach a distinction was made between ex ante self-deterministic human behaviour in the realist realm, and ex post governance-management in the constructivist realm. A congruence analysis, including Toulmin’s method of argumentation analysis, was utilised. The study evaluated the unique case of a self-steering local water management institution, the Impala Water Users Association (WUA) in the Pongola River catchment in the northern part of the KwaZulu-Natal Province of South Africa. Exploiting prevailing water resource threats, it expanded its ancillary functions from 20,000 to 300,000 ha. Embarking on WRM activities, it addressed natural water system quality assessments, social awareness, knowledge support, and threats, such as: soil erosion, waste and effluent into water systems, coal mining, and water security dimensions; through structured engagement with 21 different catchment stakeholders. By implementing a proposed polycentric governance-management model on a catchment scale, the WUA achieved to fill the void. It developed a foundation and capacity to protect the resilience of the natural environment that is critical for freshwater resources to ensure long-term water security of the Pongola River basin. Further work is recommended on appropriate statutory delegations, mechanisms of sustainable funding, sufficient penetration of knowledge to local levels to catalyse behaviour change, incentivised support from professionals, back-to-back expansion of WUAs to alleviate scale and cost burdens, and the creation of catchment data monitoring and compilation centres.

Keywords: institutional agent, water governance, polycentric water resource management, water resource management

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Authors: Reza Mokhtari Malek Abadi, Mohsen Saghaei, Fatemeh Iman

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This paper investigates the indices of a creative city in Isfahan. Its main aim is to evaluate quantitative status of the creative city indices in Isfahan city, analyze the dispersion and distribution of these indices in Isfahan city. Concerning these, this study tries to analyze the creative city indices in fifteen area of Isfahan through secondary data, questionnaire, TOPSIS model, Shannon entropy and SPSS. Based on this, the fifteen areas of Isfahan city have been ranked with 12 factors of creative city indices. The results of studies show that fifteen areas of Isfahan city are not equally benefiting from creative indices and there is much difference between the areas of Isfahan city.

Keywords: grading, creative city, creative city evaluation indicators, regional planning model

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Authors: Lilia Edit Aparicio Pico, Paulo Cesar Coronado Sánchez, Roberto Ferro Escobar

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This paper presents the implementation of telemedicine services for physiotherapy, occupational therapy, and speech therapy rehabilitation, utilizing telebroadcasting of audiovisual content to enhance comprehensive patient recovery in rural areas of San Vicente del Caguán municipality, characterized by high levels of social conflict in Colombia. The region faces challenges such as dysfunctional problems, physical rehabilitation needs, and a high prevalence of hearing diseases, leading to neglect and substandard health services. Limited access to healthcare due to communication barriers and transportation difficulties exacerbates these issues. To address these challenges, a research initiative was undertaken to leverage information and communication technologies (ICTs) to improve healthcare quality and accessibility for this vulnerable population. The primary objective was to develop a tele-rehabilitation system to provide asynchronous online therapies and teleconsultation services for patient follow-up during the recovery process. The project comprises two components: Communication systems and human development. A technological component involving the establishment of a wireless network connecting rural centers and the development of a mobile application for video-based therapy delivery. Communications systems will be provided by a radio link that utilizes internet provided by the Colombian government, located in the municipality of San Vicente del Caguán to connect two rural centers (Pozos and Tres Esquinas) and a mobile application for managing videos for asynchronous broadcasting in sidewalks and patients' homes. This component constitutes an operational model integrating information and telecommunications technologies. The second component involves pedagogical and human development. The primary focus is on the patient, where performance indicators and the efficiency of therapy support were evaluated for the assessment and monitoring of telerehabilitation results in physical, occupational, and speech therapy. They wanted to implement a wireless network to ensure audiovisual content transmission for tele-rehabilitation, design audiovisual content for tele-rehabilitation based on services provided by the ESE Hospital San Rafael in physiotherapy, occupational therapy, and speech therapy, develop a software application for fixed and mobile devices enabling access to tele-rehabilitation audiovisual content for healthcare personnel and patients and finally to evaluate the technological solution's contribution to the ESE Hospital San Rafael community. The research comprised four phases: wireless network implementation, audiovisual content design, software application development, and evaluation of the technological solution's impact. Key findings include the successful implementation of virtual teletherapy, both synchronously and asynchronously, and the assessment of technological performance indicators, patient evolution, timeliness, acceptance, and service quality of tele-rehabilitation therapies. The study demonstrated improved service coverage, increased care supply, enhanced access to timely therapies for patients, and positive acceptance of teletherapy modalities. Additionally, the project generated new knowledge for potential replication in other regions and proposed strategies for short- and medium-term improvement of service quality and care indicators

Keywords: e-health, medical informatics, telemedicine, telerehabilitation, virtual therapy

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Authors: Dequn Teng, Tianshuo Yang, Mingrui Wang, Qiuyu Chen, Xiao Wang, Katie Atkinson

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Currently, many students are kind of at a loss in the university due to the complex environment within the campus, where every information within the campus is isolated with fewer interactions with each other. However, if the on-campus resources are gathered and combined with the artificial intelligence modelling techniques, there will be a bridge for not only students in understanding themselves, and the teachers will understand students in providing a much efficient approach in education. The objective of this paper is to provide a competency level analysis method, apparatus, electronic equipment, and storage medium. It uses a user’s target competency level analysis model from a plurality of predefined candidate competency level analysis models by obtaining a user’s promotion target parameters, promotion target parameters including at least one of the following parameters: target profession, target industry, and the target company, according to the promotion target parameters. According to the parameters, the model analyzes the user’s ability level, determines the user’s ability level, realizes the quantitative and personalized analysis of the user’s ability level, and helps the user to objectively position his ability level.

Keywords: artificial intelligence, model, university, education, recommendation system, evaluation, job hunting

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Authors: Ahmed Elaksher, Islam Omar

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For many years, Mars surface has been a mystery for scientists. Lately with the help of geospatial data and photogrammetric procedures researchers were able to capture some insights about this planet. Two of the most imperative data sources to explore Mars are the The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) and the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA). HiRISE is one of six science instruments carried by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, launched August 12, 2005, and managed by NASA. The MOLA sensor is a laser altimeter carried by the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) and launched on November 7, 1996. In this project, we used MOLA-based DEMs to orthorectify HiRISE optical images for generating a more accurate and trustful surface of Mars. The MOLA data was interpolated using the kriging interpolation technique. Corresponding tie points were digitized from both datasets. These points were employed in co-registering both datasets using GIS analysis tools. In this project, we employed three different 3D to 2D transformation models. These are the parallel projection (3D affine) transformation model; the extended parallel projection transformation model; the Direct Linear Transformation (DLT) model. A set of tie-points was digitized from both datasets. These points were split into two sets: Ground Control Points (GCPs), used to evaluate the transformation parameters using least squares adjustment techniques, and check points (ChkPs) to evaluate the computed transformation parameters. Results were evaluated using the RMSEs between the precise horizontal coordinates of the digitized check points and those estimated through the transformation models using the computed transformation parameters. For each set of GCPs, three different configurations of GCPs and check points were tested, and average RMSEs are reported. It was found that for the 2D transformation models, average RMSEs were in the range of five meters. Increasing the number of GCPs from six to ten points improve the accuracy of the results with about two and half meters. Further increasing the number of GCPs didn’t improve the results significantly. Using the 3D to 2D transformation parameters provided three to two meters accuracy. Best results were reported using the DLT transformation model. However, increasing the number of GCPS didn’t have substantial effect. The results support the use of the DLT model as it provides the required accuracy for ASPRS large scale mapping standards. However, well distributed sets of GCPs is a key to provide such accuracy. The model is simple to apply and doesn’t need substantial computations.

Keywords: mars, photogrammetry, MOLA, HiRISE

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Authors: G. A. Khalid, M. D. Jones, R. Prabhu, A. Mason-Jones, W. Whittington, H. Bakhtiarydavijani, P. S. Theobald

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Head injury in childhood is a common cause of death or permanent disability from injury. However, despite its frequency and significance, there is little understanding of how a child’s head responds during injurious loading. Whilst Infant Post Mortem Human Subject (PMHS) experimentation is a logical approach to understand injury biomechanics, it is the authors’ opinion that a lack of subject availability is hindering potential progress. Computer modelling adds great value when considering adult populations; however, its potential remains largely untapped for infant surrogates. The complexities of child growth and development, which result in age dependent changes in anatomy, geometry and physical response characteristics, present new challenges for computational simulation. Further geometric challenges are presented by the intricate infant cranial bones, which are separated by sutures and fontanelles and demonstrate a visible fibre orientation. This study presents an FE model of a newborn infant’s head, developed from high-resolution computer tomography scans, informed by published tissue material properties. To mimic the fibre orientation of immature cranial bone, anisotropic properties were applied to the FE cranial bone model, with elastic moduli representing the bone response both parallel and perpendicular to the fibre orientation. Biofiedility of the computational model was confirmed by global validation against published PMHS data, by replicating experimental impact tests with a series of computational simulations, in terms of head kinematic responses. Numerical results confirm that the FE head model’s mechanical response is in favourable agreement with the PMHS drop test results.

Keywords: finite element analysis, impact simulation, infant head trauma, material properties, post mortem human subjects

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Authors: Prashant Parhad, Vinayak Dakre, Ajay Likhite, Jatin Bhatt

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This work mainly focuses on machinability studies of Austempered Ductile Iron (ADI). The Ductile Iron (DI) was austempered at 250 oC for different durations and the process window for austempering was established by studying the microstructure. The microstructural characterization of the material was done using optical microscopy, SEM and XRD. The samples austempered as per the process window were then subjected to turning using a TiAlN-coated tungsten carbide insert to study the effect of cutting parameters, namely the cutting speed and the depth of cut. The effect was investigated in terms of cutting forces required as well as the surface roughness obtained. The turning was conducted on a CNC turning machine and primary (Fx), radial (Fy) and feed (Fz) cutting forces were quantified with a three-component dynamometer. It was observed that the magnitude of radial force was more than that of primary cutting force for all cutting speed and for various depths of cut studied. It has also been seen that increasing the cutting speed improves the surface quality. The observed machinability behaviour was investigated in light of the microstructure of the material obtained under the given austempering conditions and a structure-property- co-relation was established between the two. For all cutting speed and depth of cut, the best machining response in terms of cutting forces and surface quality was obtained towards the centre of process window.

Keywords: process window, cutting speed, depth of cut, surface roughness

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Authors: Aydemir Akyürek, Osman Nuri Ağdağ

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Construction industry is in a rapid development for many years around the world and especially in Turkey. In the last three years sector has 10% growth and provides significant support on Turkey’s national economy. Many construction projects are on-going at urban and rural areas of Turkey which have substantial environmental impacts. Environmental impacts during construction phase are quite diversified and widespread. Environmental impacts of construction industry cannot be inspected properly in all cases and negative impacts may occur frequently in many projects in Turkey. In this study, implementation of ISO 14001 Environmental Management System (EMS) in construction plants is evaluated. In the beginning stage quality management systems generally reviewed and ISO 14001 EMS is selected for implementation. Standard requirements are examined first and implementation of every standard requirement is elaborated for the selected construction plant in the following stage. Key issues and common problems, gained benefits by execution of this type of international EMS standard are examined. As can be seen in sample projects, construction projects are being completed very fast and contractors are working in a highly competitive environment with low profit ratios in our country and mostly qualified work force cannot be accessible. Addition to this there are deficits on waste handling and environmental infrastructure. Besides construction companies which have substantial investments on EMSs can be faced with difficulties on competitiveness in domestic market, however professional Turkish contractors which implementing managements systems in larger scale at international projects are gaining successful results. Also the concept of ‘construction project management’ which is being implemented in successful projects worldwide cannot be implemented except larger projects in Turkey. In case of nonexistence of main management system (quality) implementation of EMSs cannot be managed. Despite all constraints, EMSs that will be implemented in this industry with commitment of top managements and demand of customers will be an enabling, facilitating tool to determine environmental aspects and impacts of construction sites, will provide higher compliance levels for environmental legislation, to establish best available methods for operational control on waste management, chemicals management etc. and to plan monitoring and measurement, to prioritize environmental aspects for investment schedules and waste management.

Keywords: environmental management system, construction projects, ISO 14001, quality

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Authors: Benalia Nadia, Bensiali Nadia, Zerzouri Noura

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This paper presents an analysis of the effects of parameters np and nq for exponential load on the transmission line voltage profile, transferred power and transmission losses for different shunt compensation size. For different values for np and nq in which active and reactive power vary with it is terminal voltages as in exponential form, variations of the load voltage for different sizes of shunt capacitors are simulated with a simple two-bus power system using Matlab SimPowerSystems Toolbox. It is observed that the compensation level is significantly affected by the voltage sensitivities of loads.

Keywords: static load model, shunt compensation, transmission system, exponentiel load model

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Authors: Zahidul Islam

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This study investigates the effectiveness of resourcing in post-disaster housing reconstruction with reference to Cyclones Sidr and Aila in Bangladesh. Through evaluating three key theories- Build Back Better approach, Balance Scorecard approach and Dynamic Competency theories, the synthesis of literature, and empirical fieldwork, this research develops a dynamic theoretical framework that moves the trajectory of post-disaster housing reconstruction towards the reconstruction of more resilient houses. The ultimate goal of any post-disaster housing reconstruction project is to provide quality houses and to achieve high levels of satisfaction for beneficiaries. However, post-disaster reconstruction projects often fail in their stated objectives; only 10-20% housing needs are met, with most houses constructed on a temporary rather than permanent basis. A number of scholars have argued that access to resources can significantly increase the capacity and capability of disaster victims to rebuild their lives, including the construction of new homes. This study draws on structured interviews of 285 villagers affected by cyclones to investigate the effectiveness of resourcing in rebuilding houses after Cyclone Sidr in 2007 and Cyclone Aila in 2009. Furthermore, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 20 key stakeholders in UNDP, Oxfam, government officials, and national and international NGOs. The results of this study show that recovery rate of cyclone resilient houses that can withstand cyclone is very low and majority of the population are still vulnerable. Furthermore, hierarchical regression of survey data and thematic analyses of qualitative data indicate that access to resources, level of education, quality of building materials and income generating activities of the respondents are critical for effective post-disaster recovery. Conversely, resource availability, lack of coordination among participant organisations, corruption and lack of access to appropriate land constituted significant obstacles to livelihood recovery. Finally, this study makes significant theoretical contributions to theories of post-disaster recovery by introducing new variables and measures for evaluating the quality and effectiveness of post-disaster housing.

Keywords: disaster, resourcing, housing, resilience

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Authors: Ritesh Watharkar, Sourabh Chakraborty, Brijesh Srivastava

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Reduction of water from the fruits and vegetables using different drying techniques is widely employed to prolong the shelf life of these food commodities. Heat transfer occurs inside the sample by conduction and mass transfer takes place by diffusion in accordance with temperature and moisture concentration gradient respectively during drying. This study was undertaken to study and model the thin layer drying behavior of Bhimkol pulp. The drying was conducted in a tray drier at 500c temperature with 5, 10 and 15 % concentrations of added maltodextrin. The drying experiments were performed at 5mm thickness of the thin layer and the constant air velocity of 0.5 m/s.Drying data were fitted to different thin layer drying models found in the literature. Comparison of fitted models was based on highest R2(0.9917), lowest RMSE (0.03201), and lowest SSE (0.01537) revealed Middle equation as the best-fitted model for thin layer drying with 10% concentration of maltodextrin. The effective diffusivity was estimated based on the solution of Fick’s law of diffusion which is found in the range of 3.0396 x10-09 to 5.0661 x 10-09. There was a reduction in drying time with the addition of maltodextrin as compare to the raw pulp.

Keywords: Bhimkol, diffusivity, maltodextrine, Midilli model

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Authors: Mohamed Sahli, David Bassir, Thierry Barriere, Xavier Roizard

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Predicting the behaviour of the Ti-6Al-4V alloy during the turning operation was very important in the choice of suitable cutting tools and also in the machining strategies. In this study, a 3D model with thermo-mechanical coupling has been proposed to study the influence of cutting parameters and also lubrication on the performance of cutting tools. The constants of the constitutive Johnson-Cook model of Ti-6Al-4V alloy were identified using inverse analysis based on the parameters of the orthogonal cutting process. Then, numerical simulations of the finishing machining operation were developed and experimentally validated for the cylindrical stock removal stage with the finishing cutting tool.

Keywords: titanium turning, cutting tools, FE simulation, chip

Procedia PDF Downloads 163

Authors: Leo Nnamdi Ozurumba-Dwight

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Single-cell genomic analytical systems have proved to be a platform to isolate bulk cells into selected single cells for genomic, proteomic, and related metabolomic studies. This is enabling systematic investigations of the level of heterogeneity in a diverse and wide pool of cell populations. Single cell technologies, embracing techniques such as high parameter flow cytometry, single-cell sequencing, and high-resolution images are playing vital roles in these investigations on messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) molecules and related gene expressions in tracking the nature and course of disease conditions. This entails targeted molecular investigations on unit cells that help us understand cell behavoiur and expressions, which can be examined for their health implications on the health state of patients. One of the vital good sides of single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA seq) is its probing capacity to detect deranged or abnormal cell populations present within homogenously perceived pooled cells, which would have evaded cursory screening on the pooled cell populations of biological samples obtained as part of diagnostic procedures. Despite conduction of just single-cell transcriptome analysis, scRNAseq now permits comparison of the transcriptome of the individual cells, which can be evaluated for gene expressional patterns that depict areas of heterogeneity with pharmaceutical drug discovery and clinical treatment applications. It is vital to strictly work through the tools of investigations from wet lab to bioinformatics and computational tooled analyses. In the precise steps for scRNAseq, it is critical to do thorough and effective isolation of viable single cells from the tissues of interest using dependable techniques (such as FACS) before proceeding to lysis, as this enhances the appropriate picking of quality mRNA molecules for subsequent sequencing (such as by the use of Polymerase Chain Reaction machine). Interestingly, scRNAseq can be deployed to analyze various types of biological samples such as embryos, nervous systems, tumour cells, stem cells, lymphocytes, and haematopoietic cells. In haematopoietic cells, it can be used to stratify acute myeloid leukemia patterns in patients, sorting them out into cohorts that enable re-modeling of treatment regimens based on stratified presentations. In immunotherapy, it can furnish specialist clinician-immunologist with tools to re-model treatment for each patient, an attribute of precision medicine. Finally, the good predictive attribute of scRNAseq can help reduce the cost of treatment for patients, thus attracting more patients who would have otherwise been discouraged from seeking quality clinical consultation help due to perceived high cost. This is a positive paradigm shift for patients’ attitudes primed towards seeking treatment.

Keywords: immunotherapy, transcriptome, re-modeling, mRNA, scRNA-seq

Procedia PDF Downloads 163

Authors: Laidi Maamar, Achwak Madani, Abdellah El Ahdj Abdellah

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The aim of this work is to use Support Vector regression (SVR) combined with dragonfly, firefly, Bee Colony and particle swarm Optimization algorithm to predict global solar radiation on horizontal surfaces in some cities in Algeria. Combining these optimization algorithms with SVR aims principally to enhance accuracy by fine-tuning the parameters, speeding up the convergence of the SVR model, and exploring a larger search space efficiently; these parameters are the regularization parameter (C), kernel parameters, and epsilon parameter. By doing so, the aim is to improve the generalization and predictive accuracy of the SVR model. Overall, the aim is to leverage the strengths of both SVR and optimization algorithms to create a more powerful and effective regression model for various cities and under different climate conditions. Results demonstrate close agreement between predicted and measured data in terms of different metrics. In summary, SVM has proven to be a valuable tool in modeling global solar radiation, offering accurate predictions and demonstrating versatility when combined with other algorithms or used in hybrid forecasting models.

Keywords: support vector regression (SVR), optimization algorithms, global solar radiation prediction, hybrid forecasting models

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Authors: Mohammed Muzafar, Darshan Ruikar

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BIM, an acronym for Building Information Modelling relates to the practice of creating a computer generated model which is capable of displaying the planning, design, construction and operation of a structure. The resulting simulation is a data-rich, object-oriented, intelligent and parametric digital representation of the facility, from which views and data, appropriate to various users needs can be extracted and analysed to generate information that can be used to make decisions and to improve the process of delivering the facility. BIM also refers to a shift in culture that will influence the way the built environment and infrastructure operates and how it is delivered. One of the main issues of concern in the construction industry at present in the UK is its record on Health & Safety (H&S). It is, therefore, important that new technologies such as BIM are developed to help improve the quality of health and safety. Historically the H&S record of the construction industry in the UK is relatively poor as compared to the manufacturing industries. BIM and the digital environment it operates within now allow us to use design and construction data in a more intelligent way. It allows data generated by the design process to be re-purposed and contribute to improving efficiencies in other areas of a project. This evolutionary step in design is not only creating exciting opportunities for the designers themselves but it is also creating opportunity for every stakeholder in any given project. From designers, engineers, contractors through to H&S managers, BIM is accelerating a cultural change. The paper introduces the concept behind a research project that mitigates the H&S risks associated with the construction, operation and maintenance of assets through the adoption of BIM.

Keywords: building information modeling, BIM levels, health, safety, integration

Procedia PDF Downloads 236

Authors: Sema Kayapinar, Ismail Karaoglan, Turan Paksoy, Hadi Gokcen

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Green Supply Chain Management is gaining growing interest among researchers and supply chain management. The concept of Green Supply Chain Management is to integrate environmental thinking into the Supply Chain Management. It is the systematic concept emphasis on environmental problems such as reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, energy efficiency, recycling end of life products, generation of solid and hazardous waste. This study is to present a green supply chain network model integrated Internet of Things applications. Internet of Things provides to get precise and accurate information of end-of-life product with sensors and systems devices. The forward direction consists of suppliers, plants, distributions centres and sales and collect centres while, the reverse flow includes the sales and collects centres, disassembled centre, recycling and disposal centre. The sales and collection centre sells the new products are transhipped from factory via distribution centre and also receive the end-of life product according their value level. We describe green logistics activities by presenting specific examples including “recycling of the returned products and “reduction of CO2 gas emissions”. The different transportation choices are illustrated between echelons according to their CO2 gas emissions. This problem is formulated as a mixed integer linear programming model to solve the green supply chain problems which are emerged from the environmental awareness and responsibilities. This model is solved by using Gams package program. Numerical examples are suggested to illustrate the efficiency of the proposed model.

Keywords: green supply chain optimization, internet of things, greenhouse gas emission, recycling

Procedia PDF Downloads 322