Search results for: expectation setting conversation
1486 A Scalable Media Job Framework for an Open Source Search Engine
Authors: Pooja Mishra, Chris Pollett
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This paper explores efficient ways to implement various media-updating features like news aggregation, video conversion, and bulk email handling. All of these jobs share the property that they are periodic in nature, and they all benefit from being handled in a distributed fashion. The data for these jobs also often comes from a social or collaborative source. We isolate the class of periodic, one round map reduce jobs as a useful setting to describe and handle media updating tasks. As such tasks are simpler than general map reduce jobs, programming them in a general map reduce platform could easily become tedious. This paper presents a MediaUpdater module of the Yioop Open Source Search Engine Web Portal designed to handle such jobs via an extension of a PHP class. We describe how to implement various media-updating tasks in our system as well as experiments carried out using these implementations on an Amazon Web Services cluster.Keywords: distributed jobs framework, news aggregation, video conversion, email
Procedia PDF Downloads 2981485 The Methods of Customer Satisfaction Measurement and Its Statistical Analysis towards Sales and Logistic Activities in Food Sector
Authors: Seher Arslankaya, Bahar Uludağ
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Meeting the needs and demands of customers and pleasing the customers are important requirements for companies in food sectors where the growth of competition is significantly unpredictable. Customer satisfaction is also one of the key concepts which is mainly driven by wide range of customer preference and expectation upon products and services introduced and delivered to them. In order to meet the customer demands, the companies that engage in food sectors are expected to have a well-managed set of Total Quality Management (TQM), which sets out to improve quality of products and services; to reduce costs and to increase customer satisfaction by restructuring traditional management practices. It aims to increase customer satisfaction by meeting (their) customer expectations and requirements. The achievement would be determined with the help of customer satisfaction surveys, which is done to obtain immediate feedback and to provide quick responses. In addition, the surveys would also assist the making of strategic planning which helps to anticipate customer future needs and expectations. Meanwhile, periodic measurement of customer satisfaction would be a must because with the better understanding of customers perceptions from the surveys (done by questioners), the companies would have a clear idea to identify their own strengths and weaknesses that help the companies keep their loyal customers; to stand in comparison toward their competitors and map out their future progress and improvement. In this study, we propose a survey based on customer satisfaction measurement method and its statistical analysis for sales and logistic activities of food firms. Customer satisfaction would be discussed in details. Furthermore, after analysing the data derived from the questionnaire that applied to customers by using the SPSS software, various results obtained from the application would be presented. By also applying ANOVA test, the study would analysis the existence of meaningful differences between customer demographic proportion and their perceptions. The purpose of this study is also to find out requirements which help to remove the effects that decrease customer satisfaction and produce loyal customers in food industry. For this purpose, the customer complaints are collected. Additionally, comments and suggestions are done according to the obtained results of surveys, which would be useful for the making-process of strategic planning in food industry.Keywords: customer satisfaction measurement and analysis, food industry, SPSS, TQM
Procedia PDF Downloads 2491484 Perceptions and Expectations by Participants of Monitoring and Evaluation Short Course Training Programmes in Africa
Authors: Mokgophana Ramasobana
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Background: At the core of the demand to utilize evidence-based approaches in the policy-making cycle, prioritization of limited financial resources and results driven initiatives is the urgency to develop a cohort of competent Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) practitioners and public servants. The ongoing strides in the evaluation capacity building (ECB) initiatives are a direct response to produce the highly-sought after M&E skills. Notwithstanding the rapid growth of M&E short courses, participants perceived value and expectation of M&E short courses as a panacea for ECB have not been empirically quantified or measured. The objective of this article is to explicitly illustrate the importance of measuring ECB interventions and understanding what works in ECB and why it works. Objectives: This article illustrates the importance of establishing empirical ECB measurement tools to evaluate ECB interventions in order to ascertain its contribution to the broader evaluation practice. Method: The study was primarily a desktop review of existing literature, juxtaposed by a survey of the participants across the African continent based on the 43 M&E short courses hosted by the Centre for Learning on Evaluation and Results Anglophone Africa (CLEAR-AA) in collaboration with the Department of Planning Monitoring and Evaluation (DPME) Results: The article established that participants perceive short course training as a panacea to improve their M&E practical skill critical to executing their organizational duties. In tandem, participants are likely to demand customized training as opposed to general topics in Evaluation. However, the organizational environments constrain the application of the newly acquired skills. Conclusion: This article aims to contribute to the 'how to' measure ECB interventions discourse and contribute towards the improvement to evaluate ECB interventions. The study finds that participants prefer training courses with longer duration to cover more topics. At the same time, whilst organizations call for customization of programmes, the study found that individual participants demand knowledge of generic and popular evaluation topics.Keywords: evaluation capacity building, effectiveness and training, monitoring and evaluation (M&E) short course training, perceptions and expectations
Procedia PDF Downloads 1281483 Monetary Policy and Assets Prices in Nigeria: Testing for the Direction of Relationship
Authors: Jameelah Omolara Yaqub
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One of the main reasons for the existence of central bank is that it is believed that central banks have some influence on private sector decisions which will enable the Central Bank to achieve some of its objectives especially that of stable price and economic growth. By the assumption of the New Keynesian theory that prices are fully flexible in the short run, the central bank can temporarily influence real interest rate and, therefore, have an effect on real output in addition to nominal prices. There is, therefore, the need for the Central Bank to monitor, respond to, and influence private sector decisions appropriately. This thus shows that the Central Bank and the private sector will both affect and be affected by each other implying considerable interdependence between the sectors. The interdependence may be simultaneous or not depending on the level of information, readily available and how sensitive prices are to agents’ expectations about the future. The aim of this paper is, therefore, to determine whether the interdependence between asset prices and monetary policy are simultaneous or not and how important is this relationship. Studies on the effects of monetary policy have largely used VAR models to identify the interdependence but most have found small effects of interaction. Some earlier studies have ignored the possibility of simultaneous interdependence while those that have allowed for simultaneous interdependence used data from developed economies only. This study, therefore, extends the literature by using data from a developing economy where information might not be readily available to influence agents’ expectation. In this study, the direction of relationship among variables of interest will be tested by carrying out the Granger causality test. Thereafter, the interaction between asset prices and monetary policy in Nigeria will be tested. Asset prices will be represented by the NSE index as well as real estate prices while monetary policy will be represented by money supply and the MPR respectively. The VAR model will be used to analyse the relationship between the variables in order to take account of potential simultaneity of interdependence. The study will cover the period between 1980 and 2014 due to data availability. It is believed that the outcome of the research will guide monetary policymakers especially the CBN to effectively influence the private sector decisions and thereby achieve its objectives of price stability and economic growth.Keywords: asset prices, granger causality, monetary policy rate, Nigeria
Procedia PDF Downloads 2201482 A Genetic Algorithm Based Permutation and Non-Permutation Scheduling Heuristics for Finite Capacity Material Requirement Planning Problem
Authors: Watchara Songserm, Teeradej Wuttipornpun
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This paper presents a genetic algorithm based permutation and non-permutation scheduling heuristics (GAPNP) to solve a multi-stage finite capacity material requirement planning (FCMRP) problem in automotive assembly flow shop with unrelated parallel machines. In the algorithm, the sequences of orders are iteratively improved by the GA characteristics, whereas the required operations are scheduled based on the presented permutation and non-permutation heuristics. Finally, a linear programming is applied to minimize the total cost. The presented GAPNP algorithm is evaluated by using real datasets from automotive companies. The required parameters for GAPNP are intently tuned to obtain a common parameter setting for all case studies. The results show that GAPNP significantly outperforms the benchmark algorithm about 30% on average.Keywords: capacitated MRP, genetic algorithm, linear programming, automotive industries, flow shop, application in industry
Procedia PDF Downloads 4891481 Ranking Theory-The Paradigm Shift in Statistical Approach to the Issue of Ranking in a Sports League
Authors: E. Gouya Bozorg
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The issue of ranking of sports teams, in particular soccer teams is of primary importance in the professional sports. However, it is still based on classical statistics and models outside of area of mathematics. Rigorous mathematics and then statistics despite the expectation held of them have not been able to effectively engage in the issue of ranking. It is something that requires serious pathology. The purpose of this study is to change the approach to get closer to mathematics proper for using in the ranking. We recommend using theoretical mathematics as a good option because it can hermeneutically obtain the theoretical concepts and criteria needful for the ranking from everyday language of a League. We have proposed a framework that puts the issue of ranking into a new space that we have applied in soccer as a case study. This is an experimental and theoretical study on the issue of ranking in a professional soccer league based on theoretical mathematics, followed by theoretical statistics. First, we showed the theoretical definition of constant number Є = 1.33 or ‘golden number’ of a soccer league. Then, we have defined the ‘efficiency of a team’ by this number and formula of μ = (Pts / (k.Є)) – 1, in which Pts is a point obtained by a team in k number of games played. Moreover, K.Є index has been used to show the theoretical median line in the league table and to compare top teams and bottom teams. Theoretical coefficient of σ= 1 / (1+ (Ptx / Ptxn)) has also been defined that in every match between the teams x, xn, with respect to the ability of a team and the points of both of them Ptx, Ptxn, and it gives a performance point resulting in a special ranking for the League. And it has been useful particularly in evaluating the performance of weaker teams. The current theory has been examined for the statistical data of 4 major European Leagues during the period of 1998-2014. Results of this study showed that the issue of ranking is dependent on appropriate theoretical indicators of a League. These indicators allowed us to find different forms of ranking of teams in a league including the ‘special table’ of a league. Furthermore, on this basis the issue of a record of team has been revised and amended. In addition, the theory of ranking can be used to compare and classify the different leagues and tournaments. Experimental results obtained from archival statistics of major professional leagues in the world in the past two decades have confirmed the theory. This topic introduces a new theory for ranking of a soccer league. Moreover, this theory can be used to compare different leagues and tournaments.Keywords: efficiency of a team, ranking, special table, theoretical mathematic
Procedia PDF Downloads 4181480 The Analysis on the Renewal Strategy of Public Space in Old Communities with an Example of GeDa Community in Xi'An
Authors: Xiyue Wen
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With the rapid development of the city, old communities in the city are facing a series of problems. On one hand, aging facilities, obsolete spatial patterns, aging populations arouse in the aging of the community. On the other hand, public space is reduced and is taking up by cars parking or facilities setting, which lead to the collapse of traditional life in the old communities. That is to say, modern amenities haven’t helped to reform the old community, but have leading to tedious and inefficient, when it is not accommodated in the traditional space. Exploring a way is imminent to the east the contradiction between modern living facilities and spatial patterns of traditional. We select a typical site-GeDa Community in Xi’an, built in 70-80s,and carry out a concept calling 'Raising Landscape', which enables a convenient and efficient space for parking, as well as a high-quality yard for activities. In addition, the design implements low cost, simple construction, resident participation, so that it can be spread in the same texture of urban space.Keywords: old communities, renewal strategy, raising landscape, public space, parking space
Procedia PDF Downloads 4801479 Students’ View on Sexuality Education
Authors: Hoi Nga Ng, Kam Weng Boey, Chi Wai Kwan, Hing Kwan To
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The effectiveness of school-based sexuality education (SBSE) depends largely on adolescents’ attitudes towards sexuality and SBSE. This study examined factors (demographic characteristics, religiosity, and spirituality) associated with students’ sexual attitudes and their views on SBSE. Data were collected via a questionnaire through convenience sampling from three secondary schools. A total of 818 students participated in the study. Male students were generally more permissive in sexual attitudes. Female students were specifically more liberal in attitudes towards abortion, contraception, infection of sexually transmitted diseases, and homosexuality. Higher levels of religiosity and spirituality were negatively associated with permissive sexual attitudes. As in the West, students showed positive attitudes towards SBSE, which provided a fertile ground for SBSE. However, female gender, conservative sexual attitudes, religiosity, and spirituality were positively related to attitudes towards SBSE, which were incongruent with what was found in Western studies. Implementation of SBSE needs to consider factors specific to the local cultural setting.Keywords: religiosity, school-based sexuality education, secondary school, spirituality
Procedia PDF Downloads 1281478 Biomedical Countermeasures to Category a Biological Agents
Authors: Laura Cochrane
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The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has established three categories of biological agents based on their ease of spread and the severity of the disease they cause. Category A biological agents are the highest priority because of their high degree of morbidity and mortality, ease of dissemination, the potential to cause social disruption and panic, special requirements for public health preparedness, and past use as a biological weapon. Despite the threat of Category A biological agents, opportunities for medical intervention exist. This work summarizes public information, consolidated and reviewed across the situational usefulness and disease awareness to offer discussion to three specific Category A agents: anthrax (Bacillus anthracis), botulism (Clostridium botulinum toxin), and smallpox (variola major), and provides an overview on the management of medical countermeasures available to treat these three (3) different types of pathogens. The medical countermeasures are discussed in the setting of pre-exposure prophylaxis, post-exposure prophylaxis, and therapeutic treatments to provide a framework for requirements in public health preparedness.Keywords: anthrax, botulism, smallpox, medical countermeasures
Procedia PDF Downloads 761477 An Investigation on Material Removal Rate of EDM Process: A Response Surface Methodology Approach
Authors: Azhar Equbal, Anoop Kumar Sood, M. Asif Equbal, M. Israr Equbal
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In the present work response surface methodology (RSM) based central composite design (CCD) is used for analyzing the electrical discharge machining (EDM) process. For experimentation, mild steel is selected as work piece and copper is used as electrode. Three machining parameters namely current (I), spark on time (Ton) and spark off time (Toff) are selected as the input variables. The output or response chosen is material removal rate (MRR) which is to be maximized. To reduce the number of runs face centered central composite design (FCCCD) was used. ANOVA was used to determine the significance of parameter and interactions. The suitability of model is tested using Anderson darling (AD) plot. The results conclude that different parameters considered i.e. current, pulse on and pulse off time; all have dominant effect on the MRR. At last, the optimized parameter setting for maximizing MRR is found through main effect plot analysis.Keywords: EDM, electrode, MRR, RSM, ANOVA
Procedia PDF Downloads 3051476 Fostering Enriched Teaching and Learning Experience Using Effective Cyber-Physical Learning Environment
Authors: Shubhakar K., Nachamma S., Judy T., Jacob S. C., Melvin Lee, Kenneth Lo
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In recent years, technological advancements have ushered in a new era of education characterized by the integration of technology-enabled devices and online tools. The cyber-physical learning environment (CPLE) is a prime example of this evolution, merging remote cyber participants with in-class learners through immersive technology, interactive digital whiteboards, and online communication platforms like Zoom and MS Teams. This approach transforms the teaching and learning experience into a more seamless, immersive, and inclusive one. This paper outlines the design principles and key features of CPLE that support both teaching and group-based activities. We also explore the key characteristics and potential impact of such environments on educational practices. By analyzing user feedback, we evaluate how technology enhances teaching and learning in a cyber-physical setting, its impact on learning outcomes, user-friendliness, and areas for further enhancement to optimize the teaching and learning environment.Keywords: cyber-physical class, hybrid teaching, online learning, remote learning, technology enabled learning
Procedia PDF Downloads 361475 Water Balance Components under Climate Change in Croatia
Authors: Jelena Bašić, Višnjica Vučetić, Mislav Anić, Tomislav Bašić
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Lack of precipitation combined with high temperatures causes great damage to the agriculture and economy in Croatia. Therefore, it is important to understand water circulation and balance. We decided to gain a better insight into the spatial distribution of water balance components (WBC) and their long-term changes in Croatia. WBC are precipitation (P), potential evapotranspiration (PET), actual evapotranspiration (ET), soil moisture content (S), runoff (RO), recharge (R), and soil moisture loss (L). Since measurements of the mentioned components in Croatia are very rare, the Palmer model has been applied to estimate them. We refined method by setting into the account the corrective factor to include influence effects of the wind as well as a maximum soil capacity for specific soil types. We will present one hundred years’ time series of PET and ET showing the trends at few meteorological stations and a comparison of components of two climatological periods. The meteorological data from 109 stations have been used for the spatial distribution map of the WBC of Croatia.Keywords: croatia, long-term trends, the palmer method, water balance components
Procedia PDF Downloads 1411474 Transformer Design Optimization Using Artificial Intelligence Techniques
Authors: Zakir Husain
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Main objective of a power transformer design optimization problem requires minimizing the total overall cost and/or mass of the winding and core material by satisfying all possible constraints obligatory by the standards and transformer user requirement. The constraints include appropriate limits on winding fill factor, temperature rise, efficiency, no-load current and voltage regulation. The design optimizations tasks are a constrained minimum cost and/or mass solution by optimally setting the parameters, geometry and require magnetic properties of the transformer. In this paper, present the above design problems have been formulated by using genetic algorithm (GA) and simulated annealing (SA) on the MATLAB platform. The importance of the presented approach is stems for two main features. First, proposed technique provides reliable and efficient solution for the problem of design optimization with several variables. Second, it guaranteed to obtained solution is global optimum. This paper includes a demonstration of the application of the genetic programming GP technique to transformer design.Keywords: optimization, power transformer, genetic algorithm (GA), simulated annealing technique (SA)
Procedia PDF Downloads 5831473 Learning and Practicing Assessment in a Pre-Service Teacher Education Program: Comparative Perspective of UK and Pakistani Universities
Authors: Malik Ghulam Behlol, Alison Fox, Faiza Masood, Sabiha Arshad
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This paper explores the barriers to the application of learning-supportive assessment at teaching practicum while investigating the role of university teachers (UT), cooperative teachers (CT), prospective teachers ( PT) and heads of the practicum schools (HPS) in the selected universities of Pakistan and the UK. It is a qualitative case study and data were collected through the lesson observation of UT in the pre-service teacher education setting and PT in practicum schools. Interviews with UT, HPS, and Focus Group Discussions with PT were conducted too. The study has concluded that as compared to the UK counterpart, PT in Pakistan faces significant barriers in applying learning-supportive assessment in the school practicum settings because of large class sizes, lack of institutionalised collaboration between universities and schools, poor modelling of the lesson, ineffective feedback practices, lower order thinking assignments, and limited opportunities to use technology in school settings.Keywords: assessment, pre-service teacher education, theory-practice gap, teacher education
Procedia PDF Downloads 1221472 To Investigate a Discharge Planning Connect with Long Term Care 2.0 Program in a Medical Center in Taiwan
Authors: Chan Hui-Ya, Ding Shin-Tan
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Background and Aim: The discharge planning is considered helpful to reduce the hospital length of stay and readmission rate, and then increased satisfaction with healthcare for patients and professionals. In order to decrease the waiting time of long-term care and boost the care quality of patients after discharge from the hospital, the Ministry of Health and Welfare department in Taiwan initiates a program “discharge planning connects with long-term care 2.0 services” in 2017. The purpose of this study is to investigate the outcome of the pilot of this program in a medical center. Methods: By purpose sampling, the study chose five wards in a medical center as pilot units. The researchers compared the beds of service, the numbers of cases which were transferred to the long-term care center and transferred rates per month between the pilot units and the other units, and analyze the basic data, the long-term care service needs and the approval service items of cases transfer to the long-term care center in pilot units. Results: From June to September 2017, a total of 92 referrals were made, and 51 patients were enrolled into the pilot program. There is a significant difference of transferring rate between the pilot units and the other units (χ = 702.6683, p < 0.001). Only 20 cases (39.2% success rate) were approved to accept the parts of service items of long-term care in the pilot units. The most approval item was respite care service (n = 13; 65%), while it was third at needs ranking of service lists during linking services process. Among the reasons of patients who cancelled the request, 38.71% reasons were related to the services which could not match the patients’ needs and expectation. Conclusion: The results indicate there is a requirement to modify the long-term care services to fit the needs of cases. The researchers suggest estimating the potential cases by screening data from hospital informatics systems and to hire more case manager according the service time of potential cases. Meanwhile, the strategies shortened the assessment scale and authorized hospital case managers to approve some items of long-term care should be considered.Keywords: discharge planning, long-term care, case manager, patient care
Procedia PDF Downloads 2861471 Comparison of Chlorophyll Contents in Common Bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) and Runner Bean (P. coccineous L.) Genotypes
Authors: Huseyin Canci
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Chlorophylls are green photosynthetic pigment in plants. Therefore, photosynthesis in plants occurs in the leaves. Roles of chlorophylls help plants to get energy from light. The aim of the present study is to compare of chlorophyll contents in some bean species including common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) and runner bean (P. coccineous L.) and genotypes. This research was carried out in fields of Faculty of Agriculture, Akdeniz University in Antalya. Species and genotypes were grown in 2 m single row and 50 cm row spacing. A randomized blocks design was used with two replications. Totally, 124 beans species and genotypes which 122 common beans and 2 runner beans were sown on February, 17th 2014 by hand. Chlorophyll a + b (SPAD values) were determined seedling stage, days to flowering 50% and pod setting stage on bean genotypes. Results showed that there were significant differences for genotypes, stages and interaction of genotypes X stages. There was statistically significant relationships between yield and chlorophyll content of bean species and genotypes.Keywords: bean, chlorophyll, Phaseolus, SPAD values
Procedia PDF Downloads 2421470 Analyses and Optimization of Physical and Mechanical Properties of Direct Recycled Aluminium Alloy (AA6061) Wastes by ANOVA Approach
Authors: Mohammed H. Rady, Mohd Sukri Mustapa, S Shamsudin, M. A. Lajis, A. Wagiman
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The present study is aimed at investigating microhardness and density of aluminium alloy chips when subjected to various settings of preheating temperature and preheating time. Three values of preheating temperature were taken as 450 °C, 500 °C, and 550 °C. On the other hand, three values of preheating time were chosen (1, 2, 3) hours. The influences of the process parameters (preheating temperature and time) were analyzed using Design of Experiments (DOE) approach whereby full factorial design with center point analysis was adopted. The total runs were 11 and they comprise of two factors of full factorial design with 3 center points. The responses were microhardness and density. The results showed that the density and microhardness increased with decreasing the preheating temperature. The results also found that the preheating temperature is more important to be controlled rather than the preheating time in microhardness analysis while both the preheating temperature and preheating time are important in density analysis. It can be concluded that setting temperature at 450 °C for 1 hour resulted in the optimum responses.Keywords: AA6061, density, DOE, hot extrusion, microhardness
Procedia PDF Downloads 3491469 Effect of Treated Peat Soil on the Plasticity Index and Hardening Time
Authors: Siti Nur Aida Mario, Farah Hafifee Ahmad, Rudy Tawie
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Soil Stabilization has been widely implemented in the construction industry nowadays. Peat soil is well known as one of the most problematic soil among the engineers. The procedures need to take into account both physical and engineering properties of the stabilized peat soil. This paper presents a result of plasticity index and hardening of treated peat soil with various dosage of additives. In order to determine plasticity of the treated peat soil, atterberg limit test which comprises plastic limit and liquid limit test has been conducted. Determination of liquid limit in this experimental study is by using cone penetrometer. Vicat testing apparatus has been used in the hardening test which the penetration of the plunger is recorded every one hour for 24 hours. The results show that the plasticity index of peat soil stabilized with 80% FAAC and 20% OPC has the lowest plasticity index and recorded the fastest initial setting time. The significant of this study is to promote greener solution for future soil stabilization industry.Keywords: additives, hardening, peat soil, plasticity index, soil stabilization
Procedia PDF Downloads 3291468 Visual Improvement with Low Vision Aids in Children with Stargardt’s Disease
Authors: Anum Akhter, Sumaira Altaf
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Purpose: To study the effect of low vision devices i.e. telescope and magnifying glasses on distance visual acuity and near visual acuity of children with Stargardt’s disease. Setting: Low vision department, Alshifa Trust Eye Hospital, Rawalpindi, Pakistan. Methods: 52 children having Stargardt’s disease were included in the study. All children were diagnosed by pediatrics ophthalmologists. Comprehensive low vision assessment was done by me in Low vision clinic. Visual acuity was measured using ETDRS chart. Refraction and other supplementary tests were performed. Children with Stargardt’s disease were provided with different telescopes and magnifying glasses for improving far vision and near vision. Results: Out of 52 children, 17 children were males and 35 children were females. Distance visual acuity and near visual acuity improved significantly with low vision aid trial. All children showed visual acuity better than 6/19 with a telescope of higher magnification. Improvement in near visual acuity was also significant with magnifying glasses trial. Conclusions: Low vision aids are useful for improvement in visual acuity in children. Children with Stargardt’s disease who are having a problem in education and daily life activities can get help from low vision aids.Keywords: Stargardt, s disease, low vision aids, telescope, magnifiers
Procedia PDF Downloads 5381467 Ovarian Stimulation and Oocyte Cryopreservation for Fertility Preservation in Adolescent Females at the Royal Children’s Hospital: A Case Series
Authors: Kira Merigan
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BACKGROUND- Fertility preservation (FP) measures are increasingly recognised as an important consideration for children and adolescents planned to undergo potentially damaging gonadotoxic therapy. Worldwide, there are very few documented cases of FP in young females by way of ovarian stimulation and oocyte cryopreservation.AIM – To report a case series of mature oocyte cryopreservation in 5post-pubertal adolescents aged 14-17 years old, with varied medical conditions requiring gonadotoxic treatment. SETTING-These cases took place via a multidisciplinary team approach at The Royal Children’s Hospital, a large tertiary centre in Melbourne, Australia. INTERVENTION– Ovarian stimulation and oocyte collection was performed as detailed in each case. RESULTS –Across the 5 patients, 3-28 oocytes were retrieved. We report pre-treatment workup, complications, and delays to treatment. CONCLUSION- Oocyte cryopreservation may be a safe alternative to ovarian tissue cryopreservation (OTC) in the adolescent populationKeywords: fertility preservation, adolescent, ovarian stimulation, oocyte cryopreservation
Procedia PDF Downloads 1671466 Active Learning through a Game Format: Implementation of a Nutrition Board Game in Diabetes Training for Healthcare Professionals
Authors: Li Jiuen Ong, Magdalin Cheong, Sri Rahayu, Lek Alexander, Pei Ting Tan
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Background: Previous programme evaluations from the diabetes training programme conducted in Changi General Hospital revealed that healthcare professionals (HCPs) are keen to receive advance diabetes training and education, specifically in medical, nutritional therapy. HCPs also expressed a preference for interactive activities over didactic teaching methods to enhance their learning. Since the War on Diabetes was initiated by MOH in 2016, HCPs are challenged to be actively involved in continuous education to be better equipped to reduce the growing burden of diabetes. Hence, streamlining training to incorporate an element of fun is of utmost importance. Aim: The nutrition programme incorporates game play using an interactive board game that aims to provide a more conducive and less stressful environment for learning. The board game could be adapted for training of community HCPs, health ambassadors or caregivers to cope with the increasing demand of diabetes care in the hospital and community setting. Methodology: Stages for game’s conception (Jaffe, 2001) were adopted in the development of the interactive board game ‘Sweet Score™ ’ Nutrition concepts and topics in diabetes self-management are embedded into the game elements of varying levels of difficulty (‘Easy,’ ‘Medium,’ ‘Hard’) including activities such as a) Drawing/ sculpting (Pictionary-like) b)Facts/ Knowledge (MCQs/ True or False) Word definition) c) Performing/ Charades To study the effects of game play on knowledge acquisition and perceived experiences, participants were randomised into two groups, i.e., lecture group (control) and game group (intervention), to test the difference. Results: Participants in both groups (control group, n= 14; intervention group, n= 13) attempted a pre and post workshop quiz to assess the effectiveness of knowledge acquisition. The scores were analysed using paired T-test. There was an improvement of quiz scores after attending the game play (mean difference: 4.3, SD: 2.0, P<0.001) and the lecture (mean difference: 3.4, SD: 2.1, P<0.001). However, there was no significance difference in the improvement of quiz scores between gameplay and lecture (mean difference: 0.9, 95%CI: -0.8 to 2.5, P=0.280). This suggests that gameplay may be as effective as a lecture in terms of knowledge transfer. All the13 HCPs who participated in the game rated 4 out of 5 on the likert scale for the favourable learning experience and relevance of learning to their job, whereas only 8 out of 14 HCPs in the lecture reported a high rating in both aspects. 16. Conclusion: There is no known board game currently designed for diabetes training for HCPs.Evaluative data from future training can provide insights and direction to improve the game format and cover other aspects of diabetes management such as self-care, exercise, medications and insulin management. Further testing of the board game to ensure learning objectives are met is important and can assist in the development of awell-designed digital game as an alternative training approach during the COVID-19 pandemic. Learning through gameplay increases opportunities for HCPs to bond, interact and learn through games in a relaxed social setting and potentially brings more joy to the workplace.Keywords: active learning, game, diabetes, nutrition
Procedia PDF Downloads 1741465 A Transform Domain Function Controlled VSSLMS Algorithm for Sparse System Identification
Authors: Cemil Turan, Mohammad Shukri Salman
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The convergence rate of the least-mean-square (LMS) algorithm deteriorates if the input signal to the filter is correlated. In a system identification problem, this convergence rate can be improved if the signal is white and/or if the system is sparse. We recently proposed a sparse transform domain LMS-type algorithm that uses a variable step-size for a sparse system identification. The proposed algorithm provided high performance even if the input signal is highly correlated. In this work, we investigate the performance of the proposed TD-LMS algorithm for a large number of filter tap which is also a critical issue for standard LMS algorithm. Additionally, the optimum value of the most important parameter is calculated for all experiments. Moreover, the convergence analysis of the proposed algorithm is provided. The performance of the proposed algorithm has been compared to different algorithms in a sparse system identification setting of different sparsity levels and different number of filter taps. Simulations have shown that the proposed algorithm has prominent performance compared to the other algorithms.Keywords: adaptive filtering, sparse system identification, TD-LMS algorithm, VSSLMS algorithm
Procedia PDF Downloads 3601464 Creative Thinking through Mindful Practices: A Business Class Case Study
Authors: Malavika Sundararajan
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This study introduces the use of mindfulness techniques in the classroom to make individuals aware of how the creative thinking process works, resulting in more constructive learning and application. Case observation method was utilized within a classroom setting in a graduate class in the Business School. It entailed, briefing the student participants about the use of a template called the dots and depths map, and having them complete it for themselves, compare it to their team members and reflect on the outputs. Finally, they were debriefed about the use of the template and its value to their learning and creative application process. The major finding is the increase in awareness levels of the participants following the use of the template, leading to a subsequent pursuit of diverse knowledge and acquisition of relevant information and not jumping to solutions directly, which increased their overall creative outputs for the given assignment. The significant value of this study is that it can be applied to any classroom on any subject as a powerful mindfulness tool which increases creative problem solving through constructive knowledge building.Keywords: connecting dots, mindful awareness, constructive knowledge building, learning creatively
Procedia PDF Downloads 1491463 Dataset Quality Index:Development of Composite Indicator Based on Standard Data Quality Indicators
Authors: Sakda Loetpiparwanich, Preecha Vichitthamaros
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Nowadays, poor data quality is considered one of the majority costs for a data project. The data project with data quality awareness almost as much time to data quality processes while data project without data quality awareness negatively impacts financial resources, efficiency, productivity, and credibility. One of the processes that take a long time is defining the expectations and measurements of data quality because the expectation is different up to the purpose of each data project. Especially, big data project that maybe involves with many datasets and stakeholders, that take a long time to discuss and define quality expectations and measurements. Therefore, this study aimed at developing meaningful indicators to describe overall data quality for each dataset to quick comparison and priority. The objectives of this study were to: (1) Develop a practical data quality indicators and measurements, (2) Develop data quality dimensions based on statistical characteristics and (3) Develop Composite Indicator that can describe overall data quality for each dataset. The sample consisted of more than 500 datasets from public sources obtained by random sampling. After datasets were collected, there are five steps to develop the Dataset Quality Index (SDQI). First, we define standard data quality expectations. Second, we find any indicators that can measure directly to data within datasets. Thirdly, each indicator aggregates to dimension using factor analysis. Next, the indicators and dimensions were weighted by an effort for data preparing process and usability. Finally, the dimensions aggregate to Composite Indicator. The results of these analyses showed that: (1) The developed useful indicators and measurements contained ten indicators. (2) the developed data quality dimension based on statistical characteristics, we found that ten indicators can be reduced to 4 dimensions. (3) The developed Composite Indicator, we found that the SDQI can describe overall datasets quality of each dataset and can separate into 3 Level as Good Quality, Acceptable Quality, and Poor Quality. The conclusion, the SDQI provide an overall description of data quality within datasets and meaningful composition. We can use SQDI to assess for all data in the data project, effort estimation, and priority. The SDQI also work well with Agile Method by using SDQI to assessment in the first sprint. After passing the initial evaluation, we can add more specific data quality indicators into the next sprint.Keywords: data quality, dataset quality, data quality management, composite indicator, factor analysis, principal component analysis
Procedia PDF Downloads 1391462 Manipulation of the Public Sphere to Win Cultural Hegemony: The Process by Which Islamic State Uses the Principles of the Overton Window to Engineer Extremism
Authors: A. Brigitte Coles
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In order to be successful in a campaign against terror and maintain a favorable world order, we must recognize the effects of priming, framing, and agenda setting on the public sphere, and address how terrorist organizations are able to manipulate language and symbols to shift public opinion and increase recruitment success. Because of their unprecedented activity in the region and foreign recruitment success, this study specifically addresses how the Islamic State (IS/ISIS/ISIL) manipulates the public sphere to amplify support and increase western recruitment. By following a grounded theory methodology and coding triangulated data from IS propaganda, a model for the process of terrorist recruitment has emerged, concerning both environments and personalities susceptible to recruitment, and the steps by which an extremist can be created. This has resulted in the ability to reverse engineer a method by which counter recruitment operations can be facilitated in an effort to lessen the vulnerability of areas and individuals, as well as create dissent among current extremists.Keywords: countering violent extremism, counter-terrorism, recruitment, overton window
Procedia PDF Downloads 3441461 Pricing the Risk Associated to Weather of Variable Renewable Energy Generation
Authors: Jorge M. Uribe
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We propose a methodology for setting the price of an insurance contract targeted to manage the risk associated with weather conditions that affect variable renewable energy generation. The methodology relies on conditional quantile regressions to estimate the weather risk of a solar panel. It is illustrated using real daily radiation and weather data for three cities in Spain (Valencia, Barcelona and Madrid) from February 2/2004 to January 22/2019. We also adapt the concepts of value at risk and expected short fall from finance to this context, to provide a complete panorama of what we label as weather risk. The methodology is easy to implement and can be used by insurance companies to price a contract with the aforementioned characteristics when data about similar projects and accurate cash flow projections are lacking. Our methodology assigns a higher price to an insurance product with the stated characteristics in Madrid, compared to Valencia and Barcelona. This is consistent with Madrid showing the largest interquartile range of operational deficits and it is unrelated to the average value deficit, which illustrates the importance of our proposal.Keywords: insurance, weather, vre, risk
Procedia PDF Downloads 1481460 Television Global Market: International Success of Spanish Show Elite
Authors: Ana Avila Bohorquez
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Elite (Netflix, 2018-) is the second original series produced by Netflix in Spain. Premiered in 2018, it became an international success, both critically and among audiences. Reviewers praised its use of teen drama tropes with a more progressive twist. Netflix announced that the first season had been streamed by over 20 million accounts within its first month of release. This paper aims to determine what characteristics led to Elite’s international success, finding the elements of its narrative and visual design that resonate with global audiences. After reviewing the bibliography about transnational fiction, questionnaires sent to international audience members through social media shed light on what these characteristics are. Additionally, interviews with the creative team were performed in order to compare their point of view with the audiences’ perception. Even though Elite can be considered a Spanish show from its inception, it's setting in the “fantasy” world of the rich and its lack of social realism so common among Spanish productions managed to attract global audiences, to whom it has appealed on a more emotional level.Keywords: elite, global television, Netflix, teen drama, transnational fiction
Procedia PDF Downloads 1791459 Causal Estimation for the Left-Truncation Adjusted Time-Varying Covariates under the Semiparametric Transformation Models of a Survival Time
Authors: Yemane Hailu Fissuh, Zhongzhan Zhang
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In biomedical researches and randomized clinical trials, the most commonly interested outcomes are time-to-event so-called survival data. The importance of robust models in this context is to compare the effect of randomly controlled experimental groups that have a sense of causality. Causal estimation is the scientific concept of comparing the pragmatic effect of treatments conditional to the given covariates rather than assessing the simple association of response and predictors. Hence, the causal effect based semiparametric transformation model was proposed to estimate the effect of treatment with the presence of possibly time-varying covariates. Due to its high flexibility and robustness, the semiparametric transformation model which shall be applied in this paper has been given much more attention for estimation of a causal effect in modeling left-truncated and right censored survival data. Despite its wide applications and popularity in estimating unknown parameters, the maximum likelihood estimation technique is quite complex and burdensome in estimating unknown parameters and unspecified transformation function in the presence of possibly time-varying covariates. Thus, to ease the complexity we proposed the modified estimating equations. After intuitive estimation procedures, the consistency and asymptotic properties of the estimators were derived and the characteristics of the estimators in the finite sample performance of the proposed model were illustrated via simulation studies and Stanford heart transplant real data example. To sum up the study, the bias of covariates was adjusted via estimating the density function for truncation variable which was also incorporated in the model as a covariate in order to relax the independence assumption of failure time and truncation time. Moreover, the expectation-maximization (EM) algorithm was described for the estimation of iterative unknown parameters and unspecified transformation function. In addition, the causal effect was derived by the ratio of the cumulative hazard function of active and passive experiments after adjusting for bias raised in the model due to the truncation variable.Keywords: causal estimation, EM algorithm, semiparametric transformation models, time-to-event outcomes, time-varying covariate
Procedia PDF Downloads 1251458 Capturing the Stress States in Video Conferences by Photoplethysmographic Pulse Detection
Authors: Jarek Krajewski, David Daxberger
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We propose a stress detection method based on an RGB camera using heart rate detection, also known as Photoplethysmography Imaging (PPGI). This technique focuses on the measurement of the small changes in skin colour caused by blood perfusion. A stationary lab setting with simulated video conferences is chosen using constant light conditions and a sampling rate of 30 fps. The ground truth measurement of heart rate is conducted with a common PPG system. The proposed approach for pulse peak detection is based on a machine learning-based approach, applying brute force feature extraction for the prediction of heart rate pulses. The statistical analysis showed good agreement (correlation r = .79, p<0.05) between the reference heart rate system and the proposed method. Based on these findings, the proposed method could provide a reliable, low-cost, and contactless way of measuring HR parameters in daily-life environments.Keywords: heart rate, PPGI, machine learning, brute force feature extraction
Procedia PDF Downloads 1231457 Securing Internet of Things Devices in Healthcare industry: An Investigation into Efficient and Effective Authorization Procedures
Authors: Maruf Farhan, Abdul Salih, Sikandar Ali Tahir
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Protecting patient information's confidentiality is paramount considering the widespread use of Internet of Things (IoT) gadgets in medical settings. This study's subjects are decentralized identifiers (DIDs) and verifiable credentials (VCs) in conjunction with an OAuth-based authorization framework, as they are the key to protecting IoT healthcare devices. DIDs enable autonomous authentication and trust formation between IoT devices and other entities. To authorize users and enforce access controls based on verified claims, VCs offer a secure and adaptable solution. Through the proposed method, medical facilities can improve the privacy and security of their IoT devices while streamlining access control administration. A Smart pill dispenser in a hospital setting is used to illustrate the advantages of this method. The findings demonstrate the value of DIDs, VCs, and OAuth-based delegation in protecting the IoT devices. Improved processes for authorizing and controlling access to IoT devices are possible thanks to the research findings, which also help ensure patient confidentiality in the healthcare sector.Keywords: Iot, DID, authorization, verifiable credentials
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