Search results for: quality service risk

Authors: Agah Tugrul Korucu

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Significant changes have taken place for the better in the bulk of information and in the use of technology available in the field of education induced by technological changes in the 21st century. It is mainly the job of the teachers and pre-service teachers to integrate information and communication technologies into education by means of conveying the use of technology to individuals. While the pre-service teachers are conducting lessons by using technology, the methods they have developed are important factors for the requirements of the lesson and for the satisfaction levels of the students. The study of this study is to examine the satisfaction levels of pre-service teachers as regards e-learning in a technological environment in which there are lesson activities conducted through an online learning environment in terms of various variables. The study group of the research is composed of 156 pre-service teachers that were students in the departments of Computer and Teaching Technologies, Art Teaching and Pre-school Teaching in the academic year of 2014 - 2015. The qualitative research method was adopted for this study; the scanning model was employed in collecting the data. “The Satisfaction Scale regarding the E-learning Process”, developed by Gülbahar, and the personal information form, which was developed by the researcher, were used as means of collecting the data. Cronbach α reliability coefficient, which is the internal consistency coefficient of the scale, is 0.91. SPSS computerized statistical package program and the techniques of medium, standard deviation, percentage, correlation, t-test and variance analysis were used in the analysis of the data.

Keywords: online learning environment, integration of information technologies, e-learning, e-learning satisfaction, pre-service teachers

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Authors: M. Yosra, A. Mohamed, T. Sami

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Over the past few years, mobile communication technologies have seen significant evolution. This fact promoted the implementation of many systems in a multi-technological setting. From one system to another, the Quality of Service (QoS) provided to mobile consumers gets better. The growing number of normalized standards extends the available services for each consumer, moreover, most of the available radio frequencies have already been allocated, such as 3G, Wifi, Wimax, and LTE. A study by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) found that certain frequency bands are partially occupied in particular locations and times. So, the idea of Cognitive Radio (CR) is to share the spectrum between a primary user (PU) and a secondary user (SU). The main objective of this spectrum management is to achieve a maximum rate of exploitation of the radio spectrum. In general, the CR can greatly improve the quality of service (QoS) and improve the reliability of the link. The problem will reside in the possibility of proposing a technique to improve the reliability of the wireless link by using the CR with some routing protocols. However, users declared that the links were unreliable and that it was an incompatibility with QoS. In our case, we choose the QoS parameter "bandwidth" to perform a supervised classification. In this paper, we propose a comparative study between some routing protocols, taking into account the variation of different technologies on the existing spectral bandwidth like 3G, WIFI, WIMAX, and LTE. Due to the simulation results, we observe that LTE has significantly higher availability bandwidth compared with other technologies. The performance of the OLSR protocol is better than other on-demand routing protocols (DSR, AODV and DSDV), in LTE technology because of the proper receiving of packets, less packet drop and the throughput. Numerous simulations of routing protocols have been made using simulators such as NS3.

Keywords: cognitive radio, multi technology, network simulator (NS3), routing protocol

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Authors: Sapan Bhatnagar, Danish Akhtar, Salman Ahmed, Asif Ekbal, Gufran Beig

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Particulates are the solid and liquid droplets present in the atmosphere, they have serious negative effects on human health and environment. PM10 and PM2.5 are so small that they can penetrate deep into our lungs through the respiratory system. Determination of the amount of particulates present in the atmosphere per cubic meter is necessary to monitor, regulate and model atmospheric particulate levels. Air Quality Index is an index tells us how clean or polluted our air is, and what associated health effects might be a concern for us. The AQI focuses on health affects you may experience within a few hours or days after breathing polluted air. The quality rating for each pollutant was calculated. The geometric mean of these quality ratings gives the Air Quality Index. The existing concentrations of pollutants were compared with ambient air quality standards.

Keywords: air quality index, particulate, respirable dust sampler, dust sampler

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Authors: Krista Mae F. Ramos, Lance Micaiah C. Dauz, Gylza Nicole D. Bautista, Rua R. Galang, Jeric Xyrus G. Karganilla

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With the recent proclamation of the possible reinforcement of Compulsory Military Service in the Philippines, debates and societal talks rose and circulated as opinions and perceptions regarding the topic continue to clash. This study aims to determine the perception of the youth on its reimplementation and identify various advantages and disadvantages based on their perspective. The responses were gathered through a virtual call interview, underwent the process of thematization, and were categorized into different themes. Results reflect that the students perceive compulsory military service as a necessity for national defense but requires a long time that can hinder their education and needs a strong foundation to be implemented and sustained. The participants acknowledged that the practice would instill discipline, patriotism, and nationalism, develop an individual’s physical abilities, provide skills and knowledge and improve a person’s self-defense. However, there are also concerns regarding the prominent military shaping and abuse, their loss of freedom of choice, and the chances of health deterioration.

Keywords: compulsory, military, service, reinforcement, perception

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Authors: Long Chen

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With the proliferation of E-Learning, collaborative learning becomes more and more popular in various teaching and learning occasions. Studies over the years have proved that actively participating in classroom discussion can enhance student's learning experience, consolidating their knowledge and understanding of the class content. Collaborative learning can also allow students to share their resources and knowledge by exchanging, absorbing, and observing one another's opinions and ideas. Community Question Answering (CQA) services are particularly suitable paradigms for collaborative learning, since it is essentially an online collaborative learning platform where one can get information from multiple sources for he/her to choose from. However, current CQA services have only achieved limited success in collaborative learning due to the uncertainty of answers' quality. In this paper, we predict the quality of answers in a CQA service, i.e. Yahoo! Answers, for the use of online education and distance learning, which would enable a student to find relevant answers and potential answerers more effectively and efficiently, and thus greatly increase students' user experience in CQA services. Our experiment reveals that the quality of answers is influenced by a series of factors such as asking time, relations between users, and his/her experience in the past. We also show that by modelling user's profile with our proposed personalized features, student's satisfaction towards the provided answers could be accurately estimated.

Keywords: Community Question Answering, Collaborative Learning, Log File, Co-Training

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Authors: Mathias Linden, André Schneider, Harald F. O. von Korflesch

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The risk of train accidents is an ongoing concern for railway organizations, governments, insurance companies and other depended sectors. Safety technologies are installed to reduce and to prevent potential damages of train accidents. Since the budgetary for the safety of railway organizations is limited, it is necessary not only to achieve a high availability and high safety standard but also to be cost effective. Therefore, an economic assessment of safety technologies is fundamental to create an accurate risk analysis. In order to conduct an economical assessment of a railway safety technology and a quantification of the costs of the accident causes, the Global Railway Accident Database & Evaluation (GRADE) has been developed. The aim of this paper is to describe the structure of this accident database and to show how it can be used for risk analyses. A number of risk analysis methods, such as the probabilistic safety assessment method (PSA), was used to demonstrate this accident database’s different possibilities of risk analysis. In conclusion, it can be noted that these analyses would not be as accurate without GRADE. The information gathered in the accident database was not available in this way before. Our findings are relevant for railway operators, safety technology suppliers, assurances, governments and other concerned railway organizations.

Keywords: accident causes, accident costs, accident database, global railway accident database & evaluation, GRADE, probabilistic safety assessment, PSA, railway accidents, risk analysis

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Authors: Masimuddin Mohd Khaled

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From the past couple of years, focus has been done on the quality management theories and has been pertained to various firms. The core quality management theories are Total Quality Management (TQM) and Six Sigma where a number of documents have already been presented regarding these theories. The purpose of this paper is to study in detail about these theories and how the theories are applied in the aerospace industry. A methodical literature review, comparison of TQM and Six Sigma as well as a case study of each has been carried out in this paper thus providing a clear understanding of the theories.

Keywords: total quality management, six sigma, aerospace, research, innovation

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Authors: Sisuwan Kaseamsawat, Sivapan Choo-In

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This study aimed to evaluated the surface water quality for agriculture and consumption in the district. Surface water quality parameters in this study in cluding water temperature, turbidity, conductivity. salinity, pH, dissolved oxygen, BOD, nitrate, Suspended solids, phosphorus. Total dissolve solids, iron, copper, zinc, manganese, lead and cadmium. Water samples were collected from small excavation, Lychee, Pomelo, and Coconut orchard for 3 season during January to December 2011. The surface water quality from small excavation, Lychee, pomelo, and coconut orchard are meet the type III of surface water quality standard issued by the National Environmental Quality Act B. E. 1992. except the concentration of heavy metal. And did not differ significantly at 0.05 level, except dissolved oxygen. The water is suitable for consumption by the usual sterile and generally improving water quality through the process before. And is suitable for agriculture.

Keywords: water quality, surface water quality, Thailand, water

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Authors: Leo Latasch, Mario Di Gennaro

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Introduction: The goal of this project was to increase the resilience of the population as well as rescue organizations to make both quality and time-related improvements in handling crises. A helper network was created for this purpose. Methods: Social questions regarding the structure and purpose of helper networks were considered - specifically with regard to helper motivation, the level of commitment and collaboration between populations and agencies. The exchange of information, the coordinated use of volunteers, and the distribution of available resources will be ensured through defined communication and cooperation routines. Helper smartphones will also be used provide a picture of the situation on the ground. Results: The helper network was established and deployed based on the RESIBES information technology system. It consists of a service platform, a web portal and a smartphone app. The service platform is the central element for collaboration between the various rescue organizations, as well as for persons, associations, and companies from the population offering voluntary aid. The platform was used for: Registering helpers and resources and then requesting and assigning it in case of a disaster. These services allow the population's resources to be organized. The service platform also allows for a secure data exchange between services and external systems. Conclusions: The social and technical work priorities have allowed us to cover a full cycle of advance structural work, gaining an overview, damage management, evaluation, and feedback on experiences. This cycle allows experiences gained while handling the crisis to feed back into the cycle and improve preparations and management strategies.

Keywords: coordination, disaster, resilience, volunteers

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Authors: Natalie Tyldesley-Marshall, Janette Parr, Anna Brown, Yen-Fu Chen, Amy Grove

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It is widely recognised in policy and research that the provision of services for children and young people (CYP) with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) is enhanced when health and social care, and education services collaborate and interact effectively. In the UK, there have been significant changes to policy and provisions which support and improve collaboration. However, professionals responsible for implementing these changes face multiple challenges, including a lack of specific implementation guidance or framework to illustrate how effective multi-agency working could or should work. This systematic review will identify the key components of effective multi-agency working in services for CYP with SEND; and the most effective forms of partnership working in this setting. The review highlights interventions that lead to service improvements; and the conditions in the local area that support and encourage success. A protocol was written and registered with PROSPERO registration: CRD42022352194. Searches were conducted on several health, care, education, and applied social science databases from the year 2012 onwards. Citation chaining has been undertaken, as well as broader grey literature searching to enrich the findings. Qualitative, quantitative, mixed methods studies and systematic reviews were included, assessed independently, and critically appraised or assessed for risk of bias using appropriate tools based on study design. Data were extracted in NVivo software and checked by a more experienced researcher. A convergent segregated approach to synthesis and integration was used in which the quantitative and qualitative data were synthesised independently and then integrated using a joint display integration matrix. Findings demonstrate the key ingredients for effective partnership working for services delivering SEND. Interventions deemed effective are described, and lessons learned across interventions are summarised. Results will be of interest to educators and health and social care professionals that provide services to those with SEND. These will also be used to develop policy recommendations for how UK healthcare, social care, and education services for CYP with SEND aged 0-25 can most effectively collaborate and achieve service improvement. The review will also identify any gaps in the literature to recommend areas for future research. Funding for this review was provided by the Department for Education.

Keywords: collaboration, joint commissioning, service delivery, service improvement

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Authors: Chatelier Charlene, Oyegoke Adekunle, Ajayi Saheed, Jeffries Andrew

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This study seeks to understand Schedule Risk Assessments as a priori for better performance whilst exploring the strategies employed to deliver complex projects like the New Polar research ship. This high-profile vessel was offered to Natural Environment Research Council and British Antarctic Survey (BAS) by Cammell Laird Shipbuilders. The Research Ship was designed to support science in extreme environments, with the expectancy to provide a wide range of specialist scientific facilities, instruments, and laboratories to conduct research over multiple disciplines. Aim: The focus is to understand the allocation and management of schedule risk on such a Major Project. Hypothesising that "effective management of schedule risk management" could be the most critical factor in determining whether the intended benefits mentioned are delivered within time and cost constraints. Objective 1: Firstly, the study seeks to understand the allocation and management of schedule risk in Major Projects. Objective 2: Secondly, it explores "effective management of schedule risk management" as the most critical factor determining the delivery of intended benefits. Methodology: This study takes a retrospective review of schedule risk management and how it influences project performance using a case study approach for the RRS (Royal Research Ship) Sir David Attenborough. Research Contribution: The outcomes of this study will contribute to a better understanding of project performance whilst building on its under-researched relationship to schedule risk management for complex projects. The outcomes of this paper will guide further research on project performance and enable the understanding of how risk-based estimates over time impact the overall risk management of the project.

Keywords: complexity, major projects, performance management, schedule risk management, uncertainty

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Authors: T. Hansen

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Many consumers are uncertain of what financial borrowing behavior may serve their interests in the best way. This is important since consumers’ risky financial decisions may not only negatively affect their short-term liquidity but may haunt them for years after they are made. Obviously, this is especially critical for young adults who often carry large amounts of student loans or credit card debt, which in turn may hinder their future ability to obtain financial healthiness. Even though factors such as financial knowledge, attitudes towards risk, gender, and motivations of borrowing, among others, are known to influence consumer borrowing behavior, no existing model comprehensibly describes the mechanisms behind young adults’ risky borrowing behavior. This is unfortunate since a better understanding of the relationships between such factors and young adults’ risky borrowing behavior may be of value to financial service providers and financial authorities aiming to improve young adults’ borrowing behavior. This research extends prior research by developing a conceptual framework for the purpose of understanding young adults’ risky borrowing behavior. The study is based on two survey samples comprising 488 young adults aged 18-25 who have not obtained a risky loan (sample 1) and 214 young adults aged 18-25 who already have obtained a risky loan (sample 2), respectively. The results suggest several psychological, sociological, and behavioral factors that may influence young adults’ intentional risky borrowing behavior, which in turn is shown to affect actualized risky borrowing behavior. We also found that the relationship between intentional risky borrowing behavior and actualized risky borrowing behavior is negatively moderated by perceived risk – but not by perceived complexity. In particular, the results of this study indicate that public policy makers, banks and financial educators should seek to eliminate less desirable social norms on how to behave financially. In addition, they should seek to enhance young adults’ risky borrowing perceived risk, thereby preventing that intentional risky borrowing behavior translates into actualized risky behavior.

Keywords: financial services, risky borrowing behavior, young adults, financial knowledge, social norms, perceived risk, financial trust, public financial policy

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Authors: Mohamed El-Bady

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The Northern Egyptian Lagoons are (from east to west) Bardawil Lagoon, Manzala Lagoon, Burullus Lagoon, Edku Lagoons and Mariute Lagoon. These lagoons have been received the bulk of drainage water from the lands of Delta and from the other coastal areas. Where, the heavy metals can occur in Lagoons environments through a variety of sources, including industries, wastewaters and domestic effluents. The potential ecological risk index (RI) calculation of the bottom sediments of the northern lagoons depends on contamination factor (CF), potential ecological risk factor and proposed toxic response factor (Tr). Each lagoon with special indices according to its conditions.

Keywords: Northern Lagoons, Nile Delta, ecological risk index, contamination factor

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Authors: Betty Johanna Garzon Rozo, Jonathan Crook, Fernando Moreira

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Operational risk losses are heavy tailed and are likely to be asymmetric and extremely dependent among business lines/event types. We propose a new methodology to assess, in a multivariate way, the asymmetry and extreme dependence between severity distributions, and to calculate the capital for Operational Risk. This methodology simultaneously uses (i) several parametric distributions and an alternative mix distribution (the Lognormal for the body of losses and the Generalized Pareto Distribution for the tail) via extreme value theory using SAS®, (ii) the multivariate skew t-copula applied for the first time for operational losses and (iii) Bayesian theory to estimate new n-dimensional skew t-copula models via Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) simulation. This paper analyses a newly operational loss data set, SAS Global Operational Risk Data [SAS OpRisk], to model operational risk at international financial institutions. All the severity models are constructed in SAS® 9.2. We implement the procedure PROC SEVERITY and PROC NLMIXED. This paper focuses in describing this implementation.

Keywords: operational risk, loss distribution approach, extreme value theory, copulas

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Authors: Mohamed Saad Ahmed Hussien

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This paper discusses the risk management in Islamic banks and aims to determine the difference in the practices and methods of risk management in those banks compared to the conventional banks, and to make a case study of the biggest Islamic bank in Egypt (Faisal Islamic Bank of Egypt) to identify the most important financial risks faced and how to manage those risks. It was found that Islamic banks face two types of risks. The first type is similar to the risks in conventional banks; the second type is the additional risks which facing the Islamic banks only as a result of some Islamic modes of financing. With regard to the risk management, Islamic banks such as conventional banks applied the regulatory rules issued by the Central Banks and the Basel Committee; Islamic banks also applied the instructions and procedures issued by the Islamic Financial Services Board (IFSB). Also, Islamic banks are similar to the conventional banks in the practices and methods which they use to manage the risks. And there are some factors that may affect the risk management in Islamic banks, such as the size of the bank and the efficiency of the administration and the staff of the bank.

Keywords: conventional banks, Faisal Islamic Bank of Egypt, Islamic banks, risk management

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Authors: Eva Kirzner

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Based on outcome studies published over the past two decades, in 2018, the ACC/AHA published new guidelines for the management of hypercholesterolemia that incorporate the use of coronary artery calcium (CAC) scanning as a decision tool for ascertaining which patients may benefit from statin therapy. This use is based on the recognition that the absence of calcium on CAC scanning (i.e., a CAC score of zero) usually signifies the absence of significant atherosclerotic deposits in the coronary arteries. Specifically, in patients with a high risk for atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD), initiation of statin therapy is generally recommended to decrease ASCVD risk. However, among patients with intermediate ASCVD risk, the need for statin therapy is less certain. However, there is a need for new outcome studies that provide evidence that the management of hypercholesterolemia based on these new ACC/AHA recommendations is safe for patients. Based on a Pub-Med and Google Scholar literature search, four relevant population-based or patient-based cohort studies that studied the relationship between CAC scanning, risk assessment or mortality, and statin therapy that were published between 2017 and 2021 were identified (see references). In each of these studies, patients were assessed for their baseline risk for atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) using the Pooled Cohorts Equation (PCE), an ACC/AHA calculator for determining patient risk based on assessment of patient age, gender, ethnicity, and coronary artery disease risk factors. The combined findings of these four studies provided concordant evidence that a zero CAC score defines patients who remain at low clinical risk despite the non-use of statin therapy. Thus, these new studies confirm the use of CAC scanning as a safe tool for reducing the potential overuse of statin therapy among patients with zero CAC scores. Incorporating these new data suggest the following best practice: (1) ascertain ASCVD risk according to the PCE in all patients; (2) following an initial attempt trial to lower ASCVD risk with optimal diet among patients with elevated ASCVD risk, initiate statin therapy for patients who have a high ASCVD risk score; (3) if the ASCVD score is intermediate, refer patients for CAC scanning; and (4) and if the CAC score is zero among the intermediate risk ASCVD patients, statin therapy can be safely withheld despite the presence of an elevated serum cholesterol level.

Keywords: cholesterol, cardiovascular disease, statin therapy, coronary calcium

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Authors: Ghanima Al-Sharrah, Haitham M. Lababidi, Yusuf I. Ali

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The main objective of the current work is to introduce sustainability factors in optimizing the supply chain model for process industries. The supply chain models are normally based on purely economic considerations related to costs and profits. To account for sustainability, two additional factors have been introduced; environment and risk. A supply chain for an entire petroleum organization has been considered for implementing and testing the proposed optimization models. The environmental and risk factors were introduced as indicators reflecting the anticipated impact of the optimal production scenarios on sustainability. The aggregation method used in extending the single objective function to multi-objective function is proven to be quite effective in balancing the contribution of each objective term. The results indicate that introducing sustainability factor would slightly reduce the economic benefit while improving the environmental and risk reduction performances of the process industries.

Keywords: environmental indicators, optimization, risk, supply chain

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Authors: Li Pan

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The recently prevalent government procurement of public services in China boasts a new form of government’s provision of public service through the purchasing of social work from social organizations, a new measure of the transformation in governmental functions as well as an unprecedented opportunity for the development of social organizations. For the past few years, the phenomenon of a surge in the number of social work organizations and social work staff emerged right with the initiatives of energetically carrying out the purchase of public services by the government. Such efforts have presented the strong determination of the Chinese government in building a small government by streamlining administration and delegating part of the governmental power to social organizations. This paper is based on the 2012-2014 performance appraisal project of the Guangzhou municipal government’s purchasing of public services and the project was carried out in the summer of 2015. During the process of the appraisal, several general problems hindering the sustainable development of government purchasing of public service have been observed. As Guangzhou is among the rank of pioneer cities in the conduct of the reform, it is representative and imperative to study the sustainability of government purchasing of public service. In 2012, Guangzhou local government started contracting out public service to the community social organizations to provide general family services and special services to community residents, since when integrated family service centers and special service centers were established as platforms to provide public social service in a city-wide range. Consequently, taking an example of the current rapid development of government purchase of the integrated family services and special services in Guangzhou, this paper puts up several proposals for the sustainable development of Guangzhou municipal government’s procurement of public services on the perspective of social work’s resource dependence.

Keywords: government procurement of public services, Guangzhou, integrated family service center, social work, sustainability.

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Authors: Süleyman Günes

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The crucial effects of the COVID-19 pandemic have on social and economic systems in Turkey as well as all over the world. It has impacted logistic providers and worldwide supply chains. Unexpected risks played a central role in creating vulnerabilities for logistics service operations during the pandemic terms. This study aims to research and design qualitative and quantitive contributions to logistic services. The COVID-19 pandemic brought unavoidable risks to the logistics industry in Turkey. The Logistic Service Providers (LSPs) have learned how to ensure uncertainties and risks triggered by main and adverse effects. The risks that LSPs encounter during the COVID-19 pandemic have been investigated and unveiled, and identified uncertainties and risks. The cause-effect structures were displayed by the qualitative and quantitive studies. The results suggest that supply chains and demand changes triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic while it influenced financial failure and forecast horizon with operational performances.

Keywords: logistic service providers, COVID-19, development, financial failure

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Authors: Ruth Catacolí, Hector Garcia

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Colombia Urban Areas shows a decreasing of their air quality, no matter the actions developed by the Government facing the mitigation of pressure factors related with air pollution. Examples of these actions were the fossil fuel quality improvement policies (FFQI). This study evaluated the impact of three FFQI in the air quality of Bogotá during the period 1990 - 2006: The phase-out of lead in the gasoline; the sulfur reduction in diesel oil consumed in Bogotá and the oxygenation of gasoline through the addition of ethanol. The results indicate that only the policy of phase-out of lead in gasoline has been effective, showing dropping of lead oxides concentration in the air. Some stakeholders believe that the FFQI evaluated in the study are environmental policies, but no one of these policies has been supported by an environmental impact assessment that shows specific benefits in air quality. The research includes some fuel policy elements to achieve positive impact on the air quality in the urban centers of Colombia.

Keywords: policy assessment, fuel quality, urban air quality, air quality management

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Authors: Bernd Sauer, Michel Werner, Stefan Emrich, Michael Kopnarski, Oliver Koch

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Friction reduction is an important aspect in the context of sustainability and energy transition. Rolling bearings are therefore used in many applications in which components move relative to each other. Conventionally lubricated rolling bearings are used in a wide range of applications, but are not suitable under certain conditions. Conventional lubricants such as grease or oil cannot be used at very high or very low temperatures. In addition, these lubricants evaporate at very low ambient pressure, e.g. in a high vacuum environment, making the use of solid lubricated bearings unavoidable. With the use of solid-lubricated bearings, predicting the service life becomes more complex. While the end of the service life of bearings with conventional lubrication is mainly caused by the failure of the bearing components due to material fatigue, solid-lubricated bearings fail at the moment when the lubrication layer is worn and the rolling elements come into direct contact with the raceway during operation. In order to extend the service life of these bearings beyond the service life of the initial coating, the use of transfer lubrication is recommended, in which pockets or sacrificial cages are used in which the balls run and can thus absorb the lubricant, which is then available for lubrication in tribological contact. This contribution presents the results of wear and service life tests on solid-lubricated rolling bearings with sacrificial cage pockets. The cage of the bearing consists of a polyimide (PI) matrix with 15% molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) and serves as a lubrication depot alongside the silver-coated balls. The bearings are tested under high vacuum (pE < 10-2 Pa) at a temperature of 300 °C on a four-bearing test rig. First, investigations of the bearing system within the bearing service life are presented and the torque curve, the wear mass and surface analyses are discussed. With regard to wear, it can be seen that the bearing rings tend to increase in mass over the service life of the bearing, while the balls and the cage tend to lose mass. With regard to the elementary surface properties, the surfaces of the bearing rings and balls are examined in terms of the mass of the elements on them. Furthermore, service life investigations with different material pairings are presented, whereby the focus here is on the service life achieved in addition to the torque curve, wear development and surface analysis. It was shown that MoS2 in the cage leads to a longer service life, while a silver (Ag) coating on the balls has no positive influence on the service life and even appears to reduce it in combination with MoS2.

Keywords: ball bearings, molybdenum disulfide, solid lubricated bearings, solid lubrication mechanisms

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Authors: Mathewos Temesgen, Lemi Geleta

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Lake Koka is one of the Ethiopian Central Rift Valleys lakes, where the absorbance of domestic, agricultural, and industrial waste from the nearby industrial and agro-industrial activities is very common. The aim of this research was to assess the heavy metal bioaccumulation in edible parts of common carp (Cyprinus carpio) in Lake Koka and the health risks associated with the dietary intake of the fish. Three sampling sites were selected randomly for primary data collection. Physicochemical parameters (pH, Total Dissolved Solids, Dissolved Oxygen and Electrical Conductivity) were measured in-situ. Four heavy metals (Cd, Cr, Pb, and Zn) in water and bio-accumulation in the edible parts of the fish were analyzed with flame atomic absorption spectrometry. The mean values of TDS, EC, DO and pH of the lake water were 458.1 mg/L, 905.7 µ s/cm, 7.36 mg/L, and 7.9, respectively. The mean concentrations of Zn, Cr, and Cd in the edible part of fish were also 0.18 mg/kg, ND-0.24 mg/kg, and ND-0.03 mg/kg, respectively. Pb was, however, not identified. The amount of Cr in the examined fish muscle was above the level set by FAO, and the accumulation of the metals showed marked differences between sampling sites (p<0.05). The concentrations of Cd, Pb and were below the maximum permissible limit. The results also indicated that Cr has a high transfer factor value and Zn has the lowest. The carcinogenic hazard ratio values were below the threshold value (<1) for the edible parts of fish. The estimated weekly intake of heavy metals from fish muscles ranked as Cr>Zn>Cd, but the values were lower than the Reference Dose limit for metals. The carcinogenic risk values indicated a low health risk due to the intake of individual metals from fish. Furthermore, the hazard index of the edible part of fish was less than unity. Generally, the water quality is not a risk for the survival and reproduction of fish, and the heavy metal contents in the edible parts of fish exhibited low carcinogenic risk through the food chain.

Keywords: bio-accumulation, cyprinus carpio, hazard index, heavy metals, Lake Koka

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Authors: Maria Paula Santos, Ana Lucas

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Organizations support their operations and decision making on the data they have at their disposal, so the quality of these data is remarkably important and Data Quality (DQ) is currently a relevant issue, the literature being unanimous in pointing out that poor DQ can result in large costs for organizations. The literature review identified and described 24 Critical Success Factors (CSF) for Data Quality Management (DQM) that were presented to a panel of experts, who ordered them according to their degree of importance, using the Delphi method with the Q-sort technique, based on an online questionnaire. The study shows that the five most important CSF for DQM are: definition of appropriate policies and standards, control of inputs, definition of a strategic plan for DQ, organizational culture focused on quality of the data and obtaining top management commitment and support.

Keywords: critical success factors, data quality, data quality management, Delphi, Q-Sort

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Authors: Adesola C. Odole, Michael O. Ogunlana, Nse A. Odunaiya, Olufemi O. Oyewole, Chidozie E. Mbada, Ogochukwu K. Onyeso, Ayomikun F. Ayodeji, Opeyemi M. Adegoke, Iyanuoluwa Odole, Comfort T. Sanuade, Moyosooreoluwa E. Odole, Oluwagbohunmi A. Awosoga

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Purpose: The Nigerian healthcare industry is bedeviled with infrastructural decay, inadequate funding and staffing, and a dysfunctional healthcare system. This study investigated the influence of health professionals’ well-being and quality of work-life (QoWL) on the quality of care (QoC) of patients in Nigeria. Methods: The study was a multicentre cross-sectional survey conducted at four tertiary health institutions in southwest Nigeria. Participants’ demographic information, well-being, quality of work-life, and quality of care were obtained using four standardized questionnaires. Data were summarized using descriptive statistics of frequency (percentage) and mean (standard deviation). Inferential statistics included Chi-square, Pearson’s correlation, and independent samples t-test analyses. Results: Medical practitioners (n=609) and nurses (n=570) constituted 74.6% of all the health professionals, with physiotherapists, pharmacists, and medical laboratory scientists constituting 25.4%. The mean (SD) participants’ well-being = 71.65% (14.65), quality of life = 61.8% (21.31), quality of work-life = 65.73% (10.52) and quality of care = 70.14% (12.77). Participants’ quality of life had a significant negative correlation with the quality of care, while well-being and quality of work-life had a significant positive correlation with the quality of care. Conclusion: We concluded that health professionals’ well-being and quality of work-life are important factors that influence their productivity and, ultimately, the quality of care rendered to patients. The hospital management and policymakers should ensure improved work-related factors to improve the well-being of health professionals. This will enhance the quality of care given to patients and ultimately reduce brain drain and medical tourism.

Keywords: health professionals, quality of care, quality of life, quality of work-life, well-being

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Authors: Azeez Ayodele Ayodele

Abstract:

This paper investigated the problem of picture books design and the quality of the pictures in picture books. The research surveyed nursery and primary schools in four major cities in southwest of Nigeria. The instruments including the descriptive survey questionnaire and a structured interview were developed, validated and administered for collection of relevant data. Descriptive statistics was used in analyzing the data. The result of the study revealed that there were poor quality of pictures in picture books and this is due to scarcity of trained graphic designers who understand systems approach to picture books design and production. There is thus a need for more qualified graphic designers, given in-service professional training as well as a refresher course as criteria for upgrading by the stakeholders.

Keywords: pictures, picture books, pre-primary schools, trained graphic designers

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Authors: J. S. Saini, P. P. K. Sandhu

Abstract:

The multi-hop nature of Wireless Mesh Networks and the hasty progression of throughput demands results in multi- channels and multi-radios structures in mesh networks, but the main problem of co-channels interference reduces the total throughput, specifically in multi-hop networks. Quality of Service mentions a vast collection of networking technologies and techniques that guarantee the ability of a network to make available desired services with predictable results. Quality of Service (QoS) can be directed at a network interface, towards a specific server or router's performance, or in specific applications. Due to interference among various transmissions, the QoS routing in multi-hop wireless networks is formidable task. In case of multi-channel wireless network, since two transmissions using the same channel may interfere with each other. This paper has considered the Destination Sequenced Distance Vector (DSDV) routing protocol to locate the secure and optimised path. The proposed technique also utilizes the Lempel–Ziv–Welch (LZW) based lossless data compression and intra cluster data aggregation to enhance the communication between the source and the destination. The use of clustering has the ability to aggregate the multiple packets and locates a single route using the clusters to improve the intra cluster data aggregation. The use of the LZW based lossless data compression has ability to reduce the data packet size and hence it will consume less energy, thus increasing the network QoS. The MATLAB tool has been used to evaluate the effectiveness of the projected technique. The comparative analysis has shown that the proposed technique outperforms over the existing techniques.

Keywords: WMNS, QOS, flooding, collision avoidance, LZW, congestion control

Procedia PDF Downloads 338

Authors: Hend Albassam, Nouf Alrumaih

Abstract:

Nowadays we are in the age of technologies and communication and there is no doubt that technologies such as the Internet can offer many advantages for many business fields, and the health field is no execution. In fact, using the Internet provide us with a new path to improve the quality of health care throughout the world. The e-healthcare offers many advantages such as: efficiency by reducing the cost and avoiding duplicate diagnostics, empowerment of patients by enabling them to access their medical records, enhancing the quality of healthcare and enabling information exchange and communication between healthcare organizations. There are many problems that result from using papers as a way of communication, for example, paper-based prescriptions. Usually, the doctor writes a prescription and gives it to the patient who in turn carries it to the pharmacy. After that, the pharmacist takes the prescription to fill it and give it to the patient. Sometimes the pharmacist might find difficulty in reading the doctor’s handwriting; the patient could change and counterfeit the prescription. These existing problems and many others heighten the need to improve the quality of the healthcare. This project is set out to develop a distributed e-healthcare system that offers some features of e-health and addresses some of the above-mentioned problems. The developed system provides an electronic health record (EHR) and enables communication between separate health care organizations such as the clinic, pharmacy and laboratory. To develop this system, the Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) is adopted as a design approach, which helps to design several independent modules that communicate by using web services. The layering design pattern is used in designing each module as it provides reusability that allows the business logic layer to be reused by different higher layers such as the web service or the website in our system. The experimental analysis has shown that the project has successfully achieved its aims toward solving the problems related to the paper-based healthcare systems and it enables different health organization to communicate effectively. It implements four independent modules including healthcare provider, pharmacy, laboratory and medication information provider. Each module provides different functionalities and is used by a different type of user. These modules interoperate with each other using a set of web services.

Keywords: e-health, services oriented architecture (SOA), web services, interoperability

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Authors: Irena Paramita Pramono

Abstract:

Islamic bank is a financial industry with huge potential to grow in Indonesia. Profit-sharing agreement in the operations of Islamic banks distinguishes Islamic banks with conventional banks. Profit-sharing agreement allows sharing of benefits and risks between shahibul maal and mudharib in islamic bank. This study aimed to observe the patterns of influence between the risk-sharing agreement, financing risk and Profitability in Islamic banks. This research used several Islamic banks as sample and path analysis method. The empirical results of this research shows that the profit-sharing agreement in deposits structure has no direct significant effect to ROA, but it has indirect effect to ROA through profit-sharing financing. On the other hand, profit-sharing financing has direct and indirect influence to ROA through financing risk. This research shows that profit-sharing financing has a positive significant effect to the financing risk and also to the ROA. The research recommends Islamic banks to continue using and developing profit-sharing agreement in its operational activities, hence to create value.

Keywords: Islamic bank, profit-loss sharing agreement, financing risk, profitability

Procedia PDF Downloads 807

Authors: Wan You Ning

Abstract:

Addressing the rising prevalence of mental health issues among youths, the Multi-dimensional Approach to Resilience and Support in Advanced School-based Mental Health Service Delivery (MARS-ASMHSD) framework proposes the implementation of advanced mental health services in low-resource areas to further instil mental health resilience among students in a school-based setting. Recognizing the unsustainability of direct service delivery due to rapidly growing demands and costs, the MARS-ASMHSD framework endorses the deinstitutionalization of mental healthcare and explores a tiered, multi-dimensional approach in mental healthcare provision, establishing advanced school-based mental health service delivery. The framework is developed based on sustainable and credible evidence-based practices and modifications of existing mental health service deliveries in Asia, including Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Japan, and Taiwan. Dissemination of the framework model for implementation will enable a more progressive and advanced school-based mental health service delivery in low-resource areas. Through the evaluation of the mental health landscape and the role of stakeholders in the respective countries, the paper concludes with a multi-dimensional framework model for implementation in low-resource areas. A mixed-method independent research study is conducted to facilitate the framework's development.

Keywords: mental health, youths, school-based services, framework development

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Authors: Shuen-Tai Wang, Yu-Ching Lin, Hsi-Ya Chang

Abstract:

Virtualization technologies are experiencing a renewed interest as a way to improve system reliability, and availability, reduce costs, and provide flexibility. This paper presents the development on leverage existing cloud infrastructure and virtualization tools. We adopted some virtualization technologies which improve portability, manageability and compatibility of applications by encapsulating them from the underlying operating system on which they are executed. Given the development of application virtualization, it allows shifting the user’s applications from the traditional PC environment to the virtualized environment, which is stored on a remote virtual machine rather than locally. This proposed effort has the potential to positively provide an efficient, resilience and elastic environment for online cloud service. Users no longer need to burden the platform maintenance and drastically reduces the overall cost of hardware and software licenses. Moreover, this flexible and web-based application virtualization service represent the next significant step to the mobile workplace, and it lets user executes their applications from virtually anywhere.

Keywords: cloud service, application virtualization, virtual machine, elastic environment

Procedia PDF Downloads 281