Search results for: mental health service needs

Authors: Ardiansyah I. Ryan, Ashsholih K. R., Fathurrohman G. R., Kurniadi M. R., Huda P. A

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The burden of brain-related disease is very high. There are a lot of brain-related diseases with limited treatment result and thus raise the burden more. The Parkinson Disease (PD), Mental Health Problem, or Paralysis of extremities treatments had risen concern, as the patients for those diseases usually had a low quality of life and low chance to recover fully. There are also many other brain or related neural diseases with the similar condition, mainly the treatments for those conditions are still limited as our understanding of the brain function is insufficient. Brain Implant Technology had given hope to help in treating this condition. In this paper, we examine the current update of the brain implant technology. Neurotechnology is growing very rapidly worldwide. The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the use of Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) as a brain implant in humans. As for neural implant both the cochlear implant and retinal implant are approved by FDA too. All of them had shown a promising result. DBS worked by stimulating a specific region in the brain with electricity. This device is planted surgically into a very specific region of the brain. This device consists of 3 main parts: Lead (thin wire inserted into the brain), neurostimulator (pacemaker-like device, planted surgically in the chest) and an external controller (to turn on/off the device by patient/programmer). FDA had approved DBS for the treatment of PD, Pain Management, Epilepsy and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). The target treatment of DBS in PD is to reduce the tremor and dystonia symptoms. DBS has been showing the promising result in animal and limited human trial for other conditions such as Alzheimer, Mental Health Problem (Major Depression, Tourette Syndrome), etc. Every surgery has risks of complications, although in DBS the chance is very low. DBS itself had a very satisfying result as long as the subject criteria to be implanted this device based on indication and strictly selection. Other than DBS, there are several brain implant devices that still under development. It was included (not limited to) implant to treat paralysis (In Spinal Cord Injury/Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis), enhance brain memory, reduce obesity, treat mental health problem and treat epilepsy. The potential of neurotechnology is unlimited. When brain function and brain implant were fully developed, it may be one of the major breakthroughs in human history like when human find ‘fire’ for the first time. Support from every sector for further research is very needed to develop and unveil the true potential of this technology.

Keywords: brain implant, deep brain stimulation (DBS), deep brain stimulation, Parkinson

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Authors: Yananda Siraphatthada

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The objectives of this research were to study the level of influencing factors, leadership, supply chain management, innovation, competitive advantages, business success, and affecting factors to the business success of the mobile phone system service providers in Bangkok Metropolitan. This research was done by the quantitative approach and the qualitative approach. The quantitative approach was used for questionnaires to collect data from the 331 mobile service shop managers franchised by AIS, Dtac and TrueMove. The mobile phone system service providers/shop managers were randomly stratified and proportionally allocated into subgroups exclusive to the number of the providers in each network. In terms of qualitative method, there were in-depth interviews of 6 mobile service providers/managers of Telewiz and Dtac and TrueMove shop to find the agreement or disagreement with the content analysis method. Descriptive Statistics, including Frequency, Percentage, Means and Standard Deviation were employed; also, the Structural Equation Model (SEM) was used as a tool for data analysis. The content analysis method was applied to identify key patterns emerging from the interview responses. The two data sets were brought together for comparing and contrasting to make the findings, providing triangulation to enrich result interpretation. It revealed that the level of the influencing factors – leadership, innovation management, supply chain management, and business competitiveness had an impact at a great level, but that the level of factors, innovation and the business, financial success and nonbusiness financial success of the mobile phone system service providers in Bangkok Metropolitan, is at the highest level. Moreover, the business influencing factors, competitive advantages in the business of mobile system service providers which were leadership, supply chain management, innovation management, business advantages, and business success, had statistical significance at .01 which corresponded to the data from the interviews.

Keywords: mobile service providers, facilitating factors, Bangkok Metropolitan, business success

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Authors: Girish M. Bhatia

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Most of the important structures in refinery complex are RCC Structures for which in-depth structural monitoring and inspection is required for incessant service. Reinforced concrete structures can be under threat from a combination of insidious challenges due to environmental conditions, including temperature and humidity that lead to accelerated deterioration mechanisms like carbonation, as well as marine exposure, above and below ground structures can experience ingress from aggressive ground waters carrying chlorides and sulphates leading to unexpected deterioration that threaten the integrity of a vital structural asset. By application of health monitoring techniques like corrosion monitoring with help of sensor probes, visual inspection of high rise structures with help of drones, it is possible to establish an early warning at the onset of these destructive processes.

Keywords: concrete structures, corrosion sensors, drones, health monitoring

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Authors: Li-Wei Wu, Chung-Yu Wang

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Recently, interest has been generated in the search for a new reference framework for value creation that is centered on the co-creation process. Co-creation implies cooperative value creation between service firms and customers and requires the building of experiences as well as the resolution of problems through the combined effort of the parties in the relationship. For customers, values are always co-created through their participation in services. Customers can ultimately determine the value of the service in use. This new approach emphasizes that a customer’s participation in the service process is considered indispensable to value co-creation. An important feature of service in the context of exchange is co-production, which implies that a certain amount of participation is needed from customers to co-produce a service and hence co-create value. Co-production no doubt helps customers better understand and take charge of their own roles in the service process. Thus, this proposal is to encourage co-production, thus facilitating value co-creation of that is reflected in both customers and service firms. Four determinants of co-production are identified in this study, namely, commitment, trust, asset specificity, and decision-making uncertainty. Commitment is an essential dimension that directly results in successful cooperative behaviors. Trust helps establish a relational environment that is fundamental to cross-border cooperation. Asset specificity motivates co-production because this determinant may enhance return on asset investment. Decision-making uncertainty prompts customers to collaborate with service firms in making decisions. In other words, customers adjust their roles and are increasingly engaged in co-production when commitment, trust, asset specificity, and decision-making uncertainty are enhanced. Although studies have examined the preceding effects, to our best knowledge, none has empirically examined the simultaneous effects of all the curvilinear relationships in a single study. When these determinants are excessive, however, customers will not engage in co-production process. In brief, we suggest that the relationships of commitment, trust, asset specificity, and decision-making uncertainty with co-production are curvilinear or are inverse U-shaped. These new forms of curvilinear relationships have not been identified in existing literature on co-production; therefore, they complement extant linear approaches. Most importantly, we aim to consider both the bright and the dark sides of the determinants of co-production.

Keywords: co-production, commitment, trust, asset specificity, decision-making uncertainty

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Authors: Maryam Alimardani, Kazuo Hiraki

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This study presents a framework for development of a new generation of therapy robots that can interact with users by monitoring their physiological and mental states. Here, we focused on one of the controversial methods of therapy, hypnotherapy. Hypnosis has shown to be useful in treatment of many clinical conditions. But, even for healthy people, it can be used as an effective technique for relaxation or enhancement of memory and concentration. Our aim is to develop a robot that collects information about user’s mental and physical states using electroencephalogram (EEG) and electromyography (EMG) signals and performs costeffective hypnosis at the comfort of user’s house. The presented framework consists of three main steps: (1) Find the EEG-correlates of mind state before, during, and after hypnosis and establish a cognitive model for state changes, (2) Develop a system that can track the changes in EEG and EMG activities in real time and determines if the user is ready for suggestion, and (3) Implement our system in a humanoid robot that will talk and conduct hypnosis on users based on their mental states. This paper presents a pilot study in regard to the first stage, detection of EEG and EMG features during hypnosis.

Keywords: hypnosis, EEG, robotherapy, brain-computer interface (BCI)

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Authors: Nadjet Brahmia

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The evolution of urban forms, the new aspects of mobility, the ways of life and economic models make public transport conventional collective low-performing on the majority of largest Algerian cities, particularly in the west of Algeria. On the other side, the information and communication technologies (ICT) open new eventualities to develop a new mode of transport which brings together both the tenders offered by the public service collective and those of the particular vehicle, suitable for urban requirements, social and environmental. Like the concrete examples made in the international countries in terms of on-demand transport systems (ODT) more particularly in the developed countries, this article has for objective the opportunity analysis to establish a service of ODT at the level of a few towns of Oran Wilaya, such a service will be subsequently spread on the totality of the Wilaya if not on the whole of Algeria. In this context, we show the different existing means of transport in the current network whose aim to illustrate the points of insufficiency accented in the present transport system, then we discuss the solutions that may exhibit a service of ODT to the problem studied all around the transport sector, to carry at the end to highlight the capabilities of ODT replying to the transformation of mobilities, this in the light of well-defined cases.

Keywords: mobility, on-demand transport, public transport collective, transport system

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Authors: Minna-Maari Harmaala, Hanna Harilainen

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Estimates of the economic value of transitioning to circular economy models vary but it has been estimated to represent $1 trillion worth of new business into the global economy. In Europe alone, estimates claim that adopting circular-economy principles could not only have environmental and social benefits but also generate a net economic benefit of €1.8 trillion by 2030. Proponents of a circular economy argue that it offers a major opportunity to increase resource productivity, decrease resource dependence and waste, and increase employment and growth. A circular system could improve competitiveness and unleash innovation. Yet, most companies are not capturing these opportunities and thus the even abundant circular opportunities remain uncaptured even though they would seem inherently profitable. Service design in broad terms relates to developing an existing or a new service or service concept with emphasis and focus on the customer experience from the onset of the development process. Service design may even mean starting from scratch and co-creating the service concept entirely with the help of customer involvement. Service design methodologies provide a structured way of incorporating customer understanding and involvement in the process of designing better services with better resonance to customer needs. A business model is a depiction of how the company creates, delivers, and captures value; i.e. how it organizes its business. The process of business model development and adjustment or modification is also called business model innovation. Innovating business models has become a part of business strategy. Our hypothesis is that in addition to linear models still being easier to adopt and often with lower threshold costs, companies lack an understanding of how circular models can be adopted into their business and how customers will be willing and ready to adopt the new circular business models. In our research, we use robust service design methodology to develop circular economy solutions with two case study companies. The aim of the process is to not only develop the service concepts and portfolio, but to demonstrate the willingness to adopt circular solutions exists in the customer base. In addition to service design, we employ business model innovation methods to develop, test, and validate the new circular business models further. The results clearly indicate that amongst the customer groups there are specific customer personas that are willing to adopt and in fact are expecting the companies to take a leading role in the transition towards a circular economy. At the same time, there is a group of indifferents, to whom the idea of circularity provides no added value. In addition, the case studies clearly show what changes adoption of circular economy principles brings to the existing business model and how they can be integrated.

Keywords: business model innovation, circular economy, circular economy business models, service design

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Authors: Grmanesh Gidey Kahsay

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In modern technical engineering applications, quality is defined in two ways. The first one is that quality is the parameter that measures a product or service’s characteristics to meet and satisfy the pre-stated or fundamental needs (reliability, durability, serviceability). The second one is the quality of a product or service free of any defect or deficiencies. The American Society for Quality (ASQ) describes quality as a pursuit of optimal solutions to confirm successes and fulfillment to be accountable for the product or service's requirements and expectations. This article focuses on quality engineering tools in modern industrial applications. Quality engineering is a field of engineering that deals with the principles, techniques, models, and applications of the product or service to guarantee quality. Including the entire activities to analyze the product’s design and development, quality engineering emphasizes how to make sure that products and services are designed and developed to meet consumers’ requirements. This episode acquaints with quality tools such as quality systems, auditing, product design, and process control. The finding presents thoughts that aim to improve quality engineering proficiency and effectiveness by introducing essential quality techniques and tools in some selected industries.

Keywords: essential quality tools, quality systems and models, quality management systems, and quality assurance

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Authors: Husni Mohd Radzi, Lilie Zahara Ramly, Sapora Sipon, Salhah Abdullah

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Malaysia have been experiencing series of huge floods all around the country for the past decades despide planned development done by local authorities. The floods incurred due to factors like natural climate change or man-made disaster. Floods have caused a lot of damages, destructions and losses in term of infrastructure, financial implications and physical health. However, other damaging aspect was not being given much attention are the psychological need of the flood victim. The traumatic impact from the natural disaster like floods may cause serious psychological and spiritual deterioration. Many flood relief shelters in the past did not provide counseling services for flood victims to consult, and as a result, it contributes to added stress among the flood victims, as the issue were not being addressed. Some studies indicates that flood victims did not look for counseling service being offered. A total of 257 flood victim was involved in this study. Main area of the study was Kg Bukit Changgang, Kg. Rancangan Tanah Belia, Kg. Labohan Dagang and Kg.Olak Lempit in Kuala Langat, Selangor. The flood victims have responded to the survey given and the data was analyze using SPSS for descriptive information and other measures. At least 13 victims were reported to have experienced moderate to severe level of stress and anxiety over the flood disaster incidents and a total of 88 respondents admitted to have at least thought and consider getting counseling service.

Keywords: perception, acceptance towards counseling, counseling service for flood victim, disaster

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Authors: M. Roberts

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We Are Undefeatable - is a mass marketing behaviour change campaign that aims to support the least active people living with long term health conditions to be more active. This is an important issue to address because people with long term conditions are an historically underserved community for the sport and physical activity sector and the least active of those with long term conditions have the most to gain in health and wellbeing benefits. The campaign has generated a significant change in the way physical activity is communicated and people with long term conditions are represented in the media and marketing. The goal is to create a social norm around being active. The campaign is led by a unique partnership of organisations: the Richmond Group of Charities (made up of Age UK, Alzheimer’s Society, Asthma + Lung UK, Breast Cancer Now, British Heart Foundation, British Red Cross, Diabetes UK, Macmillan Cancer Support, Rethink Mental Illness, Royal Voluntary Service, Stroke Association, Versus Arthritis) along with Mind, MS Society, Parkinson’s UK and Sport England, with National Lottery Funding. It is underpinned by the COM-B model of behaviour change. It draws on the lived experience of people with multiple long term conditions to shape the look and feel of the campaign and all the resources available. People with long term conditions are the campaign messengers, central to the ethos of the campaign by telling their individual stories of overcoming barriers to be active with their health conditions. The central messaging is about finding a way to be active that works for the individual. We Are Undefeatable is evaluated through a multi-modal approach, including regular qualitative focus groups and a quantitative evaluation tracker undertaken three times a year. The campaign has highlighted the significant barriers to physical activity for people with long term conditions. This has changed the way our partnership talks about physical activity but has also had an impact on the wider sport and physical activity sector, prompting an increasing departure from traditional messaging and marketing approaches for this audience of people with long term conditions. The campaign has reached millions of people since its launch in 2019, through multiple marketing and partnership channels including primetime TV advertising and promotion through health professionals and in health settings. Its diverse storytellers make it relatable to its target audience and the achievable activities highlighted and inclusive messaging inspire our audience to take action as a result of seeing the campaign. The We Are Undefeatable campaign is a blueprint for physical activity campaigns; it not only addresses individual behaviour change but plays a role in addressing systemic barriers to physical activity by sharing the lived experience insight to shape policy and professional practice.

Keywords: behaviour change, long term conditions, partnership, relatable

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Authors: Benjamin Cramer, Josephine Chau, Helen Little, Erica Randle

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Play Streets provide a safe and open space for children to play and adults to socialize by closing residential streets to through traffic. While research on Play Streets has typically focused on physical activity outcomes in children, there is limited research on the psychosocial health externalities for the wider community. Charles Sturt, a local government area in Adelaide, South Australia, has been hosting Play Streets for several years. The current study is a mixed-methods evaluation of the Charles Sturt Play Streets, concerned with the perceived psychological and social impacts that Play Streets impact on the community. A combination of semi-structured interviews of Play Street organizers and participants will be conducted and analyzed using inductive thematic analysis. Pre-existing survey data will also be analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively to triangulate the findings of the qualitative interviews. The implications of this research are far-reaching, from informing local councils of any additional health benefits of Play Streets, expanding the growing literature on Play Streets beyond childhood physical activity, informing the development of city infrastructure, and advancing the Sustainability Development Goals of Good Health and Wellbeing, Reduced Inequalities, and Sustainable Cities and Communities.

Keywords: play streets, mental health, social health, community health

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Authors: T. Arudchelvam, W. W. E. N. Fernando

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Mobile phone has become as an essential thing in our life. Therefore, security is the most important thing to be considered in mobile communication. Short message service is the cheapest way of communication via the mobile phones. Therefore, security is very important in the short message service as well. This paper presents a method to maintain the security at user level. Different types of encryption methods are used to implement the user level security in mobile phones. Caesar cipher, Rail Fence, Vigenere cipher and RSA are used as encryption methods in this work. Caesar cipher and the Rail Fence methods are enhanced and implemented. The beauty in this work is that the user can select the encryption method and the key. Therefore, by changing the encryption method and the key time to time, the user can ensure the security of messages. By this work, while users can safely send/receive messages, they can save their information from unauthorised and unwanted people in their own mobile phone as well.

Keywords: SMS, user level security, encryption, decryption, short message service, mobile communication

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Authors: Nicolas Haber

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The study addresses the conceptual design of Product-Service Systems (PSSs) as a means of innovating solutions with the aim of reducing the environmental load of conventional product based solutions. Functional approaches targeting PSS solutions are developed in instinctive methods within the constraints of the setting in which they are conceived. Adopting morphological matrices in designing PSS concepts allows a thorough understanding of the settings, stakeholders, and functional requirements. Additionally, such a methodology is robust and adaptable to product-oriented, use-oriented and result-oriented systems. The research is based on a functional decomposition of the task in a similar way as in product design; while extended to include service components, providers, and receivers, while assessing the adaptability and homogeneity of the selected components and actors. A use-oriented concept is presented via a practical case study at an agricultural boom-sprayer manufacturer to demonstrate the effectiveness of the morphological approach to justify its viability. Additionally, a life cycle analysis is carried out in order to evaluate the environmental advantages inherited in a PSS solution versus a conventional solution. In light of the applications presented, the morphological approach appears to be a valid and generic tactic to conceiving integrated solutions whilst capturing the interrelations between the actors and elements of an integrated product-service system.

Keywords: conceptual design, design for sustainability, functional decomposition, product-service systems

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Authors: Stephanie Giordano, Eric Lam, Rosa Plasencia

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An important piece of active aging is ensuring people have the right support to meet individual needs. Using NCI-AD data, we will look at measures of satisfaction with community access and needed services among people with physical disabilities receiving LTSS in the US. National Core Indicators—Aging and Disabilities (NCI-AD) is a voluntary effort by State Medicaid, aging, and disability agencies across the US to measure and track their own performance. NCI-AD uses a standardized survey – the Adult Consumer Survey (ACS), to hear directly from people receiving services about the quality of services and supports they receive. Data from the 2018-19 ACS found that compared to people without a physical disability, those with a physical disability were more likely to make choices about the services they receive, including when and how often they receive those services. Yet people with a physical disability were less likely to report they get enough assistance with everyday activities (e.g., shopping, housework, and taking medications) and self-care (e.g., dressing or bathing) and more likely to report that services and supports do not fully meet their needs and goals. A further breakdown by age shows that people 40-65 years old with a physical disability experienced even greater barriers to being as active in the community as they would like to be, indicating a need to better support people as they age with or into a disability. We will explore how these and other outcomes were affected by COVID-19, take a closer look at outcomes by demographics (e.g., race/ethnicity, gender, and mental health diagnoses) and discuss implications on the future needs of service systems.

Keywords: quality-of-life, long-term services and supports, person-centered, community

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Authors: Yan Yan, Erhong Sun, Lin Peng, Xuchun Ye

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Aims: The present study aimed to explore Intensive Care Unit (ICU) nurses’ mental workload (MWL) and associated factors with it in performing human-machine tasks. Background: A wide range of emerging technologies have penetrated widely in the field of health care, and ICU nurses are facing a dramatic increase in nursing human-machine tasks. However, there is still a paucity of literature reporting on the general MWL of ICU nurses performing human-machine tasks and the associated influencing factors. Methods: A cross-sectional survey was employed. The data was collected from January to February 2021 from 9 tertiary hospitals in 6 provinces (Shanghai, Gansu, Guangdong, Liaoning, Shandong, and Hubei). Two-stage sampling was used to recruit eligible ICU nurses (n=427). The data were collected with an electronic questionnaire comprising sociodemographic characteristics and the measures of MWL, self-efficacy, system usability, and task difficulty. The univariate analysis, two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), and a linear mixed model were used for data analysis. Results: Overall, the mental workload of ICU nurses in performing human-machine tasks was medium (score 52.04 on a 0-100 scale). Among the typical nursing human-machine tasks selected, the MWL of ICU nurses in completing first aid and life support tasks (‘Using a defibrillator to defibrillate’ and ‘Use of ventilator’) was significantly higher than others (p < .001). And ICU nurses’ MWL in performing human-machine tasks was also associated with age (p = .001), professional title (p = .002), years of working in ICU (p < .001), willingness to study emerging technology actively (p = .006), task difficulty (p < .001), and system usability (p < .001). Conclusion: The MWL of ICU nurses is at a moderate level in the context of a rapid increase in nursing human-machine tasks. However, there are significant differences in MWL when performing different types of human-machine tasks, and MWL can be influenced by a combination of factors. Nursing managers need to develop intervention strategies in multiple ways. Implications for practice: Multidimensional approaches are required to perform human-machine tasks better, including enhancing nurses' willingness to learn emerging technologies actively, developing training strategies that vary with tasks, and identifying obstacles in the process of human-machine system interaction.

Keywords: mental workload, nurse, ICU, human-machine, tasks, cross-sectional study, linear mixed model, China

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Authors: Magdalena Barbara Kaziuk, Waldemar Kosiba

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Introduction: Despite the development of technologies and improvements in the interior of dialysis stations, dialysis remains an unpleasant procedure, difficult to accept by the patients (who undergo it 2 to 3 times a week, a single treatment lasting several hours). Haemodialysis is one of the renal replacement therapies, in Poland most commonly used in patients with chronic or acute kidney failure. Purpose: An attempt was made to evaluate the quality of life in haemodialysed patients using the WHOQOL-BREF questionnaire. Material and methods: The study covered 422 patients (200 women and 222 men, aged 60.5 ± 12.9 years) undergoing dialysis at three selected stations in Poland. The patients were divided into 2 groups, depending on the duration of their dialysis treatment. The evaluation was conducted with the WHOQOL-BREF questionnaire containing 26 questions analysing 4 areas of life, as well as the perception of the quality of life and health self-assessment. A 5-point scale is used to answer them. The maximum score in each area is 20 points. The results in individual areas have a positive direction. Results: In patients undergoing dialysis for more than 3 years, a reduction in the quality of life was found in the physical area and in their environment versus a group of patients undergoing dialysis for less than 3 years, where a reduced quality of life was found in the areas of social relations and mental well-being (p < 0.05). A significant correlation (p < 0.01) between the two groups was found in self-perceived general health, while no significant differences were observed in the general perception of the quality of life (p > 0.05). Conclusions: The study confirmed that in patients undergoing dialysis for more than three years, the quality of life is especially reduced in their environment (access to and quality of healthcare, financial resources, and mental and physical safety). The assessment of the quality of life should form a part of the therapeutic process, in which the role of the patient in chronic renal care should be emphasised, reflected in the quality of services provided by dialysis stations.

Keywords: haemodialysis, perception of quality of life, quality of services provided, dialysis station

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Authors: Kidist Mesfin Nguse

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Ethiopia is the second most densely populated nation in Africa, and about 121 million people as the 2022 Ethiopia population live report recorded. In recent years, the Ethiopian government (GOE) has been gradually growing its road network. With 138,127 kilometers (85,825 miles) of all-weather roads as of the end of 2018–19, Ethiopia possessed just 39% of the nation's necessary road network and lacked a well-organized system. The Ethiopian urban population report recorded that about 21% of the population lives in urban areas, and the high population, coupled with growth in various infrastructures, has led to the migration of the workforce from rural areas to cities across the country. In main roads, the heterogeneous traffic flow with various operational features makes it more unfavorable, causing frequent congestion in the stretch of road. The Level of Service (LOS), a qualitative measure of traffic, is categorized based on the operating conditions in the traffic stream. Determining the capacity and LOS for this city is very crucial as this affects the planning and design of traffic systems and their operation, and the allocation of route selection for infrastructure building projects to provide for a considerably good level of service.

Keywords: capacity, level of service, traffic volume, free flow speed

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Authors: Renata Hrecska

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This research seeks to fully examine the internal employment law of international organizations by comparing it with the characteristics of the national civil service. The aim of the research is to compare the legal system that has developed over many centuries and the relatively new internal staffing regulations to find out what solution schemes can help each other through mutual legal development in order to respond effectively to the social challenges of everyday life. Generally, the rules of civil service of any country or international entity have in common that they have, in their pragmatics inherently, the characteristic that makes them serving public interests. Though behind the common base there are many differences: there is the clear fragmentation of state regulation and the unity of organizational regulation. On the other hand, however, this difference disappears to some extent: the public service regulation of international organizations can be considered uniform until we examine it within, but not outside an organization. As soon as we compare the different organizations we may find many different solutions for staffing regulations. It is clear that the national civil service is a strong model for international organizations, but the question may be whether the staffing policy of international organizations can serve the national civil service as an example, too. In this respect, the easiest way to imagine a legislative environment would be to have a single comprehensive code, the general part of which is the Civil Service Act itself, and the specific part containing specific, necessarily differentiating rules for each layer of the civil service. Would it be advantageous to follow the footsteps of the leading international organizations, or is there any speciality in national level civil service that we cannot avoid during regulating processes? In addition to the above, the personal competencies of officials working in international organizations and public administrations also show a high degree of similarity, regardless of the type of employment. Thus, the whole public service system is characterized by the fundamental and special values that a person capable of holding a public office must be able to demonstrate, in some cases, even without special qualifications. It is also interesting how we can compare the two spheres of employment in light of the theory of Lawyer Louis Brandeis, a judge at the US Supreme Court, who formulated a complex theory of profession as distinguished from other occupations. From this point of view we can examine the continuous development of research and specialized knowledge at work; the community recognition and social status; that to what extent we can see a close-knit professional organization of altruistic philosophy; that how stability grows in the working conditions due to the stability of the profession; and that how the autonomy of the profession can prevail.

Keywords: civil service, comparative law, international organizations, regulatory systems

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Authors: Noor Azlina Mohamed Yunus, Baharom Abd Rahman, Abdul Kadir Othman, Narehan Hassan, Rohana Mat Som, Ibhrahim Zakaria

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Customer satisfaction and customer loyalty are the most important outcomes of marketing in which both elements serve various stages of consumer buying behavior. Excellent service quality has become a major corporate goal as more companies gradually struggle for quality for their products and services. Therefore, the main purpose of this study is to investigate the influence of service quality on customer satisfaction and customer loyalty at one telecommunication company in Malaysia which is Telekom Malaysia. The scope of this research is to evaluate satisfaction on the products or services at TMpoint Bukit Raja, Malaysia. The data are gathered through the distribution of questionnaires to a total of 306 respondents who visited and used the products or services. By using correlation and multiple regression analyses, the result revealed that there was a positive and significant relationship between service quality and customer satisfaction. The most influential factor on customer satisfaction was empathy followed by reliability, assurance and tangibles. However, there was no significant influence between responsiveness and customer satisfaction. The result also showed there was a positive and significant relationship between service quality and customer loyalty. The most influential factor on customer loyalty was assurance followed by reliability and tangibles. TMpoint Bukit Raja is recommended to device excellent strategies to satisfy customers’ needs and to adopt action-oriented approach by focusing on what the customers wanted. It is also recommended that similar study can be carried out in other industries using different methodologies such as longitudinal method, enlarge the sample size and use a qualitative approach.

Keywords: customer satisfaction, customer loyalty, service quality, telecommunication company

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Authors: Hui-Chieh Li

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Circular economy promotes greater resource productivity and avoids pollution through greater recycling and re-use which bring benefits for both the environment and the economy. The concept is contrast to a linear economy which is ‘take, make, dispose’ model of production. A well-design reverse logistics service strategy could enhance the willingness of recycling of the users and reduce the related logistics cost as well as carbon emissions. Moreover, the recycle brings the manufacturers most advantages as it targets components for closed-loop reuse, essentially converting materials and components from worn-out product into inputs for new ones at right time and right place. This study considers demand-supply interaction, time-dependent recycle demand, time-dependent surplus value of recycled product and constructs models on recycle service strategy for the recyclable waste collector. A crucial factor in optimizing a recycle service strategy is consumer demand. The study considers the relationships between consumer demand towards recycle and product characteristics, surplus value and user behavior. The study proposes a recycle service strategy which differs significantly from the conventional and typical uniform service strategy. Periods with considerable demand and large surplus product value suggest frequent and short service cycle. The study explores how to determine a recycle service strategy for recyclable waste collector in terms of service cycle frequency and duration and vehicle type for all service cycles by considering surplus value of recycled product, time-dependent demand, transportation economies and demand-supply interaction. The recyclable waste collector is responsible for the collection of waste product for the manufacturer. The study also examines the impacts of utilization rate on the cost and profit in the context of different sizes of vehicles. The model applies mathematical programming methods and attempts to maximize the total profit of the distributor during the study period. This study applies the binary logit model, analytical model and mathematical programming methods to the problem. The model specifically explores how to determine a recycle service strategy for the recycler by considering product surplus value, time-dependent recycle demand, transportation economies and demand-supply interaction. The model applies mathematical programming methods and attempts to minimize the total logistics cost of the recycler and maximize the recycle benefits of the manufacturer during the study period. The study relaxes the constant demand assumption and examines how service strategy affects consumer demand towards waste recycling. Results of the study not only help understanding how the user demand for recycle service and product surplus value affects the logistics cost and manufacturer’s benefits, but also provide guidance such as award bonus and carbon emission regulations for the government.

Keywords: circular economy, consumer demand, product surplus value, recycle service strategy

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Authors: Ujjal Chattaraj, M. Raviteja, Chaitanya Aemala

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Over the years vehicular traffic has been given priority over pedestrian traffic. With the increase of population in cities, pedestrian traffic is increasing day by day. Pedestrian safety has become a matter of concern for the Traffic Engineers. Pedestrian comfort is primary important for the Engineers who design different pedestrian facilities. Pedestrian comfort and safety can be measured in terms of different level of service (LOS) of the facilities. In this study video data on pedestrian movement have been collected from different railway foot over bridges (FOB) in India. The level of service of those facilities has been analyzed. A cellular automata based model has been formulated to mimic the route choice behaviour of the pedestrians on the foot over bridges.

Keywords: cellular automata model, foot over bridge, level of service, pedestrian

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Authors: Prof. Ragea Alqahtani

Abstract:

The purpose of the study was to measure the effectiveness of the Goldstein’s social skill streaming model based on the special and general pre-service teachers’ knowledge about controlling their emotions in conflict situations. A review of previous pieces of literature guided the design and measurement of the effectiveness of the approach to the control of emotions. The teachers were assessed using the coping strategy, adult anger, and Goldstein’s skill streaming inventories. Lastly, the paper provides various recommendations on the sensitization of the Goldstein’s Social Skill streaming model to both the special and pre-service teachers to promote their knowledge about controlling emotions in conflicts.

Keywords: emotional control, goldstein social skillstreaming model, modeling technique, self-as-a-model, self-efficacy, self-regulation

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Authors: Mustafa Jahanara

Abstract:

The purpose of the research was to study the relationship between self-esteem, self-Efficacy with psychological distress in the high school teachers. A total of 245 teachers (92 male and 153 female) in the high school of Kabul and Mazar-e-Sharif from Afghanistan completed inventories General Self-Efficacy, Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, and General Health Questionnaire-12 and that assessed their Self-Efficacy, self-esteem with psychological distress. Correlational analysis showed that self-efficacy and self-esteem were significantly and positively correlated with each other. The results of the study indicated that psychological distress is negatively related to self-esteem, and self-efficacy. However, the findings suggest that self-esteem, and self-efficacy could influence on mental health.

Keywords: high school teachers, self-esteem, self-efficacy, psychological distress

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Authors: Yoshiaki Shikata

Abstract:

A prioritized processor-sharing (PS) system with a maximum permissible sojourn time (MPST) is proposed. In this PS system, a higher-priority request is allocated a larger service ratio than a lower-priority request. Moreover, each request receiving service is guaranteed the maximum permissible sojourn time determined by each priority class, regardless of its service time. Arriving requests that cannot receive service due to this guarantee are rejected. We further propose a guarantee method for implementing such a system, and discuss performance evaluation procedures for the resulting system. Practical performance measures, such as the relationships between the loss probability or mean sojourn time of each class request and the maximum permissible sojourn time are evaluated via simulation. At the arrival of each class request, its acceptance or rejection is judged using extended sojourn times of all requests receiving service in the server. As the MPST increases, the mean sojourn time increases almost linearly. However, the logarithm of the loss probability decreases almost linearly. Moreover with an MPST, the difference in the mean sojourn time for different MPSTs increases with the traffic rate. Conversely, the difference in the loss probability for different MPSTs decreases as the traffic rate increases.

Keywords: prioritized processor sharing, priority ratio, permissible sojourn time, loss probability, mean sojourn time, simulation

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Authors: Rodrigo Guimarães Santos

Abstract:

The quality of public transport services has been considered as a critical factor by their users and also by users of individual transport. Thus, this dissertation aims to adapt a model that assesses the quality of public transport and determines its level of service based on the views of its users. The methodology is widely used by marketers and allows measuring the quality of services by assessing the perceptions and expectations of users. The adapted SERVQUAL was tested with users of public transport service users and car in Brasília-DF, city of Brazil. This research involved 241 questionnaires answered by people living in the various administrative regions of Brasília-DF. The analysis of the determinants pointed out that the quality of the public transport service offered in the city is low and users of public transport and cars have a high degree of expectations for improvement in all tested determinants. This method enabled the identification of the most critical determinants and those needing strategic actions for continuous improvement of quality. Adapting the SERVQUAL for a public transport service was satisfactory and demonstrated applicability to internal and external services, including measuring the public transport services in other cities with the opinion of the users.

Keywords: transportation services, quality services, servqual scale and marketing services

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Authors: Esmeralda Hysenbelliu

Abstract:

The aim of this paper is to present the QoE (Quality of Experience) IPTV SDN-based media streaming server enhanced architecture for configuring, controlling, management and provisioning the improved delivery of IPTV service application with low cost, low bandwidth, and high security. Furthermore, it is given a virtual QoE IPTV SDN-based topology to provide an improved IPTV service based on QoE Control and Management of multimedia services functionalities. Inside OpenFlow SDN Controller there are enabled in high flexibility and efficiency Service Load-Balancing Systems; based on the Loading-Balance module and based on GeoIP Service. This two Load-balancing system improve IPTV end-users Quality of Experience (QoE) with optimal management of resources greatly. Through the key functionalities of OpenFlow SDN controller, this approach produced several important features, opportunities for overcoming the critical QoE metrics for IPTV Service like achieving incredible Fast Zapping time (Channel Switching time) < 0.1 seconds. This approach enabled Easy and Powerful Transcoding system via FFMPEG encoder. It has the ability to customize streaming dimensions bitrates, latency management and maximum transfer rates ensuring delivering of IPTV streaming services (Audio and Video) in high flexibility, low bandwidth and required performance. This QoE IPTV SDN-based media streaming architecture unlike other architectures provides the possibility of Channel Exchanging between several IPTV service providers all over the word. This new functionality brings many benefits as increasing the number of TV channels received by end –users with low cost, decreasing stream failure time (Channel Failure time < 0.1 seconds) and improving the quality of streaming services.

Keywords: improved quality of experience (QoE), OpenFlow SDN controller, IPTV service application, softwarization

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Authors: E. Omanya, E. Mueni, G. Makau, M. Kariuki

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HIV infection is the strongest risk factor for a person to develop TB. Isoniazid preventive therapy (IPT) for People Living with HIV (PLWHIV) not only reduces the individual patients’ risk of developing active TB but mitigates cross infection. In Kenya, IPT for six months was recommended through the National TB, Leprosy and Lung Disease Program to treat latent TB. In spite of this recommendation by the national government, uptake of IPT among PLHIV remained low in Kenya by the end of 2015. The USAID/Kenya and East Africa Afya Jijini project, which supports 42 TBHIV health facilities in Nairobi County, began addressing low uptake of IPT through Quality Improvement (QI) teams set up at the facility level. Quality is characterized by WHO as one of the four main connectors between health systems building blocks and health systems outputs. Afya Jijini implements the Kenya Quality Model for Health, which involves QI teams being formed at the county, sub-county and facility levels. The teams review facility performance to identify gaps in service delivery and use QI tools to monitor and improve performance. Afya Jijini supported the formation of these teams in 42 facilities and built the teams’ capacity to review data and use QI principles to identify and address performance gaps. When the QI teams began working on improving IPT uptake among PLHIV, uptake was at 31.8%. The teams first conducted a root cause analysis using cause and effect diagrams, which help the teams to brainstorm on and to identify barriers to IPT uptake among PLHIV at the facility level. This is a participatory process where program staff provides technical support to the QI teams in problem identification and problem-solving. The gaps identified were inadequate knowledge and skills on the use of IPT among health care workers, lack of awareness of IPT by patients, inadequate monitoring and evaluation tools, and poor quantification and forecasting of IPT commodities. In response, Afya Jijini trained over 300 health care workers on the administration of IPT, supported patient education, supported quantification and forecasting of IPT commodities, and provided IPT data collection tools to help facilities monitor their performance. The facility QI teams conducted monthly meetings to monitor progress on implementation of IPT and took corrective action when necessary. IPT uptake improved from 31.8% to 61.2% during the second year of the Afya Jijini project and improved to 80.1% during the third year of the project’s support. Use of QI teams and root cause analysis to identify and address service delivery gaps, in addition to targeted program interventions and continual performance reviews, can be successful in increasing TB related service delivery uptake at health facilities.

Keywords: isoniazid, quality, health care workers, people leaving with HIV

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Authors: Abuzer Akgün, Ümit Duruk

Abstract:

This study was carried out in a period of four weeks thanks to voluntarily participation of twenty eight pre-service teachers enrolled diverse departments in Faculty of Education. The purpose of the study was to point out how pre-service teachers views on environmental education were affected by field trips. Prior to data collection, four open-ended questions were prepared and administered to all pre-service teachers in the working group. Data gathered at first and final week of the field trip were compared in a qualitative approach using content analysis. In conclusion, it is obvious that most of the participants don’t feel themselves quiet enough about environmental education and state this reason as a providing justification to participate voluntarily in the study. In the secondary school teaching context, they mostly emphasize on the vital importance of the environmental awareness level of the pupils in the schools. They also seem to think that they get a detailed knowledge of environmental education and claim that they will use this knowledge in order to bring up next generations in their professional career as teachers. Lastly, they state that observing the deteriorating materials directly in their own settings, might be more effective as regards improving environmental awareness.

Keywords: science education, environmental education, environmental issues, field trip method

Procedia PDF Downloads 342

Authors: Luay Jum'a

Abstract:

Many challenges are facing third-party logistics (3PL) providers in the domestic and global markets which create a volatile decision making environment. All these challenges such as managing changes in consumer behaviour, demanding expectations from customers and time compressions have turned into complex problems for 3PL providers. Since the movement towards increased outsourcing outpaces movement towards insourcing, the need to achieve a competitive advantage over competitors in 3PL market increases. This trend continues to grow over the years and as a result, areas of strengths and improvements are highlighted through the analysis of the LSQ factors that lead to B2B customers’ satisfaction which become a priority for 3PL companies. Consequently, 3PL companies are increasingly focusing on the most important issues from the perspective of their customers and relying more on this value of information in making their managerial decisions. Therefore, this study is concerned with providing guidance for improving logistics service quality (LSQ) levels in the context of 3PL industry in Jordan. The study focused on the most important factors in LSQ and used a managerial tool that guides 3PL companies in making LSQ improvements based on a quadrant analysis of two main dimensions: LSQ declared importance and LSQ inferred importance. Although, a considerable amount of research has been conducted to investigate the relationship between logistics service quality (LSQ) and customer satisfaction, there remains a lack of developing managerial tools to aid in the process of LSQ improvement decision-making. Moreover, the main advantage for the companies to use 3PL service providers as a trend is due to the realised percentage of cost reduction on the total cost of logistics operations and the incremental improvement in customer service. In this regard, having a managerial tool that help 3PL service providers in managing the LSQ factors portfolio effectively and efficiently would be a great investment for service providers. One way of suggesting LSQ improvement actions for 3PL service providers is via the adoption of analysis tools that perform attribute categorisation such as Importance–Performance matrix. In mind of the above, it can be stated that the use of quadrant analysis will provide a valuable opportunity for 3PL service providers to identify improvement opportunities as customer service attributes or factors importance are identified in two different techniques that complete each other. Moreover, the data were collected through conducting a survey and 293 questionnaires were returned from business-to-business (B2B) customers of 3PL companies in Jordan. The results showed that the LSQ factors vary in their importance and 3PL companies should focus on some LSQ factors more than other factors. Moreover, ordering procedures, timeliness/responsiveness LSQ factors considered being crucial in 3PL businesses and therefore they need to have more focus and development by 3PL service providers in the Jordanian market.

Keywords: logistics service quality, managerial decisions, quadrant analysis, third party logistics service provider

Procedia PDF Downloads 118

Authors: Hussain A. Alkharusi, Said S. Aldhafri, Hilal Z. Alnabhani, Muna Alkalbani

Abstract:

Analysing classroom assessments is one of the responsibilities of the teacher. It aims improving teacher’s instruction and assessment as well as student learning. The present study investigated factors that might explain variation in teachers’ practices regarding analysis of classroom assessments. The factors considered in the investigation included gender, in-service assessment training, teaching load, teaching experience, knowledge in assessment, attitude towards quantitative aspects of assessment, and self-perceived competence in analysing assessments. Participants were 246 in-service teachers in Oman. Results of a stepwise multiple linear regression analysis revealed that self-perceived competence was the only significant factor explaining the variance in teachers’ analysis of assessments. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

Keywords: analysis of assessment, classroom assessment, in-service teachers, self-competence

Procedia PDF Downloads 312