Search results for: service appraisal of soldiers

Authors: Jui-Chen Huang

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This research used artificial intelligence method to explore elderly’s opinions on the reuse of telecare, its effect on their service quality, satisfaction and the relationship between customer perceived value and intention to reuse. This study conducted a questionnaire survey on the elderly. A total of 124 valid copies of a questionnaire were obtained. It adopted Backpropagation Network (BPN) to propose an effective and feasible analysis method, which is different from the traditional method. Two third of the total samples (82 samples) were taken as the training data, and the one third of the samples (42 samples) were taken as the testing data. The training and testing data RMSE (root mean square error) are 0.022 and 0.009 in the BPN, respectively. As shown, the errors are acceptable. On the other hand, the training and testing data RMSE are 0.100 and 0.099 in the regression model, respectively. In addition, the results showed the service quality has the greatest effects on the intention to reuse, followed by the satisfaction, and perceived value. This result of the Backpropagation Network method is better than the regression analysis. This result can be used as a reference for future research.

Keywords: artificial intelligence, backpropagation network (BPN), elderly, reuse, telecare

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Authors: Frie Ayalew, Seada Hussen

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Ethio-telecom holds a variety of telecom devices that needs a consistent power source to be operational. The company got this power mainly from the national grid and used this power source alone or with a generator and/or batteries as a backup. In addition, for off-grid or remote areas, the company commonly uses generators and batteries. But unstable diesel prices, huge expenses of fuel and transportation, and high carbon emissions are the main problems associated with fuel energy. So, the design of solar power with battery backup is a highly recommended and advantageous source for the next coming years. This project designs the AC and DC standalone photovoltaic supply to Ethio-telecom access layer devices for the case of multi-service access gateway in Adama. The design is done by using Homer software for both AC and DC loads. The project shows that the design of a solar based microgrid is the best option for the designed area.

Keywords: solar power, battery, inverter, Ethio-telecom, solar radiation

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Authors: Galila Aisyah Latif Amini, Husnul Khatimah, Citra Amelia

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Smoking among women is of particular concern for the maternal and child health community due to the strong association between prenatal smoking and adverse birth outcomes. Pregnancy is perceived to be a unique reason for smoking cessation, as motivation to care for the unborn fetus. This study aimed to find out the determinants of smoking cessation among pregnant women. Method that we use in this study is systematic review. We identified relevant studies by searching on science database online through SAGE journals, Proquest, Scopus, Emerald, JSTOR, and Springerlink. Journals were screened by title and abstract according to the research topic then filtered using the criteria exclusion and inclusion. And then we did critical appraisal. The results of the four studies reviewed were found that the determinant of smoking cessation are parity, the level of education, socioeconomic status, household SHS exposure, smoking habits of both parents, partner smoking status, psychological factors, antenatal care, intervention for health care provider, age smoking duration. The factor most strongly associated with smoking cessation is parity (OR 2,55; Cl 2,34-2,77). The results of this study are expected to give advice for developing future smoking cessation and relapse prevention programs.

Keywords: pregnancy, smoking cessation, tobacco use cessation, smoking

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Authors: Imran Badshah

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This paper study the impact of Un-signalized pedestrian on traffic flow at Stationary Bottleneck. The Highway Capacity Manual (HCM) analyze the methodology of level of service for Urban street segment but it does not include the impact of un-signalized pedestrian crossing at stationary bottleneck. The un-signalized pedestrian crossing in urban road segment causes conflict between vehicles and pedestrians. As a result, the average time taken by vehicle to travel along a road segment increased. The speed of vehicle and the level of service decreases as the running time of a segment increased. To analyze the delay, we need to determine the pedestrian speed while crossing the road at a stationary bottleneck. The objective of this research is to determine the speed of pedestrian and its impact on traffic flow at stationary bottleneck. In addition, the result of this study should be incorporated in the Urban Street Analysis Chapter of HCM.

Keywords: stationary bottleneck, traffic flow, pedestrian speed, HCM

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Authors: Isaac Kofi Mensah, Mi Jianing

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The lack of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) infrastructure in African countries is hampering the successful adoption, development and implementation of e-government in Africa. Electronic government is the use of ICTs to modernize government public administration processes and to provide government services to citizens with a purpose to enhance efficiency, accountability, and transparency in government’s interaction with the citizenry. ICT application in public administration has the potential to modernize and create smarter government and improvement in public service delivery. China’s Internet Plus policy and One Belt One Road strategy present a golden opportunity for countries in Africa to attract the huge financial investment through Chinese IT companies to develop and close Africa’s ICT infrastructure gap. This study recommends the establishment of One Belt One Road ICT Infrastructure Fund for Africa (OBOR ICT Fund for Africa) to enable countries in Africa to source solely for the purpose of ICT infrastructure development in the public sector/government machinery which would in turn promote the adoption and development of e-government in the public sectors of respective countries in Africa.

Keywords: e-government, public service delivery, internet plus, one belt one road initiative, China, Africa

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Authors: Min-Ha Hong, Kee-Won Kim, Seung-Hoon Kim

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The character in the story-based content, such as novels and movies, is one of the core elements to understand the story. In particular, the character’s tendency is an important factor to analyze the story-based content, because it has a significant influence on the storyline. If readers have the knowledge of the tendency of characters before reading a novel, it will be helpful to understand the structure of conflict, episode and relationship between characters in the novel. It may therefore help readers to select novel that the reader wants to read. In this paper, we propose a method of extracting the tendency of the characters from a novel written in Korean. In advance, we build the dictionary with pairs of the emotional words in Korean and English since the emotion words in the novel’s sentences express character’s feelings. We rate the degree of polarity (positive or negative) of words in our emotional words dictionary based on SenticNet. Then we extract characters and emotion words from sentences in a novel. Since the polarity of a word grows strong or weak due to sentence features such as quotations and modifiers, our proposed method consider them to calculate the polarity of characters. The information of the extracted character’s polarity can be used in the book search service or book recommendation service.

Keywords: character tendency, data mining, emotion word, Korean novel

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Authors: S. Fazi, B. Behdani

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The inland transportation of maritime containers entails the use of different modalities whose capacity is typically booked in advance. Containers may miss their scheduled departure time at a terminal for several reasons, such as delays, change of transport modes, multiple bookings pending. In those cases, it may be difficult for transport service providers to find last minute containers to fill the vacant capacity. Similarly to other industries, overbooking could potentially limit these drawbacks at the cost of a lower service level in case of actual excess of capacity in overbooked rides. However, the presence of multiple modalities may provide the required flexibility in rescheduling and limit the dissatisfaction of the shippers in case of containers in overbooking. This flexibility is known with the term 'synchromodality'. In this paper, we evaluate via discrete event simulation the application of overbooking. Results show that in certain conditions overbooking can significantly increase profit and utilization of high-capacity means of transport, such as barges and trains. On the other hand, in case of high penalty costs and limited no-show, overbooking may lead to an excessive use of expensive trucks.

Keywords: discrete event simulation, flexibility, inland shipping, multimodality, overbooking

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Authors: Frank Papworth, Inam Khan

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Fib’s model code 2020 has four approaches for design life verification. Historically ‘deemed to satisfy provisions have been the principal approach, but this has limited options for materials and covers. The use of an equation in fib’s model code for service life design to predict time to corrosion initiation has become increasingly popular to justify further options, but in some cases, the analysis approaches are incorrect. Even when the equations are computed using full probabilistic analysis, there are common mistakes. This paper reviews the work of recent fib commissions on implementing the service life model to assess the reliability of durability designs, including initiation and propagation periods. The paper goes on to consider the assessment of deemed to satisfy requirements in national codes and considers the influence of various options, including different steel types, various cement systems, quality of concrete and cover, on reliability achieved. As modelling is based on achieving agreed target reliability, consideration is given to how a project might determine appropriate target reliability.

Keywords: chlorides, marine, exposure, design life, reliability, modelling

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Authors: Marzena Tomaszewska, Beata Bilska, Danuta Kolozyn-Krajewska

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Food loss and food waste are a global problem of the modern economy. The research undertaken aimed to analyze how food is handled in catering establishments when it comes to food waste and to demonstrate main ways of management with foods/dishes not served to consumers. A survey study was conducted from January to June 2019. The selection of catering establishments participating in the study was deliberate. The study included establishments located only in Mazowieckie Voivodeship (Poland). 42 completed questionnaires were collected. In some questions, answers were based on a 5-point scale of 1 to 5 (from 'always'/'every day' to 'never'). The survey also included closed questions with a suggested cafeteria of answers. The respondents stated that in their workplaces, dishes served cold and hot ready meals are discarded every day or almost every day (23.7% and 20.5% of answers respectively). A procedure most frequently used for dealing with dishes not served to consumers on a given day is their storage at a cool temperature until the following day. In the research, 1/5 of respondents admitted that consumers 'always' or 'usually' leave uneaten meals on their plates, and over 41% 'sometimes' do so. It was found additionally that food not used in food service sector is most often thrown into a public container for rubbish. Most often thrown into the public container (with communal trash) were: expired products (80.0%), plate waste (80.0%), and inedible products (fruit and vegetable peels, egg shells) (77.5%). Most frequently into the container dedicated only for food waste were thrown out used deep-frying oil (62.5%). 10% of respondents indicated that inedible products in their workplaces is allocate for animal feeds. Food waste in the food service sector still remains an insufficiently studied issue, as owners of these objects are often unwilling to disclose data pertaining to the subject. Incorrect ways of management with foods not served to consumers were observed. There is the need to develop the educational activities for employees and management in the context of food waste management in the food service sector. This publication has been developed under the contract with the National Center for Research and Development No Gospostrateg1/385753/1/NCBR/2018 for carrying out and funding of a project implemented as part of the 'The social and economic development of Poland in the conditions of globalizing markets - GOSPOSTRATEG' program entitled 'Developing a system for monitoring wasted food and an effective program to rationalize losses and reduce food wastage' (acronym PROM).

Keywords: food waste, inedible products, plate waste, used deep-frying oil

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Authors: Fei Peng, Jun Yuan, Chen Fan, Fan Jiang, Qian Sun, Yudi Liu

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Although Earth Station in Motion (ESIM) services are widely used and there is a huge market demand around the world, International Telecommunication Union (ITU) does not have unified conclusion for the use of ESIM yet. ESIM are Mobile Satellite Services (MSS) due to its mobile-based attributes, while multiple administrations want to use ESIM in Fixed Satellite Service (FSS). However, Radio Regulations (RR) have strict distinction between MSS and FSS. In this case, ITU has been very controversial because this kind of application will violate the RR Article and the conflict will bring risks to the global deployment. Thus, this paper illustrates the development of rules, regulations, standards concerning ESIM and the radio spectrum usage of ESIM in different regions around the world. Firstly, the basic rules, standard and definition of ITU’s Radiocommunication Sector (ITU-R) is introduced. Secondly, the World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC) agenda item on radio spectrum allocation for ESIM, e.g. in C/Ku/Ka band, is introduced and multi-view on the radio spectrum allocation is elaborated, especially on 19.7-20.2 GHz & 29.5-30.0 GHz. Then, some ITU-R Recommendations and Reports are analyzed on the specific technique to enable these ESIM to communicate with Geostationary Earth Orbit Satellite (GSO) space stations in the FSS without causing interference at levels in excess of that caused by conventional FSS earth stations. Meanwhile, the opposite opinion on not allocating EISM service in FSS frequency band is also elaborated. Finally, based on the ESIM’s future application, the ITU-R standards development trend is forecasted. In conclusion, using radio spectrum resource in an equitable, rational and efficient manner is the basic guideline of ITU. Although it is not a good approach to obstruct the revise of RR when there is a large demand for radio spectrum resource in satellite industry, still the propulsion and global demand of the whole industry may face difficulties on the unclear application in modify rules of RR.

Keywords: earth station in motion, ITU standards, radio regulations, radio spectrum, satellite communication

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Authors: Sayna Bahraini, Wendy Gifford, Ian Graham, Liquaa Wazni, Suzettee Bremault-Phillips, Rebekah Hackbusch, Catrine Demers, Mary Egan

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Objective: Guidelines for palliative and spiritual care emphasize the importance of screening patients for spiritual suffering. The aim of this review was to synthesize the research evidence on the accuracy of measures used to screen adults for spiritual suffering. Methods: A systematic review has been conducted. We searched five scientific databases to identify relevant articles. Two independent reviewers screened extracted data and assessed study methodological quality. Results: We identified five articles that yielded information on 24 spiritual screening measures. Among all identified measures, the 2-item Meaning/Joy & Self-Described Struggle has the highest sensitivity (82-87%), and the revised Rush protocol has the highest specificity (81-90%). The methodological quality of all included studies was low. Significance of Results: While most of the identified spiritual screening measures are brief (comprise 1 to 12 number of items), few have sufficient accuracy to effectively screen patients for spiritual suffering. We advise clinicians to use their critical appraisal skills and clinical judgment when selecting and using any of the identified measures to screen for spiritual suffering.

Keywords: screening, suffering, spirituality, diagnostic test accuracy, systematic review

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Authors: June-Jei Kuo, Yi-Chuan Hsieh

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Because of the rapid growth of information technology, more and more libraries introduce the new information retrieval systems to enhance the users’ experience, improve the retrieval efficiency, and increase the applicability of the library resources. Nevertheless, few of them are discussed the usability from the users’ aspect. The aims of this study are to understand that the scenario of the information retrieval system utilization, and to know why users are willing to continuously use the web-scale discovery system to improve the web-scale discovery system and promote their use of university libraries. Besides of questionnaires, observations and interviews, this study employs both Information System Success Model introduced by DeLone and McLean in 2003 and the flow theory to evaluate the system quality, information quality, service quality, use, user satisfaction, flow, and continuing to use web-scale discovery system of students from National Chung Hsing University. Then, the results are analyzed through descriptive statistics and structural equation modeling using AMOS. The results reveal that in web-scale discovery system, the user’s evaluation of system quality, information quality, and service quality is positively related to the use and satisfaction; however, the service quality only affects user satisfaction. User satisfaction and the flow show a significant impact on continuing to use. Moreover, user satisfaction has a significant impact on user flow. According to the results of this study, to maintain the stability of the information retrieval system, to improve the information content quality, and to enhance the relationship between subject librarians and students are recommended for the academic libraries. Meanwhile, to improve the system user interface, to minimize layer from system-level, to strengthen the data accuracy and relevance, to modify the sorting criteria of the data, and to support the auto-correct function are required for system provider. Finally, to establish better communication with librariana commended for all users.

Keywords: web-scale discovery system, discovery system, information system success model, flow theory, academic library

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Authors: Natalie Cutler, Lorna Moxham, Moira Stephens

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Safety is a priority in mental health services, and no more so than in the acute inpatient setting. Mental health service policies and accreditation frameworks commonly approach safety from a risk reduction or elimination perspective leading to service approaches that are arguably more focused on risk than on safety. An exploration what safety means for people who have experienced admission to an acute mental health inpatient unit is currently under way in Sydney, Australia. Using a phenomenographic research approach, this study is seeking to understand the meaning of safety from the perspective of people who use, rather than those who deliver mental health services. Preliminary findings suggest that the meanings of safety for users of mental health services vary from the meanings inherent in the policies and frameworks that inform how mental health services and mental health practice are delivered. This variance has implications for the physical and environmental design of acute mental health inpatient facilities, the policies and practices, and the education and training of mental health staff in particular nurses, who comprise the majority of the mental health workforce. These variances will be presented, along with their implications for the way quality and safety in mental health services are evaluated.

Keywords: acute inpatient, mental health, nursing, phenomenography, recovery, safety

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Authors: K. Alese Boniface, K. Adu Michael

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Cybercrime is now becoming a big challenge in Nigeria apart from the traditional crime. Inability to identify perpetrators is one of the reasons for the growing menace. This paper proposes a design for monitoring internet users’ activities in order to curbing cybercrime. It requires redefining the operations of Internet Service Providers (ISPs) which will now mandate users to be authenticated before accessing the internet. In implementing this work which can be adapted to a larger scale, a virtual router application is developed and configured to mimic a real router device. A sign-up portal is developed to allow users to register with the ISP. The portal asks for identification information which will include bio-data and government issued identification data like National Identity Card number, et cetera. A unique username and password are chosen by the user to enable access to the internet which will be used to reference him to an Internet Protocol Address (IP Address) of any system he uses on the internet and thereby associating him to any criminal act related to that IP address at that particular time. Questions such as “What happen when another user knows the password and uses it to commit crime?” and other pertinent issues are addressed.

Keywords: cybercrime, sign-up portal, internet service provider (ISP), internet protocol address (IP address)

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Authors: Veronica Ramirez

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For over 40 years now, the Philippines has been supplying Household Service Workers (HSWs) globally. As a requirement of the Philippine Overseas Employment Agency (POEA), all Filipinos applying for overseas work undergo medical examination and a certificate of good health is submitted to the foreign employer before hiring. However, there are workplace-related health problems that develop during employment such as musculoskeletal strain or injury, back pain, hypertension and other illnesses. Some workers are in good working conditions but are on call more than 12 hours per day. There are also those who experience heavy physical work with short rest periods or time off. They can also be easily exposed to disease outbreaks and epidemics. It was the objective of this study to determine the common health problems of Filipino Overseas Service Workers and analyze their implications to wellness in the workplace. Specifically, it sought to describe the work conditions of HSWs and determine the work-related factors affecting their health. It also identified the medical care they avail of and how they perceive their health and wellness as determinants of well-being. Finally, it proposes ways to promote wellness among HSWs. This study focused on physical illnesses and does not include mental problems experienced by HSWs. Using a questionnaire, primary data were gathered online and through survey of HSW rehires who were retaking Pre-Departure Orientation Seminar at recruitment agencies. The 2010 Health Benefit Availment data from the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) was also utilized. Descriptive analysis was employed on the data gathered. Key stakeholders in the migration industry were also interviewed. Previous research studies, reports and literature on migration and wellness were used as secondary data. The study found that Filipino overseas HSWs are vulnerable to physical injury and experience body pains such as back, hip and shoulder pain. Long hours of work, work hazards and lack of rest due to poor accommodations can aggravate their physical condition. Although health insurance and health care are available, HSWs are not aware how to avail them. On the basis of the findings, a Wellness Program can be designed that include health awareness, health care availment, occupational ergonomics, safety and health, work and leisure balance, developing emotional intelligence, anger management and spirituality.

Keywords: health, household service worker, overseas, wellness

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Authors: Tsegyu Santas

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The aim of this study was to examine the utilization of social media for political communication during the 2011 presidential election in Nigeria. The research design adopted for the study was survey; 294 copies of questionnaire were distributed to students of mass communication in three selected universities in North Central Nigeria. Simple random sampling technique was used to select the respondents for the study. The results of the descriptive statistics show that majority of the respondents choice of presidential candidates during the 2011 presidential election was influenced by the use of social media as indicated by high value of mean (1.5805). Similarly, a large number of respondents were of the opinion that the two selected presidential candidates were popular because they used social media in their political campaign (mean value of 1.5575). In addition, the respondents affirmed that their voting pattern during the 2011 presidential elections was influenced by social media usage. This was validated by a high mean value of (1.6667). Similarly, the result of the test of hypothesis indicated that voters’ choice of political candidates was influenced by political communication on social media. In view of the findings of this study, the study, therefore, concludes that social media have redefined the landscape of political communication in Nigeria. Based on the findings of the study, it was recommended that social media should be fully integrated in Nigeria political communication system.

Keywords: communication, election, politics, social media

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Authors: Jiaqi Zhang, Zhi Dong, Pan Xing

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With the continuous development of urban agglomerations, higher demands are placed on intercity public transport travel services. To improve these services, it is necessary to comprehensively understand the views and evaluations of travelers. Taking the Guanzhong Plain urban agglomeration in China as the object, this study explores subjective attitude indicators from self-administrated survey data and examines the relationship among perceived accessibility, preference, and satisfaction for intercity public transport using a structural equation model. The results show that perceived service quality has a direct positive impact on perceived accessibility and satisfaction. Perceived accessibility and preference significantly affect satisfaction. In addition, perceived accessibility mediates the effect of service quality on satisfaction. This study provides valuable insights from a policy perspective to improve the subjective evaluation of intercity public transport travelers while emphasizing the importance of subjective variables in transport system evaluation and advocates for their subdivision to more comprehensively improve the travel experience.

Keywords: intercity public transport, perceived accessibility, satisfaction, structural equation model

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Authors: Payel Datta, Abhishek Das, Abhishek Roychoudhury, Dhiman Chattopadhyay, Tanushyam Chattopadhyay

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Machine learning (ML) and deep learning (DL) is most predominantly used in image/video processing, natural language processing (NLP), audio and speech recognition but not that much used in system performance evaluation. In this paper, authors are going to describe the architecture of an abstraction layer constructed using ML/DL to detect the system failure. This proposed system is used to detect the system failure by evaluating the performance metrics of an IoT service deployment under constrained infrastructure environment. This system has been tested on the manually annotated data set containing different metrics of the system, like number of threads, throughput, average response time, CPU usage, memory usage, network input/output captured in different hardware environments like edge (atom based gateway) and cloud (AWS EC2). The main challenge of developing such system is that the accuracy of classification should be 100% as the error in the system has an impact on the degradation of the service performance and thus consequently affect the reliability and high availability which is mandatory for an IoT system. Proposed ML/DL classifiers work with 100% accuracy for the data set of nearly 4,000 samples captured within the organization.

Keywords: machine learning, system performance, performance metrics, IoT, edge

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Authors: M. S. R. Waas, S. G. U. S. Chandrarathne, U. A. Kumara

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The purpose of this quantitative study is to identify the impact of the destination attributes of Negombo on the coastal tourists’ visitor experience. As an island nation, Sri Lanka is identified and well renowned for its gold sandy beaches and natural scenic beauty. Among many tourist attractions, Negombo is identified as a developed beach centric tourist destination in the country. Yet, it is identified that there are low positive reviews on the internet for Negombo compared to other beach centric tourist attractions in Sri Lanka. Therefore, this study would help the policymakers and tourism service providers to identify the impact of destination attributes on international visitor satisfaction and to understand the visitors comprehensively so as to develop Negombo as a stable tourist destination while offering a memorable and satisfying experience for its visitors. In support, a self-administered questionnaire survey study was performed with 150 respondents (international tourists) in Negombo. The questions were designed based on the selected dimensions of destination attributes such as tourism service quality, infrastructure and superstructure developments, tourist information facilities and destination aesthetics and developments. The results showed that the overall satisfaction level of the international tourists who visit Sri Lanka is significantly affected by the destination attributes of Negombo. Yet, the dimensions of destination aesthetics and developments and tourist information facilities indicated a low level of mean satisfaction, paving the critique that Negombo as a beach centric tourist attraction is not serving well with its natural beauty and its destination management. Further, it is advocated that the policymakers and tourism service providers have a significant role in leading the way to attract more potential visitors to enhance their destination satisfaction and to encourage them to revisit Sri Lanka while recommending it to others. The survey was done during the off-peak season of the industry and it is suggested that the survey would have been conducted throughout a complete year.

Keywords: destination attributes, coastal tourism, tourism development, tourist satisfaction

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Authors: Chidiebere Joy Nwankwo, Benjamin S. C. Uzochukwu, Florence T. Sibeudu

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Background: Family planning is one of the most cost-effective ways to prevent maternal, infant, and child mortality. It can decrease maternal mortality by reducing the number of unintended pregnancies, the number of abortions, and the proportion of births at high risk. It has been seen to improve the health and economic well-being of families and communities and ensures women’s planned childbearing in order to achieve education and career goals which could raise family income thereby reducing poverty. The choice and use of a particular family planning method and their sources vary globally. Rural Communities often face significant challenges in accessing and utilizing family planning services. Aim: This study set out to assess Access and Utilization of Family Planning Services among Women of Reproductive Age in a Rural Community of Enugu state, Nigeria. Rural communities were chosen for this study because past demographic surveys have shown that women in urban areas are more likely to accept and practice family planning compared to those in rural areas. Method: A Descriptive Cross-sectional Research design was employed to achieve the aim and objectives of the study. Data collected from 177 consenting participants using interviewer-administered questionnaires was analysed using Descriptive statistics to summarize the Socio-demographic characteristics of the participants and Access and Utilization of Family Planning Services among the participants including Reasons for using different Family Planning Methods and Barriers encountered in Access and Utilization of these services. A Cross-tabulation between Socio-demographic Characteristics of respondents and the use of Family Planning services was carried out. Result: The findings of this study revealed that majority of the participants (72.9%) have not utilized any family planning service. Out of those (27.1%) that have used any family planning service, majority of them are still currently using a form of family planning service and have access to them in health facilities, patent medicine vendors and others based on multiple responses. Male condoms were the most utilized modern family planning service. Based on multiple responses, inaccessibility, personal beliefs and partner’s objection were the most identified barriers encountered in accessing family planning services. Conclusion: Access and uptake of family planning services in rural communities is lower than the national average. Increasing access to family planning is an urgent priority for rural areas Interventions that will scale up Access and Utilization of family planning services in rural communities should be intensified.

Keywords: access, family planning, rural community, utilization

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Authors: Liwen Hou

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The booming mobile business has been penetrating the taxi industry worldwide with P2P (peer to peer) taxi services, as an emerging business model, transforming the industry. Parallel with other mobile businesses, member recommendations and online reviews are believed to be very effective with regard to acquiring new users for P2P taxi services. Based on an empirical dataset of the taxi industry in China, this study aims to reveal which factors influence users’ recommendations and review-writing behaviors. Differing from the existing literature, this paper takes the taxi driver’s perspective into consideration and hence selects a group of variables related to the drivers. We built two models to reflect the factors that influence the number of recommendations and reviews posted on the platform (i.e., the app). Our models show that all factors, except the driver’s score, significantly influence the recommendation behavior. Likewise, only one factor, passengers’ bad reviews, is insignificant in generating more drivers’ reviews. In the conclusion, we summarize the findings and limitations of the research.

Keywords: online recommendation, P2P taxi service, review-writing, word of mouth

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Authors: Ming Wei

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Over the past two decades, Location Based Service (LBS) data have been increasingly applied to urban and transportation studies due to their comprehensiveness and consistency. However, compared to other LBS data including mobile phone data, GPS and social networking platforms, smart card data collected from public transport users have arguably yet to be fully exploited in urban systems analysis. By using five weekdays of passenger travel transaction data taken from go card – Southeast Queensland’s transit smart card – this paper analyses the spatiotemporal distribution of passenger movement with regard to the land use patterns in Brisbane. Work and residential places for public transport commuters were identified after extracting journeys-to-work patterns. Our results show that the locations of the workplaces identified from the go card data and residential suburbs are largely consistent with those that were marked in the land use map. However, the intensity for some residential locations in terms of population or commuter densities do not match well between the map and those derived from the go card data. This indicates that the misalignment between residential areas and workplaces to a certain extent, shedding light on how enhancements to service management and infrastructure expansion might be undertaken.

Keywords: big data, smart card data, travel pattern, land use

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Authors: L. Edirisinghe, Z. Jin, A. W. Wijeratne, R. Mudunkotuwa

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Empty container repositioning is a fundamental problem faced by the shipping industry. The virtual container yard is a novel strategy underpinning the container interchange between carriers that could substantially reduce this ever-increasing shipping cost. This paper evaluates the shipping industry perception of the virtual container yard using chi-square tests. It examines if the carriers perceive that the selected independent variables, namely culture, organization, decision, marketing, attitudes, legal, independent, complexity, and stakeholders of carriers, impact the efficiency and benefits of the virtual container yard. There are two major findings of the research. Firstly, carriers view that complexity, attitudes, and stakeholders may impact the effectiveness of container interchange and may influence the perceived benefits of the virtual container yard. Secondly, the three factors of legal, organization, and decision influence only the perceived benefits of the virtual container yard. Accordingly, the implementation of the virtual container yard will be influenced by six key factors, namely complexity, attitudes, stakeholders, legal, organization and decision. Since the virtual container yard could reduce overall shipping costs, it is vital to examine the carriers’ perception of this concept.

Keywords: virtual container yard, imbalance, management, inventory

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Authors: Eugenia Vomvoridi-Ivanovic

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It is broadly assumed that participation in field experiences will help pre-service teachers (PSTs) bridge theory to practice. However, this is often not the case since PSTs who are placed in classrooms with large numbers of students from diverse linguistic, cultural, racial, and ethnic backgrounds (culturally diverse students (CDS)) usually observe ineffective mathematics teaching practices that are in contrast to those discussed in their teacher preparation program. Over the past decades, the educational research community has paid increasing attention to investigating out-of-school learning contexts and how participation in such contexts can contribute to the achievement of underrepresented groups in Science, Technology, Engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and their expanded participation in STEM fields. In addition, several research studies have shown that students display different kinds of mathematical behaviors and discourse practices in out-of-school contexts than they do in the typical mathematics classroom since they draw from a variety of linguistic and cultural resources to negotiate meanings and participate in joint problem solving. However, almost no attention has been given to exploring these contexts as field experiences for pre-service mathematics teachers. The purpose of this study was to explore how participation in a community based after-school field experience promotes understanding of the content pedagogy concepts introduced in elementary mathematics methods courses, particularly as they apply to teaching mathematics to CDS. This study draws upon a situated, socio-cultural theory of teacher learning that centers on the concept of learning as situated social practice, which includes discourse, social interaction, and participation structures. Consistent with exploratory case study methodology, qualitative methods were employed to investigate how a cohort of twelve participating pre-service teacher's approach to pedagogy and their conversations around teaching and learning mathematics to CDS evolved through their participation in the after-school field experience, and how they connected the content discussed in their mathematics methods course with their interactions with the CDS in the after-school. Data were collected over a period of one academic year from the following sources: (a) audio recordings of the PSTs' interactions with the students during the after-school sessions, (b) PSTs' after-school field-notes, (c) audio-recordings of weekly methods course meetings, and (d) other document data (e.g., PST and student generated artifacts, PSTs' written course assignments). The findings of this study reveal that the PSTs benefitted greatly through their participation in the after-school field experience. Specifically, after-school participation promoted a deeper understanding of the content pedagogy concepts introduced in the mathematics methods course and gained a greater appreciation for how students learn mathematics with understanding. Further, even though many of PSTs' assumptions about the mathematical abilities of CDS were challenged and PSTs began to view CDSs' cultural and linguistic backgrounds as resources (rather than obstacles) for learning, some PSTs still held negative stereotypes about CDS and teaching and learning mathematics to CDS in particular. Insights gained through this study contribute to a better understanding of how informal mathematics learning contexts may provide a valuable context for pre-service teacher's learning to teach mathematics to CDS.

Keywords: after-school mathematics program, pre-service mathematical education of teachers, qualitative methods, situated socio-cultural theory, teaching culturally diverse students

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Authors: Gbone Akou Sophie

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Lome state in Togo is considered to have the highest HIV prevalence in Togo according to NAIIS 2023, with the prevalence of 5.5%, Female Sex Workers (FSW) are one of the most vulnerable population, and they are vital in HIV programming. They have the highest HIV prevalence compared to others such as HRM, PWID and Transgender in lome State, Togo. Evidence from Integrated Biological Behavioral Surveillance Survey shows increasing burden of HIV infection from 13.7% in 20018 to 17.2% in 2020 and now 22.9% in 2021 among Female Sex Workers (FSW). This shows their HIV prevalence has been rising over time. The vulnerability status of the FSW in the riverine areas of lome is heightened because of cultural and economic issues where there is exchange of sex for commodities with cross border traders as well as limited access to HIV prevention information. Methods:A cross sectional study which recruited 120 FSW from two Riverine LGAs of Agoe and Kpehenou LGA of Lome State using both snowballing and simple random sampling technique. While semi-structured questionnaire was used as an instrument for data collection among the 120 FSW respondents. Additional information was also elicited from 10 FSW key opinion leaders and community members through in-depth interviews (IDI). Results: 44(36%) of respondents were willing to receive regular HIV care and services as well as visit for STI check-ups at any service point. However, 47(40%) were willing to receive services at private facilities alone, 10 (8%) were willing to receive services at public facilities, 6 (5%) were willing to access services in their homes rather than in the health facility. 13 (11%) were also willing to have peers assist in getting HIV testing services. Conclusion: integrated differentiated model of care for HIV services helps improve HIV services uptake among FSW community especially in the hard- to reach riverine areas which will further lead to epidemic control. Also targeted HIV information should be designed to suit the learning needs of the hard-to reach communities like the riverine areas. More peer educators should be engaged to ensure information and other HIV services reach the riverine communities.

Keywords: female sex workers ( FSW), human immuno-deficiency virus(HIV), prevanlence, service delivery

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Authors: Rose A. Yemson, Ping Jiang, Oyedeji L. Inumoh

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The deployment of wireless sensor network has rapidly increased, however with the increased capacity and diversity of sensors, and applications ranging from biological, environmental, military etc. generates tremendous volume of data’s where more attention is placed on the distributed sensing and little on how to manage, analyze, retrieve and understand the data generated. This makes it more quite difficult to process live sensor data, run concurrent control and update because sensor data are either heavyweight, complex, and slow. This work will focus on developing a web service platform for automatic detection of sensors, acquisition of sensor data, storage of sensor data into a database, processing of sensor data using reconfigurable software components. This work will also create a web service based sensor data management system to monitor physical movement of an individual wearing wireless network sensor technology (SunSPOT). The sensor will detect movement of that individual by sensing the acceleration in the direction of X, Y and Z axes accordingly and then send the sensed reading to a database that will be interfaced with an internet platform. The collected sensed data will determine the posture of the person such as standing, sitting and lying down. The system is designed using the Unified Modeling Language (UML) and implemented using Java, JavaScript, html and MySQL. This system allows real time monitoring an individual closely and obtain their physical activity details without been physically presence for in-situ measurement which enables you to work remotely instead of the time consuming check of an individual. These details can help in evaluating an individual’s physical activity and generate feedback on medication. It can also help in keeping track of any mandatory physical activities required to be done by the individuals. These evaluations and feedback can help in maintaining a better health status of the individual and providing improved health care.

Keywords: HTML, java, javascript, MySQL, sunspot, UML, web-based, wireless network sensor

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Authors: Victor Pesco Kassa

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This research deals with the assessment of the contribution of GIS Technology in NRW. This research was conducted at Dar, Kawe Mzimuni Street. The data collection was obtained from existing source which is DAWASA HQ. The interpretation of the data was processed by using ArcGIS software. The data collected from the existing source reveals a good coverage of DAWASA’s water network at Mzimuni Street. Most of residents are connected to the DAWASA’s customer service. Also the collected data revealed that by using GIS DAWASA’s customer Geodatabase has been improved. Through GIS we can prepare customer location map purposely for site surveying also this map will be able to show different type of customer that are connected to DAWASA’s water service. This is a perfect contribution of the GIS Technology to address and manage the problem of NRW in DAWASA. Finally, the study recommends that the same study should be conducted in other DAWASA’s zones such as Temeke, Boko and Bagamoyo not only at Kawe Mzimuni Street. Through this study it is observed that ArcGIS software can offer powerful tools for managing and processing information geographically and in water and sanitation authorities such as DAWASA.

Keywords: DAWASA, NRW, Esri, EURA, ArcGIS

Procedia PDF Downloads 81

Authors: Seyed Mohammadbagher Jafari, Izmeera Shiham, Masoud Arianfar

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The increased usage of Social media for different uses in turn makes it important to develop an understanding of users and their attitudes toward these sites, and moreover, the uses of such sites in a broader perspective such as broadcasting. This quantitative study addressed the problem of factors influencing the adoption of social media as a medium of public service broadcasting in the Republic of Maldives. These powerful and increasingly usable tools, accompanied by large public social media datasets, are bringing in a golden age of social science by empowering researchers to measure social behavior on a scale never before possible. This was conducted by exploring social responses on the use of social media. Research model was developed based on the previous models such as TAM, DOI and Trust combined model. It evaluates the influence of perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, trust, complexity, compatibility and relative advantage influence on the adoption of social Media. The model was tested on a sample of 365 Maldivian people using survey method via questionnaire. The result showed that perceived usefulness, trust, relative advantage and complexity would highly influence the adoption of social media.

Keywords: adoption, broadcasting, maldives, social media

Procedia PDF Downloads 483

Authors: Salvador Treviño-Martinez, Christian Reich-Lopez

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This paper investigates the relationship between website appeal and brand value outcomes (brand attraction, brand loyalty, brand relationship, and brand experience), considering the mediating effect of emotional attractiveness. Data were collected from 221 customers of a quick-service restaurant in Culiacan, Mexico, using an online survey distributed via WhatsApp, following the clients' navigation of the restaurant's website. The study employed PLS-SEM to test the proposed hypotheses and performed 5,000 bootstrapping subsamples to obtain results. The findings indicate that consistent image, a key component of website appeal, has a statistically significant direct and mediated effect (through emotional attractiveness) on the aforementioned brand outcomes. The study's limitations include the convenience sampling method and the single company client database used for the sample composition. This research contributes to the branding and website quality literature by testing nine hypotheses using the Stimuli-Organism-Response theoretical approach in an underexplored context: quick-service restaurants in Latin America.

Keywords: website appeal, branding, emotional attractiveness, consistent image, website quality

Procedia PDF Downloads 92

Authors: Kieren Wilson, Gulnaz Majeed

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NHS constitution gives rights to the patient with suspected cancer to be seen by a cancer specialist within 2 weeks of referral. Guys and St Thomas Hospital (GSTT) is one of the largest cancer centres in London. NICE guidelines have provided guidance for health professionals to refer patients appropriately to RAC. In GSTT suspected gynae cancer referrals are mostly by NHS e-Referral Service with some fax, emails as well as paper referrals. The objective of this study was to evaluate compliance with 2-week referral pathway with emphasis on one stop diagnostic service with supporting efficient pathways. A prospective evaluation over 3 months (1 Jan 2017 to 31 Mar 2017) was undertaken. There were 26 clinics, 761 patients were booked in the clinics with a DNA rate of 13% (n=101) hence 606 patients were seen. Majority of referrals were for post menopausal bleeding (PMB) 25% (n=194) followed by cervical, vaginal, vulval reasons 23% (n=179) (abnormal cytology excluded as patients directly referred to colposcopy unit in GSTT), ovarian 7% (n=54) and endometrial 5% (n=41). Women with new or previous established diagnosis of cancer were 24, cervical (n=17), vulva (n=6) and vagina (n=1). Multifocal preinvasive disease vulva (VIN), vagina (VAIN) and cervix (CIN) was confirmed in twenty-six patients 4% (high prevalence in HIV patients). Majority of cervical referrals: PCB (n=14), cervical erosion (n=7), polyps (n=9) and cervical cyst were benign. However, two women with PMB had cervical cancer. Only 2 out of 13 referrals with vaginal concerns had VAIN. One case with non-cervical glandular cytology was confirmed to have endometrial cancer. One stop service based on the diagnostic support of ultrasound, colposcopy and hysteroscopy was achieved in 54% (n=359). Patients were discharged to GP, benign gynaecology, endometriosis, combined vulval/dermatology clinic or gynae oncology. 33% (n=202) required a second visit, 12% (n=70) third visit, 3% (n=19) fourth visit, 1% (n=4) fifth visit and 1% (n=6) sixth visit. Main reasons for follow ups were the unavailability of diagnostic slots, patient choice, need for interpreters, the discussion following gynae MDM review for triage to benign gynae, delay in availability of diagnostic results like histology/MRI/CT. Recommendations following this study are multi disciplinary review of pathways with the availability of additional diagnostic procedure slots to aim for one stop service. Furthermore, establishment of virtual and telephone consultations to reduce follow ups.

Keywords: multifocal disease, post menopausal bleeding, preinvasive disease, rapid access clinic

Procedia PDF Downloads 187