Search results for: service cost

Authors: Mojtaba Mahmoodian, Joshua Phelan, Mehdi Shahparvari

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With a large percentage of countries’ total infrastructure expenditure attributed to water network maintenance, it is essential to optimise maintenance strategies to rehabilitate or replace underground pipes before failure occurs. The aim of this paper is to provide water utility managers with a maintenance management approach for underground water pipes, subject to external loading and material corrosion, to give the lowest life cycle cost over a predetermined time period. This reliability-based maintenance management methodology details the optimal years for intervention, the ideal number of maintenance activities to perform before replacement and specifies feasible renewal options and intervention prioritisation to minimise the life cycle cost. The study was then extended to include feasible renewal methods by determining the structural condition index and potential for soil loss, then obtaining the failure impact rating to assist in prioritising pipe replacement. A case study on optimisation of maintenance plans for the Melbourne water pipe network is considered in this paper to evaluate the practicality of the proposed methodology. The results confirm that the suggested methodology can provide water utility managers with a reliable systematic approach to determining optimum maintenance plans for pipe networks.

Keywords: water pipe networks, maintenance management, reliability analysis, optimum maintenance plan

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Authors: Alaa Sheta

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Economic Load Dispatch (ELD) is one of the vital optimization problems in power system planning. Solving the ELD problems mean finding the best mixture of power unit outputs of all members of the power system network such that the total fuel cost is minimized while sustaining operation requirements limits satisfied across the entire dispatch phases. Many optimization techniques were proposed to solve this problem. A famous one is the Quadratic Programming (QP). QP is a very simple and fast method but it still suffer many problem as gradient methods that might trapped at local minimum solutions and cannot handle complex nonlinear functions. Numbers of metaheuristic algorithms were used to solve this problem such as Genetic Algorithms (GAs) and Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO). In this paper, another meta-heuristic search algorithm named Differential Evolution (DE) is used to solve the ELD problem in power systems planning. The practicality of the proposed DE based algorithm is verified for three and six power generator system test cases. The gained results are compared to existing results based on QP, GAs and PSO. The developed results show that differential evolution is superior in obtaining a combination of power loads that fulfill the problem constraints and minimize the total fuel cost. DE found to be fast in converging to the optimal power generation loads and capable of handling the non-linearity of ELD problem. The proposed DE solution is able to minimize the cost of generated power, minimize the total power loss in the transmission and maximize the reliability of the power provided to the customers.

Keywords: economic load dispatch, power systems, optimization, differential evolution

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Authors: Sumaya Iqbal, Aijaz Ahmad Reshi

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The advances in sensor and embedded technologies have led to rapid developments in Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs). Presently researchers focus on the integration of WSNs to Internet for their pervasive availability to access these network resources as the interoperable subsystems. The recent computing technologies like cloud computing has made the resource sharing as a converged infrastructure with required service interfaces for the shared resources over the Internet. This paper presents application architecture for wireless Sensor and Actuator Networks (WSANS) following web of things, which allows easy integration of each node to the Internet in order to provide them web accessibility. The architecture enables the sensors and actuator nodes accessed and controlled using cloud interface on WWW. The application architecture was implemented using existing web and its emerging technologies. In particular Representational State Transfer protocol (REST) was extended for the specific requirements of the application. Cloud computing environment has been used as a development platform for the application to assess the possibility of integrating the WSAN nodes to Cloud services. The mushroom farm environment monitoring and control using WSANs has been taken as a research use case.

Keywords: WSAN, REST, web of things, ZigBee, cloud interface, PaaS, sensor gateway

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Authors: Chien Chin-Wen

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Collaborative teaching has different teaching models and station teaching is one type of collaborative teaching. Station teaching is not commonly practiced in elementary school English education and introduced in language teacher education programs in Taiwan. In station teaching, each teacher takes a small part of instructional content, working with a small number of students. Students rotate between stations where they receive the assignments and instruction from different teachers. The teachers provide the same content to each group, but the instructional method can vary based upon the needs of each group of students. This study explores thirty-four Taiwanese pre-service elementary school English teachers’ knowledge about station teaching and their competence demonstrated in designing activities for and delivering of station teaching in an English remedial education to six sixth graders in a local elementary school in northern Taiwan. The participants simultaneously enrolled in this Elementary School English Teaching Materials and Methods class, a part of an elementary school teacher education program in a northern Taiwan city. The instructor (Jennifer, pseudonym) in this Elementary School English Teaching Materials and Methods class collaborated with an English teacher (Olivia, pseudonym) in Maureen Elementary School (pseudonym), an urban elementary school in a northwestern Taiwan city. Of Olivia’s students, four male and two female sixth graders needed to have remedial English education. Olivia chose these six elementary school students because they were in the lowest 5 % of their class in terms of their English proficiency. The thirty-four pre-service English teachers signed up for and took turns in teaching these six sixth graders every Thursday afternoon from four to five o’clock for twelve weeks. While three participants signed up as a team and taught these six sixth graders, the last team consisted of only two pre-service teachers. Each team designed a 40-minute lesson plan on the given language focus (words, sentence patterns, dialogue, phonics) of the assigned unit. Data in this study included the KWLA chart, activity designs, and semi-structured interviews. Data collection lasted for four months, from September to December 2014. Data were analyzed as follows. First, all the notes were read and marked with appropriate codes (e.g., I don’t know, co-teaching etc.). Second, tentative categories were labeled (e.g., before, after, process, future implication, etc.). Finally, the data were sorted into topics that reflected the research questions on the basis of their relevance. This study has the following major findings. First of all, the majority of participants knew nothing about station teaching at the beginning of the study. After taking the course Elementary School English Teaching Materials and Methods and after designing and delivering the station teaching in an English remedial education program to six sixth graders, they learned that station teaching is co-teaching, and that it includes activity designs for different stations and students’ rotating from station to station. They demonstrated knowledge and skills in activity designs for vocabulary, sentence patterns, dialogue, and phonics. Moreover, they learned to interact with individual learners and guided them step by step in learning vocabulary, sentence patterns, dialogue, and phonics. However, they were still incompetent in classroom management, time management, English, and designing diverse and meaningful activities for elementary school students at different English proficiency levels. Hence, language teacher education programs are recommended to integrate station teaching to help pre-service teachers be equipped with eight knowledge and competences, including linguistic knowledge, content knowledge, general pedagogical knowledge, curriculum knowledge, knowledge of learners and their characteristics, pedagogical content knowledge, knowledge of education content, and knowledge of education’s ends and purposes.

Keywords: co-teaching, competence, knowledge, pre-service teachers, station teaching

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Authors: Ruey-Chi Wang, Po-Hsiang Huang, Ping-Chang Chuang, Shu-Jen Chen

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High-performance Li: CuO/reduced graphene oxide (RGO) flexible electrodes for supercapacitors were fabricated via a low-temperature and low-cost route. To increase energy density while maintaining high power density and long-term cyclability, Li was doped to increase the electrical conductivity of CuO particles between RGO flakes. Electrochemical measurements show that the electrical conductivity, specific capacitance, energy density, and rate capability were all enhanced by Li incorporation. The optimized Li:CuO/RGO electrodes show a high energy density of 179.9 Wh/kg and a power density of 900.0 W/kg at a current density of 1 A/g. Cyclic life tests show excellent stability over 10,000 cycles with a capacitance retention of 93.2%. Li doping improves the electrochemical performance of CuO, making CuO a promising pseudocapacitive material for fabricating low-cost excellent supercapacitors.

Keywords: supercapacitor, CuO, RGO, lithium

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Authors: Dibakar Chakrabarty, Mebada Suiting

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Rapid urbanization coupled with changes in land use pattern results in increasing peak discharge and shortening of catchment time of concentration. The consequence is floods, which often inundate roads and inhabited areas of cities and towns. Management of storm water resulting from rainfall has, therefore, become an important issue for the municipal bodies. Proper management of storm water obviously includes adequate design of storm water drainage networks. The design of storm water network is a costly exercise. Least cost design of storm water networks assumes significance, particularly when the fund available is limited. Optimal design of a storm water system is a difficult task as it involves the design of various components, like, open or closed conduits, storage units, pumps etc. In this paper, a methodology for least cost design of storm water drainage systems is proposed. The methodology proposed in this study consists of coupling a storm water simulator with an optimization method. The simulator used in this study is EPA’s storm water management model (SWMM), which is linked with Genetic Algorithm (GA) optimization method. The model proposed here is a mixed integer nonlinear optimization formulation, which takes care of minimizing the sectional areas of the open conduits of storm water networks, while satisfactorily conveying the runoff resulting from rainfall to the network outlet. Performance evaluations of the developed model show that the proposed method can be used for cost effective design of open conduit based storm water networks.

Keywords: genetic algorithm (GA), optimal design, simulation-optimization, storm water network, SWMM

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Authors: Changgil Lee, Seunghee Park

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Although vehicle driving test for the development of BWIM system is necessary, but it needs much cost and time in addition application of various driving condition. Thus, we need the numerical-simulation method resolving the cost and time problems of vehicle driving test and the way of measuring response of bridge according to the various driving condition. Using the precision analysis model reflecting the dynamic characteristic is contributed to increase accuracy in numerical simulation. In this paper, we conduct a numerical simulation to apply precision analysis model, which reflects the dynamic characteristic of bridge using Bridge Weigh-in-Motion technique and suggest overload vehicle enforcement technology using precision analysis model.

Keywords: bridge weigh-in-motion(BWIM) system, precision analysis model, dynamic characteristic of bridge, numerical simulation

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Authors: Siobhan Hegarty, Michael Bloomfield, Kim Entholt, Dorothy Williams, Helen Kennerley

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Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (CPTSD) confers greater risk of poor outcomes than does Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Despite this, the current treatment guidelines for CPTSD aim to reduce only the ‘core’ symptoms of re-experiencing, hyper-vigilance and avoidance, while not addressing the Disturbances of Self Organisation (DSO) symptoms that distinguish this novel diagnosis from PTSD. The Recovering from Child Abuse Programme (RCAP) is a group protocol, based on the principles of cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT). Preliminary evidence suggests the program is effective at reducing DSO symptoms. This pilot study is the first to investigate the potential effectiveness of the RCAP for the specific treatment of CPTSD. This study was conducted as a service evaluation in a secondary care, traumatic stress service. Treatment was delivered once a week, in two-hour sessions, to ten existing female CPTSD patients of the service, who had experienced sexual abuse in childhood. The programme was administered by two therapists and two additional facilitators, following the RCAP protocol manual. Symptom severity was measured before the administration of therapy and was tracked across a range of measures (International Trauma Questionnaire; Patient Health Questionnaire; Community Assessment of Psychic Experience; Work and Social Adjustment Scale) at five time points, over the course of treatment. Qualitative appraisal of the programme was gathered via weekly feedback forms and from audio-taped recordings of verbal feedback given during group sessions. Preliminary results suggest the programme causes a slight reduction in CPTSD and depressive symptom severity and preliminary qualitative analysis suggests that the RCAP is both helpful and acceptable to group members. Final results and conclusions will follow completed thematic analysis of results.

Keywords: Child sexual abuse, Cognitive behavioural therapy, Complex post-traumatic stress disorder, Recovering from child abuse programme

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Authors: Anteneh Wodaje Bayeh, Daniel Manaye Kabtamu, Chen-Hao Wang

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As one of the most promising electrochemical energy storage systems, vanadium redox flow batteries (VRFBs) have received increasing attention owing to their attractive features for largescale storage applications. However, their high production cost and relatively low energy efficiency still limit their feasibility. For practical implementation, it is of great interest to improve their efficiency and reduce their cost. One of the key components of VRFBs that can greatly influence the efficiency and final cost is the electrode, which provide the reactions sites for redox couples (VO²⁺/VO₂ + and V²⁺/V³⁺). Carbon-based materials are considered to be the most feasible electrode materials in the VRFB because of their excellent potential in terms of operation range, good permeability, large surface area, and reasonable cost. However, owing to limited electrochemical activity and reversibility and poor wettability due to its hydrophobic properties, the performance of the cell employing carbon-based electrodes remained limited. To address the challenges, we synthesized heteroatom-doped bimetallic oxide grown on the surface of carbon through the one-step approach. When applied to VRFBs, the prepared electrode exhibits significant electrocatalytic effect toward the VO²⁺/VO₂ + and V³⁺/V²⁺ redox reaction compared with that of pristine carbon. It is found that the presence of heteroatom on metal oxide promotes the absorption of vanadium ions. The controlled morphology of bimetallic metal oxide also exposes more active sites for the redox reaction of vanadium ions. Hence, the prepared electrode displays the best electrochemical performance with energy and voltage efficiencies of 74.8% and 78.9%, respectively, which is much higher than those of 59.8% and 63.2% obtained from the pristine carbon at high current density. Moreover, the electrode exhibit durability and stability in an acidic electrolyte during long-term operation for 1000 cycles at the higher current density.

Keywords: VRFB, VO²⁺/VO₂ + and V³⁺/V²⁺ redox couples, graphite felt, heteroatom-doping

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Authors: Drago Diaz Aleman, Jose Luis Saorin Perez, Cecile Meier, Itahisa Perez Conesa, Jorge De La Torre Cantero

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Traditional manufacturing techniques used in artistic contexts compete with highly productive and efficient industrial procedures. The craft techniques and associated business models tend to disappear under the pressure of the appearance of mass-produced products that compete in all niche markets, including those traditionally reserved for the work of art. The surplus value derived from the prestige of the author, the exclusivity of the product or the mastery of the artist, do not seem to be sufficient reasons to preserve this productive model. In the last years, the adoption of open source digital manufacturing technologies in small art workshops can favor their permanence by assuming great advantages such as easy accessibility, low cost, and free modification, adapting to specific needs of each workshop. It is possible to use pieces modeled by computer and made with FDM (Fused Deposition Modeling) 3D printers that use PLA (polylactic acid) in the procedures of artistic casting. Models printed by PLA are limited to approximate minimum sizes of 3 cm, and optimal layer height resolution is 0.1 mm. Due to these limitations, it is not the most suitable technology for artistic casting processes of smaller pieces. An alternative to solve size limitation, are printers from the type (SLS) "selective sintering by laser". And other possibility is a laser hardens, by layers, metal powder and called DMLS (Direct Metal Laser Sintering). However, due to its high cost, it is a technology that is difficult to introduce in small artistic foundries. The low-cost DLP (Digital Light Processing) type printers can offer high resolutions for a reasonable cost (around 0.02 mm on the Z axis and 0.04 mm on the X and Y axes), and can print models with castable resins that allow the subsequent direct artistic casting in precious metals or their adaptation to processes such as electroforming. In this work, the design of a DLP 3D printer is detailed, using backlit LCD screens with ultraviolet light. Its development is totally "open source" and is proposed as a kit made up of electronic components, based on Arduino and easy to access mechanical components in the market. The CAD files of its components can be manufactured in low-cost FDM 3D printers. The result is less than 500 Euros, high resolution and open-design with free access that allows not only its manufacture but also its improvement. In future works, we intend to carry out different comparative analyzes, which allow us to accurately estimate the print quality, as well as the real cost of the artistic works made with it.

Keywords: traditional artistic techniques, DLP 3D printer, artistic casting, electroforming

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Authors: Alpesh Desai, Indrajit Mukhopadhyay

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Standalone Photovoltaic (PV) systems are designed and sized to supply certain AC and/or DC electrical loads. In computers, consumer electronics and many small appliances as well as LED lighting the actual power consumed is DC. The DC system, which requires only voltage control, has many advantages such as feasible connection of the distributed energy sources and reduction of the conversion losses for DC-based loads. Also by using the DC power directly the cost of the size of the Inverter and Solar panel reduced hence the overall cost of the system reduced. This paper explores the technical and economic feasibility of supplying electrical power to homes/houses using DC voltage mains within the house. Theoretical calculated results are presented to demonstrate the advantage of DC system over AC system with PV on sustainable rural/isolated development.

Keywords: distribution system, energy efficiency, off-grid, stand-alone PV system, sustainability, techno-socio-economic

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Authors: Khosru M. Salim, Md. Jasim Uddin, Mohammad Rejwan Uddin

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Developing countries like Bangladesh has huge population lives in the rural areas out of electricity. They are using manually operated tube well for collecting underground water to meet their daily demand. A human labour is required to lift water from tube well. Sometimes, it is impossible for a elementary school going child to operate a tube well in the school. Solar powered water pump could be a sustainable water pumping solution in the rural area of Bangladesh. To minimize the cost, a 0.5 horse power solar water pump is designed considering the requirement of water for a typical house hold in this research. A prototype of the 0.5 hp capacity system is implemented and tested in the rooftop of the university lab to validate the performances. Based on the experimental data, the performance of the system is analyzed and presented in this paper.

Keywords: water pump, solar photovoltaic module, performance analysis, feasibility study

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Authors: Nuri Balta, Ali Eryilmaz

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High-quality teachers are the key to improve student learning. Without a professional development of the teachers, the improvement of student success is difficult and incomplete. This study offers an in-service training course model for professional development of teachers (PD) entitled "teachers teaching teachers" (TTT). The basic premise of the PD program, designed for this study, was primarily aimed to increase the subject matter knowledge of high school physics teachers. The TTT course (the three hour long workshops), organized for this study, lasted for seven weeks with seventeen teachers took part in the TTT program at different amounts. In this study, the effect of the TTT program on teachers’ knowledge improvement was searched through the modern physics unit (MPU). The participating teachers taught the unit to one of their grade ten classes earlier, and they taught another equivalent class two months later. They were observed in their classes both before and after TTT program. The teachers were divided into placebo and the treatment groups. The aim of Solomon four-group design is an attempt to eliminate the possible effect of pre-test. However, in this study the similar design was used to eliminate the effect of pre teaching. The placebo group teachers taught their both classes as regular and the treatment group teachers had TTT program between the two teachings. The class observation results showed that the TTT program increased teachers’ knowledge and skills in teaching MPU. Further, participating in the TTT program caused teachers to teach the MPU in accordance with the requirements of the curriculum. In order to see any change in participating teachers’ success, an achievement test was applied to them. A large effect size (dCohen=.93) was calculated for the effect of TTT program on treatment group teachers’ achievement. The results suggest that staff developers should consider including topics, attractive to teachers, in-service training programs (a) to help teachers’ practice teaching the new topics (b) to increase the participation rate. During the conduction of the TTT courses, it was observed that teachers could not end some discussions and explain some concepts. It is now clear that teachers need support, especially when discussing counterintuitive concepts such as modern physics concepts. For this reason it is recommended that content focused PD programs be conducted at the helm of a scholarly coach.

Keywords: high school physics, in-service training course, modern physics unit, teacher professional development

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Authors: Nino Abesadze, Marine Mindorashvili, Nino Paresashvili

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At present actual tourism indicators cannot be calculated in Georgia, making it impossible to perform their quantitative analysis. Therefore, the study conducted by us is highly important from a theoretical as well as practical standpoint. The main purpose of the article is to make complex statistical analysis of tourist expenses of foreign visitors and to calculate statistical attractiveness indices of the tourism potential of Georgia. During the research, the method involving random and proportional selection has been applied. Computer software SPSS was used to compute statistical data for corresponding analysis. Corresponding methodology of tourism statistics was implemented according to international standards. Important information was collected and grouped from major Georgian airports, and a representative population of foreign visitors and a rule of selection of respondents were determined. The results show a trend of growth in tourist numbers and the share of tourists from post-soviet countries are constantly increasing. The level of satisfaction with tourist facilities and quality of service has improved, but still we have a problem of disparity between the service quality and the prices. The design of tourist expenses of foreign visitors is diverse; competitiveness of tourist products of Georgian tourist companies is higher. Attractiveness of popular cities of Georgia has increased by 43%.

Keywords: tourist, expenses, indexes, statistics, analysis

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Authors: Olusola Olasupo, E. O. C. Ijeoma

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The University of Fort Hare and the National Education Health and Allied Workers Union (NEHAWU), the registered labor union at the University recognizes the significance of collective bargaining. This prompted both parties to enter into agreement with the notion to strengthening the relationship between them. The agreement was therefore entered into between NEHAWU representing the employees and the University. The agreement was signed on August 31st, 2005. The study adopting historical research method reveals the trend and implementation of bargaining agreements at University of Fort Hare from 2012 to 2016. This study examines how the implementation of bargaining agreement is utilized to solve labor related challenges and also improve on employee’s wages and conditions of service thereby strengthening the relationship between the management and employees at University of Fort Hare. The study contributes to knowledge on the effects of the implementation of bargaining agreement on wages and other conditions of service leading to harmonious relationship between the Staff and the management towards the effective administration of the University of Fort Hare. Findings reveal that ever since 2005 when the agreement was reached, University of Fort Hare and NEHAWU have been committed to improving the employees’ wages through substantive agreement. The study concludes by recommending a more effective implementation of bargaining agreement at University of Fort Hare.

Keywords: agreement, bargaining, implementation, trend

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Authors: Massimiliano Panella, Sara Bortoluzzi, Sophia Russotto, Daniele Nicolini, Carmela Rinaldi

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Osteoporosis affects more than 200 million people worldwide. About 75% of osteoporosis cases are undiagnosed or diagnosed only when a bone fracture occurs. Since osteoporosis related fractures are significant determinants of the burden of disease and health and social costs of aging populations, we believe that this is the early identification and treatment of high-risk patients should be a priority in actual healthcare systems. Screening for osteoporosis by dual energy x-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) is not cost-effective for general population. An alternative is pulse-echo ultrasound (PEUS) because of the minor costs. To this end, we developed an early detection program for osteoporosis with PEUS, and we evaluated is possible impact and sustainability. We conducted a cross-sectional study including 1,050 people in Italy. Subjects with >1 major or >2 minor risk factors for osteoporosis were invited to PEUS bone mass density (BMD) measurement at the proximal tibia. Based on BMD values, subjects were classified as healthy subjects (BMD>0.783 g/cm²) and pathological including subjects with suspected osteopenia (0.783≤BMD>0.719 g/cm²) or osteoporosis (BMD ≤ 0.719 g/cm²). The responder rate was 60.4% (634/1050). According to the risk, PEUS scan was recommended to 436 people, of whom 300 (mean age 45.2, 81% women) accepted to participate. We identified 240 (80%) healthy and 60 (20%) pathological subjects (47 osteopenic and 13 osteoporotic). We observed a significant association between high risk people and reduced bone density (p=0.043) with increased risks for female gender, older ages, and menopause (p<0.01). The yearly cost of the screening program was 8,242 euros. With actual Italian fracture incidence rates in osteoporotic patients, we can reasonably expect in 20 years that at least 6 fractures will occur in our sample. If we consider that the mean costs per fracture in Italy is today 16,785 euros, we can estimate a theoretical cost of 100,710 euros. According to literature, we can assume that the early treatment of osteoporosis could avoid 24,170 euros of such costs. If we add the actual yearly cost of the treatments to the cost of our program and we compare this final amount of 11,682 euros to the avoidable costs of fractures (24,170 euros) we can measure a possible positive benefits/costs ratio of 2.07. As a major outcome, our study let us to early identify 60 people with a significant bone loss that were not aware of their condition. This diagnostic anticipation constitutes an important element of value for the project, both for the patients, for the preventable negative outcomes caused by the fractures, and for the society in general, because of the related avoidable costs. Therefore, based on our finding, we believe that the PEUS based screening performed could be a cost-effective approach to early identify osteoporosis. However, our study has some major limitations. In fact, in our study the economic analysis is based on theoretical scenarios, thus specific studies are needed for a better estimation of the possible benefits and costs of our program.

Keywords: osteoporosis, prevention, public health, screening

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Authors: Eno Jah Tabogo

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The aim of this research is to identify and examine current deficiencies in entrepreneurial training in improving the performance of small businesses in sub Saharan Africa economies. This research achieves this by examining the course content, training methods, and profiles of trainers and trainees of small business service providers in Sub Saharan Africa (SSA) to identify training deficiencies in improving small businesses. Data was for the analysis was collected from a sample of four entrepreneurial training providers in SSA. These four providers served an average of 1,500 trainees. Questionnaire was used to collect data via face to face and through telephone. Face validity was determined by distributing the questionnaire among a group of colleagues, followed by a group discussion to strengthen the validity of the questionnaire. Interviews were also held with managers of training programs. Content and descriptive statistics was used to analyse the data collected. The results indicated only 25% of the training content were entrepreneurial. In terms of service provided, both business, entrepreneurial, technical and after-care services were identified. It was also discovered that owners of training firms had no formal entrepreneurship background. The paper contributes by advocating for a comprehensive entrepreneurship-training program for successful small business enterprises. Recommendations that could help sustain emerging small business enterprises and direction for further research are presented.

Keywords: entrepreneurship, emerging markets, small business, training

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Authors: Salima Kerai, Muhammad Islam, Uzma Khan, Nargis Asad, Junaid Razzak, Omrana Pasha

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Background: Pre-hospital care providers are exposed to various kinds of stressors. Their daily exposure to diverse critical and traumatic incidents can lead to stress reactions like Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Consequences of PTSD in terms of work loss can be catastrophic because of its compound effect on families, which affect them economically, socially and emotionally. Therefore, it is critical to assess the association between PTSD and Work performance in Emergency Medical Service (EMS) if exist any. Methods: This prospective observational study was carried out at AMAN EMS in Karachi, Pakistan. EMS personnel were screened for potential PTSD using impact of event scale-revised (IES-R). Work performance was assessed on basis of five variables; number of late arrivals to work, number of days absent, number of days sick, adherence to protocol and patient satisfaction survey over the period of 3 months. In order to model outcomes like number of late arrivals to work, days absent and days late; negative binomial regression was used whereas logistic regression was applied for adherence to protocol and linear for patient satisfaction scores. Results: Out of 536 EMS personnel, 525 were found to be eligible, of them 518 consented. However data on 507 were included because 7 left the job during study period. The mean score of PTSD was found to be 24.0 ± 12.2. However, weak and insignificant association was found between PTSD and work performance measures: number of late arrivals (RRadj 0.99; 95% CI 0.98-1.00), days absent (RRadj 0.98; 95% CI 0.96-0.99), days sick (Rradj 0.99; 95% CI 0.98 to 1.00), adherence to protocol (ORadj 1.01: 95% CI 0.99 to 1.04) and patient satisfaction (0.001% score; 95% CI -0.03% to 0.03%). Conclusion: No association was found between PTSD and Work performance in the selected EMS population in Karachi Pakistan. Further studies are needed to explore the phenomenon of resiliency in these populations. Moreover, qualitative work is required to explore perceptions and feelings like willingness to go to work, readiness to carry out job responsibilities.

Keywords: trauma, emergency medical service, stress, pakistan

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Authors: Daniela Greven, Kathrin Endres, Shugana Sundralingam

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The use of chatbots has hardly been established in B2B companies to date and involves various challenges. The goal of this paper is to identify the biggest obstacles to the successful implementation of chatbots in B2B companies and to develop measures to overcome them. The obstacles are identified by conducting expert interviews within the framework of Eisenhardt's case study research. These are examined through a socio-technical analysis focusing on people, technology, and organization. By means of systematic literature research and in-depth interviews with German chatbot providers and customers of chatbots, measures for overcoming the obstacles are identified. Using interviews with experts from German chatbot providers, the responsible stakeholders of each measure according to the RASCI Responsibility Matrix are identified. The study shows that there are major obstacles in all areas of a socio-technical system that can cause the implementation of a chatbot to fail. A total of 44 implementation obstacles and 58 measures to overcome these obstacles are identified. The study shows that there are major obstacles in the areas of people, technology, and organization of a socio-technical system that can cause the implementation of a chatbot to fail. A holistic view is therefore essential. The results provide firms with a guideline on how to overcome potential obstacles during chatbot implementation in B2B customer service.

Keywords: chatbots, socio-technical analysis, B2B customer service, implementation success factors

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Authors: Hazem Abd El Megeed, Mohamed El-Refaay, Norhan Magdi Osman

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Spectrum scarcity is a challenging obstacle in wireless communications systems. It hinders the introduction of innovative wireless services and technologies that require larger bandwidth comparing to legacy technologies. In addition, the current worldwide allocation of radio spectrum bands is already congested and can not afford additional squeezing or optimization to accommodate new wireless technologies. This challenge is a result of accumulative contributions from different factors that will be discussed later in this paper. One of these factors is the radio spectrum allocation policy governed by national regulatory authorities nowadays. The framework for this policy allocates specified portion of radio spectrum to a particular wireless service provider on exclusive utilization basis. This allocation is executed according to technical specification determined by the standard bodies of each Radio Access Technology (RAT). Dynamic access of spectrum is a framework for flexible utilization of radio spectrum resources. In this framework there is no exclusive allocation of radio spectrum and even the public safety agencies can share their spectrum bands according to a governing policy and service level agreements. In this paper, we explore different methods for accessing the spectrum dynamically and its associated implementation challenges.

Keywords: licensed shared access, cognitive radio, spectrum sharing, spectrum congestion, dynamic spectrum access, spectrum database, spectrum trading, reconfigurable radio systems, opportunistic spectrum allocation (OSA)

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Authors: Maha ALjohani, James Blustein

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Communicating users' needs, goals and problems help designers and developers overcome challenges faced by end users. Personas are used to represent end users’ needs. In our research, creating personas allowed the following questions to be answered: Who are the potential user groups? What do they want to achieve by using the service? What are the problems that users face? What should the service provide to them? To develop realistic personas, we conducted a focus group discussion with undergraduate and graduate students and also interviewed a university librarian. The personas were created to help evaluating the Institutional Repository that is based on the DSpace system. The profiles helped to communicate users' needs, abilities, tasks, and problems, and the task scenarios used in the heuristic evaluation were based on these personas. Four personas resulted of a focus group discussion with undergraduate and graduate students and from interviewing a university librarian. We then used these personas to create focused task-scenarios for a heuristic evaluation on the system interface to ensure that it met users' needs, goals, problems and desires. In this paper, we present the process that we used to create the personas that led to devise the task scenarios used in the heuristic evaluation as a follow up study of the DSpace university repository.

Keywords: heuristic evaluation, institutional repositories, user experience, human computer interaction, user profiles, personas, task scenarios, heuristics

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Authors: Hannele Laaksonen, Seija Nyqvist, Kari Nurmes

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Objectives: In the year 2011 the City of Vaasa started to develop know-how in the technology and the introduction of services for aging people in cooperation with the Polytechnic Novia University of Applied Sciences and VAMK, University of Applied Sciences. The project´s targets included: to help elderly people to maintain their ability to function, to provide them social and physical activities, to prevent their social exclusion, to decrease their feelings of loneliness and insecurity and to develop their technical know-how. Methods: The project was built based on open source code, tailor-made service system and user interface for the elderly living at home and their families, based on the users´ expectations and experiences of services. Activation-TV®-project vas carried out 1.4.2011-31.3.2014. A pilot group of eight elderly persons, who were living at home, were selected to the project. All necessary technical means as well as guidance and teaching equipment were provided to the pilot group. The students of University of Applied Sciences (VAMK, Novia) and employees of Center of Ageing were made all programs to the Activation-TV®. The project group were interviewed after and before intervention. The data were evaluated both qualitatively and quantitatively. Results: The built service includes a video library, a group room for interactive programs and a personal room for bilateral meetings and direct shipment. The program is bilingual and produced in both national languages. The Activation TV® reduced elderly peoples´ (n=8) feelings of emptiness, added mental well-being and quality of life with social contacts. Relatives felt, that they were able to get in to older peoples´ everyday life with Activation TV®. Discussion: The built application was tailored to the model that has not been developed elsewhere in Finland. This model can be copied from one server to another and thus transferred to other municipalities but the program requires its own personnel system management and maintenance as well as program production cooperation between the different actors. This service can be used for the elderly who are living at home without dementia.

Keywords: mental well-being, quality of life, elderly people, Finland

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Authors: Wong Yat Cheung Maggie

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Occupational Safety and Health Ordinance (OS&HO) (Chap 509) was enacted in 1997, OHS in HK should be growing and maturing, with a holistic approach to occupational health and safety in the workplace including physical, mental, social and spiritual well-being. The question is “How effective are OHSPs in meeting the current needs of HK health workers?” This study was designed to explore the issue for the first time, to empirically analyse the views of those who work in the system. The study employed a mixed method approach to collect various data from Occupational Health Service Providers (OHSPs), Occupational Health Service Consumers (OHSC): Registered nurses working in the hospital setting. This study was designed in two phases and two stages. Phase I Stage I was a paper survey to collect the data on OHSP. Then Phase I Stage II was a follow-up interview. Phase II Stage I was a paper survey to collect the data on OHSC. Then Phase II Stage II was a follow-up focus group study on OHSC for further clarification of the Phase II and Stage I result. The Phase I result reflects HK OHSPs point of view and their experience in the existing OHS practice in the local hospitals. It reflects various styles of reporting systems, staff profiles background and resource in providing OHS in HK hospitals. However, the basic OHS concern is similar between hospitals. In general, the OHS policies and procedures are available on site even though they may have different foci. The Phase II result is reflecting the HKs OHSCs echoes the OHSP feedback at providing of OHS, OHS concern and related policies and procedure are available on site. However, the most significant feedback from the OHSC at Phase II Stage II shows, nurses experienced various OHS concern most commonly work stress, workplace harassment and back strain without formal or official report to the related parties. The lack of reporting was due to the management handling attitude, stakeholders’ compliance and term of definition still have room to be improved even the related policies and procedures are available on site.

Keywords: occupational health service, registered nurse, Hong Kong hospital, mixed method

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Authors: R. Litt, A. Brown

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Aims: We aimed to assess the efficiency of ‘Attend Anywhere’ orthodontic clinics within a district general hospital during COVID- 19. Our secondary aim was to pilot a questionnaire to assess patient satisfaction with virtual orthodontic appointments. Design: The study design is a service evaluation including pilot questionnaire. Methods: The average number of patients seen per virtual clinic and the number of patients failing to attend was compared to face-to-face clinics. The capability of virtual appointments to be successful in preventing the need for a face-to-face appointment was assessed. Patients were invited to complete a telephone pilot questionnaire focusing on patient satisfaction and accessibility. Results: There was a small increase in the number of patients failing to attend virtual appointments, with a third of the patients who did not attend failing to receive the appointment link. 81.9% of virtual clinic appointments were successful and prevented the need for a face-to-face appointment. Overall patients were very satisfied with their virtual orthodontic appointment and the majority required no assistance to access the service. Conclusions: The use of ‘Attend Anywhere’ clinics in orthodontics offers patients and clinicians an effective and efficient alternative to face-to-face appointments that patients on average find easy to use and completely satisfactory.

Keywords: clinics, COVID, orthodontics, patient satisfaction, virtual

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Authors: Mehmood Faisal

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In this globalization era, the supply chain management has acquired strategic importance in diverse business environments. In the current highly competitive business environment, the success of any business considerably depends on the efficiency of the supply chain. The importance of petroleum industry cannot be avoided in the global market; however, supply chain management in the petroleum industry is facing various challenges, particularly in the logistics area. These logistical challenges have a main influence on the cost of crude oil; therefore, the opportunities to save cost in logistics still do exist. The large oil producing companies are undertaking future contracts through 'swaps or options' practice that saves their millions of dollars. The objective of this paper is to throw light on the supply chain challenges and opportunities in the oil industry and on swap practices which are widely employed by large oil producing companies around the world, such as Chevron Corporation, Saudi Arabian Oil Company, BP and Exxon Mobil.

Keywords: logistics, oil industry, swap practice, supply chain management

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Authors: Khalifa Maha, Ben Othman Hakim, Khaled Hussainey

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Prior empirical studies have investigated the economic consequences of accounting conservatism by examining its impact on the cost of equity capital (COEC). However, findings are not conclusive. We assume that inconsistent results of such association may be attributed to the regression models used in data analysis. To address this issue, we re-examine the effect of different dimension of accounting conservatism: unconditional conservatism (U_CONS) and conditional conservatism (C_CONS) on the COEC for a sample of listed firms from Middle Eastern and North Africa (MENA) countries, applying quantile regression (QR) approach developed by Koenker and Basset (1978). While classical ordinary least square (OLS) method is widely used in empirical accounting research, however it may produce inefficient and bias estimates in the case of departures from normality or long tail error distribution. QR method is more powerful than OLS to handle this kind of problem. It allows the coefficient on the independent variables to shift across the distribution of the dependent variable whereas OLS method only estimates the conditional mean effects of a response variable. We find as predicted that U_CONS has a significant positive effect on the COEC however, C_CONS has a negative impact. Findings suggest also that the effect of the two dimensions of accounting conservatism differs considerably across COEC quantiles. Comparing results from QR method with those of OLS, this study throws more lights on the association between accounting conservatism and COEC.

Keywords: unconditional conservatism, conditional conservatism, cost of equity capital, OLS, quantile regression, emerging markets, MENA countries

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Authors: Vesa Salminen, Esa Santakallio, Heikki Ruohomaa

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Introduction: The city of Riihimäki has decided robotics on well-being, service and industry as the main focus area on their ecosystem strategy. Robotics is going to be an important part of the everyday life of citizens and present in the working day of the average citizen and employee in the future. For that reason, also education system and education programs on all levels of education from diaper age to doctorate have been directed to fulfill this ecosystem strategy. Goal: The objective of this activity has been to develop education continuity from diaper age to doctorate. The main target of the development activity is to create a unique robotics study entity that enables ongoing robotics studies from preprimary education to university. The aim is also to attract students internationally and supply a skilled workforce to the private sector, capable of the challenges of the future. Methodology: Education instances (high school, second grade, Universities on all levels) in a large area of Tavastia Province have gradually directed their education programs to support this goal. On the other hand, applied research projects have been created to make proof of concept- phases on areal real environment field labs to test technology opportunities and digitalization to change business processes by applying robotic solutions. Customer-oriented applied research projects offer for students in robotics education learning environments to learn new knowledge and content. That is also a learning environment for education programs to adapt and co-evolution. New content and problem-based learning are used in future education modules. Major findings: Joint robotics education entity is being developed in cooperation with the city of Riihimäki (primary education), Syria Education (secondary education) and HAMK (bachelor and master education). The education modules have been developed to enable smooth transitioning from one institute to another. This article is introduced a case study of the change of education of wellbeing education because of digitalization and robotics. Riihimäki's Elderly citizen's service house, Riihikoti, has been working as a field lab for proof-of-concept phases on testing technology opportunities. According to successful case studies also education programs on various levels of education have been changing. Riihikoti has been developed as a physical learning environment for home care and robotics, investigating and developing a variety of digital devices and service opportunities and experimenting and learn the use of equipment. The environment enables the co-development of digital service capabilities in the authentic environment for all interested groups in transdisciplinary cooperation.

Keywords: ecosystem strategy, digitalization and robotics, education continuity, learning environment, transdisciplinary co-operation

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Authors: Panasbodee Thachaopas, Duangdorm Gamnerdsap, Waraporn Inthip, Arissara Pungpa

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LDD’s IM Farm or Land Development Department’s Integrated Management Farm is the agricultural simulation application developed by Land Development Department relies on actual data in simulation game to grow 12 cash crops which are rice, corn, cassava, sugarcane, soybean, rubber tree, oil palm, pineapple, longan, rambutan, durian, and mangosteen. Launching in simulation game, players could select preferable areas for cropping from base map or Orthophoto map scale 1:4,000. Farm management is simulated from field preparation to harvesting. The system uses soil group, and present land use database to facilitate player to know whether what kind of crop is suitable to grow in each soil groups and integrate LDD’s data with other agencies which are soil types, soil properties, soil problems, climate, cultivation cost, fertilizer use, fertilizer price, socio-economic data, plant diseases, weed, pest, interest rate for taking on loan from Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives (BAAC), labor cost, market prices. These mentioned data affect the cost and yield differently to each crop. After completing, the player will know the yield, income and expense, profit/loss. The player could change to other crops that are more suitable to soil groups for optimal yields and profits.

Keywords: agricultural simulation, smart farmer, web application, factors of agricultural production

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Authors: M. Shiva Prasad, S. R. Atchuta, T. Vijayaraghavan, S. Sakthivel

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The world is in need of efficient energy conversion technologies which are affordable, accessible, and sustainable with eco-friendly nature. Solar energy is one of the cornerstones for the world’s economic growth because of its abundancy with zero carbon pollution. Among the various solar energy conversion technologies, solar thermal technology has attracted a substantial renewed interest due to its diversity and compatibility in various applications. Solar thermal systems employ concentrators, tracking systems and heat engines for electricity generation which lead to high cost and complexity in comparison with photovoltaics; however, it is compatible with distinct thermal energy storage capability and dispatchable electricity which creates a tremendous attraction. Apart from that, employing cost-effective solar selective receiver tube in a concentrating solar thermal (CST) system improves the energy conversion efficiency and directly reduces the cost of technology. In addition, the development of solar receiver tubes by low cost methods which can offer high optical properties and corrosion resistance in an open-air atmosphere would be beneficial for low and medium temperature applications. In this regard, our work opens up an approach which has the potential to achieve cost-effective energy conversion. We have developed a highly selective tandem absorber coating through a facile wet chemical route by a combination of chemical oxidation, sol-gel, and nanoparticle coating methods. The developed tandem absorber coating has gradient refractive index nature on stainless steel (SS 304) and exhibited high optical properties (α ≤ 0.95 & ε ≤ 0.14). The first absorber layer (Cr-Mn-Fe oxides) developed by controlled oxidation of SS 304 in a chemical bath reactor. A second composite layer of ZrO₂-SiO₂ has been applied on the chemically oxidized substrate by So-gel dip coating method to serve as optical enhancing and corrosion resistant layer. Finally, an antireflective layer (MgF₂) has been deposited on the second layer, to achieve > 95% of absorption. The developed tandem layer exhibited good thermal stability up to 250 °C in open air atmospheric condition and superior corrosion resistance (withstands for > 200h in salt spray test (ASTM B117)). After the successful development of a coating with targeted properties at a laboratory scale, a prototype of the 1 m tube has been demonstrated with excellent uniformity and reproducibility. Moreover, it has been validated under standard laboratory test condition as well as in field condition with a comparison of the commercial receiver tube. The presented strategy can be widely adapted to develop highly selective coatings for a variety of CST applications ranging from hot water, solar desalination, and industrial process heat and power generation. The high-performance, cost-effective medium temperature receiver tube technology has attracted many industries, and recently the technology has been transferred to Indian industry.

Keywords: concentrated solar thermal system, solar selective coating, tandem absorber, ultralow refractive index

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Authors: Ujjval J. Solanki, Prof.(Dr.) P.J. Gundaliya, Prof.M.D. Barasara

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The application of Falling Weight Deflectometer is to evaluate structural performance of the flexible pavement. The exercise of back calculation is required to know the modulus of elasticity of existing in-service pavement. The process of back calculation needs in-depth field experience for the input of range of modulus of elasticity of bituminous, granular and subgrade layer, and its required number of trial to find such matching moduli with the observed FWD deflection on the field. The study carried out at Barnala-Mansa State Highway Punjab-India using FWD before and after overlay; the deflections obtained at 0 on the load cell, 300, 600, 900,1200, 1500 and 1800 mm interval from the load cell these seven deflection results used to calculate Surface Curvature Index (SCI), Base damage Index (BDI), Base curvature index (BCI). This SCI, BCI and BDI indices are useful to predict the structural performance of in-service pavement and also useful to identify homogeneous section for condition assessment. The SCI, BCI and BDI range are determined for before and after overlay the range of SCI 520 to 51 BDI 294 to 63 BCI 83 to 0.27 for old pavement and SCI 272 to 23 BDI 228 to 28, BCI 25.85 to 4.60 for new pavement. It also shows good correlation with back calculated modulus of elasticity of all the three layer.

Keywords: back calculation, base damage index, base curvature index, FWD (Falling Weight Deflectometer), surface curvature index

Procedia PDF Downloads 334