Search results for: variable service capacity

Authors: Sayantan Khanra, Rojers P. Joseph

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Background and Significance: This study is aimed at analyzing the role of demographic and service quality variables in the adoption and diffusion of e-government services among the users in India. The study proposes to examine the users' perception about e-Government services and investigate the key variables that are most salient to the Indian populace. Description of the Basic Methodologies: The methodology to be adopted in this study is Hierarchical Regression Analysis, which will help in exploring the impact of the demographic variables and the quality dimensions on the willingness to use e-government services in two steps. First, the impact of demographic variables on the willingness to use e-government services is to be examined. In the second step, quality dimensions would be used as inputs to the model for explaining variance in excess of prior contribution by the demographic variables. Present Status: Our study is in the data collection stage in collaboration with a highly reliable, authentic and adequate source of user data. Assuming that the population of the study comprises all the Internet users in India, a massive sample size of more than 10,000 random respondents is being approached. Data is being collected using an online survey questionnaire. A pilot survey has already been carried out to refine the questionnaire with inputs from an expert in management information systems and a small group of users of e-government services in India. The first three questions in the survey pertain to the Internet usage pattern of a respondent and probe whether the person has used e-government services. If the respondent confirms that he/she has used e-government services, then an aggregate of 15 indicators are used to measure the quality dimensions under consideration and the willingness of the respondent to use e-government services, on a five-point Likert scale. If the respondent reports that he/she has not used e-government services, then a few optional questions are asked to understand the reason(s) behind the same. Last four questions in the survey are dedicated to collect data related to the demographic variables. An indication of the Major Findings: Based on the extensive literature review carried out to develop several propositions; a research model is prescribed to start with. A major outcome expected at the completion of the study is the development of a research model that would help to understand the relationship involving the demographic variables and service quality dimensions, and the willingness to adopt e-government services, particularly in an emerging economy like India. Concluding Statement: Governments of emerging economies and other relevant agencies can use the findings from the study in designing, updating, and promoting e-government services to enhance public participation, which in turn, would help to improve efficiency, convenience, engagement, and transparency in implementing these services.

Keywords: adoption and diffusion of e-government services, demographic variables, hierarchical regression analysis, service quality dimensions

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Authors: Manar Aslan, Ayse Yildiz

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The study was conducted descriptively to assess their hospital institutionalization of upper and mid-level managers of 18 hospitals affiliated to Public Hospitals Association. In its simplest form institutionalization is whatever the subject matter, is dominated by the rules of articulated and determined behavior in all kinds of business, interaction, and communication. Hospital service is a type of service carried out chained together. It should not be forgotten that this kind of services is carried out without barrier, and who and what to do with definite lines, hospital management is a process, and this process can be achieved through institutionalization. With the establishment of the Public Hospitals Unions in Turkey, all the state hospitals in the provinces have been gathered under this roof. One of the goals is to establish control mechanisms to ensure that hospitals reach pre-determined financial, medical, and administrative standards. In this way, the preparations for the institutionalization of units and hospital enterprises will be completed. The data of the study were collected by institutionalization management attitude scale (cronbach alpha: 0.98) of composed of 5 sub-dimensions and 52 questions in 18 hospitals’ managers (N=310) in the largest province in Turkey. The results of the study revealed that the total score taken by managers at the institutionalization scale was 200.80, and this was close to the maximum score. In addition, it was determined that the difference between the mean score of the scale and its sub-dimensions with the gender, the hospitals, and the management position.

Keywords: institutionalization, hospital, manager, evaluation

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Authors: Tahira Iram, Ahmad Raza Bilal

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In 2016, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) initiated Saudi Vision 2030, an ambitious plan to lessen the country's dependency on fossil fuels and increase economic diversification. The Vision 2030 framework strives to establish a thriving economy, a vibrant society, and an ambitious nation. This study aims to investigate the role of green service innovation (SI) and green work engagement (WE) in mediating the nexus between green HRM and green creativity (GC) under the conditional role of spiritual leadership (SL). A survey was done of 300 female intrepreneurs working in the organization within Saudi Arabia. This study has collected data via a stratified random sampling technique. The framework was tested using PLS-SEM software. The findings reveal that WE fully intervenes in the nexus between green HRM and GC. Moreover, SL positively moderates the nexus between green HRM and SI. Thus based on findings, it is recommended that female intrapreneurs prioritize environmentally responsible operations to gain and sustain a competitive edge over rivals in the Saudi competitive market.

Keywords: green HRM, spiritual leadership, Vision 2030, women intrapreneurs, green service innovation behavior, green creativity

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Authors: Thanduxolo Elford Fana

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Rationale and Purpose: Performance management and development system are central to effective and efficient service delivery, especially in highly labour intensive sectors such as South African public health. Performance management and development systems seek to ensure that good employee performance is rewarded accordingly, while those who underperform are developed so that they can reach their full potential. An effective and efficiently implemented performance management system motivates and improves employee engagement. The purpose of this study is to examine the implementation of the performance management and development system and the challenges that are encountered during its implementation in the Eastern Cape Provincial Department of Health. Methods: A qualitative research approach and a case study design was adopted in this study. The primary data were collected through observations, focus group discussions with employees, a group interview with shop stewards, and in-depth interviews with supervisors and managers, from April 2019 to September 2019. There were 45 study participants. In-depth interviews were held with 10 managers at facility level, which included chief executive officer, chief medical officer, assistant director’s in human resources management, patient admin, operations, finance, and two area manager and two operation managers nursing. A group interview was conducted with five shop stewards and an in-depth interview with one shop steward from the group. Five focus group discussions were conducted with clinical and non-clinical staff. The focus group discussions were supplemented with an in-depth interview with one person from each group in order to counter the group effect. Observations included moderation committee, contracting, and assessment meetings. Findings: The study shows that the performance management and development system was not properly implemented. There was non-compliance to performance management and development system policy guidelines in terms of time lines for contracting, evaluation, payment of incentives to good performers, and management of poor performance. The study revealed that the system is ineffective in raising the performance of employees and unable to assist employees to grow. The performance bonuses were no longer paid to qualifying employees. The study also revealed that lack of capacity and commitment, poor communication, constant policy changes, financial constraints, weak and highly bureaucratic management structures, union interference were challenges that were encountered during the implementation of the performance management and development system. Lastly, employees and supervisors were rating themselves three irrespective of how well or bad they performed. Conclusion: Performance management is regarded as vital to improved performance of the health workforce and healthcare service delivery among populations. Effective implementation of performance management and development system depends on well-capacitated and unbiased management at facility levels. Therefore, there is an urgent need to improve communication, link performance management to rewards, and capacitate staff on performance management and development system, as it is key to improved public health sector outcomes or performance.

Keywords: challenges, implementation, performance management and development system, public hospital

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Authors: Anand R. Nair, Markus Trenker

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Lifting body concepts were conceived as early as 1917 and patented by Roy Scroggs. It was an idea of using the fuselage as a lift producing body with no or small wings. Many of these designs were developed and even flight tested between 1920’s to 1970’s, but it was not pursued further for commercial flight as at lower airspeeds, such a configuration was incapable to produce sufficient lift for the entire aircraft. The concept presented in this contribution is combining the lifting body design along with a fixed wing to maximise the lift produced by the aircraft. Conventional aircraft fuselages are designed to be aerodynamically efficient, which is to minimise the drag; however, these fuselages produce very minimal or negligible lift. For the design of an unmanned fixed wing transport aircraft, many of the restrictions which are present for commercial aircraft in terms of fuselage design can be excluded, such as windows for the passengers/pilots, cabin-environment systems, emergency exits, and pressurization systems. This gives new flexibility to design fuselages which are unconventionally shaped to contribute to the lift of the aircraft. The two lifting body concepts presented in this contribution are targeting different applications: For a fast cargo delivery drone, the fuselage is based on a scaled airfoil shape with a cargo capacity of 500 kg for euro pallets. The aircraft has a span of 14 m and reaches 1500 km at a cruising speed of 90 m/s. The aircraft could also easily be adapted to accommodate pilot and passengers with modifications to the internal structures, but pressurization is not included as the service ceiling envisioned for this type of aircraft is limited to 10,000 ft. The next concept to be investigated is called a multi-purpose drone, which incorporates a different type of lifting body and is a much more versatile aircraft as it will have a VTOL capability. The aircraft will have a wingspan of approximately 6 m and flight speeds of 60 m/s within the same service ceiling as the fast cargo delivery drone. The multi-purpose drone can be easily adapted for various applications such as firefighting, agricultural purposes, surveillance, and even passenger transport. Lifting body designs are not a new concept, but their effectiveness in terms of cargo transportation has not been widely investigated. Due to their enhanced lift producing capability, lifting body designs enable the reduction of the wing area and the overall weight of the aircraft. This will, in turn, reduce the thrust requirement and ultimately the fuel consumption. The various designs proposed in this contribution will be based on the general aviation category of aircrafts and will be focussed on unmanned methods of operation. These unmanned fixed-wing transport drones will feature appropriate cargo loading/unloading concepts which can accommodate large size cargo for efficient time management and ease of operation. The various designs will be compared in performance to their conventional counterpart to understand their benefits/shortcomings in terms of design, performance, complexity, and ease of operation. The majority of the performance analysis will be carried out using industry relevant standards in computational fluid dynamics software packages.

Keywords: lifting body concept, computational fluid dynamics, unmanned fixed-wing aircraft, cargo drone

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Authors: Fu-Pei Hsiao, Fung-Chung Tu, Chien-Kuo Chiu

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In this work, to develop a method for detailed assesses of post-earthquake seismic performance for RC buildings in Taiwan, experimental data for several column specimens with various failure modes (flexural failure, flexural-shear failure, and shear failure) are used to derive reduction factors of seismic capacity for specified damage states. According to the damage states of RC columns and their corresponding seismic reduction factors suggested by experimental data, this work applies the detailed seismic performance assessment method to identify the seismic capacity of earthquake-damaged RC buildings. Additionally, a post-earthquake emergent assessment procedure is proposed that can provide the data needed for decision about earthquake-damaged buildings in a region with high seismic hazard. Finally, three actual earthquake-damaged school buildings in Taiwan are used as a case study to demonstrate application of the proposed assessment method.

Keywords: seismic assessment, seismic reduction factor, residual seismic ratio, post-earthquake, reinforced concrete, building

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Authors: Abir Mohamed Mohamed Ibrahim, Amina Titouche, Mohamed Hazzit

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Phytotherapy is based on use of plant natural products holding the main sources of drugs with healing properties for the treatment of human, animal or vegetable diseases. With these aims, and to replace chemical preservatives in natural products, we are interested to use essential oils from Algerian endemic plants belonging to the Asteraceae family: Artemisia herba alba Asso, which was undergoes a hydro-distillation after its irradiation by Gamma rays at frequencies: 10, 20, and 30 KGray which gave respectively the following essential oil yields: 1.087%, 1.087%, 1.085%, compared with that of the untreated sample giving a yield of 1.27 %. Evaluation of the antioxidant activity in vitro of essential oil for A. herba alba has been assessed by two different methods: inhibition of DPPH radical and measurement of reducing power. The first method has not revealed a very big difference regardless of the dose of irradiation, the IC50 is about 4000 mg/l, the maximum of inhibition was around 49.4%, likewise, the test of reducing power awarded us a maximum reducing capacity was of 0.76%; both of results were registered by the specimen irradiated at 20 KGy, it has a more better antioxidant power than no irradiated sample but slightly. To combat Fusarium culmorum, causing the wilts and rots, we are focused on the antifungal screening of this aromatic plant. The results obtained, followed by measurements of Minimal Inhibitory Concentrations (MIC); showed promising inhibitory effect against pathogen tested. With a yield superior to l%, the essential oil has shown a remarkable efficiency on the stump, mainly for sample irradiate at 30KGray (MICs= 625 µg/ml; MICc= 1250 µg/ml) with MIC of 2%. These results demonstrate a good antifungal activity, to limit and even to stop the development of the pathogenic microorganism and also the positive effect of dose of irradiation to upgrade this capacity as well, to uphold the antioxidant capacity.

Keywords: artemisia herba alba Asso, essential oil yield, gamma ray, antioxidant activity, antifungal activity

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Authors: Mohammad Hossein Bayati Chaleshtari, Hadi Khoramishad

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Minimizing the stress concentration around triangular cutout in infinite perforated plates subjected to a uniform heat flux induces thermal stresses is an important consideration in engineering design. Furthermore, understanding the effective parameters on stress concentration and proper selection of these parameters enables the designer to achieve a reliable design. In the analysis of thermal stress, the effective parameters on stress distribution around cutout include fiber angle, flux angle, bluntness and rotation angle of the cutout for orthotropic materials. This paper was tried to examine effect of these parameters on thermal stress analysis of infinite perforated plates with central triangular cutout. In order to achieve the least amount of thermal stress around a triangular cutout using a novel swarm intelligence optimization technique called dragonfly optimizer that inspired by the life method and hunting behavior of dragonfly in nature. In this study, using the two-dimensional thermoelastic theory and based on the Likhnitskiiʼ complex variable technique, the stress analysis of orthotropic infinite plate with a circular cutout under a uniform heat flux was developed to the plate containing a quasi-triangular cutout in thermal steady state condition. To achieve this goal, a conformal mapping function was used to map an infinite plate containing a quasi- triangular cutout into the outside of a unit circle. The plate is under uniform heat flux at infinity and Neumann boundary conditions and thermal-insulated condition at the edge of the cutout were considered.

Keywords: infinite perforated plate, complex variable method, thermal stress, optimization method

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Authors: Muhammad Yusuf, Abdul Latief Toleng, Djoni Prawira Rahardja, Ambo Ako, Sahiruddin Sahiruddin, Abdi Eriansyah

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The objective of this study was to know the reproductive performance of dairy cows at different parities. A total of 60 dairy Holstein-Friesian cows with parity one to three from five small farms raised by the farmers were used in the study. All cows were confined in tie stall barn with rubber on the concrete floor. The herds were visited twice for survey with the help of a questionnaire. Reproductive parameters used in the study were days open, calving interval, and service per conception (S/C). The results of this study showed that the mean (±SD) days open of the cows in parity 2 was slightly longer than those in parity 3 (228.2±121.5 vs. 205.5±144.5; P=0.061). None cows conceived within 85 days postpartum in parity 3 in comparison to 13.8% cows conceived in parity 2. However, total cows conceived within 150 days post partum in parity 2 and parity 3 were 30.1% and 36.4%, respectively. Likewise, after reaching 210 days after calving, number of cows conceived in parity 3 had higher than number of cows in parity 2 (72.8% vs. 44.8%; P<0.05). The mean (±SD) calving interval of the cows in parity 2 and parity 3 were 508.2±121.5 and 495.5±144.1, respectively. Number of cows with calving interval of 400 and 450 days in parity 3 was higher than those cows in parity 2 (23.1% vs. 17.2% and 53.9% vs. 31.0%). Cows in parity 1 had significantly (P<0.01) lower number of S/C in comparison to the cows with parity 2 and parity 3 (1.6±1.2 vs. 3.5±3.4 and 3.3±2.1). It can be concluded that reproductive performance of the cows is affected by different parities.

Keywords: dairy cows, parity, days open, calving interval, service per conception

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Authors: Harold Jideofor Nnachetam

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Maintenance management in Nigeria Polytechnic faced many issues due to poor service delivery, inadequate finance, and poor maintenance plan and maintenance backlogs. The purpose of this study is to improve the conventional method practices which tend to be ineffective in Nigeria Polytechnic. The case study was conducted with eight Polytechnics in Nigeria. The selected Polytechnic is based on conventional method practices and its major problems, attempt to implement computerized technology and the willingness of staff to share their experiences. All feedbacks from respondents through semi-structured interview were recorded using video camera and transcribed verbatim. The overall findings of this research indicated; poor service delivery, inadequate financial, poor maintenance planning and maintenance backlogs. There is also need to overcome less man power competencies of maintenance management practices which existed with all eight Polytechnics. In addition, the study also found that the Polytechnics still use conventional maintenance management processes in managing building facility condition. As a result, the maintenance management staff was not able to improve the maintenance management performance at the Polytechnics. The findings are intended to be used for maintenance management practices at Nigeria Polytechnics in order to provide high-quality of building facility with safe and healthy environments.

Keywords: maintenance management, conventional method, maintenance management system, Nigeria polytechnic

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Authors: Fernando Araujo, Sandra Cardoso, Fátima Fonseca, Sandra Cavaca

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A debureaucratization strategy for the Portuguese Health Service was assumed by the Executive Board of the SNS, in deep articulation with the Shared Services of the Ministry of Health. Two of the main dimensions were focused on sick leaves (SL), that transform primary health care (PHC) in administrative institutions, limiting access to patients. The self-declaration of illness (SDI) project, through the National Health Service Contact Centre (SNS24), began on May 1, 2023, and has already resulted in the issuance of more than 300,000 SDI without the need to allocate resources from the National Health Service (NHS). This political decision allows each citizen, in a maximum 2 times/year, and 3 days each time, if ill, through their own responsibility, report their health condition in a dematerialized way, and by this way justified the absence to work, although by Portuguese law in these first three days, there is no payment of salary. Using a digital approach, it is now feasible without the need to go to the PHC and occupy the time of the PHC only to obtain an SL. Through this measure, bureaucracy has been reduced, and the system has been focused on users, improving the lives of citizens and reducing the administrative burden on PHC, which now has more consultation times for users who need it. The second initiative, which began on March 1, 2024, allows the SL to be issued in emergency departments (ED) of public hospitals and in the health institutions of the social and private sectors. This project is intended to allow the user who has suffered a situation of acute urgent illness and who has been observed in an ED of a public hospital or in a private or social entity no longer need to go to PHC only to apply for the respective SL. Since March 1, 54,453 SLs have been issued, 242 in private or social sector institutions and 6,918 in public hospitals, of which 134 were in ED and 47,292 in PHC. This approach has proven to be technically robust, allows immediate resolution of problems and differentiates the performance of doctors. However, it is important to continue to qualify the proper functioning of the ED, preventing non-urgent users from going there only to obtain SL. Thus, in order to make better use of existing resources, it was operationalizing this extension of its issuance in a balanced way, allowing SL to be issued in the ED of hospitals only to critically ill patients or patients referred by INEM, SNS24, or PHC. In both cases, an intense public campaign was implemented to explain the way it works and the benefits for patients. In satisfaction surveys, more than 95% of patients and doctors were satisfied with the solutions, asking for extensions to other areas. The administrative simplification agenda of the NHS continues its effective development. For the success of this debureaucratization agenda, the key factors are effective communication and the ability to reach patients and health professionals in order to increase health literacy and the correct use of NHS.

Keywords: debureaucratization strategy, self-declaration of illness, sick leaves, SNS24

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Authors: Adewale Oladapo, C. A. Afolami

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The study analyzed the effect of micro credit access on poverty reduction among small scale women entrepreneurs in Ondo state, Nigeria. Primary data were collected in a cross-sectional survey of 100 randomly selected woman entrepreneurs. These were drawn in multistage sampling process covering four local government areas (LGAS). Data collected include socio economics characteristics of respondents, access to micro credit, sources of micro credit, and constraints faced by the entrepreneur in sourcing for micro credit. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Foster, Greer and Thorbecke (FGT) index of poverty measure, Gini coefficients and probit regression analysis. The study found that respondents sampled for the survey were within the age range of 31-40 years with mean age 38.6%. Mostly (56.0%) of the respondents were educated to the tune of primary school. Majority (87.0%) of the respondents were married with fairly large household size of (4-5). The poverty index analysis revealed that most (67%) of the sample respondents were poor. The result of the Probit regression analyzed showed that income was a significant variable in micro credit access, while the result of the Gini coefficient revealed a very high income inequality among the respondents. The study concluded that most of the respondents were poor and return on investment (income) was an important variable that increased the chance of respondents in sourcing for micro-credit loan and recommended that income realized by entrepreneur should be properly documented to facilitate loan accessibility.

Keywords: entrepreneurs, income, micro-credit, poverty

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Authors: Neritan Shkodrani

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On November 26, 2019, an earthquake hit the central western part of Albania. It was assessed as Mw 6.4. Its epicenter was located offshore north western Durrës, about 7 km north of the city. In this paper, the consequences of settlements of very soft soils have been discussed for the case of a residential building, mentioned as “K Building”, which was suffering a significant tilting after the earthquake. “KBuilding” is an RC framed building having 12+1 (basement) storiesand a floor area of 21000 m2. The construction of the building was completed in 2012. “KBuilding”, located in Durres city, suffered severe non-structural damage during November 26, 2019, Durrës Earthquake sequences. During the in-site inspections immediately after the earthquake, the general condition of the buildings, the presence of observable settlements on the ground, and the crack situation in the structure were determined, and damage inspection were performed. It was significant to note that the “K Building” presented tilting that might be attributed, as it was believed at the beginning, partially to the failure of the columns of the ground floor and partially to liquefaction phenomena, but it did not collapse. At the first moment was not clear if the foundation had a bearing capacity failure or the foundation failed because of the soil liquefaction. Geotechnical soil investigations by using CPTU test were executed, and their data are usedto evaluatebearing capacity, consolidation settlement of the mat foundation, and soil liquefaction since they were believed to be the main reasons of this building tilting.Geotechnical soil investigation consist in 5 (five) Static Cone Penetration tests with pore pressure measurement (piezocone test). They reached a penetration depth of 20.0 m to 30.0 mand, clearly shown the presence of very soft and organic soils in the soil profile of the site. Geotechnical CPT based analysis of bearing capacity, consolidation, and secondary settlement are applied, and results are reported for each test. These results shown very small values of allowable bearing capacity and very high values of consolidation and secondary settlements. Liquefaction analysis based on the data of CPTU tests and the characteristics of ground shaking of the mentioned earthquake has shown the possibility of liquefaction for some layers of the considered soil profile, but the estimated vertical settlements are at a small range and clearly shown that the main reason of the building tilting was not related to the consequences of liquefaction, but was an existing settlement caused from the applied bearing pressure of this building. All the CPTU tests were carried out on August 2021, almost two years after the November 26, 2019, Durrës Earthquake and when the building itself was demolished. After removing the mat foundation on September 2021, it was possible to carry out CPTU tests even on the footprint of the existing building, which made possible to observe the effects of long time applied of foundation bearing pressure to the consolidation on the considered soil profile.

Keywords: bearing capacity, cone penetration test, consolidation settlement, secondary settlement, soil liquefaction, etc

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Authors: Shyamlal Kumawat

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Cloud computing is shifting the approach IT capital are utilized. Cloud computing dynamically delivers convenient, on-demand access to shared pools of software resources, platform and hardware as a service through internet. The cloud computing model—made promising by sophisticated automation, provisioning and virtualization technologies. Users want the ability to access these services including infrastructure resources, how and when they choose. To accommodate this shift in the consumption model technology has to deal with the security, compatibility and trust issues associated with delivering that convenience to application business owners, developers and users. Absent of these issues, trust has attracted extensive attention in Cloud computing as a solution to enhance the security. This paper proposes a trusted computing technology through Standard Resource parameter Based Trust Model in Cloud Computing to select the appropriate cloud service providers. The direct trust of cloud entities is computed on basis of the interaction evidences in past and sustained on its present performances. Various SLA parameters between consumer and provider are considered in trust computation and compliance process. The simulations are performed using CloudSim framework and experimental results show that the proposed model is effective and extensible.

Keywords: cloud, Iaas, Saas, Paas

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Authors: Robin Molinier

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Industrial symbiosis (I.S) rely on two modes of cooperation that are infrastructure sharing and resource substitution to obtain economic and environmental benefits. The former consists in the intensification of use of an asset while the latter is based on the use of waste, fatal energy (and utilities) as alternatives to standard inputs. Both modes, in fact, rely on the shift from a business-as-usual functioning towards an alternative production system structure so that in a business point of view the distinction is not clear. In order to investigate the way those cooperation modes can be distinguished, we consider the stakeholders' interplay in the business model structure regarding their resources and requirements. For infrastructure sharing (following economic engineering literature) the cost function of capacity induces economies of scale so that demand pooling reduces global expanses. Grassroot investment sizing decision and the ex-post pricing strongly depends on the design optimization phase for capacity sizing whereas ex-post operational cost sharing minimizing budgets are less dependent upon production rates. Value is then mainly design driven. For resource substitution, synergies value stems from availability and is at risk regarding both supplier and user load profiles and market prices of the standard input. Baseline input purchasing cost reduction is thus more driven by the operational phase of the symbiosis and must be analyzed within the whole sourcing policy (including diversification strategies and expensive back-up replacement). Moreover, while resource substitution involves a chain of intermediate processors to match quality requirements, the infrastructure model relies on a single operator whose competencies allow to produce non-rival goods. Transaction costs appear higher in resource substitution synergies due to the high level of customization which induces asset specificity, and non-homogeneity following transaction costs economics arguments.

Keywords: business model, capacity, sourcing, synergies

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Authors: Maureen Gibney

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The examination of narrative in psychology has a long tradition, starting with psychoanalytic theory and embracing over time cognitive, social, and personality psychology, among others. Narrative use has been richly detailed as well in medicine, nursing, and social service. One aspect of narrative that has ready utility in higher education and in clinical work is the exploration of suffering and its meaning. Because it is such a densely examined topic, suffering provides a window into identity, sense of purpose, and views of humanity and of the divine. Storytelling analysis permits an exploration of a host of specific manifestations of suffering such as pain and illness, moral injury, and the impact of prolonged suffering on love and relationships. This presentation will review the origins and current understandings of narrative theory in general, and will draw from psychology, medicine, ethics, nursing, and social service in exploring the topic of suffering in particular. It is suggested that the use of narrative themes such as meaning making, agency and communion, generativity, and loss and redemption allows for a finely grained analysis of common and more atypical sources of suffering, their resolution, and the acceptance of their continuation when resolution is not possible. Such analysis, used in professional work and in higher education, can enrich one’s empathy and one’s sense of both the fragility and strength of everyday life.

Keywords: meaning making, narrative theory, suffering, teaching

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Authors: Gokulan Vethanayakam, Daniel Aston

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Introduction: The ReSPECT process supports healthcare professionals when making patient-centered decisions in the event of an emergency. It has been widely adopted by the NHS in England and allows patients to express thoughts and wishes about treatments and outcomes that they consider acceptable. It includes (but is not limited to) cardiopulmonary resuscitation decisions. ReSPECT conversations should ideally occur prior to ICU admission and should be documented in the eight sections of the nationally-standardised ReSPECT form. This audit evaluated the use of ReSPECT on a busy cardiothoracic ICU in an NHS Trust where established policies advocating its use exist. Methods: This audit was a retrospective review of ReSPECT forms for a sample of high-risk patients admitted to ICU at the Royal Papworth Hospital between January 2021 and March 2022. Patients all received one of the following interventions: Veno-Venous Extra-Corporeal Membrane Oxygenation (VV-ECMO) for severe respiratory failure (retrieved via the national ECMO service); cardiac or pulmonary transplantation-related surgical procedures (including organ transplants and Ventricular Assist Device (VAD) implantation); or elective non-transplant cardiac surgery. The quality of documentation on ReSPECT forms was evaluated using national standards and a graded ranking tool devised by the authors which was used to assess narrative aspects of the forms. Quality was ranked as A (excellent) to D (poor). Results: Of 230 patients (74 VV-ECMO, 104 transplant, 52 elective non-transplant surgery), 43 (18.7%) had a ReSPECT form and only one (0.43%) patient had a ReSPECT form completed prior to ICU admission. Of the 43 forms completed, 38 (88.4%) were completed due to the commencement of End of Life (EoL) care. No non-transplant surgical patients included in the audit had a ReSPECT form. There was documentation of balance of care (section 4a), CPR status (section 4c), capacity assessment (section 5), and patient involvement in completing the form (section 6a) on all 43 forms. Of the 34 patients assessed as lacking capacity to make decisions, only 22 (64.7%) had reasons documented. Other sections were variably completed; 29 (67.4%) forms had relevant background information included to a good standard (section 2a). Clinical guidance for the patient (section 4b) was given in 25 (58.1%), of which 11 stated the rationale that underpinned it. Seven forms (16.3%) contained information in an inappropriate section. In a comparison of ReSPECT forms completed ahead of an EoL trigger with those completed when EoL care began, there was a higher number of entries in section 3 (considering patient’s values/fears) that were assessed at grades A-B in the former group (p = 0.014), suggesting higher quality. Similarly, forms from the transplant group contained higher quality information in section 3 than those from the VV-ECMO group (p = 0.0005). Conclusions: Utilisation of the ReSPECT process in high-risk patients is yet to be well-adopted in this trust. Teams who meet patients before hospital admission for transplant or high-risk surgery should be encouraged to engage with the ReSPECT process at this point in the patient's journey. VV-ECMO retrieval teams should consider ReSPECT conversations with patients’ relatives at the time of retrieval.

Keywords: audit, critical care, end of life, ICU, ReSPECT, resuscitation

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Authors: Eyibo Ebengeobong Eddie, Halil Zafer Alibaba

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The neglect of classroom acoustics is dominant in most educational facilities, meanwhile, hearing and listening is the learning process in this kind of facilities. A classroom should therefore be an environment that encourages listening, without an obstacles to understanding what is being taught. Although different studies have shown teachers to complain that noise is the everyday factor that causes stress in classroom, the capacity of individuals to understand speech is further affected by Echoes, Reverberation, and room modes. It is therefore necessary for classrooms to have an ideal acoustics to aid the intelligibility of students in the learning process. The influence of these acoustical parameters on learning and teaching in schools needs to be further researched upon to enhance the teaching and learning capacity of both teacher and student. For this reason, there is a strong need to provide and collect data to analyse and define the suitable quality of classrooms needed for a learning environment. Research has shown that acoustical problems are still experienced in both newer and older schools. However, recently, principle of acoustics has been analysed and room acoustics can now be measured with various technologies and sound systems to improve and solve the problem of acoustics in classrooms. These acoustic solutions, materials, construction methods and integration processes would be discussed in this paper.

Keywords: classroom, acoustics, materials, integration, speech intelligibility

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Authors: Ingrid Van Der Heijden, Naeemah Abrahams, Jane Harries

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Background: Women with disabilities are largely missing from global research on violence prevention, yet research shows that women with disabilities are a particularly marginalised group who experience heightened levels and unique forms of violence than men with disabilities, and women without disabilities. They face heightened stigma, discrimination, and violence due to their gender and their disability. Including women with disabilities in violence, research helps inform policy and prevention interventions that are relevant and inclusive. To ensure their inclusion in violence research, we need ethical guidelines that are sensitive to their heightened risk and vulnerability, that recognize the diversity in the disabled population, but that also promote disabled people’s agency in defining their own violence prevention needs and agendas. Objective: To highlight pertinent ethical issues around women with disabilities’ inclusion and participation in violence research. Methodology: Considering the lack of formalized guidelines for research of people with disabilities, we draw from the literature on international ethics guidelines for researching violence against women, and the Emancipatory Disability Research paradigm, as well as drawing from our own experiences from the field in applying the guidelines when doing research with disabled women. Findings: Following the guiding ethical principles of respect, benefit, justice, and do no harm, we argue that reasonable accommodation, capacity, and equal participation need to be considered in conceptualizing and conducting ethical violence research with women with disabilities. We conclude that disability research in the area of violence is highly politicized and must be carefully scrutinized to ensure justice and the contribution of women with disabilities to their own welfare. Implications: We suggest that these issues are practically applied in the field and tested and critiqued to enhance best practice for undertaking ethical research with this particular group. It is important that not only researchers and ethics committees, but also disabled women and disabled organizations, are involved in enhancing and formalizing ethical research guidelines for marginalized populations.

Keywords: capacity, emancipatory disability research paradigm equal participation, reasonable accommodation, research ethics, violence against women with disabilities

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Authors: M. Rajabi, O. Moradi

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In this study, removal of Nickel and Zinc by graphene oxide and functionalized graphene oxide–gelaycin surfaces was examined. Amino group was added to surface of graphene oxide to produced functionalized graphene oxide–gelaycin. Effect of contact time and initial concentration of Ni (II) and Zn(II) ions were studied. Results showed that with increase of initial concentration of Ni (II) and Zn(II) adsorption capacity was increased. After 50 min has not a large change at adsorption capacity therefore, 50 min was selected as optimaze time. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) and fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy spectra used for the analysis confirmed the successful fictionalization of the Graphene oxide surface. Adsorption experiments of Ni (II) and Zn(II) ions graphene oxide and functionalized graphene oxide–gelaycin surfaces fixed at 298 K and pH=6. The Pseudo Firs-order and the Pseudo Second-order (types I, II, III and IV) kinetic models were tested for adsorption process and results showed that the kinetic parameters best fits with to type (I) of pseudo-second-order model because presented low X2 values and also high R2 values.

Keywords: graphene oxide, gelaycin, nickel, zinc, adsorption, kinetic, graphene oxide, gelaycin, nickel, zinc, adsorption, kinetic

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Authors: Maru R., Singh V. P.

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In this research, analytical study of the flexural strength of Concrete Filled Steel Tube (CFST) beams is carried out based on wide-range finite element models to obtain the better perspective for flexural strength achievement with the use of ABAQUS finite element program. This work adopts concrete damaged plasticity model to get the actual simulation of CFST under bending. To get the decent interaction between concrete and steel, normal and tangential surface interaction provided by ABAQUS is used with hard contact for normal surface interaction and for 0.65 friction coefficient for tangential surface interactions. In this study, rectangular and square CFST beam model cross-sections are adopted with its limits pertained to Eurocode specifications. To get the visualization for flexural strength of CFST beams, total of 74 rectangular CFST beams and 86 square CFST beams are used with four-point bending test setup and the length of the beam model as 1000mm. The grades of concrete and grades of steel are used as 30 MPa & 35MPa and 235 MPa and 275MPa respectively for both sections to get the confinement factor 0.583 to 2.833, steel ratio of 0.069 to 0.236 and length to depth ratio of 4.167 to 16.667. It was found based on this study that flexural strength of CFST beams falls around strain of 0.012. Eurocode provides the results harmonically with finite elemental results. It was also noted for square sections that reduction of steel ratio is not useful as compared to rectangular section although it increases moment capacity up to certain limits because for square sectional area similar to that of rectangular, it possesses lesser depth than rectangular sections. Also It can be said that effect of increment of grade of concrete can be achieved when thicker steel tube is present. It is observed that there is less increment in moment capacity initially but after D/b ratio 1.2, moment capacity of CFST beam rapidly.

Keywords: ABAQUS, CFST beams, flexural strength, four-point bending, rectangular and square sections

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Authors: Fiona Gibson

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This study is on sustainable capacity building in tourism management of the touristic destination of forts and castles within the Accra Metropolis, of the Greater Accra Region of Ghana, notably, the Christianbough Castle, the James and Ussher Forts. These forts and castle mentioned above have a rich colonial historical past that emerged from the 17th century onwards on the Gulf Coast of Guinea of the West Africa Sub-Region. Unfortunately, apart from the Christianbough Castle, which used to be the seat of government until recently, the environment of James and Ussher Forts are in a deployable state of decay due to years of neglect. Jamestown and Usshertown fishing communities with historical colonial past of a rich touristic heritage sites are predominantly indigenous Gas who speak only the Ga language, one of the languages of the six local languages spoken in Ghana, as a medium for sustainable tourism management. The purpose of this study is to investigate the reasons for years of decay and neglect, using both qualitative and quantitative research approach for individual interviews, to develop a rich picture of life situational story of the people of James and Ussher Forts environs and finding solutions to their predicaments through internal generated funds for sustainability of tourism management within the communities. The study recommends nation-wide educational campaigns and programmes on culture of maintenance and management for sustainable tourism development and management at all historical heritage sites in the country, specifically with the aim of promoting tourism in Ghana, using the indigenous local languages. The study also recommends formal and informal education for the residents, especially the youth to help them learn skills, either through local training or the formal education and this call for collaboration between the government of Ghana and other local and international bodies.

Keywords: sustainable capacity building, tourism management, forts, castles

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Authors: Yohannes Bisa Biramo

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This study examined the meditational role of surface acting and deep acting on the relationship between calling orientation and work engagement of teachers in secondary schools of Wolaita Zone, Wolaita, Ethiopia. A predictive non-experimental correlational design was performed among 300 secondary school teachers. Stratified random sampling followed by a systematic random sampling technique was used as the basis for selecting samples from the target population. To analyze the data, Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was used to test the association between the independent variables and the dependent variables. Furthermore, the goodness of fit of the study variables was tested using SEM to see and explain the path influence of the independent variable on the dependent variable. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was conducted to test the validity of the scales in the study and to assess the measurement model fit indices. The analysis result revealed that calling was significantly and positively correlated with surface acting, deep acting and work engagement. Similarly, surface acting was significantly and positively correlated with deep acting and work engagement. And also, deep acting was significantly and positively correlated with work engagement. With respect to mediation analysis, the result revealed that surface acting mediated the relationship between calling and work engagement and also deep acting mediated the relationship between calling and work engagement. Besides, by using the model of the present study, the school leaders and practitioners can identify a core area to be considered in recruiting and letting teachers teach, in giving induction training for newly employed teachers and in performance appraisal.

Keywords: calling, surface acting, deep acting, work engagement, mediation, teachers

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Authors: Zohreh Asadi-Shekari, Mehdi Moeinaddini, Muhammad Zaly Shah, Amran Hamzah

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Bicycle level of service (BLOS) is a measure for evaluating street conditions for cyclists. Currently, various methods are proposed for BLOS. These analytical methods however have some drawbacks: they usually assume cyclists as users that can share street facilities with motorized vehicles, it is not easy to link them to design process and they are not easy to follow. In addition, they only support a narrow range of cycling facilities and may not be applicable for all situations. Along this, the current paper introduces various effective design factors for bicycle-friendly streets. This study considers cyclists as users of streets who have special needs and facilities. Therefore, the key factors that influence BLOS based on different cycling facilities that are proposed by developed guidelines and literature are identified. The combination of these factors presents a complete set of effective design factors for bicycle-friendly streets. In addition, the weight of each factor in existing BLOS models is estimated and these effective factors are ranked based on these weights. These factors and their weights can be used in further studies to propose special bicycle-friendly street design model.

Keywords: bicycle level of service, bicycle-friendly streets, cycling facilities, rating system, urban streets

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Authors: Levan Sabauri

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Audit is an independent inspection of the financial statement of the audited person and expresses the opinion of an auditor on the reliability of this statement. The auditor’s activity (auditor’s service) is realized by auditing organizations, individual auditors in connection to conduction of an audit and rendering of audit accompanying services. The profession of auditor means a high level of responsibility for rendered service. Results of decisions made by information users depend on the quality of the auditor’s conclusion. Owners, investors, creditors, and society rely on the opinion of the auditor under the condition that inspection was conducted with good quality. Therefore, the existence of the well-functioning audit quality control system for the administering of the audit is an important issue. An efficient audit quality control system is a substantial challenge that many countries face worldwide, especially those states where these systems are being formed within the respective reform program. The presented article reflects on the best practices of the leading countries, the assumptions and recommendations for the financial accounting, reporting and audit; current reforms in Georgia are made based on this comparative analysis.

Keywords: audit quality control, audit program, financial statement, perspective analysis

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Authors: Funmilayo Sarah Eguakun, Peter Oluremi Adesoye

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One of the major problems being faced by human society is that the global temperature is believed to be rising due to human activity that releases carbon IV oxide (CO2) to the atmosphere. Carbon IV oxide is the most important greenhouse gas influencing global warming and possible climate change. With climate change becoming alarming, reducing CO2 in our atmosphere has become a primary goal of international efforts. Forest landsare major sink and could absorb large quantities of carbon if the trees are judiciously managed. The study aims at estimating the carbon sequestration capacity of Pinus caribaea (pine)and Tectona grandis (Teak) under the prevailing environmental conditions and exploring tree growth variables that influencesthe carbon sequestration capacity in Omo Forest Reserve, Ogun State, Nigeria. Improving forest management by manipulating growth characteristics that influences carbon sequestration could be an adaptive strategy of forestry to climate change. Random sampling was used to select Temporary Sample Plots (TSPs) in the study area from where complete enumeration of growth variables was carried out within the plots. The data collected were subjected to descriptive and correlational analyses. The results showed that average carbon stored by Pine and Teak are 994.4±188.3 Kg and 1350.7±180.6 Kg respectively. The difference in carbon stored in the species is significant enough to consider choice of species relevant in climate change adaptation strategy. Tree growth variables influence the capacity of the tree to sequester carbon. Height, diameter, volume, wood density and age are positively correlated to carbon sequestration. These tree growth variables could be manipulated by the forest manager as an adaptive strategy for climate change while plantations of high wood density speciescould be relevant for management strategy to increase carbon storage.

Keywords: adaptation, carbon sequestration, climate change, growth variables, wood density

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Authors: Boualem Chetti, Samir Zahaf

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This paper presents the steady-state performance analysis of a four-lobe journal bearing lubricated with a couple stress fluids operating in the turbulent regime, following Constantinescu’s turbulent lubrication theory. The modified Reynolds equation is solved numerically using the finite difference method taking into consideration the effects of the turbulence and the couple stress. In this analysis, the steady-state parameters in terms of the attitude angle, load carrying capacity, side leakage and friction coefficient are determined at various values of eccentricities ratio. The computed results show that the turbulence increases the load carrying capacity, the attitude angle and the friction coefficient for a journal bearing lubricated with a Newtonian or a couple stress fluids. It is found that the turbulence has strongly influence on the steady-state performances of the four-lobe journal bearing lubricated with Newtonian fluids or a couple stress fluids.

Keywords: Four-lobe journal bearings, static characteristics, couple-stress fluids, turbulent flow

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Authors: Faseluka Olamide Tope

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Giving quality education to students with special needs requires that all necessary resources should be harnessed and digital devices has become important part of resources used as instructional materials in educating students with special needs. Teachers who will make use of these technologies are considered as a part of the most important elements in any educational programme and the effective usage of these technologies largely depends on them. Out of numerous determinants of the effective use of these digital devices, this study examines teachers’ attitude and knowledge as predictors of effective use of digital technology for education of special needs student in Oyo state, Nigeria. The descriptive survey research design of the expo-facto type was adopted for the study, using simple random sampling technique. The study was carried out among sixty (60) participants. Two research questions and two research hypotheses were formulated and used. The data collected through the research instruments for the study were analysedusing frequency, percentage, mean and standard deviation, Pearson, Product, Moment Correlation (PPMC) and Multiple Regression Analysis. The study revealed a significant relationship between teachers attitude (50, < 0.05) and effective use of digital technologies for special needs students. Furthermore, there was a significant contribution F (F=4.289; R=0.876 and R2 =0.758) in the joint contribution of the independent variable  (teacher’s attitude and teacher’s knowledge) and dependent variable (effective use of digital technologies) while teachers knowledge have the highest contribution(b=7.926, t=4.376), the study therefore revealed that teachers attitude and knowledge are potent factors that predicts the effective usage of digital technologies for the education of special needs student. The study recommended that due to the ever-changing nature of technology which comes with new features, teachers should be equipped with appropriate knowledge in order to effectively make use of them and teachers should also develop right attitude toward the use of digital technologies

Keywords: teachers’ knowledge, teachers’ attitude, digital devices, special needs students

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Authors: S. I. Usenko, V. N. Golubeva, I. A. Konopkina, I. V. Astakhova, O. V. Vakhnina, A. A. Korableva, A. A. Kalinina, K. B. Zhogova

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Gold can be determined in natural objects and manufactured articles of different origin. The up-to-date status of research and problems of high gold level determination in alloys and manufactured articles are described in detail in the literature. No less important is the task of this metal determination in minerals, process products and waste pieces. The latters, as objects of gold content chemical analysis, are most hard-to-study for two reasons: Because of high requirements to accuracy of analysis results and because of difference in chemical and phase composition. As a rule, such objects are characterized by compound, variable and very often unknown matrix composition that leads to unpredictable and uncontrolled effect on accuracy and other analytical characteristics of analysis technique. In this paper, the methods for the determination of gold are described, using flame atomic-absorption spectrophotometry and gravimetric analysis technique. The techniques are aimed at gold determination in a solution for gold etching (KJ+J2), in the technological mixture formed after cleaning stainless steel members of vacuum-deposit installation with concentrated nitric and hydrochloric acids as well as in gold-containing powder resulted from liquid wastes reprocessing. Optimal conditions for sample preparation and analysis of liquid and solid waste specimens of compound and variable matrix composition were chosen. The boundaries of relative resultant error were determined for the methods within the range of gold mass concentration from 0.1 to 30g/dm3 in the specimens of liquid wastes and mass fractions from 3 to 80% in the specimens of solid wastes.

Keywords: microelectronics waste pieces, gold, sample preparation, atomic-absorption spectrophotometry, gravimetric analysis technique

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Authors: Alfonso Sepulveda, Brecht Put, Nouha Labyedh, Philippe M. Vereecken

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High energy and power density are the main requirements of today’s high demanding applications in consumer electronics. Lithium ion batteries (LIB) have the highest energy density of all known systems and are thus the best choice for rechargeable micro-batteries. Liquid electrolyte LIBs present limitations in safety, size and design, thus thin film all-solid state batteries are predominantly considered to overcome these restrictions in small devices. Although planar all-solid state thin film LIBs are at present commercially available they have low capacity (<1mAh/cm2) which limits their application scenario. By using micro-or nanostructured surfaces (i.e. 3D batteries) and appropriate conformal coating technology (i.e. electrochemical deposition, ALD) the capacity can be increased while still keeping a high rate performance. The main challenges in the introduction of solid-state LIBs are low ionic conductance and limited cycle life time due to mechanical stress and shearing interfaces. Novel materials and innovative nanostructures have to be explored in order to overcome these limitations. Thin film 3D compatible materials need to provide with the necessary requirements for functional and viable thin-film stacks. Thin film electrodes offer shorter Li-diffusion paths and high gravimetric and volumetric energy densities which allow them to be used at ultra-fast charging rates while keeping their complete capacities. Thin film electrolytes with intrinsically high ion conductivity (~10-3 S.cm) do exist, but are not electrochemically stable. On the other hand, electronically insulating electrolytes with a large electrochemical window and good chemical stability are known, but typically have intrinsically low ionic conductivities (<10-6 S cm). In addition, there is the need for conformal deposition techniques which can offer pinhole-free coverage over large surface areas with large aspect ratio features for electrode, electrolyte and buffer layers. To tackle the scaling of electrodes and the conformal deposition requirements on future 3D batteries we study LiMn2O4 (LMO) and Li4Ti5O12 (LTO). These materials are among the most interesting electrode candidates for thin film batteries offering low cost, low toxicity, high voltage and high capacity. LMO and LTO are considered 3D compatible materials since they can be prepared through conformal deposition techniques. Here, we show the scaling effects on rate performance and cycle stability of thin film cathode layers of LMO created by RF-sputtering. Planar LMO thin films below 100 nm have been electrochemically characterized. The thinnest films show the highest volumetric capacity and the best cycling stability. The increased stability of the films below 50 nm allows cycling in both the 4 and 3V potential region, resulting in a high volumetric capacity of 1.2Ah/cm3. Also, the creation of LTO anode layers through a post-lithiation process of TiO2 is demonstrated here. Planar LTO thin films below 100 nm have been electrochemically characterized. A 70 nm film retains 85% of its original capacity after 100 (dis)charging cycles at 10C. These layers can be implemented into a high aspect ratio structures. IMEC develops high aspect Si pillars arrays which is the base for the advance of 3D thin film all-solid state batteries of future technologies.

Keywords: Li-ion rechargeable batteries, thin film, nanostructures, rate performance, 3D batteries, all-solid state

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