Search results for: public health system

Authors: Mehdi Bakhtiarzadeh, Reza Efatnejad, Kambiz Rezapour Rezapour

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Due to the limited resources of fossil fuels and their harmful effects on the environment and human health, research on renewable energy applications in industrial and scientific communities has become particularly important. Only one percent of freshwater resources are available for use in the domestic, agricultural, and industrial sectors. On the other hand, the rapid growth of industry and the increase of population in most countries of the world, including Iran, have led to an increase in demand for freshwater. Among renewable energies, there is the potential of solar energy in Iran. As a result, solar distillation systems can be used as a solution to supply fresh water in remote rural areas. Therefore, in the present study, a solar water desalination device was designed and manufactured using two heat exchangers and a photovoltaic system. Its evaluation was done during September and October of 2020. During the evaluation of the device, environmental variables such as total solar radiation, ambient temperature and cooling tower temperature were recorded at intervals of one hour from 9 am to 5 pm. The effect of these variables on solar concentrator performance, heat exchanger, and daily freshwater production was evaluated. The results showed that using two heat exchangers and a photovoltaic system has led to the daily production of 5 liters of fresh water and 46% economic efficiency.

Keywords: solar water desalination, heat exchanger, photovoltaic system, technical and economic evaluation

Procedia PDF Downloads 154

Authors: Nihaya Daoud, Adi Finkelstein

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Depression is a major public health concern and it is estimated to be the second leading cause of morbidity in 2020. One of the most consistent findings in mental health in the Western societies is inequalities in depression between men and women. Studies on differences in depression between Arab men and women are scarce. In this paper, we use data of a countrywide study on the Arab minority in Israel to compare the prevalence of depressive symptoms between men and women and examine factors that contribute to this gender inequality in the context of Arab society. The study was conducted in 2005-2006. It included a sample of Palestinian citizens of Israel, aged 30–70. The final sample included 902 respondents (381 women and 521 men) who were interviewed face-to-face using a structured questionnaire in Arabic, before which they each signed an informed consent form. The study was approved by the Institutional Review Board at Hadassah – Hebrew University Medical Center. Results show that women had significantly higher depressive symptoms (DS) than men. In addition, while Arab women had steady rates of depressive symptoms between the ages of 40-54 and a peak at the age group of 55-59, among Arab men there was a peak almost every 10 years (more results will show in the full presentation). We assume that our findings might be attributed to the specific structural changes in the Arab society in Israel in the last decades.

Keywords: Arab men, Arab women, depression, gender inequality

Procedia PDF Downloads 228

Authors: Mohammed Ali

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A flexible manufacturing system has been studied under different manufacturing strategies. The aim of this paper is to test the impact of number of pallets and routing flexibility (design strategy) on system performance operating at different sequencing and dispatching rules (control strategies) at unbalanced load condition (planning strategies). A computer simulation model is developed to evaluate the effects of aforementioned strategies on the make-span time, which is taken as the system performance measure. The impact of number of pallets is shown with the different levels of routing flexibility. In this paper, the same manufacturing system is modeled under different combination of sequencing and dispatching rules. The result of the simulation shows that there is definite range of pallets for each level of routing flexibility at which the systems performs satisfactorily.

Keywords: flexible manufacturing system, manufacturing, strategy, makespan

Procedia PDF Downloads 651

Authors: D. Pinto, L. Castro, M. L. Cruzat, S. Barros, J. Gironás, C. Oberli, M. Torres, C. Escauriaza, A. Cipriano

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Flash floods, together with landslides, are a common natural threat for people living in mountainous regions and foothills. One way to deal with this constant menace is the use of Early Warning Systems, which have become a very important mitigation strategy for natural disasters. In this work, we present our proposal for a pilot Flash Flood Early Warning System for Santiago, Chile, the first stage of a more ambitious project that in a future stage shall also include early warning of landslides. To give a context for our approach, we first analyze three existing Flash Flood Early Warning Systems, focusing on their general architectures. We then present our proposed system, with main focus on the decision support system, a system that integrates empirical models and fuzzy expert systems to achieve reliable risk estimations.

Keywords: decision support systems, early warning systems, flash flood, natural hazard

Procedia PDF Downloads 361

Authors: Valentina Narvaez Gaitan, Laura Valentina Rodriguez Leguizamon, Ruben Dario Hernandez B.

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This work describes a physiological signal emulation system that uses electromyography (EMG) signals obtained from muscle sensors in the first instance. These signals are used to extract their characteristics to model and emulate specific arm movements. The main objective of this effort is to develop a new biomedical software system capable of generating physiological signals through the use of embedded systems by establishing the characteristics of the acquired signals. The acquisition system used was Biosignals, which contains two EMG electrodes used to acquire signals from the forearm muscles placed on the extensor and flexor muscles. Processing algorithms were implemented to classify the signals generated by the arm muscles when performing specific movements such as wrist flexion extension, palmar grip, and wrist pronation-supination. Matlab software was used to condition and preprocess the signals for subsequent classification. Subsequently, the mathematical modeling of each signal is performed to be generated by the embedded system, with a validation of the accuracy of the obtained signal using the percentage of cross-correlation, obtaining a precision of 96%. The equations are then discretized to be emulated in the embedded system, obtaining a system capable of generating physiological signals according to the characteristics of medical analysis.

Keywords: classification, electromyography, embedded system, emulation, physiological signals

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Authors: Elisabeth Desiana Mayasari, Laurensia Aptik Evanjeli, Brigitta Erlita Tri Anggadewi

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The condition of the COVID-19 pandemic demands adaptation in various aspects of human life, including in the field of education. Teachers are expected to do distance learning or Learning From Home (LFH). The teacher said that he experienced stress, anxiety, feeling depressed, and afraid based on the interview. Learning adaptations and pandemic situations can impact the mental health of teachers, so the purpose of this study is to determine the mental health of teachers while teaching online. This research was conducted with a quantitative approach using a survey method. The subjects in this study were 330 elementary school teachers under the auspices of a foundation in Yogyakarta. Teachers' mental health was measured using the Indonesian version of The Mental Health Inventory (MHI-38), which has a reliability of 0.888. The results showed that the teachers generally had a good mental health condition marked by a lower negative aspect score than the positive aspect. In addition, the overall mental health aspect shows that some teachers have better mental health when compared to the average score, as well as higher positive aspect scores in all sub-aspects.

Keywords: mental health, teacher, COVID-19 pandemic, MHI-38

Procedia PDF Downloads 166

Authors: Wangshi Yong, Wei Shi, Jing Zou, Qiang Li, Yilin Tian

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With the advancement of the reform of China’s housing security system, the impact is becoming increasingly profound. This paper explores the relationship between the housing security system and household entrepreneurship on the 2017 China Household Finance Survey (CHFS) and conducts a large number of robustness checks, including PSM and IV estimation. The results show that the assistance of the housing security system will significantly promote family entrepreneurship, increasing the probability of entrepreneurship by 2%. Its internal mechanism is mainly achieved by relaxing liquidity constraints and increasing household social capital. However, the risk preference effect has not existed. Heterogeneity analysis shows that the positive impact of the housing security system on family entrepreneurship is mainly reflected in areas with high housing prices and incomes, as well as households with long-term security and social or commercial insurance. Meanwhile, it also verifies that the positive externalities of the housing security system will also positively affect active entrepreneurial motivation, entrepreneurial intensity, and entrepreneurial innovation.

Keywords: the housing security system, household entrepreneurship, social capital, liquidity constraints, risk preference

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Authors: Do-Kyu Hwang, Ho-Young Kim, Ho-Hyeoung Choi, Gi-Beom Park, Jae-Hoon Lee

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Currently there are many use of threaded reinforcing bars in construction fields because those do not need additional screw processing when connecting reinforcing bar by threaded coupler. In this study, reinforced concrete bridge piers using threaded rebar coupler system at the plastic hinge area were tested to evaluate seismic performance. The test results showed that threads of the threaded rebar coupler system could be loosened while under tension-compression cyclic loading because tolerance and rib face angle of a threaded rebar coupler system are greater than that of a conventional ribbed rebar coupler system. As a result, cracks were concentrated just outside of the mechanical coupler and stiffness of reinforced concrete bridge pier decreased. Therefore, it is recommended that connection ratio of mechanical couplers in one section shall be below 50% in order that cracks are not concentrated just outside of the mechanical coupler. Also, reduced stiffness of the specimen should be considered when using the threaded rebar coupler system.

Keywords: reinforced concrete column, seismic performance, threaded rebar coupler, threaded reinforcing bar

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Authors: Mardi Falck, André Theron

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Traffic congestion on the Northern side of Table Bay is a major problem. In Gauteng, the implementation of the Gautrain between Pretoria and Johannesburg, solved their traffic congestion. In 2002 two entrepreneurs endeavoured to implement a hovercraft ferry service across the bay from Table View to the Port of Cape Town. However, the EIA process proved that disgruntled residents from the area did not agree with their location for a launch site. 17 years later the traffic problem has not gone away, but instead the congestion has increased. While property prices in the City Bowl of Cape Town are ever increasing, people tend to live more on the outskirts of the CBD and commute to work. This means more vehicles on the road every day and the public transport services cannot keep up with the demand. For this reason, the study area of the previous hovercraft plans is being extended further North. The study’s aim is thus to determine the feasibility of a launch site North of Bloubergstrand to launch and receive a public transport ferry across Table Bay. The feasibility is being established by researching ferry services across the world and on what makes them successful. Different types of ferries and their operational capacities in terms of weather and waves are researched and by establishing the offshore and nearshore wind and wave climate for the area, an appropriate protected launch site is determined. It was concluded that travel time could potentially be halved. A hovercraft proved to be the most feasible ferry type, because it does not require a conventional harbour. Other types of vessels require a protected launch site because of the wave climate. This means large breakwaters that influence the cost substantially. The Melkbos Cultural Centre proved to be the most viable option for the location of the launch site, because it already has buildings and infrastructure. It is recommended that, if a harbour is chosen for the proposed ferry service, it could be used for more services like fishing, eco-tourism and leisure. Further studies are recommended to optimise the feasibility of such a harbour.

Keywords: Cape Town, ferry, public, Table Bay

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Authors: Lameck Zetu Khonje, Mulala Danny Simatele

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The tourism industry in Malawi has grown tremendously during the past twenty-five years. This growth is attributed to the change in the political system which opened doors to international tourist and investment opportunities in the country which previously was under a strict repressive one-party political system. This research paper focuses on the developments that took place in the accommodation sector during the same period and the impact that it has partly caused on an environmental metabolic rift in the country which is now vulnerable to climate change-related catastrophes. Respondents from the government departments and the hotel sector were recruited for in-depth interviews. These interviews were conducted between July and November 2015 and follow up interviews were conducted between September and December 2017. Both results indicated there were minimal efforts pursued from the public sector to cartel capitalistic development tendencies in the accommodation sector. The results from the hotel revealed there were considerable efforts pursued driven by operating cost-cutting motive. Applying systems thinking the paper recommends that the policing machinery needs improvement to ensure that the industry also focuses on environmental wellbeing instead of profit maximization. This paper contributes to the body of knowledge on tourism development and climate change.

Keywords: accommodation sector, climate change, metabolic rift, Malawi, tourism industry

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Authors: Girma Y. Iyassu Menelik

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“The world is now like a global village!” so goes the saying that shows that due to development and technology the countries of the world are now closely linked. In the field of Human rights there is a close relationship in the way that rights are recognised and enforced. This paper will show that human rights have evolved from ancient times through important landmarks such as the Magna Carta, the French Declaration of Rights of Man and of the Citizen and the American Bill of Rights. The formation of the United Nations after the Second World War resulted in the need to codify and protect human rights. There are some rights which are so fundamental that they are found in international and continental instruments, national constitutions and domestic legislation. In the civil and political sphere they include the right to vote, to freedom of association, speech and assembly, right to life, privacy and fair trial. In the economic and social sphere you have the right to work, protection of the family, social security and rights to education, health and shelter. In some instance some rights can be suspended in times of public emergency but such derogations shall be circumscribed by the law and in most constitutions such limitations are subject to judicial review. However, some rights are so crucial that they cannot be derogated from under any circumstances and these include the right to life, recognition before the law, freedom from torture and slavery and of thought, conscience and religion. International jurisprudence has been developed to protect fundamental rights and avoid discrimination on the grounds of race, colour, sex, language or social origin. The elaborate protection system go to show that these rights have become part of the international order and they have universal application. We have now got to a stage where UDHR, ICCPR and ICESCR and have come to be regarded as part of an international bill of rights with horizontal and vertical enforcement mechanisms involving state parties, NGO’s , international bodies and other organs.

Keywords: rights, international, constitutional, state, judiciary

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Authors: Amin Banae Babazadeh

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In the contemporary world, NGOs are considered as important tool for motivating the community. So they committed their true mission and the promotion of civic participation and strengthen social identities. Functional characteristics of non-governmental organizations are the element to leverage the centers of political and social development of powerful governments since they are concrete and familiar with the problems of society and the operational strategies which would facilitate this process of mutual trust between the people and organizations. NGOs on the one hand offer reasonable solutions in line with approved organizations as agents to match between the facts and reality of society and on the other hand changes to a tool to have true political, social and economic behavior. However, the NGOs are active in the formulation of national relations and policy formulation in an organized and disciplined based on three main factors, i.e., resources, policies, and institutions. Organizations are not restricted to state administration in centralized system bodies and this process in the democratic system limits the accumulation of desires and expectations and at the end reaches to the desired place. Hence, this research will attempt to emphasis on field research (questionnaire) and according to the development evolution and role of NGOs analyze the effects of this center on youth. Therefore, the hypothesis is that there is a direct relationship between the Enlightenment and the effectiveness of policy towards NGOs and solving social damages.

Keywords: civic participation, community vulnerability, insightful, NGO, urmia

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Authors: M. Shahab Uddin, Pennung Warnitchai

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Currently more than half of the world’s populations are living in cities, and the number and sizes of cities are growing faster than ever. Cities rely on the effective functioning of complex and interdependent critical infrastructures networks to provide public services, enhance the quality of life, and save the community from hazards and disasters. In contrast, complex connectivity and interdependency among the urban critical infrastructures bring management challenges and make the urban system prone to the domino effect. Unplanned rapid growth, increased connectivity, and interdependency among the infrastructures, resource scarcity, and many other socio-political factors are affecting the typical state of an urban system and making it susceptible to numerous sorts of diversion. In addition to internal vulnerabilities, urban systems are consistently facing external threats from natural and manmade hazards. Cities are not just complex, interdependent system, but also makeup hubs of the economy, politics, culture, education, etc. For survival and sustainability, complex urban systems in the current world need to manage their vulnerabilities and hazardous incidents more wisely and more interactively. Coordinated management in such systems makes for huge potential when it comes to absorbing negative effects in case some of its components were to function improperly. On the other hand, ineffective management during a similar situation of overall disorder from hazards devastation may make the system more fragile and push the system to an ultimate collapse. Following the quantum, the current research hypothesizes that a hazardous event starts its journey as an emergency, and the system’s internal vulnerability and response capacity determine its destination. Connectivity and interdependency among the urban critical infrastructures during this stage may transform its vulnerabilities into dynamic damaging force. An emergency may turn into a disaster in the absence of effective management; similarly, mismanagement or lack of management may lead the situation towards a catastrophe. Situation awareness and factual decision-making is the key to win a battle. The current research proposed a contextual decision support system for an urban critical infrastructure system while integrating three different models: 1) Damage cascade model which demonstrates damage propagation among the infrastructures through their connectivity and interdependency, 2) Restoration model, a dynamic restoration process of individual infrastructure, which is based on facility damage state and overall disruptions in surrounding support environment, and 3) Optimization model that ensures optimized utilization and distribution of available resources in and among the facilities. All three models are tightly connected, mutually interdependent, and together can assess the situation and forecast the dynamic outputs of every input. Moreover, this integrated model will hold disaster managers and decision makers responsible when it comes to checking all the alternative decision before any implementation, and support to produce maximum possible outputs from the available limited inputs. This proposed model will not only support to reduce the extent of damage cascade but will ensure priority restoration and optimize resource utilization through adaptive and collaborative management. Complex systems predictably fail but in unpredictable ways. System understanding, situation awareness, and factual decisions may significantly help urban system to survive and sustain.

Keywords: disaster prevention, decision support system, emergency response, urban critical infrastructure system

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Authors: Nasim Hashemi, Abbas Sheikhtaheri

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Telemedicine is the use of telecommunication and information technologies to provide health care services that would often not be consistently available in distant rural communities to people at these remote areas. Teleophthalmology is a branch of telemedicine that delivers eye care through digital medical equipment and telecommunications technology. Thus, teleophthalmology can overcome geographical barriers and improve quality, access, and affordability of eye health care services. Since teleophthalmology has been widespread applied in recent years, the aim of this study was to determine the different applications of teleophthalmology in the world. To this end, three bibliographic databases (Medline, ScienceDirect, Scopus) were comprehensively searched with these keywords: eye care, eye health care, primary eye care, diagnosis, detection, and screening of different eye diseases in conjunction with telemedicine, telehealth, teleophthalmology, e-services, and information technology. All types of papers were included in the study with no time restriction. We conducted the search strategies until 2015. Finally 70 articles were surveyed. We classified the results based on the’type of eye problems covered’ and ‘the type of telemedicine services’. Based on the review, from the ‘perspective of health care levels’, there are three level for eye health care as primary, secondary and tertiary eye care. From the ‘perspective of eye care services’, the main application of teleophthalmology in primary eye care was related to the diagnosis of different eye diseases such as diabetic retinopathy, macular edema, strabismus and aged related macular degeneration. The main application of teleophthalmology in secondary and tertiary eye care was related to the screening of eye problems i.e. diabetic retinopathy, astigmatism, glaucoma screening. Teleconsultation between health care providers and ophthalmologists and also education and training sessions for patients were other types of teleophthalmology in world. Real time, store–forward and hybrid methods were the main forms of the communication from the perspective of ‘teleophthalmology mode’ which is used based on IT infrastructure between sending and receiving centers. In aspect of specialists, early detection of serious aged-related ophthalmic disease in population, screening of eye disease processes, consultation in an emergency cases and comprehensive eye examination were the most important benefits of teleophthalmology. Cost-effectiveness of teleophthalmology projects resulted from reducing transportation and accommodation cost, access to affordable eye care services and receiving specialist opinions were also the main advantages of teleophthalmology for patients. Teleophthalmology brings valuable secondary and tertiary care to remote areas. So, applying teleophthalmology for detection, treatment and screening purposes and expanding its use in new applications such as eye surgery will be a key tool to promote public health and integrating eye care to primary health care.

Keywords: applications, telehealth, telemedicine, teleophthalmology

Procedia PDF Downloads 355

Authors: Sathapath Kilaso

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Attendance checking in the classroom for student is object to record the student’s attendance in order to support the learning activities in the classroom. Despite the teaching trend in the 21st century is the student-center learning and the lecturer duty is to mentor and give an advice, the classroom learning is still important in order to let the student interact with the classmate and the lecturer or for a specific subject which the in-class learning is needed. The development of the system prototype by applied the microcontroller technology and embedded system with the “internet of thing” trend and the web socket technique will allow the lecturer to be alerted immediately whenever the data is updated.

Keywords: arduino, embedded system, classroom, raspberry PI

Procedia PDF Downloads 359

Authors: Ingy Ibrahim El-Darwish, Neveen Youssef Azmy

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The endowment of a healthy environment can be implemented by endorsing sustainable fundamentals. Design of sustainable buildings through recycling of waste, can reduce health problems, provide good environments and contribute to the aesthetically pleasing entourage. Such environments can help in providing energy-saving alternatives to consolidate the principles of sustainability. The poor community awareness and the absence of laws and legislation in Egypt for waste management specifically in residential areas have led to an inability to provide an integrated system for waste management in urban and rural areas. Many problems and environmental challenges face the Egyptian urban environments. From these problems, is the lack of a cohesive vision for waste collection and recycling for energy-saving. The second problem is the lack public awareness of the short term and long term vision of waste management. Bad practices have adversely affected the efficiency of environmental management systems due to lack of urban legislations that codify collection and recycling of residential communities in Egyptian urban environments. Hence, this research tries to address residents on waste management matters to facilitate legislative process on waste collection and classification within residential units and outside them in a preparation phase for recycling in the Egyptian urban environments. In order to achieve this goal, one of the Egyptian communities has been addressed, analyzed and studied. Waste collection, classification, separation and access to recycling places in the urban city are proposed in preparation for a legislation ruling and regulating the process. Hence, sustainable principles are to be achieved.

Keywords: recycling, residential buildings, sustainability, waste

Procedia PDF Downloads 306

Authors: Jamilah Halina Abdul Halim, Norsiah Hassan, Azlina Aziz, Norhayati Mat Wajid, Mohd Saipul Asrafi

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There are various types of vertical greenery system (VGS) in Malaysia, but none is installed at government buildings, although the government is looking into energy efficient building design. This is due to lack of technical information that focus on the maintenance and care, issues, and challenges face by vertical greenery system under tropical climate conditions. This research aim to identify issues in implementation of vertical greenery system on existing government building in Malaysia. The methodology used are literature reviews (desktop study), observation on sites, and case studies. Initial findings indicates that design and maintenance issues of vertical greenery system are the main challenges faced mainly by designer, especially those who involved in decision-making process. It can be concluded that orientation, openings, maintenance, performance, longevity, structural load, access, wind resistance, design failure, system failure, and lack of maintenance foresight are the main factors that need to be considered. These factors should be holistically aligned towards the economic cost, effective time, and quality design in implementation of vertical greenery system on existing government building. A comprehensive implementation of vertical greenery system will lead to greater sustainable investment for government buildings and responsive action to climate change.

Keywords: issues, government building, maintenance, vertical greenery system

Procedia PDF Downloads 74

Authors: Seshi Reddy Kasu, Florian Misoc

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The use of hydroelectric pump-storage system at large scale, MW-size systems, is already widespread around the world. Designed for large scale applications, pump-storage station can be scaled-down for small, remote residential applications. Given the cost and complexity associated with installing a substation further than 100 miles from the main transmission lines, a remote, independent and self-sufficient system is by far the most feasible solution. This article is aiming at the design of wind and solar power generating system, by means of pumped-storage to replace the wind and/or solar power systems with a battery bank energy storage. Wind and solar pumped-storage power generating system can reduce the cost of power generation system, according to the user's electricity load and resource condition and also can ensure system reliability of power supply. Wind and solar pumped-storage power generation system is well suited for remote residential applications with intermittent wind and/or solar energy. This type of power systems, installed in these locations, could be a very good alternative, with economic benefits and positive social effects. The advantage of pumped storage power system, where wind power regulation is calculated, shows that a significant smoothing of the produced power is obtained, resulting in a power-on-demand system’s capability, concomitant to extra economic benefits.

Keywords: battery bank, photo-voltaic, pump-storage, wind energy

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Authors: Nabila Louai, Fouad Khaldi, Houria Benharchache

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In this paper, the case of meeting a household’s electrical energy demand with hybrid systems has been examined. The objective is to study technological feasibility and economic viability of the electrification project by a hybrid system (PV/ wind) of a residential home located in Batna-Algeria and to reduce the emissions from traditional power by using renewable energy. An autonomous hybrid wind/photovoltaic (PV)/battery power system and a PV/Wind grid connected system, has been carried out using Hybrid Optimization Model for Electric Renewable (HOMER) simulation software. As a result, it has been found that electricity from the grid can be supplied at a lower price than electricity from renewable energy at this moment.

Keywords: batna, household, hybrid system, renewable energy, techno-economy

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Authors: Marwa Ahmed Abd El Hamied

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In this paper In this paper, a new technique based on Artificial Immunity System (AIS) technique has been developed to track Maximum Power Point (MPP). AIS system is implemented in a photovoltaic system that is subjected to variable temperature and insulation condition. The proposed novel is simulated using Mat Lab program. The results of simulation have been compared to those who are generated from Observation Controller. The proposed model shows promising results as it provide better accuracy comparing to classical model.

Keywords: component, artificial immunity technique, solar energy, perturbation and observation, power based methods

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Authors: Marie Bieber, Fabrice Cosson, Olivier Schmitt

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Europe's Global Navigation Satellite System, Galileo, provides worldwide positioning and navigation services. The satellites in space are only one part of the Galileo system. An extensive ground infrastructure is essential to oversee the satellites and ensure accurate navigation signals. High reliability and availability of the entire Galileo system are crucial to continuously provide positioning information of high quality to users. Outages are tracked, and operational availability is regularly assessed. A highly flexible and adaptive tool has been developed to automate the Galileo system availability analysis. Not only does it enable a quick availability consolidation, but it also provides first steps towards improving the data quality of maintenance tickets used for the analysis. This includes data import and data preparation, with a focus on processing strings used for classification and identifying faulty data. Furthermore, the tool allows to handle a low amount of data, which is a major constraint when the aim is to provide accurate statistics.

Keywords: availability, data quality, system performance, Galileo, aerospace

Procedia PDF Downloads 146

Authors: Young-Min Ko, Seung-Jun Yu, Seongjoo Lee, Hyoung-Kyu Song

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The Internet of things (IoT) system has attracted attention. IoT is a technology to connect all the objects to the internet as well as computer. IoT makes it possible for providing more data interoperability methods for an application purpose. Among the IoT technology, the research of devices so that they can communicate without power supply has been actively conducted. Batteryless system permits us to communicate without power supply devices. In this paper, batteryless backscatter system is used as a tag. And mobile devices which are embedded wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) chipset are used as a reader. The backscatter tag can be obtained Internet connectivity from the reader. Conventional Wi-Fi backscatter system has limitation in the transmission range. In this paper, the proposed algorithm can be obtained improved reliability as well as overcoming the limitation about transmission range.

Keywords: Ambient RF, Backscatter, Batteryless communication, Energy-harvesting, IoT, RFID, Tag, Wi-Fi

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Authors: Rati Sandeep Choudhari

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Mobility flows are considered one of the most important elements of urbanisation, with transport infrastructure serving as a backbone of urban fabrics. Although rapid urbanisation and changing land use patterns have led to an increase in urban mobility levels around the globe, mobility, in general, has become an unpleasant experience for city dwellers, making locations around the city inconvenient to access. With public transport featured in almost every sustainable mobility plan in developing countries, the intermodality and integration with appropriate non–motorised transport infrastructure is often neglected. As a result, people choose to use private cars and two-wheelers to travel, rendering public transit systems underutilised, and encroaching onto pedestrian space on streets, thus making urban mobility unsafe and inconvenient for a major section of society. On the other hand, cities in the West, especially in Europe, depend heavily on inter–modal transit systems, allowing people to shift between metros, buses, trams, walking, and cycling to access even the remote locations of the city. Keeping accessibility as the focal point while designing urban mobility plans and policies, these cities have appropriately refined their urban form, optimised urban densities, developed a multimodal transit system, and adopted place-making strategies to foster a sense of place, thus, improving the quality of urban mobility experience in cities. Using a qualitative research approach, the research looks in detail into the existing literature on what kind of strategies can be applied to improve the urban mobility experience for city dwellers. It further studies and draws out a comparative analysis of cities in both developed and developing parts of the world where these strategies have been used to create people-centric mobility systems, fostering a sense of place with respect to urban mobility and how these strategies affected their social, economic, and environmental dynamics. The examples reflect on how different strategies like redefining land use patterns to form close knit neighbourhoods, development of non – motorise transit systems, and their integration with public transport infrastructure and place-making approach has helped in enhancing the quality and experience of mobility infrastructure in cities. The research finally concludes by laying out strategies that can be adopted by cities of the Global South to develop future mobility systems in a people-centric and sustainable way.

Keywords: urban mobility, sustainable transport, strategic planning, people-centric approach

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Authors: Leslie Beale

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Being a patient with a chronic disease is both a physical and emotional experience. The ability to recognize a patient’s emotional health is an important part of a health care provider’s skills. For the purposes of this paper, emotional health is viewed as the way that we feel, and the way that our feelings affect us. Understanding the patient’s emotional health leads to improved provider-patient relationships and health outcomes. For example, when a patient first hears his or her diagnosis from a provider, they might find it difficult to cope with their emotions. Struggling to cope with emotions interferes with the patient’s ability to read, understand, and act on health information and services. As a result, the patient becomes more frustrated and confused, creating barriers to accessing healthcare services. These barriers are challenging for both the patient and their healthcare providers. There are five basic emotions that are part of who we are and are always with us: fear, anger, sadness, joy, and compassion. Living with a chronic disease however can cause a patient to experience and express these emotions in new and unique ways. Within the provider-patient relationship, there needs to be an understanding that each patient experiences these five emotions and, experiences them at different times. In response to this need, the paper highlights a health promotion framework for patients with chronic disease. This framework emphasizes the emotional health of patients.

Keywords: health promotion, emotional health, patients with chronic disease, patient-centered care

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Authors: Bojana Tot, Goran BošKović, Goran Vujić

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Route optimisation is a process of planning one or multiple routes, with the purpose of minimizing overall costs, while achieving the highest possible performance under a set of given constraints. It combines routing or route planning, which is the process of creating the most cost-effective route by minimizing the distance or travelled time necessary to reach a set of planned stops, and route scheduling, which is the process of assigning an arrival and service time for each stop, with drivers being given shifts that adhere to their working hours. The objective of this paper is to provide benefits on the implementation of waste collection route optimisation and thus achieve economic efficiency for public utility companies, better service for citizens and positive environment and health.

Keywords: waste management, environment, collection route optimisation, GIS

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Authors: Jan Busch, Peter Nyhuis

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Considering the challenges of short product life cycles and growing variant diversity, cost minimization and manufacturing flexibility increasingly gain importance to maintain a competitive edge in today’s global and dynamic markets. In this context, an aerodynamic part feeding system for high-speed industrial assembly applications has been developed at the Institute of Production Systems and Logistics (IFA), Leibniz Universitaet Hannover. The aerodynamic part feeding system outperforms conventional systems with respect to its process safety, reliability, and operating speed. In this paper, a multi-objective optimisation of the aerodynamic feeding system regarding the orientation rate, the feeding velocity and the required nozzle pressure is presented.

Keywords: aerodynamic feeding system, genetic algorithm, multi-objective optimization, workpiece orientation

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Authors: Leena Korpinen, Rauno Pääkkönen, Fabriziomaria Gobba, Vesa Virtanen

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The number of persons with implanted cardiac pacemakers (PM) has increased in Western countries. The aim of this paper is to investigate the possible situations where persons with a PM may be exposed to extremely low frequency (ELF) electric (EF) and magnetic fields (MF) that may disturb their PM. Based on our earlier studies, it is possible to find such high public exposure to EFs only in some places near 400 kV power lines, where an EF may disturb a PM in unipolar mode. Such EFs cannot be found near 110 kV power lines. Disturbing MFs can be found near welding machines. However, we do not have measurement data from welding. Based on literature and earlier studies at Tampere University of Technology, it is difficult to find public EF or MF exposure that is high enough to interfere with PMs.

Keywords: cardiac pacemaker, electric field, magnetic field, electrical engineering

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Authors: Panos Xenos, Milton Nektarios, John Yfantopoulos

Abstract:

Background: Policy makers, professional organizations and payers have introduced a variety of initiatives and reforms for the health systems worldwide, aimed at improving hospital efficiency. Their efforts are concentrated in two main categories: to constrain increasing healthcare costs and to enhance quality of services provided. Research Objectives: This study examines the efficiency of 112 Greek public hospitals for the year 2009, evaluates the importance of bootstrapping techniques and investigates the effect of contextual factors on hospital efficiency. Furthermore, the effect of qualitative evidence, on hospital efficiency is explored using data from 28 large hospitals. Methods: We applied Data Envelopment Analysis, augmented by bootstrapping techniques, to estimate efficiency scores. In order to measure the effect of environmental factors on hospital efficiency we used Tobit regression analysis. The significance of our models is evaluated using statistical tests to compare distributions. Results: The Kolmogorov-Smirnov test between the original and the bootstrap-corrected efficiency indicates that their distributions are significantly different (p-value<0.01). The environmental factors, that seem to influence efficiency, are Occupancy Rating and the ratio between Outpatient Visits and Inpatient Days. Results indicate that the inclusion of the quality variable in DEA modelling generates statistically significant variations in efficiency scores (p-value<0.05). Conclusions: The inclusion of quality variables and the use of bootstrap resampling in efficiency analysis impose a statistically significant effect on the distribution of efficiency scores. As a policy conclusion we highlight the importance of these methods on hospital efficiency analysis and, by implication, on healthcare resource allocation.

Keywords: hospitals, efficiency, quality, data envelopment analysis, Greek public hospital sector

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Authors: Krambia-Kapardis Maria, Neophytidou Christina

Abstract:

Lobbying is an inherent aspect within the democratic regimes across the globe. Although it can provide decision-makers with valuable knowledge and grant access to stakeholders in the decision-making process, it can also lead to undue influence and unfair competition at the expense of the public interest if it not transparent. Given the multi-level governance structure of the EU, it is no surprise that the EU policy-making arena has become a place-to-be for lobbyists. However, in order to ensure that influence is legitimate and not biased of any business interests, lobbying must be effectively regulated. A comparison with the US and Canadian lobbying regulatory framework and utilising some good practices from EU countries it is apparent that lobbying is the Achilles’ heel to transparency in the EU. It is evident that EU institutions suffer from ineffective regulations and could in fact benefit from a more robust, mandatory and better implemented system of lobbying regulation.

Keywords: EU, lobbying regulation, transparency, democratic regimes

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Authors: Nur Ashida Salim, Muhammad Murtadha Othman, Ismail Musirin, Mohd Salleh Serwan

Abstract:

Over the past few decades, the power system industry in many developing and developed countries has gone through a restructuring process of the industry where they are moving towards a deregulated power industry. This situation will lead to competition among the generation and distribution companies to achieve a certain objective which is to provide quality and efficient production of electric energy, which will reduce the price of electricity. Therefore it is important to obtain an accurate value of the Available Transfer Capability (ATC) and Transmission Reliability Margin (TRM) in order to ensure the effective power transfer between areas during the occurrence of uncertainties in the system. In this paper, the TRM and ATC is determined by taking into consideration the uncertainties of the system operating condition and system cascading collapse by applying the bootstrap technique. A case study of the IEEE RTS-79 is employed to verify the robustness of the technique proposed in the determination of TRM and ATC.

Keywords: available transfer capability, bootstrap technique, cascading collapse, transmission reliability margin

Procedia PDF Downloads 389