Search results for: parallel operation

Authors: Mohammad Ali Ghareh, Habib Honari, Alireza Ahmadi

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The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between strategic management and organizational culture in sport federations of Islamic Republic of Iran. Strategic management is a set of decisions and actions which define the long term performance of an organization. Organizational culture can be considered as an identity for every organization and somehow gives an identification to organization members. Organizational culture result in a certain commitments in organization members which is more valuable than individual profits and interests. The method of research was descriptive and correlational, conducted as a field study. The statistical population consisted of the employees of 10 sports federations and 170 persons were selected as sample. For data gathering, Barringer and Bluedorn’s strategic management questionnaire (1999) and Sakyn’s organizational culture questionnaire (2001) were used. The reliability of the questionnaires were 0.82 and 0.80 respectively, and the validity was approved by 8 experienced professors in sport management. To analyze data, KS (Kolmogorov–Smirnov) test and Pearson's coefficient were used. The results have shown that there is a significant meaningful relationship between strategic management and organizational culture (p < 0.05, r= 0.62). Beside this, there is a positive relationship between strategic management variables including scanning intensity, planning flexibility, locus of planning, planning horizon, strategic controls, and organizational culture (p < 0.05). Based on this research result it can be derived that strategic management planning and operation in terms of appropriate organizational culture is more applicable. By agreeing on their values and beliefs, adaptation to changes, caring about the individualities, coordination in tasks, modifying the individual and organizational goals, the federations will be able to achieve their strategic goals.

Keywords: strategic management, organizational culture, sports federations, Islamic Republic of Iran

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Authors: Navid Eghtedarpour, Mohammad Reza Hasani

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Since renewable wind power plants are usually installed in mountain regions and high-level lands, they are often prone to lightning strikes and their hazardous effects. Although the transmission line is protected using guard wires in order to prevent the lightning surges to strike the phase conductors, the back-flashover may also occur due to tower footing resistance. A combination of back-flashover corrective methods, tower-footing resistance reduction, insulation level improvement, and line arrester installation, are analyzed in this paper for back-flashover rate reduction of a double-circuit 63 kV line in the south region of Fars province. The line crosses a mountain region in some sections with a moderate keraunic level, whereas tower-footing resistance is substantially high at some towers. Consequently, an exceptionally high back-flashover rate is recorded. A new method for insulation improvement is studied and employed in the current study. The method consists of using a composite-type creepage extender in the string. The effectiveness of this method for insulation improvement of the string is evaluated through the experimental test. Simulation results besides monitoring the one-year operation of the 63-kV line show that due to technical, practical, and economic restrictions in operated sub-transmission lines, a combination of corrective methods can lead to an effective solution for the protection of transmission lines against lightning.

Keywords: lightning protection, BF rate, grounding system, insulation level, line surge arrester

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Authors: Maulana Ayoub Ali, Pradeep Kulshrestha

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Laws of any given secular state have a huge contribution in the growth of the Islamic banking system because the system uses conventional laws to govern its activities. Therefore, the former should be ready to accommodate the latter in order to make the Islamic banking system work properly without affecting the current conventional banking system and therefore without affecting its system. Islamic financial rules have been practiced since the birth of Islam. Following the recent world economic challenges in the financial sector, a quick rebirth of the contemporary Islamic ethical banking system took place. The coming of the Islamic banking system is due to various reasons including but not limited to the failure of the interest based economy in solving financial problems around the globe. Therefore, the Islamic banking system has been adopted as an alternative banking system in order to recover the highly damaged global financial sector. But the Islamic banking system has been facing a number of challenges which hinder its smooth operation in different parts of the world. It has not been the aim of this paper to discuss other challenges rather than the legal ones, but the same was partly discussed when it was justified that it was proper to do so. Generally, there are so many things which have been discovered in the course of writing this paper. The most important part is the issue of the regulatory and supervisory framework for the Islamic banking system in Tanzania and in other nations is considered to be a crucial part for the development of the Islamic banking industry. This paper analyses what has been observed in the study on that area and recommends for necessary actions to be taken on board in a bid to make Islamic banking system reach its climax of serving the larger community by providing ethical, equitable, affordable, interest-free and society cantered banking system around the globe.

Keywords: Islamic banking, interest free banking, ethical banking, legal framework

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Authors: Eleni Stefania Kalapoda

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Recurring heat waves due to the global climate change emergency pose continuous risks to human health and urban resources. Local and state decision-makers incorporate Heat Vulnerability Indices (HVIs) to quantify and map the relative impact on human health in emergencies. These maps enable government officials to identify the highest-risk districts and to concentrate emergency planning efforts and available resources accordingly (e.g., to reevaluate the location and the number of heat-relief centers). Even though the framework of conducting an HVI is unique per municipality, its accuracy in assessing the heat risk is limited. To resolve this issue, varied housing-related metrics should be included. This paper quantifies and classifies NYC’s single detached housing typology within high-vulnerable NYC districts using detailed energy simulations and post-processing calculations. The results show that the variation in indoor heat risk depends significantly on the dwelling’s design/operation characteristics, concluding that low-ventilated dwellings are the most vulnerable ones. Also, it confirmed that when building-level determinants of exposure are excluded from the assessment, HVI fails to capture important components of heat vulnerability. Lastly, the overall vulnerability ratio of the housing units was calculated between 0.11 to 1.6 indoor heat degrees in terms of ventilation and shading capacity, insulation degree, and other building attributes.

Keywords: heat vulnerability index, energy efficiency, urban heat, resiliency to heat, climate adaptation, climate mitigation, building energy

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Authors: Miky Lee, K. Kim, D. Lim, D. Cho

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This paper presents the planning, rationale for test specification derivation, sampling requirements, test facilities, and result analysis used to conduct lifetime expectancy endurance tests on power window switches (PWS) considering thermally induced mechanical stress under diurnal cyclic temperatures during normal operation (power cycling). The detail process of analysis and test results on the selected PWS set were discussed in this paper. A statistical approach to ‘life time expectancy’ was given to the measurement standards dealing with PWS lifetime determination through endurance tests. The approach choice, within the framework of the task, was explained. The present task was dedicated to voltage drop measurement to derive lifetime expectancy while others mostly consider contact or surface resistance. The measurements to perform and the main instruments to measure were fully described accordingly. The failure data from tests were analyzed to conclude lifetime expectancy through statistical method using Weibull cumulative distribution function. The first goal of this task is to develop realistic worst case lifetime endurance test specification because existing large number of switch test standards cannot induce degradation mechanism which makes the switches less reliable. 2nd goal is to assess quantitative reliability status of PWS currently manufactured based on test specification newly developed thru this project. The last and most important goal is to satisfy customer’ requirement regarding product reliability.

Keywords: power window switch, endurance test, Weibull function, reliability, degradation mechanism

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Authors: Hossein Tavallali, Mohammad Ali Karimi, Gohar Deilamy-Rad

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The proposed method for speciation, preconcentration and determination of Fe(II) and Fe(III) in pharmaceutical products was developed using of alumina-coated magnetite nanoparticles (Fe₃O₄/Al₂O₃ NPs) as solid phase extraction (SPE) sorbent in magnetic mixed hemimicell solid phase extraction (MMHSPE) technique followed by flame atomic absorption spectrometry analysis. The procedure is based on complexation of Fe(II) with 1, 10-phenanthroline (OP) as complexing reagent for Fe(II) that immobilized on the modified Fe₃O₄/Al₂O₃ NPs. The extraction and concentration process for pharmaceutical sample was carried out in a single step by mixing the extraction solvent, magnetic adsorbents under ultrasonic action. Then, the adsorbents were isolated from the complicated matrix easily with an external magnetic field. Fe(III) ions determined after facility reduced to Fe(II) by added a proper reduction agent to sample solutions. Compared with traditional methods, the MMHSPE method simplified the operation procedure and reduced the analysis time. Various influencing parameters on the speciation and preconcentration of trace iron, such as pH, sample volume, amount of sorbent, type and concentration of eluent, were studied. Under the optimized operating conditions, the preconcentration factor of the modified nano magnetite for Fe(II) 167 sample was obtained. The detection limits and linear range of this method for iron were 1.0 and 9.0 - 175 ng.mL⁻¹, respectively. Also the relative standard deviation for five replicate determinations of 30.00 ng.mL^-1 Fe²⁺ was 2.3%.

Keywords: Alumina-Coated magnetite nanoparticles, Magnetic Mixed Hemimicell Solid-Phase Extraction, Fe(ΙΙ) and Fe(ΙΙΙ), pharmaceutical sample

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Authors: Carlos Alberto Ríos Reyes

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Traditionally, clays have been considered as one of the main problems in the flow of fluids in hydrocarbon reservoirs. However, there is not known the significance of zeolites formed from the reactivity of clays and their effect not only on the costs of operations carried out by the oil industry in the world but also on production. The present work focused on understanding the interaction between clay minerals with brines and alkaline solutions used in the oil industry. For this, a comparative study was conducted where the reaction of sedimentary rocks under laboratory conditions was examined. Original and treated rocks were examined by X-ray powder diffraction (XRPD) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) to determine the changes that these rocks underwent upon contact with fluids of variable chemical composition. As a result, zeolite Linde Type A (LTA), sodalite (SOD), and cancrinite (CAN) can be formed after experimental work, which coincided with the dissolution of kaolinite and smectite. Results reveal that the Oil Industry should invest efforts and focus its gaze to understand at the pore scale the problem that could arise as a consequence of the clay-fluid interaction in hydrocarbon reservoir rocks due to the presence of clays in their porous system, as well as the formation of zeolites, which are better hydrocarbon absorbents. These issues could be generating losses in world production. We conclude that there is a critical situation that may be occurring in the stimulation of hydrocarbon reservoirs, where real solutions are necessary not only for the formulation of more efficient and effective injection fluids but also to contribute to the improvement of production and avoid considerable losses in operating costs.

Keywords: clay minerals, zeolites, rock-fluid interaction, experimental work, reactivity

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Authors: P. Bublíkova, P. Halodova, H. K. Namburi, J. Stodolna, J. Duchon, O. Libera

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Neutron radiation-induced microstructural changes cause degradation of mechanical properties and the lifetime reduction of reactor internals during nuclear power plant operation. Investigating the effects of neutron irradiation on mechanical properties of the irradiated material (hardening, embrittlement) is challenging and time-consuming. Although the fast neutron spectrum has the major influence on microstructural properties, the thermal neutron effect is widely investigated owing to Irradiation-Assisted Stress Corrosion Cracking firstly observed in BWR stainless steels. In this study, 300-series austenitic stainless steels used as material for NPP's internals were examined after neutron irradiation at ~ 15 dpa. Although several nanoindentation experimental publications are available to determine the mechanical properties of ion irradiated materials, less is available on neutron irradiated materials at high dpa tested in hot-cells. In this work, we present particular methodology developed to determine the mechanical properties of neutron irradiated steels by nanoindentation technique. Furthermore, radiation-induced damage in the specimens was investigated by High Resolution - Transmission Electron Microscopy (HR-TEM) that showed the defect features, particularly Frank loops, cavity microstructure, radiation-induced precipitates and radiation-induced segregation. The results of nanoindentation measurements and associated nanoscale defect features showed the effect of irradiation-induced hardening. We also propose methodologies to optimized sample preparation for nanoindentation and microscotructural studies.

Keywords: nanoindentation, thermal neutrons, radiation hardening, transmission electron microscopy

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Authors: Mary Rose Everan, Michael McCann, Gary Cullen

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International travel journeys, by their nature, incorporate elements provided by multiple service providers such as airlines, rail carriers, airports, and ground handlers. Data needs to be stored by and exchanged between these parties in the process of managing the journey. The fragmented nature of this shared management of mutual clients is a limiting factor in the development of a seamless, hassle-free, end-to-end travel experience. Traditional interlining agreements attempt to facilitate many separate aspects of co-operation between service providers, typically between airlines and, to some extent, intermodal travel operators, including schedules, fares, ticketing, through check-in, and baggage handling. These arrangements rely on pre-agreement. The development of Virtual Interlining - that is, interlining facilitated by a third party (often but not always an airport) without formal pre-agreement by the airlines or rail carriers - demonstrates an underlying demand for a better quality end-to-end travel experience. Blockchain solutions are being explored in a number of industries and offer, at first sight, an immutable, single source of truth for this data, avoiding data conflicts and misinterpretation. Combined with Smart Contracts, they seemingly offer a more robust and dynamic platform for multi-stakeholder ventures, and even perhaps the ability to join and leave consortia dynamically. Applying blockchain to the intermodal interlining space – termed Blocklining in this paper - is complex and multi-faceted because of the many aspects of cooperation outlined above. To explore its potential, this paper concentrates on one particular dimension, that of through baggage interlining.

Keywords: aviation, baggage, blocklining, intermodal, interlining

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Authors: G. Costa, F. Noto, L. Celona, F. Chines, G. Ciavola, G. Cuttone, S. Gammino, O. Leonardi, S. Marletta, G. Torrisi

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The ion sources for accelerators devoted to medical applications must provide intense ion beams, with high reproducibility, stability and brightness. AISHa (Advanced Ion Source for Hadron-therapy) is a compact ECRIS whose hybrid magnetic system consists of a permanent Halbach-type hexapole magnet and a set of independently energized superconducting coils. These coils will be enclosed in a compact cryostat with two cryocoolers for LHe-free operation. The AISHa ion source has been designed by taking into account the typical requirements of hospital-based facilities, where the minimization of the mean time between failures (MTBF) is a key point together with the maintenance operations which should be fast and easy. It is intended to be a multipurpose device, operating at 18 GHz, in order to achieve higher plasma densities. It should provide enough versatility for future needs of the hadron therapy, including the ability to run at larger microwave power to produce different species and highly charged ion beams. The source is potentially interesting for any hadrontherapy center using heavy ions. In the paper, we designed an innovative solution for the plasma containment chamber that allows us to solve our isolation and structural problems. We analyzed the materials chosen for our aim (glass fibers and carbon fibers) and we illustrated the all process (spinning, curing and machining) of the assembly of our chamber. The glass fibers and carbon fibers are used to reinforce polymer matrices and give rise to structural composites and composites by molding.

Keywords: hadron-therapy, carbon fiber, glass fiber, vacuum-bag, ECR, ion source

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Authors: Usmaan Siddiqui

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In England and Wales, there is no duty to rescue strangers. We will be investigating whether this is correct, and whether we should introduce a Good Samaritan law. In order to explore this, firstly, we will be exploring the nature of our moral duties. How far do our moral duties extend? Do they extend only to our family and friends, or do they also extend to strangers? Secondly, even if there does exist a moral duty, should this duty be enforced by criminal law? To what extent should the criminal law reflect morality? Under English criminal law, the consensus is, that it is not the job of the English criminal law to perfect human behaviour, and whilst the law should prevent us from causing harm, it should not force us to be good. This approach is radically different from many other European countries that actually do have a Good Samaritan law. If there are compelling in principle reasons to introduce a Good Samaritan law how would we deal with the pragmatic institutional constraints? Such a law has been stated as being unworkable in practice and difficult in defining its limits. In order to verify this, we shall carry out a comparative analysis between England and selected states in the US to gauge how successful the Good Samaritan law has been in dealing with these institutional constraints. In terms of methodology, as well as a comparative analysis, we shall also be carrying out a doctrinal analysis exploring what the English criminal law’s position is regarding Omissions. In conclusion, the findings so far are, whilst it is not the job of the law to perfect human behaviour, both respect for the law and the level of social co-operation will be greatly improved if the law encourages morally desirable conduct. Whilst it is possible for society to exist without a duty to assist the distressed, a society which ignores the vulnerable is cold, callous, and uncaring. After all, we all need to face up to the possibility that we may be one day be vulnerable and in need of urgent aid, and it is about time English criminal law, catches up with the majority of Europe and protects the vulnerable.

Keywords: criminal, law, omissions, philosophy

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Authors: Lin Dong, Fei Shi

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Based on the railway network and the principles of space syntax, the study attempts to reconstruct the spatial relationship of the passenger network connections from space and time perspective. According to the travel time data of main stations in the Yangtze River Delta urban agglomeration obtained by the Internet, the topological drawing of railway network under different time sections is constructed. With the comprehensive index composed of connection and integration, the accessibility and network operation efficiency of the railway network in different time periods is calculated, while the fairness of the network is analyzed by the fairness indicators constructed with the integration and location entropy from the perspective of horizontal and vertical fairness respectively. From the analysis of the efficiency and fairness of the railway passenger transport network, the study finds: (1) There is a strong regularity in regional system accessibility change; (2) The problems of efficiency and fairness are different in different time periods; (3) The improvement of efficiency will lead to the decline of horizontal fairness to a certain extent, while from the perspective of vertical fairness, the supply-demand situation has changed smoothly with time; (4) The network connection efficiency of Shanghai, Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions is higher than that of the western regions such as Anqing and Chizhou; (5) The marginalization of Nantong, Yancheng, Yangzhou, Taizhou is obvious. The study explores the application of spatial syntactic theory in regional traffic analysis, in order to provide a reference for the development of urban agglomeration transportation network.

Keywords: spatial syntax, the Yangtze River Delta, railway passenger time, efficiency and fairness

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Authors: Seyfollah Fazlollahi, Ahmad Bayan Memar

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Background: A review of manpower planning includes a training analysis based on job descriptions and job specifications which looks carefully at training from the points of view of the company, its various departments and personnel. This may show weaknesses in some departments and as a result, training is needed for the staff. Purpose: The aim of this research is to investigate the effects of training on employee’s efficiency in different aspects of work. Methodology: This is a descriptive-survey study. Statistical population was 85 official employees of University of Qom, Iran. 70 of these individuals were selected on a statistical random sampling method using Morgan&Gorki table. The instrument used in this study was a questionnaire including 22 questions. Result: Findings in this study according to data analysis indicate that majority of respondents had positive attitude towards training programs, in the job or off the job. They believed that training programs promoted and enhanced their behavior positively which leads to high efficiency in their job. In fact, data support the main hypothesis that training has positive effects on job performance and efficiency. Conclusion: It is concluded from this study and other related researches that training (on the job and off the job) has positive and effective role in human development and labor as employee’s efficiency. Employees get acquainted with different tasks of a job. Group co-operation, creativity and innovation will be enforced. Training leads to job skills, increasing knowledge and information about a job. It also increases technical and conceptual human skills, which are important in an organization. We can also mention workers' increasing positive motivation toward their job, enforcement of coordinating moral, their good human relations and good contact with clients.

Keywords: training, work efficiency, employee, human relation, job satisfaction

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Authors: Erwan Negre, Ewan J. O'Connor, Juha Toivonen

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The need for CO2 monitoring technologies grows simultaneously with the worldwide concerns regarding environmental challenges. To that purpose, we developed a compact coherent all-fiber ranged-resolved Differential Absorption Lidar (RR-DIAL). It has been designed along a tunable 2x1fiber optic switch set to a frequency of 1 Hz between two Distributed FeedBack (DFB) lasers emitting in the continuous-wave mode at 1571.41 nm (absorption line of CO2) and 1571.25 nm (CO2 absorption-free line), with linewidth and tuning range of respectively 1 MHz and 3 nm over operating wavelength. A three stages amplification through Erbium and Erbium-Ytterbium doped fibers coupled to a Radio Frequency (RF) driven Acousto-Optic Modulator (AOM) generates 100 ns pulses at a repetition rate from 10 to 30 kHz with a peak power up to 2.5 kW and a spatial resolution of 15 m, allowing fast and highly resolved CO2 profiles. The same afocal collection system is used for the output of the laser source and the backscattered light which is then directed to a circulator before being mixed with the local oscillator for heterodyne detection. Packaged in an easily transportable box which also includes a server and a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) card for on-line data processing and storing, our setup allows an effective and quick deployment for versatile in-situ analysis, whether it be vertical atmospheric monitoring, large field mapping or sequestration site continuous oversight. Setup operation and results from initial field measurements will be discussed.

Keywords: CO2 profiles, coherent DIAL, in-situ atmospheric sensing, near infrared fiber source

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Authors: Veronica Kembabazi, Arnold Tigaiza, Juliet Aweko, Charles Opio, Michael Ediau, Elizabeth Ekirapa, Andrew Tusubira, Peter Waiswa

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Background: Digital payments have been branded as key in solving health payment challenges, evidence on their adoptability is still limited especially among Community Health Workers (CHWs), yet vital for ensuring sustainability. We therefore assessed the adoptability of digital payments for CHWs in Wakiso district, Uganda. Methods: In December 2022, we conducted a convergent parallel mixed-methods study among 150 randomly selected CHWs in Wakiso district. Supplementary qualitative data were collected from the Digital payment coordinators as Key Informants (KIs). We adopted the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) framework to assess the adoptability of digital payments among CHWS. Factor analysis was performed to extract composite variables from the original constituting variables. Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin statistics were assessed for each construct to determine appropriateness for data reduction. Using logistic regression for multivariate analysis, we assessed the association between adoptability constructs and the CHW intention to use digital payments. Quantitative data was analyzed using STATA, while qualitative data was transcribed verbatim and analyzed using ATLAS.ti software. Results: Overall, 150 respondents were interviewed and nearly all participants (98.0%) had previously received payments through mobile money, a digital-payment method. The majority (52%) of CHWs said they intend to use digital payment modalities. Perceived risk had an 83% negative influence on the adoptability of digital payment modalities (OR= 0.167, p < 0.01), perceived trust had an almost three times positive influence on the adoptability of digital payment modalities (OR= 2.823, p < 0.01). Qualitative interviews showed that most CHWs reported good experiences in their use of digital health payment modalities except for delays associated with mobile money payments. Mobile money was reported to be easy to use, in addition to fostering financial responsibility compared to cash. Conclusion: CHWs in Wakiso district intend to use digital payment modalities, particularly mobile money/e-cash, and the perceived risk of the payment method and trust are key determinants of its adoptability. Synergized efforts by both payment providers and service operators to manage payment delays and identified risks among mobile money operators could attenuate perceived risk and build trust in digital payment modalities.

Keywords: digital health payments, community health workers, adoptability, technology acceptance model

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Authors: Kréhi Serge Agbli, Samuel Portebos, Michaël Salomon

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Here a methodology is considered aiming at evaluating the economic benefit of the provision of a primary frequency control unit using a Battery Energy Storage System (BESS). In this methodology, two control types (basic and hysteresis) are implemented and the corresponding minimum energy storage system power allowing to maintain the frequency drop inside a given threshold under a given contingency is identified and compared using DigSilent’s PowerFactory software. Following this step, the corresponding energy storage capacity (in MWh) is calculated. As PowerFactory is dedicated to dynamic simulation for transient analysis, a first order model related to the IEEE 9 bus grid used for the analysis under PowerFactory is characterized and implemented on MATLAB-Simulink. Primary frequency control is simulated using the two control types over one-month grid's frequency deviation data on this Simulink model. This simulation results in the energy throughput both basic and hysteresis BESSs. It emerges that the 15 minutes operation band of the battery capacity allocated to frequency control is sufficient under the considered disturbances. A sensitivity analysis on the width of the control deadband is then performed for the two control types. The deadband width variation leads to an identical sizing with the hysteresis control showing a better frequency control at the cost of a higher delivered throughput compared to the basic control. An economic analysis comparing the cost of the sized BESS to the potential revenues is then performed.

Keywords: battery energy storage system, electrical network frequency stability, frequency control unit, PowerFactor

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Authors: Yaya Gao, Bing Zhong, Yafeng Liu, Fei Chen

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Aim: The purpose of this study was to explore the difference between acellular dermal matrix (ADM) combined with anterolateral thigh (ALT) flap and ALT flap alone. Methods: HSCC patients were treated and divided into group A (ALT) and group B (ALT+ADM) between January 2014 and December 2018. We compared and analyzed the intraoperative information and postoperative outcomes of the patients. Results: There were 21 and 17 patients in group A and group B, respectively. The operation time, blood loss, defect size and anastomotic vessel selection showed no significant difference between two groups. The postoperative complications, including wound bleeding (n=0 vs. 1, p=0.459), wound dehiscence (n=0 vs. 1, p=0.459), wound infection (n=5vs.3, p=0.709), pharyngeal fistula (n=5vs.4, p=1.000) and hypoproteinemia (n=11 vs. 12, p=0.326) were comparable between the groups. Dysphagia at 6 months (number of liquid diets=0vs. 0; number of partial tube feedings=1vs. 1; number of total tube feedings=1vs. 0, p=0.655) also showed no significant differences. However, significant differences was observed in dysphagia at 12 months (number of liquid diets=0vs. 0; number of partial tube feedings=3 vs. 1; number of total tube feedings=10vs. 1, p=0.006). Conclusion: For HSCC patients, the use of the ALT flap combined ADM, compared to ALT treatment, showed better swallowing function at 12 months. The ALT flap combined ADM may serve as a safe and feasible alternative for selected HSCC patients.

Keywords: hypopharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma, anterolateral thigh free flap, acellular dermal matrix, reconstruction, dysphagia

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Authors: Deyu Zhou, Xiao Xue, Lizhen Cui

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With the increasing collaboration among various services and the growing complexity of user demands, there are more and more factors affecting the stable development of the cloud manufacturing service economic system (CMSE). This poses new challenges to the evolution analysis of the CMSE. Many researchers have modeled and analyzed the evolution process of CMSE from the perspectives of individual learning and internal factors influencing the system, but without considering other important characteristics of the system's individuals (such as heterogeneity, bounded rationality, etc.) and the impact of external environmental factors. Therefore, this paper proposes an integrated artificial social model for the cloud manufacturing service economic system, which considers both the characteristics of the system's individuals and the internal and external influencing factors of the system. The model consists of three parts: the Agent model, environment model, and rules model (Agent-Environment-Rules, AER): (1) the Agent model considers important features of the individuals, such as heterogeneity and bounded rationality, based on the adaptive behavior mechanisms of perception, action, and decision-making; (2) the environment model describes the activity space of the individuals (real or virtual environment); (3) the rules model, as the driving force of system evolution, describes the mechanism of the entire system's operation and evolution. Finally, this paper verifies the effectiveness of the AER model through computational and experimental results.

Keywords: cloud manufacturing service economic system (CMSE), AER model, artificial social modeling, integrated framework, computing experiment, agent-based modeling, social networks

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Authors: Anissa Mary Thomas Thattil, Nancy Angeline Gnanaselvam, B. Ramakrishna Goud

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Faecal sludge management (FSM) is an unorganized sector, and in India, there is an absence of regulations regarding the collection, transport, treatment, and disposal of faecal sludge. FSM has a high degree of occupational hazards that need to be thoroughly understood in order to shape effective solutions. On-field observations of five FSM operations were conducted in Anekal Taluk of southern Karnataka. All five of the FSM operations were privately owned and snowball method of sampling was employed. Two types of FS operations observed were: mechanical emptying involving direct human contact with faecal sludge and mechanical emptying without direct human contact with faecal sludge. Each operation was manned by 3-4 faecal sludge operators (FSOs). None of the observed FSOs used personal protective equipment. According to the WHO semi-quantitative risk assessment, the very high risk occupational hazards identified were dermal contact with faecal sludge, inhalation of toxic gases, and social stigma. The high risk hazards identified were trips and falls, injuries, ergonomic hazards, substance abuse, and mental health problems. In all five FSM operations, the collected faecal sludge was discharged untreated onto abandoned land. FSM in India is fraught with occupational and environmental hazards which need to be urgently addressed. This includes formalizing the institution of FSM, contextualized behaviour change communication, capacity building of local bodies, awareness programmes among agriculturists and FSOs, and designation of sites for the safe harnessing of faecal sludge as soil nutrient.

Keywords: faecal sludge, faecal sludge management, FSM, occupational hazards, sanitation

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Authors: Hsiu-Chuan Hsueh, Kuei-Feng Shen Jr., Chia-Ling Chao, Hui-Chuan Pan

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This article described a 75 years old woman who has suffered from intestinal perforation and accepted surgery with temporary enterostomy, the operation makes her depressed, refused relatives and friend's care, facing low willingness to participate in various activities due to fear of changing body appearance caused by surgery and leave enterostomy. The author collected information through observation talks, physical evaluation, and medical records during the period of care from November 14 to November 30, 2016, we used the four aspects of physiology, psychology, society and spirituality as a whole sexual assessment to establish the nursing problems of patient, included of acute pain, disturbance of body image,coping ineffective individual. For patient care issues, to encouraged case to express their inner feelings and take part in self-care programs through providing good therapeutic interpersonal relationships with their families. However, it provided clear information about the disease and follow-up treatment plan, give compliments in a timely manner, enhanced self-confidence of individual cases and their motivation to participate in self-care of stoma, further face the disease in a positive manner. At the same time, cross-section team care model and individual care measures were developed to enhance the care skills after returning home and at the same time assist the individual in facing the psychological impact caused by stoma. Hope to provide this experience, as a reference for the future care of the disease.

Keywords: enterostomy, intestinal perforation, nursing experience, ostomy

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Authors: Imam Taufiqurrahman, Anugrah Adiwilaga, Egi Hidayat, Bambang Riyanto Trilaksono

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Autonomous Underwater Vehicle glider is one of the renewal of underwater vehicles. This vehicle is one of the autonomous underwater vehicles that are being developed in Indonesia. Glide ability is obtained by controlling the buoyancy and attitude of the vehicle using the movers within the vehicle. The glider motion mechanism is expected to provide energy resistance from autonomous underwater vehicles so as to increase the cruising range of rides while performing missions. The control system on the vehicle consists of three parts: controlling the attitude of the pitch, the buoyancy engine controller and the yaw controller. The buoyancy and pitch controls on the vehicle are sequentially referring to the finite state machine with pitch angle and depth of diving inputs to obtain a gliding cycle. While the yaw control is done through the rudder for the needs of the guide system. This research is focused on design and implementation of control system of Autonomous Underwater Vehicle glider based on PID anti-windup. The control system is implemented on an ARM TS-7250-V2 device along with a mathematical model of the vehicle in MATLAB using the hardware-in-the-loop simulation (HILS) method. The TS-7250-V2 is chosen because it complies industry standards, has high computing capability, minimal power consumption. The results show that the control system in HILS process can form glide cycle with depth and angle of operation as desired. In the implementation using half control and full control mode, from the experiment can be concluded in full control mode more precision when tracking the reference. While half control mode is considered more efficient in carrying out the mission.

Keywords: control system, PID, underwater glider, marine robotics

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Authors: Victor Lopez-Richard, Rafael Schio Wengenroth Silva, Fabian Hartmann

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Memcomputing is a computational paradigm that combines information processing and storage on the same physical platform. Key elements for this topic are devices with an inherent memory, such as memristors, memcapacitors, and meminductors. Despite the widespread emergence of memory effects in various solid systems, a clear understanding of the basic microscopic mechanisms that trigger them is still a puzzling task. We report basic ingredients of the theory of solid-state transport, intrinsic to a wide range of mechanisms, as sufficient conditions for a memristive response that points to the natural emergence of memory. This emergence should be discernible under an adequate set of driving inputs, as highlighted by our theoretical prediction and general common trends can be thus listed that become a rule and not the exception, with contrasting signatures according to symmetry constraints, either built-in or induced by external factors at the microscopic level. Explicit analytical figures of merit for the memory modulation of the conductance are presented, unveiling very concise and accessible correlations between general intrinsic microscopic parameters such as relaxation times, activation energies, and efficiencies (encountered throughout various fields in Physics) with external drives: voltage pulses, temperature, illumination, etc. These building blocks of memory can be extended to a vast universe of materials and devices, with combinations of parallel and independent transport channels, providing an efficient and unified physical explanation for a wide class of resistive memory devices that have emerged in recent years. Its simplicity and practicality have also allowed a direct correlation with reported experimental observations with the potential of pointing out the optimal driving configurations. The main methodological tools used to combine three quantum transport approaches, Drude-like model, Landauer-Buttiker formalism, and field-effect transistor emulators, with the microscopic characterization of nonequilibrium dynamics. Both qualitative and quantitative agreements with available experimental responses are provided for validating the main hypothesis. This analysis also shades light on the basic universality of complex natural impedances of systems out of equilibrium and might help pave the way for new trends in the area of memory formation as well as in its technological applications.

Keywords: memories, memdevices, memristors, nonequilibrium states

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Authors: Anatoly Krivinsh

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The results of dissertation research "Preventing and combating corruption in public procurement" are presented in this publication. The study was conducted 2011 till 2013 in a Member State of the European Union, in the Republic of Latvia. Goal of the thesis is to explore corruption prevention and combating issues in public procurement sphere, to identify the prevalence rates, determinants and contributing factors and prevention opportunities in Latvia. In the first chapter the author analyses theoretical aspects of understanding corruption in public procurement, with particular emphasis on corruption definition problem, its nature, causes and consequences. A separate section is dedicated to the public procurement concept, mechanism and legal framework. In the first part of this work the author presents cognitive methodology of corruption in public procurement field, based on which the author has carried out an analysis of corruption situation in public procurement in Republic of Latvia. In the second chapter of the thesis, the author analyzes the problem of corruption in public procurement, including its historical aspects, typology and classification of corruption subjects involved, corruption risk elements in public procurement and their identification. During the development of the second chapter author's practical experience in public procurements was widely used. The third and fourth chapter deals with issues related to the prevention and combating corruption in public procurement, namely the operation of the concept, principles, methods and techniques, subjects in Republic of Latvia, as well as an analysis of foreign experience in preventing and combating corruption. The fifth chapter is devoted to the corruption prevention and combating perspectives and their assessment. In this chapter the author has made the evaluation of corruption prevention and combating measures efficiency in Republic of Latvia, assessment of anti-corruption legislation development stage in public procurement field in Latvia.

Keywords: prevention of corruption, public purchases, good governance, human rights

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Authors: Abdallah Abu Madi, Dongmei Cao, Alexeis Garcia-Perez, Qile He

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The failure of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) implementation in higher education institutions (HEIs) worldwide is much higher in comparison to other sectors, such as banking or manufacturing, to our knowledge limited research has been conducted on this issue. To date, prior literature has identified some key success factors (KSFs) mostly either in the domain of information and system (IS) or in the industrial context. However, evidence of ERP implementation in the higher education sector has had little attention in the extant literature. Hence, this paper identifies and categories KSFs of ERP implementation in HEIs. Semi-structured face-to-face interviews were conducted with technicians and managers from three Jordanian HEIs. From these case studies, three new sector- and context-specific KSFs were identified and categorized according to two dimensions: organizational and technical. The first new KSF is the selection of the ERP system, which is an influential factor in the organizational dimension. Results show that an ERP solution that is suitable to one context may be disastrous in another. The second new KSF, which falls under the technical dimension, is the relationship between vendors and HEIs. This must be fair and impartial to enable successful decision-making and thus the achievement of pre-defined goals. Also within the technical dimension is the third factor: in-house maintenance. Once an appropriate system is selected and a strong relationship is established, the ERP system requires continuous maintenance for effective operation. HEIs should ensure that qualified IT support is in place and in-house to avoid excessive running expenses.

Keywords: Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)implementation, key success factors, higher education institutions, Jordanian higher education

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Authors: Mohammad T. Uddin, Aurup R. Dhar

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The study was conducted to assess the impact of conservation agriculture practice on farmers’ socioeconomic condition and soil environmental quality in Bangladesh. A total of 450 (i.e., 50 focal, 150 proximal and 250 control) farmers from five districts were selected for this study. Descriptive statistics like sum, averages, percentages, etc. were calculated to evaluate the socioeconomic data. Using Enyedi’s crop productivity index, it was found that the crop productivity of focal, proximal and control farmers was increased by 0.9, 1.2 and 1.3 percent, respectively. The result of DID (Difference-in-difference) analysis indicated that the impact of conservation agriculture practice on farmers’ average annual income was significant. Multidimensional poverty index (MPI) indicates that poverty in terms of deprivation of health, education and living standards was decreased; and a remarkable improvement in farmers’ socioeconomic status was found after adopting conservation agriculture practice. Most of the focal and proximal farmers stated about increased soil environmental condition where majority of control farmers stated about constant environmental condition in this regard. The Probit model reveals that minimum tillage operation, permanent organic soil cover, and application of compost and vermicompost were found significant factors affecting soil environmental quality under conservation agriculture. Input support, motivation, training programmes and extension services are recommended to implement in order to raise the awareness and enrich the knowledge of the farmers on conservation agriculture practice.

Keywords: conservation agriculture, crop productivity, socioeconomic status, soil environment quality

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Authors: Tas Yong Koh, Steve Rowlinson, Yuzhong Shen

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In construction safety management, safety climate has long been linked to workers' safety behaviors and performance. For this reason, safety climate concept and tools have been used as heuristics to diagnose a range of safety-related issues by some progressive contractors in Hong Kong and elsewhere. However, as a diagnostic tool, safety climate tends to treat the different components of the climate construct in a linear fashion. Safety management in construction projects, in reality, is a multi-faceted and multilevel phenomenon that resembles a complex system. Hence, understanding safety management in construction projects requires not only the understanding of safety climate but also the organizational-systemic nature of the phenomenon. Our involvement, diagnoses, and interpretations of a range of safety climate-related issues which culminated in the project’s sub-optimum safety performance in an infrastructure construction project have brought about such revelation. In this study, a range of data types had been collected from various hierarchies of the project site organization. These include the frontline workers and supervisors from the main and sub-contractors, and the client supervisory personnel. Data collection was performed through the administration of safety climate questionnaire, interviews, observation, and document study. The findings collectively indicate that what had emerged in parallel of the seemingly linear climate-based exploration is the exposition of the organization-systemic nature of the phenomenon. The results indicate the negative impacts of climate perceptions mismatch, insufficient work planning, and risk management, mixed safety leadership, workforce negative attributes, lapsed safety enforcement and resources shortages collectively give rise to the project sub-optimum safety performance. From the dynamic causation and multilevel perspective, the analyses show that the individual, group, and organizational levels issues are interrelated and these interrelationships are linked to negative safety climate. Hence the adoption of both perspectives has enabled a fuller understanding of the phenomenon of safety management that point to the need for an organizational-systemic intervention strategy. The core message points to the fact that intervention at an individual level will only meet with limited success if the risks embedded in the higher levels in group and project organization are not addressed. The findings can be used to guide the effective development of safety infrastructure by linking different levels of systems in a construction project organization.

Keywords: construction safety management, dynamic causation, multilevel analysis, safety climate

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Authors: Haifeng Zhou, Tsungyang Liow, Xiaoguang Tu, Eujin Lim, Chao Li, Junfeng Song, Xianshu Luo, Ying Huang, Lianxi Jia, Lianwee Luo, Qing Fang, Mingbin Yu, Guoqiang Lo

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With the development of technology, countries gradually allocated more and more frequency spectrums for civilization and commercial usage, especially those high radio frequency bands indicating high information capacity. The field effect becomes more and more prominent in microwave components as frequency increases, which invalidates the transmission line theory and complicate the design of microwave components. Here a modeling approach based on numerical search algorithm is proposed to design various building blocks for microwave circuits to avoid complicated impedance matching and equivalent electrical circuit approximation. Concretely, a microwave component is discretized to a set of segments along the microwave propagation path. Each of the segment is initialized with random dimensions, which constructs a multiple-dimension parameter space. Then numerical searching algorithms (e.g. Pattern search algorithm) are used to find out the ideal geometrical parameters. The optimal parameter set is achieved by evaluating the fitness of S parameters after a number of iterations. We had adopted this approach in our current projects and designed many microwave components including sharp bends, T-branches, Y-branches, microstrip-to-stripline converters and etc. For example, a stripline 90° bend was designed in 2.54 mm x 2.54 mm space for dual-band operation (Ka band and Ku band) with < 0.18 dB insertion loss and < -55 dB reflection. We expect that this approach can enrich the tool kits for microwave designers.

Keywords: microwave component, microstrip and stripline, bend, power division, the numerical search algorithm.

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Authors: Ryan C. Zlomek

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The value of using comics in the literacy classroom has been explored since the 1930s. At that point in time researchers had begun to implement comics into daily lesson plans and, in some instances, had started the development process for comics-supported curriculum. In the mid-1950s, this type of research was cut short due to the work of psychiatrist Frederic Wertham whose research seemingly discovered a correlation between comic readership and juvenile delinquency. Since Wertham’s allegations the comics medium has had a hard time finding its way back to education. Now, over fifty years later, the definition of literacy is in mid-transition as the world has become more visually-oriented and students require the ability to interpret images as often as words. Through this transition, comics has found a place in the field of literacy education research as the shift focuses from traditional print to multimodal and media literacies. Comics are now believed to be an effective resource in bridging the gap between these different types of literacies. This paper seeks to better understand what students learn from the process of reading comics and how those skills line up with the core principles of media literacy education in the United States. In the first section, comics are defined to determine the exact medium that is being examined. The different conventions that the medium utilizes are also discussed. In the second section, the comics reading process is explored through a dissection of the ways a reader interacts with the page, panel, gutter, and different comic conventions found within a traditional graphic narrative. The concepts of intersubjective acts and visualization are attributed to the comics reading process as readers draw in real world knowledge to decode meaning. In the next section, the learning processes that comics encourage are explored parallel to the core principles of media literacy education. Each principle is explained and the extent to which comics can act as an intermediary for this type of education is theorized. In the final section, the author examines comics use in his computer science and technology classroom. He lays out different theories he utilizes from Scott McCloud’s text Understanding Comics and how he uses them to break down media literacy strategies with his students. The article concludes with examples of how comics has positively impacted classrooms around the United States. It is stated that integrating comics into the classroom will not solve all issues related to literacy education but, rather, that comics can be a powerful multimodal resource for educators looking for new mediums to explore with their students.

Keywords: comics, graphics novels, mass communication, media literacy, metacognition

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Authors: Ishwor Paudel, Pratima Gautam, Sandeep Bhattarai

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Bile spillage occurs frequently during laparoscopic cholecystectomy yet its impact on postoperative outcomes remains unknown. It might not be as innocuous as some surgeons tend to believe and in fact, might be associated with post-operative surgical site infections (SSI). It often leads to patient dissatisfaction, emergency department visits, with subsequent readmission and additional procedures. While some authors found no increase in SSI following bile spillage (BS) compared to non-bile spillage cases, others found bile spillage to be associated with SSI. Therefore we sought to examine whether bile spillage is indeed associated with an increased risk of postoperative wound infections after laparoscopic cholecystectomy. I hypothesize that patients who experience BS during operation, have an increased risk of SSI compared to those who do not. This is a prospective observational study conducted in the Department of Surgery, Patan Hospital over a period of one year. Patients undergoing Laparoscopic cholecystectomy were included and bile spillage, if happened was noted. All cases were followed up for 30 days and SSI was diagnosed as per CDC-defined criteria. Fisher’s test was applied to compare SSI in bile spillage versus non-bile spillage cases. A total of 112 patients were included in the final analysis. Bile spillage occurred in 20 cases and was absent in the rest i.e.92 cases. Among bile spillage cases, SSI was found in 4 cases (20%), whereas in nonbile spillage cases, SSI was found in 8 cases (8.7%). However, it was statistically not significant (p-value>0.05). Eleven (92%) cases were superficial SSI and one was an organ-space infection. No mortality or 30-day readmission. Spillage of Gallbladder content does not lead to an increase in SSIs. However as the rate of SSI is still higher, Surgeons should be careful to avoid iatrogenic gallbladder perforation and in case of bile spillage thorough peritoneal irrigation with normal saline should be done.

Keywords: organ space infection, Laparoscopic cholecystectomy, biliary spillage, surgical site infection

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Authors: Natalia Pacheco Rego

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The Liezation functor is a map from the category of Leibniz algebras to the category of Lie algebras, which assigns a Leibniz algebra to the Lie algebra given by the quotient of the Leibniz algebra by the ideal spanned by the square elements of the Leibniz algebra. This functor is left adjoint to the inclusion functor that considers a Lie algebra as a Leibniz algebra. This environment fits in the framework of central extensions and commutators in semi-abelian categories with respect to a Birkhoff subcategory, where classical or absolute notions are relative to the abelianization functor. Classical properties of Leibniz algebras (properties relative to the abelianization functor) were adapted to the relative setting (with respect to the Liezation functor); in general, absolute properties have the corresponding relative ones, but not all absolute properties immediately hold in the relative case, so new requirements are needed. Following this line of research, it was conducted an analysis of central derivations of Leibniz algebras relative to the Liezation functor, called as Lie-derivations, and a characterization of Lie-stem Leibniz algebras by their Lie-central derivations was obtained. In this paper, we present an overview of these results, and we analyze some new properties concerning Lie-central derivations and almost inner Lie-derivations. Namely, a Leibniz algebra is a vector space equipped with a bilinear bracket operation satisfying the Leibniz identity. We define the Lie-bracket by [x, y]lie = [x, y] + [y, x] , for all x, y . The Lie-center of a Leibniz algebra is the two-sided ideal of elements that annihilate all the elements in the Leibniz algebra through the Lie-bracket. A Lie-derivation is a linear map which acts as a derivative with respect to the Lie-bracket. Obviously, usual derivations are Lie-derivations, but the converse is not true in general. A Lie-derivation is called a Lie-central derivation if its image is contained in the Lie-center. A Lie-derivation is called an almost inner Lie-derivation if the image of an element x is contained in the Lie-commutator of x and the Leibniz algebra. The main results we present in this talk refer to the conditions under which Lie-central derivation and almost inner Lie-derivations coincide.

Keywords: almost inner Lie-derivation, Lie-center, Lie-central derivation, Lie-derivation

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