Search results for: efficiency of quality assessment

Authors: Ünal Kızıl, Levent Genç, Sefa Aksu, Ahmet Tapınç

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The Figaro AM-1 sensor module which employs TGS 2600 model gas sensor in air quality assessment was used. The system was coupled with a microprocessor that enables sensor module to create warning message via telephone. This low cot sensor system’s performance was compared with a Diagnose II commercial electronic nose system. Both air quality sensor and electronic nose system employ metal oxide chemical gas sensors. In the study experimental setup, data acquisition methods for electronic nose system, and performance of the low cost air quality system were evaluated and explained.

Keywords: air quality, electronic nose, environmental quality, gas sensor

Procedia PDF Downloads 412

Authors: Jamaiah H. Yahaya, Aziz Deraman, Abdul Razak Hamdan, Yusmadi Yah Jusoh

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One of the most essential issues in software products is to maintain it relevancy to the dynamics of the user’s requirements and expectation. Many studies have been carried out in quality aspect of software products to overcome these problems. Previous software quality assessment models and metrics have been introduced with strengths and limitations. In order to enhance the assurance and buoyancy of the software products, certification models have been introduced and developed. From our previous experiences in certification exercises and case studies collaborating with several agencies in Malaysia, the requirements for user based software certification approach is identified and demanded. The emergence of social network applications, the new development approach such as agile method and other varieties of software in the market have led to the domination of users over the software. As software become more accessible to the public through internet applications, users are becoming more critical in the quality of the services provided by the software. There are several categories of users in web-based systems with different interests and perspectives. The classifications and metrics are identified through brain storming approach with includes researchers, users and experts in this area. The new paradigm in software quality assessment is the main focus in our research. This paper discusses the classifications of users in web-based software system assessment and their associated factors and metrics for quality measurement. The quality model is derived based on IEEE structure and FCM model. The developments are beneficial and valuable to overcome the constraints and improve the application of software certification model in future.

Keywords: software certification model, user centric approach, software quality factors, metrics and measurements, web-based system

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Authors: Cristina da Silva Torres, José Luis Duarte Ribeiro, Maria Auxiliadora Cannarozzo Tinoco

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As a result of the rapid growth of the Brazilian Air Transport, many airports are at the limit of their capacities and have a reduction in the quality of services provided. Thus, there is a need of models for assessing the quality of airport services. Because of this, the main objective of this work is to propose a model for the evaluation of quality attributes in airport services. To this end, we used the method composed by literature review and interview. Structured a working method composed by 5 steps, which resulted in a model to evaluate the quality of airport services, consisting of 8 dimensions and 45 attributes. Was used as base for model definition the process mapping of boarding and landing processes of passengers and luggage. As a contribution of this work is the integration of management process with structuring models to assess the quality of services in airport environments.

Keywords: quality airport services, model for identification of attributes quality, air transport, passenger

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Authors: Mehtap Dursun, Zeynep Şener

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Supplier selection is considered as one of the most critical issues encountered by operations and purchasing managers to sharpen the company’s competitive advantage. In this paper, a novel fuzzy multi-criteria group decision making approach integrating quality function deployment (QFD) and decision making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) method is proposed for supplier selection. The proposed methodology enables to consider the impacts of inner dependence among supplier assessment criteria. A house of quality (HOQ) which translates purchased product features into supplier assessment criteria is built using the weights obtained by DEMATEL approach to determine the desired levels of supplier assessment criteria. Supplier alternatives are ranked by a distance-based method.

Keywords: DEMATEL, group decision making, QFD, supplier selection

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Authors: Kavitha Thamadharan, Nurazean Maarop

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The implementation of e-assessment as tool to support the process of teaching and learning in university has become a popular technological means in universities. E-Assessment provides many advantages to the users especially the flexibility in teaching and learning. The e-assessment system has the capability to improve its quality of delivering education. However, there still exists a drawback in terms of security which limits the user acceptance of the online learning system. Even though there are studies providing solutions for identified security threats in e-learning usage, there is no particular model which addresses the factors that influences the acceptance of e-assessment system by lecturers from security perspective. The aim of this study is to explore security aspects of e-assessment in regard to the acceptance of the technology. As a result a conceptual model of secure acceptance of e-assessment is proposed. Both human and security factors are considered in formulation of this conceptual model. In order to increase understanding of critical issues related to the subject of this study, interpretive approach involving convergent mixed method research method is proposed to be used to execute the research. This study will be useful in providing more insightful understanding regarding the factors that influence the user acceptance of e-assessment system from security perspective.

Keywords: secure technology acceptance, e-assessment security, e-assessment, education technology

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Authors: J. J. Vargas, N. Prieto, L. A. Toro

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Control charts are commonly used to monitor processes involving either variable or attribute of quality characteristics and determining the control limits as a critical task for quality engineers to improve the processes. Nonetheless, in some applications it is necessary to include an estimation of efficiency. In this paper, the ability to define the efficiency of an industrial process was added to a control chart by means of incorporating a data envelopment analysis (DEA) approach. In depth, a Bayesian estimation was performed to calculate the posterior probability distribution of parameters as means and variance and covariance matrix. This technique allows to analyse the data set without the need of using the hypothetical large sample implied in the problem and to be treated as an approximation to the finite sample distribution. A rejection simulation method was carried out to generate random variables from the parameter functions. Each resulting vector was used by stochastic DEA model during several cycles for establishing the distribution of each efficiency measures for each DMU (decision making units). A control limit was calculated with model obtained and if a condition of a low level efficiency of DMU is presented, system efficiency is out of control. In the efficiency calculated a global optimum was reached, which ensures model reliability.

Keywords: data envelopment analysis, DEA, Multivariate control chart, rejection simulation method

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Authors: Noel Paolo Domingo, James Paul Menina, Laurente Ferrer

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Most people were forced to stay at home and limit their physical contact during the COVID-19 pandemic. Due to the situation, strict implementation of government policies and safety protocols encouraged consumers to utilize cashless or digital transactions through e-wallets. In this study, the researchers aim to investigate the efficiency of using e-wallets as a payment method during the COVID-19 pandemic in Marikina City. The study examined the efficiency of e-wallets in terms of Usefulness, Convenience, and Safety and Security based on respondents’ assessment. Questionnaires developed by the researchers were distributed to a total of 400 e-wallet users in Marikina City aged 15 years old and above to gather data by using a purposive sampling technique. The data collected was processed using SPSS version 26. Frequency, percentage, and mean were utilized to describe the profile of respondents and their assessment of e-wallets in terms of the three constructs. ANOVA and t-tests were also employed to test the significant differences in the respondent’s assessment when the demographic profile was considered. The study revealed that when it comes to usefulness, e-wallet is efficient while in terms of convenience, and safety and security, e-wallet has been proven to be very efficient. During the COVID-19 pandemic, utilizing e-wallets has been embraced by most consumers. By enhancing its features, more people will be satisfied with using e-wallets.

Keywords: efficiency of e-wallets, usefulness, convenience, safety and security

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Authors: Hamad Almebayedh, Chuxia Lin, Yu wang

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The environmental impact assessment (EIA) must be improved, assessed, and quality checked for human and environmental health and safety. Soil contamination is expanding, and sites and soil remediation activities proceeding around the word which simplifies the answer “quality soil characterization” will lead to “quality EIA” to illuminate the contamination level and extent and reveal the unknown for the way forward to remediate, countifying, containing, minimizing and eliminating the environmental damage. Spatial interpolation methods play a significant role in decision making, planning remediation strategies, environmental management, and risk assessment, as it provides essential elements towards site characterization, which need to be informed into the EIA. The Innovative 3D soil mapping and soil characterization technology presented in this research paper reveal the unknown information and the extent of the contaminated soil in specific and enhance soil characterization information in general which will be reflected in improving the information provided in developing the EIA related to specific sites. The foremost aims of this research paper are to present novel 3D mapping technology to quality and cost-effectively characterize and estimate the distribution of key soil characteristics in contaminated sites and develop Innovative process/procedure “assessment measures” for EIA quality and assessment. The contaminated site and field investigation was conducted by innovative 3D mapping technology to characterize the composition of petroleum hydrocarbons contaminated soils in a decommissioned oilfield waste pit in Kuwait. The results show the depth and extent of the contamination, which has been interred into a developed assessment process and procedure for the EIA quality review checklist to enhance the EIA and drive remediation and risk assessment strategies. We have concluded that to minimize the possible adverse environmental impacts on the investigated site in Kuwait, the soil-capping approach may be sufficient and may represent a cost-effective management option as the environmental risk from the contaminated soils is considered to be relatively low. This research paper adopts a multi-method approach involving reviewing the existing literature related to the research area, case studies, and computer simulation.

Keywords: quality EIA, spatial interpolation, soil characterization, contaminated site

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Authors: Silvio Ricardo Rodrigues Sanches, Bianca Cogo Barbosa, Beatriz Regina Brum, Cléber Gimenez Corrêa

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To evaluate the quality of a segmentation algorithm, the authors use subjective or objective metrics. Although subjective metrics are more accurate than objective ones, objective metrics do not require user feedback to test an algorithm. Objective metrics require subjective experiments only during their development. Subjective experiments typically display to users some videos (generated from frames with segmentation errors) that simulate the environment of an application domain. This user feedback is crucial information for metric definition. In the subjective experiments applied to develop some state-of-the-art metrics used to test segmentation algorithms, the videos displayed during the experiments did not contain audio. Audio is an essential component in applications such as videoconference and augmented reality. If the audio influences the user’s perception, using only videos without audio in subjective experiments can compromise the efficiency of an objective metric generated using data from these experiments. This work aims to identify if the audio influences the user’s perception of segmentation quality in background substitution applications with audio. The proposed approach used a subjective method based on formal video quality assessment methods. The results showed that audio influences the quality of segmentation perceived by a user.

Keywords: background substitution, influence of audio, segmentation evaluation, segmentation quality

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Authors: Andi Mursidi

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This study aims to investigate why the internal quality assurance system as the basis for the assessment of external quality assurance systems is not well developed at universities in Indonesia. To answer this problem, technical analysis used single instrumental case study with the respondents from ten universities. The findings of this study are the internal quality assurance system that is applied so far (1) only to gain accreditation; and (2) considered as a liability rather than as a necessity to meet the demands of quality standards. It needs strong commitment from internal stakeholders at the college/university to establish internal quality assurance systems that exceed the national standards of higher education. A high quality college/ university will have a good accreditation rank.

Keywords: internal stakeholders, internal quality assurance system, commitment, higher education

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Authors: Hsin-Chih Lai, Yung-Lung Lee, Yun-Yao Chi, Ching-Yi Horng, Pei-Chih Wu, Hsien-Chang Wang

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Taiwan, a climatically challenged island, has always been keen on the issue of water resource management due to its limitations in water storage. Since water resource management has been the focal point of many adaptations to climate change, there has been a lack of attention on another issue, water quality. This study chooses the Errer River Basin as the experimental focus for water quality in Taiwan. With the Errer River Basin being one of the most polluted rivers in Taiwan, this study observes the effects of climate change on this river over a period of time. Taiwan is also targeted by multiple typhoons every year, the heavy rainfall and strong winds create problems of pollution being carried to different river segments, including into the ocean. This study aims to create an impact and risk assessment on Errer River Basin, to show the connection from climate change to potential extreme events, which in turn could influence water quality and ultimately human health. Using dynamic downscaling, this study narrows the information from a global scale to a resolution of 1 km x 1 km. Then, through interpolation, the resolution is further narrowed into a resolution of 200m x 200m, to analyze the past, present, and future of extreme events. According to different climate change scenarios, this study designs an assessment index on the vulnerability of the Errer River Basin. Through this index, Errer River inhabitants can access advice on adaptations to climate change and act accordingly.

Keywords: climate change, adaptation, water quality, risk assessment

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Authors: Muhammad Yousaf Sadiq

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The complexity arises in defining the construction quality due to its perception, based on inherent market conditions and their requirements, the diversified stakeholders itself and their desired output. An quantitative survey based approach was adopted in this constructive study. A questionnaire-based survey was conducted for the assessment of construction Quality perception and expectations in the context of quality improvement technique. The survey feedback of professionals of the leading construction organizations/companies of Pakistan construction industry were analyzed. The financial capacity, organizational structure, and construction experience of the construction firms formed basis for their selection. The quality perception was found to be project-scope-oriented and considered as an excess cost for a construction project. Any quality improvement technique was expected to maximize the profit for the employer, by improving the productivity in a construction project. The study is beneficial for the construction professionals to assess the prevailing construction quality perception and the expectations from implementation of any quality improvement technique in construction projects.

Keywords: construction quality, expectation, improvement, perception

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Authors: Jonathan Glazzard

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National student satisfaction data in England demonstrate that undergraduate students are less satisfied overall with assessment and feedback than other aspects of their higher education courses. Given that research findings suggest that high-quality feedback is a critical factor associated with academic achievement, it is important that feedback enables students to demonstrate improved academic achievement in their subsequent assessments. Given the growing importance of staff-student partnerships in higher education, this research examined students’ perceptions of assessment and feedback in one UK university. Students’ perceptions were elicited through the use of a university-wide survey which was completed by undergraduate students. In addition, three focus groups were used to provide qualitative student perception data across the three university Facilities. The data indicate that whilst students valued detailed feedback on their work, less detailed feedback could be compensated for by the development of pre-assessment literacy skills which are front-loaded into courses. Assessment literacy skills valued by students included the use of clear assessment criteria and assignment briefings which enabled students to fully understand the assessment task. Additionally, students valued assessment literacy pre-assessment tasks which enabled them to understand the standards which they were expected to achieve. Students valued opportunities for self and peer assessment prior to the final assessment and formative assessment feedback which matched the summative assessment feedback. Students also valued dialogic face-to-face feedback after receiving written feedback Above all, students valued feedback which was particular to their work and which gave recognition for the effort they had put into completing specific assessments. The data indicate that there is a need for higher education lecturers to receive systematic training in assessment and feedback which provides a comprehensive grounding in pre-assessment literacy skills.

Keywords: formative assessment, summative assessment, feedback, marking

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Authors: Manjie Li, Xiangju Cheng, Yongcan Chen

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With rapid development of industrialization and urbanization, water environmental deterioration is widespread in majority of urban rivers, which seriously affects city image and life satisfaction of residents. As an emergency measure to improve water quality, clean water diversion is introduced for water environmental management. Lubao River and Southwest River, two urban rivers in typical plain tidal river network, are identified as technically and economically feasible for the application of clean water diversion. One-dimensional hydrodynamic-water quality model is developed to simulate temporal and spatial variations of water level and water quality, with satisfactory accuracy. The mathematical model after calibration is applied to investigate hydrodynamic and water quality variations in rivers as well as determine the optimum operation scheme of water diversion. Assessment system is developed for evaluation of positive and negative effects of water diversion, demonstrating the effectiveness of clean water diversion and the necessity of pollution reduction.

Keywords: assessment system, clean water diversion, hydrodynamic-water quality model, tidal river network, urban rivers, water environment improvement

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Authors: Joseph Roberson, Carina Kleynhans, Willie Coetzee

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The low entry barriers of the restaurant industry lead to an extremely competitive business environment. In this volatile business sector it is of the utmost importance to implement a strategy of quality differentiation. Vital aspects of a quality differentiation strategy are total quality management, benchmarking and service quality management. Ultimately, restaurant success depends on the continuous support of customers. Customers select restaurants based on their expectations of quality. If the customers' expectations are met, they perceive quality service and will re-patronize the restaurant. The restaurateur can manage perceptions of quality by influencing expectations while ensuring that those expectations are not inflated. The management of expectations can be done by communicating service quality to customers. The aim of this research paper is to describe the development of a grading process for restaurants. An assessment of the extensive body of literature on grading was conducted through content analysis. A standardized method for developing a grading system would assist in successful grading systems that could inform both customers and restaurateurs of restaurant quality.

Keywords: benchmarking, restaurants, grading, service quality, total quality management

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Authors: Mehrnoosh Askarizadeh

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People, process and IT are the most important assets of any organization. Optimal utilization of these resources has been the question of research in business for many decades. The business world have responded by inventing various methodologies that can be used for addressing problems of quality improvement, efficiency of processes, continuous improvement, reduction of waste, automation, strategy alignments etc. Some of these methodologies can be commonly called as Business Process Quality Management methodologies (BPQM). In essence, the first references to the process management can be traced back to Frederick Taylor and scientific management. Time and motion study was addressed to improvement of manufacturing process efficiency. The ideas of scientific management were in use for quite a long period until more advanced quality management techniques were developed in Japan and USA. One of the first prominent methods had been Total Quality Management (TQM) which evolved during 1980’s. About the same time, Six Sigma (SS) originated at Motorola as a separate method. SS spread and evolved; and later joined with ideas of Lean manufacturing to form Lean Six Sigma. In 1990’s due to emerging IT technologies, beginning of globalization, and strengthening of competition, companies recognized the need for better process and quality management. Business Process Management (BPM) emerged as a novel methodology that has taken all this into account and helped to align IT technologies with business processes and quality management. In this article we will study various aspects of above mentioned methods and identified their relations.

Keywords: e-process, quality, TQM, BPM, lean, six sigma, CPI, information technology, management

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Authors: Eftah Bte Moh, Hj Abdullah Izazol Binti Idris, Abd. Aziz Bin Abd. Shukor

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This study aimed to identify the alignment of understanding and assessment practices among secondary school teachers. The study was carried out using quantitative descriptive study. The sample consisted of 164 teachers who taught Form 1 and 2 from 11 secondary schools in the district of North Kinta, Perak, Malaysia. Data were obtained from 164 respondents who answered Expectation Alignment Understanding and Practices of School Assessment (PEKDAPS) questionnaire. The data were analysed using SPSS 17.0 +. The Cronbach alpha value obtained through PEKDAPS questionnaire pilot study was 0.86. The results showed that teachers' performance in PEKDAPS based on the mean value was less than 3, which means that perfect alignment does not occur between the understanding and practices of school assessment. Two major PEKDAPS sub-constructs of articulation across grade and age and usability of the system were higher than the moderate alignment of the understanding and practices of school assessment (Min=2.0). The content was focused on PEKDAPs sub-constructs which showed lower than the moderate alignment of the understanding and practices of school assessment (Min=2.0). Another two PEKDAPS sub-constructs of transparency and fairness and the pedagogical implications showed moderate alignment (2.0). The implications of the study is that teachers need to fully understand the importance of alignment among components of assessment, learning and teaching and learning objectives as strategies to achieve quality assessment process.

Keywords: school based assessment, alignment, understanding, assessment practices

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Authors: Jianning Tang, Trevor Hocksun Kwan, Xiaofeng Wu

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With the increasing demand for space use in multiple sectors (navigation, telecommunication, imagery, etc.), the deployment and maintenance demand of satellites are growing. Considering the high launching cost and the restrictions on weight and size of the payload when using launch vehicle, the technique of on-orbit manufacturing has obtained more attention because of its significant potential to support future space missions. 3D printing is the most promising manufacturing technology that could be applied in space. However, due to the lack of autonomous quality assessment, the operation of conventional 3D printers still relies on human presence to supervise the printing process. This paper is proposed to develop an automatic 3D reconstruction system aiming at detecting failures on the 3D printed objects through application of point cloud technology. Based on the data obtained from the point cloud, the 3D printer could locate the failure and repair the failure. The system will increase automation and provide 3D printing with more feasibilities for space use without human interference.

Keywords: 3D printing, quality assessment, point cloud, on-orbit manufacturing

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Authors: Ahmed Sameer El Khatib

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The aim of the present paper is to examine the revenue efficiency of the Indonesian Islamic banking sector. The study also seeks to investigate the potential internal (bank specific) and external (macroeconomic) determinants that influence the revenue efficiency of Indonesian domestic Islamic banks. We employ the whole gamut of domestic and foreign Islamic banks operating in the Indonesian Islamic banking sector during the period of 2009 to 2018. The level of revenue efficiency is computed by using the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) method. Furthermore, we employ a panel regression analysis framework based on the Ordinary Least Square (OLS) method to examine the potential determinants of revenue efficiency. The results indicate that the level of revenue efficiency of Indonesian domestic Islamic banks is lower compared to their foreign Islamic bank counterparts. We find that bank market power, liquidity, and management quality significantly influence the improvement in revenue efficiency of the Indonesian domestic Islamic banks during the period under study. By calculating these efficiency concepts, we can observe the efficiency levels of the domestic and foreign Islamic banks. In addition, by comparing both cost and profit efficiency, we can identify the influence of the revenue efficiency on the banks’ profitability.

Keywords: Islamic Finance, Islamic Banks, Revenue Efficiency, Data Envelopment Analysis

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Authors: Kemal Izci

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Assessment forms an important part of instruction. Assessment that aims to support learning is known as formative assessment and it contributes student’s learning gain and motivation. However, teachers rarely use assessment formatively to aid their students’ learning. Thus, reviewing the factors that limit or support teachers’ practices of formative assessment will be crucial for guiding educators to support prospective teachers in using formative assessment and also eliminate limiting factors to let practicing teachers to engage in formative assessment practices during their instruction. The study, by using teacher’s change environment framework, reviews literature on formative assessment and presents a tentative model that illustrates the factors impacting teachers’ adoption of formative assessment in their teaching. The results showed that there are four main factors consisting personal, contextual, resource-related and external factors that influence teachers’ practices of formative assessment.

Keywords: assessment practices, formative assessment, teacher education, factors for use of formative assessment

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Authors: Takashi Kaminagayoshi, Shigeyuki Haruyama

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To improve the manufacturing efficiency of biologics, such as antibody drugs, a quality engineering framework was designed. Within this framework, critical steps and parameters in the manufacturing process were studied. Identification of these critical steps and critical parameters allows a deeper understanding of manufacturing capabilities, and suggests to process development department process control standards based on actual manufacturing capabilities as part of a PDCA (plan-do-check-act) cycle. This cycle can be applied to each manufacturing process so that it can be standardized, reducing the time needed to establish each new process.

Keywords: antibody drugs, biologics, manufacturing efficiency, PDCA cycle, quality engineering

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Authors: Rajlakshmi Banerjee, Sujoy Banerjee

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The prevalence of malnutrition, as the most common cause of morbidity and mortality increases with old age, especially in developing countries like India, because of many factors out of which dentate status is one. It affects diet, nutritional status and general health due to reduced chewing ability and poor food choices. Aim and Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the effect of nutritional status, dietary intake on the Oral Health-related Quality of life (OHRQoL) of elderly edentulous complete denture wearing patients and to know whether they are at a higher risk of malnutrition. The objective was to assess the need to include dietary and nutritional counselling during Prosthodontic rehabilitation of elderly edentulous patients. Materials and method: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 200 elderly denture wearing patients above 60 yrs of age from Nagpur, Maharashtra. The majority of study subjects (60%) were between the age group 60 and 75 years. Mini-Nutritional Assessment (MNA) Questionnaire was used to assess nutritional status and General Oral Health Assessment Index (GOHAI) questionnaire was used to determine the Oral health related Quality of life of these patients.Descriptive statistics was used to analyze data using SPSS version 21. Results: Among the assessed subjects, nearly 80% of them had total scores of GOHAI between 12 and 57 which require ‘needed dental care.’ As per MNA, 10.5% had adequate nutrition, 70 % were at risk of malnutrition, and remaining 19.5 % of subjects were malnourished. There was a significant correlation between GOHAI and MNA scores. A strong association was found between mean GOHAI and MNA scores and thereby nutritional status and OHRQOL.Conclusion: The use of conventional dentures increases the risk of malnutrition in the elderly due to inability to eat and chew food properly and therefore severely affecting the quality of life. Dietary analysis and counselling should be strictly incorporated into geriatric treatment planning during Prosthetic rehabilitation.

Keywords: general oral health assessment index, General Oral Health Assessment Index (GOHAI), nutritional assessment, mini-nutritional assessment, Mini-Nutritional Assessment (MNA), quality of life

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Authors: Jan Stodt, Christoph Reich

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The usage of machine learning models for prediction is growing rapidly and proof that the intended requirements are met is essential. Audits are a proven method to determine whether requirements or guidelines are met. However, machine learning models have intrinsic characteristics, such as the quality of training data, that make it difficult to demonstrate the required behavior and make audits more challenging. This paper describes an ML audit framework that evaluates and reviews the risks of machine learning applications, the quality of the training data, and the machine learning model. We evaluate and demonstrate the functionality of the proposed framework by auditing an steel plate fault prediction model.

Keywords: audit, machine learning, assessment, metrics

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Authors: Eldah Ephraim Buba

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This paper evaluated the quality of tourism education in Nigeria higher education. The problem of poor quality of tourism education in Nigeria’s higher institutions prompted the study. Archival research was used with evaluation reports as secondary data, twenty evaluation reports for different polytechnics from the National board for technical education (NBTE) from 1995-2012 were assessed. The evidence from the documents shows that the quality of teaching and evaluation is fair. The programmes resources are fairly good, and most of the teachers do not have a postgraduate qualification in tourism related courses. It is therefore recommended that the institutions running tourism programmes in Nigeria need to introduce self -assessment of programmes and not rely on the NBTE accreditation which comes up in three years. Also there is need for a staff development policy that will encourage Tourism educators to further their education; The Tertiary Educational Trust Fund (TETFUND) should focus on developing staff of tourism education because it is an area of study in Nigeria that lacks qualified personnel. With the way higher institution in Nigeria are finding interest in tourism programmes, having good quality programmes will not only produce better professionals but it will help in offering better services in the industry and maximizing the impacts of the business.

Keywords: education, evaluation, tourism quality, self-assessment

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Authors: Boon Lee

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Research publication is an essential output of universities because it not only promotes university recognition, it also receives government funding. The history of university research culture has been one of ‘publish or perish’ and universities have consistently encouraged their academics and researchers to produce research articles in reputable journals in order to maintain a level of competitiveness. In turn, the United Kingdom (UK) government funding is determined by the number and quality of research publications. This paper aims to investigate on whether more government funding leads to more quality papers. To that end, the paper employs a Network DEA model to evaluate the UK higher education performance over a period. Sources of efficiency are also determined via second stage regression analysis.

Keywords: efficiency, higher education, network data envelopment analysis, universities

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Authors: Laila Oubahman, Duleba Szabolcs

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Public transport stakeholders aim to increase the ridership ratio by encouraging citizens to use common transportation modes. For this sight, improving service quality is a crucial option to reach the quality desired by users and reduce the gap between desired and perceived quality. Multi-criteria decision aid has been applied in literature in recent decades because it provides efficient models to assess the most impacting criteria on the overall assessment. In this paper, the PROMETHEE method is combined with the best-worst approach to construct a consensual model that avoids rank reversal to support stakeholders in ameliorating service quality.

Keywords: best-worst method, MCDA, PROMETHEE, public transport

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Authors: Mario M. J. Musonda

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Access to health care is a human right, which includes having timely access to affordable and quality essential medicines at the right place and in sufficient quantity. However, inefficient public sector supply chain management contributes to constant shortages of essential medicines at health facilities. Literature review involved a desktop study of published research studies and reports on risk management, supply chain management of essential medicines and their integration to increase the efficiency of the latter. The research was conducted on a sample population of offices under Ministry of Health Headquarters, Lusaka Provincial and District Offices, selected health facilities in Lusaka, Medical Stores Limited, Zambia Medicines Regulatory Authority and Cooperating Partners. Individuals involved in study were selected judgmentally by their functions under selection and quantification, regulation, procurement, storage, distribution, quality assurance, and dispensing of essential medicines. Structured interviews and discussions were held with selected experts and self-administered questionnaires were distributed. Collected and analysed data of 35 returned and usable questionnaires from the 50 distributed. The highest prioritised risks were; inadequate and inconsistent fund disbursements, weak information management systems, weak quality management systems and insufficient resources (HR and infrastructure) among others. The results for this research can be used to increase the efficiency of the public sector supply chain of essential medicines and other pharmaceuticals. The results of the study showed that there is need to implement effective risk management systems by participating institutions and organisations to increase the efficiency of the entire supply chain in order to avoid and/or reduce shortages of essential medicines at health facilities.

Keywords: essential medicine, risk assessment, risk management, supply chain, supply chain risk management

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Authors: Kamakshaiah Kolli, R. Seshadri

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Water is a key resource in all economic activities ranging from agriculture to industry. Only a tiny fraction of the planet's abundant water is available to us as fresh water. Assessment of water quality has always been paramount in the field of environmental quality management. It is the foundation for health, hygiene, progress and prosperity. With ever increasing pressure of human population, there is severe stress on water resources. Therefore efficient water management is essential to civil society for betterment of quality of life. The present study emphasizes on the groundwater quality, sources of ground water contamination, variation of groundwater quality and its spatial distribution. The bases for groundwater quality assessment are groundwater bodies and representative monitoring network enabling determination of chemical status of groundwater body. For this study, water samples were collected from various areas of the entire corporation area of Guntur. Water is required for all living organisms of which 1.7% is available as ground water. Water has no calories or any nutrients, but essential for various metabolic activities in our body. Chemical and physical parameters can be tested for identifying the portability of ground water. Electrical conductivity, pH, alkalinity, Total Alkalinity, TDS, Calcium, Magnesium, Sodium, Potassium, Chloride, and Sulphate of the ground water from Guntur district: Different areas of the District were analyzed. Our aim is to check, if the ground water from the above areas are potable or not. As multivariate are present, Data mining technique using JRIP rules was employed for classifying the ground water.

Keywords: groundwater, water quality standards, potability, data mining, JRIP, PCA, classification

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Authors: A. Sawangsuriya, T. B. Edil

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Microstructure and fabric of soils play an important role on structural properties e.g. stiffness and strength of compacted earthwork. Traditional quality control monitoring based on moisture-density tests neither reflects the variability of soil microstructure nor provides a direct assessment of structural property, which is the ultimate objective of the earthwork quality control. Since stiffness and strength are sensitive to soil microstructure and fabric, any independent test methods that provide simple, rapid, and direct measurement of stiffness and strength are anticipated to provide an effective assessment of compacted earthen materials’ uniformity. In this study, the soil stiffness gauge (SSG) and the dynamic cone penetrometer (DCP) were respectively utilized to measure and monitor the stiffness and strength in companion with traditional moisture-density measurements of various earthen materials used in Thailand road construction projects. The practical earthwork quality control criteria are presented herein in order to assure proper earthwork quality control and uniform structural property of compacted earthworks.

Keywords: dynamic cone penetrometer, moisture content, quality control, relative compaction, soil stiffness gauge, structural properties

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Authors: Kamran Yazdanbakhsh, Somayeh Mahmoudi

Abstract:

Multiple sclerosis is the most common chronic disease of the central nervous system associated with demyelination of neurons and several demyelinated parts of the disease encompasses throughout the white matter and affects the sensory and motor function. This study compared the effectiveness of two methods of cognitive therapy and supportive-expressive therapy on the efficacy and quality of life in MS patients. This is an experimental project which has used developed group pretest - posttest and follow-up with 3 groups. The study included all patients with multiple sclerosis in 2013 that were members of the MS Society of Iran in Tehran. The sample included 45 patients with MS that were selected volunteerily of members of the MS society of Iran and randomly divided into three groups and pretest, posttest, and follow-up (three months) for the three groups had been done.The dimensions of quality of life in patients with multiple sclerosis scale, and general self-efficiency scale of Schwarzer and Jerusalem was used for collecting data. The results showed that there was a significant difference between the mean of quality of life scores at pretest, posttest, and follow-up of the experimental groups. There was no significant difference between the mean of quality of life of the experimental groups which means that both groups were effective and had the same effect. There was no significant difference between the mean of self-efficiency scores in control and experimental group in pretest, posttest and follow-up. Thus, by using cognitive and supportive-expressive group therapy we can improve quality of life in MS patients and make great strides in their mental health.

Keywords: cognitive group therapy, life style, MS, self-efficiency, supportive-expressive group therapy

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