Search results for: user satisfaction

Authors: Ahmad Alsolami, Darren Mundy, Manuel Hernandez-Perez

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Social media networks, such as Twitter, offer the perfect opportunity to either positively or negatively affect political attitudes on large audiences. The existence of influential users who have developed a reputation for their knowledge and experience of specific topics is a major factor contributing to this impact. Therefore, knowledge of the mechanisms to identify influential users on social media is vital for understanding their effect on their audience. The concept of the influential user is related to the concept of opinion leaders' to indicate that ideas first flow from mass media to opinion leaders and then to the rest of the population. Hence, the objective of this research was to provide reliable and accurate structural mechanisms to identify influential users, which could be applied to different platforms, places, and subjects. Twitter was selected as the platform of interest, and Saudi Arabia as the context for the investigation. These were selected because Saudi Arabia has a large number of Twitter users, some of whom are considerably active in setting agendas and disseminating ideas. The study considered the scientific methods that have been used to identify public opinion leaders before, utilizing metrics software on Twitter. The key findings propose multiple novel metrics to compare Twitter influencers, including the number of followers, social authority and the use of political hashtags, and four secondary filtering measures. Thus, using ratio and percentage calculations to classify the most influential users, Twitter accounts were filtered, analyzed and included. The structured approach is used as a mechanism to explore the top ten influencers on Twitter from the political domain in Saudi Arabia.

Keywords: Twitter, influencers, structured mechanism, Saudi Arabia

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Authors: Zarabizan Zakaria, Syuhaida Ismail, Aminah Md. Yusof

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Project management process starts from the planning stage up to the stage of completion (handover of buildings, preparation of the final accounts and the closing balance). This process is not easy to implement efficiently and effectively. The issue of delays in construction is a major problem for construction projects. These delays have been blamed mainly on inefficient traditional construction practices that continue to dominate the current industry. This is due to several factors, such as environments of construction technology, sophisticated design and customer demands that are constantly changing and influencing, either directly or indirectly, the practice of management. Among the identified influences are physical environment, social environment, information environment, political and moral atmosphere. Therefore, this paper is emerged to determine the problem and issues in the final account closing in construction projects, and it establishes the need to embrace Supply Chain Management (SCM) and then elucidates the need and strategies for the development of a delay reduction framework. At the same time, this paper provides effective measures to avoid or at least reduce the delay to the optimum level. Allowing problems in the closure declaration to occur without proper monitoring and control can leave negative impact on the cost and time of delivery to the end user. Besides, it can also affect the reputation or image of the agency/department that manages the implementation of a contract and consequently may reduce customer's trust towards the agencies/departments. It is anticipated that the findings reported in this paper could address root delay contributors and apply SCM tools for their mitigation for the better development of construction project.

Keywords: final account closing, construction project, construction delay, supply chain management

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Authors: Alaa Sarhan, Rania Abd El Gelil, Hana Awad

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Through the last decades, the impact of thermal comfort on the working performance of users and occupants of an indoor space has been a concern. Research papers concluded that natural ventilation quality directly impacts the levels of thermal comfort. Natural ventilation must be put into account during the design process in order to improve the inhabitant's efficiency and productivity. One example of daily long-term occupancy spaces is educational facilities. Many individuals spend long times receiving a considerable amount of knowledge, and it takes additional time to apply this knowledge. Thus, this research is concerned with user's level of thermal comfort in design studios of educational facilities. The natural ventilation quality in spaces is affected by a number of parameters including orientation, opening design, and many other factors. This research aims to investigate the conscious manipulation of the physical parameters of the spaces and its impact on natural ventilation performance which subsequently affects thermal comfort of users. The current research uses inductive and deductive methods to define natural ventilation design considerations, which are used in a field study in a studio in the university building in Alexandria (AAST) to evaluate natural ventilation performance through analyzing and comparing the current case to the developed framework and conducting computational fluid dynamics simulation. Results have proved that natural ventilation performance is successful by only 50% of the natural ventilation design framework; these results are supported by CFD simulation.

Keywords: educational buildings, natural ventilation, , mediterranean climate, thermal comfort

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Authors: Ching-Yuan Chen, Lung-Kwang Pan

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Objective: Back pain is a major health problem costing billions of health budgets annually in Taiwan. Thousands of back pain surgeries are performed annually with up to 40% of patients complaining of back pain at time of post-surgery causing failed back surgery syndrome (FBSS), although diagnosis in these patients may be complex. The aim of study is to assess the feasibility of using bone SPECT-CT imaging to localize the active lesions causing persistent, recurrent or new backache after spine surgery. Materials and Methods: Bone SPECT-CT imaging was performed after the intravenous injection of 20 mCi of 99mTc-MDP for all the patients with diagnosis of FBSS. Patients were evaluated using status of subjectively pain relief, functional improvement and degree of satisfaction by reviewing the medical records and questionnaires in a 2 more years’ follow-up. Results: We enrolled a total of 16 patients were surveyed in our hospital from Jan. 2015 to Dec. 2016. Four people on SPEC/CT imaging ensured significant lesions were undergone a revised surgery (surgical treatment group). The mean visual analogue scale (VAS) decreased 5.3 points and mean Oswestry disability index (ODI) improved 38 points in the surgical group. The remaining 12 on SPECT/CT imaging were diagnosed as no significant lesions then received drug treatment (medical treatment group). The mean VAS only decreased 2 .1 point and mean ODI improved 12.6 points in the medical treatment group. In the posttherapeutic evaluation, the pain of the surgical treatment group showed a satisfactory improvement. In the medical treatment group, 10 of the 12 were also satisfied with the symptom relief while the other 2 did not improve significantly. Conclusions: Findings on SPECT-CT imaging appears to be easily explained the patients' pain. We recommended that SPECT/CT imaging was a feasible and useful clinical tool to improve diagnostic confidence or specificity when evaluating patients with FBSS.

Keywords: failed back surgery syndrome, oswestry disability index, SPECT-CT imaging, 99mTc-MDP, visual analogue scale

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Authors: Lanka Dinushke Weerasiri, Subrat Das, Daniel Fabijanic, William Yang

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Fluidization at vacuum pressure has been a topic that is of growing research interest. Several industrial applications (such as drying, extractive metallurgy, and chemical vapor deposition (CVD)) can potentially take advantage of vacuum pressure fluidization. Particularly, the fine chemical industry requires processing under safe conditions for thermolabile substances, and reduced pressure fluidized beds offer an alternative. Fluidized beds under vacuum conditions provide optimal conditions for treatment of granular materials where the reduced gas pressure maintains an operational environment outside of flammability conditions. The fluidization at low-pressure is markedly different from the usual gas flow patterns of atmospheric fluidization. The different flow regimes can be characterized by the dimensionless Knudsen number. Nevertheless, hydrodynamics of bubbling vacuum fluidized beds has not been investigated to author’s best knowledge. In this work, the two-fluid numerical method was used to determine the impact of reduced pressure on the fundamental properties of a fluidized bed. The slip flow model implemented by Ansys Fluent User Defined Functions (UDF) was used to determine the interphase momentum exchange coefficient. A wide range of operating pressures was investigated (1.01, 0.5, 0.25, 0.1 and 0.03 Bar). The gas was supplied by a uniform inlet at 1.5U_mf and 2U_mf. The predicted minimum fluidization velocity (U_mf) shows excellent agreement with the experimental data. The results show that the operating pressure has a notable impact on the bed properties and its hydrodynamics. Furthermore, it also shows that the existing Gorosko correlation that predicts bed expansion is not applicable under reduced pressure conditions.

Keywords: computational fluid dynamics, fluidized bed, gas-solid flow, vacuum pressure, slip flow, minimum fluidization velocity

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Authors: Kate N. Okeke

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The ever-growing needs of man requiring satisfaction have pushed him strongly towards industrialization which has and is still leaving environmental degradation and its attendant negative impacts in its wake. It is, therefore, not surprising that the enjoyment of fundamental rights like food supply, security of lives and property, freedom of worship, health and education have been drastically affected by such degradation. In recognition of the imperative need to protect the environment and human rights, many global instruments and constitutions have recognized the right to a healthy and sustainable environment. Some environmental advocates and quite a number of literatures on the subject matter call for the recognition of environmental rights via rule of law as a vital means of achieving positive outcomes on the subject matter. However, although there are numerous countries with constitutional environmental provisions, most of them such as Nigeria, have shown poor environmental performance. A notable problem is the fact that the constitution which recognizes environmental rights appears in its other provisions to contradict its provisions by making enforceability of the environmental rights unattainable. While adopting a descriptive, analytical, comparative and explanatory study design in reviewing a successful positive environmental outcome via the rule of law, this article argues that rule of law on a balance of scale, weighs more than just environmental rights recognition and therefore should receive more attention by environmental lawyers and advocates. This is because with rule of law, members of a society are sure of getting the most out of the environmental rights existing in their legal system. Members of Niger-Delta communities of Nigeria will benefit from the environmental rights existing in Nigeria. They are exposed to environmental degradation and pollution with effects such as acidic rainfall, pollution of farmlands and clean water sources. These and many more are consequences of oil and gas exploration. It will also pave way for solving the violence between cattle herdsmen and farmers in the Middle Belt and other regions of Nigeria. Their clashes are over natural resource control. Having seen that environmental rule of law is vital to sustainable development, this paper aims to contribute to discussions on how best the vehicle of rule law can be driven towards achieving positive environmental outcomes. This will be in reliance on other enforceable provisions in the Nigerian Constitution. Other domesticated international instruments will also be considered to attain sustainable environment and development.

Keywords: environment, rule of law, constitution, sustainability

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Authors: Phyo Kyaw Kyaw

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In the Yangon urban landscape, one could not help, but notice old buildings from the colonial period along with condominium developments recently, and many walk-up apartment buildings to accommodate the urbanization, growing population and social-economic status of Myanmar people. Walk-up apartments were built and popular after the British colonial period (around 1950s) and are still built up to today due to its cost-effectiveness and to accommodate low to mid-income residents in the metropolitan Yangon. Approximately 90% of apartment buildings are walk-up apartments. The common impression of walk-up apartments in Yangon appears to be old rectangular box shape, homogenous envelope and limited square feet dull interior small space. In other words, the buildings are full of constraints, lack of good user experiences, and they are not well-fitted in the modern days. Therefore, the resident suffers consequently many years, some may live in the apartment their entire lives. Thousands of people living in the walk-up apartment on a daily basis are being shaped by the space and its inadequate quality of living. Can it be called “Home” by the dwellers or is the place a temporary shelter?. Online semi-structured interviews of 15 apartments’ residents and online questionnaire surveys of 70 apartment residents are conducted. This research aims to explore what makes “Home” “A sense of Home” for walk-up apartment users in Yangon, Myanmar by studying subjective responses shaped by the interior and experience of the spaces in apartment to understand the perception of the residents and improve the quality of living. The result reflects the priority level of important factors in relation to the sense of home framework.

Keywords: home, living quality, space, perception, residents, walk-up apartment, Yangon

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Authors: Naghmeh Zamani, Ashkan Pourkand, David Grow

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This paper presents the design and mechanical model of a hybrid impedance/admittance haptic device optimized for applications, like bone drilling, spinal awl probe use, and other surgical techniques were high force is required in the tool-axial direction, and low impedance is needed in all other directions. The performance levels required cannot be satisfied by existing, off-the-shelf haptic devices. This design may allow critical improvements in simulator fidelity for surgery training. The device consists primarily of two low-mass (carbon fiber) plates with a rod passing through them. Collectively, the device provides 6 DOF. The rod slides through a bushing in the top plate and it is connected to the bottom plate with a universal joint, constrained to move in only 2 DOF, allowing axial torque display the user’s hand. The two parallel plates are actuated and located by means of four cables pulled by motors. The forward kinematic equations are derived to ensure that the plates orientation remains constant. The corresponding equations are solved using the Newton-Raphson method. The static force/torque equations are also presented. Finally, we present the predicted distribution of location error, cables velocity, cable tension, force and torque for the device. These results and preliminary hardware fabrication indicate that this design may provide a revolutionary approach for haptic display of many surgical procedures by means of an architecture that allows arbitrary workspace scaling. Scaling of the height and width can be scaled arbitrarily.

Keywords: cable direct driven robot, haptics, parallel plates, bone drilling

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Authors: Abeer K. Jameel, Harry Evdorides

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The Assessment of the road safety performance is a challengeable issue. This is not only because of the ineffective and unreliability of road and traffic crash data system but also because of its systematic character. Recent strategic plans and interventions implemented in some of the developed countries where a significant decline in the rate of traffic and road crashes considers that the road safety is a system. This system consists of four main elements which are: road user, road infrastructure, vehicles and speed in addition to other supporting elements such as the institutional framework and post-crash care system. To assess the performance of a system, it is required to assess all its elements. To present an understandable results of the assessment, it is required to present a unique term representing the performance of the overall system. This paper aims to develop an overall performance indicator which may be used to assess the road safety system. The variables of this indicators are the main elements of the road safety system. The data regarding these variables will be collected from the World Health Organization report. Multi-criteria analysis method is used to aggregate the four sub-indicators for the four variables. Two weighting methods will be assumed, equal weights and different weights. For the different weights method, the factor analysis method is used. The weights then will be converting to scores. The total score will be the overall indicator for the road safety performance in a national scale. This indicator will be used to compare and rank countries according to their road safety performance indicator. The country with the higher score is the country which provides most sustainable and effective interventions for successful road safety system. These indicator will be tested by comparing them with the aggregate real crash rate for each country.

Keywords: factor analysis, Multi-criteria analysis, road safety assessment, safe system indicator

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Authors: Mirjana Ilic, Dragan Zivotic, Aleksandra Perovic, Predrag Gavrilovic

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The service quality perception depends on many factors, such as the area in which the services are provided, socioeconomic status, educational status, experience, age and gender of consumers, as well as many others. For this reason, it is not possible to apply instrument for establishing the service quality perception that is developed in other areas and in other populations. The aim of the research was to form an instrument for assessing the quality perception in the field of fitness in Serbia. After analyzing the available literature and conducting a pilot research, there were 15 isolated areas in which it was possible to observe the service quality perception. The areas included: material and technical basis, secondary facilities, coaches, programs, reliability, credibility, security, rapid response, compassion, communication, prices, satisfaction, loyalty, quality outcomes and motives. These areas were covered by a questionnaire consisted of 100 items where the number of items varied from area to area from 3 up to 11. The questionnaire was administered to 350 subjects of both genders (174 men and 176 women) aged from 18 to 68 years, being beneficiaries of fitness services for at least 1 year. In each of the areas was conducted a factor analysis in its exploratory form by principal components method. The number of significant factors has been determined in accordance with the Kaiser Guttman criterion. The initial factor solutions were simplified using the Varimax rotation. Analyses per areas have produced from 1 to 4 factors. Afterward, the factor analysis of factor scores on the first principal component of each of the respondents in each of the analyzed area was performed, and the factor structure was obtained with four latent dimensions interpreted as offer, the relationship with the coaches, the experience of quality and the initial impression. This factor structure was analysed by hierarchical analysis of Oblique factors, which in the second order space produced single factor interpreted as a general factor of the service quality perception. The resulting questionnaire represents an instrument which can serve managers in the field of fitness to optimize the centers development, raising the quality of services in line with consumers needs and expectations.

Keywords: fitness, hierarchical model, quality perception, factor analysis

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Authors: Monojit Manna, Arpan Adhikary

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In Mobile cloud sensing across the globe, an emerging paradigm is selected by the user to compute sensing tasks. In urban cities current days, Mobile vehicles are adapted to perform the task of data sensing and data collection for universality and mobility. In this work, we focused on the optimality and mobile nodes that can be selected in order to collect the maximum amount of data from urban areas and fulfill the required data in the future period within a couple of minutes. We map out the requirement of the vehicle to configure the maximum data optimization problem and budget. The Application implementation is basically set up to generalize a realistic online platform in which real-time vehicles are moving apparently in a continuous manner. The data center has the authority to select a set of vehicles immediately. A deep learning-based scheme with the help of mobile vehicles (DLMV) will be proposed to collect sensing data from the urban environment. From the future time perspective, this work proposed a deep learning-based offline algorithm to predict mobility. Therefore, we proposed a greedy approach applying an online algorithm step into a subset of vehicles for an NP-complete problem with a limited budget. Real dataset experimental extensive evaluations are conducted for the real mobility dataset in Rome. The result of the experiment not only fulfills the efficiency of our proposed solution but also proves the validity of DLMV and improves the quantity of collecting the sensing data compared with other algorithms.

Keywords: mobile crowdsensing, deep learning, vehicle recruitment, sensing coverage, data collection

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Authors: Sandhya Rao

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Kevin Lynch’s Theory on Imeageability, let on explore a city in terms of five elements, Nodes, Paths, Edges, landmarks and Districts. What happens when we try to record the same data in an Indian context? What happens when we apply the same theory of Imageability to a complex shifting urban pattern of the Indian cities and how can we as Urban Designers demonstrate our role in the image building ordeal of these cities? The organizational patterns formed through mental images, of an Indian city is often diverse and intangible. It is also multi layered and temporary in terms of the spirit of the place. The pattern of images formed is loaded with associative meaning and intrinsically linked with the history and socio-cultural dominance of the place. The embedded memory of a place in one’s mind often plays an even more important role while formulating these images. Thus while deriving an image of a city one is often confused or finds the result chaotic. The images formed due to its complexity are further difficult to represent using a single medium. Under such a scenario it’s difficult to derive an output of an image constructed as well as make design interventions to enhance the legibility of a place. However, there can be a combination of tools and methods that allows one to record the key elements of a place through time, space and one’s user interface with the place. There has to be a clear understanding of the participant groups of a place and their time and period of engagement with the place as well. How we can translate the result obtained into a design intervention at the end, is the main of the research. Could a multi-faceted cognitive mapping be an answer to this or could it be a very transient mapping method which can change over time, place and person. How does the context influence the process of image building in one’s mind? These are the key questions that this research will aim to answer.

Keywords: imageability, organizational patterns, legibility, cognitive mapping

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Authors: Muhammad Yahaya Ubale

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Substantial rate of urbanization as well as economic growth is the tasks and prospects of sustainability. Objectives of the paper are: to ascertain the fate of sustainability in urbanized cities and; to identify the challenges of land use array in urbanized cities. Methodology engaged in this paper employed the use of secondary data where articles, conference proceedings, seminar papers and literature materials were effectively used. The paper established the fact that while one thinks globally, it is reciprocal to act locally if at all sustainability should be achieved. The speed and scale of urbanization must be equal to natural and cost-effective deliberations. It also discovered a podium that allows a city to work together as an ideal conglomerate, engaging all city departments as a source of services, engaging residents, businesses, and contractors. It also revealed that city should act as a leader and partner within an urban region, engaging senior government officials, utilities, rural settlements, private sector stakeholders, NGOs, and academia. Cities should assimilate infrastructure system design and management to enhance efficiency of resource flows in an urban area. They should also coordinate spatial development; integrate urban forms and urban flows, combine land use, urban design, urban density, and other spatial attributes with infrastructural development. Finally, by 2050, urbanized cities alone could be consuming 140 billion tons of minerals, ores, fossil fuels and biomass annually (three times its current rate of consumption), sustainability can be accomplished through land use control, limited access to finite resources, facilities, utilities and services as well as property right and user charge.

Keywords: sustainability, land use array, urbanized cities, fate of sustainability and perseverance

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Authors: Leonore Robieux, Franck Zenasni, Marc Pocard, Clarisse Eveno

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Empirical data in health psychology studies show the necessity to consider the doctor-patient communication and its positive impact on outcomes such as patients’ satisfaction, treatment adherence, physical and psychological wellbeing. In this line, the present research aims to define the role and determinants of an effective doctor–patient communication during the treatment of patients with serious illness (peritoneal carcinomatosis). We carried out a prospective longitudinal study including patients treated for peritoneal carcinomatosis of various origins. From November 2016, to date, data were collected using validated questionnaires at two times of evaluation: one month before the surgery (T0) and one month after (T1). Thus, patients reported their (a) anxiety and depression levels, (b) standardized and individualized quality of life and (c) how they perceived communication, attitude and empathy of the surgeon. 105 volunteer patients (Mean age = 58.18 years, SD = 10.24, 62.2% female) participated to the study. PC arose from rare diseases (14%), colorectal (38%), eso-gastric (24%) and ovarian (8%) cancer. Three groups are defined according to the severity of their pathology and the treatment offered to them: (1) important surgical treatment with the goal of healing (53%), (2) repeated palliative surgical treatment (17%), and (3) the patients recused for surgical treatment, only palliative approach (30%). Results are presented according to Baron and Kenny recommendations. The regressions analyses show that only depression and anxiety are sensitive to the communication and empathy of surgeon. The main results show that a good communication and high level of empathy at T0 and T1 limit depression and anxiety of the patients in T1. Results also indicate that the severity of the disease modulates this positive impact of communication: better is the communication the less are the level of depression and anxiety of the patients. This effect is higher for patients treated for the more severe disease. These results confirm that, even in the case severe disease a good communication between patient and physician remains a significant factor in promoting the well-being of patients. More specific training need to be developed to promote empathic care.

Keywords: clinical empathy, determinants, healthcare, psychological wellbeing

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Authors: Ochuko K. Overen, Golden Makaka, Edson L. Meyer, Sampson Mamphweli

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Low-cost housing provided for people with small incomes in South Africa are characterized by poor thermal performance. This is due to inferior craftsmanship with no regard to energy efficient design during the building process. On average, South African households spend 14% of their total monthly income on energy needs, in particular space heating; which is higher than the international benchmark of 10% for energy poverty. Adopting energy efficient passive solar design strategies and superior thermal building materials can create a stable thermal comfort environment indoors. Thereby, reducing energy consumption for space heating. The aim of this study is to analyse the thermal behaviour of a low-cost house integrated with passive solar design features. A low-cost passive solar house with superstructure fly ash brick walls was designed and constructed in Somerset East, South Africa. Indoor and outdoor meteorological parameters of the house were monitored for a period of one year. The ASTM E741-11 Standard was adopted to perform ventilation test in the house. In summer, the house was found to be thermally comfortable for 66% of the period monitored, while for winter it was about 79%. The ventilation heat flow rate of the windows and doors were found to be 140 J/s and 68 J/s, respectively. Air leakage through cracks and openings in the building envelope was 0.16 m3/m2h with a corresponding ventilation heat flow rate of 24 J/s. The indoor carbon dioxide concentration monitored overnight was found to be 0.248%, which is less than the maximum range limit of 0.500%. The prediction percentage dissatisfaction of the house shows that 86% of the occupants will express the thermal satisfaction of the indoor environment. With a good operation of the house, it can create a well-ventilated, thermal comfortable and nature luminous indoor environment for the occupants. Incorporating passive solar design in low-cost housing can be one of the long and immediate solutions to the energy crisis facing South Africa.

Keywords: energy efficiency, low-cost housing, passive solar design, rural development, thermal comfort

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Authors: Boonrat Plangsorn

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Using ebooks can make not only a meaningful learning and achievement for students, but also can help teacher effectively enhance and improve their teaching. Nowadays, teachers try to develop ebooks for their class but it does not success in some cases because they do not have clear understanding on how to design, develop, and using ebooks that align with their teaching and learning objectives. Thus, the processes of using, designing, and producing ebooks have become one of important competency for teacher because it will enhance teacher’s knowledge for ebooks production. The purposes of this research were: (1) to develop the competency of producing and using ebooks of teachers in Chachengsao and (2) to promote the using ebooks of teachers in Chachengsao. The research procedures were divided into four phases. Phase I (study components and process of the designing and development of ebooks) was an interview in which the qualitative data were collected from five experts in instructional media. Phase II (develop teachers’ competency of producing ebooks) was a workshop for 28 teachers in Chachengsao. Phase III (study teachers’ using ebooks) was an interview in which the qualitative data were collected from seven teachers. Phase IV (study teachers’ using ebooks) was an interview in which the qualitative data were collected from six teachers. The research findings were as follows: 1. The components of ebooks comprised three components: ebooks structure, multimedia, and hyperlink. The eleven processes of design ebooks for education included (1) analyze the ebooks objective, (2) analyze learner characteristics, (3) set objective, (4) set learning content, (5) learner’s motivation, (6) design and construct activity, (7) design hyperlink, (8) produce script and storyboard, (9) confirm storyboard by expert, (10) develop ebooks, and (11) evaluate ebooks. 2. The evaluation of designing and development of ebooks for teacher workshop revealed the participants’ highest satisfaction (M = 4.65). 3. The teachers’ application of ebooks were found that obstacles of producing an ebooks: Time period of producing ebooks, a readiness of school resources, and small teacher network of producing and using ebooks. The result of using ebooks was students’ motivation. 4. The teachers’ ebooks utilization through educational research network of teacher in Chachengsao revealed that the characteristic of ebooks consist of picture, multimedia, voice, music, video, and hyperlink. The application of ebooks caused students interested in the contents; enjoy learning, and enthusiastic learning.

Keywords: ebooks, producing ebooks competency, using ebooks competency, educational research network

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Authors: Lauren Benyo Linford, Jared Warren, Jeremy Bekker, Gus Salazar

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In order to accurately identify areas needing improvement and track growth, the availability of valid and reliable measures of different facets of well-being is vital. Because no specific measures currently exist for many facets of well-being, the purpose of this study was to construct and validate measures of the following constructs: Purpose, Values, Mindfulness, Savoring, Gratitude, Optimism, Supportive Relationships, Interconnectedness, Compassion, Community, Contribution, Engaged Living, Personal Growth, Flow Experiences, Self-Compassion, Exercise, Meditation, and an overall measure of subjective well-being—the Survey on Flourishing. In order to assess their psychometric properties, each measure was examined for internal consistency estimates, and items with poor item-test correlations were dropped. Additionally, the convergent validity of the Survey on Flourishing (SURF) was assessed. Total score correlations of SURF and other commonly used measures of well-being such as the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS), The Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS), the PERMA Profiler (measure of Positive Emotion, Engagement, Relationships, Meaning, and Achievement) were examined to establish convergent validity. The Kessler Psychological distress scale (K6) was also included to determine the divergent validity of the SURF measure. Three week test-retest reliability was also assessed for the SURF measure. Additionally, normative data from general population samples was collected for both the Self-Compassion and Survey on Flourishing (SURF) measures. The purpose of this study is to introduce each of these measures, divulge the psychometric findings of this study, as well as explore additional psychometric properties of the SURF measure in particular. This study will highlight how these measures can be used in future research exploring these positive psychology constructs. Additionally, this study will discuss the utility of these measures to guide individuals in their use of the online self-directed, self-administered My Best Self 101 positive psychology resources developed by the researchers. The goal of My Best Self 101 is to disseminate real, research-based measures and tools to individuals who are seeking to increase their well-being.

Keywords: measurement, psychometrics, test validation, well-Being

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Authors: L. Laurs, A. Blazeviciene, D. Milonas

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Introduction: Nursing as a profession is grounded in moral obligation. Nursing practice is grounded in ethical standards: to not harm, to promote justice, to be accountable, and to provide safe and competent care. The nature of the nurse-patient therapeutic relationship requires acting on the patient's behalf. Moral distress consists of negative stress symptoms that occur in situations that involve ethical situations that the nurse perceives as discordant with their professional values. Aim of the Study: The purpose of this study was to assess links between moral distress of registered nurses and factors related to patient care at the end of their life. Methods and Sample: A descriptive, cross-sectional, correlational design was applied in this study. Registered nurses were recruited from seven municipal multi-profile hospitals providing both general and specialized healthcare services in Lithuania (N=1055). Research instruments included two questionnaires: Obstacles and Facilitating at the End of Life Care and Moral Distress Scale (revised). Results: Spearman’s correlation analysis was performed to assess the relationship between nurses' attitudes towards patient care at the end of life and the experienced moral distress. A statistically significant correlation between moral distress and the following factors related to patient end-of-life care has been identified: conversations with physicians on patient end-of-life problems have a positive impact on job satisfaction; some patients may be excluded from decisions about their treatment and nursing because they are questioned about their ability to assess the situation. These situations increased moral distress. Patient consciousness should not be permanently suppressed by calming medications, and the patient should be provided with all nursing care services and moral distress. Conclusions: The moral distress of nurses is significantly related to the end-of-life care of patients and their determinants: moral distress increased due to lack of discussion with doctors about problem-solving and exclusion of patients from decision-making. And it diminished by refusing calming medications to permanently suppress a patient's consciousness and providing good care for patients.

Keywords: moral distress, registered nurses, end of life, care

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Authors: S. M. Ishtiaque, V. K. Yadav, S. D. Joshi, J. K. Chatterjee

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The DIAMETRIC FAULTS system has been developed that captures a bi-directional image of yarn continuously in sequentially manner and provides the detailed classification of faults. A novel mathematical framework developed on the acquired bi-directional images forms the basis of fault classification in four broad categories, namely, Thick1, Thick2, Thin and Normal Yarn. A discretised version of Radon transformation has been used to convert the bi-directional images into one-dimensional signals. Images were divided into training and test sample sets. Karhunen–Loève Transformation (KLT) basis is computed for the signals from the images in training set for each fault class taking top six highest energy eigen vectors. The fault class of the test image is identified by taking the Euclidean distance of its signal from its projection on the KLT basis for each sample realization and fault class in the training set. Euclidean distance applied using various techniques is used for classifying an unknown fault class. An accuracy of about 90% is achieved in detecting the correct fault class using the various techniques. The four broad fault classes were further sub classified in four sub groups based on the user set boundary limits for fault length and fault volume. The fault cross-sectional area and the fault length defines the total volume of fault. A distinct distribution of faults is found in terms of their volume and physical dimensions which can be used for monitoring the yarn faults. It has been shown from the configurational based characterization and classification that the spun yarn faults arising out of mass variation, exhibit distinct characteristics in terms of their contours, sizes and shapes apart from their frequency of occurrences.

Keywords: Euclidean distance, fault classification, KLT, Radon Transform

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Authors: Swanand Pathak, Kiran R. Giri, Reena R. Giri, Kamlesh Palandurkar, Sangita Totade, Rajesh Jha, S. S. Patel

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Background: Population burden, illiteracy, availability of few doctors for larger group of population leads to many unanswered questions left in a patient’s mind. Incomplete information results into noncompliance, therapeutic failure, and adverse drug reactions (ADR). It is very important to establish a system which will provide noncommercial, independent, unbiased source of medicine information. Medicines Info OPD is a concept and step towards safe and appropriate use of medicines. Objective: (1) to assess the present status of knowledge about the medicines in the patients and its correlation with education; (2) to assess the medicine information dispensing modalities, their use and sufficiency from the patients view point; (3) to assess the overall need for Medicines Information OPD in present scenario. Materials and Methods: A pre-validated questionnaire based study was conducted amongst 500 patients of tertiary health care hospital. The questionnaire consisted of specific questions regarding understanding of prescription, knowledge about adverse drug reaction, view about self-medication and opinion regarding the need of Medicines Info OPD. Results: Significantly large proportion of patients opined that doctors do not have sufficient time in current Indian healthcare to explain the prescription and they are not aware of adverse drug reactions, expiry date or use the package inserts etc. Conclusion: Clinically relevant, up to date, user specific, independent, objective and unbiased Medicines Info OPD is essential for appropriate drug use and can help in a big way to common public to address many problems faced by them.

Keywords: information, prescription, unbiased, clinically relevant

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Authors: Harshit Mittal, Neeraj Garg

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Hand symbol recognition is a pivotal component in the domain of computer vision, with far-reaching applications spanning sign language interpretation, human-computer interaction, and accessibility. This research paper discusses the approach with the integration of the Canny Edge algorithm and convolutional neural network. The significance of this study lies in its potential to enhance communication and accessibility for individuals with hearing impairments or those engaged in gesture-based interactions with technology. In the experiment mentioned, the data is manually collected by the authors from the webcam using Python codes, to increase the dataset augmentation, is applied to original images, which makes the model more compatible and advanced. Further, the dataset of about 6000 coloured images distributed equally in 5 classes (i.e., 1, 2, 3, 4, 5) are pre-processed first to gray images and then by the Canny Edge algorithm with threshold 1 and 2 as 150 each. After successful data building, this data is trained on the Convolutional Neural Network model, giving accuracy: 0.97834, precision: 0.97841, recall: 0.9783, and F1 score: 0.97832. For user purposes, a block of codes is built in Python to enable a window for hand symbol recognition. This research, at its core, seeks to advance the field of computer vision by providing an advanced perspective on hand sign recognition. By leveraging the capabilities of the Canny Edge algorithm and convolutional neural network, this study contributes to the ongoing efforts to create more accurate, efficient, and accessible solutions for individuals with diverse communication needs.

Keywords: hand symbol recognition, computer vision, Canny edge algorithm, convolutional neural network

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Authors: A. A. Sadia, A. Emdad, E. Hossain

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The increasing importance of mushrooms as a source of nutrition, health benefits, and even potential cancer treatment has raised awareness of the impact of climate-sensitive variables on their cultivation. Factors like temperature, relative humidity, air quality, and substrate composition play pivotal roles in shaping mushroom growth, especially in Bangladesh. Oyster mushrooms, a commonly cultivated variety in this region, are particularly vulnerable to climate fluctuations. This research explores the climatic dynamics affecting oyster mushroom cultivation and, presents an approach to address these challenges and provides tangible solutions to fortify the agro-economy, ensure food security, and promote the sustainability of this crucial food source. Using climate and production data, this study evaluates the performance of three clustering algorithms -KMeans, OPTICS, and BIRCH- based on various quality metrics. While each algorithm demonstrates specific strengths, the findings provide insights into their effectiveness for this specific dataset. The results yield essential information, pinpointing the optimal temperature range of 13°C-22°C, the unfavorable temperature threshold of 28°C and above, and the ideal relative humidity range of 75-85% with the suitable production regions in three different seasons: Kharif-1, 2, and Robi. Additionally, a user-friendly web application is developed to support mushroom farmers in making well-informed decisions about their cultivation practices. This platform offers valuable insights into the most advantageous periods for oyster mushroom farming, with the overarching goal of enhancing the efficiency and profitability of mushroom farming.

Keywords: climate variability, mushroom cultivation, clustering techniques, food security, sustainability, web-application

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Authors: Mehrnoosh Mirzaei

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Children are among the most vulnerable at the occurrence of natural disasters such as earthquakes. Most of the management and measures which are considered for both before and during an earthquake are neither suitable nor efficient for this age group and cannot be applied. On the other hand, due to their age, it is hard to educate and train children to learn and understand the concept of earthquake risk mitigation as matters like earthquake prevention and safe places during an earthquake are not easily perceived. To our knowledge, children’s awareness of such concepts via their own world with the help of games is the best training method in this case. In this article, the researcher has tried to consider the child an active element before and during the earthquake. With training, provided by adults before the incidence of an earthquake, the child has the ability to learn disaster risk reduction (DRR). The focus of this research is on learning risk reduction behavior and regarding children as an individual element. The information of this article has been gathered from library resources, observations and the drawings of 10 children aged 5 whose subject was their conceptual definition of an earthquake who were asked to illustrate their conceptual definition of an earthquake; the results of 20 questionnaires filled in by preschoolers along with information gathered by interviewing them. The design of the suitable educational game, appropriate for the needs of this age group, has been made based on the theory of design with help of the user and the priority of children’s learning needs. The final result is a package of a game which is comprised of a learning table and matching cards showing sign marks for safe and unsafe places which introduce the safe behaviors and safe locations before and during the earthquake. These educational games can be used both in group contexts in kindergartens and on an individual basis at home, and they help in earthquake risk reduction.

Keywords: disaster education, earthquake sign marks, learning table, matching card, risk reduction behavior

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Authors: Anna Ching-Yu Wong

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This study aims to identify the quality and effectiveness of the adult programs provided by the public library using the ServQUAL Method and the National Library Public Programs Assessment guidelines (NIPPA, June 2019). ServQUAl covers several variables, namely: tangible, reliability, responsiveness, assurance, and empathy. NIPPA guidelines focus on program characteristics, particularly on the outcomes – the level of satisfaction from program participants. The reached populations were adults who participated in library adult programs at a small-town public library in Kansas. This study was designed as quantitative evaluative research which analyzed the quality and effectiveness of the library adult programs by analyzing the role of each factor based on ServQUAL and the NIPPA's library program assessment guidelines. Data were collected from November 2019 to January 2020 using a questionnaire with a Likert Scale. The data obtained were analyzed in a descriptive quantitative manner. The impact of this research can provide information about the quality and effectiveness of existing programs and can be used as input to develop strategies for developing future adult programs. Overall the result of ServQUAL measurement is in very good quality, but still, areas need improvement and emphasis in each variable: Tangible Variables still need improvement in indicators of the temperature and space of the meeting room. Reliability Variable still needs improvement in the timely delivery of the programs. Responsiveness Variable still needs improvement in terms of the ability of the presenters to convey trust and confidence from participants. Assurance Variables still need improvement in the indicator of knowledge and skills of program presenters. Empathy Variable still needs improvement in terms of the presenters' willingness to provide extra assistance. The result of program outcomes measurement based on NIPPA guidelines is very positive. Over 96% of participants indicated that the programs were informative and fun. They learned new knowledge and new skills and would recommend the programs to their friends and families. They believed that together, the library and participants build stronger and healthier communities.

Keywords: ServQual model, ServQual in public libraries, library program assessment, NIPPA library programs assessment

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Authors: H. Haryati, A. Nor Azura

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Over the turn of the century, the advertising landscape has evolved significantly, from print media to digital media. In line with the shift to the advanced science and technology dramatically shake the framework of societies Fifth Industrial Revolution (IR5.0), technological endeavors have increased exponentially, which influenced user interaction more inspiring through online advertising that intentionally leads to buying behavior. Users are more accustomed to interactive content that responds to their actions. Thus, immersive experience has transformed into a new engagement experience To centennials. The purpose of this paper is to investigate pleasure and arousal as the fundamental elements of consumer emotions and affective responses to marketing stimuli. A quasi-experiment procedure will be adopted in the research involving 40 undergraduate students in Nilai, Malaysia. This study employed a 2 (celebrity endorser vs. Social media influencer) X 2 (high and low visual complexity) factorial between-subjects design. Participants will be exposed to a printed version depicting a fashion product endorsed by a celebrity and social media influencers, presented in high and low levels of visual complexity. While the questionnaire will be Distributing during the lab test session is used to control their honesty, real feedback, and responses through the latest Instagram design and engagement. Therefore, the research aims to define the immersive experience on Instagram and the interaction between pleasure and arousal. An advertisement that evokes pleasure and arousal will be likely getting more attention from the target audience. This is one of the few studies comparing the endorses in Instagram advertising. Also, this research extends the existing knowledge about the immersive visual complexity in the context of social media advertising.

Keywords: immersive visual experience, instagram, pleasure, arousal

Procedia PDF Downloads 150

Authors: Emmanuel Mkambankhani, Tiwonge Manda

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Software platform architecture includes system components, their relationships, and design, as well as evolution principles. Software architecture and documentation affect a platform's customizability and openness to external innovators, thus affecting developer productivity. Malawi Point of Care (POC) Electronic Medical Records System (EMRS) follows some architectural design standards, but it lacks third-party innovators and is difficult to customize as compared to CommCare and District Health Information System 2 (DHIS2). Improving software architecture and documentation for the Malawi POC will increase productivity and third-party contributions. A conceptual framework based on Generativity and Boundary Resource Model (BRM) was used to compare the three platforms. Interviews, observations, and document analysis were used to collect primary and secondary data. Themes were found by analyzing qualitative and quantitative data, which led to the following results. Configurable, flexible, and cross-platform software platforms and the availability of interfaces (Boundary Resources) that let internal and external developers interact with the platform's core functionality, hence boosting developer productivity. Furthermore, documentation increases developer productivity, while its absence inhibits the use of resources. The study suggests that the architecture and openness of the Malawi POC EMR software platform will be improved by standardizing web application program interfaces (APIs) and making interfaces that can be changed by the user. In addition, increasing the availability of documentation and training will improve the use of boundary resources, thus improving internal and third-party development productivity.

Keywords: health systems, configurable platforms, software architecture, software documentation, software development productivity

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Authors: Vasile Caunii, Andreea D. Serban, Mihaela Ivancia

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The paper presents a new approach in terms of the circular economy of technologies for feeding and aeration of accumulations and water basins for fish farming and aquaculture. Because fish is and will be one of the main foods on the planet, the use of bio-eco-technologies is a priority for all producers. The technologies proposed in the paper want to reduce by a substantial percentage the costs of operation of ponds and water accumulation, using non-polluting technologies with minimal impact on the environment. The paper proposes two innovative, intelligent systems, fully automated that use a common platform, completely eco-friendly. One system is intended to aerate the water of the fish pond, and the second is intended to feed the fish by dispersing an optimal amount of fodder, depending on population size, age and habits. Both systems use a floating platform, regenerative energy sources, are equipped with intelligent and innovative systems, and in addition to fully automated operation, significantly reduce the costs of aerating water accumulations (natural or artificial) and feeding fish. The intelligent system used for feeding, in addition, to reduce operating costs, optimizes the amount of food, thus preventing water pollution and the development of bacteria, microorganisms. The advantages of the systems are: increasing the yield of fish production, these are green installations, with zero pollutant emissions, can be arranged anywhere on the water surface, depending on the user's needs, can operate autonomously or remotely controlled, if there is a component failure, the system provides the operator with accurate data on the issue, significantly reducing maintenance costs, transmit data about the water physical and chemical parameters.

Keywords: bio-eco-technologies, economy, environment, fish

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Authors: G. C. Almiranez, J. Mercado, L. U. Aumentado, J. M. Mahaguay, J. P. Cruz, M. L. Saballe

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This research project focused on the development of an application that aids the university administrators to establish an efficient and effective system in managing faculty attendance and discourage unnecessary absences. The Faculty Attendance Management System (FAMS) is a web based and mobile application which is proven to be efficient and effective in handling and recording data, generating updated reports and analytics needed in managing faculty attendance. The FAMS can facilitate not only a convenient and faster way of gathering and recording of data but it can also provide data analytics, immediate feedback system mechanism and analysis. The software database architecture uses MySQL for web based and SQLite for mobile applications. The system includes different modules that capture daily attendance of faculty members, generate faculty attendance reports and analytics, absences notification system for faculty members, chairperson and dean regarding absences, and immediate communication system concerning the absences incurred. Quantitative and qualitative evaluation showed that the system satisfactory meet the stakeholder’s requirements. The functionality, usability, reliability, performance, and security all turned out to be above average. System testing, integration testing and user acceptance testing had been conducted. Results showed that the system performed very satisfactory and functions as designed. Performance of the system is also affected by Internet infrastructure or connectivity of the university. The faculty analytics generated from the system may not only be used by Deans and Chairperson in their evaluation of faculty performance but as well as the individual faculty to increase awareness on their attendance in class. Hence, the system facilitates effective communication between system stakeholders through FAMS feedback mechanism and up to date posting of information.

Keywords: faculty attendance management system, MySQL, SQLite, FAMS, analytics

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Authors: Hossam Ali-Hassan, Michael Bliemel

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This poster reflects upon our experiences using INNOV8, IBM’s Business Process Management (BPM) simulation game, in online MBA and undergraduate MIS classes over a period of 2 years. The game is designed to gives both business and information technology players a better understanding of how effective BPM impacts an entire business ecosystem. The game includes three different scenarios: Smarter Traffic, which is used to evaluate existing traffic patterns and re-route traffic based on incoming metrics; Smarter Customer Service where players develop more efficient ways to respond to customers in a call centre environment; and Smarter Supply Chains where players balance supply and demand and reduce environmental impact in a traditional supply chain model. We use the game as an experiential learning tool, where students have to act as managers making real time changes to business processes to meet changing business demands and environments. The students learn how information technology (IT) and information systems (IS) can be used to intelligently solve different problems and how computer simulations can be used to test different scenarios or models based on business decisions without having to actually make the potentially costly and/or disruptive changes to business processes. Moreover, when students play the three different scenarios, they quickly see how practical process improvements can help meet profitability, customer satisfaction and environmental goals while addressing real problems faced by municipalities and businesses today. After spending approximately two hours in the game, students reflect on their experience from it to apply several BPM principles that were presented in their textbook through the use of a structured set of assignment questions. For each final scenario students submit a screenshot of their solution followed by one paragraph explaining what criteria you were trying to optimize, and why they picked their input variables. In this poster we outline the course and the module’s learning objectives where we used the game to place this into context. We illustrate key features of the INNOV8 Simulation Game, and describe how we used them to reinforce theoretical concepts. The poster will also illustrate examples from the simulation, assignment, and learning outcomes.

Keywords: experiential learning, business process management, BPM, INNOV8, simulation, game

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Authors: Michelle R. Sullivan

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Positive romantic relationships and marriages offer a buffer against a host of physical and emotional difficulties. Conversely, poor relationship quality and marital discord can have deleterious consequences for individuals and families. Research has described non-monogamy, infidelity, and consensual non-monogamy, as both consequential and causal of relationship difficulty, or as a unique way a couple strives to make a relationship work. Much research on consensual non-monogamy has built on feminist theory and critique. To the author’s best knowledge, to date, no studies have examined the predictive relationship between individual and relationship characteristics and expectations of non-monogamy. The current longitudinal study: 1) estimated the prevalence of expectations of partner non-monogamy and 2) evaluated whether gender, sexual identity, age, education, how a couple met, and relationship quality were predictive expectations of partner non-monogamy. This study utilized the publically available longitudinal dataset, How Couples Meet and Stay Together. Adults aged 18- to 98-years old (n=4002) were surveyed by phone over 5 waves from 2009-2014. Demographics and how a couple met were gathered through self-report in Wave 1, and relationship quality and expectations of partner non-monogamy were gathered through self-report in Waves 4 and 5 (n=1047). The prevalence of expectations of partner non-monogamy (encompassing both infidelity and consensual non-monogamy) was 4.8%. Logistic regression models indicated that sexual identity, gender, education, and relationship quality were significantly predictive of expectations of partner non-monogamy. Specifically, male gender, lower education, identifying as lesbian, gay, or bisexual, and a lower relationship quality scores were predictive of expectations of partner non-monogamy. Male gender was not predictive of expectations of partner non-monogamy in the follow up logistic regression model. Age and whether a couple met online were not associated with expectations of partner non-monogamy. Clinical implications include awareness of the increased likelihood of lesbian, gay, and bisexual individuals to have an expectation of non-monogamy and the sequelae of relationship dissatisfaction that may be related. Future research directions could differentiate between non-monogamy subtypes and the person and relationship variables that lead to the likelihood of consensual non-monogamy and infidelity as separate constructs, as well as explore the relationship between predicting partner behavior and actual partner behavioral outcomes.

Keywords: open relationship, polyamory, infidelity, relationship satisfaction

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