Search results for: long term care

Authors: Danielle Klassen, Reiko Yeap, Margo Schmitt-Boshnick, Scott Oddie

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The development of the 7-week Alberta Happiness Basics program was initiated in 2010 in response to the need for community mental health programming. This provincial wide program aims to increase overall happiness and reduce negative thoughts and feelings through a positive psychology intervention. While the 7-week program has proven effective, a shortened 4-week program has additionally been developed to address client needs. In this study, participants were interviewed to determine if the 4- and 7-week programs had similar success of producing lasting behavior change at 3, 6, and 9 months post-program. A health quality of life (HQOL) measure was also used to compare the two programs and examine patient outcomes. Quantitative and qualitative analysis showed significant improvements in HQOL and sustainable behavior change for both programs. Findings indicate that the shorter, patient-centered program was effective in increasing happiness and reducing negative thoughts and feelings.

Keywords: Primary care, mental health, depression, short duration.

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Authors: Y. A. Chan, H. J. Liu, K. C. Tseng, T. C. Kuo

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Green propellants used for satellite-level propulsion system become attractive in recent years because the non-toxicity and lower requirements of safety protection. One of the green propellants, high-concentration hydrogen peroxide H2O2 solution (≥70% w/w, weight concentration percentage), often known as high-test peroxide (HTP), is considered because it is ITAR-free, easy to manufacture and the operating temperature is lower than traditional monopropellant propulsion. To establish satellite propulsion technology, the National Space Organization (NSPO) in Taiwan has initialized a long-term cooperation project with the National Cheng Kung University to develop compatible tank and thruster. An experimental propulsion payload has been allocated for the future self-reliant satellite to perform orbit transfer and maintenance operations. In the present research, an 1-Newton thruster prototype is designed and the thrusting force is measured by a pendulum-type platform. The preliminary hot-firing test at ambient environment showed the generated thrust and the specific impulse are about 0.7 Newton and 102 seconds, respectively.

Keywords: Hydrogen peroxide, propulsion, RCS, satellite.

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Authors: Ingy N. Bkrey, Ahmed A. Moniem

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We succeeded to produce a high performance and flexible graphene/Manganese dioxide (G/MnO₂) electrode coated on flexible polyethylene terephthalate (PET) substrate. The graphene film is initially synthesized by drop-casting the graphene oxide (GO) solution on the PET substrate, followed by simultaneous reduction and patterning of the dried film using carbon dioxide (CO₂) laser beam with power of 1.8 W. Potentiostatic Anodic Deposition method was used to deposit thin film of MnO₂ with different loading mass 10 – 50 and 100 μg.cm^-2 on the pre-prepared graphene film. The electrodes were fully characterized in terms of structure, morphology, and electrochemical performance. A maximum specific capacitance of 973 F.g^-1 was attributed when depositing 50μg.cm^-2 MnO₂ on the laser reduced graphene oxide rGO (or G/50MnO₂) and over 92% of its initial capacitance was retained after 1000 cycles. The good electrochemical performance and long-term cycling stability make our proposed approach a promising candidate in the supercapacitor applications.

Keywords: Electrode Deposition, Flexible, Graphene oxide, Graphene, High Power CO2 Laser, MnO2.

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Authors: Hamoud Al-Hadrami, Hossein Emadi, Athar Hussain

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Green hydrogen is quickly emerging as a new source of the renewable energy for the world. Hydrogen production using water electrolysis is deemed as an environmentally friendly and safe source of energy for transportation and other industries. However, storing high volumes of hydrogen seems to be a significant challenge. Abandoned hydrocarbon reservoirs are considered as viable hydrogen storage options because of the availability of the required infrastructure such as wells and surface facilities. However, long-term wellbore integrity in these wells could be a serious challenge. The aim of this research is to investigate the effect of stored hydrogen on the wellbore integrity such as casing cement. The methodology is to experimentally expose hydrogen to wet and dry cement and measure the impact on cement rheological and mechanical properties. Hydrogen reduces the compressive strength of a set cement if it gets in contact with the cement slurry. Also, mixing hydrogen with cement slurry slightly increases its density and rheological properties which need to be considered to have a successful primary cementing operation.

Keywords: Green hydrogen, underground storage, wellbore integrity, cement, compressive strength.

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Authors: Ayedh Alqahtani, Andrew Whyte

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Life Cycle Cost (LCC) is one of the goals and key pillars of the construction management science because it comprises many of the functions and processes necessary, which assist organisations and agencies to achieve their goals. It has therefore become important to design and control assets during their whole life cycle, from the design and planning phase through to disposal phase. LCCA is aimed to improve the decision making system in the ownership of assets by taking into account all the cost elements including to the asset throughout its life. Current application of LCC approach is impractical during misunderstanding of the advantages of LCC. This main objective of this research is to show a different relationship between capital cost and long-term running costs. One hundred and thirty eight actual building projects in United Kingdom (UK) were used in order to achieve and measure the above-mentioned objective of the study. The result shown that LCC is one of the most significant tools should be considered on the decision making process.

Keywords: Building projects, Capital cost, Life cycle cost, Maintenance costs, Operation costs.

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Authors: Sherif. S. Nafee, Ameer. K. Al-Ramady, Salem. A. Shaheen

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The analytical prediction of the decay heat results from the fast neutron fission of actinides was initiated under a project, 10-MAT1134-3, funded by king Abdulaziz City of Science and Technology (KASCT), Long-Term Comprehensive National Plan for Science, Technology and Innovations, managed by a team from King Abdulaziz University (KAU), Saudi Arabia, and supervised by Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) has collaborated with KAU's team to assist in the computational analysis. In this paper, the numerical solution of coupled linear differential equations that describe the decays and buildups of minor fission product MFA, has been used to predict the total decay heat and its components from the fast neutron fission of 235U and 239Pu. The reliability of the present approach is illustrated via systematic comparisons with the measurements reported by the University of Tokyo, in YAYOI reactor.

Keywords: Decay heat, fast neutron fission, and Numerical Solution of Linear Differential Equations.

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Authors: Y. Egercioglu, S. Yalciner

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With the development of technology, the growing trend of fast and safe passenger transport, air pollution, traffic congestion, increase in problems such as the increasing population and the high cost of private vehicle usage made many cities around the world with a population of more or less, start to build rail systems as a means of urban transport in order to ensure the economic and environmental sustainability and more efficient use of land in the city. The implementation phase of rail systems costs much more than other public transport systems. However, social and economic returns in the long term made these systems the most popular investment tool for planned and developing cities. In our country, the purpose, goals and policies of transportation plans are away from integrity, and the problems are not clearly detected. Also, not defined and incomplete assessment of transportation systems and insufficient financial analysis are the most important cause of failure. Rail systems and other transportation systems to be addressed as a whole is seen as the main factor in increasing efficiency in applications that are not integrated yet in our country to come to this point has led to the problem.

Keywords: Urban Transportation Projects, Urban Light Rail Systems, Urbanization, Izmir.

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Authors: Drago Jakovcevic, Mihovil Andelinovic, Igor Husak

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The aim of this paper is to explore the economic circumstances in which the selective credit policy, the least used instrument of four types of instruments on disposal to central banks, should be used. The most significant example includes the use of selective credit policies in response to the emergence of the global financial crisis by the FED. Specifics of the potential use of selective credit policies as the instigator of economic growth in Croatia, a small open economy, are determined by high euroization of financial system, fixed exchange rate and long-term trend growth of external debt that is related to the need to maintain high levels of foreign reserves. In such conditions, the classic forms of selective credit policies are unsuitable for the introduction. Several alternative approaches to implement selective credit policies are examined in this paper. Also, thorough analysis of distribution of selective monetary policy loans among economic sectors in Croatia is conducted in order to minimize the risk of investing funds and maximize the return, in order to influence the GDP growth.

Keywords: Global crisis, Selective credit policy, Small open economy.

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Authors: T. Ganesan, M. S. Aris, I. Elamvazuthi, Momen Kamal Tageldeen

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Terms set in power purchase agreements (PPA) challenge power utility companies in balancing between the returns (from maximizing power production) and securing long term supply contracts at capped production. The production limitation set in the PPA has driven efforts to maximize profits through efficient and economic power production. In this paper, a combined industrial-scale gas turbine (GT) - absorption chiller (AC) system is considered to cool the GT air intake for reducing the plant’s heat rate (HR). This GT-AC system is optimized while considering power output limitations imposed by the PPA. In addition, the proposed formulation accounts for uncertainties in the ambient temperature using Type-2 fuzzy programming. Using the enhanced chaotic differential evolution (CEDE), the Pareto frontier was constructed and the optimization results are analyzed in detail.

Keywords: Absorption chillers, turbine inlet air cooling, power purchase agreement, multiobjective optimization, type-2 fuzzy programming, chaotic differential evolution.

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Authors: Arsalan Jabbar, Wajiha Javed, Nelofer Mehboob, Zahid Memon

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Introduction: There are multiple social, individual and cultural factors that influence an individual’s decision to adopt family planning methods especially among non-users in patriarchal societies like Pakistan. Non-users, if targeted efficiently, can contribute significantly to country’s CPR. A research study showed that nonusers if convinced to adopt lactational amenorrhea method can shift to long term methods in future. Research shows that if non users are targeted efficiently a 59% reduction in unintended pregnancies in Saharan Africa and South-Central and South-East Asia is anticipated. Methods: We did secondary data analysis on Pakistan Demographic Heath Survey (2012-13) dataset. Use of contraception (never-use/ever-use) was the outcome variable. At univariate level Chi-square/Fisher Exact test was used to assess relationship of baseline covariates with contraception use. Then variables to be incorporated in the model were checked for multicollinearity, confounding and interaction. Then binary logistic regression (with an urban-rural stratification) was done to find relationship between contraception use and baseline demographic and social variables. Results: The multivariate analyses of the study showed that younger women (≤ 29 years)were more prone to be never users as compared to those who were >30 years and this trend was seen in urban areas (AOR 1.92, CI 1.453-2.536) as well as rural areas (AOR 1.809, CI 1.421-2.303). While looking at regional variation, women from urban Sindh (AOR 1.548, CI 1.142-2.099) and urban Balochistan (AOR 2.403, CI 1.504-3.839) had more never users as compared to other urban regions. Women in the rich wealth quintile were more never users and this was seen both in urban and rural localities (urban (AOR 1.106 CI .753-1.624); rural areas (AOR 1.162, CI .887-1.524)) even though these were not statistically significant. Women idealizing more children (>4) are more never users as compared to those idealizing less children in both urban (AOR 1.854, CI 1.275-2.697) and rural areas (AOR 2.101, CI 1.514-2.916). Women who never lost a pregnancy were more inclined to be nonusers in rural areas (AOR 1.394, CI 1.127-1.723) .Women familiar with only traditional or no method had more never users in rural areas (AOR 1.717, CI 1.127-1.723) but in urban areas it wasn’t significant. Women unaware of Lady Health Worker’s presence in their area were more never users especially in rural areas (AOR 1.276, CI 1.014-1.607). Women who did not visit any care provider were more never users (urban (AOR 11.738, CI 9.112-15.121) rural areas (AOR 7.832, CI 6.243-9.826)). Discussion/Conclusion: This study concluded that government, policy makers and private sector family planning programs should focus on the untapped pool of never users (younger women from underserved provinces, in higher wealth quintiles, who desire more children.). We need to make sure to cover catchment areas where there are less LHWs and less providers as ignorance to modern methods and never been visited by an LHW are important determinants of never use. This all is in sync with previous literate from similar developing countries.

Keywords: Contraception, Demographic and Health Survey, Family Planning, Never users.

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Authors: R. H. Khawaja, T. R. Blackburn, M. Rehan Arif

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The power transformer is the most expensive, indispensable and arguably the most important equipment item in a power system Insulation failure in transformers can cause long term interruption to supply and loss of revenue and the condition assessment of the insulation is thus an important maintenance procedure. Oil-impregnated transformer insulation consists of mainly organic materials including mineral oil and cellulose-base paper and pressboard. The operating life of cellulose-based insulation, as with most organic insulation, depends heavily on its operating temperature rise above ambient. This paper reports results of a laboratory-based experimental investigation of partial discharge (PD) activity at high temperature in oil-impregnated insulation. The experiments reported here are part an on-going programme aimed at investigating the way in which insulation deterioration can be monitored and quantified by use of partial discharge diagnostics. Partial discharge patterns were recorded and analysed during increasing and decreasing phases of the temperature. The effect of ageing of the insulation on the PD patterns in oil and oil-impregnated insulation are also considered.

Keywords: Ageing, high temperature, PD, oil-impregnated insulation.

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Authors: F. Lievens, M. Jordanova

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Telemedicine is brought to life by contemporary changes of our world and summarizes the entire range of services that are at the crossroad of traditional healthcare and information technology. It is believed that eHealth can help in solving critical issues of rising costs, care for ageing and housebound population, staff shortage. It is a feasible tool to provide routine as well as specialized health service as it has the potential to improve both the access to and the standard of care. eHealth is no more an optional choice. It has already made quite a way but it still remains a fantastic challenge for the future requiring cooperation and coordination at all possible levels. The strategic objectives of this paper are: 1. To start with an attempt to clarify the mass of terms used nowadays; 2. To answer the question “Who needs eHealth"; 3. To focus on the necessity of bridging telemedicine and medical (health) informatics as well as on the dual relationship between them; as well as 4. To underline the need of networking in understanding, developing and implementing eHealth.

Keywords: E-Health/telemedicine, networking, medical informatics.

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Authors: Isa Nakhai Kamal Abadi, Esmaeel Saberi, Ehsan Mirjafari

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While financial institutions have faced difficulties over the years for a multitude of reasons, the major cause of serious banking problems continues to be directly related to lax credit standards for borrowers and counterparties, poor portfolio risk management, or a lack of attention to changes in economic or other circumstances that can lead to a deterioration in the credit standing of a bank's counterparties. Credit risk is most simply defined as the potential that a bank borrower or counterparty will fail to meet its obligations in accordance with agreed terms. The goal of credit risk management is to maximize a bank's risk-adjusted rate of return by maintaining credit risk exposure within acceptable parameters. Banks need to manage the credit risk inherent in the entire portfolio as well as the risk in individual credits or transactions. Banks should also consider the relationships between credit risk and other risks. The effective management of credit risk is a critical component of a comprehensive approach to risk management and essential to the long-term success of any banking organization. In this research we also study the relationship between credit risk indices and borrower-s timely payback in Karafarin bank.

Keywords: Financial Ratios; Spearman Test; Bank OperationsRisk

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Authors: W. Wongthatsanekorn, N. Matheekrieangkrai

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This research proposes Bee Algorithm (BA) to optimize Ready Mixed Concrete (RMC) truck scheduling problem from single batch plant to multiple construction sites. This problem is considered as an NP-hard constrained combinatorial optimization problem. This paper provides the details of the RMC dispatching process and its related constraints. BA was then developed to minimize total waiting time of RMC trucks while satisfying all constraints. The performance of BA is then evaluated on two benchmark problems (3 and 5construction sites) according to previous researchers. The simulation results of BA are compared in term of efficiency and accuracy with Genetic Algorithm (GA) and all problems show that BA approach outperforms GA in term of efficiency and accuracy to obtain optimal solution. Hence, BA approach could be practically implemented to obtain the best schedule.

Keywords: Bee Colony Optimization, Ready Mixed Concrete Problem.

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Authors: Dhiraj Dolai, Rupayan Bhattacharya

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In this study, a comparison of Range Of Motion (ROM) of middle and long-distance runners and swimmers has been made. The mobility of the various joints is essential for the quick movement of any sportsman. Knowledge of a ROM helps in preventing injuries, in repeating the movement, and in generating speed and power. ROM varies among individuals, and it is influenced by factors such as gender, age, and whether the motion is performed actively or passively. ROM for running and swimming, both performed with due consideration on speed, plays an important role. The time of generation of speed and mobility of the particular joints are very important for both kinds of athletes. The difficulties that happen during running and swimming in the direction of motion is changed. In this study, data were collected for a total of 102 subjects divided into three groups: control group (22), middle and long-distance runners (40), and swimmers (40), and their ages are between 12 to 18 years. The swimmers have higher ROM in shoulder joint flexion, extension, abduction, and adduction movement. Middle and long-distance runners have significantly greater ROM from Control Group in the left shoulder joint flexion with a 5.82 mean difference. Swimmers have significantly higher ROM from the Control Group in the left shoulder joint flexion with 24.84 mean difference and swimmers have significantly higher ROM from the Middle and Long distance runners in left shoulder flexion with 19.02 mean difference. The picture will be clear after a more detailed investigation.

Keywords: Range of motion, runners, swimmers, significance.

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Authors: Joselito P. Duyanen, Aries Milay

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Arsenic in the sediments of the ash lagoons of the coal-fired power plant in Pagbilao, Quezon Province in the Philippines was sequentially extracted to determine its potential for leaching to the groundwater and the adjacent marine environment. Results show that 89% of the As is bound to the quasi-crystalline Fe/Mn oxides and hydroxide matrix in the sediments, whereas, the adsorbed and exchangeable As hosted by the clay minerals, representing those that are easiest to release from the sediment matrix, is below 10% of the acid leachable As. These As in these sediment matrices represent the possible maximum amount of As that can be released and supplied to the groundwater and the adjacent marine environment. Of the 89% reducible As, up to 4% is associated with the easily reducible variety, whereas, the rest is more strongly bonded by the moderately reducible variety. Based on the long-term As content of the lagoon water, the average desorption rate of As is calculated to be very low -- 0.3-0.5% on the average and 0.6% on the maximum. This indicates that As is well-fixed by its sediment matrices in the ash lagoon, attenuating the influx of As into the adjacent groundwater and marine environments.

Keywords: Arsenic, natural attenuation, coal-fired power plant, Philippines.

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Authors: Tyng-Rong Roan, Fuji Foo, Wenwey Hseush

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Recent development of AI and edge computing plays a critical role to capture meaningful events such as detection of an unattended bag. One of the core problems is re-identification across multiple CCTVs. Immediately following the detection of a meaningful event is to track and trace the objects related to the event. In an extensive environment, the challenge becomes severe when the number of CCTVs increases substantially, imposing difficulties in achieving high accuracy while maintaining real-time performance. The algorithm that re-identifies cross-boundary objects for extensive tracking is referred to Extensive Re-Identification, which emphasizes the issues related to the complexity behind a great number of CCTVs. The Spatial-Temporal Awareness approach challenges the conventional thinking and concept of operations which is labor intensive and time consuming. The ability to perform Extensive Re-Identification through a multi-sensory network provides the next-level insights – creating value beyond traditional risk management.

Keywords: Long-short-term memory, re-identification, security critical application, spatial-temporal awareness.

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Authors: Kolay, P.K., Sii, H. Y., Taib, S.N.L.

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This paper presents the stabilization potential of Class F pond ash (PA) from a coal fired thermal power station on tropical peat soil. Peat or highly organic soils are well known for their high compressibility, natural moisture content, low shear strength and long-term settlement. This study investigates the effect of different amount (i.e., 5, 10, 15 and 20%) of PA on peat soil, collected from Sarawak, Malaysia, mainly compaction and unconfined compressive strength (UCS) properties. The amounts of PA added to the peat soil sample as percentage of the dry peat soil mass. With the increase in PA content, the maximum dry density (MDD) of peat soil increases, while the optimum moisture content (OMC) decreases. The UCS value of the peat soils increases significantly with the increase of PA content and also with curing periods. This improvement on compressive strength of tropical peat soils indicates that PA has the potential to be used as a stabilizer for tropical peat soil. Also, the use of PA in soil stabilization helps in reducing the pond volume and achieving environment friendly as well as a sustainable development of natural resources.

Keywords: Compaction, Peat soil, Pond ash, Stabilization.

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Authors: Lada-On Lertsuwanakul, Herwig Unger

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This paper objects to extend Jon Kleinberg-s research. He introduced the structure of small-world in a grid and shows with a greedy algorithm using only local information able to find route between source and target in delivery time O(log2n). His fundamental model for distributed system uses a two-dimensional grid with longrange random links added between any two node u and v with a probability proportional to distance d(u,v)-2. We propose with an additional information of the long link nearby, we can find the shorter path. We apply the ant colony system as a messenger distributed their pheromone, the long-link details, in surrounding area. The subsequence forwarding decision has more option to move to, select among local neighbors or send to node has long link closer to its target. Our experiment results sustain our approach, the average routing time by Color Pheromone faster than greedy method.

Keywords: Routing algorithm, Small-World network, Ant Colony Optimization, and Peer-to-peer System.

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Authors: S. Chadsuthi, W. Triampo, C. Modchang, P. Kanthang, D. Triampo, N. Nuttavut

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We present analysis of spatial patterns of generic disease spread simulated by a stochastic long-range correlation SIR model, where individuals can be infected at long distance in a power law distribution. We integrated various tools, namely perimeter, circularity, fractal dimension, and aggregation index to characterize and investigate spatial pattern formations. Our primary goal was to understand for a given model of interest which tool has an advantage over the other and to what extent. We found that perimeter and circularity give information only for a case of strong correlation– while the fractal dimension and aggregation index exhibit the growth rule of pattern formation, depending on the degree of the correlation exponent (β). The aggregation index method used as an alternative method to describe the degree of pathogenic ratio (α). This study may provide a useful approach to characterize and analyze the pattern formation of epidemic spreading

Keywords: spatial pattern epidemics, aggregation index, fractaldimension, stochastic, long-rang epidemics

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Authors: Dimitrios J. Dimitriou, Maria F. Sartzetaki

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Transport infrastructures are high-cost, long-term investments that serve as vital foundations for the operation of a region or nation and are essential to a country’s or business’s economic development and prosperity, by improving well-being and generating jobs and income. The development of appropriate financing options is of key importance in the decision making process in order develop viable transport infrastructures. The development of transport infrastructure has increasingly been shifting toward alternative methods of project financing such as Public Private Partnership (PPPs) and hybrid forms. In this paper, a methodological decision-making framework based on the evaluation of the financial viability of transportation infrastructure for different financial schemes is presented. The framework leads to an assessment of the financial viability which can be achieved by performing various financing scenarios analyses. To illustrate the application of the proposed methodology, a case study of rail transport infrastructure financing scenario analysis in Greece is developed.

Keywords: Rail transport infrastructure; financial viability, scenario analysis, rail project feasibility.

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Authors: Thitaporn Thoopputra, Tipaporn Pongmesa, Shuchuen Li

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Aims: To evaluate the application of non-invasive diabetes risk assessment tool in community pharmacy setting. Methods: Thai diabetes risk score was applied to assess individuals at risk of developing type 2 diabetes. Interactive computer-based risk screening (IT) and paper-based risk screening (PT) tools were applied. Participants aged over 25 years with no known diabetes were recruited in six participating pharmacies. Results: A total of 187 clients, mean aged (+SD) was 48.6 (+10.9) years. 35% were at high risk. The mean value of willingness-to-pay for the service fee in IT group was significantly higher than PT group (p=0.013). No significant difference observed for the satisfaction between groups. Conclusions: Non-invasive risk assessment tool, whether paper-based or computerized-based can be applied in community pharmacy to support the enhancing role of pharmacists in chronic disease management. Long term follow up is needed to determine the impact of its application in clinical, humanistic and economic outcomes.

Keywords: Community pharmacy, intervention, prevention, risk assessment, type 2 diabetes.

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Authors: J. Beel, B. Gipp

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Research papers are usually evaluated via peer review. However, peer review has limitations in evaluating research papers. In this paper, Scienstein and the new idea of 'collaborative document evaluation' are presented. Scienstein is a project to evaluate scientific papers collaboratively based on ratings, links, annotations and classifications by the scientific community using the internet. In this paper, critical success factors of collaborative document evaluation are analyzed. That is the scientists- motivation to participate as reviewers, the reviewers- competence and the reviewers- trustworthiness. It is shown that if these factors are ensured, collaborative document evaluation may prove to be a more objective, faster and less resource intensive approach to scientific document evaluation in comparison to the classical peer review process. It is shown that additional advantages exist as collaborative document evaluation supports interdisciplinary work, allows continuous post-publishing quality assessments and enables the implementation of academic recommendation engines. In the long term, it seems possible that collaborative document evaluation will successively substitute peer review and decrease the need for journals.

Keywords: Peer Review, Alternative, Collaboration, Document Evaluation, Rating, Annotations.

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Authors: A. O. Mikhailov, K. N. Morozov

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Fine alignment of main ship power plants mechanisms and shaft lines provides long-term and failure-free performance of propulsion system while fast and high-quality installation of mechanisms and shaft lines decreases common labor intensity. For checking shaft line allowed stress and setting its alignment it is required to perform calculations considering various stages of life cycle. In 2012 JSC SSTC developed special software complex “Shaftline” for calculation of alignment of having its own I/O interface and display of shaft line 3D model. Alignment of shaft line as per bearing loads is rather labor-intensive procedure. In order to decrease its duration, JSC SSTC developed automated alignment system from ship power plants mechanisms. System operation principle is based on automatic simulation of design load on bearings. Initial data for shaft line alignment can be exported to automated alignment system from PC “Shaft line”.

Keywords: ANSYS, propulsion shaft, shaftline alignment, ship power plants.

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Authors: C. Asarkaya, S. Z. Siretioglu Girgin

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Turkish migrants constitute the largest group among people with migration background living in Germany. Turkish women’s labor market participation is of significant importance for their social and economic integration to the German society. This paper thus aims to investigate their labor market positions. Turkish migrant women participate less in the labor market compared to men, and are responsible for most of the housework, child care, and elderly care. This is due to their traditional roles in the family, educational level, insufficient knowledge of German language, and insufficient professional experience. We strongly recommend that wide-reaching integration policies for women are formulated, so as to encourage participation of not only migrant women but also their husbands, fathers and/or brothers, and natives.

Keywords: Empowerment, Germany, Labor Market, Migration, Turkish, Women.

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Authors: Mohamed Tarek Khadir, Damien Fay, Ahmed Boughrira

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Short term electricity demand forecasts are required by power utilities for efficient operation of the power grid. In a competitive market environment, suppliers and large consumers also require short term forecasts in order to estimate their energy requirements in advance. Electricity demand is influenced (among other things) by the day of the week, the time of year and special periods and/or days such as Ramadhan, all of which must be identified prior to modelling. This identification, known as day-type identification, must be included in the modelling stage either by segmenting the data and modelling each day-type separately or by including the day-type as an input. Day-type identification is the main focus of this paper. A Kohonen map is employed to identify the separate day-types in Algerian data.

Keywords: Day type identification, electricity Load, Kohonenmaps, load forecasting.

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Authors: Venerando E. Amaro, Francisco Gabriel F. de Lima, Marcelo S.T. Santos

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The morphological short-term evolution of Ponta do Tubarão Island (PTI) was investigated through high accurate surveys based on post-processed kinematic (PPK) relative positioning on Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS). PTI is part of a barrier island system on a high energy northeast Brazilian coastal environment and also an area of high environmental sensitivity. Surveys were carried out quarterly over a two years period from May 2010 to May 2012. This paper assesses statically the performance of digital elevation models (DEM) derived from different interpolation methods to represent morphologic features and to quantify volumetric changes and TIN models shown the best results to that purposes. The MDE allowed quantifying surfaces and volumes in detail as well as identifying the most vulnerable segments of the PTI to erosion and/or accumulation of sediments and relate the alterations to climate conditions. The coastal setting and geometry of PTI protects a significant mangrove ecosystem and some oil and gas facilities installed in the vicinities from damaging effects of strong oceanwaves and currents. Thus, the maintenance of PTI is extremely required but the prediction of its longevity is uncertain because results indicate an irregularity of sedimentary balance and a substantial decline in sediment supply to this coastal area.

Keywords: DEM, GNSS, short-term monitoring, Brazil.

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Authors: W. Rowan, Y. O’Connor, L. Lynch, C. Heavin

Abstract:

Situation Awareness can offer the potential for conscious dynamic reflection. In an era of online health data sharing, it is becoming increasingly important that users of health social networks (HSNs) have the information necessary to make informed decisions as part of the registration process and in the provision of eConsent. This research aims to leverage an adapted Situation Awareness (SA) model to explore users’ decision making processes in the provision of eConsent. A HSN platform was used to investigate these behaviours. A mixed methods approach was taken. This involved the observation of registration behaviours followed by a questionnaire and focus group/s. Early results suggest that users are apt to automatically accept eConsent, and only later consider the long-term implications of sharing their personal health information. Further steps are required to continue developing knowledge and understanding of this important eConsent process. The next step in this research will be to develop a set of guidelines for the improved presentation of eConsent on the HSN platform.

Keywords: eConsent, health social network, mixed methods, situation awareness.

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Authors: Randa M. Ali, Naguiba F. Loutfy, Osama M. Awad

Abstract:

Leishmaniasis is the collective name for a number of diseases caused by protozoan flagellates of the genus Leishmania, which is transmitted by Phlebotomine sandfly, the disease has diverse clinical manifestations and found in many areas of the world, particularly in Africa, Latin America, South and Central Asia, the Mediterranean basin and the Middle East. This study was done to assess primary health care physicians’ knowledge (PHP) and attitude about leishmaniasis and to assess awareness of local inhabitants about the disease and its vector in four areas in west Alexandria, Egypt. It is a cross sectional survey that was conducted in four PHC units in west Alexandria. All physicians currently working in these units during the study period were invited to participate in the study; only 20 PHP completed the questionnaire. 60 local inhabitants were selected randomly from the four areas of the study, 15 from each area; Data was collected through two different specially designed questionnaires. Results showed that 11 (55%) percent of the physicians had satisfactory knowledge; they answered more than 9 (60%) questions out of a total 14 questions about leishmaniasis and sandfly. On the other hand when attitude of the primary health care physicians about leishmaniasis was measured, results showed that 17 (85%) had good attitude and 3 (15%) had poor attitude. The second questionnaire showed that the awareness of local inhabitants about leishmaniasis and sandfly as a vector of the disease is poor and needs to be corrected. (90%) of the interviewed inhabitants had not heard about leishmaniasis, Only 3 (5%) of them said they know sandfly and its role in transmission of leishmaniasis. Thus we conclude that knowledge and attitudes of physicians are acceptable. However, there is, room for improvement and could be done through formal training courses and distribution of guidelines. In addition to raising the awareness of primary health care physicians about the importance of early detection and notification of cases of leishmaniasis, health education for raising awareness of the public regarding the vector and the disease is necessary because related studies have demonstrated that for inhabitants to take enough protective measures against the vector, they should perceive that it is responsible for causing a disease.

Keywords: Attitude, knowledge, PHP, leishmaniasis, sandfly, local inhabitants, inside and outside housing conditions.

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Authors: Porojan S., Sandu L., Topală F.

Abstract:

Simulation of occlusal function during laboratory material-s testing becomes essential in predicting long-term performance before clinical usage. The aim of the study was to assess the influence of chamfer preparation depth on failure risk of heat pressed ceramic crowns with and without zirconia framework by means of finite element analysis. 3D models of maxillary central incisor, prepared for full ceramic crowns with different depths of the chamfer margin (between 0.8 and 1.2 mm) and 6-degree tapered walls together with the overlying crowns were generated using literature data (Fig. 1, 2). The crowns were designed with and without a zirconia framework with a thickness of 0.4 mm. For all preparations and crowns, stresses in the pressed ceramic crown, zirconia framework, pressed ceramic veneer, and dentin were evaluated separately. The highest stresses were registered in the dentin. The depth of the preparations had no significant influence on the stress values of the teeth and pressed ceramics for the studied cases, only for the zirconia framework. The zirconia framework decreases the stress values in the veneer.

Keywords: Finite element analysis, full ceramic crown, zirconia framework, stresses.

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