Search results for: evaluate survey.

Authors: Ebenezer Kwesi Armah-Ansah, Kenneth Fosu Oteng, Esther Selasi Avinu, Eugene Budu, Edward Kwabena Ameyaw

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Maternal mortality, particularly in Benin, is a major public health concern in sub-Saharan Africa. To provide a positive pregnancy experience and reduce maternal morbidities, all pregnant women must get appropriate and timely prenatal support. However, many pregnant women in developing countries, including Benin, begin Antenatal Care (ANC) late. There is a paucity of empirical literature on the prevalence and predictors of early ANC visits in Benin. As a result, the purpose of this study is to investigate the prevalence and predictors of early ANC visits among women of productive age in Benin. This is a secondary analysis of the 2017/2018 Benin Demographic and Health Survey (BDHS) data. The study involved 6,919 eligible women. Data analysis was conducted using Stata version 14.2 for Mac OS. We adopted a multilevel logistic regression to examine the predictors of early ANC visits in Benin. The results were presented as odds ratios (ORs) associated with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) and p-value < 0.05 to determine the significant associations. The prevalence of early ANC visits among pregnant women in Benin was 57.03% [95% CI: 55.41-58.64]. In the final multilevel logistic regression, early ANC visit was higher among women aged 30-34 [aOR = 1.60, 95% CI = 1.17-2.18] compared to those aged 15-19, women with primary education [aOR = 1.22, 95% CI = 1.06-142] compared to the non-educated women, women who were covered by health insurance [aOR = 3.03, 95% CI = 1.35-6.76], women without a big problem in getting the money needed for treatment [aOR = 1.31, 95% CI = 1.16-1.49], distance to the health facility, not a big problem [aOR = 1.23, 95% CI = 1.08-1.41], and women whose partners had secondary/higher education [aOR = 1.35, 95% CI = 1.15-1.57] compared with those who were not covered by health insurance, had big problem in getting money needed for treatment, distance to health facility is a big problem and whose partners had no education respectively. However, women who had four or more births [aOR = 0.60, 95% CI = 0.48-0.74] and those in Atacora Region [aOR = 0.50, 95% CI = 0.37-0.68] had lower odds of early ANC visit. This study revealed a relatively high prevalence of early ANC visits among women of reproductive age in Benin. Women's age, educational status of women and their partners, parity, health insurance coverage, distance to health facilities, and region were all associated with early ANC visits among women of reproductive in Benin. These factors ought to be taken into account when developing ANC policies and strategies in order to boost early ANC visits among women in Benin. This will significantly reduce maternal and newborn mortality and help achieve the World Health Organization’s recommendation that all pregnant women should initiate early ANC visits within the first three months of pregnancy.

Keywords: Antenatal care, Benin, maternal health, pregnancy, DHS, public health.

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Authors: A. Bencsik, 1V. Lıre, 2, I. Marosi

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Intensive changes of environment and strong market competition have raised management of information and knowledge to the strategic level of companies. In a knowledge based economy only those organizations are capable of living which have up-to-date, special knowledge and they are able to exploit and develop it. Companies have to know what knowledge they have by taking a survey of organizational knowledge and they have to fix actual and additional knowledge in organizational memory. The question is how to identify, acquire, fix and use knowledge effectively. The paper will show that over and above the tools of information technology supporting acquisition, storage and use of information and organizational learning as well as knowledge coming into being as a result of it, fixing and storage of knowledge in the memory of a company play an important role in the intelligence of organizations and competitiveness of a company.

Keywords: Individual memory, organizational memory, knowledge management, organizational intelligence.

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Authors: Christina Van Wingerden

Abstract:

This paper focuses on a sense of belonging, isolation, and the use of a learning management system as a “third space” for connection and community. Given student use of learning management systems (LMS) for courses on campuses, moderate to high use of social media and hand-held devices, the author explores the possibilities of LMS as a third space. The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated student experiences of isolation, and research indicates that students who experience a sense of belonging have a greater likelihood for academic retention and success. The impacts on students of an LMS designed for student employee orientation and training were examined through a mixed methods approach, including a survey, individual interviews, and focus groups. The sample involved 250-450 undergraduate student employees at a US northwestern university. The goal of the study was to find out the efficiency and effectiveness of the orientation information for a wide range of student employees from multiple student affairs departments. And unexpected finding emerged within the study in 2015 and was noted again as a finding in the 2017 study. Students reported feeling like they individually connected to the department, and further to the university because of the LMS orientation. They stated they could see themselves as part of the university community and like they belonged. The orientation, through the LMS, was designed for and occurred online (asynchronous), prior to students traveling and beginning university life for the academic year. The students indicated connection and belonging resulting from some of the design features. With the onset of COVID-19 and prolonged sheltering in place in North America, as well as other parts of the world, students have been precluded from physically gathering to educate and learn. COVID-19 essentially paused face-to-face education in 2020. Media, governments, and higher education outlets have been reporting on widespread college student stress, isolation, loneliness, and sadness. In this context, the author conducted a current mixed methods study (online survey, online interviews) of students in advanced degree programs, like Ph.D. and Ed.D. specifically investigating isolation and sense of belonging. As a part of the study a prototype of a Canvas site was experienced by student interviewees for their reaction of this Canvas site prototype as a “third” space. Some preliminary findings of this study are presented. Doctoral students in the study affirmed the potential of LMS as a third space for community and social academic connection.

Keywords: COVID-19, learning management systems, sense of belonging, third space.

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Authors: Eva Ungure, Sandra Muizniece-Brasava, Lija Dukalska, Vita Levkane

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The objective of the research was to evaluate the quality of milk pomade sweet – sherbet packed in different packaging materials (Multibarrier 60, met.BOPET/PE, Aluthen), by several packaging technologies – active and modified atmosphere (MAP) (consisting of 100% CO2), and control – in air ambiance. Experiments were carried out at the Faculty of Food Technology of Latvia University of Agriculture. Samples were stored at the room temperature +21±1 °C. The physiochemical properties – weight losses, moisture, hardening, colour and changes in headspace atmosphere concentration (CO2 and O2) of packs were analysed before packaging and after 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 and 12 storage weeks.

Keywords: packaging, shelf life, sherbet with crunchy peanut chip's

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Authors: Nalinee Sophatsathit

Abstract:

This research focuses on the use of a recommender system in decision support by means of a used car dealer case study in Bangkok Metropolitan. The goal is to develop an effective used car purchasing system for dealers based on the above premise. The underlying principle rests on content-based recommendation from a set of usability surveys. A prototype was developed to conduct buyers- survey selected from 5 experts and 95 general public. The responses were analyzed to determine the mean and standard deviation of buyers- preference. The results revealed that both groups were in favor of using the proposed system to assist their buying decision. This indicates that the proposed system is meritorious to used car dealers.

Keywords: Recommender Systems, Decision Support, Content- Based Recommendation, used car dealer.

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Authors: N. J. Imu, N. Rabbani, Md E. Hossain

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Achieving national climate goals requires transforming the energy system and increasing the use of renewable energy in Bangladesh as renewable energy offers an environmentally friendly energy supply. In view of this, Bangladesh has set a goal of 100% renewable power generation by 2050. Among all the renewable energy, solar is the most effective and popular source of renewable energy in Bangladesh. In order to build up on-grid and off-grid solar systems to increase energy transformation, monocrystalline type (highly efficient) solar module, and the polycrystalline type (low-efficient) solar module are commonly used. Due to their low price and availability, polycrystalline-type solar modules dominated the local market in the past years. However, in recent times the use of monocrystalline types modules has increased considerably owing to the significant decrease in price difference that existed between these two modules. Despite the deployment of both mono- and poly-crystalline modules in the market, the proliferation of low-quality solar panels are dominating the market resulting in reduced generation of solar electricity than expected. This situation is further aggravated by insufficient information regarding the effect of solar irradiation on solar module performance in relation to the quality of the materials used for the production of the module. This research aims to evaluate the efficiency of monocrystalline and polycrystalline solar modules that are available in Bangladesh by considering seasonal variations. Both types of solar modules have been tested for three different capacities 45W, 60W, and 100W in Dhaka regions to evaluate their power generation capability under Standard Test Conditions (STC). Module testing data were recorded twelve months in a full year from January to December. Data for solar irradiation were collected using HT304N while HT I-V400 multifunction instrument was used for testing voltage and current of photovoltaic (PV) systems and complete power quality analyzer. Results obtained in this study indicated differences between the efficiencies of polycrystalline and monocrystalline solar modules under the country’s solar irradiation. The average efficiencies of 45W, 60W, and 100W monocrystalline solar panels were recorded as 11.73%, 13.41%, and 15.37% respectively while for polycrystalline panels were 8.66%, 9.37%, and 12.34%. Monocrystalline solar panels, which offer greater working output than polycrystalline ones, are also represented by the Pearson Correlation value. The output of polycrystalline solar panels fluctuated highly with the changes in irradiation and temperature whereas monocrystalline panels were much stable.

Keywords: Solar energy, solar irradiation, efficiency, polycrystalline solar module, monocrystalline solar module, SPSS analysis.

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Authors: A.Abbasi, F.Mirekhtiary

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The gamma radiation in samples of a variety of natural tiling rocks (granites) produced and imported in Iran use in the building industry was measured, employing high-resolution Gamma-ray spectroscopy. The rock samples were pulverized, sealed in 0.5 liter plastic Marinelli beakers, and measured in the laboratory with an accumulating time between 50000 and 80000 second each. From the measured Gamma-ray spectra, activity concentrations were determined for 232Th (range from 6.5 to 172.2 Bq kg-1), 238U (from 7.5 to 178.1 Bq kg-1 ),226Ra( from 3.8 to 94.2 Bq kg-1 ) 40K (from 556.9 to 1539.2 Bq kg-1). From the 29 samples measured in this study, “Nehbndan ( Berjand )" appears to present the highest concentrations for 232Th,“Big Red Flower (China) "for 238U , “ Khoram dareh" for 226 Ra and “ Peranshahr" for 40K , respectively.

Keywords: activity concentration, natural radioactivity, tilingrocks (granites)

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Authors: Reinhold Decker, Christian Holsing, Sascha Lerke

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This paper presents a new growing neural network for cluster analysis and market segmentation, which optimizes the size and structure of clusters by iteratively checking them for multivariate normality. We combine the recently published SGNN approach [8] with the basic principle underlying the Gaussian-means algorithm [13] and the Mardia test for multivariate normality [18, 19]. The new approach distinguishes from existing ones by its holistic design and its great autonomy regarding the clustering process as a whole. Its performance is demonstrated by means of synthetic 2D data and by real lifestyle survey data usable for market segmentation.

Keywords: Artificial neural network, clustering, multivariatenormality, market segmentation, self-organization

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Authors: Alan Luo, Hunter N. B. Moseley

Abstract:

Many macromolecular structure entries in the Protein Data Bank (PDB) have a range of regional (localized) quality issues, be it derived from X-ray crystallography, Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, or other experimental approaches. However, most PDB entries are judged by global quality metrics like R-factor, R-free, and resolution for X-ray crystallography or backbone phi-psi distribution statistics and average restraint violations for NMR. Regional quality is often ignored when PDB entries are re-used for a variety of structurally based analyses. The binding of ligands, especially ligands involved in energy metabolism, is of particular interest in many structurally focused protein studies. Using a regional quality metric that provides chemically interpretable information from electron density maps, a significant number of outliers in regional structural quality was detected across X-ray crystallographic PDB entries for proteins bound to biochemically critical ligands. In this study, a series of analyses was performed to evaluate both specific and general potential factors that could promote these outliers. In particular, these potential factors were the minimum distance to a metal ion, the minimum distance to a crystal contact, and the isotropic atomic b-factor. To evaluate these potential factors, Fisher’s exact tests were performed, using regional quality criteria of outlier (top 1%, 2.5%, 5%, or 10%) versus non-outlier compared to a potential factor metric above versus below a certain outlier cutoff. The results revealed a consistent general effect from region-specific normalized b-factors but no specific effect from metal ion contact distances and only a very weak effect from crystal contact distance as compared to the b-factor results. These findings indicate that no single specific potential factor explains a majority of the outlier ligand-bound regions, implying that human error is likely as important as these other factors. Thus, all factors, including human error, should be considered when regions of low structural quality are detected. Also, the downstream re-use of protein structures for studying ligand-bound conformations should screen the regional quality of the binding sites. Doing so prevents misinterpretation due to the presence of structural uncertainty or flaws in regions of interest.

Keywords: Biomacromolecular structure, coenzyme, electron density discrepancy analysis, X-ray crystallography.

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Authors: Atman Jbari, Abdellah Adib, Driss Aboutajdine

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This paper addresses the problem of blind source separation (BSS). To recover original signals, from linear instantaneous mixtures, we propose a new contrast function based on the use of a double referenced system. Our approach assumes statistical independence sources. The reference vectors will be incrusted in the cumulant to evaluate the independence. The estimation of the separating matrix will be performed in two steps: whitening observations and joint diagonalization of a set of referenced cumulant matrices. Computer simulations are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the suggested approach.

Keywords: Blind source separation, Referenced Cumulant, Contrast, Joint Diagonalization.

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Authors: Daniel Kostrzewa, Henryk Josiński

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The expanded Invasive Weed Optimization algorithm (exIWO) is an optimization metaheuristic modelled on the original IWO version created by the researchers from the University of Tehran. The authors of the present paper have extended the exIWO algorithm introducing a set of both deterministic and non-deterministic strategies of individuals’ selection. The goal of the project was to evaluate the exIWO by testing its usefulness for solving some test instances of the traveling salesman problem (TSP) taken from the TSPLIB collection which allows comparing the experimental results with optimal values.

Keywords: Expanded Invasive Weed Optimization algorithm (exIWO), Traveling Salesman Problem (TSP), heuristic approach, inversion operator.

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Authors: Naushad Mamode Khan, Cheika Jahangeer, Maleika Heenaye-Mamode Khan

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Exclusive breastfeeding is the feeding of a baby on no other milk apart from breast milk. Exclusive breastfeeding during the first 6 months of life is very important as it supports optimal growth and development during infancy and reduces the risk of obliterating diseases and problems. Moreover, it helps to reduce the incidence and/or severity of diarrhea, lower respiratory infection and urinary tract infection. In this paper, we make a survey of the factors that influence exclusive breastfeeding and use two dispersed statistical models to analyze data. The models are the Generalized Poisson regression model and the Com-Poisson regression models.

Keywords: Exclusive breastfeeding, regression model, generalized poisson, com-poisson.

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Authors: Lalit Garg, Sally McClean, Maria Barton

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Healthcare issues continue to pose huge problems and incur massive costs. As a result there are many challenging problems still unresolved. In this paper, we will carry out an extensive scientific survey of different areas of management and planning in an attempt to identify where there has already been a substantial contribution from management science methods to healthcare problems and where there is a clear potential for more work to be done. The focus will be on the read-across to the healthcare domain from such approaches applied generally to management and planning and how the methods can be used to improvement patient care. We conclude that, since the healthcare domain significantly differs from traditional areas of management and planning, in some cases there is a need to modify the approaches so as to incorporate the complexities of healthcare, and fully exploit the potential for improvement.

Keywords: Management science, management and planning, transforming services, healthcare.

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Authors: P. R. Jayathilaka, K.L. Jayaratne, H.L. Premaratne

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This research presented in this paper is an on-going project of an application of neural network and fuzzy models to evaluate the sociological factors which affect the educational performance of the students in Sri Lanka. One of its major goals is to prepare the grounds to device a counseling tool which helps these students for a better performance at their examinations, especially at their G.C.E O/L (General Certificate of Education-Ordinary Level) examination. Closely related sociological factors are collected as raw data and the noise of these data are filtered through the fuzzy interface and the supervised neural network is being utilized to recognize the performance patterns against the chosen social factors.

Keywords: Education, Fuzzy, neural network, prediction, Sociology

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Authors: I. Fahi, T. Remmal, F. El Kamel, B. Ayoub

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The treatment of the geotechnical database of the region of Casablanca was difficult to achieve due to the heterogeneity of the nomenclature of the lithological formations composing its soil. It appears necessary to harmonize the nomenclature of the facies and to produce cartographic documents useful for construction projects and studies before any investment program. To achieve this, more than 600 surveys made by the Public Laboratory for Testing and Studies (LPEE) in the agglomeration of Casablanca, were studied. Moreover, some local observations were made in different places of the metropolis. Each survey was the subject of a sheet containing lithological succession, macro and microscopic description of petrographic facies with photographic illustration, as well as measurements of geomechanical tests. In addition, an X-ray diffraction analysis was made in order to characterize the surficial formations of the region.

Keywords: Casablanca, guidebook, petrography, soil.

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Authors: Tim Klemke, Peter Nyhuis

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In today-s turbulent environment, companies are faced with two principal challenges. On the one hand, it is necessary to produce ever more cost-effectively to remain competitive. On the other hand, factories need to be transformable in order to manage unpredictable changes in the corporate environment. To deal with these different challenges, companies use the philosophy of lean production in the first case, in the second case the philosophy of transformability. To a certain extent these two approaches follow different directions. This can cause conflicts when designing factories. Therefore, the Institute of Production Systems and Logistics (IFA) of the Leibniz University of Hanover has developed a procedure to allow companies to evaluate and design their factories with respect to the requirements of both philosophies.

Keywords: Factory planning, lean production, transformability

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Authors: Randa Boukhris Trabelsi, Alima Damak Masmoudi, Dorra Sellami Masmoudi

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Nowadays, hand vein recognition has attracted more attentions in identification biometrics systems. Generally, hand vein image is acquired with low contrast and irregular illumination. Accordingly, if you have a good preprocessing of hand vein image, we can easy extracted the feature extraction even with simple binarization. In this paper, a proposed approach is processed to improve the quality of hand vein image. First, a brief survey on existing methods of enhancement is investigated. Then a Radon Like features method is applied to preprocessing hand vein image. Finally, experiments results show that the proposed method give the better effective and reliable in improving hand vein images.

Keywords: Hand Vein, Enhancement, Contrast, RLF, SDME

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Authors: Darby Tien-Hao Chang, Guan-Yu Shiu, You-Jie Sun

Abstract:

Various cis-regulatory module (CRM) predictors have been proposed in the last decade. Several well-established CRM predictors adopted different categories of prediction strategies, including window clustering, probabilistic modeling and phylogenetic footprinting. Appropriate integration of them has a potential to achieve high quality CRM prediction. This study analyzed four existing CRM predictors (ClusterBuster, MSCAN, CisModule and MultiModule) to seek a predictor combination that delivers a higher accuracy than individual CRM predictors. 465 CRMs across 140 Drosophila melanogaster genes from the RED fly database were used to evaluate the integrated CRM predictor proposed in this study. The results show that four predictor combinations achieved superior performance than the best individual CRM predictor.

Keywords: Cis-regulatory module, transcription factor binding site.

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Authors: Zairunisha

Abstract:

This paper is concerned with the ways in which Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ARTs) affect women’s lives and perceptions regarding their infertility, contraception and reproductive health. The paper is based on a qualitative feminist survey study to explore and analyze issues arising from the use of ARTs by women in New Delhi, the capital of India. A rapid growth in the number of fertility clinics has been noticed recently. A critical analysis of interviews revealed that these technologies are used and developed for making profits at the cost of women’s lives. In this way, these technologies are influencing and changing the traditional patterns of motherhood requiring a rethinking about new ways of reproduction introduced through the use of ARTs.

Keywords: Assisted reproductive technologies, new ways reproduction, voluntary and involuntary choice, women.

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Authors: A. Javaheri, A. R. Kabiri-Samani

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In this study an extensive experimental research is carried out to develop a better understanding of the effects of Piano Key (PK) weir geometry on weir flow threshold submergence. Experiments were conducted in a 12 m long, 0.4 m wide and 0.7 m deep rectangular glass wall flume. The main objectives were to investigate the effect of the PK weir geometries including the weir length, weir height, inlet-outlet key widths, upstream and downstream apex overhangs, and slopped floors on threshold submergence and study the hydraulic flow characteristics. From the experimental results, a practical formula is proposed to evaluate the flow threshold submergence over PK weirs.

Keywords: Model experimentation, flow characteristics, Piano Key weir, threshold submergence.

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Authors: Sujit K. Basak, Simon Collin

Abstract:

The aim of this paper is to examine the technology access and use on the affecting social integration of local students at university. This aim is achieved by designing a structural equation modeling (SEM) in terms of integration with peers, integration with faculty, faculty support and on the other hand, examining the socio demographic impact on the technology access and use. The collected data were analyzed using the WarpPLS 5.0 software. This study was survey based and it was conducted at a public university in Canada. The results of the study indicated that technology has a strong impact on integration with faculty, faculty support, but technology does not have an impact on integration with peers. However, the social demographic has also an impact on the technology access and use.

Keywords: Faculty, integration, peer, technology access and use.

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Authors: Cheng-Yu Tsai, Li-Wei Liu, Ming-Tsang Wu

Abstract:

This study sought to determine whether there were relationships existed among leisure satisfaction, self-esteem, and spiritual wellness. Four hundred survey instruments were distributed, and 334 effective instruments were returned, for an effective rate of 83.5%. The participants were recruited from a purposive sampling that subjects were at least 60 years of age and retired in Tainan City, Taiwan. Three instruments were used in this research: Leisure Satisfaction Scale (LSS), Self-Esteem Scale (SES), and Spirituality Assessment Scale (SAS). The collected data were analyzed statistically. The findings of this research were as follows: 1. There is significantly correlated between leisure satisfaction and spiritual wellness. 2. There is significantly correlated between leisure satisfaction and self-esteem. 3. There is significantly correlated between spiritual wellness and self-esteem.

Keywords: Leisure satisfaction, spiritual wellness, self-esteem.

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Authors: K. Kalaiselvan, A. Elango, N. M. Nagarajan, N. Mathiyazagan

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Laser beam welding has wide acceptability due to least welding distortion, low labour costs and convenient operation. However, laser welding for dissimilar titanium and aluminium alloys is a new area which is having wider applications in aerospace, aircraft, automotive, electronics and other industries. The present study is concerned with welding parameters namely laser power, welding speed, focusing distance and type of shielding gas and thereby evaluate welding performance of titanium and aluminium alloy thin sheets. This paper reviews the basic concepts associated with different parameters of Ti/Al sheet joint using Laser beam welding.

Keywords: Laser Beam Welding (LBW), Dissimilar joining Titanium and Aluminum sheets.

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Authors: E. H. N. Gashti, M. Zarrini, M. Irannezhad, J. R. Langroudi

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Using ETABS software, this study analyzed 23 buildings to evaluate effects of mistakes during construction phase on buildings structural behavior. For modelling, two different loadings were assumed: 1) design loading and 2) loading due to the effects of mistakes in construction phase. Research results determined that considering traditional construction methods for buildings resulted in a significant increase in dead loads and consequently intensified the displacements and base-shears of buildings under seismic loads.

Keywords: Reinforced-concrete buildings, Construction mistakes, Base-shear, displacements, Failure.

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Authors: Shih-Ching Lo

Abstract:

Discrete choice model is the most used methodology for studying traveler-s mode choice and demand. However, to calibrate the discrete choice model needs to have plenty of questionnaire survey. In this study, an aggregative model is proposed. The historical data of passenger volumes for high speed rail and domestic civil aviation are employed to calibrate and validate the model. In this study, different models are compared so as to propose the best one. From the results, systematic equations forecast better than single equation do. Models with the external variable, which is oil price, are better than models based on closed system assumption.

Keywords: forecasting, passenger volume, dynamic competition model, external variable, oil price

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Authors: J. R. Wang, S. W. Chen, Y. Chiang, W. S. Hsu, J. H. Yang, Y. S. Tseng, C. Shih

Abstract:

In this research, the HABIT analysis methodology was established for Maanshan nuclear power plant (NPP). The Final Safety Analysis Report (FSAR), reports, and other data were used in this study. To evaluate the control room habitability under the CO₂ storage burst, the HABIT methodology was used to perform this analysis. The HABIT result was below the R.G. 1.78 failure criteria. This indicates that Maanshan NPP habitability can be maintained. Additionally, the sensitivity study of the parameters (wind speed, atmospheric stability classification, air temperature, and control room intake flow rate) was also performed in this research.

Keywords: PWR, HABIT, habitability, Maanshan.

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Authors: Y. Chiang, W. Y. Li, J. R. Wang, S. W. Chen, W. S. Hsu, J. H. Yang, Y. S. Tseng, C. Shih

Abstract:

In this research, the HABIT code was used to estimate the concentration under the CO₂ and H₂SO₄ storage burst conditions for Kuosheng nuclear power plant (NPP). The Final Safety Analysis Report (FSAR) and reports were used in this research. In addition, to evaluate the control room habitability for these cases, the HABIT analysis results were compared with the R.G. 1.78 failure criteria. The comparison results show that the HABIT results are below the criteria. Additionally, some sensitivity studies (stability classification, wind speed and control room intake rate) were performed in this study.

Keywords: BWR, HABIT, habitability, KUOSHENG.

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Authors: M. Sangeetha, A. Sabari, K. Elakkiya

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Recent advancement in wireless internetworking has presented a number of dynamic routing protocols based on sensor networks. At present, a number of revisions are made based on their energy efficiency, lifetime and mobility. However, to the best of our knowledge no extensive survey of this special type has been prepared. At present, review is needed in this area where cluster-based structures for dynamic wireless networks are to be discussed. In this paper, we examine and compare several aspects and characteristics of some extensively explored hierarchical dynamic clustering protocols in wireless sensor networks. This document also presents a discussion on the future research topics and the challenges of dynamic hierarchical clustering in wireless sensor networks.

Keywords: Dynamic cluster, Hierarchical clustering, Wireless sensor networks.

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Authors: A. G. Silva Sobrinho, G. M. Manzi, N. L. L. Lima, F. A. Almeida, V. Endo, N. M. B. L. Zeola

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The purpose of this study was to evaluate the tissue composition and carcass muscularity of 32 legs of Ile de France lambs fed with diets containing sunflower seeds and vitamin E, with mean body weight of 15 kg, lodged in individual pens at 15 kg and slaughtered at 32 kg of body weight. The treatments influenced (P<0,05) leg weight, femur length and muscle:bone ratio, being the highest values (2,13 kg, 16,19 cm and 7,38, respectively) in lambs that received diet without sunflower seeds and vitamin E. The other variables were not affected (P>0,05) by the treatments. The interaction of the sunflower and vitamin E was positive for bone total weights and intermuscular fat.

Keywords: sheep, conformation, feedlot, nutrition, sugar-cane

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Authors: O. C. Nosiri, V. E. Idigo, C. O. Ohaneme, K. A. Akpado

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Coverage and capacity performance in a cellular network determines the system potentials. If the coverage radius is limited, end users suffer poor service quality, if the system capacity reduces, fewer subscribers will be accommodated. This paper investigated the performance effects of the noise rise caused by the spurious emission from a co-located jammer involving downlink frequency of CDMA2000 and uplink frequency of WCDMA operating at 1.9GHz. Measurements were carried out to evaluate the impact on the coverage radius and the system capacity.

Keywords: Capacity, Co-location, Coverage, Noise rise.

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