Search results for: maturity assessment

Authors: Suttipong Boonphadung, Thassanant Unnanantn

Abstract:

This research focused on comparing the critical thinking of the teacher students before and after using Miller’s Model learning activities and investigating their opinions. The sampling groups were (1) fourth year 33 student teachers majoring in Early Childhood Education and enrolling in semester 1 of academic year 2013 (2) third year 28 student teachers majoring in English and enrolling in semester 2 of academic year 2013 and (3) third year 22 student teachers majoring in Thai and enrolling in semester 2 of academic year 2013. The research instruments were (1) lesson plans where the learning activities were settled based on Miller’s Model (2) critical thinking assessment criteria and (3) a questionnaire on opinions towards Miller’s Model based learning activities. The statistical treatment was mean, deviation, different scores and T-test. The result unfolded that (1) the critical thinking of the students after the assigned activities was better than before and (2) the students’ opinions towards the critical thinking improvement activities based on Miller’s Model ranged from the level of high to highest.

Keywords: Critical thinking, Miller’s model, Opinions.

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Authors: M. Abdul-Rani, K. K. Chong, A. F. M. Hani, Y. B. Yap, A. Jamil

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Imaging is defined as the process of obtaining geometric images either two dimensional or three dimensional by scanning or digitizing the existing objects or products. In this research, it applied to retrieve 3D information of the human skin surface in medical application. This research focuses on analyzing and determining volume of leg ulcers using imaging devices. Volume determination is one of the important criteria in clinical assessment of leg ulcer. The volume and size of the leg ulcer wound will give the indication on responding to treatment whether healing or worsening. Different imaging techniques are expected to give different result (and accuracies) in generating data and images. Midpoint projection algorithm was used to reconstruct the cavity to solid model and compute the volume. Misinterpretation of the results can affect the treatment efficacy. The objectives of this paper is to compare the accuracy between two 3D data acquisition method, which is laser triangulation and structured light methods, It was shown that using models with known volume, that structured-light-based 3D technique produces better accuracy compared with laser triangulation data acquisition method for leg ulcer volume determination.

Keywords: Imaging, Laser Triangulation, Structured Light, Volume Determination.

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Authors: G. Chakhaia, S. Gogilava, L. Tsulukidze, Z. Laoshvili, I. Khubulava, S. Bosikashvili, T. Gugushvili

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The work reviewed and evaluated various genesis debris flow phenomena recently formatted in the Mletiskhevi, accordingly it revealed necessity of treatment modern debris flow against measures. Based on this, it is proposed the debris flow against truncated semi cone shape construction, which elements are contained in the car’s secondary tires. its constituent elements (sections), due to the possibilities of amortization and geometric shapes is effective and sustainable towards debris flow hitting force. The construction is economical, because after crossing the debris flows in the river bed, the riverbed is not cleanable, also the elements of the building are resource saving. For assessment of influence of cohesive debris flow at the construction and evaluation of the construction effectiveness have been implemented calculation in the specific assumptions with approved methodology. According to the calculation, it was established that after passing debris flow in the debris flow construction (in 3 row case) its hitting force reduces 3 times, that causes reduce of debris flow speed and kinetic energy, as well as sedimentation on a certain section of water drain in the lower part of the construction. Based on the analysis and report on the debris flow against construction, it can be said that construction is effective, inexpensive, technically relatively easy-to-reach measure, that’s why its implementation is prospective.

Keywords: Construction, debris flow, sections, theoretical calculation.

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Authors: Hao-Hsi Tseng, Hsin-Yun Lee

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Adopting Most Advantageous Tender (MAT) for the government procurement projects has become popular in Taiwan. As time pass by, the problems of MAT has appeared gradually. People condemn two points that are the result might be manipulated by a single committee member’s partiality and how to make a fair decision when the winner has two or more. Arrow’s Impossibility Theorem proposed that the best scoring method should meet the four reasonable criteria. According to these four criteria this paper constructed an “Illegitimate Scores Checking Scheme” for a scoring method and used the scheme to find out the illegitimate of the current evaluation method of MAT. This paper also proposed a new scoring method that is called the “Standardizing Overall Evaluated Score Method”. This method makes each committee member’s influence tend to be identical. Thus, the committee members can scoring freely according to their partiality without losing the fairness. Finally, it was examined by a large-scale simulation, and the experiment revealed that the it improved the problem of dictatorship and perfectly avoided the situation of cyclical majorities, simultaneously. This result verified that the Standardizing Overall Evaluated Score Method is better than any current evaluation method of MAT.

Keywords: Arrow’s impossibility theorem, most advantageous tender, illegitimate scores checking scheme, standard score.

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Authors: D. Mondal, A. Chakrabarti, A. Sengupta

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This paper aims to select the optimal location and setting parameters of TCSC (Thyristor Controlled Series Compensator) controller using Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) and Genetic Algorithm (GA) to mitigate small signal oscillations in a multimachine power system. Though Power System Stabilizers (PSSs) are prime choice in this issue, installation of FACTS device has been suggested here in order to achieve appreciable damping of system oscillations. However, performance of any FACTS devices highly depends upon its parameters and suitable location in the power network. In this paper PSO as well as GA based techniques are used separately and compared their performances to investigate this problem. The results of small signal stability analysis have been represented employing eigenvalue as well as time domain response in face of two common power system disturbances e.g., varying load and transmission line outage. It has been revealed that the PSO based TCSC controller is more effective than GA based controller even during critical loading condition.

Keywords: Genetic Algorithm, Particle Swarm Optimization, Small Signal Stability, Thyristor Controlled Series Compensator.

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Authors: M. Feliciano, F. Rodrigues, A. Gonçalves, J. M. R. C. A. Santos, V. Leite

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With the objective of characterizing the profile and performance of energy use by slaughterhouses, surveys and audits were performed in two different facilities located in the northeastern region of Portugal. Energy consumption from multiple energy sources was assessed monthly, along with production and costs, for the same reference year. Gathered data was analyzed to identify and quantify the main consuming processes and to estimate energy efficiency indicators for benchmarking purposes. Main results show differences between the two slaughterhouses concerning energy sources, consumption by source and sector, and global energy efficiency. Electricity is the most used source in both slaughterhouses with a contribution of around 50%, being essentially used for meat processing and refrigeration. Natural gas, in slaughterhouse A, and pellets, in slaughterhouse B, used for heating water take the second place, with a mean contribution of about 45%. On average, a 62 kgoe/t specific energy consumption (SEC) was found, although with differences between slaughterhouses. A prominent negative correlation between SEC and carcass production was found specially in slaughterhouse A. Estimated Specific Energy Cost and Greenhouse Gases Intensity (GHGI) show mean values of about 50 €/t and 1.8 tCO₂e/toe, respectively. Main results show that there is a significant margin for improving energy efficiency and therefore lowering costs in this type of non-energy intensive industries. 

Keywords: Meat industry, energy intensity, energy efficiency, GHG emissions.

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Authors: A. Soikkeli, L. Sorri

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Finnish national research project, User- and Business-oriented Suburb Renovation Concept (KLIKK), was started in January 2012 and will end in June 2014. The perspective of energy efficiency is emphasised in the project, but also it addresses what improving the energy efficiency of suburban apartment buildings means from the standpoint of architecturally valuable buildings representing different periods. The project will also test the impacts of stricter energy efficiency requirements on renovation projects.

The primary goal of the project is to develop a user-oriented, industrial, economic renovation concept for suburban apartment building renovation, extension and construction of additional storeys. The concept will make it possible to change from performance- and cost-based operation to novel service- and user-oriented, site-specifically tailored renovation methods utilizing integrated order and delivery chains.

The present project is collaborating with Ministry of the Environment and participating cities in developing a new type of lighter town planning model for suburban renovations and in-fill construction. To support this, the project will simultaneously develop practices for environmental impact assessment tools in renovation and suburban supplementary and in-fill construction.

 

Keywords: Energy efficiency, Prefabrication, Renovation concept, Suburbs, Sustainability, User-Orientated.

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Authors: Peter Sabev, Katalina Grigorova

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Test automation allows performing difficult and time consuming manual software testing tasks efficiently, quickly and repeatedly. However, development and maintenance of automated tests is expensive, so it needs a proper prioritization what to automate first. This paper describes a simple yet efficient approach for such prioritization of test cases based on the effort needed for both manual execution and software test automation. The suggested approach is very flexible because it allows working with a variety of assessment methods, and adding or removing new candidates at any time. The theoretical ideas presented in this article have been successfully applied in real world situations in several software companies by the authors and their colleagues including testing of real estate websites, cryptographic and authentication solutions, OSGi-based middleware framework that has been applied in various systems for smart homes, connected cars, production plants, sensors, home appliances, car head units and engine control units (ECU), vending machines, medical devices, industry equipment and other devices that either contain or are connected to an embedded service gateway.

Keywords: Automated Testing, Manual Testing, Test Automation, Software testing, Test Prioritization.

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Authors: Maha Awad M. Almuttairi

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This research aimed to measure the impact of the use of a mobile learning (iTunes U) app for the development of metacognition skills delivered in the enrichment program offered to gifted students at the secondary level in Jeddah. The author targeted a group of students on an experimental scale to evaluate the achievement. The research sample consisted of a group of 38 gifted female students. The scale of evaluation of the metacognition skills used to measure the performance of students in the enrichment program was as follows: Satisfaction scale for the assessment of the technique used and the final product form after completion of the program. Appropriate statistical treatment used includes Paired Samples T-Test Cronbach’s alpha formula and eta squared formula. It was concluded in the results the difference of α≤ 0.05, which means the performance of students in the skills of metacognition in favor of using iTunes U. In light of the conclusion of the experiment, a number of recommendations and suggestions were present; the most important benefit of mobile learning applications is to provide enrichment programs for gifted students in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, as well as conducting further research on mobile learning and gifted student teaching.

Keywords: Enrichment program, gifted students, metacognition skills.

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Authors: Abdelbasit Gadour

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This study explores the function of schools’ psychosocial services within Libyan mainstream schools in relation to children’s special educational needs (SEN). This is with the aim to examine the role of school social workers and psychologists in the assessment procedure of children with SEN. A semi-structured interview was used in this study, with 21 professionals working in the schools’ psychosocial services, of whom 13 were school social workers (SSWs) and eight were school psychologists (SPs). The results of the interviews with SSWs and SPs provided insights into how SEN children are identified, assessed, and dealt with by school professionals. It appears from the results that what constitutes a problem has not changed significantly, and the link between learning difficulties and behavioural difficulties is also evident from this study. Children with behaviour difficulties are more likely to be referred to school psychosocial services than children with learning difficulties. Yet, it is not clear from the interviews with SSWs and SPs whether children are excluded merely because of their behaviour problems. Instead, they would surely be expelled from the school if they failed academically. Furthermore, the interviews with SSWs and SPs yield a rather unusual source accountable for children’s SEN; school-related difficulties were a major factor in which almost all participants attributed children’s learning and behaviour problems to teachers’ deficiencies, followed by school lack of resources.

Keywords: Special education, school, social workers, psychologist.

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Authors: Getaye F. Gelaw

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The purpose of this study was to investigate the key physical and physiological characteristics of 16 elite male Ethiopian national team distance runners, who have an average age of 28.1 ± 4.3 years, a height of 175.0 ± 5.6 cm, a weight of 59.1 ± 3.9 kg, a BMI of 19.6 ± 1.5, and training age of 10.1 ± 5.1 yrs. The average weekly distance is 196.3 ± 13.8 km, the average 10,000 m time is 27:14 ± 0.5 min sec, the average half marathon time is 59:30 ± 0.6 min sec, the average marathon time is 2:04:20 ± 2.7 hr min ss. In addition, the average Cooper test (12-minute run test) is 4525.4 ± 139.7 meters, and the average VO2 max is 90.8 ± 3.1 ml/kg/m. All athletes have a high profile and compete on the international label, and according to the World Athletics athletes' ranking system in 2021, 56.3% of the 16 participants were platinum label status, while the remaining 43.7% were gold label status-completed an incremental treadmill test for the assessment of VO2peak, submaximal running, lactate threshold and test during which they ran continuously at 21 km/h. The laboratory determined VO2peak was 91.4 ± 1.7 mL/kg/min with anaerobic threshold of 74.2 ± 1.6 mL/min/kg and VO2 max 81%. The speed at the Anaerobic Threshold (AT) is 15.9 ± 0.6 kmh and the altitude is 4.0%. The Respiratory Compensation Point (RCP) was reached at 88.7 ± 1.1 mL/min/kg and 97% of VO2 max. On RCP, the speed is 17.6 ± 0.4 km/h and the altitude/slope are 5.5%, and the speed at Maximum effort is 19.5 ± 1.5 and the elevation is 6.0%. The data also suggest that Ethiopian distance top athletes have considerably higher VO2 max values than those found in earlier research.

Keywords: Long-distance running, Ethiopians, VO2 max, World Athletics, Anthropometric.

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Authors: Tarek M. Alguhane, Ayman H. Khalil, M. N. Fayed, Ayman M. Ismail

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The elastic period has a primary role in the seismic assessment of buildings. Reliable calculations and/or estimates of the fundamental frequency of a building and its site are essential during analysis and design process. Various code formulas based on empirical data are generally used to estimate the fundamental frequency of a structure. For existing structures, in addition to code formulas and available analytical tools such as modal analyses, various methods of testing including ambient and forced vibration testing procedures may be used to determine dynamic characteristics. In this study, the dynamic properties of the 32 buildings located in the Madinah of Saudi Arabia were identified using ambient motions recorded at several, spatially-distributed locations within each building. Ambient vibration measurements of buildings have been analyzed and the fundamental longitudinal and transverse periods for all tested buildings are presented. The fundamental mode of vibration has been compared in plots with codes formulae (Saudi Building Code, EC8, and UBC1997). The results indicate that measured periods of existing buildings are shorter than that given by most empirical code formulas. Recommendations are given based on the common design and construction practice in Madinah city.

Keywords: Ambient vibration, Fundamental period, RC buildings, Infill walls.

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Authors: Ahmed T. Alahmar

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There is an increasing trend toward student-centred interactive e-learning methods and students’ feedback is a valuable tool for improving learning methods. The aim of this study was to explore the attitude of second year pharmacy students at the University of Babylon, Iraq, towards lectures, exams and e-learning. Materials and methods: Ninety pharmacy students were surveyed by paper questionnaire about their preference for lecture format, use of e-files, theoretical lectures versus practical experiments, lecture and lab time. Students were also asked about their predilection for Moodle-based online exams, different types of exam questions, exam time and other extra academic activities. Results: Students prefer to read lectures on paper (73.3%), use of PowerPoint file (76.7%), short lectures of less than 10 pages (94.5%), practical experiments (66.7%), lectures and lab time of less than two hours (89.9% and 96.6 respectively) and intra-lecture discussions (68.9%). Students also like to have paper-based exam (73.3%), short essay (40%) or MCQ (34.4%) questions and also prefer to do extra activities like reports (22.2%), seminars (18.6%) and posters (10.8%). Conclusion: Second year pharmacy students have different attitudes toward traditional and electronic leaning and assessment methods. Using multimedia, e-learning and Moodle are increasingly preferred methods among some students.

Keywords: Pharmacy, students, lecture, exam, e-learning, Moodle.

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Authors: L. Parisi

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In this research work, neural networks were applied to classify two types of hip joint implants based on the relative hip joint implant side speed and three components of each ground reaction force. The condition of walking gait at normal velocity was used and carried out with each of the two hip joint implants assessed. Ground reaction forces’ kinetic temporal changes were considered in the first approach followed but discarded in the second one. Ground reaction force components were obtained from eighteen patients under such gait condition, half of which had a hip implant type I-II, whilst the other half had the hip implant, defined as type III by Orthoload®. After pre-processing raw gait kinetic data and selecting the time frames needed for the analysis, the ground reaction force components were used to train a MLP neural network, which learnt to distinguish the two hip joint implants in the abovementioned condition. Further to training, unknown hip implant side and ground reaction force components were presented to the neural networks, which assigned those features into the right class with a reasonably high accuracy for the hip implant type I-II and the type III. The results suggest that neural networks could be successfully applied in the performance assessment of hip joint implants.

Keywords: Kinemic gait data, Neural networks, Hip joint implant, Hip arthroplasty, Rehabilitation Engineering.

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Authors: Archana Panchapakesan Iyer, Taha Abdullah Kumosani

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Many high-risk pathogens that cause disease in humans are transmitted through various food items. Food-borne disease constitutes a major public health problem. Assessment of the quality and safety of foods is important in human health. Rapid and easy detection of pathogenic organisms will facilitate precautionary measures to maintain healthy food. The Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) is a handy tool for rapid detection of low numbers of bacteria. We have designed gene specific primers for most common food borne pathogens such as Staphylococci, Salmonella and E.coli. Bacteria were isolated from food samples of various food outlets and identified using gene specific PCRs. We identified Staphylococci, Salmonella and E.coli O157 using gene specific primers by rapid and direct PCR technique in various food samples. This study helps us in getting a complete picture of the various pathogens that threaten to cause and spread food borne diseases and it would also enable establishment of a routine procedure and methodology for rapid identification of food borne bacteria using the rapid technique of direct PCR. This study will also enable us to judge the efficiency of present food safety steps taken by food manufacturers and exporters.

Keywords: food borne pathogens, PCR, food safety, rapiddetection.

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Authors: Ekow A. Kwofie, Emmanuel K. Anto, Godfred Mensah

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In this paper, CYME Distribution software has been used to assess the impacts of solar Photovoltaic (PV) distributed generation (DG) plant on the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) 33 kV sub-transmission network at different PV penetration levels. As ECG begins to encourage DG PV interconnections within its network, there has been the need to assess the impacts on the sub-transmission losses and voltage contribution. In Tema, a city in Accra - Ghana, ECG has a 33 kV sub-transmission network made up of 20 No. 33 kV buses that was modeled. Three different locations were chosen: The source bus, a bus along the sub-transmission radial network and a bus at the tail end to determine the optimal location for DG PV interconnection. The optimal location was determined based on sub-transmission technical losses and voltage impact. PV capacities at different penetration levels were modeled at each location and simulations performed to determine the optimal PV penetration level. Interconnection at a bus along (or in the middle of) the sub-transmission network offered the highest benefits at an optimal PV penetration level of 80%. At that location, the maximum voltage improvement of 0.789% on the neighboring 33 kV buses and maximum loss reduction of 6.033% over the base case scenario were recorded. Hence, the optimal location for DG PV integration within the 33 kV sub-transmission utility network is at a bus along the sub-transmission radial network.

Keywords: Distributed generation photovoltaic, DG PV, optimal location, penetration level, sub-transmission network.

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Authors: Xiaodong Li, Peng Gao, Chao-Jung Huang, Shiying Hao, Xuefeng B. Ling, Yongxia Han, Yaqi Zhang, Le Zheng, Chengyin Ye, Modi Liu, Minjie Xia, Changlin Fu, Bo Jin, Karl G. Sylvester, Eric Widen

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Predicting the risk of Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma (PA) in advance can benefit the quality of care and potentially reduce population mortality and morbidity. The aim of this study was to develop and prospectively validate a risk prediction model to identify patients at risk of new incident PA as early as 3 months before the onset of PA in a statewide, general population in Maine. The PA prediction model was developed using Deep Neural Networks, a deep learning algorithm, with a 2-year electronic-health-record (EHR) cohort. Prospective results showed that our model identified 54.35% of all inpatient episodes of PA, and 91.20% of all PA that required subsequent chemoradiotherapy, with a lead-time of up to 3 months and a true alert of 67.62%. The risk assessment tool has attained an improved discriminative ability. It can be immediately deployed to the health system to provide automatic early warnings to adults at risk of PA. It has potential to identify personalized risk factors to facilitate customized PA interventions.

Keywords: Cancer prediction, deep learning, electronic health records, pancreatic adenocarcinoma.

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Authors: Siham G. Farag

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The main objective of this paper is to provide a new methodology for road safety assessment in Oman through the development of suitable accident prediction models. GLM technique with Poisson or NBR using SAS package was carried out to develop these models. The paper utilized the accidents data of 31 un-signalized T-intersections during three years. Five goodness-of-fit measures were used to assess the overall quality of the developed models. Two types of models were developed separately; the flow-based models including only traffic exposure functions, and the full models containing both exposure functions and other significant geometry and traffic variables. The results show that, traffic exposure functions produced much better fit to the accident data. The most effective geometric variables were major-road mean speed, minor-road 85th percentile speed, major-road lane width, distance to the nearest junction, and right-turn curb radius. The developed models can be used for intersection treatment or upgrading and specify the appropriate design parameters of T-intersections. Finally, the models presented in this thesis reflect the intersection conditions in Oman and could represent the typical conditions in several countries in the middle east area, especially gulf countries.

Keywords: Accidents Prediction Models (APMs), Generalized Linear Model (GLM), T-intersections, Oman.

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Authors: Ratima Damkham, Natasha Dejdumrong, Priyakorn Pusawiro

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This paper explored the solution in game design to help game designers in the educational game designing using digital educational game model canvas (DEGMC) and digital educational game form (DEGF) based on Outcome-based Education program. DEGMC and DEGF can help designers develop an overview of the game while designing and planning their own game. The way to clearly assess players’ ability from learning outcomes and support their game learning design is by using the tools. Designers can balance educational content and entertainment in designing a game by using the strategies of the Business Model Canvas and design the gameplay and players’ ability assessment from learning outcomes they need by referring to the Constructive Alignment. Furthermore, they can use their design plan in this research to write their Game Design Document (GDD). The success of the research was evaluated by four experts’ perspectives in the education and computer field. From the experiments, the canvas and form helped the game designers model their game according to the learning outcomes and analysis of their own game elements. This method can be a path to research an educational game design in the future.

Keywords: Constructive alignment, constructivist theory, educational game, outcome-based education.

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Authors: S. Assi, M. Haffar

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Teaching statistics is a critical and challenging issue especially to students from multidisciplinary and diverse postgraduate backgrounds. Postgraduate research students require statistics not only for the design of experiments; but also for data analysis. Students often perceive statistics as a complex and technical subject; thus, they leave data analysis to the last moment. The lecture needs to be simple and inclusive at the same time to make it comprehendible and address the learning needs of each student. Therefore, the aim of this work was to design a simple and comprehendible statistics lecture to postgraduate research students regarding ‘Research plan, design and data collection’. The lecture adopted the constructive alignment learning theory which facilitated the learning environments for the students. The learning environment utilized a student-centered approach and used interactive learning environment with in-class discussion, handouts and electronic voting system handsets. For evaluation of the lecture, formative assessment was made with in-class discussions and poll questions which were introduced during and after the lecture. The whole approach showed to be effective in creating a learning environment to the students who were able to apply the concepts addressed to their individual research projects.

Keywords: Teaching, statistics, lecture, multidisciplinary, postgraduate, learning theory, learning environment, student-centered approach, data analysis.

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Authors: Vakhtang Geladze, Nana Bolashvili, Tamazi Karalashvili, Nino Machavariani, Vajha Neidze, Nana Kvirkvelia, Tamar Chichinadze

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Deficiency of fresh water is a vital global problem today. It must be taken into consideration that in the nearest future fresh water crisis will become even more acute owing to the global climate warming and fast desertification processes in the world. Georgia has signed the association agreement with Euro Union last year where the priority spheres of cooperation are the management of water resources, development of trans-boundary approach to the problem and active participation in the “Euro Union water initiative” component of “the East Europe, Caucasus and the Central Asia”. Fresh water resources are the main natural wealth of Georgia. According to the average water layer height, Georgia is behind such European countries only as Norway, Switzerland and Austria. The annual average water provision of Georgia is 4-8 times higher than in its neighbor countries Armenia and Azerbaijan. Despite abundant water resources in Georgia, there is considerable discrepancy between their volume and use in some regions because of the uneven territorial distribution. In the East Georgia, water supply of the territory and population is four times less than in the West Georgia.

Keywords: GIS, sociological survey, water consumption, water resources.

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Authors: Olayinka Gafar Okeola, Akinola Muyiwa Moore

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Urban population is rapidly increasing in Ilorin, (the capital of Kwara State of Nigeria) along with related increased water demand. The inadequacies of water supply services have forced the populace to depend on dug wells, boreholes, water tankers, street vendors etc. for their water needs. People spend hours daily carrying jerry can all around to collect and queue for water at the public water tap with high opportunity cost both in time and economic wastage. This situation motivated this study to assess the sustainability of an urban water supply services to unravel the factors undermining the effective delivery of services. Contingent Valuation Method was used to place value on water supply services using the Double Bounded Dichotomous Choice format for willingness to pay elicitation. A database was created with Microsoft Excel and Stata 12 Software to model and evaluate the variables that affect household willingness to pay. The results of the study reveal that about 92% of the total households surveyed were connected to the Government water supply out of which 87% reported that they were not satisfied with the existing services. The results furthered revealed that respondents are willing to pay ₦2500 monthly to enjoy sustainable water supply service delivery.

Keywords: Willingness-to-pay, contingent valuation method, Nigeria, service, delivery.

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Authors: Sihao Lin, Bo Shen, Xuexiang Dai, Xuyan Xu, Zhenyi Wu, Xianzhe Zeng

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Infrared Thermography (IRT) has been little documented in the objective measurement of ergonomic exposure. We aimed to examine the association between different ergonomic exposures and low back skin temperature measured by IRT. A total of 114 subjects among sedentary students, sports students and cleaning workers were selected as different ergonomic exposure levels. Low back skin temperature was measured by IRT before and post ergonomic exposure. Ergonomic exposure was assessed by Quick Exposure Check (QEC) and quantitative scores were calculated on the low back. Multiple regressions were constructed to examine the possible associations between ergonomic risk exposures and the skin temperature over the low back. Compared to the two student groups, clean workers had significantly higher ergonomic exposure scores on the low back. The low back temperature variations were different among the three groups. The temperature decreased significantly among students with ergonomic exposure (P < 0.01), while it increased among cleaning workers. With adjustment of confounding, the post-exposure temperature and the temperature changes after exposure showed a significantly negative association with ergonomic exposure scores. For maximum temperature, one increasing ergonomic score decreased -0.23 °C (95% CI -0.37, -0.10) of temperature after ergonomic exposure over the low back. There was a significant association between ergonomic exposures and infrared thermal temperature over low back. IRT could be used as an objective assessment of ergonomic exposure on the low back.

Keywords: Ergonomic exposure, infrared thermography, musculoskeletal disorders, skin temperature, low back.

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Authors: Anjali Chatterjee, Nirmal Kumar Roy

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Economically transformers constitute one of the largest investments in a Power system. For this reason, transformer condition assessment and management is a high priority task. If a transformer fails, it would have a significant negative impact on revenue and service reliability. Monitoring the state of health of power transformers has traditionally been carried out using laboratory Dissolved Gas Analysis (DGA) tests performed at periodic intervals on the oil sample, collected from the transformers. DGA of transformer oil is the single best indicator of a transformer-s overall condition and is a universal practice today, which started somewhere in the 1960s. Failure can occur in a transformer due to different reasons. Some failures can be limited or prevented by maintenance. Oil filtration is one of the methods to remove the dissolve gases and prevent the deterioration of the oil. In this paper we analysis the DGA data by regression method and predict the gas concentration in the oil in the future. We bring about a comparative study of different traditional methods of regression and the errors generated out of their predictions. With the help of these data we can deduce the health of the transformer by finding the type of fault if it has occurred or will occur in future. Additional in this paper effect of filtration on the transformer health is highlight by calculating the probability of failure of a transformer with and without oil filtrating.

Keywords: Power Transformers, Dissolve gas Analysis, Regression method, Filtration, oil.

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Authors: Wang Liguang, Zhang Xueqing

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The build-operate-transfer (BOT) project delivery system has provided effective routes to mobilize private sector funds, innovative technologies, management skills and operational efficiencies for public infrastructure development and have been widely used in China during the last 20 years. Many BOT projects in China will be smoothly transferred to the government soon and the transfer stage, which is considered as the last stage, must be studied carefully and handled well to achieve the overall success of BOT projects. There will be many issues faced by both the public sector and private sector in the transfer stage of BOT projects, including project post-assessment, technology and documents transfer, personal training and staff transition, etc. and sometimes additional legislation is needed for future operation and management of facilities. However, most previous studies focused on the bidding, financing, and building and operation stages instead of transfer stage. This research identifies nine key issues in the transfer stage of BOT projects through a comprehensive study on three cases in China, and the expert interview and expert discussion meetings are held to validate the key issues and give detail analysis. A proposed framework of transfer management is prepared based on the experiences derived and lessons drawn from the case studies and expert interview and discussions, which is expected to improve the transfer management of BOT projects in practice.

Keywords: BOT project, key issues, transfer management transfer stage.

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Authors: Ashly Joseph, Jithu Paulose

Abstract:

The increased usage of cloud computing has revolutionized the IT landscape, but it has also raised new security concerns. DevSecOps emerged as a way for tackling these difficulties by integrating security into the software development process. However, the rising complexity and sophistication of cyber threats need more advanced solutions. This paper looks into the usage of artificial intelligence (AI) techniques in the DevSecOps framework to increase cloud security. This study uses quantitative and qualitative techniques to assess the usefulness of AI approaches such as machine learning, natural language processing, and deep learning in reducing security issues. This paper thoroughly examines the symbiotic relationship between AI and DevSecOps, concentrating on how AI may be seamlessly integrated into the continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD) pipeline, automated security testing, and real-time monitoring methods. The findings emphasize AI's huge potential to improve threat detection, risk assessment, and incident response skills. Furthermore, the paper examines the implications and challenges of using AI in DevSecOps workflows, considering factors like as scalability, interpretability, and adaptability. This paper adds to a better understanding of AI's revolutionary role in cloud security and provides valuable insights for practitioners and scholars in the field.

Keywords: Cloud Security, DevSecOps, Artificial Intelligence, AI, Machine Learning, Natural Language Processing, NLP, cybersecurity, AI-driven Security.

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Authors: P. Chatrabhuti, S. Visessri, T. Charinpanitkul

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Precision irrigation (PI) technology has emerged as a solution to optimize water usage in agriculture, aiming to maximize crop yields while minimizing water waste. Developing a PI for commercialization requires developers to research, synthesize, evaluate, and select appropriate technologies and make use of such information to produce innovative products. The objective of this review is to facilitate innovators by providing them with a summary of existing knowledge and the identification of gaps in research linking to the innovative development of PI. This paper reviews and synthesizes technologies and components relevant to precision irrigation, highlighting its potential benefits and challenges. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) framework is used for the review. As a result of this review, the different technologies have limitations and may only be suitable for specific orchards or spatial settings. The current technologies are readily available in a range of options, from affordable controllers to high-performance systems that are both reliable and precise. Furthermore, the future prospects for incorporating artificial intelligence and machine learning techniques hold promise for advancing autonomous irrigation systems.

Keywords: Innovation synthesis, technology assessment, precision irrigation technologies, precision irrigation components, new product development.

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Authors: Marina Velikova, Hennie Daniels, Ad Feelders

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In many data mining applications, it is a priori known that the target function should satisfy certain constraints imposed by, for example, economic theory or a human-decision maker. In this paper we consider partially monotone prediction problems, where the target variable depends monotonically on some of the input variables but not on all. We propose a novel method to construct prediction models, where monotone dependences with respect to some of the input variables are preserved by virtue of construction. Our method belongs to the class of mixture models. The basic idea is to convolute monotone neural networks with weight (kernel) functions to make predictions. By using simulation and real case studies, we demonstrate the application of our method. To obtain sound assessment for the performance of our approach, we use standard neural networks with weight decay and partially monotone linear models as benchmark methods for comparison. The results show that our approach outperforms partially monotone linear models in terms of accuracy. Furthermore, the incorporation of partial monotonicity constraints not only leads to models that are in accordance with the decision maker's expertise, but also reduces considerably the model variance in comparison to standard neural networks with weight decay.

Keywords: mixture models, monotone neural networks, partially monotone models, partially monotone problems.

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Authors: A. I. A. Rahman, Sh-Hussain Salleh, K. Ahmad, K. Anuar

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Analysis of vocal fold vibration is essential for understanding the mechanism of voice production and for improving clinical assessment of voice disorders. This paper presents a Dynamic Time Warping (DTW) based approach to analyze and objectively classify vocal fold vibration patterns. The proposed technique was designed and implemented on a Glottal Area Waveform (GAW) extracted from high-speed laryngeal images by delineating the glottal edges for each image frame. Feature extraction from the GAW was performed using Linear Predictive Coding (LPC). Several types of voice reference templates from simulations of clear, breathy, fry, pressed and hyperfunctional voice productions were used. The patterns of the reference templates were first verified using the analytical signal generated through Hilbert transformation of the GAW. Samples from normal speakers’ voice recordings were then used to evaluate and test the effectiveness of this approach. The classification of the voice patterns using the technique of LPC and DTW gave the accuracy of 81%.

Keywords: Dynamic Time Warping, Glottal Area Waveform, Linear Predictive Coding, High-Speed Laryngeal Images, Hilbert Transform.

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Authors: K. Hosseini, MD., R. Mazaheri, MD., H.R. Khoddami Vishteh, MD., M.A. Mansournia, MD., H. Angoorani, MD

Abstract:

Background: Tissue Doppler Echocardiography (TDE) assesses diastolic function more accurately than routine pulse Doppler echo. Assessment of the effects of dynamic and static exercises on the heart by using TDE can provides new information about the athlete-s heart syndrome. Methods: This study was conducted on 20 elite wrestlers, 14 endurance runners at national level and 21 non-athletes as the control group. Participants underwent two-dimensional echocardiography, standard Doppler and TDE. Results: Wrestlers had the highest left ventricular mass index, enddiastolic inter-ventricular septum thickness and left ventricular Posterior wall thickness. Runners had the highest Left ventricular end-diastolic volume, LV ejection fraction, stroke volume and cardiac output. In TDE, the early diastolic velocity of mitral annulus to the late diastolic velocity ratio in athletic groups was greater than the controls with no significant difference. Conclusion: In spite of cardiac morphological changes in athletes, TDE shows that cardiac diastolic function won-t be adversely affected.

Keywords: Tissue Doppler Echocardiography, Diastolic function, Athlete's heart syndrome, Static exercise, Dynamic exercise

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