Search results for: total hardness.

Authors: Giani Gradinaru

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Biodiversity crisis is one of the many crises that started at the turn of the millennia. Concrete form of expression is still disputed, but there is a relatively high consensus regarding the high rate of degradation and the urgent need for action. The strategy of action outlines a strong economic component, together with the recognition of market mechanisms as the most effective policies to protect biodiversity. In this context, biodiversity and ecosystem services are natural assets that play a key role in economic strategies and technological development to promote development and prosperity. Developing and strengthening policies for transition to an economy based on efficient use of resources is the way forward. To emphasize the co-viability specific to the connection economyecosystem services, scientific approach aimed on one hand how to implement policies for nature conservation and on the other hand, the concepts underlying the economic expression of ecosystem services- value, in the context of current technology. Following the analysis of business opportunities associated with changes in ecosystem services was concluded that development of market mechanisms for nature conservation is a trend that is increasingly stronger individualized within recent years. Although there are still many controversial issues that have already given rise to an obvious bias, international organizations and national governments have initiated and implemented in cooperation or independently such mechanisms. Consequently, they created the conditions for convergence between private interests and social interests of nature conservation, so there are opportunities for ongoing business development which leads, among other things, the positive effects on biodiversity. Finally, points out that markets fail to quantify the value of most ecosystem services. Existing price signals reflect at best, only a proportion of the total amount corresponding provision of food, water or fuel.

Keywords: ecosystem services, economic evaluation, nature conservation

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Authors: Mohamed Ghorab

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Local generated and distributed system for thermal and electrical energy is sighted in the near future to reduce transmission losses instead of the centralized system. Distributed Energy Resources (DER) is designed at different sizes (small and medium) and it is incorporated in energy distribution between the hubs. The energy generated from each technology at each hub should meet the local energy demands. Economic and environmental enhancement can be achieved when there are interaction and energy exchange between the hubs. Network energy system and CO₂ optimization between different six hubs presented Canadian community level are investigated in this study. Three different scenarios of technology systems are studied to meet both thermal and electrical demand loads for the six hubs. The conventional system is used as the first technology system and a reference case study. The conventional system includes boiler to provide the thermal energy, but the electrical energy is imported from the utility grid. The second technology system includes combined heat and power (CHP) system to meet the thermal demand loads and part of the electrical demand load. The third scenario has integration systems of CHP and Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) where the thermal waste energy from the CHP system is used by ORC to generate electricity. General Algebraic Modeling System (GAMS) is used to model DER system optimization based on energy economics and CO₂ emission analyses. The results are compared with the conventional energy system. The results show that scenarios 2 and 3 provide an annual total cost saving of 21.3% and 32.3 %, respectively compared to the conventional system (scenario 1). Additionally, Scenario 3 (CHP & ORC systems) provides 32.5% saving in CO₂ emission compared to conventional system subsequent case 2 (CHP system) with a value of 9.3%.  

Keywords: Distributed energy resources, network energy system, optimization, microgeneration system.

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Authors: N. Damenia, E. Kharaishvili, N. Sagareishvili, M. Saghareishvili

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Women's Employment is one of the most important issues in the global economy. The article discusses the stated topic in Georgia, through historical content, Soviet experience, and modern perspectives. The paper discusses segmentation insa terms of employment and related problems. Based on statistical analysis, women's unemployment rate and its factors are analyzed. The level of employment of women in Transcaucasia (Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan) is discussed and is compared with Baltic countries (Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia). The study analyzes women’s level of development, according to the average age of marriage and migration level. The focus is on Georgia's Association Agreement with the EU in 2014, which includes economic, social, trade and political issues. One part of it is gender equality at workplaces. According to the research, the average monthly remuneration of women managers in the financial and insurance sector equaled to 1044.6 Georgian Lari, while in overall business sector average monthly remuneration equaled to 961.1 GEL. Average salaries are increasing; however, the employment rate remains problematic. For example, in 2017, 74.6% of men and 50.8% of women were employed from a total workforce. It is also interesting that the proportion of men and women at managerial positions is 29% (women) to 71% (men). Based on the results, the main recommendation for government and civil society is to consider women as a part of the country’s economic development. In this aspect, the experience of developed countries should be considered. It is important to create additional jobs in urban or rural areas and help migrant women return and use their working resources properly.

Keywords: Employment of women, segregation in terms of employment, women's employment level in Transcaucasia, migration level.

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Authors: K. N. Kiran, S. Anish

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It is well known that secondary flow loses account about one third of the total loss in any axial turbine. Modern gas turbine height is smaller and have longer chord length, which might lead to increase in secondary flow. In order to improve the efficiency of the turbine, it is important to understand the behavior of secondary flow and device mechanisms to curtail these losses. The objective of the present work is to understand the effect of a stream wise end-wall fence on the aerodynamics of a linear turbine cascade. The study is carried out computationally by using commercial software ANSYS CFX. The effect of end-wall on the flow field are calculated based on RANS simulation by using SST transition turbulence model. Durham cascade which is similar to high-pressure axial flow turbine for simulation is used. The aim of fencing in blade passage is to get the maximum benefit from flow deviation and destroying the passage vortex in terms of loss reduction. It is observed that, for the present analysis, fence in the blade passage helps reducing the strength of horseshoe vortex and is capable of restraining the flow along the blade passage. Fence in the blade passage helps in reducing the under turning by 7⁰ in comparison with base case. Fence on end-wall is effective in preventing the movement of pressure side leg of horseshoe vortex and helps in breaking the passage vortex. Computations are carried for different fence height whose curvature is different from the blade camber. The optimum fence geometry and location reduces the loss coefficient by 15.6% in comparison with base case.

Keywords: Boundary layer fence, horseshoe vortex, linear cascade, passage vortex, secondary flow.

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Authors: Francis Bukola Dada, Samuel Ojo Ajayi, Babatunde Sunday Ewulo, Kehinde Oseni Saani

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A key element in the sustainability of the soil-plant relationship in crop yield and performance is the soil's capacity to support tree crops prior to establishment. With the intention of determining the suitability and limitations of the soils of the locations, the northern and southern portions of Akure, a rainforest in Nigeria, were chosen for the suitability evaluation of land for tree crops. In the study area, 16 pedons were established with the help of the Global Positioning System (GPS), the locations were georeferenced and samples were taken from the pedons. The samples were subjected to standard physical and chemical testing. The findings revealed that soils in the research locations were deep to extremely deep, with pH ranging from highly acidic to slightly acidic (4.94 to 6.71). and that sand predominated. The soils had low levels of organic carbon, effective cation exchange capacity (ECEC), total nitrogen, and available phosphorus, whereas exchangeable cations were evaluated as low to moderate. The suitability result indicated that only Pedon 2 and Pedon 14 are currently highly suitable (S1) for the production of oil palms, while others ranged from moderately suitable to marginally suitable. Pedons 4, 12, and 16 were not suitable (N1), respectively, but other Pedons were moderately suitable (S2) and marginally suitable (S3) for the cultivation of cocoa. None of the study areas are currently highly suitable for the production of oil palms. The poor soil texture and low fertility status were the two main drawbacks found. Finally, sound management practices and soil conservation are essential for fertility sustainability.

Keywords: Cashew, cocoa, land evaluation, oil palm, soil fertility suitability.

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Authors: Yue Zhang, Bo Yang, Gang Xiong, Mohamed Elchalakanic, Shidong Nie

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This study aims to investigate the lateral torsional buckling of I-shaped cross-section beams fabricated from Q460GJ structural steel plates. Both experimental and numerical simulation results are presented in this paper. A total of eight specimens were tested under a three-point bending, and the corresponding numerical models were established to conduct parametric studies. The effects of some key parameters such as the non-dimensional member slenderness and the height-to-width ratio, were investigated based on the verified numerical models. Also, the results obtained from the parametric studies were compared with the predictions calculated by different design codes including the Chinese design code (GB50017-2003, 2003), the new draft version of Chinese design code (GB50017-201X, 2012), Eurocode 3 (EC3, 2005) and the North America design code (ANSI/AISC360-10, 2010). These comparisons indicated that the sectional height-to-width ratio does not play an important role to influence the overall stability load-carrying capacity of Q460GJ structural steel beams with welded I-shaped cross-sections. It was also found that the design methods in GB50017-2003 and ANSI/AISC360-10 overestimate the overall stability and load-carrying capacity of Q460GJ welded I-shaped cross-section beams.

Keywords: Experimental study, finite element analysis, global stability, lateral torsional buckling, Q460GJ structural steel.

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Authors: Kh. Ashrafi, Gh. A. Hoshyaripour

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Atmospheric stability plays the most important role in the transport and dispersion of air pollutants. Different methods are used for stability determination with varying degrees of complexity. Most of these methods are based on the relative magnitude of convective and mechanical turbulence in atmospheric motions. Richardson number, Monin-Obukhov length, Pasquill-Gifford stability classification and Pasquill–Turner stability classification, are the most common parameters and methods. The Pasquill–Turner Method (PTM), which is employed in this study, makes use of observations of wind speed, insolation and the time of day to classify atmospheric stability with distinguishable indices. In this study, a model is presented to determination of atmospheric stability conditions using PTM. As a case study, meteorological data of Mehrabad station in Tehran from 2000 to 2005 is applied to model. Here, three different categories are considered to deduce the pattern of stability conditions. First, the total pattern of stability classification is obtained and results show that atmosphere is 38.77%, 27.26%, 33.97%, at stable, neutral and unstable condition, respectively. It is also observed that days are mostly unstable (66.50%) while nights are mostly stable (72.55%). Second, monthly and seasonal patterns are derived and results indicate that relative frequency of stable conditions decrease during January to June and increase during June to December, while results for unstable conditions are exactly in opposite manner. Autumn is the most stable season with relative frequency of 50.69% for stable condition, whilst, it is 42.79%, 34.38% and 27.08% for winter, summer and spring, respectively. Hourly stability pattern is the third category that points out that unstable condition is dominant from approximately 03-15 GTM and 04-12 GTM for warm and cold seasons, respectively. Finally, correlation between atmospheric stability and CO concentration is achieved.

Keywords: Atmospheric stability, Pasquill-Turner classification, convective turbulence, mechanical turbulence, Tehran.

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Authors: Shorena Pharjiani

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Present empirical paper investigates the relationship between FDI and economic growth by 10 selected industries in 10 Central and Eastern European countries from the period 1995 to 2012. Different estimation approaches were used to explore the connection between FDI and economic growth, for example OLS, RE, FE with and without time dummies. Obtained empirical results leads to some main consequences: First, the Central and East European countries (CEEC) attracted foreign direct investment, which raised the productivity of industries they entered in. It should be concluded that the linkage between FDI and output growth by industries is positive and significant enough to suggest that foreign firm’s participation enhanced the productivity of the industries they occupied. There had been an endogeneity problem in the regression and fixed effects estimation approach was used which partially corrected the regression analysis in order to make the results less biased. Second, it should be stressed that the results show that time has an important role in making FDI operational for enhancing output growth by industries via total factor productivity. Third, R&D positively affected economic growth and at the same time, it should take some time for research and development to influence economic growth. Fourth, the general trends masked crucial differences at the country level: over the last 20 years, the analysis of the tables and figures at the country level show that the main recipients of FDI of the 11 Central and Eastern European countries were Hungary, Poland and the Czech Republic. The main reason was that these countries had more open door policies for attracting the FDI. Fifth, according to the graphical analysis, while Hungary had the highest FDI inflow in this region, it was not reflected in the GDP growth as much as in other Central and Eastern European countries.

Keywords: Central and East European countries (CEEC), economic growth, FDI, panel data.

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Authors: Raad Nari, Maura Moriaty, Maha T. Barakat

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Introduction: Sodium-glucose co-transporter-2 (SGLT2) inhibitors are a new class of oral anti-diabetic drugs with a unique mechanism of action. They are used to improve glycaemic control in adults with type 2 diabetes by enhancing urinary glucose excretion. In the UAE, there has been certainly an increased use of these medications. As with any new medication, there are safety considerations related to their use in patients with type two diabetes. A retrospective study was conducted at the three main centres of the Imperial College London Diabetes Centre. Methodology: All patients in electronic database (Diamond) from October 2014 to October 2017 were included with a minimum of six months usage of sodium glucose co-transporter inhibitors that comprise canagliflozin, dapagliflozin and empagliflozin. There were 15 paired sample biochemical and clinical correlations. The analysis was done at the start of the study, three months and six months apart. SPSS version 24 was used for this study. Conclusion: This study of sodium glucose co-transporter-2 inhibitors used showed significant reductions in weight, glycated haemoglobin A1C, systolic and diastolic blood pressures. As the case with systematic reviews, there were similar changes in liver enzymes, raised total cholesterol, low density lipopoptein and high density lipoprotein. There was slight improvement in estimated glomerular filtration rate too. Our analysis also showed that they increased in the incidence of urinary tract symptoms and incidence of urinary tract infections.

Keywords: SGLT2 inhibitors dapagliflozin empagliflozin canagliflozin, adverse effects, amputation diabetic ketoacidosis DKA, urinary tract infection.

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Authors: Ishwor Paudel, Pratima Gautam, Sandeep Bhattarai

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Bile spillage occurs frequently during laparoscopic cholecystectomy, yet its impact on postoperative outcomes remains unknown. It might not be as innocuous as some surgeons tend to believe and in fact might be associated with post-operative surgical site infections (SSI). It often leads to patient dissatisfaction, emergency department visit, with subsequent readmission and additional procedures. Thus, this study sought to examine whether bile spillage is indeed associated with increased risk of postoperative wound infections after laparoscopic cholecystectomy. We hypothesize that patients who experience bile spillage (BS) during operation, have an increased risk of SSI compared to those who do not. This is a prospective observational study conducted in the Department of Surgery, Patan Hospital over a period of one year. Patients undergoing laparoscopic cholecystectomy were included and bile spillage, if happened was noted. All cases were followed up for 30 days and SSI was diagnosed as per Center for disease control and prevention (CDC) defined criteria. Fisher’s test was applied to compare SSI in bile spillage versus non bile spillage cases. A total of 112 patients were included in the final analysis. Bile spillage occurred in 20 cases and absent in the rest i.e., 92 cases. Among bile spillage cases, SSI was found in 4 cases (20%), whereas in non-bile spillage cases SSI was found in 8 cases (8.7%). However, it was statistically not significant (p value > 0.05). 11 (92%) cases were superficial SSI and one was organ-space infection. No mortality or 30-day readmission was found in our study period. Spillage of gallbladder content does not lead to an increase in SSIs. However, as the rate of SSI is still higher, surgeons should be careful to avoid iatrogenic gallbladder perforation and in case of bile spillage, thorough peritoneal irrigation with normal saline should be done.

Keywords: Biliary spillage, organ space infection, Laparoscopic cholecystectomy, surgical site infection.

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Authors: Mohammad Reza Kangavari, Samira Ghandchi, Manak Golpour

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Question answering (QA) aims at retrieving precise information from a large collection of documents. Most of the Question Answering systems composed of three main modules: question processing, document processing and answer processing. Question processing module plays an important role in QA systems to reformulate questions. Moreover answer processing module is an emerging topic in QA systems, where these systems are often required to rank and validate candidate answers. These techniques aiming at finding short and precise answers are often based on the semantic relations and co-occurrence keywords. This paper discussed about a new model for question answering which improved two main modules, question processing and answer processing which both affect on the evaluation of the system operations. There are two important components which are the bases of the question processing. First component is question classification that specifies types of question and answer. Second one is reformulation which converts the user's question into an understandable question by QA system in a specific domain. The objective of an Answer Validation task is thus to judge the correctness of an answer returned by a QA system, according to the text snippet given to support it. For validating answers we apply candidate answer filtering, candidate answer ranking and also it has a final validation section by user voting. Also this paper described new architecture of question and answer processing modules with modeling, implementing and evaluating the system. The system differs from most question answering systems in its answer validation model. This module makes it more suitable to find exact answer. Results show that, from total 50 asked questions, evaluation of the model, show 92% improving the decision of the system.

Keywords: Answer processing, answer validation, classification, question answering, query reformulation.

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Authors: M. J. Pourvaghar, Sh. Khoshemehry

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Adopting inappropriate body posture during addiction can cause muscular and skeletal deformities. This study is aimed at investigating the effects of a program of the selected corrective exercises on the kyphosis of addicted male patients. Materials and methods: This was a quasi-experimental study. This study has been carried out using the semi-experimental method. The subjects of the present study included 104 addicted men between 25 to 45 years of age. In 2014, these men were referred to one of the NA (Narcotic Anonymous) centres in Kashan in 2015. A total of 24 people suffering from drug withdrawal, who had abnormal kyphosis, were purposefully selected as a sample. The sample was randomly divided into two groups, experimental and control; each group consisted of 12 people. The experimental group participated in a training program for 12 weeks consisting of three 60 minute sessions per week. That includes strengthening, stretching and PNF exercises (deep stretching of the muscle). The control group did no exercise or corrective activity. The Kolmogorov-Smirnov test was used to assess normal distribution of data; and a paired t-test and covariance analysis test were used to assess the effectiveness of the exercises, with a significance level of P≤0.05 by using SPSS18. The results showed that three months of the selected corrective exercises had a significant effect (P≤ 0.005) on the correction of the kyphosis of the addicted male patients after three months of rehabilitation (drug withdrawal) in the experimental group, while there was no significant difference recorded in the control group (P≥0.05). The results show that exercise and corrective activities can be used as non-invasive and non-pharmacological methods to rehabilitate kyphosis abnormalities after drug withdrawal and treatment for addiction.

Keywords: Kyphosis, corrective exercises, addict, drug withdrawal.

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Authors: Magda S. Taipina, Maria L. Garbelotti, Mariana G.B. Cadioli

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Banana is one of the most consumed fruits in the tropics and subtropics. Brazil accounts for about 9% of the world banana production. However, the production losses are as high as 30 to 40% and even much higher in some developing countries. The green banana flour is a complex carbohydrate source, including a high total starch (73.4%), resistant starch (17.5%) with functional properties. Gamma irradiation is considered to be an alternative method for food preservation. It has been performed due to the need of extending the shelf - life of foods, whilst maintaining their safety and avoiding one of the main concerns: the nutrient loss. In this work data about on the effects of ionizing radiation on the physicochemical analysis (carbohydrate, proteins, lipids, alimentary fiber, moistures and ashes) of Brazilian functional products (biscuits and bread) of the green banana pulp are presented. The caloric value was calculated. No significant difference was observed between the samples of irradiated and non – irradiated green banana biscuits with the following determinations: carbohydrates, proteins, alimentary fiber and ashes. Only a small significant difference was found in lipids (macronutrients). The results of physical chemical analysis of the irradiated and non- irradiated green banana bread non- irradiated showed no significant difference with the following determinations: carbohydrates, lipids (macronutrients), moisture, ashes and caloric value. A small difference was found in proteins (macronutrients). Irradiation of functional products (biscuits and bread) with doses of 1 and 3kGy maintained their original macronutrients content, showing good radioresistance.

Keywords: Irradiation, Functional Food, Nutritional value.

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Authors: Daniel Murrant, Andrew Quinn, Lee Chapman

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A growing population has led to increasing global water and energy demand. This demand, combined with the effects of climate change and an increasing need to maintain and protect the natural environment, represents a potentially severe threat to many national infrastructure systems. This has resulted in a considerable quantity of published material on the interdependencies that exist between the supply of water and the thermal generation of electricity, often known as the water-energy nexus. Focusing specifically on the UK, there is a growing concern that the future availability of water may at times constrain thermal electricity generation, and therefore hinder the UK in meeting its increasing demand for a secure, and affordable supply of low carbon electricity. To provide further information on the threat the water-energy nexus may pose to the UK’s energy system, this paper models the regional water demand of UK thermal electricity generation in 2030 and 2050. It uses the strategically important Energy Systems Modelling Environment model developed by the Energy Technologies Institute. Unlike previous research, this paper was able to use abstraction and consumption factors specific to UK power stations. It finds that by 2050 the South East, Yorkshire and Humber, the West Midlands and North West regions are those with the greatest freshwater demand and therefore most likely to suffer from a lack of resource. However, it finds that by 2050 it is the East, South West and East Midlands regions with the greatest total water (fresh, estuarine and seawater) demand and the most likely to be constrained by environmental standards.

Keywords: Water-energy nexus, water resources, abstraction, climate change, power station cooling.

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Authors: S. El-Gamal, P. Hossam, A. Abd El Aziz, R. Mahmoud, A. Hassan, D. Hilal, E. Ayman, H. Haytham, O. Khamis

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Several concerns fall upon the supply chain especially in cold supply chains. These concerns are mainly in the distribution and storage phases. This research focuses on the storage area, which contains several activities such as the picking activity that faces a lot of obstacles and challenges. The implementation of IoT solutions enables businesses to monitor the temperature of food items, which is perhaps the most critical parameter in cold chains. Therefore, the research at hand proposes a practical solution that would help in eliminating the problems related to ineffective picking for products especially fish and seafood products by using IoT technology, most notably LiFi technology; thus, guaranteeing sufficient picking, reducing waste, and consequently lowering costs. A prototype was specially designed and examined. This research is a single case study research. Two methods of data collection were used; observation and semi-structured interviews. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with managers and a decision maker at one of the biggest retail stores Carrefour, Alexandria, Egypt to validate the problem and the proposed practical solution using IoT and LiFi technology. A total of three interviews were conducted. As a result, a SWOT analysis was achieved in order to highlight all the strengths and weaknesses of using the recommended LiFi solution in the picking process. According to the investigations, it was found that, the use of IoT and LiFi technology is cost effective, efficient, and reduces human errors, minimizes the percentage of product waste and thus saves money and cost. Therefore, increasing customer satisfaction and profits could be achieved.

Keywords: Cold supply chain, IoT, LiFi, warehousing operation, picking process.

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Authors: Dolores Hidalgo, Jesús M. Martín-Marroquín, Francisco Corona

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Municipal waste consist of a variety of items that are everyday discarded by the population. They are usually collected by municipalities and include waste generated by households, commercial activities (local shops) and public buildings. The composition of municipal waste varies greatly from place to place, being mostly related to levels and patterns of consumption, rates of urbanization, lifestyles, and local or national waste management practices. Each year, a huge amount of resources is consumed in the EU, and according to that, also a huge amount of waste is produced. The environmental problems derived from the management and processing of these waste streams are well known, and include impacts on land, water and air. The situation in remote areas is even worst. Difficult access when climatic conditions are adverse, remoteness of centralized municipal treatment systems or dispersion of the population, are all factors that make remote areas a real municipal waste treatment challenge. Furthermore, the scope of the problem increases significantly because the total lack of awareness of the existing risks in this area together with the poor implementation of advanced culture on waste minimization and recycling responsibly. The aim of this work is to analyze the existing situation in remote areas in reference to the production of municipal waste and evaluate the efficiency of different management alternatives. Ideas for improving waste management in remote areas include, for example: the implementation of self-management systems for the organic fraction; establish door-to-door collection models; promote small-scale treatment facilities or adjust the rates of waste generation thereof.

Keywords: Door to door collection, islands, isolated areas, municipal waste, remote areas, rural communities.

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Authors: Abdulfatah Al-Jaradi, Marzoq Ali Odhah, Abdulnasser A. Haza’a

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Background: Antenatal care can be defined as the care provided by skilled healthcare professionals to pregnant women and adolescent girls to ensure the best health conditions for both mother and baby during pregnancy. The components of Antenatal Care (ANC) include risk identification; prevention and management of pregnancy-related or concurrent diseases; and health education and health promotion. The aim of this study: to assess the knowledge, attitude, and practice of pregnant women regarding ANC. Methodology: A descriptive knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) study was conducted in public hospitals in Sana'a City, Yemen. The study population included all pregnant women that intended to the prenatal department and clinical outpatient department; the final sample size was 371 pregnant women. A self-administered questionnaire was used to collect the data, statistical package for social sciences SPSS was used to data analysis. The results: Most (79%) of pregnant women had correct answers in total knowledge regarding ANC, and about two-thirds (67%) of pregnant women had performance practice regarding ANC and two-third (68%) of pregnant women had a positive attitude. Conclusions: More than three quarter of pregnant women had good knowledge level, most of pregnant women had moderate practice level, and more than two-thirds of pregnant women had a positive attitude regarding antenatal care. There was a statistically significant association between overall knowledge and practice level toward ANC and demographic characteristics of pregnant women, at P-value ≤ 0.05. Recommendations: we recommended more education and training courses, lecturers, and education sessions in clinical facilitators focused on ANC, which relies on evidence-based interventions provided to women during pregnancy by skilled healthcare providers such as midwives, doctors, and nurses.

Keywords: Antenatal care, knowledge, practice, attitude, pregnant women.

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Authors: Sharan Badiger, Prema T. Akkasaligar, P. Amith Kumar

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Upper gastrointestinal endoscopy is a commonly performed diagnostic and therapeutic procedure and has many adverse effects like cardiopulmonary complications, complications related to sedation, infectious complications, bleeding and perforation. So this study was undertaken to evaluate important variables like patient’s age, gender and stage of the procedure in relation to the cardiopulmonary changes during diagnostic upper gastrointestinal endoscopy by monitoring oxygen saturation, blood pressure, heart rate and electrocardiogram. This is a prospective longitudinal hospital based study involving a total of 140 consecutive patients, at Sri. B. M. Patil Medical College, Hospital and Research Centre. Cardiopulmonary changes during upper gastrointestinal endoscopy are more common in the age groups of 51-60 years, with equal frequency in both male and female. Oxygen saturation levels decreased by about 4% in both sexes during introduction of endoscopy. Mild to moderate hypoxia was found in 32% of the study group. Severe hypoxia was found in 5% of the patients, mostly in those patients who are above 50 years of age. Tachycardia was noted in 88% of the study group patients. Blood pressure increased to hypertension levels in 22 patients (15.7%) which returned to normal within few minutes after the procedure. S-T depression was noticed in 4% of patients and T wave inversion in 8% of patients during upper gastrointestinal endoscopy. All these changes disappeared after 10 minutes after the endoscopy. Cardiopulmonary changes are common during upper gastrointestinal endoscopy. Maximum changes in oxygen saturation, heart rate and blood pressure occurred immediately after the introduction of endoscope. The cardiopulmonary changes did not manifest into any identifiable clinical symptoms. The rate of recovery was faster in younger age groups and women.

Keywords: Blood Pressure, Cardio-Pulmonary, Heart Rate, Oxygen Saturation, Upper Gastrointestinal Endoscopy.

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Authors: Elena C. Tamaş, Grațiela M. Țârlea, Gianni Flamaropol, Dragoș Hera

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This article is referring to a comparative study regarding the electrical energy consumption for lighting on diverse types of big sizes commercial buildings built in Romania after 2007, having 3, 4, 5 versus 8, 9, 10 operational years. Some buildings have installed building management systems (BMS) to monitor also the lighting performances starting with the opening days till the present days but some have chosen only local meters to implement. Firstly, for each analyzed building, the total required energy power and the energy power consumption for lighting were calculated depending on the lamps number, the unit power and the average daily running hours. All objects and installations were chosen depending on the destination/location of the lighting (exterior parking or access, interior or covering parking, building interior and building perimeter). Secondly, to all lighting objects and installations, mechanical counters were installed, and to the ones linked to BMS there were installed the digital meters as well for a better monitoring. Some efficient solutions are proposed to improve the power consumption, for example the 1/3 lighting functioning for the covered and exterior parking lighting to those buildings if can be done. This type of lighting share can be performed on each level, especially on the night shifts. Another example is to use the dimmers to reduce the light level, depending on the executed work in the respective area, and a 30% power energy saving can be achieved. Using the right BMS to monitor, the energy consumption depending on the average operational daily hours and changing the non-performant unit lights with the ones having LED technology or economical ones might increase significantly the energy performances and reduce the energy consumption of the buildings.

Keywords: Lighting consumption, commercial buildings, maintenance, energy performances.

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Authors: Huong M. T. Nguyen, Hoa A. P. Nguyen, Mai P. T. Nguyen, Ngoc D. Ngo, Van T. Ta, Hai T. Le, Chi V. Phan

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Wilson’s disease (WD) is an autosomal recessive disorder of the copper metabolism, which is caused by a mutation in the copper-transporting P-type ATPase (ATP7B). The mechanism of this disease is the failure of hepatic excretion of copper to bile, and leads to copper deposits in the liver and other organs. The ATP7B gene is located on the long arm of chromosome 13 (13q14.3). This study aimed to investigate the gene mutation in the Vietnamese patients with WD, and make a presymptomatic diagnosis for their familial members. Forty-three WD patients and their 65 siblings were identified as having ATP7B gene mutations. Genomic DNA was extracted from peripheral blood samples; 21 exons and exon-intron boundaries of the ATP7B gene were analyzed by direct sequencing. We recognized four mutations ([R723=; H724Tfs*34], V1042Cfs*79, D1027H, and IVS6+3A>G) in the sum of 20 detectable mutations, accounting for 87.2% of the total. Mutation S105* was determined to have a high rate (32.6%) in this study. The hotspot regions of ATP7B were found at exons 2, 16, and 8, and intron 14, in 39.6 %, 11.6 %, 9.3%, and 7 % of patients, respectively. Among nine homozygote/compound heterozygote siblings of the patients with WD, three individuals were determined as asymptomatic by screening mutations of the probands. They would begin treatment after diagnosis. In conclusion, 20 different mutations were detected in 43 WD patients. Of this number, four novel mutations were explored, including [R723=; H724Tfs*34], V1042Cfs*79, D1027H, and IVS6+3A>G. The mutation S105* is the most prevalent and has been considered as a biomarker that can be used in a rapid detection assay for diagnosis of WD patients. Exons 2, 8, and 16, and intron 14 should be screened initially for WD patients in Vietnam. Based on risk profile for WD, genetic testing for presymptomatic patients is also useful in diagnosis and treatment.

Keywords: ATP7B gene, mutation detection, presymptomatic diagnosis, Vietnamese Wilson’s disease.

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Authors: González A. Julio, Ramírez L. Leonardo, Puerta A. Gabriel

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Telemedicine services use a large amount of data, most of which are diagnostic images in Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM) and Health Level Seven (HL7) formats. Metadata is generated from each related image to support their identification. This study presents the use of decision trees for the optimization of information search processes for diagnostic images, hosted on the cloud server. To analyze the performance in the server, the following quality of service (QoS) metrics are evaluated: delay, bandwidth, jitter, latency and throughput in five test scenarios for a total of 26 experiments during the loading and downloading of DICOM images, hosted by the telemedicine group server of the Universidad Militar Nueva Granada, Bogotá, Colombia. By applying decision trees as a data mining technique and comparing it with the sequential search, it was possible to evaluate the search times of diagnostic images in the server. The results show that by using the metadata in decision trees, the search times are substantially improved, the computational resources are optimized and the request management of the telemedicine image service is improved. Based on the experiments carried out, search efficiency increased by 45% in relation to the sequential search, given that, when downloading a diagnostic image, false positives are avoided in management and acquisition processes of said information. It is concluded that, for the diagnostic images services in telemedicine, the technique of decision trees guarantees the accessibility and robustness in the acquisition and manipulation of medical images, in improvement of the diagnoses and medical procedures in patients.

Keywords: Cloud storage, decision trees, diagnostic image, search, telemedicine.

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Authors: Fang Yao, Minglei Chen

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City shrinkage is one of the thorny problems that many European cities have to face with nowadays. It is mainly expressed as the decrease of population in these cities. Eastern Germany is one of the pioneers of European shrinking cities with long shrinking history. The paper selects one representative shrinking city Halle (Saale) in eastern Germany as research objective, collecting and investigating nearly 20 years (1993-2010) municipal data after the reunification of Germany. These data based on five dimensions, which are demographic, economic, social, spatial and environmental and total 16 eligible variables. Factor Analysis is used to deal with these variables in order to assess the most important factors affecting shrinking Halle. The results show that there are three main factors determine the shrinkage of Halle, respectively named “demographical and economical factor”, “social stability factor”, and “city vitality factor”. The three factors act at different time period of Halle’s shrinkage: from 1993 to 1997 the demographical and economical factor played an important role; from 1997 to 2004 the social stability factor is significant to city shrinkage; since 2005 city vitality factor determines the shrinkage of Halle. In recent years, the shrinkage in Halle mitigates that shows the sign of growing population. Thus the city Halle should focus on attaching more importance on the city vitality factor to prevent the city from shrinkage. Meanwhile, the city should possess a positive perspective to shift the growth-oriented development to tap the potential of shrinking cities. This method is expected to apply to further research and other shrinking cities

Keywords: Demography, Factor analysis, Halle, Shrinking cities.

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Authors: David Ruiz, Carlos Nava, Roberto Carbajal

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The psychological profile has become one of the most important sources of information when it comes to individual selection and the hiring process in any organization. Psychological instruments are used to collect data about variables that are considered critically important for performance in work. However, because of conceptual chaos in organizational psychology, most of the information provided by psychological testing is not directly useful for Mexican human resources professionals to take hiring decisions. The aims of this paper are 1) to underline the lack of conceptual precision in theoretical testing foundations in Mexico and 2) presenting a reliability and validity analysis of a frustration tolerance instrument created as an alternative to a heuristically conduct individual assessment in organizations. First, a description of assessment conditions in Mexico is made. Second, an instrument and a theoretical framework is presented as an alternative to the assessment practices in the country. A total of 65 Psychology Iztacala Superior Studies Faculty students were assessed. Cronbach´s alpha coefficient was calculated and an exploratory factor analysis was carried out to prove the scale unidimensionality. Reliability analysis revealed good internal consistency of the scale (Cronbach’s α = 0.825). Factor analysis produced 4 factors for the scale. However, factor loadings and explained variation give proof to the scale unidimensionality. It is concluded that the instrument has good psychometric properties that will allow human resources professionals to collect useful data. Different possibilities to conduct psychological assessment are suggested for future development.

Keywords: Psychological assessment, frustration tolerance, human resources, organizational psychology.

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Authors: Miyako Oulevey, Kaori Tsutsui, David Lavallee, Naohiko Kohtake

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The Japan Sports Agency has made efforts to unify several career support programs for Olympic athletes prior to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. One of the programs, the Japan Olympic Committee Career Academy (JCA) was established in 2008 for Olympic athletes at their retirement. Research focusing on the service content of sport career support programs can help athletes experience a more positive transition. This study was designed to investigate the service content of the JCA program in relation to athletes’ career transition needs, including any differences of the reasons for retirement between Summer/Winter and Male/Female Olympic athletes, and to suggest the directions of how to unify the career support programs in Japan after hosting the Olympic Games using sport career transition models. Semi-structured interviews were conducted and analyzed the JCA director who started and managed the program since its inception, and a total of 15 conceptual categories were generated by the analysis. Four conceptual categories were in the result of “JCA situation”, 4 conceptual categories were in the result of “Athletes using JCA”, and 7 conceptual categories were in the result of “JCA current difficulties”. Through the analysis it was revealed that: the JCA had occupational supports for both current and retired Olympic athletes; other supports such as psychological support were unclear due to the lack of psychological professionals in JCA and the difficulties collaborating with other sports organizations; and there are differences in tendencies of visiting JCA, financial situations, and career choices depending on Summer/Winter and Male/Female athletes.

Keywords: Career support programs, causes of career termination, Olympic athlete, Olympic committee.

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Authors: R. Hocine, A. Boudjemai, A. Amrani, K. Belkacemi

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Temperature rising is a negative factor in almost all systems. It could cause by self heating or ambient temperature. In solar photovoltaic cells this temperature rising affects on the behavior of cells. The ability of a PV module to withstand the effects of periodic hot-spot heating that occurs when cells are operated under reverse biased conditions is closely related to the properties of the cell semi-conductor material.

In addition, the thermal effect also influences the estimation of the maximum power point (MPP) and electrical parameters for the PV modules, such as maximum output power, maximum conversion efficiency, internal efficiency, reliability, and lifetime. The cells junction temperature is a critical parameter that significantly affects the electrical characteristics of PV modules. For practical applications of PV modules, it is very important to accurately estimate the junction temperature of PV modules and analyze the thermal characteristics of the PV modules. Once the temperature variation is taken into account, we can then acquire a more accurate MPP for the PV modules, and the maximum utilization efficiency of the PV modules can also be further achieved.

In this paper, the three-Dimensional Transmission Line Matrix (3D-TLM) method was used to map the surface temperature distribution of solar cells while in the reverse bias mode. It was observed that some cells exhibited an inhomogeneity of the surface temperature resulting in localized heating (hot-spot). This hot-spot heating causes irreversible destruction of the solar cell structure. Hot spots can have a deleterious impact on the total solar modules if individual solar cells are heated. So, the results show clearly that the solar cells are capable of self-generating considerable amounts of heat that should be dissipated very quickly to increase PV module's lifetime.

Keywords: Thermal effect, Conduction, Heat dissipation, Thermal conductivity, Solar cell, PV module, Nodes, 3D-TLM.

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Authors: Padmanabhan Balasubramanian, Ryuta Arisaka

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Factoring Boolean functions is one of the basic operations in algorithmic logic synthesis. A novel algebraic factorization heuristic for single-output combinatorial logic functions is presented in this paper and is developed based on the set theory paradigm. The impact of factoring is analyzed mainly from a low power design perspective for standard cell based digital designs in this paper. The physical implementation of a number of MCNC/IWLS combinational benchmark functions and sub-functions are compared before and after factoring, based on a simple technology mapping procedure utilizing only standard gate primitives (readily available as standard cells in a technology library) and not cells corresponding to optimized complex logic. The power results were obtained at the gate-level by means of an industry-standard power analysis tool from Synopsys, targeting a 130nm (0.13μm) UMC CMOS library, for the typical case. The wire-loads were inserted automatically and the simulations were performed with maximum input activity. The gate-level simulations demonstrate the advantage of the proposed factoring technique in comparison with other existing methods from a low power perspective, for arbitrary examples. Though the benchmarks experimentation reports mixed results, the mean savings in total power and dynamic power for the factored solution over a non-factored solution were 6.11% and 5.85% respectively. In terms of leakage power, the average savings for the factored forms was significant to the tune of 23.48%. The factored solution is expected to better its non-factored counterpart in terms of the power-delay product as it is well-known that factoring, in general, yields a delay-efficient multi-level solution.

Keywords: Factorization, Set theory, Logic function, Standardcell based design, Low power.

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Authors: H. Anıl, G. Kar

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In addition to being rich in renewable energy resources, Turkey is one of the countries that promise potential in geothermal energy production with its high installed power, cheapness, and sustainability. Increasing imbalance penalties become an economic burden for organizations, since the geothermal generation plants cannot maintain the balance of supply and demand due to the inadequacy of the production forecasts given in the day-ahead market. A better production forecast reduces the imbalance penalties of market participants and provides a better imbalance in the day ahead market. In this study, using machine learning, deep learning and time series methods, the total generation of the power plants belonging to Zorlu Doğal Electricity Generation, which has a high installed capacity in terms of geothermal, was predicted for the first one-week and first two-weeks of March, then the imbalance penalties were calculated with these estimates and compared with the real values. These modeling operations were carried out on two datasets, the basic dataset and the dataset created by extracting new features from this dataset with the feature engineering method. According to the results, Support Vector Regression from traditional machine learning models outperformed other models and exhibited the best performance. In addition, the estimation results in the feature engineering dataset showed lower error rates than the basic dataset. It has been concluded that the estimated imbalance penalty calculated for the selected organization is lower than the actual imbalance penalty, optimum and profitable accounts.

Keywords: Machine learning, deep learning, time series models, feature engineering, geothermal energy production forecasting.

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Authors: Wen Hui Kuan, Chia Ling Chang, Pei Shan Lui

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The Chichiawan stream in the Wulin catchment in Taiwan is the natural habitat of Formosan landlocked salmon. Human and agriculture activities gradually worsen water quality and impact the fish habitat negatively. To protect and manage Formosan landlocked salmon habitat, it is important to understand a variety land-uses affect on the watershed responses to storms. This study discusses watershed responses to the dry-day before a storm event and a variety of land-uses in the Wulin catchment. Under the land-use planning in the Wulin catchment, the peak flows during typhoon events do not have noticeable difference. However, the nutrient exports can be highly reduced under the strategies of restraining agriculture activities. Due to the higher affinity of P for soil than that of N, the exports of TN from overall Wuling catchment were much greater than Ortho-P. Agriculture mainly centralized in subbasin A, which is the important source of nutrients in nonpoint source discharge. The subbasin A supplied about 26% of the TN and 32% of the Ortho-P discharge in 2004, despite the fact it only covers 19% area of the Wuling catchment. The subbasin analysis displayed that the agricultural subbasin A exports higher nutrients per unit area than other forest subbasins. Additionally, the agricultural subbasin A contributed a higher percentage to total Ortho-P exports compares to TN. The results of subbasin analysis might imply the transport of Ortho-P was similar to the particulate matter which was mainly influenced by the runoff and affected by the desorption from soil particles while the TN (dominated as nitrate-N) was mainly influenced by base-flow.

Keywords: Chiachiawan stream, Formosan landlocked salmon, modeling, typhoon, watershed response.

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Authors: Pranee Suecharoen, Jaturat Kanpittaya

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Background: The incidence of adverse reactions to iodinated contrast media has risen. The dearth of reports on reactions to the administration of iso- and low-osmolar contrast media should be addressed. We, therefore, studied the profile of adverse reactions to iodinated contrast media; viz., (a) the body systems affected (b) causality, (c) severity, and (d) preventability. Objective: To study adverse reactions (causes and severity) to iodinated contrast media at Srinagarind Hospital. Method: Between March and July, 2015, 1,101 patients from the Department of Radiology were observed and interviewed for the occurrence of adverse reactions. The patients were classified per Naranjo’s algorithm and through use of an adverse reactions questionnaire. Results: A total of 105 cases (9.5%) reported adverse reactions (57% male; 43% female); among whom 2% were iso-osmolar vs. 98% low-osmolar. Diagnoses included hepatoma and cholangiocarcinoma (24.8%), colorectal cancer (9.5%), breast cancer (5.7%), cervical cancer (3.8%), lung cancer (2.9%), bone cancer (1.9%), and others (51.5%). Underlying diseases included hypertension and diabetes mellitus type 2. Mild, moderate, and severe adverse reactions accounted for 92, 5 and 3%, respectively. The respective groups of escalating symptoms included (a) mild urticaria, itching, rash, nausea, vomiting, dizziness, and headache; (b) moderate hypertension, hypotension, dyspnea, tachycardia and bronchospasm; and (c) severe laryngeal edema, profound hypotension, and convulsions. All reactions could be anticipated per Naranjo’s algorithm. Conclusion: Mild to moderate adverse reactions to low-osmolar contrast media were most common and these occurred immediately after administration. For patient safety and better outcomes, improving the identification of patients likely to have an adverse reaction is essential.

Keywords: Adverse reactions, contrast media, computed tomography, iodinated contrast agents.

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Authors: C. Sridawruang

Abstract:

Young people today has sexual activities differing from those of earlier generations, in that teenagers are likely to have multiple partners, and are frequently in short-term relationships or with partners that are not well known to them. The proportion of teenage mothers in Thailand has increased. Young people were not specifically addressed during the overall very successful HIV-prevention campaigns. Because of this missed opportunity, they are still unaware of the risk of unsafe sexual behavior. Aims: To describe the reproductive health care services in perspectives of rural Thai teenagers Methods: This survey was one part of a mixed method approach taken using survey and focus groups with 439 teenagers aged 12-18 years in 5 villages, Udon Thani, Thailand. The standard questionnaire survey had been used for collecting data. The numeric data was checked and analyzed by using descriptive statistics. Results: Most teenager respondents stated that they do not know where sexual reproductive health services provided for them. Most teenagers felt difficult to access and talk with health staff about sexual related issues. They stated that discussing, or consulting with health providers might not be safe. Teenagers might lose opportunities to access and get advice from health care services. The mean knowledge score of contraception and condom reproductive was 6.34 from a total score 11. Most teenagers especially girls expressed a need for counseling services and reported a need for telephone services. Conclusions: The need of appropriate information focusing on sexual relationships and contraception should be designed to help young people make wise decisions and there should be set health care services for Thai teenagers to make sure that teenagers could access easily. Health care providers need to be trained to improve their knowledge, attitudes and skills in reproductive health care practices for Thai teenagers.

Keywords: Youth friendly health services, rural, Thai, teenagers.

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