Abstract: Reburning is a useful technology in reducing nitric
oxide through injection of a secondary hydrocarbon fuel. In this paper,
an experimental study has been conducted to evaluate the effect of fuel
lean reburning on NOx/CO reduction in LNG flame. Experiments
were performed in flames stabilized by a co-flow swirl burner, which
was mounted at the bottom of the furnace. Tests were conducted using
LNG gas as the reburn fuel as well as the main fuel. The effects of
reburn fuel fraction and injection manner of the reburn fuel were
studied when the fuel lean reburning system was applied. The paper
reports data on flue gas emissions and temperature distribution in the
furnace for a wide range of experimental conditions. At steady state,
temperature distribution and emission formation in the furnace have
been measured and compared. This paper makes clear that in order to
decrease both NOx and CO concentrations in the exhaust when the
pulsated fuel lean reburning system was adapted, it is important that
the control of some factors such as frequency and duty ratio. Also it
shows the fuel lean reburning is also effective method to reduce NOx
as much as reburning.
Abstract: This paper reports a structured literature review of the
application of Health Information Technology in developing
countries, defined as the World Bank categories Low-income
countries, Lower-middle-income, and Upper-middle-income
countries. The aim was to identify and classify the various
applications of health information technology to assess its current
state in developing countries and explore potential areas of research.
We offer specific analysis and application of HIT in Libya as one of
the developing countries. A structured literature review was
conducted using the following online databases: IEEE, Science
Direct, PubMed, and Google Scholar. Publication dates were set for
2000-2013. For the PubMed search, publications in English, French,
and Arabic were specified. Using a content analysis approach, 159
papers were analyzed and a total number of 26 factors were identified
that affect the adoption of health information technology. Of the 2681
retrieved articles, 159 met the inclusion criteria which were carefully
analyzed and classified. The implementation of health information
technology across developing countries is varied. Whilst it was
initially expected financial constraints would have severely limited
health information technology implementation, some developing
countries like India have nevertheless dominated the literature and
taken the lead in conducting scientific research. Comparing the
number of studies to the number of countries in each category, we
found that Low-income countries and Lower-middle-income had
more studies carried out than Upper-middle-income countries.
However, whilst IT has been used in various sectors of the economy,
the healthcare sector in developing countries is still failing to benefit
fully from the potential advantages that IT can offer.
Abstract: Children are more susceptible to medication errors
than adults. Medication administration process is the last stage in the
medication treatment process and most of the errors detected in this
stage. Little research has been undertaken about medication errors in
children in the Middle East countries. This study was aimed to
evaluate how the paediatric nurses adhere to the medication
administration policy and also to identify any medication preparation
and administration errors or any risk factors. An observational,
prospective study of medication administration process from when
the nurses preparing patient medication until administration stage
(May to August 2014) was conducted in Saudi Arabia. Twelve
paediatric nurses serving 90 paediatric patients were observed. 456
drug administered doses were evaluated. Adherence rate was variable
in 7 steps out of 16 steps. Patient allergy information, dose
calculation, drug expiry date were the steps in medication
administration with lowest adherence rates. 63 medication
preparation and administration errors were identified with error rate
13.8% of medication administrations. No potentially life-threating
errors were witnessed. Few logistic and administrative factors were
reported. The results showed that the medication administration
policy and procedure need an urgent revision to be more sensible for
nurses in practice. Nurses’ knowledge and skills regarding to the
medication administration process should be improved.
Abstract: Adapting quickly to environmental dynamism is
essential for an organization to develop outsourcing strategic and
management in order to sustain competitive advantage. This research
used the Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLSSEM)
tool to investigate the factors of environmental dynamism
impact on the strategic outsourcing success among electrical and
electronic manufacturing industries in outsourcing management.
Statistical results confirm that the inclusion of customer demand,
technological change, and competition level as a new combination
concept of environmental dynamism, has positive effects on
outsourcing success. Additionally, this research demonstrates the
acceptability of PLS-SEM as a statistical analysis to furnish a better
understanding of environmental dynamism in outsourcing
management in Malaysia. A practical finding contributes to
academics and practitioners in the field of outsourcing management.
Abstract: The research conducted in early seventies apparently
assumed the existence of a universal decision model for union
negotiators and furthermore tended to regard financial information as
a ‘neutral’ input into a rational decision making process. However,
research in the eighties began to question the neutrality of financial
information as an input in collective bargaining rather viewing it as a
potentially effective means for controlling the labour force.
Furthermore, this later research also started challenging the simplistic
assumptions relating particularly to union objectives which have
underpinned the earlier search for universal union decision models.
Despite the above developments there seems to be a dearth of studies
in developing countries concerning the use of financial information in
collective bargaining. This paper seeks to begin to remedy this
deficiency. Utilising a case study approach based on two enterprises,
one in the public sector and the other a multinational, the universal
decision model is rejected and it is argued that the decision whether
or not to use financial information is a contingent one and such a
contingency is largely defined by the context and environment in
which both union and management negotiators work. An attempt is
also made to identify the factors constraining as well as promoting
the use of financial information in collective bargaining, these being
regarded as unique to the organisations within which the case studies
are conducted.
Abstract: Enterprise Architecture (EA) is a strategy that is
employed by enterprises in order to align their business and
Information Technology (IT). EA is managed, developed, and
maintained through Enterprise Architecture Implementation
Methodology (EAIM). Effectiveness of EA implementation is the
degree in which EA helps to achieve the collective goals of the
organization. This paper analyzes the results of a survey that aims to
explore the factors that affect the effectiveness of EAIM and
specifically the relationship between factors and effectiveness of the
output and functionality of EA project. The exploratory factor
analysis highlights a specific set of five factors: alignment,
adaptiveness, support, binding, and innovation. The regression
analysis shows that there is a statistically significant and positive
relationship between each of the five factors and the effectiveness of
EAIM. Consistent with theory and practice, the most prominent
factor for developing an effective EAIM is innovation. The findings
contribute to the measuring the effectiveness of EA implementation
project by providing an indication of the measurement
implementation approaches which is used by the Enterprise
Architects, and developing an effective EAIM.
Abstract: Mobile social games recently become extremely
popular, spawning a whole new entertainment culture. However,
mobile game players are fickle, quickly and easily picking up and
abandoning games. This pilot study seeks to identify factors that
influence users to discontinuing playing mobile social games. We
identified three sacrifices which can prompt users to abandon games:
monetary sacrifice, time sacrifice and privacy sacrifice. The results
showed that monetary sacrifice has a greater impact than the other two
factors in causing players to discontinue usage intention.
Abstract: Oases are complex and fragile agro-ecosystems. They
have always existed in environments characterized by an arid climate,
scarcity of rainfall, high temperatures and high evaporation. These
palms have grown up despite the severity of the physical
characteristics thanks to the water's existence and irrigation practice.
The oases are generally spread along non-perennial rivers (wadis),
shallow water table or deep artesian groundwater. However, the
sustainability of oasis system is threatened by water scarcity and
declining of water table levels particularly in arid areas. Located in
the southern east area of Morocco, Tafilalet plain encompasses one of
the largest palm groves in the kingdom. In recent years, this area has
become increasingly threatened by water shortage and has seen a
sharp deterioration under the effect of several combined
anthropogenic and climatic factors. The Bayoud disease, successive
years of drought, Hassan Addakhil dam construction etc are all
factors that have affected both water and phoenicicole heritage of the
area. The objective of this study is to understand the interaction
between qualitative and quantitative degradation of groundwater
resources, and the palm grove dynamics, while reviewing the
assumption that groundwater resources contribute in a direct way to
the conservation of this oasis agroecosystem. A historical analysis
tracing both the oasis dynamics and the groundwater evolution has
been established. Data were collected from satellite images, surveys
with different actors (farmers, Regional Office for Agricultural
Development, Basin agency...). They were complemented by a
synthesis of numerous technical reports in the area. The results
showed that within 40 years, the thickness of the groundwater table
has dropped in 50 %. Along with this, there has been a downsizing of
date palm by 50 %. Areas with higher groundwater level were the
least affected by the downsizing. So we can say that the shallow
groundwater contribute significantly and directly to the water supply
of date palm through its root system, and largely ensures the oasis
ecosystem sustainability.
Abstract: To evaluate the factors which predetermine the
coronary artery disease in patients having positive Exercise Tolerance
Test (ETT) that is treadmill results and coronary artery findings. This
descriptive study was conducted at Department of Cardiology,
Ibrahim Cardiac Hospital & Research Institute, Dhaka, Bangladesh
from 1st January, 2014 to 31st August, 2014. All patients who had
done ETT (treadmill) for chest pain diagnosis were studied. One
hundred and four patients underwent coronary angiogram after
positive treadmill result. Patients were divided into two groups
depending upon the angiographic findings, i.e. true positive and false
positive. Positive treadmill test patients who have coronary artery
involvement these are called true positive and who have no
involvement they are called false positive group. Both groups were
compared with each other. Out of 104 patients, 81 (77.9%) patients
had true positive ETT and 23 (22.1%) patients had false positive
ETT. The mean age of patients in positive ETT was 53.46± 8.06
years and male mean age was 53.63±8.36 years and female was
52.87±7.0 years. Sixty nine (85.19%) male patients and twelve
(14.81%) female patients had true positive ETT, whereas 15
(65.21%) males and 8 (34.79%) females had false positive ETT, this
was statistically significant (p
Abstract: The purpose of this study is to compare Self
Compacting Concrete (SCC) and Conventional Concrete (CC) in
terms of their capillary water absorption. During the comparison of
SCC and CC, the effects of two different factors were also
investigated: concrete strength class and curing condition. In the
study, both SCC and CC were produced in three different concrete
classes (C25, C50 and C70) and the other parameter (i.e. curing
condition) was determined as two levels: moisture and air curing. It
was observed that, for both curing environments and all strength
classes of concrete, SCCs had lower capillary water absorption values
than that of CCs. It was also detected that, for both SCC and CC,
capillary water absorption values of samples kept in moisture curing
were significantly lower than that of samples stored in air curing.
Additionally, it was determined that capillary water absorption values
for both SCC and CC decrease with increasing strength class of
concrete for both curing environments.
Abstract: Predicting earthquakes is an important issue in the
study of geography. Accurate prediction of earthquakes can help
people to take effective measures to minimize the loss of personal
and economic damage, such as large casualties, destruction of
buildings and broken of traffic, occurred within a few seconds.
United States Geological Survey (USGS) science organization
provides reliable scientific information about Earthquake Existed
throughout history & the Preliminary database from the National
Center Earthquake Information (NEIC) show some useful factors to
predict an earthquake in a seismic area like Aleutian Arc in the U.S.
state of Alaska. The main advantage of this prediction method that it
does not require any assumption, it makes prediction according to the
future evolution of the object's time series. The article compares
between simulation data result from trained BP and RBF neural
network versus actual output result from the system calculations.
Therefore, this article focuses on analysis of data relating to real
earthquakes. Evaluation results show better accuracy and higher
speed by using radial basis functions (RBF) neural network.
Abstract: The purpose of this work is examining the multiproduct
multi-stage in a battery production line. To improve the
performances of an assembly production line by determine the
efficiency of each workstation. Data collected from every
workstation. The data are throughput rate, number of operator, and
number of parts that arrive and leaves during part processing. Data
for the number of parts that arrives and leaves are collected at least at
the amount of ten samples to make the data is possible to be analyzed
by Chi-Squared Goodness Test and queuing theory. Measures of this
model served as the comparison with the standard data available in
the company. Validation of the task time value resulted by comparing
it with the task time value based on the company database. Some
performance factors for the multi-product multi-stage in a battery
production line in this work are shown.
The efficiency in each workstation was also shown. Total
production time to produce each part can be determined by adding
the total task time in each workstation. To reduce the queuing time
and increase the efficiency based on the analysis any probably
improvement should be done. One probably action is by increasing
the number of operators how manually operate this workstation.
Abstract: The use of mobile phones is growing tremendously all
over the world. In Tanzania there are a number of operators licensed
by Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority (TCRA) aiming
at attracting customers into their networks. So far
telecommunications market competition has been very stiff. Various
measures are being taken by mobile operators to survive in the
market. Such measure include introducing of different air time
bundles on daily, weekly and monthly at lower tariffs. Other
measures include the introduction of normal tariff, tourist package
and one network. Despite of all these strategies, there is a dynamic
competition in the market which needs to be explored. Some
influences which attract customers to choose a certain mobile
operator are of particular interest. This paper is investigating if the
network effects and Quality of Services (QoS) influence mobile
customers in selection of their mobile network operators. Seventy
seven students from high learning institutions in Dodoma
Municipality in Tanzania participated in responding to prepared
questionnaires. The data was analyzed using Statistical Package for
Social Science (SPSS) Software. The results indicate that, network
coverage does influence customers in selection of mobile operators.
In addition, this paper proposes further research in some areas
especially where the study came up with different findings from what
the theory has in place.
Abstract: 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
Abstract: This paper presents a hybrid fuzzy logic control
strategy for a unicycle trajectory following robot on irregular terrains.
In literature, researchers have presented the design of path tracking
controllers of mobile robots on non-frictional surface. In this work,
the robot is simulated to drive on irregular terrains with contrasting
frictional profiles of peat and rough gravel. A hybrid fuzzy logic
controller is utilised to stabilise and drive the robot precisely with the
predefined trajectory and overcome the frictional impact. The
controller gains and scaling factors were optimised using spiral
dynamics optimisation algorithm to minimise the mean square error
of the linear and angular velocities of the unicycle robot. The robot
was simulated on various frictional surfaces and terrains and the
controller was able to stabilise the robot with a superior performance
that is shown via simulation results.
Abstract: The exposure to outdoor air pollution causes lung
cancer and increases the risk of bladder cancer. Because air pollution
in urban areas is mainly caused by transportation, it is necessary to
evaluate pollutant exhaust emissions from vehicles during their realworld
use. Nevertheless their evaluation and reduction is a key
problem, especially in the cities, that account for more than 50% of
world population.
A particular attention was given to the slope variability along the
streets during each journey performed by the instrumented vehicle.
In this paper we dealt with the problem of describing a
quantitatively approach for the reconstruction of GPS coordinates and
altitude, in the context of correlation study between driving cycles /
emission / geographical location, during an experimental campaign
realized with some instrumented cars.
Finally the slope analysis can be correlated to the emission and
consumption values in a specific road position, and it could be
evaluated its influence on their behaviour.
Abstract: The usage of e-health facilities is seen to be the first
priority by the Libyan government. As such this paper focuses on
how the key factors or elements of working size in terms of
technological availability, structural environment, and other
competence-related matters may affect nurses’ sharing of knowledge
in e-health. Hence, this paper investigates learning readiness
assessment to raise e-health for Libyan regional hospitals by using ehealth
services in nursing education.
Abstract: Software reusability is an essential characteristic of
Component-Based Software (CBS). The component reusability is an
important assess for the effective reuse of components in CBS. The
attributes of reusability proposed by various researchers are studied
and four of them are identified as potential factors affecting
reusability. This paper proposes metric for reusability estimation of
black-box software component along with metrics for Interface
Complexity, Understandability, Customizability and Reliability. An
experiment is performed for estimation of reusability through a case
study on a sample web application using a real world component.
Abstract: Paper presents a study about dynamic effects obtained
from the dynamic load testing of the city highway bridges in Latvia
carried out from 2005 to 2012. 9 prestressed concrete bridges and 4
composite bridges were considered. 11 of 13 bridges were designed
according to the Eurocodes but two according to the previous
structural codes used in Latvia (SNIP 2.05.03-84). The dynamic
properties of the bridges were obtained by heavy vehicle passing the
bridge roadway with different driving speeds and with or without
even pavement. The obtained values of the Dynamic amplification
factor (DAF) and the bridge natural frequency were analyzed and
compared to the values of built-in traffic load models provided in
Eurocode 1. The actual DAF values for even bridge pavement in the
most cases are smaller than the value adopted in Eurocode 1. Vehicle
speed for uneven pavements significantly influence Dynamic
amplification factor values.
Abstract: Self-service technologies (SSTs) make an important
contribution to the daily life of people nowadays. However, the
introduction of SST does not lead to its usage. Thereby, this paper
was an attempt on discovery of the most preferred SST in the
customers’ point of view. To fulfill this aim, the Analytical Hierarchy
Process (AHP) was applied based on Saaty’s questionnaire which
was administered to the customers of e-banking services located in
Golestan providence, northern Iran. This study used qualitative
factors in association with the intention of consumers’ usage of SSTs
to rank three SSTs: ATM, mobile banking and internet banking. The
results showed that mobile banking get the highest weight in
consumers’ point of view. This research can be useful both for
managers and service providers and also for customers who intend to
use e-banking.