New Type Of Study Research Articles

Environmental/Economic assessment and multi-aspect optimization of a poly-generation system based on waste heat recovery of PEM fuel cells

In the present study, a novel poly-generation system is introduced and studied from energy, exergy, economic and exergy-economic standpoints. In the proposed configuration, the waste heat of proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells is recuperated by an organic Rankine cycle (ORC). Also, an LNG subsystem is chosen as a heat sink medium for the ORC. In this study, the impact of system irreversibilities on the environment is considered as part of the exergoenvironmental analysis, which is a relatively new type of study. In the considered system, PEM fuel cells are responsible for output power while the output power of the ORC and LNG subsystem is transmitted to a trans-critical CO2 compression refrigeration subsystem and a reverse osmosis desalination unit for cooling and freshwater production. A sensitivity analysis is done to assess the effect of changes in PEM fuel cells temperature, PEM fuel cells pressure, current density, and condensation temperature of ORC on the output parameters. Considering the just-mentioned parameters as design variables, the results of two-objective optimization reveals that the exergy efficiency and net present value are calculated to be 22.67 % and 56.61 M$, correspondingly. At the optimum point, the proposed system can produce 1214 kW power, 1116 kW cooling, 161.1 kW heating, and 6 kg/s freshwater. Also, exergoenvironmental index and sustainability index were obtained as 0.5472 and 2.256 at the optimum point.

New iterative methods for nonlinear operators as concerns convex programming applicable in differential problems, image deblurring, and signal recovering problems

In this paper, using sunny nonexpansive retractions, which are different from the metric projection in Banach spaces, a new type of study regarding the iterative methods in view of two quasi‐nonexpansive nonself mappings is presented. We also give the convergence analysis for the proposed method in the background of uniformly convex Banach spaces. Moreover, we apply our results to find solutions of common zeros of accretive operators, convexly constrained least square problems, and convex minimization problems. Furthermore, we also discuss novel applications of these methods to differential problems, image deblurring, and signal recovering problems.

Determining the factors influencing the level of awareness and usage of open source digital repository software by academic librarians in India

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to analyze the level of awareness and usage of open source digital repository software (DRS). The paper also studies the factors, which influence the level of awareness and usage of different open source DRS by academic librarians in India.Design/methodology/approachThe study administered an online questionnaire to academic librarians in India to know their level of awareness and usage of open source DRS. The questionnaire aimed to gather the awareness and usage of open source DSR. In total, 374 complete responses were collected from academic librarians in India and the collected data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Moreover, Fishers’ exact test was used to identify whether factors i.e. qualification and participation in workshop/seminar influence the level of awareness and usage of open source DRS.FindingsThe results of the study reveal that the level of awareness and usage of open source DRS, namely, DSpace (Mean = 2.92, SD = 0.906) and Greenstone digital library software (GSDL) (Mean = 2.18, SD = 0.699) are high amongst the academic librarians in India. In total, 33.4%, 11.5% of the participants are using DSpace and GSDL, respectively, on regular basis. Fishers’ exact test shows that factor(s) i.e. qualifications and participation in workshop/seminar affect the level of awareness and usage of open source DRS. The results show that there exits strong relation between participation in workshop/seminar and awareness and usage of DSpace (Fishers’ exact test = 13.473, p < 0.05).Originality/valueThis paper is the new type of study exploring level of awareness and usage of open source DRS by academic librarians in India. It identifies the factors that affect the awareness and usage of open source DRS. It is the first study to analyze the statistical significance between Indian librarians’ participation in workshop/seminar and their level of awareness and usage of different open source DRS.

Review on the title of participatory (qualitative) poverty assessment

A PPA is a process that starts with grass-roots participatory analysis and dialogue, and culminates in better policies and more effective action for poverty reduction. A PPA is not just a new type of study of poverty and its causes. The principles that makes the participatory approach different from other research approaches. First, the PPA methodology engages respondents actively in the research process through the use of open-ended and participatory methods. The rationale for Participatory Poverty Assessments (PPAs) is that for the policies to work, the voices of poor and marginalized people and their understandings of poverty need to be included. There are different key Principles of Participatory poverty assessment Learning and Action.

New Iterative Methods for Solving Nonlinear Problems with One and Several Unknowns

In this manuscript, a new type of study regarding the iterative methods for solving nonlinear models is presented. The goal of this work is to design a new fourth-order optimal family of two-step iterative schemes, with the flexibility through weight function/s or free parameter/s at both substeps, as well as small residual errors and asymptotic error constants. In addition, we generalize these schemes to nonlinear systems preserving the order of convergence. Regarding the applicability of the proposed techniques, we choose some real-world problems, namely chemical fractional conversion and the trajectory of an electron in the air gap between two parallel plates, in order to study the multi-factor effect, fractional conversion of species in a chemical reactor, Hammerstein integral equation, and a boundary value problem. Moreover, we find that our proposed schemes run better than or equal to the existing ones in the literature.

Anomalous fading in TL, OSL and TA – OSL signals of Durango apatite for various grain size fractions; from micro to nano scale

Anomalous fading (AF) of luminescence signals has been studied extensively both experimentally and by simulations. This paper reports a new type of study of anomalous fading in grains of Durango apatite, a naturally occurring luminescent material that yields very intense anomalous fading. Grains of Durango apatite were ball milled (BM) for various durations, up to 48h. Different ball milling durations resulted in different average grain size fractions as low as 200nm, as it was indicated by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) measurements. The anomalous fading effect was studied for optically stimulated luminescence (OSL), thermoluminescence (TL), as well as thermally-assisted OSL signals (TA – OSL). Anomalous fading was found to be ubiquitous for all luminescence signals, and for all apatite grain size fractions. The anomalous fading rate is weakly affected by the grain size for the cases of OSL and TL, while the TA – OSL signals were found to fade in a much slower rate than either the TL or the conventional OSL signals. An important experimental result is that the fading rate of TA – OSL decreases as the grain size fraction is decreased. For average grain size fractions between 200 and 450nm, the TA – OSL signal is unaffected by the AF effect. A differential analysis on the TL glow curves showed that the AF rate decreases with increasing temperature along the glow curve, and also with increasing BM time. Finally, a component resolved de-convolution analysis was performed for both OSL and TA – OSL decay curves and recombination lifetimes are reported for both localized and delocalized components. FTIR analysis indicates that the ball milling procedure does not induce a new phase in this material.

Overview of systematic reviews - a new type of study. Part II.

Overviews of Systematic Reviews (OoRs) are a new type of study in which multiple evidence from systematic reviews (SRs) is compiled into an accessible and useful document. The aim here was to describe the state of the art and critically assess Cochrane OoRs that have been published. Descriptive study conducted at a research center. The OoRs identified through the filter developed in Part I of this study were evaluated in five domains: methodological quality; quality of evidence; implications for practice; general profile of OoRs; and length of work. All 13 OoRs included had high methodological quality. Some OoRs did not present sufficient data to judge the quality of evidence; using sensitivity analysis, the quality of evidence of the OoRs increased. Regarding implications for practice, 64% of the interventions were judged as beneficial or harmful, while 36% of them showed insufficient evidence for judgment. It is expected (with 95% confidence interval) that one OoR will include 9,462 to 64,469 patients, 9 to 29 systematic reviews and 80 to 344 primary studies, and assess 6 to 21 interventions; and that 50 to 92% of OoRs will produce meta-analysis. The OoRs generated 2 to 26 meta-analyses over a period of 18 to 31 months. The OoRs presented high methodological quality; the quality of evidence tended to be moderate/high; most interventions were judged to be beneficial/harmful; the mean length of work was 24 months. The OoR profile adds power to decision-making.

Overview of systematic reviews - a new type of study: part I: why and for whom?

Healthcare decision-making is complex and should involve healthcare professionals, patients and the best level of evidence. The speed of information production creates barriers against keeping up to date. In this light, methodologists have proposed a new type of study: overviews of systematic reviews (OoRs). The aim here was to introduce and demonstrate the role of OoRs in information synthesis for healthcare professionals, managers, researchers and patients. Time-series study conducted at the Brazilian Cochrane Center, jointly with the Postgraduate Program on Internal Medicine and Therapeutics, Discipline of Emergency Medicine and Evidence-Based Medicine, Department of Medicine, Federal University of São Paulo. To show the growth in the numbers of published papers that provide high-level evidence and thus demonstrate the importance of OoRs for synthesis and integration of information, three filters for study designs were applied to two databases. An equation for predicting the expected number of published papers was developed and applied. Over the present decade, the number of randomized controlled trials in Medline might reach 2,863,203 and the number of systematic reviews might reach 174,262. Nine OoRs and 15 OoRs protocols have been published in the Cochrane Library. With the exponential growth of published papers, as shown in this study, a new type of study directed especially towards healthcare decision-makers was proposed, named "overview of systematic reviews". This could reduce the uncertainties in decision-making and generate a new hierarchy in the pyramid of evidence.

The mind-set of teens towards food communications revealed by conjoint measurement and multi-food databases

We introduce a new type of study that combines self-profile of behaviors and attitudes regarding food together with responses to structured, systematically varied concepts about the food. We deal here with the responses of teens, for 28 different foods and beverages. The study creates a database that reveals how a person responds to different types of messaging about the food. We show how to develop the database for many different foods, from which one can compare foods to each other, or compare the performance of messages within a specific food.

Discrepancies between Lexical and Tonal Variation: A Case Study of the Thai Dialect of Samui Island

Over the past twenty five years the study of Thai dialects has concentrated on the geographical variatio.n of either tones or lexical items. In the 1990s another type of Thai dialect study began to take shape - a combination. of geographical and social variation study. Age has been identified as the main factor influencing variation in Thai dialects. The new type of study has so far concentrated on lexical variation. This paper deals with both geographical and social variation and both lexical and tonal variation. The Thai variety investigated in this study is that of Southern Thai spoken on Samui Island in Sural Thani province. The areas covered are the seven subdistricts of the Samui Island district. Two parallel studies were undertaken culminating in two MA. theses. Research planning and data collection in these two studies were carried out jointly. Results show that there is no geographical variation in Samui Thai either in tonal or lexical usage. When considering social variation, however, this study confirms that age plays a very important role. It clearly influences lexical variation in Samui Thai but it does not influence tonal variation. While the 60-70 years old speakers still use Southern Thai and Samui Thai lexical items and tones, the 10-20 years old speakers readily adopt Standard Thai lexical items but they still use the same tone system and tonal characteristics as the 60-70 years old speakers. It is suggested that future studies should investigate age-based tonal and lexical variation in Standard Thai and Thai dialects further to obtain a better picture of the process of ongoing change in Thai.

Traditional East-Asian medicine and acupuncture in the treatment of asthma and allergies in children

Mary, a 10-year-old girl, came to the Continuum Center forHealth and Healing with her mother, hoping for relief fromMary’s asthma and allergy symptoms. She received seven acu-puncture treatments between October 2003 and January 2004,with significant improvement in her condition. Although theresultsinMary’scasearelessdramaticthanthosewehaveseeninsome other children whose families were more rigorous in theiradherencetothetreatmentrecommendations,thiscasepresentsa typical process of a compromise between what a practitionerconsidersthebestcourseofactionandwhatchangesthepatient/parents are actually willing to implement. In this sense, Mary’scaseshowstheessenceofintegrativemedicine,inwhichitisthepatient/parents who integrate providers into the treatment planthat most suits their belief system.As discussed below, the clinical research on the efficacy ofacupuncture for asthma is mixed. There is clearly a major riftbetween the efficacy of acupuncture in the treatment of asthmaand accompanying symptoms as shown in controlled studies—which typically test a specific set of points in all patients and donotincorporatetheotherdimensionsofChinesemedicinetreat-ment into the protocol—and as experienced by acupuncturistsand patients in clinical practice. Many researchers have arguedfor a new type of study that would more effectively capture thespritoftheactualclinicalpracticeofacupunctureandEastAsianmedicine.