the self-perception of students

Objective: to understand how students perceive their involvement in investigation activities and how they contribute for the development of evidence-based practices. Method: qualitative, cross-sectional, descriptive, and exploratory study, carried out in Portugal, in August 2019. A focus group of eight participants was formed to answer the question: “What are the advantages of the participation of nursing students in investigations for the development of knowledge, attitudes, and performance in the use of evidence?” The software NVivo was used for a content analysis. Results: five categories and subcategories emerged from the qualitative analysis of findings: selflearning, integration of theory and practice, interdisciplinary work, evidence-based decision making, and scientific literacy. Conclusion: creating an effective learning experience helps building knowledge and can contribute for the health of the community, for improved educational results during the internship, and for the development of the abilities necessary for Evidence Based Practice.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Distributed Agent-Based Online Auction System

This paper concerns the design and development of a distributed agent-based online system for English auctions. The proposed system is composed of two parts: an Agent-based Auction Server and a Web-based Graphical User Interface. The first part of our work brought about the advantages introduced by the multi-agent systems technology to the high-level of abstraction, modularity and performance of the server architecture and its implementation. On the server side, bids submitted by auction participants are handled by a hierarchical organization of agents that can be efficiently distributed on a computer network. This approach avoids the bottlenecks of bid processing that might occur during periods of heavy bidding, like for example snipping. We present experimental results that show a significant improvement of the server throughput compared with the architecture where a single auction manager agent is used for coordinating the participants for each active auction that is registered with the server. The second part of our work involved analysis of external functionalities, implementation and usability of a prototype online auction system that incorporates the Agent-based Auction Server. Our solution is outlined in terms of information flow management and its relation to the functionalities of the system. The main outcome of this part of the work is a clean specification of the information exchanges between the agent and non-agent software components of the system. Special attention is also given to the interoperability, understood here as successful integration of the different data communication protocols and software technologies that we employed for the implementation of the system

Numerical Design of a 3-Stage Cascaded Thermal Energy Storage System for Solar Application

The analysis of a three-stage cascaded thermal energy storage is presented in this dissertation. Cascaded thermal energy storage systems has many advantages over conventional thermal energy storages, majorly it allows for maintaining of a nigh-constant temperature between the HTF and PCM during the charging and discharging cycles leading to improved performance of the system. This dissertation investigates the performance and transient response of a packed bed operating under high-temperature conditions with phase change materials in varying encapsulations (cascaded in a three-stage format) during charging and discharging cycle by employing computational numerical techniques via commercially available ANSYS Fluent software. The analysis was performed for nine different encapsulation geometries with increased surface area and constant volume in comparison to the base geometry (sphere) to determine the effects of each new encapsulation on the performance of the thermal energy storage (TES). The computational model used in the development of this work compares well with the experimental results by Raul [1]. Additionally, the effect of packing scheme/PCM layout is also investigated in this work. Comparative data analysis was performed on the TES with the various PCM encapsulation designs and the standard spherical PCM encapsulation to determine which geometry provides better performance during charging and discharging cycles. The results of this study show that the thermal performance of the cascaded thermal energy storage improves with each new encapsulation as evidenced by the decreases in charging and discharging times in comparison to the base encapsulation. This study also highlights which capsule design is most practical when considering the bed dimension increases/ decreases with in increasing thermal performance. This study's findings can serve as a benchmark for future optimization of cascaded thermal energy storage systems

Scrum2Kanban: Integrating Kanban and Scrum in a University Software Engineering Capstone Course

Using university capstone courses to teach agile software development methodologies has become commonplace, as agile methods have gained support in professional software development. This usually means students are introduced to and work with the currently most popular agile methodology: Scrum. However, as the agile methods employed in the industry change and are adapted to different contexts, university courses must follow suit. A prime example of this is the Kanban method, which has recently gathered attention in the industry. In this paper, we describe a capstone course design, which adds the hands-on learning of the lean principles advocated by Kanban into a capstone project run with Scrum. This both ensures that students are aware of recent process frameworks and ideas as well as gain a more thorough overview of how agile methods can be employed in practice. We describe the details of the course and analyze the participating students' perceptions as well as our observations. We analyze the development artifacts, created by students during the course in respect to the two different development methodologies. We further present a summary of the lessons learned as well as recommendations for future similar courses. The survey conducted at the end of the course revealed an overwhelmingly positive attitude of students towards the integration of Kanban into the course

Adoption of Free Open Source Geographic Information System Solution for Health Sector in Zanzibar Tanzania

\ud The study aims at developing in-depth understanding on how Open Source Geographic Information System technology is used to provide solutions for data visualization in the health sector of Zanzibar, Tanzania. The study focuses on implementing the health visualization solutions for the purpose of bridging the gap during the transition period from proprietary software to the Free Open-Source Software using Key Indicator Data System. The developed tool facilitates data integration between the two District Health Information Software versions and hence served as a gateway solution during the transition process. Implementation challenges that include outdated spatial data and the reluctance of the key users in coping with the new Geographical Information System technologies were also identified. Participatory action research and interviews were used in understanding the requirements for the new tool to facilitate the smooth system development for better health service delivery.\u

A Practical Example for Model-Driven Web Requirements

The number of approaches for Web environments has grown very fast in the last years: HDM, OOHDM, and WSDM were among the first, and now a large number can be found in the literature. With the definition of MDA (Model- Driven Architecture) and the acceptance of MDE (Model-Driven Engineering) techniques in this environment, some groups are working in the use of metamodels and transformations to make their approaches more powerful. UWE (UMLBased Web Engineering) or OOWS (Object-Oriented Web Solutions) are only some examples. However, there are few real experiences with Web Engineering in the enterprise environment, and very few real applications of metamodels and MDE techniques. In this chapter the practical experience of a Web Engineering approach, NDT, in a big project developed in Andalusia is presented. Besides, it shows the usability of metamodels in real environments

Lightning impulse tests on air-breakdown level in point-plane electrode configuration

In the past several decades, extensive amount of research work has been done to understand the fundamental characteristics of the electrical breakdown. Breakdown voltage is a phenomenon where the quantity of an electrical force is required to transform the electrical properties of an object. Many factors that lead to the breakdown voltage are still not fully discovered. These factors are including the physical parameters of the electrodes (sphere, plane, point etc.) and also the environmental conditions. In electrical power system, high voltage (HV) power equipment is mainly subjected with spark over voltage. In this study, point electrode and plane electrode have been used for the experimental study of the short air gap. The electrodes are vertically aligned. In order to simulate the performance characteristic of the air breakdown voltage and maximum electric field between the conducting point and plane electrodes, the electrodes is taken into considered in this work using FEMM simulation. The air breakdown voltages between the electrodes (point and plane) are measured by conducting the air breakdown voltage experiment in high voltage laboratory and corresponding electrical field strength. The electrodes gap distances are being varied to 5 different gaps which are 5mm, 10mm, 15mm, 20mm and 25mm. In order to achieve maximum strength in such a field, the point of the highest stress is controlled. From the experiment, it was established that the point at the electrode that produces maximum electric field is at the point with the smallest area or width. As for point electrode, the smallest area is at the angle of the electrode. Besides, it shows that the electrical breakdown characteristic is affected by the strength of the impulse voltage. Higher gap distance between the electrodes will result higher breakdown-impulse voltage while higher breakdown-impulse voltage will produce higher field intensity

Holistic analysis of the effectiveness of a software engineering teaching approach

To provide the best training in software engineering, several approaches and strategies are carried out. Some of them are more theoretical, learned through books and manuals, while others have a practical focus and often done in collaboration with companies. In this paper, we share an approach based on a balanced mix to foster the assimilation of knowledge, the approximation with what is done in software companies and student motivation. Two questionnaires were also carried out, one involving students, who had successfully completed the subject in past academic years (some had already graduated, and others are still students), and other questionnaire involving companies, in the field of software development, which employ students from our school. The analysis of the perspectives of the different stakeholders allows an overall and holistic) view, and a general understanding, of the effectiveness of the software engineering teaching approach. We analyse the results of the questionnaires and share some of the experiences and lessons learned.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio