Multi-layer Architecture For Storing Visual Data Based on WCF and Microsoft SQL Server Database

In this paper we present a novel architecture for storing visual data. Effective storing, browsing and searching collections of images is one of the most important challenges of computer science. The design of architecture for storing such data requires a set of tools and frameworks such as SQL database management systems and service-oriented frameworks. The proposed solution is based on a multi-layer architecture, which allows to replace any component without recompilation of other components. The approach contains five components, i.e. Model, Base Engine, Concrete Engine, CBIR service and Presentation. They were based on two well-known design patterns: Dependency Injection and Inverse of Control. For experimental purposes we implemented the SURF local interest point detector as a feature extractor and $K$-means clustering as indexer. The presented architecture is intended for content-based retrieval systems simulation purposes as well as for real-world CBIR tasks.Comment: Accepted for the 14th International Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Soft Computing, ICAISC, June 14-18, 2015, Zakopane, Polan

The Perfect Firestorm: Bringing Forest Service Wildfire Costs under Control

Blessed and cursed by a Congress that gives it a virtual if not literal blank check for fire protection, the Forest Service's fire spending is out of control. Prodded by a centralized planning and budgeting process, the agency's expensive, onesize- fits-all approach to wildfire does not fit the extremely diverse 193 million acres of national forests. The Forest Service's program -- which consists of spending close to $300 million per year treating hazardous fuels and as much as$2 billion a year preparing for and suppressing fires -- will not restore the national forests to health or end catastrophic fire in most of those forests. In many forests it may do more harm than good. Forest Service plans are based on the notion that western national forests suffer from an unnatural accumulation of hazardous fuels. In fact, that is probably true for no more than about 15 percent of those forests. The appropriate treatments on the remaining 85 percent may be as diverse as the forests themselves. Significant structural changes in the Forest Service are essential to control fire costs. Those changes should divorce the agency, or at least its fire program, from Congress's blank check. They should also decentralize decisionmaking so local decisions will respond to local economic and ecological conditions. This paper suggests several possible structural changes, including:Cost-containment programs (effectively the current direction);Focusing efforts on the wildland-urban interface, which is mostly nonfederal land; Relying on private insurance to fund (and control the costs of) emergency fire suppression; Turning national forest fire control over to state and local fire protection districts; Turning national forests into fiduciary trusts funded exclusively out of their own user fees; and Abolishing the Forest Service and turning the lands over to the states. Because the actual situation varies greatly from one region to another, it may be that no one of these solutions will work for all federal lands. To find the solution or solutions that work best, Congress should apply some or all of these alternatives to one or more national forests on an experimental basis. Such experiments will help point the way to future wildfire management

Developing a TQM Evaluation Indicators for Rural Tourism in Jordan

The study aims at developing a Total Quality Management model TQM indicator for small businesses in rural touristic businesses in Jordan including (accommodation, travel and services including accessibility, sites, local product information) to support rural planners for the implementation of sustainable tourism in the targeted area. To achieve this aim, the study has conducted four different types of surveys to assess the quality of a provided service from four different prospective, the customers, business owners, the mystery shoppers, and field visit by specialists from the team members. The respondents were asked to rate their opinion about services quality by select from a list which were measured on a five-point Likert scale, with “5” indicating “very satisfied” and “1” indicating “very dissatisfied. All questions were designed to measure how users, service providers, mystery shoppers, and quality control expert to interpret and evaluate the service quality and obtain insights that measure the service performance and perception against the intended service promise. The results revealed that the overall average of quality of the services ranked between poor and fair Keywords: TQM, Tourism, Service Quality Management, DOI: 10.7176/JTHS/51-05 Publication date:October 31st 202

IMPLEMENTASI KEBIJAKAN SUBSIDI PELAYANAN KESEHATAN DASAR TERHADAP KUALITAS PELAYANAN PUSKESMAS DI KOTA SINGKAWANG

Background: Health sector is inseparable from thedecentralized system of local autonomy. Health sector is aresponsibility of the local government, even though it isfrequently included in the political policies of a leader. Thedirection of healthcare service development, particularly atthe level of Health Center, has been maintained in the Mayor'sDecree of Singkawang No. 82/2009 on the subsidiary ofhealthcare in Kota Singkawang.Objective: To find out the quality of healthcare at the HealthCenters in relation to the primary healthcare subsidy based onthe perception of society, control/supervision of Local HealthOffice, management, service time, service capacity/type, andattitude of the health center staffs.Method: A descriptive research with case study design wasconducted in three Health Centers: Singkawang Tengah, SingkawangTimur, and Singkawang Utara Health Centers. Subjectsof the research were 15 health staffs and 111 patients.The data were collected using questionnaire, observation, andinterviews.Results: The research found a score of 3.3 for the healthcarein Singkawang Tengah, Singkawang Timur, and SingkawangUtara Health Centers. It means that the Health Center providedrelatively high quality healthcare. From the Reliability dimension,a score of 2.92 was found for Point 2 quick examinationservice with reference to the standard procedure and a scoreof 2.97 for Point 5, the timeliness of healthcare. From the Responsivenessdimension, a score of 2.77 was found for Point 3– the patients did not wait long to get the healthcare service –and a score of 2.94 for Point 4 – the working hour of the HealthCenter. Qualitative analysis showed that the Local Health Officecontrolled/supervised the Health Centers by means of utilization/visit reports and management. It was found that servicetime was frequently ignored and that service type/capacity atthe Health Centers was constrained by the availability of reagentsand medication. The health staffs tended to ignore servicequality and time and there was an indication of deviation inthe utilization/visit reports sent by the Health Centers.Conclusion: The Local Health Office did not have adequatetools to control/supervise the Health Centers, as evident fromthe aspect of management, service time, service type/capacity,and health staff attitude. Procurement of healthcare supplieswas hampered by bidding process and the health staffs needcontinuous training and development.Keywords: Health Office, Health Centers, Public Perception,and Healthcare qualit

Implementation of primary healthcare subsidy policy on the service quality in the health centers of Kota Singkawang

Background: Health sector is inseparable from the decentralized system of local autonomy. Health sector is a responsibility of the local government, even though it is frequently included in the political policies of a leader. The direction of healthcare service development, particularly at the level of Health Center, has been maintained in the Mayor's Decree of Singkawang No. 82/2009 on the subsidiary of healthcare in Kota Singkawang. Objective: To find out the quality of healthcare at the Health Centers in relation to the primary healthcare subsidy based on the perception of society, control/supervision of Local Health Office, management, service time, service capacity/type, and attitude of the health center staffs. Method: A descriptive research with case study design was conducted in three Health Centers: Singkawang Tengah, Singkawang Timur, and Singkawang Utara Health Centers. Subjects of the research were 15 health staffs and 111 patients. The data were collected using questionnaire, observation, and interviews. Results: The research found a score of 3.3 for the healthcare in Singkawang Tengah, Singkawang Timur, and Singkawang Utara Health Centers. It means that the Health Center provided relatively high quality healthcare. From the Reliability dimension, a score of 2.92 was found for Point 2 quick examination service with reference to the standard procedure and a score of 2.97 for Point 5, the timeliness of healthcare. From the Responsiveness dimension, a score of 2.77 was found for Point 3 – the patients did not wait long to get the healthcare service – and a score of 2.94 for Point 4 – the working hour of the Health Center. Qualitative analysis showed that the Local Health Office controlled/supervised the Health Centers by means of utilization/ visit reports and management. It was found that service time was frequently ignored and that service type/capacity at the Health Centers was constrained by the availability of reagents and medication. The health staffs tended to ignore service quality and time and there was an indication of deviation in the utilization/visit reports sent by the Health Centers. Conclusion: The Local Health Office did not have adequate tools to control/supervise the Health Centers, as evident from the aspect of management, service time, service type/capacity, and health staff attitude. Procurement of healthcare supplies was hampered by bidding process and the health staffs need continuous training and development

Value Proposition for Sustainable Last-Mile Delivery. A Retailer Perspective

The sustainability of last-mile (LM) freight delivery is crucial to add value to the stakeholders in the distribution chain. However, its achievement is often hindered by a poor consideration of their needs by both literature and practice. The goal of this paper is to address the point of view of local retailers by exploring their needs about innovative LM delivery services and identifying sustainable value propositions (VP). A survey was submitted to retailers operating in the limited traffic zone of Torino (Italy). The survey data were analyzed by a factor analysis using a principal component analysis (PCA) to extract the factors. A correlation analysis was also conducted between the needs and selected contextual variables. The results show that retailers accept higher costs for more reliable deliveries and stock reduction. Retailers also correlate punctuality and flexibility because flexible and on-time deliveries allow for better inventory management, higher control, and, in turn, improved customer service level. This work is one of the first research attempts to quantify local retailers’ LM delivery needs and provides guidelines about how to design value-added logistics services. Moreover, from a practical point of view, the analysis shows the main VP that managers and practitioners should consider in the development of LM initiatives

Improving healthcare supply chains and decision making in the management of pharmaceuticals

The rising cost of quality healthcare is becoming an increasing concern. A significant part of healthcare cost is the pharmaceutical supply component. Improving healthcare supply chains is critical not only because of the financial magnitude but also because it impacts so many people. Efforts such as this project are essential in understanding the current operations of healthcare pharmacy systems and in offering decision support tools to managers struggling to make the best use of organizational resources. The purpose of this study is to address the objectives of a local hospital that exhibits typical problems in pharmacy supply chain management. We analyze the pharmacy supply network structure and the different, often conflicting goals in the decisions of the various stakeholders. We develop quantitative models useful in optimizing supply chain management and inventory management practices. We provide decision support tools that improve operational, tactical, and strategic decision making in the pharmacy supply chain and inventory management of pharmaceuticals. On one hand, advanced computerized technology that manages pharmaceutical dispensation and automates the ordering process offers considerable progress to support pharmacy product distribution. On the other hand, the available information is not utilized to help the managers in making the appropriate decisions and control the supply chain management. Quantitative methods are presented that provide simplified, practical solutions to pharmacy objectives and serve as decision support tools. For operational inventory decisions we provide the min and max par levels (reorder point and order up to level) that control the automated ordering system for pharmaceuticals. These parameters are based on two near-optimal allocation policies of cycle stock and safety stock under storage space constraint. For the tactical decision we demonstrate the influence of varying inventory holding cost rates on setting the optimal reorder point and order quantity for items. We present a strategic decision support tool to analyze the tradeoffs among the refill workload, the emergency workload, and the variety of drugs offered. We reveal the relationship of these tradeoffs to the three key performance indicators at a local care unit: the expected number of daily refills, the service level, and the storage space utilization

Infrastructure Requirements and Outsourcing

Out-of-band Management, or Lights-out Management, is an important tool to manage devices like servers, core routers, and switches. This is facilitated by a secondary card in the device that has an IP address assigned to it and it typically accessible over the network via a web browser even if the device it powered down, assuming of course that the power plug is connected to an electrified outlet. This functionality is very important for a WAN environment. Without this ability to control these devices remotely, the company would either have to employ a resource in the local offices or spend a large amount of time and money on technician travel. This is therefore a cost saving measure as well as a management tool and strategy. In initially pitching and gaining approval for projects, cost savings is often the larger selling point for management. In addition to and as an add-on to the Lights Out management, I also like monitoring the systems though SNMP, using a tool like What's Up. The Lights Out system is very valuable, but you also need a system that informs you when systems go down, and when they are responding to ping again after a restart. Network performance is very much related to network monitoring, however, monitoring is a task that we perform in service to performance, among other things

Environmental quality conditions in Fairbanks, Alaska, 1972

Published by The Institute of Water Resources and The Institute of Social, Economic and Government Research Fairbanks, AlaskaThis study represents a starting point for investigating the nature and interconnectivity of environmental quality problems in Fairbanks in the 1970's. Since the Fairbanks flood of 1967, no detailed survey of environmental quality conditions has been conducted despite the impact of the flood, the considerable expansion of the city limits, and the population expansion (anticipated and actual) associated with the oil pipeline. The study focuses on selective aspects of environmental quality of continuing and increasing concern to Fairbanks area residents and also to the city and borough governments. Specifically, the issues analyzed are (1) the environmental setting of the area, (2) structures, especially housing conditions, (3) premise conditions, and (4) waste control. Much of the data was derived from a program called NEEDS, an acronym for Neighborhood Environmental Evaluation and Decision System. NEEDS was developed by the Bureau of Community Environmental Management of the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare for rapid gathering of environmental, health, and social information in urban areas.1 The NEEDS survey design consists of two separate stages. Stage I is concerned with collecting general environmental quality information to determine geographically where the most pronounced environmental health problems exist in a given urban area. Stage II consists of detailed interviews with residents of the identified "problem areas" to determine the exact nature of existing health and environmental problems, e.g., housing, health, availability of services, and attitudes regarding existing government (local, state, and federal) programs. With this information, local officials could begin to reorganize existing programs and/or develop new programs to solve some of the interrelated environmental quality problems in the disadvantaged sections of their cities.The work upon which this report is based was supported by funds provided by the State of Alaska, the University of Alaska at Fairbanks, the United States Public Health Service, and the Office of Water Research and Technology