Optimal Order Assignment with Minimum Wage Consideration (OOAMWC)

While the application of crowdsourcing has increased over the years, the technology experiences various issues during implementation. Examples of some of the issues that affect crowdsourcing include task assignment, profit maximizations, as well as time window issues. In some instances addressing some of the issues results in the other issues being overlooked. An example is when assigning tasks to workers, the profits of the workers might not be considered and this ends up affecting the profit maximization aspect. Various algorithms have been proposed to address the task assignment, profit maximizations, and time window issues. However, these algorithms address the issues individually and this results in the occurrence of the other noted issues. Therefore, this calls for the definition of a solution to address the task assignment issue while taking into consideration the time window issue and the minimum wage constraint. Additionally, the solution should address the profit maximization of not only the workers but also the platform and the clients of the platform. To evaluate the efficiency of the proposed solution, a comparison with the different implemented solutions to address individual issues is recommended. Comparing such solutions can provide insight into the efficiency of the proposed approach when addressing multiple issues affecting crowdsourcing

The effect of wastewater components on the fouling of ceramic membranes

In this work, the effect of wastewater feed composition on the membrane fouling rate of 5 and 20 kD ultrafiltration ceramic membranes was investigated using statistical analysis of the experimental results (two way factorial design), with particular regard to the protein (meat extract and peptone), sodium alginate and calcium chloride components. A mathematical model was used to determine the major membrane blocking mechanisms and the effect of different feed components concentration on the blocking mechanisms. Polysaccharides are the major fouling compounds in extracellular polymeric substance (EPS), while protein compounds are an important part of EPS membrane fouling, their effect increases in the presence of polysaccharides. Sodium alginate calcium solutions fouled the membrane more severely, causing twice the increase of resistance (on average) than did meat extract calcium solutions. This study showed that irreversible fouling was the major fouling type in alginate calcium filtration experiments, while less of the fouling in the meat extract calcium filtration experiments was irreversible. The effect of changing the artificial wastewater components concentration on the fitting accuracy of the blocking models for the 20 kD pore size membrane was almost the opposite of the 5 kD pore size membrane. Increasing the calcium concentration increased the predication accuracy of the intermediate and complete blocking models, while the increase in alginate concentration reduced the cake filtration model prediction accuracy. After each experiment, the membrane was cleaned using different cleaning chemical concentrations. The best cleaning was achieved with increasing sodium hydroxide concentration in the cleaning solution. In general higher cleaning temperature and increasing cleaning time improved the membrane recovery, nevertheless; the effect was not as noticeable as the effect of increasing sodium hydroxide concentration

Breaking free

Written here is an account of my journey exploring and investigating a new artistic path. I showcase the ways in which my visual production is unique both within the field of art but also and more importantly is an imprint of my authorship and personality. As an abstract expressionist painter interested in formalism, my artwork suggests a universal language of color and form. Colors and distinctive shapes come to form a great energy and dynamism. Through the effect of the process, whereby all these elements are combined, I have attempted to transcend the norms of formalism and express the very nature of freedom through the work of art. I also speak about the many motivations for my personal and artistic transformation, looking at the ways in which my background and personality affect my overall work. I chronicle some key changes in my stylistic transformation - one that is always of progress and process. In effect, this research incorporates the challenges and determinant factors that directly feed into the overall transformation of my work and intellectual views

Public and private surgeon attitude towards informed consent

Background: Informed consent ranks as one of the most prominent issues in the recent bioethics literature due to increasing number of medico-legal cases and, the introduction of new national guidelines.Objectives: The aim of this study is to examine the attitude of surgeons working in public and private hospitals towards informed consent.Subjects and methods: This study is a cross-sectional survey that was conducted from January to June 2016 in all five governmental general hospitals, and two private hospitals in Kuwait. A selfadministered questionnaire was used to collect data from the surgeons working in the selected hospitals including six domains related to informed consent.Results: The majority of surgeons believed that informed consent routinely achieved in their current practice and that all doctors should receive formal training on informed consent, though only 35.7% of public surgeon received training compared to 76.7% of private surgeons. Although 82.7% of public surgeons believed that written information leaflets should be provided for patients, only 41.1% provide their patients with these type of leaflets. There was no significant difference between public and private surgeons regarding the purpose of informed consent except that higher proportion of private surgeons believed that informed consent improves the doctor-patient relationship. There was an agreement between public and private surgeons that junior doctors should not conduct the informed consent. Higher proportion of private than public surgeons stated that the content of informed consent was affected by patient’s age, gender, and social class whereas level of education was thought by public surgeons.Conclusion: Private surgeons differ from those in the public hospitals in that they tend to look at informed consent as not only an ethical and legal obligation, but also of benefit to patients. The introduction of formal training on informed consent in both types of hospitals are recommended.Keywords: Informed consent, Attitude, Surgeons, Public, Privat

The Women's Cultural and Social Society (WCSS) : Its role in shaping women's political participation in Kuwait (1963-2010)

Feminism and women's rights movements are often seen as concepts and activities that originated within the West. As it is important to examine sociological concepts where they occur, this study reviews these concepts within a particular culture and social context: that of the Kuwaiti society. Specific sociological and cultural features, which are important in shaping the petition for political participation of women in Kuwait are identified and examined. The focus of this dissertation is to understand the role and impact of one organization, the Women's Cultural and Social Society (WCSS), in the struggle to bring about women's political participation in Kuwait. The main strategies and methods used by the WCSS between 1960 and 2010 are emphasized. Data sources include interviews with members and leaders of the WCSS, members of the general population primary documents along with secondary (historical) documents and observations of activities organized by the WCSS. The findings of the study are: the WCSS is perceived as a liberal feminist organization in Kuwait and has an orientation that is quite different from that of the more conservative Islamist or Tribalist associations. The study also identified the various strategies and methods used by the WCSS in its drive to obtain political participation for women. Its strategies and methods changed over time due to specific social and political events occurring in the country. Finally, WCSS members and leaders felt the organization did have a significant impact over the period under discussion, but members of the general population felt that the organization had minimum impact

Protein structural models selection using 4-mer sequence and combined single and consensus scores

Title from PDF of title page (University of Missouri--Columbia, viewed on September 10, 2012).The entire thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file; a non-technical public abstract appears in the public.pdf file.Thesis advisor: Dr. Dong XuIncludes bibliographical references.M. S. University of Missouri--Columbia 2012."May 2012"Quality assessment for protein structure models is an important issue in protein structure prediction. Consensus methods assess each model based on its structural similarity to all the other models in a model set, while single scoring methods, such as Opus-ca and RW, evaluate each model based on its structural properties. In this work, a novel method proposed and developed to effectively combine consensus methods and single scoring methods for better quality assessment. At first, a new method called Single Position Specific Probability (SPSP) Score is proposed based on consensus method using 4-mer sequence. Specifically, every letter in the 4-mer sequence represents a state for a local region consisting of four amino acids. A machine learning method (Neural Network) helped to combine several single scoring methods, RW, DDFire, and OPusCa with consensus methods, SPSP and Consensus Global Distance Test-Total Score (CGDT-TS) to achieve a good combination of all the terms. The method was tested on two benchmark datasets and achieved improvements over the state-of-the-art methods. The first benchmark was on Yang Zhang's data containing 56 targets. The second benchmark was from Rosetta data containing 35 targets. For Zhang's data, the CGDT score is 0.6058, while combined method achieved 0.6105. For Rosetta data, the CGDT score achieved 0.4255, while combined method achieved 0.4529

Exploring the determinants of mental health, wellbeing, and lifestyle in 8–11 year old children with type 1 diabetes and their healthy counterparts in Kuwait

Type 1 diabetes is a chronic disease with an early onset, but little is known about its psychological effects in middle childhood. The present study was the first to explore the relationship between mental health, wellbeing, and lifestyle of 8–11 years old children with Type 1 diabetes and their parents, and a healthy comparison group. A total of 200 parent-child dyads were recruited in diabetic clinics and from primary schools in Kuwait. Both groups completed a series of behavioural and physical assessments relating to health, wellbeing, and lifestyle. A significant relationship was found between higher Body Mass Index (BMI) and poorer mental health, including low academic self-esteem, depression, and anxiety, in the diabetes group. This group had significantly higher mean scores in mental health problems, and lower scores in wellbeing, compared with control group. Both groups had poor dietary habits and low levels of physical activity. Unlike previous studies, no differences were found between parents’ mental health for children with Type 1 diabetes and parents of the control group. Although elevated problem scores on a variety of indices remained within normal range, the pattern of results indicates that children with diabetes would profit from early screening and preventative intervention to reduce the likelihood of psychological and behavioural difficulties later on