Long-Term Functionality of Rural Water Services in Developing Countries: A System Dynamics Approach to Understanding the Dynamic Interaction of Causal Factors

Research has shown that sustainability of rural water infrastructure in developing countries is largely affected by the dynamic and systemic interactions of technical, social, financial, institutional, and environmental factors that can lead to premature water system failure. This research employs systems dynamic modeling, which uses feedback mechanisms to understand how these factors interact dynamically to influence long-term rural water system functionality. To do this, the research first identified and aggregated key factors from literature, then asked water sector experts to indicate the polarity and strength between factors through Delphi and cross impact survey questionnaires, and finally used system dynamics modeling to identify and prioritize feedback mechanisms. The resulting model identified 101 feedback mechanisms that were dominated primarily by three and four-factor loops that contained some combination of the factors: Water System Functionality, Community, Financial, Government, Management, and Technology. These feedback mechanisms were then scored and prioritized, with the most dominant feedback mechanism identified as Water System Functionality – Community – Finance – Management. This research offers insight into the dynamic interaction of factors impacting sustainability of rural water infrastructure through the identification of these feedback mechanisms and makes a compelling case for future research to longitudinally investigate the interaction of these factors in various contexts

Motion Rail: A Virtual Reality Level Crossing Training Application

This paper presents the development and usability testing of a Virtual Reality (VR) based system named 'Motion Rail' for training children on railway crossing safety. The children are to use a VR head mounted device and a controller to navigate the VR environment to perform a level crossing task and they will receive instant feedback on pass or failure on a display in the VR environment. Five participants consisting of two male and three females were considered for the usability test. The outcomes of the test was promising, as the children were very engaging and will like to adopt this training approach in future safety training

Intraoperative Handoffs Among Anesthesia Providers Increase the Incidence of Documentation Errors for Controlled Drugs

When electronic anesthesia records are compared to pharmacy transactions, discrepancies in total doses of controlled drugs are commonly found (≈16% of cases), potentially affecting patient safety and placing hospitals at risk for regulatory action. Errors (≈5%) persisted even with near real-time drug reconciliation feedback to providers. A study was conducted to test the hypothesis of greater risks of discrepancy for longer-duration cases and for intraoperative handoff involving a permanent handoff of care. Anesthesia drug documentation and pharmacy transaction data were examined for all anesthetics between May 2014 and September 2015 at an academic medical center, and discrepancies between the two systems were determined. Nine logistic regression models were constructed to evaluate the influence of covariates (for example, case duration, general anesthesia vs. sedation, and handoff involving a permanent transfer of patient care) on the presence of a discrepancy. Linear regression was also performed between case duration decile and the logit (discrepancy rate), stratified by anesthesia type and handoff. For all models, handoffs were associated with higher discrepancy rates (p < 10−6; odds ≥ 1.38). There was a progressive increase in discrepancy rates as a function of the case duration. Handoffs involving a permanent transfer of patient care during cases increase the risk of controlled drug discrepancies. Staff scheduling and assignment decisions to decrease the chance of a handoff occurring should help mitigate this. In addition, future studies should examine ways to improve the handoff process related to controlled drugs (for example, a formal, structured processes in the anesthesia information management system)

Els cavallers catalans de l'ordre de Carles III

L'orde de Carles III va ser fundat el 1771. La seva divisa, virtuti et merito, havia fet pensar a alguns historiadors en un orde modern i 'burges', ben diferent dels tradicionals ordes militars de cavalleria, d'origen medieval. Una anàlisi més acurada de les seves constitucions havia palesat, però, que per a I'ingrés a I'orde calia provar la condició nobiliària dels avantpassats. Aquesta exigència genealògica ha fet que es conservessin les informacions familiars dels cavallers admesos fins a 1847, data en la qual es va modificar la normativa, després de l'establiment del sistema constitucional

When emotion does not mean loss of control

Abstract. The traditional consideration that intelligent behaviors can only be produced from pure reasoning fails when trying to explain most of human behaviors, in which the emotional component has a decisive weight. However, although many different efforts have been made to consider emotions in the rational process, emotion is still perceived by many research areas as a non-desirable quality for a computational system. This is not the case of the field of believable agents, where emotions are well respected, although they are sometimes associated to a certain loss of control. This paper presents the mechanisms proposed by a generic cognitive architecture for agents with emotionally influenced behaviors, called cognitiva, to maintain behaviors control without giving up the richness provided by emotions. This architecture, together with a progressive specification process for its application, have been used successfully to model 3D intelligent virtual agents