Feasibility study of implementation of a customer satisfaction monitoring system (CSMS) in the public library from a management perspective

The present study examined the public librarians’ perceptions of the level of readiness for implementation of a customer satisfaction monitoring system (CSMS) in a public library from a management perspective. The researchers adopted a descriptive survey design for the study. The statistical population consisted of all librarians working in the central library of Astan Quds Razavi (285 people) of which 165 people (based on Krejcie-Morgan sample size table) were randomly selected. A researcher-made questionnaire was used to collect information. After electronic distribution and collection of questionnaires (through office automation system) and elimination of incomplete ones, 123 completed questionnaires were statistically analyzed. The findings of this study showed that the respondents enjoy a desirable level of all four managerial dimensions including strategic planning, organizational culture, internal marketing and project management for implementation of CSMS in the library. The present study also makes some recommendations to improve the current conditions based on the findings

Relationship between serum leptin level and parathormone in Continuous Ambulatory Peritoneal Dialysis (CAPD) patients

زمینه و هدف: لپتین توسط سلول های بافت چربی تولید و در جریان خون وارد می شود. در مقایسه با افراد ســـالم در بیماران تحت دیالیز صفاقی (CAPD) سطح لپتین سرم بالاتر است. در مورد ارتباط لپتین و شاخص های متابولیسم استخوان مطالعات اندک و با نتایج ضد و نقیضی وجود دارد. هدف از انجام این مطالعه بررسی ارتباط بین لپتین سرم با برخی از فاکتورهای متابولیسم استخوان در بیماران تحت دیالیز صفاقی بود. روش بررسی: در این مطالعه توصیفی – تحلیلی 75 بیمار تحت دیالیز صفاقی در بیمارستان الزهراء اصفهان، به روش در دسترس انتخاب شدند. بیماران از نظر سطح لپتین سرم، شاخص توده بدن، شاخص کفایت دیالیز، کلسیم، فسفر، آلبومین، هورمون پاراتیروئید، علت و مدت نارسایی کلیه، مدت و سابقه همودیالیز و مـــدت دیالیز صفاقی مورد بررسی قرار گرفتند. داده ها به کمک آزمون های آماری t و ضریب همبستگی تجزیه و تحلیل گردید. یافته ها: میانگین سطح لپتین سرم در زنان بالاتر از مردان بود (001/0

A Voice for the Voiceless:Through the lens of lived experience: No Recourse to Public Funds, the violation of human rights, and resilience to it.

In a 2012 newspaper interview, Theresa May announced a commitment to reducing immigration figures by creating a ‘hostile environment’ for undocumented migrants (1). This ‘hostile environment’ has been perpetuated by the state in the form of a restriction of access to basic social services, social security, work and education

EyeMirDB: a Web-Based Platform of Experimentally Supported Eye Disease-miRNA Information

Background:  Studies of microRNA biology have increased in numerous scientific research domains, including eye science. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small non-coding RNAs that operate as post-transcriptional regulators of gene expression by destroying or blocking the translation of target messenger RNA.   Despite significant efforts to investigate the miRNA of eye disease, a complete platform of frequent ocular disease with genes, pathways, and miRNA is still unavailable. Material and Methods: Three well-known databases were used as the main data source: DisGeNET, OMIM, and KEGG. The curated genes involved in each disease were manually collected. Then, the annotation information like gene’s sequence, description, chromosome’s number, start and end loci were extracted from the Ensembl data source. Gene’s pathway information was earned from KEGG and Reactome. Finally, experimentally validated gene’s related miRNA has been collected from miRecords, miRTarBase, and TarBase. In order to consider miRNAs expression in ocular tissues. Results: we present EyeMirDB (http://eyemirdb.databanks.behrc.ir/), a web-based platform of consisting of all predicted and validated miRNAs. Information on the annotation of miRNA-related genes was also collected in order to better understand the effects of miRNA. Pathways by which these genes are active were also identified. Right now, EyeMirDB contains 429 curated genes, 1258 pathways, and 2596 validated miRNAs of 25 prevalent ocular diseases. Conclusion: We introduce EyeMirDB, a web-based platform of Eye diseases-related interactions including disease-gene, gene-miRNA, gene-pathway curated information, and annotations, with the optionality of studying all these entities from different viewpoints. This data portal is a good entry point for ocular disease researchers

A novel framework for quantitative resilience assessment in complex engineering systems during early and late design stages

Recently, resilience assessment has evolved and grown in prominence, yet most studies are carried out on operational stage when sufficient knowledge on the processes is available, overlooking the design stage, a time frame that is more suitable for making a resilient system. To this end, this work aims at developing a novel quantitative resilience assessment framework for engineering systems with two different approaches that practically analyse resilience at the early and late design stages when detailed information on the system’s safety and resilience capabilities may be deficient. In the early design stage, system resilience attributes are identified, and expert judgment is used to assess their quality. In the late design stage, attributes are derived from revealed information such as detailed emergency response and safety barrier data. In both stages, dynamic Bayesian Network (DBN) is used to quantify resilience based on the acquired information. Since the green hydrogen technology is relatively novice, the application of the proposed framework is demonstrated in a resilience assessment of a green hydrogen plant undergoing hydrogen release scenarios. The proposed framework can be used as an effective tool for early design improvements as well as enhancing process safety in the late design stage of hydrogen plants or any other complex engineering system

AugmenTory: A Fast and Flexible Polygon Augmentation Library

Data augmentation is a key technique for addressing the challenge of limited datasets, which have become a major component in the training procedures of image processing. Techniques such as geometric transformations and color space adjustments have been thoroughly tested for their ability to artificially expand training datasets and generate semi-realistic data for training purposes. Data augmentation is the most important key to addressing the challenge of limited datasets, which have become a major component of image processing training procedures. Data augmentation techniques, such as geometric transformations and color space adjustments, are thoroughly tested for their ability to artificially expand training datasets and generate semi-realistic data for training purposes. Polygons play a crucial role in instance segmentation and have seen a surge in use across advanced models, such as YOLOv8. Despite their growing popularity, the lack of specialized libraries hampers the polygon-augmentation process. This paper introduces a novel solution to this challenge, embodied in the newly developed AugmenTory library. Notably, AugmenTory offers reduced computational demands in both time and space compared to existing methods. Additionally, the library includes a postprocessing thresholding feature. The AugmenTory package is publicly available on GitHub, where interested users can access the source code: https://github.com/Smartory/AugmenTor

Safety considerations for hydrometallurgical metal recovery from lithium‐ion batteries

This paper presents a comprehensive overview of the critical process safety considerations inherent in hydrometallurgical metal recovery within the lithium-ion battery (LiB) recycling process. As hydrometallurgy application in LiB recycling is still in the early stages of development, it is crucial to identify the hazards and provide safety recommendations. Hazards related to hydrometallurgy are identified and categorized in process, toxic, fire, explosion, corrosion, environment, storage, and transport hazards. Risk reduction measures are suggested using the hierarchy of control methodology to eliminate and reduce risks to as low as reasonably practicable (ALARP), based on UK regulatory framework

Fuelling the future with safe hydrogen transportation through natural gas pipelines: a quantitative risk assessment approach

The global transition to clean and sustainable energy sources has sparked interest in hydrogen as a potential solution to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Efficient and safe transportation of hydrogen is crucial for its integration into the energy network. One approach is utilizing existing natural gas infrastructure, but it introduces unique challenges. Hydrogen has distinct characteristics that pose potential hazards, requiring careful consideration for safe transportation through natural gas pipelines. Moreover, the absence of field data on component failure rates adds to the existing uncertainty in Quantitative Risk Assessment (QRA) for hydrogen transportation. QRA plays a vital role in enabling the safe deployment of hydrogen transportation through existing pipelines and is increasingly integrated into the permitting process. The lack of data impedes the comprehensive understanding of risks associated with hydrogen transportation. This paper aims not only to analyse the effects of hydrogen blending ratios on gas dispersion, release rates, jet fires, and explosions in natural gas pipelines, but also highlight the disparities in leak frequencies currently used for hydrogen or blended hydrogen. A QRA for hydrogen blending in natural gas pipelines is novel and timely because the behaviour of hydrogen in natural gas pipelines, a novel process with potential hazards, is not fully understood. Conducting a thorough QRA on hydrogen blending in gas pipelines, our study reveals innovative insights: higher blending ratios reduce release rates, impact safe distances, and maintain stable flame lengths. Despite an elevated explosion risk, scenarios remained below lethal overpressure values. This paper offers unique contributions to safety considerations in hydrogen transportation, guiding stakeholders toward informed decisions for a secure and sustainable energy future