Development of Multi Criteria Model for Comprehensive Assessment of Residential Units

Over the past two decades, the Slovenian real estate market has experienced major changes. Increasing\ud purchasing power and customer needs lead to an extensive increase in construction. The described\ud phenomenon may lead to poor construction quality and in this respect, Slovenia was no exception.\ud The master thesis addresses the quality of housing units from the point of view of potential customers\ud who want to know what to expect for their money. In this context, first, the properties of residential\ud units that represent their quality, and are therefore requested by the potential buyers, are identified. To\ud determine the residential unit quality level, a multicriteria model is developed. The model consists of\ud hierarchically distributed criteria (parameters) in four levels. At the first level, five key criteria are\ud located: location, architecture, living comfort, technical quality and energy efficiency. Location\ud conveys the impact of the surroundings upon the residential unit, and as it can not be substantially\ud modified, it is considered as a type of real estate potential. Architecture as an added value to the\ud building is also a prerequisite for comfortable and quality living. Technical quality, living comfort and\ud energy efficiency are building matter, and their quality is recognized through the technological\ud progress. By using the developed multicriteria model for the residential unit under consideration, an\ud overall assessment based on point scale that reflects the level of achieved properties of the unit is\ud determined. The results obtained by the proposed methodology are comparable irrespectable of the\ud residential unit type. The point scale ranges from 1, where the property under consideration conforms\ud to the valid Slovenian legislature, to the upper limit, 5, where the grade is justified on the basis of the\ud research presented in this work. The applicability of the proposed model is presented by analysing two\ud selected cases of residential units in multi-apartment building and a parametric study.\ud In the first case, the residential unit is located in urban environment, while in the second, it is located\ud in rural area in the vicinity of a Ljubljana city. The results show that the overall grade of the first\ud residential unit is slightly higher, but taking into the account the price-performance relationship, the\ud second case is given priority

Decision making in road infrastructure maintenance: a case study of highway crossovers

In developed economies, road infrastructure presents a significant part of the public assets. During its use, it is exposed to various deterioration processes that lead to depreciation of its financial value. It is therefore of vital importance to manage these assets so that the loss of their value with time is reduced to a minimum. A typical task of road managers is making decisions related to maintenance, repair and rehabilitation, which is based on data regarding the existing condition, risk of its use, life cycle costs, age etc. Road infrastructure is diverse, therefore the optimal choice of planned interventions is a delicate task often left to subjective judgement of road managers. The main goal of the thesis is development of a decision support system to determine the priority ranking of asset rehabilitation projects for the selected case study that consists of 27 crossovers over a highway section from Arja vas to Slivnica. An overview of the sequence of the road infrastructure management phases is first presented in the thesis. The condition of the crossovers was assessed and compared to the existing grades obtained by regular inspections. A prototype structured database that facilitates the accces to the available data was developed. Priority ranking of asset rehabilitation projects was carried out by using the developed decision support system that includes the budget constraint option. The selected set of asset rehabilitation projects meets best the pre-defined combination of several criteria and therefore results in largest overall benefit. The results show that the selection criteria employed in the decision process are crucial for the obtained results. The selected criteria should therefore reflect the actual conditions related to the assets and the needs of the users

Best Practices for Toilet Training Children with Disabilities

This research project was conducted in collaboration with Paige Kensil, OTR/L and Erica Petru, OTR/L at Little Fin Therapies. Through discussion with Paige and Erica, we determined that there was a need to examine the effectiveness of various toilet training interventions for children with disabilities. Therefore, a systematic review of the literature was conducted on strategies and interventions for toilet training focused on promoting independence of children between the ages of 2-18 years old with disabilities. The literature review yielded a total of 20 research articles published in peer-reviewed journals. Ten toileting interventions were examined in these articles for children with disabilities, including children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), intellectual or developmental disability (IDD), developmental delay, and sensory processing disorder (SPD). Ten toileting interventions were identified in the research, including video modeling, rapid toilet training, sit schedules or timed toileting, reinforcement, technology-based, visual prompts, behavioral modification, urine alarm, underwear or pad removal, and sensory integration. Results indicated that toilet training is not a one-size-fits-all approach. However, the ten identified interventions did show significant improvements in independence in toilet training. Our knowledge translation product included development of a toilet training guide for pediatric therapists and caregivers containing information and resources for nine of the ten identified toileting interventions. The interventions included in the guide are evidence-based and supported by research. Occupational therapy practitioners have a unique role in toilet training and should collaborate with parents and caregivers when creating an individualized toilet training program based on a client\u27s specific needs. There is a need for increased outcome research on toilet training interventions for children with disabilities

Multiple‐criteria decision support system in highway infrastructure management

Highway infrastructure represents a significant part of the public assets, and through its lifetime, is exposed to various deterioration processes leading to the depreciation of its value. It is therefore of vital importance to manage these assets aiming to reduce the loss of their value with time to a minimum. A typical task of road managers is making decisions related to maintenance, repair and rehabilitation based on data regarding the existing condition, risk of its use, life cycle costs and age. Road infrastructure is complex, and therefore the optimal choice of planned interventions is a delicate task often left to the road managers’ subjective judgment. The main goal of research work presented in the paper is the development of a multiple criteria decision support system to determine the priority ranking of asset rehabilitation projects. Results are presented for a selected case study that consists of 27 overpasses for a highway section. The data on the condition of crossovers obtained by regular inspection along their contribution to a structured database are essential. The selection of the set of asset rehabilitation projects is carried out by using the developed decision support system that includes the budget constraint option. The selected set of asset maintenance/rehabilitation projects meets best the pre‐defined combination of several criteria and therefore yields the maximized overall benefit. The results showing the selection criteria employed in the decision process and relative importance are crucial in obtaining the targeted goals. The selected criteria should therefore reflect the needs of the users and the actual conditions related to the assets. First published online: 27 Oct 201

Dimensional Reduction for Directed Branched Polymers

Dimensional reduction occurs when the critical behavior of one system can be related to that of another system in a lower dimension. We show that this occurs for directed branched polymers (DBP) by giving an exact relationship between DBP models in D+1 dimensions and repulsive gases at negative activity in D dimensions. This implies relations between exponents of the two models: $\gamma(D+1)=\alpha(D)$ (the exponent describing the singularity of the pressure), and $\nu_{\perp}(D+1)=\nu(D)$ (the correlation length exponent of the repulsive gas). It also leads to the relation $\theta(D+1)=1+\sigma(D)$, where $\sigma(D)$ is the Yang-Lee edge exponent. We derive exact expressions for the number of DBP of size N in two dimensions.Comment: 7 pages, 1 eps figure, ref 24 correcte

A latent scale model to minimize subjectivity in the analysis of visual rating data for the National Turfgrass Evaluation Program

IntroductionTraditional evaluation procedure in National Turfgrass Evaluation Program (NTEP) relies on visually assessing replicated turf plots at multiple testing locations. This process yields ordinal data; however, statistical models that falsely assume these to be interval or ratio data have almost exclusively been applied in the subsequent analysis. This practice raises concerns about procedural subjectivity, preventing objective comparisons of cultivars across different test locations. It may also lead to serious errors, such as increased false alarms, failures to detect effects, and even inversions of differences among groups.MethodsWe reviewed this problem, identified sources of subjectivity, and presented a model-based approach to minimize subjectivity, allowing objective comparisons of cultivars across different locations and better monitoring of the evaluation procedure. We demonstrate how to fit the described model in a Bayesian framework with Stan, using datasets on overall turf quality ratings from the 2017 NTEP Kentucky bluegrass trials at seven testing locations.ResultsCompared with the existing method, ours allows the estimation of additional parameters, i.e., category thresholds, rating severity, and within-field spatial variations, and provides better separation of cultivar means and more realistic standard deviations.DiscussionTo implement the proposed model, additional information on rater identification, trial layout, rating date is needed. Given the model assumptions, we recommend small trials to reduce rater fatigue. For large trials, ratings can be conducted for each replication on multiple occasions instead of all at once. To minimize subjectivity, multiple raters are required. We also proposed new ideas on temporal analysis, incorporating existing knowledge of turfgrass

RETROSPECTIVE STUDY OF CANINE EPITHELIAL AND MELANOCYTIC TUMORS

Out of the total number of canine tumors examined at th

Use of Candida rugosa lipase immobilized on sepabeads for the amyl caprylate synthesis: Batch and fluidized bed reactor study

Lipase from Candida rugosa was covalently immobilized on Sepabeads EC-EP for application for amyl caprylate synthesis in an organic solvent system. Several solvents were tested in terms of biocatalyst stability and the best result was obtained with isooctane. The lipase-catalyzed esterification in the selected system was performed in batch and fluidized bed reactor systems. The influence of several important reaction parameters including temperature, initial water content, enzyme loading, acid/alcohol molar ratio, and time of addition of molecular sieves is carefully analyzed by means of an experimental design. Almost complete conversion (> 99%) of the substrate to ester could be performed in a batch reactor system, using lipase loading as low as 37 mg g-1 dry support and in a relatively short time (24 hrs) at 37\ub0C, when high initial substrate molar ratio of 2.2 is used. Kinetics in a fluidized bed reactor system seems to still have a slightly better profile than in the batch system (90.2% yields after 14 hrs). The fluidized bed reactor operated for up 70 hrs almost with no loss in productivity, implying that the proposed process and the immobilized system could provide a promising approach for the amyl caprylate synthesis at the industrial scale