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The question that often arises in various seminars and debates is "why should wealthy people and Indonesian officials go abroad for health affairs, including the simplest... check-up". If observed various physical things in hospitals such as medical equipment, buildings, and medicines in Indonesian hospitals are not much different from hospitals in Malacca, Singapore, Bangkok. A striking difference may be with Boston or Houston hospitals. One of the hypotheses presented is the difference in the quality of human resources determines the quality of health services. However, when viewed individually, there are certainly no racial and ethnic differences between Indonesians and Malaysians or Singaporeans. In this case there is another hypothesis that if the HR management system is improved so that the commitment of Indonesian hospital resources increases to the hospital, then there will be an improvement in the quality of services. This paper discusses the relationship between economic factors and professional commitment. The purpose of the commitment here is the amount of attention and relationship between professional doctors and hospitals. This needs to be put in context, why there are many cases of specialists working multiplely in various places which can eventually result in low commitment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As technological, economic, and social factors drive scientific publishing toward electronic formats, opportunities open beyond traditional reading and writing frameworks. Journal articles now, and in the future, can increasingly include a variety of supplemental multimedia and interactive materials for augmented reading that will impact both the nature and presentation of scientific research. The IEEE Computer Society is preparing for this evolution. The first Web extra at http://youtu.be/06J3yg0SV8o is a video that serves as a short abstract of the paper "Augmented Reading: The Present and Future of Electronic Scientific Publications," presented by the two authors with the support of two young promising scientists. The second Web extra at http://youtu.be/86nN1gCMc1E is a video by David Alan Grier (IEEE Computer Society President, 2013) that discusses the Computer Society and its plans for scientific publications. The third Web extra at http://youtu.be/GCCMYR5Zy70 is a video that collects the personal views of Dejan Milosevic (IEEE CS President, 2014), David A. Grier (IEEE CS President, 2013), Sorel Reisman (IEEE CS President, 2012), Jon Rokne (IEEE CS Publications), Fabrizio Lombardi (EIC IEEE Transactions on Emerging Topics in Computing and member of the IEEE CS Board of Governors), and Steve Woods (IEEE CS Senior Manager Multimedia, Production) about the future of scientific publications. The fourth Web extra at http://youtu.be/7cLNV4SNdjY is a video presentation of the multimedia enhancements Computer magazine offers to its readers each month. The fifth Web extra at http://youtu.be/4csCKb685XQ is a video that presents a collection of definitions for the term "supplemental material." The sixth Web extra at http://youtu.be/d7a7XxMT6eY is a video that reviews the announcement from the Journal of Neuroscience that authors can no longer submit supplemental material. The seventh Web extra at http://youtu.be/NMFwLJhv11c is a video in which author Paolo Montuschi summarizes the key concepts of the article "Augmented Reading: The Present and Future of Electronic Scientific Publications". [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The study's primary goal was to analyse the driving forces behind street vending operations and the difficulties they face in the targeted area. The research was conducted using both quantitative and qualitative methods, utilizing explanatory and descriptive designs in the technique. There was use of both primary and secondary data sources. Four government officials and 222 street businesses were chosen for the study using purposive sampling procedures. Structured questionnaires were used to collect the data. The study findings clearly display that economic and social factors have a significant influence on street vending in the study area. The study went on to look into the difficulties that street sellers in the study area deal with, including things like a lack of funding, a space to work, and credit availability. In conclusion, the study recommends that governments should develop a policy for street vending, fortify stakeholder interactions, and expand the capacity of street sellers when contemplating legalizing the practice and selecting a suitable place in urban centres. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• High-voltage direct current interconnectors are used for long-distance electricity transfer. • They transfer 100 s GW of electrical power with around 1% losses mainly to heat. • This paper compares alternative solutions for heat recovery and reutilisation. • Data from the Moyle interconnector between Scotland and Northern Ireland is used. • Heat-to-electricity and heat-to-cooling technologies are compared. High-voltage direct current interconnection stations are increasingly used for long-distance electricity transport worldwide, due to efficiency and economic reasons. The identification and evaluation of cost-effective waste heat sources appropriate for recovery and reutilisation represent an opportunity that can improve the efficiency of high-voltage direct current stations, resulting in significant savings in energy consumption and reduction of the carbon footprint. The paper is the first to investigate the technological and economic feasibility of heat recovery at a major interconnector power station. Once identified the potential recoverable heat sources and evaluated the latest advancements in thermal energy recovery technology, a technological and economic analysis of two potential heat recovery strategies has been performed. While the heat-to-electricity technology was proved to be technologically but not economically feasible, the realisation of a combined liquid desiccant and evaporative cooling heat recovery strategy was proved to present the best economic performance with a payback period of about 5 years and a levelised cost of saved energy of 0.155 €/kWh, depending on the heat recovery and size of the system. Additional economic savings can be obtained for high-voltage direct current stations located in hot and humid climates, where the moisture removal ability of liquid desiccant technology could be particularly advantageous. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In an effort to minimise electricity consumption and greenhouse gases emissions, the heating, ventilation and air-conditioning sector has focused its attention on developing alternative solutions to electrically-driven vapour-compression cooling. Liquid desiccant air-conditioning systems represent an energy-efficient and more environmentally friendly alternative technology for dehumidification and cooling, particularly in those cases with high latent loads to maintain indoor air quality and comfort conditions. This technology is considered particularly efficient in hot and humid climates. As a matter of fact, the choice of the desiccant solution influences the overall performance of the system. The current paper reviews the working principle of liquid desiccant systems, focusing on the thermodynamic properties of the desiccant solutions and describes an evaluation of the reference thermodynamic properties of different desiccant solutions to identify which thermodynamic, physical, transport property influences the liquid desiccant process and to what extent. The comparison of these thermodynamic properties for the commonly used desiccants is conducted to estimate which fluid could perform most favourably in the system. The economic factors and the effect of different applications and climatic conditions on the system performance are also described. The paper is intended to be the first step in the evaluation of alternative desiccant fluids able to overcome the problems related to the use of the common desiccant solutions, such as crystallization and corrosion to metals. Ionic liquids seem a promising alternative working fluid in liquid desiccant air-conditioning systems and their characteristics and cost are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims at discussing to what extent an effective protection of a state border (in this case: the external EU border that partly coincides with the border of the Republic of Lithuania, which amounts to 1070 km. (the whole perimeter of a border amounts to 1763 km)) depends on successful prevention and dismantling of activities of trafficking networks and on understanding the economic mechanisms for the operation of those networks. The paper will introduce the pilot study (completed in Spring, 2017) with an aim to identify the concepts officers – state border guards have on diversity and migration; first chapter is dedicated to the issue. Also, an analysis of the Lithuanian situation is presented in the second chapter. The fact that during the last several years (since 2012), the number of irregular migrants decreased by almost 4 times is discussed from two aspects. Firstly, measures of prevention and infrastructure. Namely, the distance under the surveillance of CCTV cameras increased twofold during the time, also, the cooperation with colleagues in the field in other countries (Byelorussia) improved significantly. Another factor was an improved cooperation of the law enforcement agencies between the countries and within Lithuania. The data shows that one of the major factors for decreasing the illegal migration that is, prevention is a successful removal of economic factor from the process (or at least, it serves as a strong deterrence). That is, it was identified that the predominant number of irregular migrants were doing that not as individuals, but in the groups, led by traffickers, whose fee in recent years increased. Therefore, effective legal measures against traffickers provide solid basis for decreasing irregular migration.

Abstract It is increasingly significant to predict building energy consumption in energy-saving decision making. This paper presents the method of support vector regress (SVR) to forecast building energy consumption in southern China. To improve the reliability of SVR in building energy consumption prediction, multiple parameters including weather data such as yearly mean outdoor dry-bulb temperature, relative humidity and global solar radiation and economic factors such as the ratio of urbanization, gross domestic product, household consumption level and total area of structure are taken as inputs. The performance of SVR with respect to two parameters, c and g , is explored using the k -fold cross validation with grid searching method based on radial-basis function kernel. Finally, the performance of the proposed model is checked by comparing the prediction model with statistic data taken from Chinese National Bureau of Statistics in 4 provinces of southern China using statistical error tests such as the mean square error (MSE) and the squared correlation coefficient (r 2). With the analysis based on statistical error tests, the results show that the SVR method can estimate the building energy consumption with good accuracy with MSE less than 0.001 and r 2 more than 0.99. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract It is increasingly significant to predict building energy consumption (BEC) in energy-saving decision making. This paper presents the method of support vector machines (SVM) to forecast building energy consumption in China. To improve the reliability of SVM in building energy consumption prediction, multiple parameters including weather data such as yearly mean outdoor dry-bulb temperature, relative humidity and global solar radiation and economic factors such as the ratio of urbanization, gross domestic product, household consumption level and total area of structure are taken as inputs. The performance of SVM with respect to two parameters, c and g , is explored using the k -fold cross validation with grid searching method based on radial-basis function kernel. Finally, the performance of the proposed model is checked by comparing the prediction model with statistic data taken from Chinese National Bureau of Statistics in 30 provinces (including autonomous regions and municipalities) of China using statistical error tests such as the mean square error (MSE) and the squared correlation coefficient (r 2). With the analysis based on statistical error tests, the results show that the SVM method can estimate the building energy consumption with good accuracy with MSE less than 1E-3 and r 2 more than 0.991. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

External environmental factors, which include political environment, economic environment and social environment, affect the success of public housing projects in developing countries. The purpose of this paper is to establish the effect of these factors on public housing project success using structural equation modelling (SEM) techniques. The study was conducted in Nigeria by means of interviews, a pilot study and a main survey. Five hundred and fifty (550) questionnaires were administered to construction professionals who work as developers, consultants or contractors and those working in public housing agencies. Two hundred and seventy-six (276) questionnaires were returned completed. The data collected were analysed by means of SEM. The results reveal that (i) the economics factor significantly affects public housing project success, (ii) the social factor significantly affects public housing project success, and (iii) the political factor significantly affects public housing project success. The study developed a comprehensive model that can assist housing policy makers, consultants, developers, contractors and other stakeholders in the planning and development of public housing programmes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The aim of this study is to know the effect of economic and social factors on the farmers' marketing decisions. Research Method: This research was conducted from January to March 2020. The respondents were 60 (sixty) farmers who were chosen by purposing sampling. The analysis models used in this research are likert and correlation analysis. Findings: The economic factor has a medium effect on farmers' marketing decisions. Ease of farmers' access to the auction market or to get information is the main economic variable to the farmers' marketing decision. Price has a very high effect on the farmers' marketing decisions. The social factor also affects the farmers' marketing decisions but at a weak level. Research Limitation: The respondents only 60 farmers. Originality/Value: Provides information for the new marketing institution to stay competitive and attractive to customers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: The aim of the article is to highlight the level of education regarding exercise in the population aged 40+, and the amount of money spent on exercise by this population. Design: A quantitative descriptive study. Methods: The level of education regarding exercise was ascertained with the help of data obtained by a non-standardized questionnaire. The research set consisted of 1992 respondents aged 40 years and over in the Czech Republic. Results: Data analysis indicated that 52.9% patients had received educated regarding their physical activity at some point. Most respondents aged 40-49 years had not received any educational input. In addition, 34.5% respondents did not agree that regular exercise could have an influence on the developing of cardiovascular diseases. The sum most frequently spent on sports activities monthly was up to 500 CZK (78.3%). The respondents' answers also indicate that 66.8% walk for at least 30 minutes, five or more days a week. Conclusion: Our findings indicate a need to improve levels of education regarding exercise and the prevention of cardiovascular diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Generally, efficiency is affected by human resources, technical and economic factors. Training as an important task in organizations contributes to the improvement and optimal development of the organization plays an important part in the promotion of the general culture of the society. By technical factors, we mean the conditions and circumstances in creation of which the human factor has no role but by which is extensively affected, thus affects the efficiency of human force. Quality and quantity of instruments and machinery, production management, physical structure and are the most important technical factors.Another factor affecting the efficiency is the economic factor. Here, the macro-variables of economy and the macro-indicators, which demonstrate the general economic condition, have to be considered. At times of economic depression, unemployment is a critical problem and depression results in consecutive dismissal of personnel. In such condition, the workers fail to work efficiently due to the fear of dismissal and this results in the decline in the efficiency of the organization. The role of these factors in increasing efficiency is studied in this paper. Educational technical courses, provision of standard equipment, new methods of warehousing and designation of capital credits such as the purchase of equipment and machinery and repairing tools leads to the promotion of efficiency in the maintenance units.

In the last two decades, digital divide, defined as the gap between the people who can access PCs and internet and those who cannot, has been proposed as one of the biggest challenges of digital age. Considering that the economic, cultural, social, and political by-products of such a gap are viewed by many scholars to be more damaging than traditional gaps, the present research strives to detect the factors affecting this gap in Rafsanjan city. The present paper is correlational in terms of nature, and applied in terms of objective, using descriptive-survey method for data collection. Using cluster sampling, the situation of 501 citizens, selected randomly, was analyzed using structural equation modelling. The results indicate that economic and infrastructural factors affect the gap directly, while culture acts as a mediator that affects the gap via motivational access. Comparing different factors reveal that the cultural factor is more significant than economic and infrastructural factors. All the investigated variables can explain 55.3 percent of the physical access variation.

In electrical power system, economic load dispatch is a generic operation for optimal sharing of generation units to meet the system load. With the rapid development of the renewable infrastructure and wide encouragement for green energy have emerged hybrid generating systems in power systems. However, there continuous ever‐increasing production is creating challenges as well as implicating economic factor also in operation. A collective cost function is considered with the conventional thermal generators along with the consideration of renewable energy sources to envisage the economic factor. For these renewable sources, like wind and solar, the proportional cost, their uncertainty and variability by overestimation and underestimation cost are considered. To achieve this economic day‐ahead scheduling, dynamic operation in time scale of 1 h interval is performed. The stochastic nature of wind and solar is modelled by Weibull and Beta distributions, respectively. Moreover, economic optimisation is obtained by a newly developed algorithm called improved fireworks algorithm with non‐uniform operator (IFWA‐NMO). This introduces adaptive dimension strategy, limiting mapping operator and non‐uniform operator. The effectiveness of proposed IFWA‐NMO is investigated on standard dynamic economic load dispatch (DELD) system and also employed to solve conventional DELD with wind‐solar system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Numerous research studies deal with the issue of researching the impacts on credit risk determinants in the SME segment. The study of economic factors that are easier to quantify from methodological point of view, and which prevent complex evaluation of causality of interest rate risk and the discovery of various social barriers dominate. This consistent fact forms a platform in designing the research to introduce a model of dependency of effective credit risk management in the SME segment on significant social and economic factors. Empirical research was carried out in the Czech business environment in 2017 on a sample of 352 enterprises. The structural analysis modeling (SEM) was the main analytical method. The research results confirmed the fact that an effective approach to managing the SME's credit risk is determined by a number of factors of a non-economic nature. The most important are education and family environment. These are followed by economic factors, such as a relationship with banks, financial knowledge in the area of capital and payment discipline. The multi-spectral dimension of the findings and causality also opened up a wide discussion and prepared a high-quality data research base for further deeper exploration of this issue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

External environmental factors, which include political environment, economic environment and social environment, affect the success of public housing projects in developing countries. The purpose of this paper is to establish the effect of these factors on public housing project success using structural equation modelling (SEM) techniques. The study was conducted in Nigeria by means of interviews, a pilot study and a main survey. Five hundred and fifty (550) questionnaires were administered to construction professionals who work as developers, consultants or contractors and those working in public housing agencies. Two hundred and seventy-six (276) questionnaires were returned completed. The data collected were analysed by means of SEM. The results reveal that (i) the economics factor significantly affects public housing project success, (ii) the social factor significantly affects public housing project success, and (iii) the political factor significantly affects public housing project success. The study developed a comprehensive model that can assist housing policy makers, consultants, developers, contractors and other stakeholders in the planning and development of public housing programmes.