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This study focuses on economic modelling of the energy consumption in buildings considering controllable appliances scheduling in stand-alone electrical grids. The economic modelling is implemented via coordination of the energy generation of the renewable energies with controllable appliances by using demand shifting strategy (DSS). On the other side, uncertainty and stochastic modelling of the renewable energies are considered in the optimal coordination. Also, optimal coordination is modelled by multi-criteria problems of the technical and economic indices. Solving of the multi-criteria problem is done by fuzzy and augmented epsilon-constraint methods. To investigate the effectiveness of the proposed model, it is applied on a 25-node test system through defining two scenarios. The obtained results show that modelling the optimal coordination to supply the demand of the grid can increase the efficiency of the system.

In this paper, a multi objective optimization approach is studied for optimal energy scheduling of the smart autonomous electrical grid with participation of active consumers (ACs) and hydrogen storage system (HSS). The objective functions consist of: 1) minimizing the costs and 2) maximizing reliability. The ACs participation are modelled through demand reduction approach based on offer price to peak demand management. The proposed optimization is solved by epsilon-constraint method and LINMAP decision making strategy. The 21-node test system is employed to analyse the efficiency of the proposed approach at two case studies. The obtained results shown the high effectiveness of smart autonomous electrical grid with participation of ACs and HSS to supply the demand.

Background: This pilot study aimed to investigate medication nonadherence among Taiwanese patients with diabetes, hypertension, and hyperlipidemia using the Chinese version of the Two-Part Medication Nonadherence Scale (C-TPMNS) and the National Health Insurance (NHI) Medicloud system. The study revealed insights into the factors contributing to nonadherence and the implications for improving patient adherence to medications for chronic conditions. However, the small sample size limits the generalizability of the findings. Additionally, the study identified the need for further research with larger and more diverse samples to validate the preliminary findings. Methods: The study conducted surveys individuals in central Taiwan who received three-high medications and those who returned expired medications from chain pharmacies. A structured questionnaire including the C-TPMNS was administered, and additional data on medical history and HbA1c, LDL, and blood pressure levels were collected from the NHI Medicloud system. Data analysis was performed using multiple ordered logistic regression and Wald test methods. Setting interpretation cutoff point to determine medication nonadherence. Results: The study found that 25.8% of participants were non-adherent to prescribed medications. Non-adherent individuals had significantly higher systolic blood pressure (SBP ≥ 140 mmHg) than adherent participants. Non-adherence was also associated with factors such as lower education, single status, living alone, abnormal glucose postprandial concentration, and triglyceride levels. The C-TPMNS demonstrated good reliability (Cronbach's alpha = 0.816) and validity (area under the ROC curve = 0.72). Conclusion: The study highlighted the complexity of medication nonadherence with diverse determinants and emphasized the importance of tailored interventions. The findings underscored the need for region-specific research to comprehensively address medication nonadherence, especially focusing on adherence to medications for hypertension, hyperlipidemia, and diabetes. The study also identified the need for larger, more diverse studies to validate and expand upon the initial findings and emphasized the importance of pharmacist interventions and patient empowerment in managing chronic conditions and improving overall health outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gait design for walking biped robots, that can preserve stability against a known range of disturbances, is very important in real applications. Designing an exponentially stable walking gait with desired features for biped robots has been recently done by an online reinforcement learning method. However, the designed gait might not be robust enough against disturbances. In this paper, we extend a robust version of the method against modeling errors/disturbances. It is done by minimizing the costs of worst rollouts which are generated in the presence of different modeling errors/disturbances. The proposed method's ability to adapt the controller is studied for some robust applications. The simulation shows that the resulted gaits are exponentially stable and robust against modeling errors/disturbances in a feasible range. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the modern society when intelligent mobile devices become popular, the Internet breaks through the restrictions on time and space and becomes a ubiquitous learning tool. Designing teaching activity for digital learning and flexibly applying technology tools are the key issues for current information technology integrated education. In this study, students are tested and proceeded questionnaire survey to understand the opinions about digital learning. To effectively achieve the research objectives and test the research hypotheses, quasi-experimental research is applied in this study. Total 116 students in 4 classes are selected as the research subjects for the instructional research. The research results conclude that 1. digital learning presents better positive effects on learning motivation than traditional teaching does, 2. digital learning shows better positive effects on learning outcome than traditional teaching does, 3. learning motivation reveals significantly positive effects on learning effect in learning outcome, and 4. learning motivation appears remarkably positive effects on learning gain in learning outcome. It is expected to combine with current teaching trend and utilize the advantages of digital learning to develop practicable teaching strategies for the teaching effectiveness.

Background: Healthcare professionals in Taiwan are exposed to a myriad of occupational health and safety hazards, including physical, biological, chemical, ergonomic, and psychosocial hazards. Healthcare professionals working in hospitals and healthcare facilities are more likely to be subjected to these hazards than their counterparts working in other areas. Objectives: This review aims to assess current research literature regarding this situation with a view to informing policy makers and practitioners about the risks of exposure and offer evidence-based recommendations on how to eliminate or reduce such risks. Methods: Using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses review strategy, we conducted a systematic review of studies related to occupational health and safety conducted between January 2000 and January 2019 using MEDLINE (Ovid), PubMed, PMC, TOXLINE, CINAHL, PLOS One, and Access Pharmacy databases. Results: The review detected 490 studies addressing the issue of occupational health and safety hazards; of these, 30 articles were included in this systematic review. These articles reported a variety of exposures faced by healthcare professionals. This review also revealed a number of strategies that can be adopted to control, eliminate, or reduce hazards to healthcare professionals in Taiwan. Conclusion: Hospitals and healthcare facilities have many unique occupational health and safety hazards that can potentially affect the health and performance of healthcare professionals. The impact of such hazards on healthcare professionals poses a serious public health issue in Taiwan; therefore, controlling, eliminating, or reducing exposure can contribute to a stronger healthcare workforce with great potential to improve patient care and the healthcare system in Taiwan. Eliminating or reducing hazards can best be achieved through engineering measures, administrative policy, and the use of personal protective equipment. Implications: This review has research, policy, and practice implications and provides future students and researchers with information on systematic review methodologies based on the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses strategy. It also identifies occupational health and safety risks and provides insights and strategies to address them.

In this paper, a genetic algorithm (GA) embedded search strategy over a colored timed Petri net (CTPN) for wafer fabrication is proposed. Through the CTPN model, all possible behaviors of the wafer manufacturing systems such as WIP status and machine status can be completely tracked down by the reachability graph of the net. The chromosome representation of the search nodes in GA is constructed directly from the CTPN model, recording the information about the appropriate scheduling policy for each workstation in the fab. A better chromosome found by GA is received by the CTPN based schedule builder, and then a near-optimal schedule is generated. Index Terms--Genetic algorithm, modeling and scheduling, Petri-net, wafer fabrication.