Users’ Perception on Operation and Performance of Public Transport Systems in African Developing Countries: The Case of Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) in Dar es Salaam City, Tanzania

Public transport system has been a means of addressing transportation challenges in urban areas, such as traffic congestion, traffic jam and long travel time in cities worldwide. Transportation in Africa is unique in that it has the least developed public transport systems in the world, while also being one of the fastest urbanizing continents. Bus Rapid Transit being one of the public transport systems was introduced in Africa in 2008 as a means to provide solution on urban transportation challenges. Despite of public transport being the main means of transport in African developing countries, there have been a number of challenges that affects efficiency of performance of the system and makes its users uncomfortable. Therefore, the study aimed at exploring the setbacks or challenges associated with operation and performance of the BRT system in the African developing countries and address them. The study employed mixed methods research design that integrates both qualitative and quantitative data collection methods and analysis. The study findings reveal that, there is an improvement on the perspectives of the commuters on public transport after introduction of BRT system. However, some challenges such as long waiting time, passengers overcrowding during peak hours, as well as safety and security can slowly change the perspective of the commuters. Therefore, to address these challenges it is recommended to reduce the long waiting time and improve accessibility by introduction of passenger information displays (bus information system) and automated fare collection system;reduce travel time by introduction of bus priority signal;and improve safety and security by introduction of signage and CCTV Camera within the bus and bus stops.

Difficulties Faced by Physicians in the Diagnosis of Endometriosis in the Brazilian Public Health System

Endometriosis is a clinical and recurrent condition characterized by the presence of functional endometrial tissue outside the uterine cavity and myometrium. It is estimated that 6% to 10% of women of reproductive age, 50% to 60% of adolescents and adults with pelvic pain, and up to 50% of women with infertility are pregnant from the condition. However, this proportion tends to be even greater due to the difficulty in diagnosing it: because it presents different symptoms, lack of information from health professionals, and a high-cost diagnostic test. Another aggravating factor is the average time from the onset of symptoms to the medical diagnosis, which even today ranges from five to ten years;this delay has consequences for disease progression, as it prevents early treatment, which is important for improving pain levels and physical and psychological well-being. Aware of these mishaps, it is therefore important to assess the difficulties faced by doctors in the diagnosis of endometriosis in the public health system, in Brazil, the Unified Health System (SUS). With this purpose, a cross sectional was carried out, developed in the virtual environment using traffic in Google forms, with the difficulties quantified in the Likert scale. Participating physicians pointed out a medium difficulty for patients with endometriosis to access the consultation (58%) and moderate difficulty (52%) to perform an ultrasound examination;also signaled great difficulty in performing magnetic resonance imaging (77%) and laparotomy (61%) in these patients. It is hoped that knowledge about the difficulties faced by physicians in the diagnosis of endometriosis in the SUS will give these physicians a voice and corroborate, even if minimally, so that there is more research that provokes the search for these difficulties, in order to improving the quality of life of these women.

Public key based uniform access framework in 3G systems

This paper compares two types of access methods in 3G telecommunication systems, registration based access method and alternative access method. Through analyzing their common ground, we establish a public-key based uniform access framework, which combines different access methods into one unified model and provides more scalability and flexibility. Then an improved wireless authentication protocol is introduced into the framework, which gives an example of how unification is obtained by using public key technology. Since original protocol has flaws, an improved one is proposed based on security investigation. Improved authentication protocol overcomes the weakness of the original one, and maintains all the security features owned by old protocol. Finally, the feasibility of this framework is analyzed with consideration of current development in mobile telecommunication fields and the future trend of 3G systems. The result shows that public key technology has a promising future in 3G and Beyond 3G systems. It points out a new way for key management in future telecommunication systems.

Sustainable and Economic Alternative for the Electric Supply of Isolated Communities in the Brazilian Off-Grid Systems

Roughly 99% of the demand for electricity in Brazil is supplied by a national interconnected grid. The remaining 1% is spread in several “isolated systems” of the Amazon region—mini-grids that rely on expensive diesel gensets due to high commodity and transportation costs. The isolated systems also have remote communities disconnected altogether from the mini-grids with inadequate health, education and leisure services. These communities are precariously supplied by small inefficient diesel gensets that run for a few hours per day. In this article, we propose a sustainable and economic alternative for the electric supply of the remote communities of isolated systems through a combination of photovoltaic solar generation and storage. The objective is to improve access to electricity with savings for the communities. The present paper outlines a public policy to meet this objective.

Remaining useful life prediction for a nonlinear multi-degradation system with public noise

To predict the remaining useful life(RUL) for a class of nonlinear multi-degradation systems, a method is presented. In the real industrial processes, systems are usually composed by several parts or components, and these parts or components are working in the same environment, thus the degradations of these parts or components will be influenced by common factors. To describe such a phenomenon in degradations, a multi-degradation model with public noise is proposed. To identify the degradation states and the unknown parameters, an iterative estimation method is proposed by using the Kalman filter and the expectation maximization(EM) algorithm. Next, with known thresholds,the RUL of each degradation can be predicted by using the first hitting time(FHT). In addition, the RUL of the whole system can be obtained by a Copula function. Finally, a practical case is used to demonstrate the method proposed.

A Study on the Public Awareness of Hierarchical Medical System in Taiwan

The purpose of hierarchical medical system is to lead in terms of improving efficiency, differentiating healthcare services and promoting labor division by changing the healthcare seeking behavior. The purpose of this research aims to discuss the public awareness of hierarchical medical system in Taiwan for the reference of health policy makers. We obtained our research data using a questionnaire survey;the total number of qualified patients was 1340. This research finds that more subjects agreed to the hierarchical medical system and medical referral system, but many people still disagreed with changes to their healthcare seeking choices due to policy promotion. Subtle changes, therefore, are observed that imply a crisis in terms of the trust in healthcare. The healthcare seeking behavior will not change if there is a difference between the medical awareness of patients and policy implementation, and the government needs to be concerned with this result when making policies.

Information Systems Security Threats and Vulnerabilities: A Case of the Institute of Accountancy Arusha (IAA)

All modern computer users need to be concerned about information system security (individuals and organisations). Many businesses established various security structures to protect information system security from harmful occurrences by implementing security procedures, processes, policies, and information system security organisational structures to ensure data security. Despite all the precautions, information security remains a disaster in Tanzania’s learning institutions. The fundamental issue appears to be a lack of awareness of crucial information security factors. Various companies have different security issues due to differences in ICT infrastructure, implementations, and usage. The study focuses on identifying information system security threats and vulnerabilities in public higher learning institutions in Tanzania, particularly the Institute of Accountancy Arusha (IAA). The study involved all employees of IAA, academics, and other supporting staff, which totalled 302, and the sample size was 170. The study utilised a descriptive research design, where the quantitative methodology was used through a five-point Likert scale questionnaire, and found that key factors that affect the security of information systems at IAA include human factors, policy-related issues, work environment and demographic factors. The study proposed regular awareness and training programs;an increase in women’s awareness of information system security;proper policy creation and reviews every 4 years;promote actions that lessen information system security threats and vulnerabilities, and the creation of information system security policy documents independently from ICT policy.

An evaluation system for suitability of urban public rental housing construction in Chongqing

A social problem that low-income people are unable to purchase houses in urban areas has been focused in recent years and the housing security system has also become an important part of the social security system. In recent years, public rental houses appeared as a new type of affordable houses. The national government took the construction of public rental houses to the national strategic level. Currently, there are many problems in the public rental house construction. For example, policy mechanisms are inadequate, the use of funding is not in an efficient way, the location of public rental houses is far away from the downtown, the plot ratio is too high, and facilities are incomplete. There are no appropriate indicators to comprehensively evaluate the public rental house construction. Based on the livable evaluation system in Chongqing, we selected four aspects of relevant indicators as the economic suitability, environmental suitability, social suitability, and life suitability to establish the public rental house construction suitability evaluation system.

Review on the Evaluation System of Public Safety Carrying Capacity about Small Town Community

Recently,small town community public safety problem has been increasingly highlighted,but its research is short on public safety carrying capacity. Through the investigation and study of community public safety carrying capacity,this paper analyzes the problem of community public safety in our country,to construct index evaluation system of public safety carrying capacity in small town community. DEA method is used to evaluate public safety carrying capacity in small town community,to provide scientific basis for the design of support and standardization theory about small town community in public safety planning.

Batch Private Keys Generation for RSA in Security Communication Systems

RSA public key cryptosystem is extensively used in information security systems. However, key generation for RSA cryptosystem requires multiplicative inversion over finite field, which has higher computational complexity, compared with either multiplication in common sense or modular multiplication over finite field. In order to improve the performance of key generation, we propose a batch private keys generation method in this paper. The method derives efficiency from cutting down multiplicative inversions over finite field. Theoretical analysis shows that the speed of batch private keys generation for s users is faster than that of s times solo private key generation. It is suitable for applications in those systems with large amount of users.

Application of VPN Technique in the Construction of Public Health Information System

Summary： Data communication and sharing of five level network of Public Health Information System, i.e. nation, province, district （city）, county, and town, as far as to the countryside level were described, and how to apply the three solutions, i.e. Access VPN, Intranet VPN, and Extranet VPN of VPN technique to achieve the appropriation of the public network was also presented.

Study on Problems and Countermeasures of Rural Public Goods Supplying System

In current China, the main problem existing in the rural public goods supplying system is the unbalanced condition of public goods supply, and the chief reason for which is unitary system of supply main body. Thus the leading countermeasure for comer of public goods supply is to reform the present unitary rural public goods supplying system, to strengthen functional transfer of rural grass-roots directive organization, to adopt diversified mode and provide public goods on the base of overall planning of urban and rural areas and to implement unitary and diversified supplying strategy. In this way, supplying efficiency of the rural public goods will be improved.

Daas:A Web-based System for User-specific Dietary Analysis and Advice for the Public Healthcare Domain

This paper presents a Dietary Analysis and Advice System (DAAS), a web based system for providing, within the public healthcare domain, user specific diet advice based on a preliminary analysis of current diet or eating habits and lifestyle, using knowledge from domain expertise and experts’ interpretation of national dietary guidelines.

Research on the Public Behaviors to Participate in the Lake Chief System-Based on the Survey of Hengshui City, China

Lake chief system is an innovative measure of ecological civilization construction in lake governance and protection in China. Due to the complexity and openness of lake resources, it is difficult for the government and the market to properly handle the arduous task of lake governance, and public participation is an effective remedy for the failure of the government and the market. In order to know the public participation in the protection lakes, this paper selected 318 citizens from Hengshui city and uses the questionnaire survey to understand the public’s participation attitude, approach and behavior of the lake chief system. The research results show that the public’s education level, length of residence and understanding of the lake chief system have a positive impact on their participation.