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Summary: Shading is one of the cases that has effectivity on the household energy consumption. Shadings can be used either in horizontal or vertical form adjacent to the building's window in order to control the sunlight. In this paper, a multi‐objective optimization is conducted to simultaneously reduce the annual electricity consumption and augment the electricity production with the application of photovoltaic shadings installed over the building window. To initiate the multi‐objective optimization, four design variables based on the positioning and geometry of photovoltaic shading are selected and test samples are simulated through EnergyPlus software. The model is three‐floor building located in Tehran, Iran. Next, the Morris sensitivity analysis (MSA) is implemented to calculate the extent to which each design variable affects the objective functions. Afterwards, the relation between the design variables and objective functions is extracted through the regression modeling using GMDH type‐ANN and the equations extracted are then utilized as inputs for genetic algorithm to conduct a Pareto‐based optimization. The results demonstrate that the maximum sunlight reception is attributed to the PV shading in southern direction of the building and its optimal tilt angle is 19.6 considering an annual period. There are slight changes to the tilt angle while seasonal period is considered for the calculations. The results also show that the use of solar shadings can reduce electricity consumption by approximately 4 to 11, 1 to 4, and 10 to 22% for an annual period, winter and summer season, respectively. At the end, the numerical data for the city of Tehran is compared to the cities of Canberra and Macapa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although recent initiatives in Australia have attempted to respond to the needs of children and young people with care responsibilities, many continue to be unable to access responsive supports. A qualitative, exploratory study was conducted to identify the current needs and barriers to services for young carers and their families in Canberra, Australia. This paper focuses on a range of family, service and systems level issues that impede young carers’ access to services. The findings are based on semistructured, face-to-face interviews conducted with 50 children and young people with care responsibilities. Purposive and snowballing sampling were used to recruit the sample. Peer researchers were involved in the development of the research parameters and conducted and analysed interviews. Young carers in this sample reported high levels of need but low levels of support provided formally and informally by their extended families and the service sector. Major barriers to support included reluctance within families to seek assistance for fear of child removal, negative intervention and increased scrutiny; the families’ lack of awareness of available services; a lack of flexibility and responsiveness to the holistic needs of families; and a lack of service collaboration. The importance of recognising the specific needs of each member within the family unit was particularly highlighted as was the need for responsive and co-ordinated service supports. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In practical decision-making, the behavior factors of decision makers often affect the final decision-making results. Regret theory is an important behavioral decision theory. Based on the regret theory, a novel decision-making method is proposed for the multiattribute decision-making problem with incomplete attribute weight information, and the attribute values are expressed by Atanassov intuitionistic fuzzy numbers. At first, a new distance of intuitionistic fuzzy sets is put forward based on the traditional Canberra distance. Then, we utilize it for the definition of the regret value (rejoice) for the attribute value of each alternative with the corresponding values of the positive point (negative point). The objective of this method is to maximize the comprehensive perceived utility of the alternative set by the decision maker. The optimal attribute weight vector is solved, and the optimal comprehensive perceived utility value of each alternative is obtained. Finally, according to the optimal comprehensive perceived utility value, the rank order of all alternatives is concluded. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Deep Space Network (DSN) is a worldwide array of radio telescopes which supports NASA's interplanetary spacecraft missions. When the DSN antennas are not communicating with spacecraft, they provide a valuable resource for performing observations of radio magnetars, searches for new pulsars at the Galactic Center, and additional pulsar-related studies. We describe the DSN's capabilities for carrying out these types of observations. We also present results from observations of three radio magnetars, PSR J1745–2900, PSR J1622–4950, and XTE J1810–197, and the transitional magnetar candidate, PSR J1119–6127, using the DSN radio telescopes near Canberra, Australia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study examines the knowledge of health and community services reported by patients with advanced cancer and their family caregivers, and compares patient-stated use with their knowledge of availability. A longitudinal study of the quality of life of patients with advanced cancer was conducted out of the cancer services of The Canberra Hospital, a teaching service, in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia. Some 317 subjects were recruited sequentially, comprising patients (n = 181) and their nominated family caregivers (n = 136). Patients were more aware of the available health and community support services compared with their caregivers, and differences were significant for most allied professional services, as well as some key supportive care institutions and community programmes. Knowledge of community support services was variable and low for those specifically associated with terminal care. While congruence of knowledge for dyads was quite low in some areas, overall household knowledge was high. The identified sources were mainly non-medical. Nurses, social workers and alternative practitioners, as well as family, friends and commercial sources were the main categories which were identified. No statistically significant changes in knowledge or sources of information occurred over time. Further longitudinal research would assist healthcare teams to understand the role of health and community services in the advanced cancer setting. The identification of systemic and regional weaknesses in communication may assist in improving family knowledge and improve timely access to important supports in the advanced cancer setting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]