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Abstract Mobile technology has significantly accelerated the rapid development of healthcare services. Despite the convenience brought by the proliferation of mobile health (mHealth) apps, the challenge of promoting their continued use among patients has garnered attention from many scholars and administrators. Based on the Expectation Confirmation Model (ECM), this study explores the impact of quality elements on the continuance intention of mHealth apps in Southwest China’s ethnic minority regions. Researchers conducted a structured questionnaire survey on 337 users of mHealth apps in these regions to measure their self-reported responses to seven constructs: information quality, system quality, service quality, perceived usefulness, confirmation, satisfaction, and continuance intention. The study uses the structural equation model-artificial neural network (SEM-ANN) approach to interpret the compensatory and non-linear relationships between predictors and continuance intention. The findings reveal that user satisfaction and perceived usefulness significantly predict the continuance intention to use mHealth apps. All other relationships were confirmed except for the non-significant relationships between service quality and confirmation, service quality and perceived usefulness, and system quality and perceived usefulness. Furthermore, based on the normalized importance obtained from the multilayer perceptron, the most critical predictors identified were satisfaction (100%), followed by information quality (70.2%), perceived usefulness (43.2%), system quality (25.1%), and confirmation (17.6%). Finally, this study presents theoretical and practical implications for the continuance intention towards mHealth apps in Southwest China’s ethnic minority regions.

Copyright of Agriculture / Poljoprivreda is the property of Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek, Faculty of Agriculture in Osijek and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The qualitative case study reported on here was commissioned and funded by the Western Cape Government (WCG) in partnership with the Cape Higher Education Consortium (CHEC) to inquire into attributes of well performing after-school programmes (ASPs) within the Western Cape provincei of South Africa. The research question of the study was: What quality elements of ASPs can be identified in 2 purposefully selected ASPs in the Western Cape province? In the multiple (double) case study we used interviews and archival data from the 2 ASPs. Using Mott’s Theory of Change (ToC) framework and Socio-Cultural Learning (SCL) theory as analytical lenses, we found that adaptability, strong management, staff commitment, involvement of current and former learners, family involvement, multi-stakeholder partnerships, continuous programme funding, and monitoring and evaluation were central to the success of the ASPs. Upscaling and replication efforts in the province and similar contexts should seriously consider embedding these quality elements in their logic models.

The qualitative case study reported on here was commissioned and funded by the Western Cape Government (WCG) in partnership with the Cape Higher Education Consortium (CHEC) to inquire into attributes of well performing after-school programmes (ASPs) within the Western Cape provincei of South Africa. The research question of the study was: What quality elements of ASPs can be identified in 2 purposefully selected ASPs in the Western Cape province? In the multiple (double) case study we used interviews and archival data from the 2 ASPs. Using Mott's Theory of Change (ToC) framework and Socio-Cultural Learning (SCL) theory as analytical lenses, we found that adaptability, strong management, staff commitment, involvement of current and former learners, family involvement, multi-stakeholder partnerships, continuous programme funding, and monitoring and evaluation were central to the success of the ASPs. Upscaling and replication efforts in the province and similar contexts should seriously consider embedding these quality elements in their logic models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper measures and examines the eagerness of Greek ISO certified SMEs to continue their journey towards quality, whilst facing economic crisis conditions. The level of quality implemented in the Greek ISO certified SMEs was determined by the main quality elements used to characterize TQM namely the quality culture, the quality tools and techniques, the quality processes and the performance appraisal. A set of ten structural interviews were conducted. From the scoring and frequency analysis conducted, it was found that the SMEs in Greece continued their journey towards quality and among those the small sized were those that showed the best performance, followed by the medium and the micro SMEs. Subsequently, the financial performance of those SMEs was tested using as criteria their profitability, efficiency, liquidity and solvency level. The conclusions derived, support the role of the quality level implemented in an SME as a means of sustaining its financial performance at a level capable of reducing the probability of bankruptcy, during severe financial crisis conditions.

This paper has as purpose the inventory of significant pressures of surface water bodies and the generated ecological status in the lower Jiu River. Three surface water bodies are analysed along the sector of interest (Isalniţa Reservoir, JIU: Isalniţa Reservoir-Bratovoieşti and JIU: Bratovoieşti-Danube confluence), and the delimitation of the water bodies was made according to the Management Plan of the Jiu River Basin (2016-2022). The Water Framework Directive provides that only significant pressures must be taken into account, i.e. pressures with a significant impact on water, resulting in the failure to meet environmental objectives for the studied water bodies. This approach, correlated with the list of pressures and the particular characteristics of the catchment, will lead to the identification of significant pressures. An alternative method is for the conceptual understanding to be summarized in a simple set of rules that indicates directly if a pressure is significant. Such an approach would be to compare the magnitude of the pressure with a relevant criterion or limit value for the water body. Therefore, the significant pressures identified in the study area are point, diffuse and hydro morphological pressures. For the pressure and impact analysis, the DPSIR (Driver-Pressure-State-Impact-Response-Response) concept is used, so for the inventory information must be included about anthropogenic activities and the changes in the state of the water body, and the response (measures taken to improve the condition of the water body). The ecological status of the water bodies is defined by the quality elements indicated in the Water Framework Directive (transposed in Romania by Water Law 107/1996 as subsequently amended and supplemented), respectively biological elements, hydro morphological elements, general physico-chemical elements and specific pollutants, applying the “worst case” principle among the quality elements. The analysis of these elements was done on monitoring sections, the results being relevant (moderate ecological status) for the three water bodies considered. The importance of this research consists in rising the awareness among communities about the reduction of pressures on water bodies along the Lower Jiu River, and in making local and regional authorities responsible for the importance and maintenance of the good ecological status. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Education is one of the main pillars of the quality of knowledge, and, in turn, social progress in general. There are numerous positions concerning quality of education, some more, and some less detailed. In order to determine the quality of a primary school, for example as 'poor', 'mediocre' or 'excellent', we use, more or less precisely, a certain idea about the value, and thus identify, again with a certain extent of accuracy, the position of the school in question in relation to other schools. In terms of the quality of education, it is necessary to analyze all segments of educational process. This includes the analysis of objectives of educational process, products of quality education as well as adequate and accessible technical-instrumental, that is, operational-procedural level of quality of educational process. Most authors connect the quality of primary education to results, that is, outcomes of education. In order to achieve quality of education, we need to achieve quality of particular components or elements of the whole of education. This paper deals with theoretical review of elements and indicators of quality of basic education, and provides a review of pedagogical strategies and their effect on certain components of quality with the aim to improve the effects on pedagogical and didactical resources of the quality of education.

Copyright of Managerial Studies Journal is the property of Republic of Iraq Ministry of Higher Education & Scientific Research (MOHESR) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In practical data production process of ZiYuan-3 (ZY-3) optical satellite, the quality of massive panchromatic (PAN) products is usually measured with multiple quality metrics. Although the existing metrics have been widely used in practice and obtained good performance, they have some limitations: (1) there are so many quality metrics that makes it difficult for users or operators to directly judge whether the imagery is acceptable or not; and (2) a specific quality metric can only measure a certain aspect of image quality and is often not designed from the perspective of human visual system (HVS), leading the objective evaluation result inconsistent with subjective one. To tackle the aforementioned problems, we propose an integrated visual quality assessment (VQA) method to predict comprehensive quality scores for ZY-3 sensor calibration (SC) PAN products. In the proposed method: (1) we exploited eight quality elements that have significant influences on the visual quality of SC PAN products; (2) we constructed a database composed of 360 ZY-3 SC PAN images and the corresponding subjective mean opinion scores (MOS); (3) we introduced generalised regression neural network to combine the extracted quality elements of the images and their MOS and obtained the integrated VQA result. Experimental results on the database showed that the proposed method achieved high accuracy of predicted quality scores and well consistency with HVS, indicating the effectiveness and reliability of the presented approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper measures and examines the eagerness of Greek ISO certified SMEs to continue their journey towards quality, whilst facing economic crisis conditions. The level of quality implemented in the Greek ISO certified SMEs was determined by the main quality elements used to characterize TQM namely the quality culture, the quality tools and techniques, the quality processes and the performance appraisal. A set of ten structural interviews were conducted. From the scoring and frequency analysis conducted, it was found that the SMEs in Greece continued their journey towards quality and among those the small sized were those that showed the best performance, followed by the medium and the micro SMEs. Subsequently, the financial performance of those SMEs was tested using as criteria their profitability, efficiency, liquidity and solvency level. The conclusions derived, support the role of the quality level implemented in an SME as a means of sustaining its financial performance at a level capable of reducing the probability of bankruptcy, during severe financial crisis conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

V prispevku so predstavljeni vse večji pomen kakovosti geodetskih in prostorskih podatkov, določbe o kakovosti prostorskih informacij v direktivi INSPIRE in predpisih, sprejetih na njeni podlagi, ter zahteve, povezane s kakovostjo prostorskih podatkov in storitev, ki jih pred slovenske ponudnike podatkov in storitev postavlja evropska zakonodaja ; This article presents the growing importance of the quality of geodetic and spatial information. It describes the contents related to the data quality in the INSPIRE Directive, regulations for its implementation and guidelines, as well as the requirements related to the quality of spatial data and services set for Slovenian suppliers of data by European legislation.

Copyright of Economic & Managerial Researshes is the property of Faculty of Economic Sciences, Commercial & Managerial Sciences and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Undergraduate education in Building Information Modeling (BIM) area for Civil Engineering and Management (CEM) majors cultivates the students abilities to handle the embedded context constraints, parametric modeling, and the corresponding education guidelines recommended by the assessment associations and agencies. This study focuses on the expected cognitive structure and the training contents of BIM education. The objective of this research is to design, implement, and adjust the subject areas of BIM courses to prepare students for the skills expected by job market. The authors studied the overlap of the scopes between undergraduate BIM education and the job market expectations on the skill structure of BIM abilities. The authors also reviewed the 2013 China Civil Engineering and Management Undergraduate Education Guideline (2013 CCEMUEG). Particularly, the authors developed the BIM cognitive structure concept and the unique, BIM-embedded, education knowledge tree in CEM major. To design the training contents, the authors adopted the Quality-Function-Development (QFD) house concept and its relationship principles, designed the knowledge units and knowledge points of 2013 CCEMUEG with the different corresponding encodings, constructed a path between BIM ability structure and CEM education, and performed the feasibility study of the implementation scheme. The research results include the blueprint of curriculum development and the knowledge framework showing the comparison of characteristics between BIM and 2013 CCEM UEG knowledge units and knowledge points. In conclusion, the research suggests that BIM education in CEM could be implemented in the whole undergraduate learning process, representing the life-span of construction/building projects. This research shines light on BIM education in CEM. Its analysis tool and knowledge tree will be a powerful revelation for the pedagogical design of BIM in undergraduate education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Water Framework Directive introduces a new concept on the state of water bodies heavily modified, represented by the ecological potential and chemical state. The ecological potential is achieved on the basis of biological, physicochemical quality elements and specific pollutants, whereas the chemical status is evaluated based on the impact of priority/ priority hazardous substances (non-synthetic and synthetic substances) represented by heavy metal ions and organic micropollutants. In the case of barrier lakes there are defined two classes of ecological potential: maximum and good ecological potential, firstly, and moderate ecological potential, secondly. In determining the ecological potential there is considered the "worst-case establishes quality status" principle. Thus the worst potential of barrier lakes is the moderate one. The environmental objective for a barrier lake is considered to be achieved when the monitored water body falls into good ecological potential. There were analyzed qualitatively several small and medium-sized barrier lakes in the catchment Prut - Barlad, by integrating the following quality elements: biological (phytoplankton and phytobenthos), physico-chemical (nutrients, salinity, acidification status, oxygenation conditions ) and specific pollutants (synthetic and non-synthetic). After monitoring a total of 17 small and medium barrier lakes in the catchment it was found that in the years 2012, 2013, 2014 the ecological potential was moderate or good, being mostly maintained the moderate potential. However there is observed a removal of the elements that lead to the blocking in the attainment of environmental goals. Since 2012, the environmental objective has been reached for 3 of the 17 monitored barrier lakes, while in 2014 the number reached 6. To determine the chemical status of these small and medium barrier lakes, for each monitored substance there was calculated the annual average concentration and annual maximum concentration for those substances that are set quality standards for the environment, because any excess in quality standards for these concentrations cand lead to poor chemical status. For the monitored barrier lakes there was observed an improvement in the chemical status since in 2012 only 6 lakes had good chemical status, while in 2014 their number increased to 9. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The evaluation of the ecological status of surface waters is done according to the requirements of The Water Framework Directive, on the basis of biological, chemical and hydromorphological elements. This paper presents aspects related to the ecological status of rivers and accumulation lakes which are located in Gorj County, by surveillance the evolution of the quality elements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: [•] Phytoplankton size spectra exhibit patterns of variation in response to environmental pressures. [•] ISS-phyto is able to discriminate between disturbed and undisturbed ecosystems. [•] The best fits of pressure–response curves were observed with salinity and enrichment gradients. [•] An ISS-phyto-based scheme for Ecological Quality Status classification is proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By means of the Water Framework Directive methodology, the present study identifies the valid indicators used for evaluating the ecological status of two natural water bodies (the first located on the Jiu river between Bratovoieşti and the Danube confluence, and the second on the Motru river between the Jirov and the Jiu confluence): hydromorphological indicators, physicochemical indicators and biological indicators. The quality parameters deviated from the norm are: Shannon-Wiener Diversity Index - 2.87 for the Motru WB and Functional groups index - 0.68 for the Jiu WB (biological Indicators); modified water-cross section coefficient (depth) (1.22) - the Motru WB, impoundment coefficient (0.91) - the Motru WB and Coefficient of major streambed reduction (1.24) - the Jiu WB (hydromorphological indicators). The quality parameters (physico-chemical indicators) of the water drainage systems deviated from the norm are: Biochemical Oxygen demand BOD5 (40.78 mg/l) and Ammonium Nitrogen N-NH4 + (6.96 mg N/l) for Strehaia settlement; Biochemical Oxygen demand BOD5 (33.70 mg/l), Ammonium Nitrogen N-NH4 + (19.66 mg N/l) and Total Phosphorus PT (8.96 mg/l) for Craiova settlement. The target is to validate the ecological status for the two water bodies, respectively "moderate status" for the lower Jiu and "good status" for the lower Motru, related to the Class II and Class III of the European process of intercalibration, ensuring thus the compatibility at European level. The relevance of the paper consists in the assessment of the ecological status of two natural water bodies located downstream with respect to a major punctiform polluting source (two major settlements, Craiova on the Jiu, respectively Strehaia on the Motru), impacting heavily the achievement of environmental objectives set by the Water Frame Directive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents the growing importance of the quality of geodetic and spatial information. It describes the contents related to the data quality in the INSPIRE Directive, regulations for its implementation and guidelines, as well as the requirements related to the quality of spatial data and services set for Slovenian suppliers of data by European legislation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Water Framework Directive (WFD) aims to solve the problems derived from the use of water, a limited natural resource, by extending the scope of protection to all water uses. The WDF defines the ecological status of water bodies by characterizing each water body type and establishing conditions for the quality elements. This paper identifies valid indicators for defining the ecological status of Estanco River Basin, located in the province of Lugo, NW of Spain, by using the methodology proposed in the WFD. In addition, this study highlights the obstacles for a correct application of the WFD in the study river basin. After characterization of the study river basin and establishment of specific reference conditions, this study presents conclusions about the usefulness of the WFD in the development of specific programmes for improving the ecological status of rivers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]