Search results for: economic developments

Authors: Abdel-Samad M. Ali, Ali A. Hadi Al-Shawi

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Discrimination against women and girls impairs progress in all domains of development articulated either in the framework of Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) or in the Post-2015 Development Agenda. Paper aspires to create greater awareness among researchers and policy makers of the challenges posed by gender gaps and the opportunities created by reducing them within the Arab region. The study reveals how Arab countries are closing in on gender-oriented targets of the third and fifth MDGs. While some countries can claim remarkable achievements particularly in girls’ equality in education, there is still a long way to go to keep Arab’s commitments to current and future generations in other countries and subregions especially in the economic participation or in the political empowerment of women. No country has closed or even expected to close the economic participation gap or the political empowerment gap. This should provide the incentive to keep moving forward in the Post-2015 Agenda. Findings of the study prove that while Arab states have uneven achievements in reducing maternal mortality, Arab women remain at a disadvantage in the labour market. For Arab region especially LDCs, improving maternal health is part of the unmet agenda for the post-2015 period and still calls for intensified efforts and procedures. While antenatal care coverage is improving across the Arab region, progress is marginal in LDCs. To achieve proper realization of gender equality and empowerment of women in the Arab region in the post-2015 agenda, the study presents critical key challenges to be addressed. These challenges include: Negative cultural norms and stereotypes; violence against women and girls; early marriage and child labour; women’s limited control over their own bodies; limited ability of women to generate their own income and control assets and property; gender-based discrimination in law and in practice; women’s unequal participation in private and public decision making autonomy; and limitations in data. However, in all Arab states, gender equality must be integrated as a goal across all issues, particularly those that affect the future of a country.

Keywords: gender, equity, millennium development goals, post-2015 development agenda

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Authors: Lucia Varra, Marzia Timolo

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The interest of scholars towards corporate sustainability has strengthened in recent years in parallel with the growing need to undertake paths of cultural and organizational change, as a way for greater competitiveness and stakeholders’ satisfaction. In fact, studies on the business sustainability, while on the one hand have integrated the three dimensions of sustainability that existed for some time in the economic approaches (economic, environmental and social dimensions), on the other hand did not give rise to an organic construct that puts together the aspects of strategic management with corporate social responsibility and even less with the organizational issues. Therefore some important questions remain open: Which organizational structure and which operational mechanisms are coherent or propitious to a sustainability strategy? Existing studies appear to be fragmented, although some aspects have shared importance: knowledge management, human resource, management, leadership, innovation, etc. The construction of a model of sustainable organization that supports the sustainability strategy no longer seems to be postponed, as is its connection with the main practices of measuring corporate social responsibility performance. The paper aims to identify the organizational characteristics of a sustainable corporate. To this end, from a theoretical point of view the work examines the main existing literary contributions and, from a practical point of view, it presents a business case referring to a service organization that for years has undertaken the sustainability strategy. This paper is divided into two parts: the first part concerns a review of the main articles on the strategic management topic and the main organizational issues raised by the literature, such as knowledge management, leadership, innovation, etc.; later, a modeling of the main variables examined by scholars and an integration of these with the international measurement standards of CSR is proposed. In the second part, using the methodology of the case study company, the hypotheses and the structure of the proposed model that aims to integrate the strategic issues with the organizational aspects and measurement of sustainability performance, are applied to an Italian company, which has some organizational and human resource management interventions are in place to align strategic decisions with the structure and operating mechanisms of the structure. The case presented supports the hypotheses of the model.

Keywords: CSR, strategic management, sustainable leadership, sustainable human resource management, sustainable organization

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Authors: Hritik Bhattarai

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Land use and land cover play a crucial role in preserving and managing Earth's natural resources. Various factors, such as economic, demographic, social, cultural, technological, and environmental processes, contribute to changes in land use and land cover (LULC). Rupandehi District is significantly influenced by a combination of driving forces, including its geographical location, rapid population growth, economic opportunities, globalization, tourism activities, and political events. Urbanization and urban growth in the region have been occurring in an unplanned manner, with internal migration and natural population growth being the primary contributors. Internal migration, particularly from neighboring districts in the higher and lower Himalayan regions, has been high, leading to increased population growth and density. This study utilizes geospatial technology, specifically geographic information system (GIS), to analyze and illustrate the land cover and land use changes in the Rupandehi district for the years 2009 and 2019, using freely available Landsat images. The identified land cover categories include built-up area, cropland, Das-Gaja, forest, grassland, other woodland, riverbed, and water. The statistical analysis of the data over the 10-year period (2009-2019) reveals significant percentage changes in LULC. Notably, Das-Gaja shows a minimal change of 99.9%, while water and forest exhibit increases of 34.5% and 98.6%, respectively. Riverbed and built-up areas experience changes of 95.3% and 39.6%, respectively. Cropland and grassland, however, show concerning decreases of 102.6% and 140.0%, respectively. Other woodland also indicates a change of 50.6%. The most noteworthy trends are the substantial increase in water areas and built-up areas, leading to the degradation of agricultural and open spaces. This emphasizes the urgent need for effective urban planning activities to ensure the development of a sustainable city. While Das-Gaja seems unaffected, the decreasing trends in cropland and grassland, accompanied by the increasing built-up areas, are unsatisfactory. It is imperative for relevant authorities to be aware of these trends and implement proactive measures for sustainable urban development.

Keywords: land use and land cover, geospatial, urbanization, geographic information system, sustainable urban development

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Authors: Spase Janevski

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We, as designers, should be aware of the consequences of our material selection, at the early stages of the design process. Some of the designer’s decisions can have a very significant impact on design for sustainability. The influence of this concept has led to years of research studies into eco-friendly materials and their potentials for creating new sustainable products. In order to answer the question, 'how cork has become a design trend', this paper will present an overview of the implications of the concept of design for sustainability on the potential uses of cork material. A decade ago, cork as a material had an association with wine stoppers, but with the evolution of sustainable product design as part of the concept of design for sustainability, cork now offers product designers a wide range of new materials and applications. The purpose of this paper is to show how the phenomenon of sustainability has had an impact on the progress of the material which is currently not being an integral component of the design material palette. At the beginning, the nature of the relationship between cork and sustainability will be explained through the following stages: 1) fundamental understanding of the concept of Design for Sustainability and the importance of material selection for sustainable product design, and 2) the importance of cork oak trees for the environment and the environmental impacts of cork products. In order to examine and present the influence of the sustainability on the innovation in cork applications, the paper will provide a historical overview of designing with cork. The overview will consist of four stages: 1) pre-industrial period - the period when ancient nations used cork and amphoras to store their wine; 2) industrial period - emergence and industrialization of well-known wine stoppers; 3) post-industrial period - commercializing cork products in the area of floors and coverings and first developments in industrial research; and 4) the period when large cork realized the importance of sustainability and started to focus more markedly on research and development. The existence of new cork materials, the investigation in new applications and the investment in new innovations have proved that the sustainability approach has had a great influence on the revival of this material. In addition, the paper will present some of the new cork innovative materials and applications and their potentials for designing promising and sustainable solutions with additive manufacturing technologies, such as 3D printing. Lastly, the paper will introduce some questions for further study, such as the environmental impacts of the new hybrid materials and the gap between cork industry and cork research and development teams. The paper concludes by stating that cork is not only a material for wine stoppers anymore, thanks to the awareness of the concept of design for sustainability.

Keywords: cork, design for sustainability, innovation, sustainable materials

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Authors: Dávid Csercsik, Péter Kádár

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In the case of the proposed method, the problem is parallelized by considering multiple possible mode of operation profiles, which determine the range in which the generators operate in each period. For each of these profiles, the optimization is carried out independently, and the best resulting dispatch is chosen. For each such profile, the resulting problem is a quadratic programming (QP) problem with a potentially negative definite Q quadratic term, and constraints depending on the actual operation profile. In this paper we analyze the performance of available MATLAB optimization methods and solvers for the corresponding QP.

Keywords: optimization, MATLAB, quadratic programming, economic dispatch

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Authors: Aaron Herve Mbwe Mbissik, Lotfi Khiari, Otmane Raji, Abdellatif Elghali, Abdelkarim Lajili, Muhammad Ouabid, Martin Jemo, Jean-Louis Bodinier

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Potassium (K) is an essential macronutrient for plant growth, helping to regulate several physiological and metabolic processes. Evaporite-related potash salts, mainly sylvite minerals (K chloride or KCl), are the principal source of K for the fertilizer industry. However, due to the high potash-supply risk associated with its considerable price fluctuations and uneven geographic distribution for most agriculture-based developing countries, the development of alternative sources of fertilizer K is imperative to maintain adequate crop yield, reduce yield gaps, and food security. Alkaline Igneous rocks containing significant K-rich silicate minerals such as K feldspar are increasingly seen as the best alternative available. However, these rocks may require to be hydrothermally treatment to enhance the release of potassium. In this study, we evaluate the fertilizing capacity of raw and hydrothermally treated K-bearing silicate rocks from different areas in Morocco. The effectiveness of rock powders was tested in a greenhouse experiment using ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum) by comparing them to a control (no K added) and to a conventional fertilizer (muriate of potash: MOP or KCl). The trial was conducted in a randomized complete block design with three replications, and plants were grown on K-depleted soils for three growing cycles. To achieve our objective, in addition to the analysis of the muriate response curve and the different biomasses, we also examined three necessary coefficients, namely: the K uptake, then apparent K recovery (AKR), and the relative K efficiency (RKE). The results showed that based on the optimum economic rate of MOP (230 kg.K.ha⁻¹) and the optimum yield (44 000 kg.K.ha⁻¹), the efficiency of K silicate rocks was as high as that of MOP. Although the plants took up only half of the K supplied by the powdered rock, the hydrothermal material was found to be satisfactory, with a biomass value reaching the optimum economic limit until the second crop cycle. In comparison, the AKR of the MOP (98.6%) and its RKE in the 1st cycle were higher than our materials: 39% and 38%, respectively. Therefore, the raw and hydrothermal materials mixture could be an appropriate solution for long-term agronomic use based on the obtained results.

Keywords: K-uptake, AKR, RKE, K-bearing silicate rock, MOP

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Authors: Nura Suleiman

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The foreign policy of any country or nation is intended to promote and protect the country’s national interest. To achieve this interest, a country has to be guided by certain principles and influence of domestic and international conditions. The history of Nigerian foreign policy is directed to defend its sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity, to promote and sustain the economic well-being of Nigerians, and promotion of Africa and world peace with justice. With the change of time and leadership, coupled with corruption, despite all the foreign policy determinants endowed with Nigeria as a country, sacrificed its foreign interest for the benefit of the western powers, by this it lost the opportunity to formulate policies according to its own need and desires.

Keywords: foreign policy, Nigeria, Western power

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Authors: Sahar Elsaleh, Ghada Farhat, Shaikha Al-Derham, Fasih Alam

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Background: Cesarean section (CS) delivery is one of the major concerns both in developing and developed countries. The rate of CS deliveries are on the rise globally, and especially in Qatar. Many socio-economic, demographic, clinical and institutional factors play an important role for cesarean sections. This study aims to investigate factors affecting the prevalence of CS among women in Qatar using the UNICEF’s Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) 2012 database. Methods: The study has focused on the women’s questionnaire of the MICS, which was successfully distributed to 5699 participants. Following study inclusion and exclusion criteria, a final sample of 761 women aged 19- 49 years who had at least one delivery of giving birth in their lifetime before the survey were included. A number of socio-economic, demographic, clinical and institutional factors, identified through literature review and available in the data, were considered for the analyses. Bivariate and multivariate logistic regression models, along with a multi-level modeling to investigate clustering effect, were undertaken to identify the factors that affect CS prevalence in Qatar. Results: From the bivariate analyses the study has shown that, a number of categorical factors are statistically significantly associated with the dependent variable (CS). When identifying the factors from a multivariate logistic regression, the study found that only three categorical factors -‘age of women’, ‘place at delivery’ and ‘baby weight’ appeared to be significantly affecting the CS among women in Qatar. Although the MICS dataset is based on a cluster survey, an exploratory multi-level analysis did not show any clustering effect, i.e. no significant variation in results at higher level (households), suggesting that all analyses at lower level (individual respondent) are valid without any significant bias in results. Conclusion: The study found a statistically significant association between the dependent variable (CS delivery) and age of women, frequency of TV watching, assistance at birth and place of birth. These results need to be interpreted cautiously; however, it can be used as evidence-base for further research on cesarean section delivery in Qatar.

Keywords: cesarean section, factors, multiple indicator cluster survey, MICS database, Qatar

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Authors: Nikkey Keshri

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Arctic is a polar region located at the north of the earth. This consists of the Arctic Ocean and other parts of Canada, Russia, the United States, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Iceland. Arctic has vast natural resources which are exploited with modern technology, and the economic opening up of Russia has given new opportunities. All these states have connected with the Arctic region for economic activities and this effect the region ecology. The pollution problem is a serious threat to the people health living around pollution sources. Due to the prevailing worldwide sea and air currents, the Arctic area is the fallout region for long-range transport pollutants, and in some places the concentrations exceed the levels of densely populated urban areas. The Arctic is especially vulnerable to the effects of global warming, as has become apparent in the melting sea ice in recent years. Climate models predict much greater warming in the Arctic than the global average, resulting in significant international attention to the region. The global warming has an adverse impact on the climate, indigenous people, wildlife, and infrastructure. However, there are several opportunities that have emerged in the form of shipping routes, resources, and new territories. The shipping route through the Arctic is a reality and is currently navigable for a few weeks during summers. There are large deposits of oil and gas, minerals and fish and the surrounding countries with Arctic coastlines are becoming quite assertive about exercising their sovereignty over the newfound wealth. The main part of the research is that how the opening of Northern Sea Route is providing opportunities or problem in the Arctic and it is becoming geopolitically important. It focuses on the interest Arctic and non Arctic states, their present and anticipated global geopolitical aims. The Northern Sea Route might open up due to climate changes and that Iceland might benefit or has an impact from the situation. Efforts will be made to answer the research question: ‘Whether Opening of North Sea Route is providing opportunities or becoming a risk for Arctic region?’ Every research has a structure which usually called design. In this research, both Qualitative and Quantitative method is used in terms of various literature, maps, pie- charts, etc to find out the answer for the research question. The aim of this research is to find out the impact of Opening of North Sea Route over Arctic region and how this make arctic geopolitically important. The aim behind this research is to find out the impact of climate change and how the particular geographical area is being affected.

Keywords: climate change, geopolitics, international relation, Northern Sea Route

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Authors: Vahid Saatchian, Seyyed Farideh Hadavi

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The main aim of this study was developing the collaboration model of physical education and sport sciences faculties with service section of sport industrial.The research methods of this study was a qualitative. So researcher with of identifying the priority list of collaboration between colleges and service section of sport industry and according to sampling based of subjective and snowball approach, conducted deep interviews with 22 elites that study around the field of research topic. indeed interviews were analyzed through qualitative coding (open, axial and selective) with 5 category such as causal condition, basic condition, intervening conditions, action/ interaction and strategy. Findings exposed that in causal condition 10 labels appeared. So because of heterogeneity of labes, researcher categorized in total subject. In basic condition 59 labels in open coding identified this categorized in 14 general concepts. Furthermore with composition of the declared category and relationship between them, 5 final and internal categories (culture, intelligence, marketing, environment and ultra-powers) were appeared. Also an intervening condition in the study includes 5 overall scopes of social factors, economic, cultural factors, and the management of the legal and political factors that totally named macro environment. Indeed for identifying strategies, 8 areas that covered with internal and external challenges relationship management were appeared. These are including, understanding, outside awareness, manpower, culture, integrated management, the rules and regulations and marketing. Findings exposed 8 labels in open coding which covered the internal and external of challenges of relation management of two sides and these concepts were knowledge and awareness, external view, human source, madding organizational culture, parties’ thoughts, unit responsible for/integrated management, laws and regulations and marketing. Eventually the consequences categorized in line of strategies and were at scope of the cultural development, general development, educational development, scientific development, under development, international development, social development, economic development, technology development and political development that consistent with strategies. The research findings could help the sport managers witch use to scientific collaboration management and the consequences of this in those sport institutions. Finally, the consequences that identified as a result of the devopmental strategies include: cultural, governmental, educational, scientific, infrastructure, international, social, economic, technological and political that is largely consistent with strategies. With regard to the above results, enduring and systematic relation with long term cooperation between the two sides requires strategic planning were based on cooperation of all stakeholders. Through this, in the turbulent constantly changing current sustainable environment, competitive advantage for university and industry obtained. No doubt that lack of vision and strategic thinking for cooperation in the planning of the university and industry from its capability and instead of using the opportunity, lead the opportunities to problems.

Keywords: university and industry collaboration, sport industry, physical education and sport science college, service section of sport industry

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Authors: Massimo Morichi

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Over the last five years, starting in 2019, several nuclear measurement systems have been conceived and realized for specific nuclear safeguards applications, as well as for nuclear security, implementing some innovative technologies and methods for attended and unattended nuclear measurements. Some of those technologies imply the integration of combined gamma and neutron detection systems both for counting and spectroscopic applications that allow the SNM (Special Nuclear Material) verification and quantification through specific simultaneous measurements (gamma and neutron) from standard to high count rate due to high flux irradiation. IAEA has implemented some of these technologies in key international safeguards inspections worldwide, like a Fast Neutron Collar Monitor for fresh fuel verification of U235 mass (used during inspections for material declaration verification) or for unattended measuring systems with a distinct shift register installed in an anti-tampering sealed housing in unattended mode (remote inspection and continuous monitoring) together with an Unattended Multichannel Analyzer for spectroscopy analysis of SNM like canisters. Such developments, realized with integrated mid-resolution scintillators (FWHM: <3,5%) together with organic scintillators such as Stilbene detectors or Liquid sealed scintillators like EJ-309 with great pulse shape discrimination managed by a fast DAQ and with a high level of system integration, are offering in the near term the possibility to enhance further their implementation, reducing the form factor in order to facilitate their implementation in many critical parts of the Nuclear Fuel Operations as well as of the Next generation of Nuclear Reactors. This will facilitate embedding these advanced technical solutions in the next generation of nuclear installations, assuring the implementation of the Safeguards by Design requested by IAEA for all future/novel nuclear installations. This work presents the most recent designs/systems and provides some clear examples of ongoing applications on the Fuel Cycle-Fuel Fabrication as well as for the SMR/AMR and microreactors. Detailed technology testing and validation in different configuration if provided together with some case-studies and operational implications.

Keywords: nuclear safeguard, gamma and neutron detection systems, spectroscopy analysis, nuclear fuel cycle, nuclear power reactors, decommissioning dismantling, nuclear security

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Authors: A. Schander, T. Tessmann, H. Stemmann, S. Strokov, A. Kreiter, W. Lang

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For the chronic application of neural prostheses and other brain-computer interfaces, long-term stable microelectrodes for electrical stimulation are essential. In recent years many developments were done to investigate different appropriate materials for these electrodes. One of these materials is the electrical conductive polymer poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT), which has lower impedance and higher charge injection capacity compared to noble metals like gold and platinum. However the long-term stability of this polymer is still unclear. Thus this paper reports on the in-vitro evaluation of the long-term stability of PEDOT coated gold microelectrodes. For this purpose a highly flexible electrocorticography (ECoG) electrode array, based on the polymer polyimide, is used. This array consists of circular gold electrodes with a diameter of 560 µm (0.25 mm2). In total 25 electrodes of this array were coated simultaneously with the polymer PEDOT:PSS in a cleanroom environment using a galvanostatic electropolymerization process. After the coating the array is additionally sterilized using a steam sterilization process (121°C, 1 bar, 20.5 min) to simulate autoclaving prior to the implantation of such an electrode array. The long-term measurements were performed in phosphate-buffered saline solution (PBS, pH 7.4) at the constant body temperature of 37°C. For the in-vitro electrical stimulation a one channel bipolar current stimulator is used. The stimulation protocol consists of a bipolar current amplitude of 5 mA (cathodal phase first), a pulse duration of 100 µs per phase, a pulse pause of 50 µs and a frequency of 1 kHz. A PEDOT:PSS coated gold electrode with an area of 1 cm2 serves as the counter electrode. The electrical stimulation is performed continuously with a total amount of 86.4 million bipolar current pulses per day. The condition of the PEDOT coated electrodes is monitored in between with electrical impedance spectroscopy measurements. The results of this study demonstrate that the PEDOT coated electrodes are stable for more than 3.6 billion bipolar current pulses. Also the unstimulated electrodes show currently no degradation after the time period of 5 months. These results indicate an appropriate long-term stability of this electrode coating for chronic recording and electrical stimulation. The long-term measurements are still continuing to investigate the life limit of this electrode coating.

Keywords: chronic recording, electrical stimulation, long-term stability, microelectrodes, PEDOT

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Authors: Hadach Mohamed

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In Essaouira, tourism is the main economic activity, and the destination has a place in the segment of rural and sustainable tourism. The hinterland of the destination has natural and tourist potential of great attractiveness, but the natives still appropriate the territory and are faced with the dilemma of appropriation and tourist exploitation. This article analyzes the determinants of the appropriation of a rural tourist space in light of the massive touristification and the need to set up income-generating activities for the inhabitants. After a review of the literature, a survey was carried out among the main actors of tourism in the destination to evaluate the question of the appropriation of the tourist space and the sustainability of a destination.

Keywords: rural tourism, sustainability, appropriation, tourism destination

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Authors: Vanessa Kummer, Maik Meusel

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Real estate demand estimates are typically derived from transaction data. However, in regions with excess demand, transactions are driven by supply and therefore do not indicate what people are actually looking for. To estimate the demand for housing in Switzerland, search subscriptions from all important Swiss real estate platforms are used. These data do, however, suffer from missing information—for example, many users do not specify how many rooms they would like or what price they would be willing to pay. In economic analyses, it is often the case that only complete data is used. Usually, however, the proportion of complete data is rather small which leads to most information being neglected. Also, the data might have a strong distortion if it is complete. In addition, the reason that data is missing might itself also contain information, which is however ignored with that approach. An interesting issue is, therefore, if for economic analyses such as the one at hand, there is an added value by using the whole data set with the imputed missing values compared to using the usually small percentage of complete data (baseline). Also, it is interesting to see how different algorithms affect that result. The imputation of the missing data is done using unsupervised learning. Out of the numerous unsupervised learning approaches, the most common ones, such as clustering, principal component analysis, or neural networks techniques are applied. By training the model iteratively on the imputed data and, thereby, including the information of all data into the model, the distortion of the first training set—the complete data—vanishes. In a next step, the performances of the algorithms are measured. This is done by randomly creating missing values in subsets of the data, estimating those values with the relevant algorithms and several parameter combinations, and comparing the estimates to the actual data. After having found the optimal parameter set for each algorithm, the missing values are being imputed. Using the resulting data sets, the next step is to estimate the willingness to pay for real estate. This is done by fitting price distributions for real estate properties with certain characteristics, such as the region or the number of rooms. Based on these distributions, survival functions are computed to obtain the functional relationship between characteristics and selling probabilities. Comparing the survival functions shows that estimates which are based on imputed data sets do not differ significantly from each other; however, the demand estimate that is derived from the baseline data does. This indicates that the baseline data set does not include all available information and is therefore not representative for the entire sample. Also, demand estimates derived from the whole data set are much more accurate than the baseline estimation. Thus, in order to obtain optimal results, it is important to make use of all available data, even though it involves additional procedures such as data imputation.

Keywords: demand estimate, missing-data imputation, real estate, unsupervised learning

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Authors: Darshini Mahadevia, Kanika Gounder, Saumya Lathia

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Cities, an outcome of natural growth and migration, are ever-expanding due to urban sprawl. In the Global South, urban areas are experiencing a switch from public transport to private vehicles, coupled with intensified urban agglomeration, leading to frequent longer commutes by automobiles. This increase in travel distance and motorized vehicle kilometres lead to unsustainable cities. To achieve the nationally pledged GHG emission mitigation goal, the government is prioritizing a modal shift to low-carbon transport modes like mass transit and paratransit. Mixed land-use and urban densification are crucial for the economic viability of these projects. Informed by desktop assessment of mobility plans and in-person primary surveys, the paper explores the challenges around urban densification and travel patterns in two Indian cities of contrasting nature- Surat, a metropolitan industrial city with a 5.9 million population and a very compact urban form, and Udaipur, a heritage city attracting large international tourists’ footfall, with limited scope for further densification. Dense, mixed-use urban areas often improve access to basic services and economic opportunities by reducing distances and enabling people who don't own personal vehicles to reach them on foot/ cycle. But residents travelling on different modes end up contributing to similar trip lengths, highlighting the non-uniform distribution of land-uses and lack of planned transport infrastructure in the city and the urban-peri urban networks. Additionally, it is imperative to manage these densities to reduce negative externalities like congestion, air/noise pollution, lack of public spaces, loss of livelihood, etc. The study presents a comparison of the relationship between transport systems with the built form in both cities. The paper concludes with recommendations for managing densities in urban areas along with promoting low-carbon transport choices like improved non-motorized transport and public transport infrastructure and minimizing personal vehicle usage in the Global South.

Keywords: India, low-carbon transport, travel behaviour, trip length, urban densification

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Authors: Suaka Yaro

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This article provides an alternative examination of the causes and the ramifications of the Ivorian political conflict from 2002 to 2009. The researcher employed a constructivist epistemology and qualitative study based upon fieldwork in different African cities interviewing Ivorians outside and within Ivory Coast. A purposive sampling of fourteen participants was selected. A purposive sampling was used to select fourteen respondents. The respondents were selected based on their involvement in Ivorian conflict. Their experiences on the causes and effects of the conflict were tapped for analysis. Qualitative methodology was used for the study. The data collection instruments were semi-structured interview questions, open-ended semi-structured questionnaire, and documentary analysis. The perceptions of these participants on the causes, effects and the possible solution to the endemic conflict in their homeland hold key perspectives that have hitherto been ignored in the whole debate about the Ivorian political conflict and its legacies. Finally, from the synthesized findings of the investigation, the researcher concluded that the analysed data revealed that the causes of the conflict were competition for scarce resources, bad governance, media incitement, xenophobia, incessant political power struggle and the proliferation of small firearms entering the country. The effects experienced during the conflict were the human rights violation, destruction of property including UN premises and displaced people both internally and externally. Some recommendations made include: Efforts should be made by the government to strengthen good relationship among different ethnic groups and help them adapt to new challenges that confront democratic developments in the country. The government should organise the South African style of Truth and Reconciliation Commission to revisit the horrors of the past in order to heal wounds and prevent future occurrence of the conflict. Employment opportunities and other income generating ventures for Ivorian should be created by the government by attracting local and foreign investors. The numerous rebels should be given special skills training in other for them to be able to live among the communities in Ivory Coast. Government of national unity should be encouraged in situation like this.

Keywords: displaced, federalism, pluralism, identity politics, grievance, eligibility, greed

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Authors: Palingba Aimé Marie Doilkom, Mahamadou Koïta, Jean-michel Vouillamoz, Angelbert Biaou

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Most African populations rely on groundwater in rural areas for their consumption. Indeed, in the face of climate change and strong demographic growth, groundwater, particularly in the basement, is increasingly in demand. The question of the sustainability of water resources in this type of environment is therefore becoming a major issue. Groundwater recharge can be natural or artificial. Unlike natural recharge, which often results from the natural infiltration of surface water (e.g. a share of rainfall), artificial recharge consists of causing water infiltration through appropriate developments to artificially replenish the water stock of an aquifer. Artificial recharge is, therefore, one of the measures that can be implemented to secure water supply, combat the effects of climate change, and, more generally, contribute to improving the quantitative status of groundwater bodies. It is in this context that the present research is conducted with the aim of developing artificial recharge in order to contribute to the sustainability of basement aquifers in a context of climatic variability and constantly increasing water needs of populations. In order to achieve the expected results, it is therefore important to determine the characteristics of the infiltration basins and to identify the areas suitable for their implementation. The geometry of the aquifer was reproduced, and the hydraulic properties of the aquifer were collected and characterized, including boundary conditions, hydraulic conductivity, effective porosity, recharge, Van Genuchten parameters, and saturation indices. The aquifer of the Sanon experimental site is made up of three layers, namely the saprolite, the fissured horizon, and the healthy basement. Indeed, the saprolite and the fissured medium were considered for the simulations. The first results with FEFLOW model show that the water table reacts continuously for the first 100 days before stabilizing. The hydraulic charge increases by an average of 1 m. The further away from the basin, the less the water table reacts. However, if a variable hydraulic head is imposed on the basins, it can be seen that the response of the water table is not uniform over time. The lower the basin hydraulic head, the less it affects the water table. These simulations must be continued by improving the characteristics of the basins in order to obtain the appropriate characteristics for a good recharge.

Keywords: basement area, FEFLOW, infiltration basin, MAR

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Authors: Fentie, Belay, Mulat

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In today’s high decrement figure of the global economy, nations are facing many economic, social and political challenges; universally, there is high distress of food and other survival insecurity. Further, as a result of conflict, natural disasters, and leadership influences, youths are existentially less empowered and unemployed, especially in developing countries. With this situation to handle well challenges, it’s important to search, investigate and deliberate about youth, unemployment, empowerment and possible management fashions, as youths have the potential to carry and fight such battles. The method adopted is a qualitative analysis of secondary data sources in youth empowerment, unemployment and development as an inclusive framework. Youth unemployment is a major development headache for most African countries. In Ethiopia, following weak youth empowerment, youth unemployment has increased from time to time, and quality education and organization linkage matter as an important constraint. As a management challenge, although accessibility of quality education for Ethiopian youths is an important constraint, the country's youths are fortified deceptively and harassed in a vicious political challenge in their struggle to fetch social and economic changes in the country. Further, thousands of youths are inactivated, criminalized and lost their lives and this makes youths hopeless anger in their lives and pushes them further to be exposed for addictions, prostitution, violence, and illegitimate migrations. This youth challenge wasn’t only destined for African countries; rather, indeed, it was a global burden and headed as a global agenda. As a resolution, the construction of a healthy education system can create independent youths who acquire success and accelerate development. Developing countries should ensue development in the cultivation of empowerment tools through long and short-term education, implementing policy in action, diminishing wide-ranging gaps of (religion, ethnicity & region), and take high youth population as an opportunity and empower them. Further managing and empowering youths to be involved in decision-making, giving political weight and building a network of organizations to easily access job opportunities are important suggestions to save youths in work, for both increasing their income and the country's food security balance.

Keywords: development, Ethiopia, management, unemployment, youth empowerment

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Authors: Ejikeme Ugiri

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In an executive summary, UNESCO describes Framework for Cultural Statistics as a tool for organizing cultural statistics both nationally and internationally. This is based on conceptual foundation and a common understanding of culture that will enable the measurement of a wide range of cultural expressions. This means therefore that cultural expression in whatever guise has the potentiality of contributing reasonably to the development of a given society. The paper looked into the various tangible and intangible cultures in Imo State of Nigeria. Due to government’s insensitivity, there is need to remind ourselves of the need to pay adequate attention to the cultural heritage bequeathed to us by our forefathers for the sake of posterity. Documenting this information in written form therefore becomes imperative. The study concludes that culture if developed, could reasonably contribute to economic and social growth of the society.

Keywords: culture, detonation, development, statistics

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Authors: J. Ritonja

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The biochemical technology has been developing extremely fast since the middle of the last century. The main reason for such development represents a requirement for large production of high-quality biologically manufactured products such as pharmaceuticals, foods, and beverages. The impact of the biochemical industry on the world economy is enormous. The great importance of this industry also results in intensive development in scientific disciplines relevant to the development of biochemical technology. In addition to developments in the fields of biology and chemistry, which enable to understand complex biochemical processes, development in the field of control theory and applications is also very important. In the paper, the control for the biochemical reactor for the milk fermentation was studied. During the fermentation process, the biophysical quantities must be precisely controlled to obtain the high-quality product. To control these quantities, the bioreactor’s stirring drive and/or heating system can be used. Available commercial biochemical reactors are equipped with open loop or conventional linear closed loop control system. Due to the outstanding parameters variations and the partial nonlinearity of the biochemical process, the results obtained with these control systems are not satisfactory. To improve the fermentation process, the self-tuning adaptive control system was proposed. The use of the self-tuning adaptive control is suggested because the parameters’ variations of the studied biochemical process are very slow in most cases. To determine the linearized mathematical model of the fermentation process, the recursive least square identification method was used. Based on the obtained mathematical model the linear quadratic regulator was tuned. The parameters’ identification and the controller’s synthesis are executed on-line and adapt the controller’s parameters to the fermentation process’ dynamics during the operation. The use of the proposed combination represents the original solution for the control of the milk fermentation process. The purpose of the paper is to contribute to the progress of the control systems for the biochemical reactors. The proposed adaptive control system was tested thoroughly. From the obtained results it is obvious that the proposed adaptive control system assures much better following of the reference signal as a conventional linear control system with fixed control parameters.

Keywords: adaptive control, biochemical reactor, linear quadratic regulator, recursive least square identification

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Authors: Habiba Ben Abdessalem

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The emergence of giant set of textual data was the push that has encouraged researchers to invest in this field. The purpose of textual data analysis methods is to facilitate access to such type of data by providing various graphic visualizations. Applying these methods requires a corpus pretreatment step, whose standards are set according to the objective of the problem studied. This step determines the forms list contained in contingency table by keeping only those information carriers. This step may, however, lead to noisy contingency tables, so the use of wavelet denoising function. The validity of the proposed approach is tested on a text database that offers economic and political events in Tunisia for a well definite period.

Keywords: textual data, wavelet, denoising, contingency table

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Authors: Taisiia Gorshkova

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Since the 1980s, spatial correlation models have been used more often to model regional indicators. An increasingly popular method for studying regional indicators is modeling taking into account spatial relationships between objects that are part of the same economic zone. In 2000s the new class of model – spatial vector autoregressions was developed. The main difference between standard and spatial vector autoregressions is that in the spatial VAR (SpVAR), the values of indicators at time t may depend on the values of explanatory variables at the same time t in neighboring regions and on the values of explanatory variables at time t-k in neighboring regions. Thus, VAR is a special case of SpVAR in the absence of spatial lags, and the spatial panel data model is a special case of spatial VAR in the absence of time lags. Two specifications of SpVAR were applied to Russian regional data for 2000-2017. The values of GRP and regional CPI are used as endogenous variables. The lags of GRP, CPI and the unemployment rate were used as explanatory variables. For comparison purposes, the standard VAR without spatial correlation was used as “naïve” model. In the first specification of SpVAR the unemployment rate and the values of depending variables, GRP and CPI, in neighboring regions at the same moment of time t were included in equations for GRP and CPI respectively. To account for the values of indicators in neighboring regions, the adjacency weight matrix is used, in which regions with a common sea or land border are assigned a value of 1, and the rest - 0. In the second specification the values of depending variables in neighboring regions at the moment of time t were replaced by these values in the previous time moment t-1. According to the results obtained, when inflation and GRP of neighbors are added into the model both inflation and GRP are significantly affected by their previous values, and inflation is also positively affected by an increase in unemployment in the previous period and negatively affected by an increase in GRP in the previous period, which corresponds to economic theory. GRP is not affected by either the inflation lag or the unemployment lag. When the model takes into account lagged values of GRP and inflation in neighboring regions, the results of inflation modeling are practically unchanged: all indicators except the unemployment lag are significant at a 5% significance level. For GRP, in turn, GRP lags in neighboring regions also become significant at a 5% significance level. For both spatial and “naïve” VARs the RMSE were calculated. The minimum RMSE are obtained via SpVAR with lagged explanatory variables. Thus, according to the results of the study, it can be concluded that SpVARs can accurately model both the actual values of macro indicators (particularly CPI and GRP) and the general situation in the regions

Keywords: forecasting, regional data, spatial econometrics, vector autoregression

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Authors: Jihane Mossalim

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This study proposes a methodological framework that combines Participatory Action Research (PAR) with Arts-Based Research (ABR) to explore the potential of generative AI in elementary art education. By integrating PAR, this framework emphasizes elementary school students’ active participation as co-researchers, engaging with AI technologies and reflecting on their creative journeys. PAR’s iterative cycles of planning, action, observation, and reflection provide a solid structure for involving children in the research process, ensuring that the study is inclusive and reflective of the children’s perspectives. Arts-Based Research, on the other hand, allows for the exploration of AI not just as a tool but as a medium of creative expression. ABR’s emphasis on visual, performative, and creative outputs complements PAR’s inclusive approach, offering a dynamic and flexible way of studying the intersection of technology and art in educational contexts. This combination is particularly valuable as it encourages students to express their ideas and emotions through art, making the learning process more engaging and personally meaningful. Despite the recognized benefits of both PAR and ABR, there remains a notable gap in research that applies these methodologies in combination with elementary school students, particularly in the context of emerging technologies like generative AI. Addressing this gap is crucial, as integrating these approaches can lead to more inclusive and innovative educational practices that cater to the diverse needs of young learners. This chapter seeks to demonstrate how integrating PAR and ABR can empower young learners, giving them a voice in the research process while enriching their creative and critical thinking skills. This chapter will develop a methodology that integrates both theoretical and practical aspects of PAR and ABR, highlighting the challenges and opportunities that emerge when these approaches are integrated. It will also discuss how to adapt these methods for research in the elementary art education, providing a foundation for future inquiry. Further, the chapter will focus on situating these methodological developments in relation to a study that seeks to understand the potential of generative AI in fostering creativity, collaboration, and critical thinking among young learners. Ultimately, this work aims to provide a pioneering example that inspires further exploration and development of educational practices in the digital age.

Keywords: participatory action research, arts-based research, generative AI, elementary art education

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Authors: Felipe Riveros, Ricardo Alvarez, Claudia Rahmann, Rodrigo Moreno

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Around the world, many countries have committed to a decarbonization of their electricity system. Under this global drive, converter-interfaced generators (CIG) such as wind and photovoltaic generation appear as cornerstones to achieve these energy targets. Despite its benefits, an increasing use of CIG brings several technical challenges in power systems, especially from a stability viewpoint. Among the key differences are limited short circuit current capacity, inertia-less characteristic of CIG, and response times within the electromagnetic timescale. Along with the integration of CIG into the power system, one enabling technology for the energy transition towards low-carbon power systems is battery energy storage systems (BESS). Because of the flexibility that BESS provides in power system operation, its integration allows for mitigating the variability and uncertainty of renewable energies, thus optimizing the use of existing assets and reducing operational costs. Another characteristic of BESS is that they can also support power system stability by injecting reactive power during the fault, providing short circuit currents, and delivering fast frequency response. However, most methodologies for sizing and allocating BESS in power systems are based on economic aspects and do not exploit the benefits that BESSs can offer to system stability. In this context, this paper presents a methodology for determining the optimal allocation of battery energy storage systems (BESS) in weak power systems with high levels of CIG. Unlike traditional economic approaches, this methodology incorporates stability constraints to allocate BESS, aiming to mitigate instability issues arising from weak grid conditions with low short-circuit levels. The proposed methodology offers valuable insights for power system engineers and planners seeking to maintain grid stability while harnessing the benefits of renewable energy integration. The methodology is validated in the reduced Chilean electrical system. The results show that integrating BESS into a power system with high levels of CIG with stability criteria contributes to decarbonizing and strengthening the network in a cost-effective way while sustaining system stability. This paper potentially lays the foundation for understanding the benefits of integrating BESS in electrical power systems and coordinating their placements in future converter-dominated power systems.

Keywords: battery energy storage, power system stability, system strength, weak power system

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Authors: Syed W. Hasan, Zhiqun Tian

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Wet spinning provides a facile and economic route to fabricate graphene nanofibers (GFs) on mass scale. Nevertheless, the pristine GFs exhibit significantly low electrical and mechanical properties owing to stacked graphene sheets and weak inter-atomic bonding. In this report, we present highly conductive Ag-decorated-GFs (Ag/GFs). The SEM micrographs show Ag nanoparticles (NPs) (dia ~10 nm) are homogeneously distributed throughout the cross-section of the fiber. The Ag NPs provide a conductive network for the electrons flow raising the conductivity to 1.8(10^4) S/m which is 4 times higher than the pristine GFs. Our results surpass the conductivities of graphene fibers doped with CNTs, Nanocarbon, fullerene, and Cu. The chemical and structural attributes of Ag/GFs are further elucidated through XPS, AFM and Raman spectroscopy.

Keywords: Ag nanoparticles, Conductive fibers, Graphene, Wet spinning

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Authors: Ajay Kumar Sinha, Sharad Singh, Anukriti Sinha

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Passive energy dissipation method for earthquake protection of structures is undergoing developments for improved performance. Combined use of different types of damping mechanisms has shown positive results in the near past. Different supplemental damping methods like viscous damping, frictional damping and metallic damping are being combined together for optimum performance. The conventional method of connecting passive dampers to structures is a parallel connection between the damper unit and structural member. Researchers are investigating coupling effect of different types of dampers. The most popular choice among the research community is coupling of viscous dampers and frictional dampers. The series and parallel coupling of these damping units are being studied for relative performance of the coupled system on response control of structures against earthquake. In this paper an attempt has been made to couple Fluid Viscous Dampers and Frictional Dampers in series and parallel to form a single unit of damping system. The relative performance of the coupled units has been studied on three dimensional reinforced concrete framed structure. The current theories of structural dynamics in practice for viscous damping and frictional damping have been incorporated in this study. The time history analysis of the structural system with coupled damper units, uncoupled damper units as well as of structural system without any supplemental damping has been performed in this study. The investigations reported in this study show significant improved performance of coupled system. A higher natural frequency of the system outside the forcing frequency has been obtained for structural systems with coupled damper units as against the other cases. The structural response of the structure in terms of storey displacement and storey drift show significant improvement for the case with coupled damper units as against the cases with uncoupled units or without any supplemental damping. The results are promising in terms of improved response of the structure with coupled damper units. Further investigations in this regard for a comparative performance of the series and parallel coupled systems will be carried out to study the optimum behavior of these coupled systems for enhanced response control of structural systems.

Keywords: frictional damping, parallel coupling, response control, series coupling, supplemental damping, viscous damping

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Authors: Murat Iskender Aktaş, Sadi Ergin, Rasime Acar Aktaş

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In the light of fast-paced changes and developments in the health sector, the Ministry of Health started a new structuring with decree law numbered 663 within the scope of the Project of Transformation in Health. Accordingly, hospitals should ensure patient satisfaction through more efficient, more effective use of resources and sustainable finance by placing patients in the centre and should operate to increase efficiency to its maximum level while doing these. Within this study, in order to find out how efficient the hospitals were in terms of medical waste management between the years 2011-2014, the data from six hospitals of Amasya Public Hospitals Union were evaluated separately through Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) method. First of all, input variables were determined. Input variables were the number of patients admitted to polyclinics, the number of inpatients in clinics, the number of patients who were operated and the number of patients who applied to the laboratory. Output variable was the cost of medical wastes in Turkish liras. Each hospital’s total medical waste level before and after public hospitals union; the amounts of average medical waste per patient admitted to polyclinics, per inpatient in clinics, per patient admitted to laboratory and per operated patient were compared within each group. In addition, average medical waste levels and costs were compared for Turkey in general and Europe in general. Paired samples t-test was used to find out whether the changes (increase-decrease) after public hospitals union were statistically significant. The health facilities that were unsuccessful in terms of medical waste management before and after public hospital union and the factors that caused this failure were determined. Based on the results, for each health facility that was ineffective in terms of medical waste management, the level of improvement required for each input was determined. The results of the study showed that there was an improvement in medical waste management applications after the health facilities became a member of public hospitals union; their medical waste levels were lower than the average of Turkey and Europe while the averages of cost of disposal were the highest.

Keywords: medical waste management, cost of medical waste, public hospitals, data envelopment analysis

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Authors: Ignatio Madanhire, Charles Mbohwa

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This study explores to improve the resource efficiency, waste water reduction and to reduce losses of raw materials in a beverage making industry. A number of cleaner production technologies were put across in this work. It was also noted that cleaner production technology practices are not only desirable from the environmental point of view, but they also make good economic sense, in their contribution to the bottom line by conserving resources like energy, raw materials and manpower, improving yield as well as reducing treatment/disposal costs. This work is a resource in promoting adoption and implementation of CP in other industries for sustainable development.

Keywords: resource efficiency, beverages, reduce losses, cleaner production, energy, yield

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Authors: Mikhail V. Khachaturyan, Inga A. Koryagina, Eugenia V. Klicheva

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In modern conditions, scientific judgment of problems in developing mechanisms of value creation and risk management acquires special relevance. Formation of economic knowledge has resulted in the constant analysis of consumer behavior for all players from national and world markets. Effective mechanisms development of the demand analysis, crucial for consumer's characteristics of future production, and the risks connected with the development of this production are the main objectives of control systems in modern conditions. The modern period of economic development is characterized by a high level of globalization of business and rigidity of competition. At the same time, the considerable share of new products and services costs has a non-material intellectual nature. The most successful in Russia is the contemporary development of small innovative firms. Such firms, through their unique technologies and new approaches to process management, which form the basis of their intellectual capital, can show flexibility and succeed in the market. As a rule, such enterprises should have very variable structure excluding the tough scheme of submission and demanding essentially new incentives for inclusion of personnel in innovative activity. Realization of similar structures, as well as a new approach to management, can be constructed based on value-oriented management which is directed to gradual change of consciousness of personnel and formation from groups of adherents included in the solution of the general innovative tasks. At the same time, valuable changes can gradually capture not only innovative firm staff, but also the structure of its corporate partners. Introduction of new technologies is the significant factor contributing to the development of new valuable imperatives and acceleration of the changing values systems of the organization. It relates to the fact that new technologies change the internal environment of the organization in a way that the old system of values becomes inefficient in new conditions. Introduction of new technologies often demands change in the structure of employee’s interaction and training in their new principles of work. During the introduction of new technologies and the accompanying change in the value system, the structure of the management of the values of the organization is changing. This is due to the need to attract more staff to justify and consolidate the new value system and bring their view into the motivational potential of the new value system of the organization.

Keywords: value, risk, creation, problems, organization

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Authors: Shorena Tsiklauri, Avtandil Sulaberidze, Nino Gomelauri

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In the years followed independence, an economic crisis and some conflicts led to the displacement of many people inside Georgia. The growing poverty, unemployment, low income and its unequal distribution limited access to basic social service have had a clear direct impact on Georgian population dynamics and its age-sex structure. Factors influencing the changing population age structure and urbanization include mortality, fertility, migration and expansion of urban. In this paper presents the main factors of changing the distribution by urban and rural areas. How different are the urban and rural age and sex structures? Does Georgia have the same age-sex structure among their urban and rural populations since 1950s?

Keywords: age and sex structure of population, georgia, migration, urban-rural population

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