Search results for: policy adoption

Authors: Ly Thi Hai Yen

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The Internet in Vietnam has developed significantly over the last 20 years and made impressive advances, permeating into every part of daily life, changing people's habits as well as the way people's communication. Under this situation, social media have become useful tools for the citizen to get and share information. About 10 years ago, most Vietnamese people got the information through state media, but thanks to the development of the Internet, nowadays, social media have been giving them rich sources of information at any area of society. By using case study research methods, documentary research method and in-depth interviews conducted with social media users, NGO activists, and Vietnamese scholars in 2017, the paper found that social media has been bringing a cyber public sphere to whom wish to discuss social and political issues. And, more importantly, it gives them a chance to connect with the government and policy makers quickly and effectively. Moreover, people use social media to supervise activities in society to prevent social evils and corruption in Vietnam. However, besides these positive points, people also have to cope with the rising situation of fake news which causing consequences for the society, such as pulling off crimes or cheating money and others. The paper concluded that social media plays important roles in the change of Vietnamese society, giving citizens a cyber public sphere unrestrictedly to discuss social and political issues but also bringing many bad risks to citizens.

Keywords: Vietnamese, social media, politics-society

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Authors: Anju Elizbath Peter, S. M. Shiva Nagendra, Indumathi M.Nambi

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The deliberate fires initiated by dump managers and human scavengers to reduce the volume of waste and recovery of valuable metals/materials are common at municipal solid waste (MSW) disposal sites in developed country. A large amount of toxic gases released due to this act is responsible for the deterioration of regional and local air quality, which causes visibility impairment and acute respiratory diseases. The present study was aimed at the characterization of MSW and emission characteristics of burning of MSW in the laboratory. MSW samples were collected directly from the one of the open dumpsite located in Chennai city. Solid waste sampling and laboratory analysis were carried out according to American Society of Testing and Materials (ASTM) standards. Results indicated the values of moisture content, volatile solids (VS) and calorific values of solid waste samples were 16.67%,8%,9.17MJ/kg, respectively. The elemental composition showed that the municipal solid waste contains 25.84% of carbon, 3.69% of hydrogen, 1.57% of nitrogen and 0.26% of sulphur. The calorific value of MSW was found to be 9.17 MJ/Kg which is sufficient to facilitate self-combustion of waste. The characterization of emissions from the burning of 1 kg of MSW in the test chamber showed a total of 90 mg/kg of PM10 and 243 mg/kg of PM2.5. The current research study results will be useful for municipal authorities to formulate guideline and policy structure regarding the MSW management to reduce the impact of air emissions at an open dump site.

Keywords: characterization, MSW, open burning, PM10, PM2.5

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Authors: Judith Partouche-Sebban, Saeedeh Rezaee Vessal

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Because of the rising number of new cases of cancer, especially among women, it is more than essential to better understand how women experience cancer in order to bring them adapted to support and care and enhance their well-being and patient experience. Cancer stands for a traumatic experience in which the diagnosis, its medical treatments, and the related side effects lead to deep physical and psychological changes that may arouse considerable stress and anxiety. In order to reduce these negative emotions, women tend to use various defense mechanisms, among which denial has been defined as the most frequent mechanism used by breast cancer patients. This study aims to better understand the consequences of the experience of cancer and their link with the adoption of a denial strategy. The empirical research was done among female cancer survivors in France. Since the topic of this study is relatively unexplored, a qualitative methodology and open-ended interviews were employed. In total, 25 semi-directive interviews were conducted with a female with different cancers, different stages of treatment, and different ages. A systematic inductive method was performed to analyze data. The content analysis enabled to highlight three different denial-related behaviors among women with cancer, which serve a self-protective function. First, women who expressed high levels of anxiety confessed they tended to completely deny the existence of their cancer immediately after the diagnosis of their illness. These women mainly exhibit many fears and a deep distrust toward the medical context and professionals. This coping mechanism is defined by the patient as being unconscious. Second, other women deliberately decided to deny partial information about their cancer, whether this information is related to the stages of the illness, the emotional consequences, or the behavioral consequences of the illness. These women use this strategy as a way to avoid the reality of the illness and its impact on the different aspects of their life as if cancer does not exist. Third, some women tend to reinterpret and give meaning to their cancer as a way to reduce its impact on their life. To this end, they may use magical thinking or positive reframing, or reinterpretation. Because denial may lead to delays in medical treatments, this topic deserves a deep investigation, especially in the context of oncology. As denial is defined as a specific defense mechanism, this study contributes to the existing literature in service marketing which focuses on emotions and emotional regulation in healthcare services which is a crucial issue. Moreover, this study has several managerial implications for healthcare professionals who interact with patients in order to implement better care and support for the patients.

Keywords: cancer, coping mechanisms, denial, healthcare services

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Authors: Maslan Lamria, Ralph E. H. Sims, Tatang H. Soerawidjaja

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In increasing its self-sufficiency on transportation fuel, Indonesia is currently developing commercial production and use of drop-in biofuel (DBF) from vegetable oil. To maximize the level of success, it is necessary to get insights on how the implementation would develop as well as any important factors. This study assessed the dynamics of transition from existing fossil fuel system to a renewable fuel system, which involves the transition from existing biodiesel to projected DBF. A systems dynamics approach was applied and a model developed to simulate the dynamics of liquid biofuel transition. The use of palm oil feedstock was taken as a case study to assess the projected DBF implementation by 2045. The set of model indicators include liquid fuel self-sufficiency, liquid biofuel share, foreign exchange savings and green-house gas emissions reduction. The model outputs showed that supports on DBF investment and use play an important role in the transition progress. Given assumptions which include application of a maximum level of supports over time, liquid fuel self-sufficiency would be still unfulfilled in which palm biofuel contribution is 0.2. Thus, other types of feedstock such as algae and oil feedstock from marginal lands need to be developed synergically. Regarding support on DBF use, this study recommended that removal of fossil subsidy would be necessary prior to applying a carbon tax policy effectively.

Keywords: biofuel, drop-in biofuel, energy transition, liquid fuel

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Authors: Seyedeh Samaneh Hosseini Yousefi

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Space does not play role just in mentioning the place or locations. It also takes part in people attendance and social structures. Urban space is of substantial aspects of city which is a public sphere for free and unlimited appearance of citizens. Along with such appearances and regarding physical, environmental and functional conditions, different personal and social behaviors can be seen and analyzed toward people. The main principle of an urban space is including social relations and communications. In this survey, urban space has been referred to one in which physical, environmental and functional attractions cause pause and staying of people. Surveys have shown that urban designers have discussed about place more than architects or planners. With attention to mutual relations between urban space, society and civilization, proper policy making and planning are essential due to achieving an ideal urban space. The survey has been decided to analyze the effect of functional and physical structure of urban spaces on citizens' social behaviors. Hence, Valiasr crossroads, Tehran identified public space, has been selected in which analytic-descriptive method utilized. To test the accuracy of assumptions, statistical test has been accomplished by SPSS. Findings have shown that functional structure affects social behaviors, relations, integration and participation more than physical structure does.

Keywords: citizens' social behavior, functional structure, physical structure, urban space

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Authors: Jinah Kwon

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Why are there North Korean women who prefer their life in China, living as an undocumented migrant, to legal residence in South Korea? What is the line between choice and coercion in trafficking and how does it relate to family, especially in Asian culture? Is family function as a haven in the unsecured world or a fetter against the better world? Are the current international mechanisms on trafficked victims fully reflecting the voices of the victims? This study is about the paradoxical conditions of North Korean women situated in China as the trafficked victim and as members of their Chinese family. In order to answer the questions above, this study explored the case of trafficked North Korean women in China. This mixed-methods study employed in-depth interviews of 18 trafficked women living in China and a survey of 98 North Korean origin women residing in South Korea. From the survey, 40 out of 98 women from the survey indicated an unexpected function of trafficking, which was used as a channel of supporting the subjectivity of women in the North Korean context. Such results supported the actual observation and narratives of North Korean women who experienced trafficking from the author’s two visits to the Northeastern area of China in 2012 and 2018, respectively. Based on the findings, the last part of the study makes policy implications on international trafficking mechanisms—theories by Gayatri Spivak and Herbert A. Simon was employed to approach the relatively less dealt aspect of trafficking.

Keywords: China, North Korean women, trafficking, victimhood

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Authors: Elisabetta Cianfanelli, Paolo Pupparo, Maria Claudia Coppola

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The recent evolutions in the innovation processes and in the intrinsic tendencies of the product development process, lead to new considerations on the design flow. The instability and complexity that contemporary life describes, defines new problems in the production of products, stimulating at the same time the adoption of new solutions across the entire design process. The advent of Additive Manufacturing, but also of IOT and AI technologies, continuously puts us in front of new paradigms regarding design as a social activity. The totality of these technologies from the point of view of application describes a whole series of problems and considerations immanent to design thinking. Addressing these problems may require some initial intuition and the use of some provisional set of rules or plausible strategies, i.e., heuristic reasoning. At the same time, however, the evolution of digital technology and the computational speed of new design tools describe a new and contrary design framework in which to operate. It is therefore interesting to understand the opportunities and boundaries of the new man-algorithm relationship. The contribution investigates the man-algorithm relationship starting from the state of the art of the Made in Italy model, the most known fields of application are described and then focus on specific cases in which the mutual relationship between man and AI becomes a new driving force of innovation for entire production chains. On the other hand, the use of algorithms could engulf many design phases, such as the definition of shape, dimensions, proportions, materials, static verifications, and simulations. Operating in this context, therefore, becomes a strategic action, capable of defining fundamental choices for the design of product systems in the near future. If there is a human-algorithm combination within a new integrated system, quantitative values can be controlled in relation to qualitative and material values. The trajectory that is described therefore becomes a new design horizon in which to operate, where it is interesting to highlight the good practices that already exist. In this context, the designer developing new forms can experiment with ways still unexpressed in the project and can define a new synthesis and simplification of algorithms, so that each artifact has a signature in order to define in all its parts, emotional and structural. This signature of the designer, a combination of values and design culture, will be internal to the algorithms and able to relate to digital technologies, creating a generative dialogue for design purposes. The result that is envisaged indicates a new vision of digital technologies, no longer understood only as of the custodians of vast quantities of information, but also as a valid integrated tool in close relationship with the design culture.

Keywords: decision making, design euristics, product design, product design process, design paradigms

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Authors: Bharat Prasad Neupane

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Given the widespread concentration on beliefs, values, emotions, critical incidents, and practices in exploring teachers’ professional identities, this study presents the trajectories of identity construction of three English language teachers from Nepal, analyzing their storied lives from schoolteachers to university professors. For this purpose, the article considered the three-dimensional professional development model to explore the effective mediation by the state agencies, culture and the policies, appropriate support from the organizations, and the bottom-up initiatives taken by the teachers in their professional development. Besides, the professional development journey derived from the in-depth interview of the participants is analyzed by employing communities of practice theory, particularly engagement, alignment, and imagination, as theoretical categories to discover their professional identities. The analysis revealed that passion for language, creativity, and motivation to learn English during childhood initially encouraged them to study English. In addition, inspiration from their teachers during their schooling and later a competitive working environment motivated them to experiment with innovative teaching approaches and establish themselves in the profession. Furthermore, diversification in university teaching according to university requirements and resultant divergence from the professional root ultimately transformed their identity beyond English teachers. Finally, university policy, customization of teachers as per the university requirement, and their survival strategy as English teachers in a university where technical subjects are given more priority has impacted their professional identities.

Keywords: teachers’ professional development, English language teaching, professional identity, communities of practice

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Authors: Emmanuel Ayobami Adesiyan

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Political theorists have identified ethnicity as an obstacle to democratic stability in deeply divided societies. Nigeria belongs to the categories of problematic states labeled divided or deeply divided societies, as such post-independence politics is characterized by ethnicity with its ruinous effect on democratic governance and development. Institutional Engineering, the purposive manipulation of the electoral rule relating to party organization and the electoral formula has been established in comparative political studies as a policy measure for managing ethnicity in order to stabilize politics in divided societies. This paper examines the use of electoral engineering tools in managing ethnic politics in Nigeria’s Fourth Republic. The study is guided by rational institutional theory. Secondary data on electoral rules and disaggregated results of presidential elections were collected from archival documents. Data were subjected to content analysis. Institutional changes in electoral rules have promoted the development of inter-ethnic bargaining and compromises within the party system. Presidential Electoral Formula aided the emergence of national rather parochial parties. Electoral engineering tools moved Nigerian Politics from ethnic parochialism to inclusion and accommodation. These innovations should be strengthened to enhance democratic stability.

Keywords: Nigeria, presidential-elections, ethnic politics, institutional engineering

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Authors: Abduselam Faris, Rijalu Negash, Zera Kedir

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This study was initiated to identify constraints and opportunities of the wood production value chain in Southwest Ethiopia. About 385 wood trees growing farmers were randomly interviewed. Similarly, about 30 small-scale wood processors, 30 retailers, 15 local collectors and 5 wholesalers were purposively included in the study. The results of the study indicated that 98.96 % of the smallholder farmers that engaged in the production of wood trees which is used for wood were male-headed, with an average age of 46.88 years. The main activity that the household engaged was agriculture (crop and livestock) which accounts for about 61.56% of the sample respondents. Through value chain mapping of actors, the major value chain participant and supporting actors were identified. On average, the tree-growing farmers generated gross income of 9385.926 Ethiopian birr during the survey year. Among the critical constraints identified along the wood production value chain was limited supply of credit, poor market information dissemination, high interference of brokers, and shortage of machines, inadequate working area and electricity. The availability of forest resources is the leading opportunity in the wood production value chain. Reinforcing the linkage among wood production value chain actors, providing skill training for small-scale processors, and developing suitable policy for wood tree wise use is key recommendations forward.

Keywords: value chain analysis, wood production, southwest Ethiopia, constraints and opportunities

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Authors: Mridula Devi

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Trafficking of women is a slur on human dignity and a shameful act to human civilization and development. Trafficking of women is one of worst brazen abuses which violate the women’s human rights. In India, more particularly in Assam, human trafficking and infringement of human rights of individual includes mainly the women and girl child of the State. Trafficking in North East region of India, more particularly in Assam occurs in two different ways – one is the internal trafficking of women and girl child from conflict affected rural areas of Assam for domestic work and prostitution. Secondly, there is trafficking of women to other south-East Asiatic countries like Bangladesh, Bhutan, Bangkok, Myanmar (Burma) for various purposes such as drug trafficking, labor, bar girl and prostitution.Historically, trafficking in human beings is associated with slavery and bonded or forced labor. Since the period of Roman Civilization, there was the practice of traffic in persons in the form of slave trade among the nations. With the rise of new imperialism, slavery had become an integral part of the colonial system of European Countries. With time, it almost became synonymous with prostitution or commercial sexual exploitation. Finally, the United Nation adopted the Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and of the Prostitution of others, 1949 by the G.A.Res.No.-317(iv). The Convention totally denounces the traffic in persons for the purpose of prostitution. However, it is important to note that, now a days trafficking is not confined to commercial sexual exploitation of women and children alone. It has myriad forms and the number of victims has been steadily on the rise over the past few decades. In Assam, it takes place through and for marriage, sexual exploitation, begging, organ trading, militancy conflicts, drug padding and smuggling, labour, adoption, entertainment, and sports. In this paper, empirical methodology has been used. The study is based on primary and secondary sources. Data’s are collected from different books, publications, newspaper, journals etc. For empirical analysis, some random samples are collected and systematized for better result. India suffers from the ignominy of being one of the biggest hubs of women trafficking in the world. Over the years, Assam: the north east part of India has been bearing the brunt of the rapidly rising evil of trafficking of women which threaten the life, dignity and human rights of women. Though different laws are adopted at international and national level to restore trafficking, still the menace of trafficking of women in Assam is not decreased, rather it increased. This causes a serious violation of women’s human right in Assam. Human trafficking or women’s trafficking is a serious crime against society. To curb this in Assam it is required to take some effective and dedicated measure at state level as well as national and international level.

Keywords: Assam, human trafficking, sexual exploitation, India

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Authors: Hasan Alrashid

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The 2005 Hague Convention seeks to ensure legal certainty and predictability between parties in international business transactions. It harmonies exclusive choice of court agreements at the international level between parties to commercial transactions and to govern the recognition and enforcement of judgments resulting from proceedings based on such agreements to promote international trade and investment. Although the choice of court agreements is significant in international business transactions, the United Arab Emirates refuse to recognise it by Article 24 of the Federal Law No. 11 of 1992 of the Civil Procedure Code. A review of judicial judgments in United Arab Emirates up to the present day has revealed that several cases appeared before the Court in different states of United Arab Emirates regarding the recognition of exclusive choice of court agreements. In all the cases, the courts regarded the exclusive choice of court agreements as a direct assault on state authority and sovereignty and refused categorically to recognize choice of court agreements by refusing to stay proceedings in favor of the foreign chosen court. This has created uncertainty and unpredictability in international business transaction in the United Arab Emirates. In June 2011, the first Gulf Judicial Seminar on Cross-Frontier Legal Cooperation in Civil and Commercial Matters was held in Doha, Qatar. The Permanent Bureau of the Hague Conference attended the conference and invited the states of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) namely, The United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar and Kuwait to adopt some of the Hague Conventions, one of which was the Hague Convention on Choice of Court Agreements. One of the recommendations of the conference was that the GCC states should research ‘the benefits of predictability and legal certainty provided by the 2005 Convention on Choice of Court Agreements and its resulting advantages for cross-border trade and investment’ for possible adoption of the Hague Convention. Up to today, no further step has been taken by the any of the GCC states to adapt the Hague Convention nor did they conduct research on the benefits of predictability and legal certainty in international business transactions. This paper will argue that the approach regarding the recognition of choice of court agreements in United Arab Emirates states can be improved in order to help the parties in international business transactions avoid parallel litigation and ensure legal certainty and predictability. The focus will be the uncertainty and gaps regarding the choice of court agreements in the United Arab Emirates states. The Hague Convention on choice of court agreements and the importance of harmonisation of the rules of choice of court agreements at international level will also be discussed. Finally, The feasibility and desirability of recognizing choice of court agreements in United Arab Emirates legal system by becoming a party to the Hague Convention will be evaluated.

Keywords: choice of court agreements, party autonomy, public authority, sovereignty

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Authors: Juan Pedro Aznar Alarcon, Josep Maria Sayeras Maspera

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Airbnb and other similar platforms are offering a near substitute to the traditional accommodation service supplied by the hotel sector. In this context, hotels can try to compete by offering higher quality and additional services, which imply the need for new investments or try to compete by reducing prices. The theoretical model presented in this paper analyzes the best response using a sequential game theory model. The main conclusion is that due to the financial constraints that small and medium hotels have these hotels have reduced prices whereas hotels that belong to international groups or have an easy access to financial resources have increased their investment to increase the quality of the service provided. To check the validity of the theoretical model financial data from Barcelona, London and Paris hotels have been used analyzing profitability, quality of the service provided, the investment propensity and the evolution of the gross profit. The model and the empirical data provide the base for some industrial policy in the hospitality industry. To address the extra cost that small hotels in Europe have to face compared by bigger firms would help to improve the level of quality provided and to some extent have positive externalities in terms of job creation and an increasing added value for the industry.

Keywords: Airbnb, profitability, hospitality industry, game theory

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Authors: Omotolani Victoria Somoye

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The paper examines modern approaches to the insurable interest, which is a fundamental principle of insurance law that affects the enforceability of insurance contracts. The study starts by examining the competing definitions of the nature of the insurable interest doctrine. It finds that while legal interest theory is seen to be sufficient as the test of insurable interest, the paper argues on how this approach deprives the insured of a full indemnity of losses suffered. The problem with the Nigerian and English current legislative framework is that it defines insurable interest as a legally recognized interest of the insured in the subject matter of insurance. However, other countries like Australia, the United States, South Africa, and more recently, Canada, have rejected the English test and trodden their own path along the factual expectancy line. The study justifies the rationale behind the departure of similar common law jurisdictions and argues that the English and Nigerian position, which appears to be too rigid, harsh on the insured, and no longer fit for purpose in the 21st century, should be revised. The paper concludes that the common law doctrine does not represent better interests of certainty, justice, and fairness, as well as not meeting the policy behind the requirement of insurable interest. This paper adopts a doctrinal comparative research methodology to examine complex areas of insurable interest in selected countries and work out some suggestions for reforming the Nigerian and English laws by referring to the approaches of other jurisdictions.

Keywords: Australia, common law, English law, insurable interest, insurance, Nigeria

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Authors: Ahmad Haidar

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The rapid adoption of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology holds unforeseen risks like privacy violation, unemployment, and algorithmic bias, triggering research institutions, governments, and companies to develop principles of AI ethics. The extensive and diverse literature on AI lacks an analysis of the evolution of principles developed in recent years. There are two fundamental purposes of this paper. The first is to provide insights into how the principles of AI ethics have been changed recently, including concepts like risk management and public participation. In doing so, a NOISE (Needs, Opportunities, Improvements, Strengths, & Exceptions) analysis will be presented. Second, offering a framework for building Ethical AI linked to sustainability. This research adopts an explorative approach, more specifically, an inductive approach to address the theoretical gap. Consequently, this paper tracks the different efforts to have “trustworthy AI” and “ethical AI,” concluding a list of 12 documents released from 2017 to 2022. The analysis of this list unifies the different approaches toward trustworthy AI in two steps. First, splitting the principles into two categories, technical and net benefit, and second, testing the frequency of each principle, providing the different technical principles that may be useful for stakeholders considering the lifecycle of AI, or what is known as sustainable AI. Sustainable AI is the third wave of AI ethics and a movement to drive change throughout the entire lifecycle of AI products (i.e., idea generation, training, re-tuning, implementation, and governance) in the direction of greater ecological integrity and social fairness. In this vein, results suggest transparency, privacy, fairness, safety, autonomy, and accountability as recommended technical principles to include in the lifecycle of AI. Another contribution is to capture the different basis that aid the process of AI for sustainability (e.g., towards sustainable development goals). The results indicate data governance, do no harm, human well-being, and risk management as crucial AI for sustainability principles. This study’s last contribution clarifies how the principles evolved. To illustrate, in 2018, the Montreal declaration mentioned eight principles well-being, autonomy, privacy, solidarity, democratic participation, equity, and diversity. In 2021, notions emerged from the European Commission proposal, including public trust, public participation, scientific integrity, risk assessment, flexibility, benefit and cost, and interagency coordination. The study design will strengthen the validity of previous studies. Yet, we advance knowledge in trustworthy AI by considering recent documents, linking principles with sustainable AI and AI for sustainability, and shedding light on the evolution of guidelines over time.

Keywords: artificial intelligence, AI for sustainability, declarations, framework, regulations, risks, sustainable AI

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Authors: Endeshaw Assefa Derso, Maria Gabriella Campolo, Angela Alibrandi

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Objectives:Early childhood malnutrition can have long-term and irreversible effects on a child's health and development. This study uses the Bayesian method with spatial variation to investigate the flexible trends of metrical covariates and to identify communities at high risk of injury. Methods: Cross-sectional data on underweight are collected from the 2016 Ethiopian Demographic and Health Survey (EDHS). The Bayesian geo-additive model is performed. Appropriate prior distributions were provided for scall parameters in the models, and the inference is entirely Bayesian, using Monte Carlo Markov chain (MCMC) stimulation. Results: The results show that metrical covariates like child age, maternal body mass index (BMI), and maternal age affect a child's underweight non-linearly. Lower and higher maternal BMI seem to have a significant impact on the child’s high underweight. There was also a significant spatial heterogeneity, and based on IDW interpolation of predictive values, the western, central, and eastern parts of the country are hotspot areas. Conclusion: Socio-demographic and community- based programs development should be considered compressively in Ethiopian policy to combat childhood underweight malnutrition.

Keywords: bayesX, Ethiopia, malnutrition, MCMC, semi-parametric bayesian analysis, spatial distribution, P- splines

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Authors: Preethi Sudarshanie Dassanayake, R. A. Sudath Weerasiri

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Objective: The objective of this study were to find out highest expectation and perception,highest gap between perception and expectation of service quality, and to find out such gaps between perception and expectation with regard to service quality dimensions were whether statistically significant. Methodology: This study carried out at the Out Patient Department (OPD) of the Veterinary Teaching Hospital (VTH), University of Peradeniya. Modified version of SERVQUAL with 22-pairs of items regarding expectation and perception of service quality in dimensions of tangible, reliability, responsiveness, assurance and empathy were included in Part 1 and the Part 2 of the questionnaire consisted of questions regarding socio-demographic factors. Sample size was 200 and sampling procedure was Systematic Random Sampling. Customers above 18 years of age, able to read, write and understand Sinhala or English language, visits more than twice in last six months and who willing to respond were selected. Findings: The analysis revealed customers expectations of service higher than the perceived for all 22- items of the SERVQUAL. This high expectation suggests that there is sufficient room for further improvement of service quality in all five dimensions. Originality/Value of the Paper: This study gave a new insight for poorly researched area of veterinary health service quality in Sri Lankan context. It provides hospital administrators and policy makers to develop strategies for further improvement of service quality according to customers' view.

Keywords: expectation, perception, service quality, SERVQUAL, veterinary health care

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Authors: Mei-Se Chien, Chien-Chiang Lee, Sin-Jie Cai

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The main purpose of this paper is to investigate the long-run equilibrium and short-run dynamics of international housing prices when macroeconomic variables change. We apply the Pedroni’s, panel cointegration, using the unbalanced panel data analysis of 33 countries over the period from 1980Q1 to 2013Q1, to examine the relationships among house prices and macroeconomic variables. Our empirical results of panel data cointegration tests support the existence of a cointegration among these macroeconomic variables and house prices. Besides, the empirical results of panel DOLS further present that a 1% increase in economic activity, long-term interest rates, and construction costs cause house prices to respectively change 2.16%, -0.04%, and 0.22% in the long run. Furthermore, the increasing economic activity and the construction cost would cause stronger impacts on the house prices for lower income countries than higher income countries. The results lead to the conclusion that policy of house prices growth can be regarded as economic growth for lower income countries. Finally, in America region, the coefficient of economic activity is the highest, which displays that increasing economic activity causes a faster rise in house prices there than in other regions. There are some special cases whereby the coefficients of interest rates are significantly positive in America and Asia regions.

Keywords: house prices, macroeconomic variables, panel cointegration, dynamic OLS

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Authors: M. Mokrzecka, A. Aly, A. K. Obwona, Piotrowska M., Richardson S.

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Frankfurt am Main, the fifth largest city in Germany, ranked 15th by the Global Financial Centers Index in 2014, and a finalist of European Green Capital 2014, is a crucial player in German Environmental Policy. In 2012 the city authorities agreed a target to reduce the city’s energy consumption by 50%, and fully switch to renewable energy by the year 2050. To achieve this goal, the Municipality of Frankfurt has begun preparing the Master plan, which will be introduced to public by the end of 2015. Transitions theory tells, that to address challenges as complex as Climate Change and the Energiewende, the development of new technologies and systems is not sufficient. Transition by definition is a process, and in such a large scale (city and region transition) can be fulfilled only, when operates within a broad socio – technical system. Thus, the Authors believe that only by close cooperation with citizens, as well as different stakeholders, can the Transition in Frankfurt be successful. The city therefore needs a strategy which will ensure the engagement, sense of ownership and broad support within Frankfurt society for the aims of the Master plan. This paper presents a proposal for how the city can achieve this based therefore, on fostering the citizens’ engagement through a comprehensive, innovative communication strategy. The proposal was originally developed by the authors as a winning submission for the Climate-KIC Transitions PhD Summer School 2014..

Keywords: city development, communication strategies, social transition, sustainability

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Authors: Fariba Ebrahimi, Mehdi Ghorbani, Ali Salajegheh

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Comprehensively water management considers economic, environmental, technical and social and also sustainability of water resources for future generations. Grassland management implies cooperative approach and involves all stakeholders and also introduces issues to managers, decision and policy makers. Solving these issues needs integrated and system approach. According to the recognition of actors or key persons in necessary to apply cooperative management of Water. Therefore, based on stakeholder analysis and social network analysis can be used to demonstrate the most effective actors for environmental decisions. In this research, social powers according are specified to social network approach at Water utilizers’ level of Natural in Jirood catchment of Latian basin. In this paper, utilizers of water resources were recognized using field trips and then, trust and collaboration matrix produced using questionnaires. In the next step, degree centrality index were Examined. Finally, geometric position of each actor was illustrated in the network. The results of the research based on centrality index have a key role in recognition of cooperative management of Water in Jirood and also will help managers and planners of water in the case of recognition of social powers in order to organization and implementation of sustainable management of Water.

Keywords: social network analysis, water co-management, social power, centrality index, local stakeholders network, Jirood catchment

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Authors: Renate Gericke, Carol Long

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Despite the robust empirical support of attachment, advancement in the description and conceptualization of attachment has been slow and has not significantly advanced beyond the identification of attachment security or type (namely, secure, avoidant, ambivalent and disorganized). This has continued despite papers arguing for theoretical refinement in the classification of attachment presentations. For thinking and practice to advance, it is critically important that these categories and their assessment be interrogated in different contexts and across developmental age. To achieve this, a quantitative design was used with descriptive and inferential statistics, and general linear models were employed to analyze the data. The Attachment Story Completion Test (ASCT) was administered to 105 children between the ages of eight and twelve from socio-economically deprived contexts with high exposure to trauma. A staggering 93% of the children had insecure attachments (specifically, avoidant 37%, disorganized 34% and ambivalent 22%) and attachment was more complex than currently conceptualized in the attachment literature. Primary attachment did not only present as one of four discreet categories, but 70% of the sample had a complex attachment with more than one type of maternal attachment style. Attachment intensity also varied along a continuum (between 1 and 5). The findings have implications for a) research that has not considered the potential complexity of attachment or attachment intensity, b) policy to more actively support mother-infant dyads, particularly in high-risk contexts and c) question the applicability of a western conceptualization of a primary maternal attachment figure in non-western collectivist societies.

Keywords: attachment, children at risk, middle childhood, non-western context

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Authors: Rabia Aslam

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Overwhelming evidence from all around the world suggests that high-quality teacher professional development facilitates the improvement of teaching practices which in turn could improve student learning outcomes. The new Continuous Professional Development (CPD) model for primary school teachers in Punjab uses a blended approach in which pedagogical content knowledge is delivered through technology (high-quality instructional videos and lesson plans delivered to school tablets or mobile phones) with face-to-face support by Assistant Education Officers (AEOs). The model also develops Communities of Practice operationalized through formal meetings led by the AEOs and informal interactions through social media groups to provide opportunities for teachers to engage with each other and share their ideas, reflect on learning, and come up with solutions to issues they experience. Using Kirkpatrick’s 4 levels of the learning evaluation model, this paper investigates how school tablets and teacher mobile phones may act as transformational cultural tools to potentially expand perceptions and access to teaching and learning resources and explore some of the affordances of social media (Facebook, WhatsApp groups) in learning in an informal context. The results will be used to inform policy-level decisions on what shape could CPD of all teachers take in the context of a developing country like Pakistan.

Keywords: CPD, teaching & learning, blended learning, learning technologies

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Authors: Mary David, Denis Basila

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This study assessed the Impact of Board Composition on the Performance of Listed Deposit Money Banks in Nigeria. A sample of ten (10) deposit money banks formed the sample of this study. Board size, gender diversity, and board independence were used as the independent variables, and firm size as a control variable, whiles the bank performance was proxy with Tobin’s Q (TQ) as the dependent variable. Secondary data was collected from secondary source through the annual report and account of the banks and was analyzed through the support of STATA 14 versions. Descriptive statistics, correlation matrix, and OLS multiple regression model were adopted for the study. Breusch and pagan lagrangian multiplier test for random effect was conducted. The findings of the study reveal that board size has positive and significant impact on Tobin’s Q, gender diversity has positive and significant impact on Tobin’s Q, while board independent had a negative and nonsignificant influence on the Tobin’s Q, Similarly, firm size was found to have a negative and nonsignificant impact on Tobin’s Q of the study banks. This study recommended that policy makers, stakeholders, and corporate managers of deposit money banks of Nigeria and related industries are encouraged to adopt board sizes and gender diversity that impact positively on bank performance.

Keywords: board composition, performance, deposit money banks, nigeria

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Authors: Shiri Elisheva Decktor, Sharon Hornstein

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Highway merges and unmarked junctions are key components in any urban road network, which can act as bottlenecks and create traffic disruption. Inefficient highway merges may trigger traffic instabilities such as stop-and-go waves, pose safety conditions and lead to longer journey times. These phenomena occur spontaneously if the average vehicle density exceeds a certain critical value. This study focuses on modeling the traffic using a microscopic traffic flow model. A hybrid traffic model, which combines human-driven and controlled vehicles is assumed. The controlled vehicles obey different driving policies when approaching the merge, or in the vicinity of other vehicles. We developed a co-simulation model in SUMO (Simulation of Urban Mobility), in which the human-driven cars are modeled using the IDM model, and the controlled cars are modeled using a dedicated controller. The scenario chosen for this study is a closed track with one merge and one exit, which could be later implemented using a scaled infrastructure on our lab setup. This will enable us to benchmark the results of this study obtained in simulation, to comparable results in similar conditions in the lab. The metrics chosen for the comparison of the performance of our algorithm on the overall traffic conditions include the average speed, wait time near the merge, and throughput after the merge, measured under different travel demand conditions (low, medium, and heavy traffic).

Keywords: highway merges, traffic modeling, SUMO, driving policy

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Authors: Aftab Ahmed, Farhan Saeed, Muhammad Afzaal, Shinawar Waseem Ali, Ali Imran, Sadaf Munir

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Malnutrition is a globally increasing public health concern among children; it affects number of school children influencing their growth, development and academic performance. The tenet of the current cross sectional study was to assess the nutritional biomarkers of school going children of age 12-15 years resulting in stunting, underweight, overweight, bone deformities and other health disparities in nutritionally deprived urban and rural populations of Pakistan. A sample size comprising of 180 school going children was stipulated from the targeted urban and rural populations. The fallouts of investigation unveiled that both rural and urban populations were experiencing nutritional challenges however; on account of awareness paucity the rustic population was nutritionally more compromised. Hematological tests elucidated 16.7% and 7.8% cases for high glucose level, 35.6% and 27.8% cases for low hemoglobin levels, 14.4% and 15.6% cases for low calcium indices, 12.2% and 4.4% high white blood cell count (WBC), 20% and 14.4% low red blood cell count, 76.7% and 74.4% low hematocrit (HCT) values, among the rural and urban populations respectively. The above mentioned outcomes can serve as a way forward for policy and law maker institutions to curb the possible barricades in the way of healthy nutritional status in these areas

Keywords: malnutrition, hematological study, child nutrition, bone mineral density, calcium, RBC

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Authors: Koray Altintas, Ozalp Vayvay

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Increased global issues such as depletion of sources, environmental problems and social inequality triggered public awareness towards finding sustainable solutions in order to ensure the well-being of the current as well as future generations. Since energy plays a significant role in improved social and economic well-being and is imperative on both industrial and commercial wealth creation, it is a must to develop a standardized set of metrics which makes it possible to indicate the present condition relative to conditions in the past and to develop any perspective which is required to frame actions for the future. This is not an easy task by considering the complexity of the issue which requires integrating economic, environmental and social aspects of sustainable energy. Multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) can be considered as a form of integrated sustainability evaluation and a decision support approach that can be used to solve complex problems featuring; conflicting objectives, different forms of data and information, multi-interests and perspectives. On that matter, MCDM methods are useful for providing solutions to complex energy management problems. The aim of this study is to review MCDM approaches that can be used for examining sustainable energy management. This study presents an insight into MCDM techniques and methods that can be useful for engineers, researchers and policy makers working in the energy sector.

Keywords: sustainable energy, sustainability criteria, multi-criteria decision making, sustainability dimensions

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Authors: Yiseyon Hosu, Joseph Akande

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Wheat is one of the most important staple food grains of human for centuries and is largely consumed in South Africa. It has a special place in the South African economy because of its significance in food security, trade, and industry. This paper modelled and forecast the production and consumption of wheat in South Africa in the time covid-19 and the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war by using annual time series data from 1940–2021 based on the ARIMA models. Both the averaging forecast and selected models forecast indicate that there is the possibility of an increase with respect to production. The minimum and maximum growth in production is projected to be between 3million and 10 million tons, respectively. However, the model also forecast a possibility of depression with respect to consumption in South Africa. Although Covid-19 and the war between Ukraine and Russia, two major producers and exporters of global wheat, are having an effect on the volatility of the prices currently, the wheat production in South African is expected to increase and meat the consumption demand and provided an opportunity for increase export with respect to domestic consumption. The forecasting of production and consumption behaviours of major crops play an important role towards food and nutrition security, these findings can assist policymakers and will provide them with insights into the production and pricing policy of wheat in South Africa.

Keywords: ARIMA, food security, price volatility, staple food, South Africa

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Authors: Adewale Oladapo, Carolyn A. Afolami

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Agricultural production should be the major financial contributor to the Nigerian economy; however, the petroleum sector had taken the importance attached to this sector. The situation tends to be more worsening unless necessary attention is given to adequate credit supply among food crop farmers. This research analyses the effect of credit use on the technical efficiency of cassava farmers in Ondo State, Nigeria. Primary data were collected from two hundred randomly selected cassava farmers through a multistage sampling procedure in the study area. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics and stochastic frontier analysis (SFA). Findings revealed that 95.0% of the farmers were male while 56.0% had no formal education and were married. The SFA showed that cassava farmer’s efficiency increased with farm size, herbicide and planting material at 5%,10% and 1% respectively but decreased with fertilizer application at 1% level while farmers’ age, education, household size, experience and access to credit increased technical inefficiency at 10%. The study concluded that cassava farmers are technically inefficient in the use of farm resources and recommended that adequate and workable agricultural policy measures that will ensure availability and efficient fertilizer distribution should be put in place to increase efficiency. Furthermore, the government should encourage youth participation in cassava production and ensure improvement in farmer’s access to credit to increase farmer’s technical efficiency.

Keywords: agriculture, access to credit, cassava farmers, technical efficiency

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Authors: Hamid Reza Behnood, Esmaeel Ayati, Tom Brijs, Mohammadali Pirayesh Neghab

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Investment projects in road safety planning can benefit from an effectiveness evaluation regarding their expected safety outcomes. The objective of this study is to develop a decision support system (DSS) to support policymakers in taking the right choice in road safety planning based on the efficiency of previously implemented safety measures in a set of regions in Iran. The measures considered for each region in the study include performance indicators about (1) police operations, (2) treated black spots, (3) freeway and highway facility supplies, (4) speed control cameras, (5) emergency medical services, and (6) road lighting projects. To this end, inefficiency measure is calculated, defined by the proportion of fatality rates in relation to the combined measure of road safety performance indicators (i.e., road safety measures) which should be minimized. The relative inefficiency for each region is modeled by the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) technique. In a next step, a fuzzy decision-making system is constructed to convert the information obtained from the DEA analysis into a rule-based system that can be used by policy makers to evaluate the expected outcomes of certain alternative investment strategies in road safety.

Keywords: performance indicators, road safety, decision support system, data envelopment analysis, fuzzy reasoning

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Authors: Afolabi Joseph Fasoranti

Abstract:

Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease caused by mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis is a major public health problem in Nigeria, being one of the ten leading causes of hospital admissions and a leading cause of death in adults, especially among the economically productive age group. This paper critically examined the importance of health education towards the eradication and prevention of tuberculosis in Nigeria. It was reviewed and discussed under the following subheadings; Global burden of tuberculosis in Nigeria, concept, definition and etiology of tuberculosis, Signs and symptoms of tuberculosis, diagnosis of tuberculosis, causative agent, modes of infection and incubation period, risk factors of pulmonary tuberculosis Dots and stop TB programmes in Nigeria Treatment and prevention of tuberculosis TB treatment strategies, Dealing with treatment problems in Nigeria Stigmatization against Tuberculosis Patients Health education as a tool for achieving free tuberculosis country. Emphasis for Tb control has been placed on the development of improved vaccines, diagnostic and treatment courses but less on health education and awareness. Although the need for these tools is indisputable, the obstacle facing the spread of TB go beyond technological. The findings of this study may stimulate health system policy makers, Government and non- governmental organizations, donor agencies and other stakeholders in planning and designing health education intervention programs on the control and eradication of tuberculosis. It therefore recommended that Government should implement health education as part of the DOTs, this will thus empower the tuberculosis patients on ways to live healthy, lifestyle, in doing this, they will recover fast and prevent them from spreading the disease.

Keywords: tuberculosis, health education, panacea, Nigeria, prevention

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