Search results for: creative city evaluation indicators

Authors: Changfeng Fu

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Sustainable urban development has been widely accepted a common sense in the modern urban planning and design. However, the measurement and assessment of urban sustainability, especially the quantitative assessment have been always an issue obsessing planning and design professionals. This paper will present an on-going research on the principles and technologies to develop a quantitative urban sustainability assessment principles and techniques which aim to integrate indicators, geospatial and geo-reference data, and assessment techniques together into a mechanism. It is based on the principles and techniques of geospatial analysis with GIS and statistical analysis methods. The decision-making technologies and methods such as AHP and SMART are also adopted to address overall assessment conclusions. The possible interfaces and presentation of data and quantitative assessment results are also described. This research is based on the knowledge, situations and data sources of UK, but it is potentially adaptable to other countries or regions. The implementation potentials of the mechanism are also discussed.

Keywords: urban sustainability assessment, quantitative analysis, sustainability indicator, geospatial data, big data

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Authors: Meenalochana Inguva

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The context: The Center for Preparatory study is one of the strongest and most vibrant academic teaching units of the Sultan Qaboos University (SQU). The Foundation Programme English Language (FPEL) is part of a larger foundation programme which was implemented at SQU in fall 2010. The programme has been designed to prepare the students who have been accepted to study in the university in order to achieve the required educational goals (the learning outcomes) that have been designed according to Oman Academic Standards and published by the Omani Authority for Academic Accreditation (OAAA) for the English language component. The curriculum: At the CPS, the English language curriculum is based on the learning outcomes drafted for each level. These learning outcomes guide the students in meeting what is expected of them by the end of each level. These six levels are progressive in nature and are seen as a continuum. The study: A periodic evaluation of language programmes is necessary to improve the quality of the programmes and to meet the set goals of the programmes. An evaluation may be carried out internally or externally depending on the purpose and context. A self-study programme was initiated at the beginning of spring semester 2015 with a team comprising a total of 11 members who worked with-in the assigned course areas (level and programme specific). Only areas specific to FPEL have been included in the study. The study was divided into smaller tasks and members focused on their assigned courses. The self-study primarily focused on analyzing the programme LOs, curriculum planning, materials used and their relevance against the GFP exit standards. The review team also reflected on the assessment methods and procedures followed to reflect on student learning. The team has paid attention to having standard criteria for assessment and transparency in procedures. A special attention was paid to the staging of LOs across levels to determine students’ language and study skills ability to cope with higher level courses. Findings: The findings showed that most of the LOs are met through the materials used for teaching. Students score low on objective tests and high on subjective tests. Motivated students take advantage of academic support activities others do not utilize the student support activities to their advantage. Reading should get more hours. In listening, the format of the listening materials in CT 2 does not match the test format. Some of the course materials need revision. For e.g. APA citation, referencing etc. No specific time is allotted for teaching grammar Conclusion: The findings resulted in taking actions in bridging gaps. It will also help the center to be better prepared for the external review of its FPEL curriculum. It will also provide a useful base to prepare for the self-study portfolio for GFP standards assessment and future audit.

Keywords: curriculum planning, learning outcomes, reflections, self-evaluation

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Authors: Mona Rezaei, Habib Honari, Mehrzad Hamidi, Fatemeh Kiani

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Make strong brands has become a priority for many organizations in marketing. Brand is an important indicator of marketing status. Brand Strength is in kept customer, profit, brand development and gain competitive advantage and In fact it is a concept that was created from a consumer perspective. It is assumed that the creation of a strong brand is creating numerous marketing benefits. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the psychometric characteristics of the questionnaire the most strong sports brands in the consumer society. Questionnaire was conducted to a sample of 340 customers of sports brands. Psychometric parameters were determined by using appropriate statistical methods. The results of the factor analysis and Varimax rotation revealed five factors of strong brands. The results confirms that questionnaire structure have acceptable associated to the data and confirmed all indicators of the model. Reliability (859/0) was satisfactory. According to calculated psychometric indices, this questionnaire could be appropriate to assess the most strong sports brands.

Keywords: reliability, strong brand, sport brands, psychometric

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Authors: Lv Shizeng, Han Xiao, Zhang Yi, Ding Wenjing

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The lunar sample storage device is mainly used for the preparation of the lunar samples, observation, physical analysis and other work. The lunar samples and operating equipment are placed directly inside the storage device. The inside of the storage device is a high purity nitrogen environment to ensure that the sample is not contaminated by the Earth's environment. In order to ensure that the water and oxygen indicators in the storage device meet the sample requirements, a dynamic gas cycle is required between the storage device and the external purification equipment. However, the internal gas disturbance in the storage device can affect the operation of the sample. In this paper, the storage device model is established, and the tetrahedral mesh is established by Tetra/Mixed method. The influence of different inlet position and gas flow on the internal flow field disturbance is calculated, and the disturbed flow area should be avoided during the sampling operation.

Keywords: lunar samples, gas disturbance, storage device, characteristic analysis

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Authors: Juliana Sagretti, Susy Sabato

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Despite the poverty in the world, a third of all food produced in the world is wasted. FAO, the United Nations Organization of Agriculture and Food, points out the need to combine actions and new technologies to combat hunger and waste in contrast to the high production of food in the world. The energy of ionizing radiation in food brought many positive results, such as increased validity and insect infestation control. The food banks are organizations that act at various points of food chain to collect and distribute food to the needy. So, the aim of this study was to initiate a partnership between irradiation and the food bank through the development of a questionnaire to evaluate and disseminate the knowledge and acceptance of individuals in the food bank in Brazil. In addition, this study aimed to standardize a basis questionnaire for future research assessment of irradiated foods. For the construction of the questionnaire as a measuring instrument, a comprehensive and rigorous literature review was made. Its covered qualitative research, questionnaires, sensory evaluation and food irradiated. Three stages of pre - tests were necessary and related fields of experts were consulted. As a result, the questionnaire has three parts, personal issues, assertive issues and questions of multiple choices and finally an informative question. The questionnaire was applied in Ceagesp food bank in the biggest center of food in Brazil (data not shown).

Keywords: food bank, food irradiation, food waste, sustainability

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Authors: Astghik R. Sukiasyan

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The semidental sweet maize of Armenian population under drought stress and pollution by some heavy metals (HMs) in sites along the river Debet was studied. Accordingly, the objective of this work was to investigate the antioxidant status of maize plant in order to identify simple and reliable criteria for assessing the degree of adaptation of plants to abiotic stress of drought and HMs. It was found that in the case of removal from the mainstream of the river, the antioxidant status of the plant varies. As parameters, the antioxidant status of the plant has been determined by the activity of malondialdehyde (MDA) and Ferric Reducing Ability of Plasma (FRAP), taking into account the characteristics of natural drought of this region. The possibility of using some indicators which characterized the antioxidant status of the plant was concluded. The criteria for assessing the extent of environmental pollution could be HMs. This fact can be used for the early diagnosis of diseases in the population who lives in these areas and uses corn as the main food.

Keywords: antioxidant status, maize corn, drought stress, heavy metal

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Authors: L. Vujičić, Ž. Ivković, Ž. Boneta

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There is a widespread belief in everyday discourse that science subjects (physics, chemistry and biology) are, along with math, the most difficult school subjects in the education of an individual. This assumption is usually justified by the following facts: low GPA in these subjects, the number of pupils who fail these subjects is high in comparison to other subjects, and the number of pupils interested in continuing their studies in the fields with a focus on science subjects is lower compared to non-science-oriented fields. From that perspective, the project: “Could it be different? How do children explore it?” becomes extremely interesting because it is focused on young children and on the introduction of new methods, with aim of arousing interest in scientific literacy development in 10 kindergartens by applying the methodology of an action research, with an ethnographic approach. We define scientific literacy as a process of encouraging and nurturing the research and explorative spirit in children, as well as their natural potential and abilities that represent an object of scientific research: to learn about exploration by conducting exploration. Upon project completion, an evaluation questionnaire was created for the parents of the children who had participated in the project, as well as for those whose children had not been involved in the project. The purpose of the first questionnaire was to examine the level of satisfaction with the project implementation and its outcomes among those parents whose children had been involved in the project (N=142), while the aim of the second questionnaire was to find out how much the parents of the children not involved (N=154) in this activity were interested in this topic.

Keywords: documenting, early childhood education, evaluation questionnaire for parents, scientific literacy development

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Authors: Osa D Egonwa

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In the 21^st century, the disciplinary boundaries of past centuries that we often create through mainstream art historical classification, techniques and sources may have been eroded by visual culture, which seems to provide a more inclusive umbrella for the new ways artists go about the creative process and its resultant commodities. Over the past four decades, artists in Africa have resorted to new materials, techniques and themes which have affected our ways of research on these artists and their art. Frontline artists such as El Anatsui, Yinka Shonibare, Erasmus Onyishi are demonstrating that any material is just suitable for artistic expression. Most of times, these materials come with their own techniques/effects and visual syntax: a combination of materials compounds techniques, formal aesthetic indexes, halo effects, and iconography. This tends to challenge the categories and we lean on to view, think and talk about them. This renders our main stream art historical research methods inadequate, thus suggesting new discursive concepts, terms and theories. This paper proposed the Africanist eclectic methods derived from the dual framework of Masquerade Theory and What Comes Behind Six is More Than Seven. This paper shares thoughts/research on art historical methods, terminological re-alignments on classification/source data, presentational format and interpretation arising from the emergent trends in our subject. The outcome provides useful tools to mediate new thoughts and experiences in recent African art and visual culture.

Keywords: art historical methods, classifications, concepts, re-alignment

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Authors: Jafar Ahmadi

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This research has been done as a discourse analysis of the concept of citizenship in textbooks in Iran. The purpose of this study is to identify the dominant citizenship discourse in textbooks in the content of textbooks. The research method in this research is qualitative and qualitative content analysis. The statistical sample was selected in a purposeful manner and according to the research topic of books related to Persian literature, religious education and social education. The selected theoretical framework of this research is the three theories of citizenship (pre-modern, modern and postmodern). For each of these discourses, components and indicators have been extracted that are the basis of data analysis. The research findings show that the dominant citizenship discourse on the content of Iranian textbooks is pre-modern discourse and is the basis of this type of religious citizenship discourse. Finally, the findings show that the government uses the institution of education to reproduce its power.

Keywords: citizenship, textbooks, discourse analysis, religious citizenship, representation

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Authors: Loes Nijskens

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The city of The Hague is coping with several social issues: high unemployment rates, segregation and environmental pollution. The amount of social enterprises in The Hague that want to tackle these issues is increasing, but no clear image exists of the stimulants and obstacles social entrepreneurs encounter. In this qualitative study 20 starting and established social entrepreneurs, investors and stimulators of social entrepreneurship have been interviewed. The findings indicate that the majority of entrepreneurs situated in The Hague focuses on creating jobs (the so called social nurturers) and diminishing food waste. Moreover, the study found smaller groups of social connectors, (who focus on stimulating the social cohesion in the city) and social traders (who create a market for products from developing countries). For the social nurturers, working together with local government to find people with a distance to the labour market is a challenge. The entrepreneurs are missing a governance approach within the local government, wherein space is provided to develop suitable legislation and projects in cooperation with several stakeholders in order to diminish social problems. All entrepreneurs in the sample face(d) the challenge of having a clear purpose of their business in the beginning. Starting social entrepreneurs tend to be idealistic without having defined a business model. Without a defined business model it is difficult to find proper funding for their business. The more advanced enterprises cope with the challenge of measuring social impact. The larger they grow, the more they have to ‘defend’ themselves towards the local government and their customers, of mainly being social. Hence, the more experienced social nurturers still find it difficult to work together with the local government. They tend to settle their business in other municipalities, where they find more effective public-private partnerships. Al this said, the eco-system for social enterprises in The Hague is on the rise. To stimulate the amount and growth of social enterprises the cooperation between entrepreneurs and local government, the developing of social business models and measuring of impact needs more attention.

Keywords: obstacles, social enterprises, stimulants, the Hague

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Authors: Dinesh Kumar Yadav

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Short stories for language development are deeply rooted elsewhere in any language syllabus. Its relevance is manifold. The short stories have the power to take the students to the target culture directly from the classroom. It works as a crucial factor in enhancing language skills in different ways. This article is an outcome of an experimental study conducted for a month on the 12th graders where they were engaged in different creative and critical-thinking activities along with various tasks that ranged from knowledge level to application level. The sole purpose was to build up their confidence in speaking in the classroom as well as develop all their language skills simultaneously. With the start of the class in August 2021, the students' speaking skill and their confidence in speaking in the class was tested. The test was abruptly followed by a presentation of a short story from their culture. The students were engaged in different tasks related to the story. The PowerPoint slides, handouts with the story, and tasks on photocopy were used as tools whenever needed. A one-month class exclusively on speaking skills through sharing stories was found to be very helpful in developing confidence in the learners. The result was very satisfactory. A large number of students became responsive in the class. The proficiency level was not satisfactory; however, their effort to speak in class showed a very positive sign in language development.

Keywords: short stories, relevance, language enhancement, language proficiency

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Authors: Lauren B. Birney

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The envisioned long-term outcome of this three-year research, and implementation plan is for 1) teachers and students to design and build their own computational models of real-world environmental-human health phenomena occurring within the context of the “Human Harbor” and 2) project researchers to evaluate the degree to which these integrated Computer Science (CS) education experiences in New York City (NYC) public school classrooms (PreK-12) impact students’ computational-technical skill development, job readiness, career motivations, and measurable abilities to understand, articulate, and solve the underlying phenomena at the center of their models. This effort builds on the partnership’s successes over the past eight years in developing a benchmark Model of restoration-based Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) education for urban public schools and achieving relatively broad-based implementation in the nation’s largest public school system. The Billion Oyster Project Curriculum and Community Enterprise for Restoration Science (BOP-CCERS STEM + Computing) curriculum, teacher professional developments, and community engagement programs have reached more than 200 educators and 11,000 students at 124 schools, with 84 waterfront locations and Out of School of Time (OST) programs. The BOP-CCERS Partnership is poised to develop a more refined focus on integrating computer science across the STEM domains; teaching industry-aligned computational methods and tools; and explicitly preparing students from the city’s most under-resourced and underrepresented communities for upwardly mobile careers in NYC’s ever-expanding “digital economy,” in which jobs require computational thinking and an increasing percentage require discreet computer science technical skills. Project Objectives include the following: 1. Computational Thinking (CT) Integration: Integrate computational thinking core practices across existing middle/high school BOP-CCERS STEM curriculum as a means of scaffolding toward long term computer science and computational modeling outcomes. 2. Data Science and Data Analytics: Enabling Researchers to perform interviews with Teachers, students, community members, partners, stakeholders, and Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) industry Professionals. Collaborative analysis and data collection were also performed. As a centerpiece, the BOP-CCERS partnership will expand to include a dedicated computer science education partner. New York City Department of Education (NYCDOE), Computer Science for All (CS4ALL) NYC will serve as the dedicated Computer Science (CS) lead, advising the consortium on integration and curriculum development, working in tandem. The BOP-CCERS Model™ also validates that with appropriate application of technical infrastructure, intensive teacher professional developments, and curricular scaffolding, socially connected science learning can be mainstreamed in the nation’s largest urban public school system. This is evidenced and substantiated in the initial phases of BOP-CCERS™. The BOP-CCERS™ student curriculum and teacher professional development have been implemented in approximately 24% of NYC public middle schools, reaching more than 250 educators and 11,000 students directly. BOP-CCERS™ is a fully scalable and transferable educational model, adaptable to all American school districts. In all settings of the proposed Phase IV initiative, the primary beneficiary group will be underrepresented NYC public school students who live in high-poverty neighborhoods and are traditionally underrepresented in the STEM fields, including African Americans, Latinos, English language learners, and children from economically disadvantaged households. In particular, BOP-CCERS Phase IV will explicitly prepare underrepresented students for skilled positions within New York City’s expanding digital economy, computer science, computational information systems, and innovative technology sectors.

Keywords: computer science, data science, equity, diversity and inclusion, STEM education

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Authors: Ahmed Al Khamisi

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The Disaster Preparedness Standard (DPS) is one of the elements that is evaluated by the Accreditation Canada International (ACI). ACI emphasizes to train and educate all staff, including service providers and senior leaders, on emergency and disaster preparedness upon the orientation and annually thereafter. Lack of awareness and deficit of knowledge among the healthcare providers about DPS have been noticed in a tertiary hospital where ACI standards were implemented. Therefore, this paper aims to introduce a video-based e-learning (VB-EL) module that explains the hospital’s disaster plan in a simple language which will be easily accessible to all healthcare providers through the hospital’s website. The healthcare disaster preparedness coordinator in the targeted hospital will be responsible to ensure that VB-EL is ready by 25 April 2019. This module will be developed based on the Kirkpatrick evaluation method. In fact, VB-EL combines different data forms such as images, motion, sounds, text in a complementary fashion which will suit diverse learning styles and individual learning pace of healthcare providers. Moreover, the module can be adjusted easily than other tools to control the information that healthcare providers receive. It will enable healthcare providers to stop, rewind, fast-forward, and replay content as many times as needed. Some anticipated limitations in the development of this module include challenges of preparing VB-EL content and resistance from healthcare providers.

Keywords: Accreditation Canada International, Disaster Preparedness Standard, Kirkpatrick evaluation method, video-based e-learning

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Authors: Yen Yi Huang

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This paper aims to explore the application of strategies in applied drama to the social work education arena in order to enhance students' creativity, curiosity, and aesthetic sensitivity. Also, applied drama is used as a means to facilitate students' reflection-in-action and improve their understanding of issues on creative aging, gender equality, human rights, bullying, and prejudice. This paper mainly uses the perspective of Homi K. Bhabha's third space to explore the impact of applied drama and social work training on students. First, it focuses on how students create new understandings and insights in the third space of multidisciplinary training studies. Second, it analyzes how the hybridity and negotiation of ideas between applied drama and social work were created. Finally, it discusses the follow-up effects of the training and the factors that promote or hinder the hybridity and generation of the third space. This paper uses students' reflection papers for analysis. It is not focused on a discussion of the effectiveness of the teaching but attempts to bring new insights into the applications of applied drama to the social work education arena. The hybridity and generation of the third space require handling power strategically and looking after the emotional space of the students. Taking part in the training allows students in the third space of multidisciplinary training to reexamine the traditional framework of social work knowledge to create new ideas and possibilities.

Keywords: multidisciplinary, applied drama, social work education, third space

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Authors: Sungzoon Cho, Hye Jin Lee, Sungwhan Jeon, Dongyoung Min, Sungwon Lyu

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Major public corporations worldwide use conference calls to report their quarterly earnings. These 'earnings' conference calls allow for questions from stock analysts. We investigated if it is possible to identify sentiment from the call script and use it to predict stock price movement. We analyzed call scripts from six companies, two each from Korea, China and Indonesia during six years 2011Q1 – 2017Q2. Random forest with Frequency-based sentiment scores using Loughran MacDonald Dictionary did better than control model with only financial indicators. When the stock prices went up 20 days from earnings release, our model predicted correctly 77% of time. When the model predicted 'up,' actual stock prices went up 65% of time. This preliminary result encourages us to investigate advanced sentiment scoring methodologies such as topic modeling, auto-encoder, and word2vec variants.

Keywords: earnings call script, random forest, sentiment analysis, stock price prediction

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Authors: B. Karabuluter, O. Karaduman

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Traffic management and traffic planning are important issues, especially in big cities. Due to the increase of personal vehicles and the physical constraints of urban roads, the problem of transportation especially in crowded cities over time is revealed. This situation reduces the living standards, and it can put human life at risk because the vehicles such as ambulance, fire department are prevented from reaching their targets. Even if the city planners take these problems into account, emergency planning and traffic management are needed to avoid cases such as traffic congestion, intersections, traffic jams caused by traffic accidents or roadworks. In this study, in smart traffic management issues, proposed solutions using intelligent vehicles acting in cooperation with urban roads are examined. Traffic management is becoming more difficult due to factors such as fatigue, carelessness, sleeplessness, social behavior patterns, and lack of education. However, autonomous vehicles, which remove the problems caused by human weaknesses by providing driving control, are increasing the success of practicing the algorithms developed in city traffic management. Such intelligent vehicles have become an important solution in urban life by using 'swarm intelligence' algorithms and cooperative driving methods to provide traffic flow, prevent traffic accidents, and increase living standards. In this study, studies conducted in this area have been dealt with in terms of traffic jam, intersections, regulation of traffic flow, signaling, prevention of traffic accidents, cooperation and communication techniques of vehicles, fleet management, transportation of emergency vehicles. From these concepts, some taxonomies were made out of the way. This work helps to develop new solutions and algorithms for cities where intelligent vehicles that can perform cooperative driving can take place, and at the same time emphasize the trend in this area.

Keywords: intelligent traffic management, cooperative driving, smart driving, urban road, swarm intelligence, connected vehicles

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Authors: Fiona Curran-Cournane

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Soil quality monitoring is a science-based soil management tool that assesses soil ecosystem health. A soil monitoring program in Auckland, New Zealand’s largest city, extends from 1995 to the present. The objective of this study was to firstly determine changes in soil parameters (basic soil properties and heavy metals) that were assessed from rural land in 1995-2000 and repeated in 2008-2012. The second objective was to determine differences in soil parameters across various land uses including native bush, rural (horticulture, pasture and plantation forestry) and urban land uses using soil data collected in more recent years (2009-2013). Across rural land, mean concentrations of Olsen P had significantly increased in the second sampling period and was identified as the indicator of most concern, followed by soil macroporosity, particularly for horticultural and pastoral land. Mean concentrations of Cd were also greatest for pastoral and horticultural land and a positive correlation existed between these two parameters, which highlights the importance of analysing basic soil parameters in conjunction with heavy metals. In contrast, mean concentrations of As, Cr, Pb, Ni and Zn were greatest for urban sites. Native bush sites had the lowest concentrations of heavy metals and were used to calculate a ‘pollution index’ (PI). The mean PI was classified as high (PI > 3) for Cd and Ni and moderate for Pb, Zn, Cr, Cu, As, and Hg, indicating high levels of heavy metal pollution across both rural and urban soils. From a land use perspective, the mean ‘integrated pollution index’ was highest for urban sites at 2.9 followed by pasture, horticulture and plantation forests at 2.7, 2.6, and 0.9, respectively. It is recommended that soil sampling continues over time because a longer spanning record will allow further identification of where soil problems exist and where resources need to be targeted in the future. Findings from this study will also inform policy and science direction in regional councils.

Keywords: heavy metals, pollution index, rural and urban land use, soil quality

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Authors: Mahbuba Kaneez Hasna

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Introductory Statement outlining the background: Little has been written about political ecology of urban gardening, such as a network of knowledge generation, technologies of food production and distribution, food consumption practices, and the regulation of ‘agricultural activities. For urban food gardens to sustain as a long-term food security enterprise, we will need to better understand the anthropological, ecological, political, and institutional factors influencing their development, management, and ongoing viability. Significance of the study: Dhaka as one of the fastest growing city. There are currently no studies regards to Bangladesh on how urban slum dwellerscope with the changing urban environment in the city, where they overcome challenges, and how they cope with the urban ecological cycle of food and vegetable production. It is also essential to understand the importance of their access to confined spaces in the slums they apply their indigenous knowledge. These relationships in nature are important factors in community and conservation ecology. Until now, there has been no significant published academic work on relationships between urban and environmental anthropology, urban planning, geography, ecology, and social anthropology with a focus on urban agriculture and how this contributes to the moral economies, indigenous knowledge, and government policies in order to improve the lives and livelihoods of slum dwellers surrounding parks and open spaces in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Methodology: it have applied participant observation, semi-structured questionnaire-based interviews, and focus group discussions to collect social data. Interviews were conducted with the urban agriculture practitioners who are slum dwellers who carry out their urban agriculture activities. Some of the interviews were conducted with non-government organisations (NGOs) and local and state government officials, using semi-structured interviews. Using these methods developed a clearer understanding of how green space cultivation, local economic self-reliance, and urban gardening are producing distinctive urban ecologies in Dhaka and their policy-implications on urban sustainability. Major findings of the study: The research provided an in-depth knowledge on the challenges that slum dwellers encounter in establishing and maintaining urban gardens, such as the economic development of the city, conflicting political agendas, and environmental constraints in areas within which gardening activities take place. The research investigated (i) How do slum dwellers perform gardening practices from rural areas to open spaces in the city? (ii) How do men and women’s ethno-botanical knowledge contribute to urban biodiversity; (iii) And how do slum dwellers navigate complex constellations of land use policy, competing political agendas, and conflicting land and water tenures to meet livelihood functions provided by their gardens. Concluding statement: Lack of infrastructure facilities such as water supply and sanitation, micro-drains and waste disposal areas, and poor access to basic health care services increase the misery of people in the slum areas. Lack of environmental health awareness information for farmers, such as the risks from the use of chemical pesticides in gardens and from grazing animals in contaminated fields or cropping and planting trees or vegetable in contaminated dumping grounds, can all cause high health risk to humans and their environment.

Keywords: gender, urban agriculture, ecosystem health, urban slum systems

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Authors: Haytham Yassine

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This research seeks to identify how money laundering activities are executed through the real estate sector. This article provides academics with literature on the topic and provides scholars, and practitioners with a better understanding of the risks and challenges involved. Data are gathered through survey in the Middle East and North Africa region and review of the available research. The results of the analysis will help identifying the factors attracting criminals to the real estate sector and develop an understanding of the methods used to launder illicit funds through this sector and the indicators of suspicion for reporting entities. Further analysis reveals the risks posed by money laundering and terrorist financing on the real estate sector and challenges facing states in this regard.

Keywords: money laundering, terrorism financing, real estate sector, Middle East and North Africa

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Authors: Galuh Asri Bestari, Hajar Shofiyya

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Double burden of malnutrition (DBM) has been a global problem in these last decades occurs in both developed and developing countries. Overweight in adults and stunting among preschool children have dramatically increased and become the main problems of malnutrition that should be solved immediately since they are directly related with the health status and productivity. Reformulation of food product by using the local sea resources called terasi shrimp (Acetes indicus) has a potential possibility in facing the DBM. A study was carried out in Indonesia to determine the acceptability of terasi shrimp powder through sensory evaluation. Terasi shrimps were processed into powder form through sun drying and pounding methods. The powder form was directly added in food as alternative seasonings and tested among stunted and normal preschool children. Meanwhile, a further processing method is given to the shrimp powder tested in overweight and normal-weighed adults. The shrimp powder was mixed with sago flour and formed into balls, then steamed for 15-20 minutes, and finally served as alternative snacks. Based on the sensory evaluation, the shrimp powder has a good acceptance in taste (54%), shape (60%), and color properties (63%), while the shrimp balls has a good acceptance in size (65%), shape (50%), color (48%), taste (40%), and texture (36%). Terasi shrimp powder can be stored for a month in room temperature. In addition, carried out chemical analysis revealed that terasi shrimp (Acetes indicus) has higher percentage of protein, calcium, and iron than other animal sources, but conversely contains zero sodium and very low percentage of fat. Terasi shrimp’s shell also contains a substance called chitosan which acts by forming gels in the intestinal tract to entrap lipids, thus interfering with their absorption. After going through some processing methods, the shrimp powder and balls did not show any significant changes in their nutrient contents. So that, terasi shrimp powder is good to be consumed not only by overweight adults, but also by children to support their optimum growth. Intervention of terasi shrimp powder should be implemented step by step from national up to global governance program to face the DBM.

Keywords: Acetes indicus, alternative food, double burden of malnutrition, sensory evaluation

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Authors: Sridhar S, Govinda Raj Mandela, Aruna Mangalpady

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In the present day scenario, Indian underground mines are moving towards full scale mechanisation for improvement of production and productivity levels. These mines are employing a wide variety of earth moving machines for the transportation of ore and overburden (waste). Low Profile Dump Trucks (LPDTs) have proven more advantageous towards improvement of production levels in underground mines through quick transportation. During the operation of LPDT, different kinds of vibrations are generated which can affect the health condition of the operator. Keeping this in view, the present research work focuses on measurement and evaluation of Hand Arm Vibrations (HAVs) from the steering system of LPDTs. The study also aims to evaluate the HAVs of different job components of a work cycle in operating LPDTs. The HAVs were measured and evaluated according to ISO 5349-2: 2001 standards, and the daily vibration exposures A(8) were calculated. The evaluated A(8) results show that LPDTs of 60 and 50 tons capacity have vibration levels more than that of the Exposure Action Value (EAV) of 2.5 m/s2 in every job component of the work cycle. Further, the results show that the vibration levels were more during empty haulage especially during descending journey when compared to other job components in all LPDTs considered for the study.

Keywords: low profile dump trucks, hand arm vibrations, exposure action value, underground mines

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Authors: Seham A. S. Mohamed, Sarah R. Baker, Christopher Deery, Mario V. Vettore

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Background: The link between oral health conditions and school performance and attendance remain unclear among Middle Eastern children. The association has been studied extensively in the Western region; however, several concerns have been raised regarding the reliability and validity of measures, low quality of studies, inadequate inclusion of potential confounders, and the lack of a conceptual framework. These limitations have meant that, to date, there has been no detailed understanding of the association or of the key social, clinical, behavioural and parental factors which may impact the association. Aim: To examine the association between oral health conditions and children’s school performance and attendance at Grade 2 in Muharraq city in the Kingdom of Bahrain using Heilmann et al.’s (2015) life course framework for oral health. Objectives: To (1) describe the prevalence of oral health conditions among 7-8 years old schoolchildren in the city of Muharraq; (2) analyse the social, biological, behavioural, and parental pathways that link early and current life exposures with children’s current oral health status; (3) examine the association between oral health conditions and school performance and attendance among schoolchildren; (4) explore the early and current life course social, biological, behavioural and parental factors associated with children’s school outcomes. Design: A time-ordered-cross-sectional study was conducted with 466 schoolchildren aged 7-8 years and their parents from Muharraq city in KoB. Data were collected through parents’ self-administered questionnaires, children’s face-face interviews, and dental clinical examinations. Outcome variables, including school performance and school attendance data, were obtained from the parents and school records. The data were analysed using structural equation modelling (SEM). Results: Dental caries, the consequence of dental caries (PUFA/pufa), and enamel developmental defects (EDD) prevalence were 93.4%, 25.7%, and 17.2%, respectively. The findings from the SEM showed that children born in families with high SES were less likely to suffer from dentine dental caries (β= -0.248) and more likely to earn high school performance (β= 0.136) at 7-8 years of age in Muharraq. From the current life course of children, the dental plaque was associated significantly and directly with enamel caries (β= 0.094), dentine caries (β= 0.364), treated teeth (filled or extracted because of dental caries) (β= 0.121), and indirectly associated with dental pain (β= 0.057). Further, dentine dental caries was associated significantly and directly with low school performance (β= -0.155). At the same time, the dental plaque was indirectly associated with low school performance via dental caries (β = −0.044). Conversely, treated teeth were associated directly with high school performance (β= 0.100). Notably, none of the OHCs, biological, SES, behavioural, or parental conditions was related to school attendance in children. Conclusion: The life course approach was adequate to examine the role of OHCs on children’s school performance and attendance. Birth and current (7-8-year-olds) social factors were significant predictors of poor OH and poor school performance.

Keywords: dental caries, life course, Bahrain, school outcomes

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Authors: Y. Jin, N. Zhang, X. Luo, W. Zhang

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China with annual increasing 0.5-0.6 billion squares city residence has brought in enormous energy consumption by HVAC facilities and other appliances. In this regard, governments and researchers are encouraging renewable energy like solar energy, geothermal energy using in houses. However, high cost of equipment and low energy conversion result in a very low acceptable to residents. So what’s the equilibrium point of eco-feedback to reach economic benefit and thermal comfort? That is the main question should be answered. In this paper, the objective is an on-site solar PV and heater house, which has been evaluated as a low energy building. Since HVAC system is considered as main energy consumption equipment, the residence with 24-hour monitoring system set to measure temperature, wind velocity and energy in-out value with no HVAC system for one month of summer and winter. Thermal comfort time period will be analyzed and confirmed; then the air-conditioner will be started within thermal discomfort time for the following one summer and winter month. The same data will be recorded to calculate the average energy consumption monthly for a purpose of whole day thermal comfort. Finally, two analysis work will be done: 1) Original building thermal simulation by computer at design stage with actual measured temperature after construction will be contrastive analyzed; 2) The cost of renewable energy facilities and power consumption converted to cost efficient rate to assess the feasibility of renewable energy input for residence. The results of the experiment showed that a certain deviation exists between actual measured data and simulated one for human thermal comfort, especially in summer period. Moreover, the cost-effectiveness is high for a house in targeting city Guilin now with at least 11 years of cost-covering. The conclusion proves that an eco-feedback of a low energy residence is never only consideration of its energy net value, but also the cost efficiency that is the critical factor to push renewable energy acceptable by the public.

Keywords: cost efficiency, eco-feedback, low energy residence, thermal comfort

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Authors: Alemayehu Agizew Woldeamanuel, Mekonnen Maschal Tarekegn, Raj Mohan Balakrishina

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Composting is one of the conventional techniques adopted for organic waste management, but the practice is very limited in emerging cities despite the most of the waste generated is organic. This paper aims to examine the viability of composting for organic waste management in the emerging city of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, by addressing the composting practice, quality of compost, and application of compost in urban agriculture. The study collects data using compost laboratory testing and urban farm households’ survey and uses descriptive analysis on the state of compost production and application, physicochemical analysis of the compost samples, and regression analysis on the urban farmer’s willingness to pay for compost. The findings of the study indicated that there is composting practice at a small scale, most of the producers use unsorted feedstock materials, aerobic composting is dominantly used, and the maturation period ranged from four to ten weeks. The carbon content of the compost ranges from 30.8 to 277.1 due to the type of feedstock applied, and this surpasses the ideal proportions for C:N ratio. The total nitrogen, pH, organic matter, and moisture content are relatively optimal. The levels of heavy metals measured for Mn, Cu, Pb, Cd and Cr⁶⁺ in the compost samples are also insignificant. In the urban agriculture sector, chemical fertilizer is the dominant type of soil input in crop productions but vegetable producers use a combination of both fertilizer and other organic inputs, including compost. The willingness to pay for compost depends on income, household size, gender, type of soil inputs, monitoring soil fertility, the main product of the farm, farming method and farm ownership. Finally, this study recommends the need for collaboration among stakeholders’ along the value chain of waste, awareness creation on the benefits of composting and addressing challenges faced by both compost producers and users.

Keywords: composting, emerging city, organic waste management, urban agriculture

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Authors: Michael Rudolph, Evans Muchesa, Katiya Yassim, Venkatesha Prasad

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Input-intensive production systems characterise industrial agriculture as an unsustainable means to address food and nutrition security and sustainable livelihoods. There is extensive empirical evidence that supports the diversification and reorientation of industrial agriculture and that incorporates ecological practices viewed as essential for achieving balanced and productive farming systems. An agroecological farming system is a viable alternative approach that can improve food production, especially for the most vulnerable communities and households. Furthermore, substantial proof and supporting evidence show that such a system holds the key to increasing dietary diversity at the local level and reducing the multiple health and environmental risks stemming from industrial agriculture. This paper, therefore, aims to demonstrate the benefits of the agroecology food system through an evidenced-based approach that shows how the broader agricultural network structures can play a meaningful role, particularly for impoverished households in today’s reality. The methodology is centered on a structured literature review that analyses urban agriculture, agroecology, and food insecurity. Notably, ground-truthing, practical experiences, and field observation of agroecological farming were deployed. This paper places particular emphasis on the practical application of the agroecological approach in urban and peri-urban settings. Several evaluation reports on local and provincial initiatives clearly show that very few households engage in food gardens and urban agriculture. These households do not make use of their backyards or nearby open spaces for a number of reasons, such as stringent city by-laws, restricted access to land, little or no knowledge of innovative or alternative farming practices, and a general lack of interest. Furthermore, limited resources such as water and energy and lack of capacity building and training implementation are additional constraints that are hampering small scale food gardens and farms in other settings. The Agroecology systems approach is viewed as one of the key solutions to tackling these problems.

Keywords: agroecology, water-energy-food nexus, sutainable development goals, social, environmental and economc impact

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Authors: Vajhollah Ghorbanizadeh, Seyed Mohsen Asadi, Mirali Seyednaghavi, Davoud Hoseynpour

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In the current era, all organizations need knowledge to be able to manage the diverse human resources. Creative, dynamic and knowledge-based Human resources are important competitive advantage and the scarcest resource in today's knowledge-based economy. In addition managers with skills of knowledge management must be aware of human resource management science. It is now generally accepted that successful implementation of knowledge management requires dynamic interaction between knowledge management and human resource management. This is emphasized at systematic approach to knowledge management as well. However human resource management can be complementary of knowledge management because human resources management with the aim of empowering human resources as the key resource organizations in the 21st century, the use of other resources, creating and growing and developing today. Thus, knowledge is the major capital of every organization which is introduced through the process of knowledge management. In this context, knowledge management is systematic approach to create, receive, organize, access, and use of knowledge and learning in the organization. This article aims to define and explain the concepts of knowledge management and human resource management and the importance of these processes and concepts. Literature related to knowledge management and human resource management as well as related topics were studied, then to design, illustrate and provide a theoretical model to explain the factors affecting the relationship between knowledge management and human resource management and knowledge management system approach, for schematic design and are drawn.

Keywords: systemic approach, human resources, knowledge, human resources management, knowledge management

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Authors: Saad Roustom, Hajo Ribberink

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In most cities in the world, traffic has increased strongly over the last decades, causing high levels of congestion and deteriorating inner-city air quality. This study analyzes the impact of connected and automated vehicles (CAVs) on traffic performance and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions under different CAV penetration rates in mixed fleet environments of CAVs and driver-operated vehicles (DOVs) and under three different traffic demand levels. Utilizing meso-scale traffic simulations of the City of Ottawa, Canada, the research evaluates the traffic performance of three distinct CAV driving behaviors—Cautious, Normal, and Aggressive—at penetration rates of 25%, 50%, 75%, and 100%, across three different traffic demand levels. The study employs advanced correlation models to estimate GHG emissions. The results reveal that Aggressive and Normal CAVs generally reduce traffic congestion and GHG emissions, with their benefits being more pronounced at higher penetration rates (50% to 100%) and elevated traffic demand levels. On the other hand, Cautious CAVs exhibit an increase in both traffic congestion and GHG emissions. However, results also show deteriorated traffic flow conditions when introducing 25% penetration rates of any type of CAVs. Aggressive CAVs outperform all other driving at improving traffic flow conditions and reducing GHG emissions. The findings of this study highlight the crucial role CAVs can play in enhancing urban traffic performance and mitigating the adverse impact of transportation on the environment. This research advocates for the adoption of effective CAV-related policies by regulatory bodies to optimize traffic flow and reduce GHG emissions. By providing insights into the impact of CAVs, this study aims to inform strategic decision-making and stimulate the development of sustainable urban mobility solutions.

Keywords: connected and automated vehicles, congestion, GHG emissions, mixed fleet environment, traffic performance, traffic simulations

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Authors: Mohamed El Kory Yacoub, Ahmed Bezeid El Mamy Beyatt, Djibril Barry, Yanogo Pauline, Nicolas Meda

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Introduction: Rift Valley Fever is a zoonotic arbovirosis that severely affects ruminants, as well as humans. It causes abortions in pregnant females and deaths in young animals. The disease occurs during heavy rains followed by large numbers of mosquito vectors. The objective of this work is to evaluate the surveillance system for Rift Valley Fever. Methods: We conducted an evaluation of the Rift Valley Fiver surveillance system. Data were collected from the analysis of the national database of the Mauritanian Network of Animal Disease Epidemiological Surveillance at the Ministry of Rural Development, of RVF cases notified from the whole national territory, of questionnaires and interviews with all persons involved in RVF surveillance at the central level. The quality of the system was assessed by analyzing the quantitative attributes defined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Results: In 2019, 443 cases of RVF were notified by the surveillance system, of which 36 were positive. Among the notified cases of Rift Valley Fever, the 0- to the 3-year-old age group of small ruminants was the most represented with 49.21% of cases, followed by 33.33%, which was recorded in large ruminants in the 0 to 7-year-old age group, 11.11% of cases were older than seven years. The completeness of the data varied between 14.2% (age) and 100% (species). Most positive cases were recorded between October and November 2019 in seven different regions. Attribute analysis showed that 87% of the respondents were able to use the case definition well, and 78.8% said they were familiar with the reporting and feedback loop of the Rift Valley Fever data. 90.3% of the respondents found it easy, while 95% of them responded that it was easy for them to transmit their data to the next level. Conclusions: The epidemiological surveillance system for Rift Valley Fever in Mauritania is simple and representative. However, data quality, stability, and responsiveness are average, as the diagnosis of the disease requires laboratory confirmation and the average delay for this confirmation is long (13 days). Consequently, the lack of completeness of the recorded data and of description of cases in terms of time-place-animal, associated with the delay between the stages of the surveillance system can make prevention, early detection of epidemics, and the initiation of measures for an adequate response difficult.

Keywords: evaluation, epidemiological surveillance system, rift valley fever, mauritania, ruminants

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Authors: Ece Kaya

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Urban waterfront re-development is a well-established phenomenon internationally since 1960s. In cities throughout the world, old industrial waterfront land is being redeveloped into luxury housing, offices, tourist attractions, cultural amenities and shopping centres. These developments are intended to attract high-income residents, tourists and investors to the city. As urban waterfronts are iconic places for the cities and catalyst for further development. They are often referred as flagship project. In Sydney, the re-development of industrial waterfront has been exposed since 1980s with Darling Harbour Project. Darling Harbour waterfront used to be the main arrival and landing place for commercial and industrial shipping until 1970s. Its urban development has continued since the establishment of the city. It was developed as a major industrial and goods-handling precinct in 1812. This use was continued by the mid-1970s. After becoming a redundant industrial waterfront, the area was ripe for re-development in 1984. Darling Harbour is now one of the world’s fascinating waterfront leisure and entertainment destinations and its transformation has been considered as a success story. It is a contradictory statement for this paper. Data collection was carried out using an extensive archival document analysis. The data was obtained from Australian Institute of Architects, City of Sydney Council Archive, Parramatta Heritage Office, Historic Houses Trust, National Trust, and University of Sydney libraries, State Archive, State Library and Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority Archives. Public documents, primarily newspaper articles and design plans, were analysed to identify possible differences in motives and to determine the process of implementation of the waterfront redevelopments. It was also important to obtain historical photographs and descriptions to understand how the waterfront had been altered. Sites maps in different time periods have been identified to understand what kind of changes happened on the urban landscape and how the developments affected areas. Newspaper articles and editorials have been examined in order to discover what aspects of the projects reflected the history and heritage. The thematic analysis of the archival data helped determine Darling Harbour is a historically important place as it had represented a focal point for Sydney's industrial growth and the cradle of industrial development in European Australia. It has been found that the development area was designated in order to be transformed to a place for tourist, education, recreational, entertainment, cultural and commercial activities and as a result little evidence remained of its industrial past. This paper aims to discuss the industrial significance of Darling Harbour and to explain the changes on its industrial landscape. What is absent now is the layer of its history that creates the layers of meaning to the place so its historic industrial identity is effectively lost.

Keywords: historical significance, industrial heritage, industrial waterfront, re-development

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Authors: Sylvia Villarreal, Edna Bravo

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Knowledge management focuses on coordinating technologies, people, processes, and structures to generate a competitive advantage and considering that networks are perceived as mechanisms for knowledge creation and transfer, this research presents the stages and practices related to the creation of knowledge networks. The methodology started with a literature review adapted from the systematic literature review (SLR). The descriptive analysis includes variables such as approach (conceptual or practical), industry, knowledge management processes and mythologies (qualitative or quantitative), etc. The content analysis includes identification of reference cases. These cases were characterized based on variables as scope, creation goal, years, network approach, actors and creation methodology. It was possible to do a comparative analysis to determinate similarities and differences in these cases documented in knowledge network scientific literature. Consequently, it was shown that even the need and impact of knowledge networks in organizations, the initial guidelines for their creation are not documented, so there is not a guide of good practices and lessons learned. The reference cases are from industries as energy, education, creative, automotive and textile. Their common points are the human approach; it is oriented to interactions to facilitate the appropriation of knowledge, explicit and tacit. The stages of every case are analyzed to propose the main successful elements.

Keywords: creation, knowledge management, network, stages

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