Search results for: health economy

Authors: Ilona Krone

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Maternal smoking during pregnancy increases the risk of perinatal/postnatal negative health outcomes; however, only 1 in 5 pregnant smokers quit smoking. That is a clinical and public health problem. Pregnant smokers have negative paternal support, and higher levels of perceived stress than non-smokers and quitters return to smoking in a stressful situation. A crisis like the COVID-19 outbreak causes significant uncertainty and stress. For pregnant women, additional stress may increase due to concerns for their fetus. Strategies targeting maternal stress and isolation may be particularly useful to prevent negative outcomes for women and their fetuses. Within the post-doctoral study, cooperating with leading specialists, an innovative program for pregnant smokers will be developed. Feasibility for reducing craving, distress intolerance, Covid 19 related stress, and fear in pregnant women in Latvia will be assessed.

Keywords: COVID 19, mindfulness, motivation, pregnancy, smoking cessation

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Authors: Gordana Kordić, Petra Palić

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The European countries that during the past two decades based their exchange rate regimes on currency board arrangement (CBA) are usually analysed from the perspective of corner solution choice’s stabilisation effects. There is an open discussion on the positive and negative background of a strict exchange rate regime choice, although it should be seen as part of the transition process towards the monetary union membership. The focus of the paper is on the Baltic countries that after two decades of a rigid exchange rate arrangement and strongly influenced by global crisis are finishing their path towards the euro zone. Besides the stabilising capacity, the CBA is highly vulnerable regime, with limited developing potential. The rigidity of the exchange rate (and monetary) system, despite the ensured credibility, do not leave enough (or any) space for the adjustment and/or active crisis management. Still, the Baltics are in a process of recovery, with fiscal consolidation measures combined with (painful and politically unpopular) measures of internal devaluation. Today, two of them (Estonia and Latvia) are members of euro zone, fulfilling their ultimate transition targets, but de facto exchanging one fixed regime with another. The paper analyses the challenges for the CBA in unstable environment since the fixed regimes rely on imported stability and are sensitive to external shocks. With limited monetary instruments, these countries were oriented to the fiscal policies and used a combination of internal devaluation and tax policy measures. Despite their rather quick recovery, our second goal is to analyse the long term influence that the measures had on the national economy.

Keywords: currency board arrangement, internal devaluation, exchange rate regime, great recession

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Authors: Moujib Bahri, Ouafa Sakka, Kallel Rahim

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This study builds on the literature about the effects of corruption on economic growth at the firm level, which analyzes how the payment of bribes affect organizational performance. Traditionally, the literature distinguishes two points of view regarding the impact of corruption: grease view and sand view. The grease view is based on the idea that corruption can compensate for the negative effect of red tape on firms’ activities such as innovation and exports. Therefore, some firms will be motivated to pay some additional money to officials in order to reduce the delay related to bureaucratic procedures. On the contrary, the second point of view considers that corruption sands the wheels of the economy and distorts resource allocation because it increases agency and transaction costs and reduces the returns on the investment. We have tested the effect of corruption on innovation and export activities on a sample of 537 Tunisian manufacturing small and medium enterprises (SMEs) using structural equation modeling and path analysis. Tunisia has undergone a revolution in 2010 and since then, the country is experiencing a political instability and economic hardships. Our results do not support the greasing hypothesis suggesting that corruption can reduce the negative effect of bureaucratic delays and the hard access of companies to public services related to exports. Instead, our results support the sanding hypothesis according to which corruption hinders SMEs’ exports through its negative influence on innovation. Furthermore, our results show that the interaction between excessive bureaucratic red tape and corruption has a negative effect on exports. However, the interaction between political instability and corruption increases exports.

Keywords: corruption, exports, SMEs, economic conditions

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Authors: Mohammad Zainie Bin Hassan

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Background: Erectile dysfunction (ED) is a complication commonly seen among men with diabetes which can be assessed based upon International Index of Erectile Function (IIEF-5) questionnaire. Creatinine level is a blood test that indicates kidney functionality. Object: To evaluate the association between ED, determined by the IIEF-5scores and Creatinine level in diabetic men attending Temerloh Health Clinic, Pahang, Malaysia.Hence, to identify raising Creatinine level related with ED or not. Methods: All married diabetic patients will be investigated face to face after consented for answering the IIEF-5 questionnaire. Creatinine level will be taken by using standard method.Patients with no sexual partner, refuse to answer the questionnaire, cancer, stroke, heart disease and language barrier will be excluded.Data obtained from IIEF-5 score and Creatinine level will be analyzed by using Pearson correlation. All statistical value determined by p=0.05. ED will be categorized accordingly to IIEF-5 scores: no ED (22-25), mild (17-21), moderate (12-16), severe (8-11) and very severe (1-7). Results: A total of 450 patients were investigated with 385 patients were included (85.6% respondant rate) and 65 patients were excluded in this study with age range from 29 to 85 years old. 7% had no ED, 28% mild ED, 34% moderate ED, 16% severe ED and 15% had very severe ED. There was a significant negative correlation between Creatinine level and IIEF-5 scores (r=-0.218, p <0.001). This result implicated that poor kidney function which indicated by high Creatinine level associated significantly with erectile dysfunction. 93% had ED with a different range of severity which triggers for appropriate aggressive ED management among diabetics. Conclusion: The high level of Creatinine is associated with erectile dysfunction among diabetics in Temerloh Health Clinic.

Keywords: correlation, creatinine level, erectile dysfunction, ED, diabetes

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Authors: Souhir Chelly, Chahida Harizi, Aicha Hechaichi, Sihem Aissaoui, Leila Ben Ayed, Maha Bergaoui, Mohamed Kouni Chahed

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Introduction: The International Classification of Primary Care (ICPC) is part of the morbidity classification system. It had 17 chapters, and each is coded by an alphanumeric code: the letter corresponds to the chapter, the number to a paragraph in the chapter. The objective of this study is to show the utility of this classification in the coding of the reasons for demand for care in Primary health care (PHC), its advantages and limits. Methods: This is a cross-sectional descriptive study conducted in 4 PHC in Ariana district. Data on the demand for care during 2 days in the same week were collected. The coding of the information was done according to the CISP. The data was entered and analyzed by the EPI Info 7 software. Results: A total of 523 demands for care were investigated. The patients who came for the consultation are predominantly female (62.72%). Most of the consultants are young with an average age of 35 ± 26 years. In the ICPC, there are 7 rubrics: 'infections' is the most common reason with 49.9%, 'other diagnoses' with 40.2%, 'symptoms and complaints' with 5.5%, 'trauma' with 2.1%, 'procedures' with 2.1% and 'neoplasm' with 0.3%. The main advantage of the ICPC is the fact of being a standardized tool. It is very suitable for classification of the reasons for demand for care in PHC according to their specificity, capacity to be used in a computerized medical file of the PHC. Its current limitations are related to the difficulty of classification of some reasons for demand for care. Conclusion: The ICPC has been developed to provide healthcare with a coding reference that takes into account their specificity. The CIM is in its 10th revision; it would gain from revision to revision to be more efficient to be generalized and used by the teams of PHC.

Keywords: international classification of primary care, medical file, primary health care, Tunisia

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Authors: Ghoul Rachid Brahim

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Introduction: Back pain is a real public health problem with a significant socio-economic impact. It is the consequence of a degeneration of the lumbar intervertebral disc (IVD). This often asymptomatic pathology is compatible with an active life. As soon as it becomes symptomatic, conservative treatment is recommended in the majority of cases. The physical or functional disability is resistant to well-monitored conservative treatment, which justifies a surgical alternative which imposes a well-studied reflection on the objectives to be achieved. Objective: Evaluate the indication and short and medium term contribution of surgery in the management of painful degenerative lumbar disc disease. To prove the effectiveness of surgical treatment in the management of painful lumbar degenerative disc disease. Materials and methods: This is a prospective descriptive mono-centric study without comparison group, comprising a series of 104 patients suffering from lumbar painful degenerative disc disease treated surgically. Retrospective analysis of data collected prospectively. Comparison between pre and postoperative clinical status, by pain self-assessment scores and on the impact on pre and postoperative quality of life (3, 6 to 12 months). Results: This study showed that patients who received surgical treatment had great improvements in symptoms, function and several health-related quality of life in the first year after surgery. Conclusions: The surgery had a significantly positive impact on patients' pain, disability and quality of life. Overall, 97% of the patients were satisfied.

Keywords: degenerative disc disease, intervertebral disc, several health-related quality, lumbar painful

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Authors: Robin Ruowei Yang

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The Khitan-Liao dynasty (907-1125) was founded by the nomadic Khitan people and showed its peculiarities. This regime not only effectively ruled their own nomads, but also ruled the farming ethnic groups of the Han (漢) and others. It also controlled vast territories that included the northern border domains of China, East Asia, and even Central Asia. Different from the practice of other nomadic people, Khitan-Liao built settlement towns and cities on the Mongolia steppe from beginning of the dynasty, which made the politics, economy and culture of the steppe area develop significantly. In the process of cities’ construction, Khitan-Liao set up five capitals respectively. Except three of them were rebuilt or expanded based on existing cities in agricultural areas, two new capitals were built, namely up-capital (Shangjing) and middle-capital (Zhongjing) in the steppe area. This article takes the up-capital (Shangjing) as an example to investigate a special zone in the capital for settling movable tents which adapted Khitan nomads, especially its nomadic government officials to live in. By using primary Chinese historical records and newly archaeological excavations, this article examines how the special tent zone used by the Khitan rulers, discusses how the Khitan-Liao manifested its hybrid cultural characteristics in urban planning, and its implications in studying the history of Khitan-Liao. The information, discussion and argument presented in this article are also worth considering the influence of urbanization of Khitan-Liao’s urbaization on subsequent dynasties in pre-modern China and Inner Asia.

Keywords: cities on Steppe, special tent zone in cities, Khitan-Liao, hybrid culture

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Authors: Holly D. Shan, Monique L. Bautista Neughebauer

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Sunscreen usage is emphasized in public health strategy as it reduces the risk of sunburns and skin cancers. This study aims to explore factors that influence sun protective behavior and outcomes. Data was received from the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) 2020. Adults were asked how often they wore sunscreen when outside on a sunny day. Consistent use (“always”) of sunscreen, the incidence of sunburn within a year, and ever having a diagnosis of skin melanoma were compared by gender, race, and the diagnosis of anxiety, depression, and dementia. Individuals identifying as a mixed race were excluded. Statistical analysis was adjusted for large-scale surveys using STATA VSN 7.0, and a two-sided p<0.05 was considered significant. Of the 37,352 participants (53.18% females, 75.01% white, 10.49% black, 0.76% Indian Americans,5.60% Asian), 13.11% had a diagnosis of anxiety, 14.78% depression, and 0.84% dementia. Females wore sunscreen more often than males (24.72% vs. 10.91%, p<0.001). White individuals wore sunscreen most frequently; black individuals the least (17.37% vs. 6.49%, p<0.001). White individuals had the highest rate of sunburn (25.61%, p<0.001) and a history of skin melanoma (3.38%, p<0.001). Participants with anxiety, depression, and dementia all had statistically significantly decreased sunscreen use and increased frequency of sunburn compared to the general population. Only those with dementia had an increased incidence of skin melanoma (2.85% vs. 1.22%, p=0.009). Dermatologists and public health professionals should consider gender, race, and psychiatric comorbidities when counseling patients on sun protection.

Keywords: sun protective behavior, psychiatric disorder, melanoma, sunburn

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Authors: Falntina Ahmad Alata, Natheer Abu Obeid

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This paper revolves around the concept of affordance. It aims to discover and develop an architectural typology based on the ecological concept of affordance. In order to achieve this aim, an analytical study is conducted and two sources were taken into account: 1- Gibson's definition of the concept of affordance and 2- The researches that are concerned on the affordance categorisation. As a result, this paper concluded 16 typologies of affordances, including the possibilities of mixing them based on both sources. To clarify these typologies and provide further understanding, a wide range of architectural examples are presented and proposed in the paper. To prove this vocabulary’s capability to diagnose and evaluate the affordance of different environments, an experimental study with two processes have been adapted: 1. Diagnostic process: the interpretation of the environments with regards to its affordance by using the new vocabulary (the developed typologies). 2. Evaluating process: the evaluation of the environments that have been interpreted and classified with regards to their affordances. By using the measures of emotional experience (the positive affect ‘PA’ and the negative affect ‘NA’) and the architectural evaluation criteria (beauty, economy and function). The experimental study proves that the typologies are capable of reading the affordance within different environments. Additionally, it explains how these different typologies reflect different interactions based on the previous processes. The data which are concluded from the evaluation of measures explain how different typologies of affordance that have already reflected different environments had different evaluations. In fact, some of them are recommended while the others are not. In other words, the paper draws a roadmap for designers to diagnose, evaluate and analyse the affordance into different architectural environments. After that, it guides them through adapting the best interaction (affordance category), which they intend to adapt into their proposed designs.

Keywords: Affordance theory, Affordance categories, Architectural environments, Architectural Evaluation Criteria (AEC), emotional experience (PA, NA)

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Authors: Polychronis Kapalidis

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In recent years, researchers have started to turn their attention to cyber security and maritime security independently, neglecting, in most cases, to examine the areas where these two critical issues are intertwined. The impact of cybersecurity issues on the maritime economy is emerging dramatically. Maritime transport and all related activities are conducted by technology-intensive platforms, which today rely heavily on information systems. The paper’s argument is that when no defense is completely effective against cyber attacks, it is vital to test responses to the inevitable incursions. Hence, preparedness in the form of testing existing cybersecurity structure via different tools for potential attacks is vital for minimizing risks. Traditional criminal activities may further be facilitated and evolved through the misuse of cyberspace. Kidnap, piracy, fraud, theft of cargo and imposition of ransomware are the major of these activities that mainly target the industry’s most valuable asset; the ship. The paper, adopting a case-study analysis, based on stakeholder consultation and secondary data analysis, namely policy and strategic-related documentation, presents the importance of holistic testing in the sector. Arguing that poor understanding of the issue leads to the adoption of ineffective policies the paper will present the level of awareness within the industry and assess the risks and vulnerabilities of ships to these cybercriminal activities. It will conclude by suggesting that testing procedures must be focused on three main pillars within the maritime transport sector: the human factor, the infrastructure, and the procedures.

Keywords: cybercrime, cybersecurity, organized crime, risk mitigation

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Authors: Lourenço José, Elsa Melo, Sandra Viera, Ana Pinheiro

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Introduction: People with stroke in Angola face challenges in accessing appropriate healthcare and rehabilitation services. There is a lack of information on the quality of care provided and the development of early intervention plans Methods: Two different methods will be chosen. The exploratory, descriptive, and longitudinal study (E1) to characterize health care for people with stroke, housed in 2 hospitals in Luanda; the quality and transverse study (E2) concerning the development and evaluation of a strategic early intervention plan for a stroke patient. Ethical and deontological principles for an investigation will be proposed. Results: Contributor to the knowledge of the reality of providing care to the person after a stroke, in Angola; Propose and develop an early action plan. Contribute to integration to influence policy makers on the need for assistance with stroke, aiming at their functional, family and social rehabilitation, particularly in the labor market.

Keywords: stroke, functional recovery, quality of life, health

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Authors: T. Nishido, S. Fukumoto

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The functions of movable bearings decline due to corrosion and sediments. As the result, they cannot move or rotate according to the behaviors of girders. Because of the constraints, the bending moments are generated by the horizontal reaction forces and the heights of girders. Under these conditions, the authors obtained the following results by analysis and experiment. Tensile stresses due to the moments occurred at temperature fluctuations. The large tensile stresses on concrete slabs around the bearings caused cracks. Even if concrete slabs are newly replaced, cracks will come out again with function declined bearings. The functional declines of bearings are generally found by using displacement gauges. However the method is not suitable for long-term measurements. We focused on the change in the strains at the bearings and the lower flanges near them at temperature fluctuations. It was found that their strains were particularly large when the movements of the bearings were constrained. Therefore, we developed a long-term health monitoring wireless system with FBG (Fiber Bragg Grating) sensors which were attached to bearings and lower flanges. The FBG sensors have the characteristics such as non-electrical influence, resistance to weather, and high strain sensitivity. Such characteristics are suitable for long-term measurements. The monitoring system was inexpensive because it was limited to the purpose of measuring strains and temperature. Engineers can monitor the behaviors of bearings in real time with the wireless system. If an office is away from bridge sites, the system will save traveling time and cost.

Keywords: bridge bearing, concrete slab, 　FBG sensor, health monitoring

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Authors: Ishmael Obaeko Iwara

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The Point of Sale (POS) cash and cashless semi-formal business has emerged as a significant driver of employment in countries like Nigeria and Kenya, similar to other micro and small-scale enterprises. This business model enables individuals to establish cash in/out outlets, offering entrepreneurs and small business owners a lucrative opportunity to generate additional income. However, the benefits extend beyond employment, as the POS model has become an integral part of the payment system in these countries. It facilitates convenient fund transfers, cash deposits, and withdrawals for individuals residing in both urban and rural areas. Given South Africa's high youth unemployment rate and limited banking services in rural households, coupled with a vibrant informal business economy akin to Nigeria and Kenya, the POS model potentially presents a business opportunity for the unemployed and serves as a banking solution for remote communities. Nonetheless, its implementation within South Africa's entrepreneurial landscape remains a subject of contention. Through qualitative research employing a participatory community-led action research approach, this study analyzes feedback, critiques, and potential interventions from various stakeholders, including business actors, grassroots communities, financial institutions, and policymakers. The findings offer crucial insights into the challenges associated with the adoption of the POS model and suggest mitigating factors to facilitate its successful implementation.

Keywords: grassroots entrepreneurs, rural households, POS banking, youth employment

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Authors: Saron Adisu Gezahegn

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Commercial cosmetic has been affecting human health due to their contents and dosage composition. Chemical base cosmetics exposes users to unnecessary health problems and financial cost. Some of the cosmetics' interaction with the environment has negative impacts on health such as burning, cracking, coloring, and so on. The users are looking for a temporary service without evaluating the side effects of cosmetics that contain chemical compositions that result in irritation, burning, allergies, cracking, and the nature of the face. Every cosmetic contains a heavy metal such as lead, zinc, cadmium, silicon, and other heavy cosmetics materials. The users may expose at the end of the day to untreatable diseases like cancer. The objective of the research is to study the effects of indigenous biological face treatment without any additives like chemicals. In ancient times this thought was highly tremendous in the world but things were changing bit by bit and reached chemical base cosmetics to maintain the beauty of hair, skin, and faces. The side effects of the treatment on the face were minimum and the side effects with the interaction of the environment were almost nil. But this thought is changed and replaces the indigenous substances with chemical substances by adding additives like heavy chemical lead and cadmium in the sense of preservation, pigments, dye, and shining. Various studies indicated that cosmetics have dangerous side effects that expose users to health problems and expensive financial loss. This study focuses on a local indigenous plant called Kulkual. Kulkual is available everywhere in a study area and sustainable products can harvest to use as indigenous face treatment materials.25 men and 25 women were selected as a sample population randomly to conduct the study effectively.The plant is harvested from the guard in the productive season. The plant was exposed to the sun dry for a week. Then the peel was removed from the plant fruit and the peels were taken to a bath filled with water to soak for three days. Then the flesh of the peel was avoided from the fruit and ready to use as a face treatment. The fleshy peel was smeared on each sample for almost a week and continued for a week. The result indicated that the effects of the treatment were a positive response with minimum cost and minimum side effects due to the environment. The beauty shines, smoothness, and color are better than chemical base cosmetics. Finally, the study is recommended that all users prefer a biological method of treatment with minimum cost and minimums side effects on health with the interaction of the environment.

Keywords: cosmetic, indigneous, heavymetals, toxic

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Authors: Vartan Agopian

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Millions of Syrian families have been displaced since the beginning of the Syrian war, and the negative effects of post-war trauma have shown detrimental effects on the mental health of refugee children. While educational strategies have focused on vocational training and academic achievement, little has been done to include music in the school curriculum to help these children improve their mental health. The literature of music education and psychology, on the other hand, shows the positive effects of music on traumatized children, especially when it comes to dealing with stress. This paper presents a brief literature review of trauma, music therapy, and music in the classroom, after having introduced the Syrian war and refugee situation. Furthermore, the paper highlights the benefits of using music with traumatized children from the literature and offers strategies for teachers (such as singing, playing an instrument, songwriting, and others) to include music in their classrooms to help Syrian refugee children deal with post-war trauma.

Keywords: children, music, refugees, Syria, war

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Authors: Glenn Guira

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Domestic violence is an international pandemic that has affected women from all walks of life. The World Health Organization (2016), announced that recent global prevalence of violence against women indicates that 1 in 3 (35 %) women worldwide have experienced either physical and/or sexual intimate partner violence or non-partner violence in their lifetime. It further said that violence against women is a major public health problem and violations of women’s human rights. Furthermore, the agency said that the factors associated in an increased risk of experiencing intimate partner and sexual violence include low education, child maltreatment or exposure to violence between parents, abuse during childhood, attitudes accepting violence and gender inequality. This is an integrative review of domestic violence focusing on four themes namely types of domestic violence against women, predictors of domestic violence against women, effects of domestic violence against women and strategies in addressing domestic violence against women. This integrative research study was conducted to identify relevant themes on domestic violence that was conducted and published. This study is geared toward understanding further domestic violence as a public health concern. Using the keywords domestic violence, Google Scholar, MEDLINE PLUS, and Ingenta Connect were searched to identify relevant studies. This resulted in 3,467 studies that fall within the copyright year 2006 – 2016. The studies were delimited to domestic violence against women because there are other types of violence that can be committed such as senior citizens abuse, child abuse, violence against males and gay/lesbian abuse. The significant findings of the research study are the following: the forms of domestic violence against women include physical, sexual, psychological, emotional, economic, spiritual and conflict-related violence against, the predictors of domestic violence against women include demographic, health-related, psychological, behavioral, partner-related and social-stress factors, the effects of domestic violence against women include victim-related factors and child-related factors and the strategies addressing domestic violence against women include personal-related strategies, education-related strategies, health-related strategies, legal-related strategies and judicial-related strategies. Consequent to the foregoing findings, the following conclusions are drawn by the researcher that there are published researches that presented different forms, predictors, effects and strategies addressing domestic violence committed by perpetrators against women. The researcher recommended that the summarized comprehensive data should be use to educate people who are potential victims of domestic violence and that future researchers should continue to conduct research for the development of pragmatic programs aimed at reducing domestic violence.

Keywords: domestic violence, physical abuse, intimate partner violence, sexual violence

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Authors: Sasitorn Chetanont

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The objectives of this study are to find out the approaches to promote healthy recreation activities for elderly tourists and develop Bang Nam Phueng Floating Market to be a health tourism attraction. The research methodology was to analyze internal and external situations according to MP-MF and the MC-STEPS principles. As for the results of this study the researcher found that the healthy recreational activities for elderly tourists could be divided in 7 groups; travelling Bang Nam Phueng Floating Market activity, homestay relaxation, arts center platform activity, healthy massage activity, paying homage to a Buddha image activity, herbal joss-stick home activity, making local desserts and food activity.

Keywords: elderly tourists, recreation activities, Bang Nam Phueng Floating Market, health tourism

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Authors: Martha Matashu

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This study examined corporate governance and economic growth trends in Sub Saharan African (SSA) countries. The need for corporate governance arise from the fact that the day to day running of the business is done by management who in accordance with the neoclassical theory and agency theory have inborn tendencies to use the resources of the company to their advantage. This prevails against a background where the endogenous economic growth theory hold the assumption that economic growth is an outcome of the overall performance of all companies within an economy. This suggest that corporate governance at firm level determine economic growth through its impact on the overall performance. Nevertheless, insight into literature suggest that efforts to promote corporate governance in countries across SSA since the 1980s to date have not yet yielded desired outcomes. The board responsibilities, shareholder rights, disclosure and transparency, protection of minority shareholder, and liability of directors were thus used as proxies of corporate governance because these are believed to be mechanisms that are believed to enhance company performance their effect on enhancing accountability and transparency. Using panel data techniques, corporate governance and economic growth data for 29 SSA countries from the period of 2008 to 2019 was analysed. The findings revealed declining economic growth trend despite an increase in corporate governance aspects such as director liability, shareholders’ rights, and protection of minority shareholder in SSA countries. These findings are in contradiction to the popularly held theoretical principles of economic growth and corporate governance. The study reached the conclusion thata nonlinearrelationship exists between corporate governance and economic growth within the selectedSSA countries during the period under investigation. This study thus recommends that measures should be taken to create conditions for corporate governance that would bolster significant positive contributions to economic growth in the region.

Keywords: corporate governance, economic growth, sub saharan Africa, agency theory, endogenous theory

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Authors: Yasaman Zeinali, Farid Khosravikia

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This paper presents a multi-objective framework for sustainable urban development. The proposed framework aims to address different aspects of sustainability in urban development planning. These aspects include, but are not limited to education, health, job opportunities, architecture, culture, environment, mobility, energy, water, waste, and so on. Then, the proposed framework is applied to the Brackenridge Tract (an area in downtown Austin, Texas), to redevelop that area in a sustainable way. The detail of the implementation process is presented in this paper. The ultimate goal of this paper is to develop a sustainable area in downtown Austin with ensuring that it locally meets the needs of present and future generations with respect to economic, social, environmental, health as well as cultural aspects. Moreover, it helps the city with the population growth problem by accommodating more people in that area.

Keywords: urban planning, sustainability, sustainable urban development, environmental impacts of human activities

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Authors: Osama Shibani

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Corporate governance effective is critical to the proper functioning of the banking sector and the economy as a whole, the Basel Committee have issued principles of corporate governance inspired from Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), but there is no single model of corporate governance that can work well in every country; each country, or even each organization should develop its own model that can cater for its specific needs and objectives, the corporate governance in Islamic Institutions is unique and offers a particular structure and guided by a control body which is Shariah supervisory Board (SSB), for this reason Islamic Financial Services Board in Malaysia (IFSB) has amended BCBS corporate governance principles commensurate with Islamic financial Institutions to suit the nature of the work of Islamic institutions, this paper highlight these amended by using comparative analysis method in context of the differences of corporate governance structure of Islamic banks and conventional banks. We find few different between principles (Principle 1: The Board's overall responsibilities, Principles 3: Board’s own structure and practices, Principles 9: Compliance, Principle 10: Internal audit, Principle 12: Disclosure and transparency) and there are similarities between principles (Principle 2: Board qualifications and composition, Principles 4: Senior Management (composition and tasks), Principle 6: Risk Management and Principle 8: Risk communication). Finally, we found that corporate governance principles issued by Islamic Financial Services Board (IFSB) are complemented to CG principles of Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS) with some modifications to suit the composition of Islamic banks, there are deficiencies in the interest of the Basel Committee to Islamic banks.

Keywords: basel committee (BCBS), corporate governance principles, Islamic financial services board (IFSB), agency theory

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Authors: Hacer Unver, Rukuye Aylaz

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Aim: This study was conducted in order to determine the effects of exercising on quality of life in pregnancy. Material and Method: The population of the study was formed by 580 pregnants who were registered to 10 Family Health Center located in the city center of Malatya. The sample of the study, on the other hand, was formed by 230 pregnants who had minimal sample size according to known population sample size calculation. The data of this descriptive study was collected between October 2013 and September 2014 from the Family Health Centers located in the city center of Malatya. The data were collected using pregnant introductory form, exercise benefit and barrier scale, quality of life scale. Percentage distributions, t-test, Variance Analysis (ANOVA), Kruskal-Wallis, Mann-Whitney U and Pearson Correlation tests were used in the analysis of the data. Result: It was determined that 69.1% of the pregnants participating to the study did not know the benefits of exercising and 89.6% did not exercise. Quality of life mental health scores of those who exercised were determined to be higher and statistically significant (p<0.05). A positive correlation was determined between the exercise benefit scala and physical quality of life scores of the pregnants in this study (0.268, p=0.001). It was also detected that the more exercise performed led to higher total quality of life scores. Conclusion: In consequence, exercising was determined to positively affect the quality of life in pregnants. Therefore, it is recommended that nurses should give education regarding the importance and benefits of exercise during pregnancy in order to increase the quality of life.

Keywords: exercise, midwife, pregnant woman, quality of life

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Authors: Myriam Roy

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The perspectives of the Togolese public towards mental illness were assessed, looking at religious affiliation, personal knowledge of someone with a mental illness, and education level as influencers. The goal was to observe which factors influenced most strongly the general public’s attitudes towards mental illness. The Togolese population was surveyed within the context of mental health awareness workshops and involved college and university students, rural community members, and company employees. Taylor and Dear’s Community Attitudes towards the Mentally Ill (CAMI) questionnaire was used to assess these influencers and includes four dimensions of community attitudes towards mental illness: authoritarianism, benevolence, social restrictiveness, and community mental health ideology (CMHI). Demographic questions were also included, tailored to the various realities of the Togolese population. These questions looked, among others, at religious, ethnical (region of origin within Togo), and educational background. It was found that religious affiliation and personal knowledge did not correlate significantly with changes in the four dimensions of the CAMI scale. It suggests that public perspectives towards mental illness might not be as associated with these variables as was previously thought. The dimensions, however, did correlate with themselves as was expected. Authoritarianism was associated positively with social restrictiveness, benevolence was associated negatively with social restrictiveness and positively with CMHI, and CMHI was associated negatively with social restrictiveness, indicating the CAMI did not suffer from reliability and validity issues when used with this population. Interestingly, level of education significantly impacted authoritarianism level, with higher education associated with a decrease in authoritarianism. This finding would support the notion that education is likely to provide access to a wide array of information as well as interaction with people from various backgrounds and situations. Providing increased awareness regarding mental health and illness in schools could be beneficial to favor the impact that education appears to have on public perspectives towards mental illness in Togo. Future studies could assess which mental health interventions in schools would be the most useful in Togo.

Keywords: CAMI questionnaire, cross-cultural psychology, stigma towards mental illness, West African psychology

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Authors: Emre Bayamlıoğlu

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Apart from being the subject of neighboring rights when broadcasted on TV or of cinematographic work when fixed to a tangible medium including a hard drive, the copyright eligibility of a sports performance, and eventually the sporting event has once again given rise to controversy following the CJEU judgment in the Murphy case. Most of the arguments which deny copyright protection for sports performances focus on the fact that unlike movies, plays, television programs, or operas, athletic events are competitive and have no underlying script. The first part of the paper aims to explain that such rhetoric is rather weak simply for the fact that, several types of performances such as improvised musical or dramatic shows are still protected by copyright despite the fact that they are not based on a script. The second part argues that the core reason for the denial copyright protection was the functionality aiming certain practical results such as winning the game, scoring, eliminating an opponent, obstructing a shot and etc., but no scientific or artistic expression in whatsoever form. The paper further argues that expanding copyright protection to functional performances would give rise to unintended copyright claims by the athletes on tackles, shoots, passes, crosses etc. resulting with further restrictions on reporting and photographing of sporting events. The final part provides a policy analysis of the trend to broaden the scope of copyright to cover sports performances. It is argued that such expansion will clearly undermine the ratio legis of copyright laws since it will give rise to excessive commodification of information beyond the needs of a viable market economy. Therefore, remedies other than copyright protection such as unfair competition and unjust enrichment provides sufficient redress for the damages to be sustained by the investors of sporting events.

Keywords: copyright eligibility, idea-expression dichotomy, sports performance

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Authors: Nicolae Constantin, Ştefan Sorohan

Abstract:

The small and medium wind turbines are running in quite different conditions as compared to the big ones. Consequently, they need also a different approach concerning the structural health monitoring (SHM) issues. There are four main differences between the above mentioned categories: (i) significantly smaller dimensions, (ii) considerably higher rotation speed, (iii) generally small distance between the turbine and the energy consumer and (iv) monitoring assumed in many situations by the owner. In such conditions, nondestructive inspections (NDI) have to be made as much as possible with affordable, yet effective techniques, requiring portable and accessible equipment. Additionally, the turbines and accessories should be easy to mount, dispose and repair. As the materials used for such unit can be metals, composites and combined, the technologies should be adapted accordingly. An example in which the two materials co-exist is the situation in which the damaged metallic skin of a blade is repaired with a composite patch. The paper presents the inspection of the bonding state of the patch, using portable ultrasonic equipment, able to put in place the Lamb wave method, which proves efficient in global and local inspections as well. The equipment is relatively easy to handle and can be borrowed from specialized laboratories or used by a community of small wind turbine users, upon the case. This evaluation is the first in a row, aimed to evaluate efficiency of NDI performed with rather accessible, less sophisticated equipment and related inspection techniques, having field inspection capabilities. The main goal is to extend such inspection procedures to other components of the wind power unit, such as the support tower, water storage tanks, etc.

Keywords: structural health monitoring, small wind turbines, non-destructive inspection, field inspection capabilities

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Authors: O.O. Ehinmowo, A.I. Fatuase, D.F. Oke

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Nigeria is endowed with resources that could boost the economy as well as generate income and provide jobs to the teaming populace. One of the keys of attaining this is by making the environment conducive for the entrepreneurs to excel in their respective enterprises so that more income could be accrued to the entrepreneurs. This study therefore examines income inequality among selected entrepreneurs in Ondo State, Nigeria using primary data. A multistage sampling technique was used to select 200 respondents for the study with the aid of structured questionnaire and personal interview. The data collected were subjected to descriptive statistics, Lorenz curve, Gini coefficient and Double - Log regression model. Results revealed that majority of the entrepreneurs (63%) were males and 90% were married with an average age of 44 years. About 40% of the respondents spent at most 12 years in school with 81% of the respondents had 4-6 members per household, while hair dressing (43.5%) and fashion designing (31.5%) were the most common enterprises among the sampled respondents. The findings also showed that majority of the entrepreneurs in hairdressing, fashion designing and laundry service earned below N200,000 per annum while the majority of those in restaurant and food vending earned between N400,000 – N600,000 followed by the entrepreneurs in pure water enterprise where majority earned N800,000 and above per annum. The result of the Gini coefficient (0.58) indicated that there was presence of inequality among the entrepreneurs which was also affirmed by the Lorenz curve. The Regression results showed that gender, household size and number of employees significantly affected the income of the entrepreneurs in the study area. Therefore, more female households should be encouraged into entrepreneurial businesses and government should give incentive cum conductive environment that could bridge the disparity in the income of the entrepreneurs in their various enterprises.

Keywords: entrepreneurs, Gini coefficient, income inequality, Lorenz curve

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Authors: Nikk Leavitt, Peter Kellett, Cheryl Currie, Richard Larouche

Abstract:

Background: Masculinity has been associated with poor mental health outcomes in adult men and is colloquially referred to as toxic. Masculinity is traditionally measured using the Male Role Norms Inventory, which examines behaviors that may be common in men but that are themselves associated with poor mental health regardless of gender (e.g., aggressiveness). The purpose of this study was to examine if masculinity is associated with generalized anxiety among men using this inventory vs. a man’s personal definition of it. Method: An online survey collected data from 1,200 men aged 18-65 across Canada in July 2022. Masculinity was measured using: 1) the Male Role Norms Inventory Short Form and 2) by asking men to self-define what being masculine means. Men were then asked to rate the extent they perceived themselves to be masculine on a scale of 1 to 10 based on their definition of the construct. Generalized anxiety disorder was measured using the GAD-7. Multiple linear regression was used to examine associations between each masculinity score and anxiety score, adjusting for confounders. Results: The masculinity score measured using the inventory was positively associated with increased anxiety scores among men (β = 0.02, p < 0.01). Masculinity subscales most strongly correlated with higher anxiety were restrictive emotionality (β = 0.29, p < 0.01) and dominance (β = 0.30, p < 0.01). When traditional masculinity was replaced by a man’s self-rated masculinity score in the model, the reverse association was found, with increasing masculinity resulting in a significantly reduced anxiety score (β = -0.13, p = 0.04). Discussion: These findings highlight the need to revisit the ways in which masculinity is defined and operationalized in research to better understand its impacts on men’s mental health. The findings also highlight the importance of allowing participants to self-define gender-based constructs, given they are fluid and socially constructed.

Keywords: masculinity, generalized anxiety disorder, race, intersectionality

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Authors: Șercăianu Mihai, Aldea Mihaela, Iacoboaea Cristina, Luca Oana, Nenciu Ioana

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The rise and mitigation of unauthorized illegal waste dumps are a significant global issue within waste management ecosystems, impacting disadvantaged communities. Globally, including in Romania, many individuals live in houses without legal recognition, lacking ownership or construction permits, in areas known as "informal settlements." An increasing number of regions and cities in Romania are struggling to manage their illegal waste dumps, especially in the context of increasing poverty and lack of regulation related to informal settlements. One such informal settlement is located at the end of Bistra Street in Câlnic, within the Reșița Municipality of Caras Severin County. The article presents a case study that focuses on employing remote sensing techniques and spatial data to monitor and map illegal waste practices, with subsequent integration into a geographic information system tailored for the Reșița community. In addition, the paper outlines the steps involved in devising strategies aimed at enhancing waste management practices in disadvantaged areas, aligning with the shift toward a circular economy. Results presented in the paper contain a spatial mapping and visualization methodology calibrated with in situ data collection applicable for identifying illegal landfills. The emergence and neutralization of illegal dumps pose a challenge in the field of waste management. These approaches, which prove effective where conventional solutions have failed, need to be replicated and adopted more wisely.

Keywords: informal settlements, GIS, waste dumps, waste management, monitoring

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Authors: Bhanupriya Sanger, Kiran Roat, Gayatri Swarnakar

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Helminths including Paramphistomum Cervi (P. cervi) are a major cause of reduced production in livestock or domestic ruminant. Rajasthan is the largest state of India having a maximum number of livestock. The economy of rural people largely depends on livestock such as cow, buffalo, goat and sheep. The prevalence of P. cervi helminth parasite is extremely high in buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) of Udaipur, which causes the disease paramphistomiasis. This disease mainly affects milk, meat, wool production and loss of life of buffalo. Chemotherapy is the only efficient and effective tool to cure and control the helminth P. cervi infection, as efficacious vaccines against helminth have not been developed so far. Various veterinary drugs like Albendazole have been used as the standard drug for eliminating P. cervi from buffalo, but these drugs are unaffordable and inaccessible for poor livestock farmers. The fruits, leaves and seeds of Clitoria ternatea Linn. are known for their ethno-medicinal value and commonly known as “Aprajita” in India. Seed extract of Clitoria ternatea found to have a significant anthelmintic action against Paramphistomum cervi at the dose of 35 mg/ml. The tegument of treated P. cervi was compared with controlled parasites by light microscopy. Treated P. cervi showed extensive distortion and destruction of the tegument including ruptured parenchymal cells, disruption of musculature cells, swelling and vacuolization in tegumental and sub tegumental cells. As a result, it can be concluded that the seeds of Clitoria ternatea can be used as the anthelmintic agent. Key words: Paramphistomiasis, Buffalo, Alcoholic extract, Paramphistomum cervi, Clitoria ternatea.

Keywords: buffalo, Clitoria ternatea, Paramphistomiasis, Paramphistomum cervi

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Authors: Hira Jabbar

Abstract:

Education is vital for inclusive growth of an economy and a critical contributor for investment in human capital. Like other developing countries, Pakistan is facing enormous challenges regarding the provision of public facilities, improper infrastructure planning, accelerating rate of population and poor accessibility. The influence of the rapid advancement and innovations in GIS and RS techniques have proved to be a useful tool for better planning and decision making to encounter these challenges. Therefore present study incorporates GIS and RS techniques to investigate the spatial distribution of school facilities, identifies settlements with served and unserved population, finds potential areas for new schools based on population and develops an accessibility index to evaluate the higher accessibility for schools. For this purpose high-resolution worldview imagery was used to develop road network, settlements and school facilities and to generate school accessibility for each level. Landsat 8 imagery was utilized to extract built-up area by applying pre and post-processing models and Landscan 2015 was used to analyze population statistics. Service area analysis was performed using network analyst extension in ArcGIS 10.3v and results were evaluated for served and underserved areas and population. An accessibility tool was used to evaluate a set of potential destinations to determine which is the most accessible with the given population distribution. Findings of the study may contribute to facilitating the town planners and education authorities for understanding the existing patterns of school facilities. It is concluded that GIS and remote sensing can be effectively used in urban transport and facility planning.

Keywords: accessibility, geographic information system, landscan, worldview

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Authors: Yongxin Chen, Min Zhang

Abstract:

As industrial enterprises are the primary source of national pollution, environmental information disclosure is a crucial way to demonstrate to stakeholders the work they have done in fulfilling their environmental responsibilities and accepting social supervision. In the era of the digital economy, many companies, actively embracing the opportunities that come with digital transformation, have begun to apply digital technology to information collection and disclosure within the enterprise. However, less is known about the relationship between digital transformation and environmental disclosure. This study investigates how enterprise digital transformation affects environmental disclosure in 643 Chinese industrial companies, according to information processing theory. What is intriguing is that the depth (size) and breadth (diversity) of environmental disclosure linearly increase with the rise in the collection, processing, and analytical capabilities in the digital transformation process. However, the volume of data will grow exponentially, leading to a marginal increase in the economic and environmental costs of utilizing, storing, and managing data. In our empirical findings, linearly increasing benefits and marginal costs create a unique inverted U-shaped relationship between the degree of digital transformation and environmental disclosure in the Chinese industrial sector. Besides, based on the upper echelons theory, we also propose that the top management team with high stability and managerial capabilities will invest more effort and expense into improving environmental disclosure quality, lowering the carbon footprint caused by digital technology, maintaining data security etc. In both these contexts, the increasing marginal cost curves would become steeper, weakening the inverted U-shaped slope between DT and ED.

Keywords: digital transformation, environmental disclosure, the top management team, information processing theory, upper echelon theory

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