Search results for: geographically dispersed communities

Authors: Chidiebere Joy Nwankwo, Benjamin S. C. Uzochukwu, Florence T. Sibeudu

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Background: Family planning is one of the most cost-effective ways to prevent maternal, infant, and child mortality. It can decrease maternal mortality by reducing the number of unintended pregnancies, the number of abortions, and the proportion of births at high risk. It has been seen to improve the health and economic well-being of families and communities and ensures women’s planned childbearing in order to achieve education and career goals which could raise family income thereby reducing poverty. The choice and use of a particular family planning method and their sources vary globally. Rural Communities often face significant challenges in accessing and utilizing family planning services. Aim: This study set out to assess Access and Utilization of Family Planning Services among Women of Reproductive Age in a Rural Community of Enugu state, Nigeria. Rural communities were chosen for this study because past demographic surveys have shown that women in urban areas are more likely to accept and practice family planning compared to those in rural areas. Method: A Descriptive Cross-sectional Research design was employed to achieve the aim and objectives of the study. Data collected from 177 consenting participants using interviewer-administered questionnaires was analysed using Descriptive statistics to summarize the Socio-demographic characteristics of the participants and Access and Utilization of Family Planning Services among the participants including Reasons for using different Family Planning Methods and Barriers encountered in Access and Utilization of these services. A Cross-tabulation between Socio-demographic Characteristics of respondents and the use of Family Planning services was carried out. Result: The findings of this study revealed that majority of the participants (72.9%) have not utilized any family planning service. Out of those (27.1%) that have used any family planning service, majority of them are still currently using a form of family planning service and have access to them in health facilities, patent medicine vendors and others based on multiple responses. Male condoms were the most utilized modern family planning service. Based on multiple responses, inaccessibility, personal beliefs and partner’s objection were the most identified barriers encountered in accessing family planning services. Conclusion: Access and uptake of family planning services in rural communities is lower than the national average. Increasing access to family planning is an urgent priority for rural areas Interventions that will scale up Access and Utilization of family planning services in rural communities should be intensified.

Keywords: access, family planning, rural community, utilization

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Authors: C. Hamamura, V. Gialluca

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Much of the Eclectricity Distributors has about 70% of its electricity interruptions arising from cause "trees", alone or associated with wind and rain and with or without falling branch and / or trees. This contributes inexorably and significantly to outages, resulting in high costs as compensation in addition to the operation and maintenance costs. On the other hand, there is little data structure and solutions to better organize the trees pruning plan effectively, minimizing costs and environmentally friendly. This work describes the development of an algorithm to provide data of trees associated to power grid. The method is accomplished on several steps using satellite imagery and geographically vectorized grid. A sliding window like approach is performed to seek the area around the grid. The proposed method counted 764 trees on a patch of the grid, which was very close to the 738 trees counted manually. The trees data was used as a part of a larger project that implements a system to optimize tree pruning plan.

Keywords: image pattern recognition, trees pruning, trees recognition, neural network

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Authors: N. F. Jamaluddin, N. A. H. Aizam

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This paper explains the educational timetabling problem, a type of scheduling problem that is considered as one of the most challenging problem in optimization and operational research. The university examination timetabling problem (UETP), which involves assigning a set number of exams into a set number of timeslots whilst fulfilling all required conditions, has been widely investigated. The limitation of available timeslots and resources with the increasing number of examinations are the main reasons in the difficulty of solving this problem. Dynamical change in the examination scheduling system adds up the complication particularly in coping up with the demand and new requirements by the communities. Our objective is to investigate these demands and requirements with subjects taken from Universiti Malaysia Terengganu (UMT), through questionnaires. Integer linear programming model which reflects the preferences obtained to produce an effective examination timetabling was formed.

Keywords: demands, educational timetabling, integer linear programming, scheduling, university examination timetabling problem (UETP)

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Authors: Deycy Janeth Sanchez Preciado, Bjorn Claes, Paola Andrade

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The development of appropriate environmentally friendly technologies has aided communities in rural areas in emerging economies to better use their natural resources, increase productivity while reducing pollution. Moreover, it has improved their innovation capabilities and ability to develop products for new markets. However, despite the advances, the adoption of these technologies is not generalized and does not always show the expected benefits for the communities and other actors involved in the co-creation process. In this paper, we study the barriers that inhibit the adoption of technologies to reach innovation levels and study comparative cases in rural areas of Cauca in Colombia. We develop and test a theory grounded framework, and we compile an overview of the most important of barriers.

Keywords: technology adoption, environmentally friendly technology, developing countries, rural production, innovation, appropriate technology

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Authors: Katherine Denise Queri

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Around the world, there are many corporations and other business organizations who promote the welfare of the society. They are found inside the communities where they naturally perform work. Their aim is to maximize their respective returns on investment while measuring the impact of their activities on the environment. The Senate in the Philippines formed a bill that seeks to foster sustainable economic and environment development and environment protection, among other things, by institutionalizing the corporate responsibility of corporations, whether domestic and foreign, partnership and other establishment performing business in the country. Under the Senate Bill 1239 or an act institutionalizing corporate social responsibility, providing incentives therefor, and for other purposes, all business organizations are mandated to consider the interest of society by taking responsibility for the impact of their activities on customers, employees, shareholders communities and environment. In return, businesses shall comply with the mandate of this proposed measure shall be entitled to full deductions of the expenses incurred in connection thereto.

Keywords: ateneo, corporate social responsibility (CSR), industrial relations, marketing, up

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Authors: Jyoti Ranjan Sahoo

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Communication is a social phenomenon which mediates to our everyday life and it creates, maintains, builds, circulates, and propagates for a common identity the society. The symbolic forms of communication such as aural, sounds, oral expressions, signs, and language as means of communication are being used in everyday life in helping to identify as construction of social reality. These symbolic forms of communication are treated as the social process in everyday life. Therefore, there is an intrinsic relationship between communication and culture to understand media life for village communities. Similarly, the interface of communication with social life is reflected upon it’s formulation of the notions of social structure and culture. It has been observed that there is an overlapping and new phenomenonal change of media life among marginalized communities in general and village communities in particular. Therefore, this paper is an outcome of decadal stock of literature and an empirical investigation on understanding of communication in a tribal village in India. It has examined the idea of American scientist Edward T. Hall “the culture is communication, and the communication is culture” in village society on understanding media life. Thus, the Harold Innis’s theoretical idea of “communication” has been critically examined in these contexts since author tries to explore and understand the inter-disciplinarity on understanding media life through communication and culture which is embedded in socio-cultural life bearing on epistemological and ontological implications. The paper tries to explore and understand the inter-disciplinary and historical trajectories of communication embedded with other social science disciplines; and also tries to map these studies relevant for the future directions and engagement which would have bearing on epistemological and ontological implications in the field of media and communication.

Keywords: culture, communication, history, media, oral, tradition

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Authors: Neeta Pokharel

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Cultural beliefs and practices have been shaping indigenous community’s resource use and attitude toward the conservation of natural flora and fauna around them. Understanding these cultural dimensions is vital for identifying effective strategies that align with conservation efforts. This study focused on investigating the wildlife-related cultural beliefs and practices of two indigenous communities: Bote and Musahars. The study applied ethnographic methods that included Key-informant interviews, Focal Group discussion, and Household survey methods. Out of 100 respondents, 51% were male and 49% female. A significant portion (65%) of the respondents confirmed animal worship, with a majority worshipping tigers (81.5%), rhinos (73.8%), crocodiles (66%), and dolphins (40%). Additionally, 16.9% disclosed worshipping Elephants, while 10 % affirmed animal worship without specifying the particular animals. Ritualistic practices often involve the sacrifice of pigs, goats, hens, and pigeons. Their cultural ethics place a significant emphasis on biodiversity conservation, as the result shows 41 % refraining from causing harm to wild animals and 9% doing so for ethical considerations, respectively. Moreover, the majority of the respondents believe that cultural practices could enhance conservation efforts. However, the encroachment of modernization and religious conversion within the community poses a tangible risk of cultural degradation, highlighting the urgent need to preserve the cultural practices. Integrating such indigenous practices into the National Biodiversity Strategy and conservation policies can ensure sustainable conservation of endangered animals with appropriate cultural safeguards.

Keywords: tribal communities, societal belief, wild fauna, “barana”, safeguarding

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Authors: Phusit Phukamchanoad

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This research was to analyze personality’s activities based on sufficiency economy philosophy of people and community leaders in urban communities. The data were collected through questionnaires administered to 392 people and interviewed with community leaders. It was found that most people revealed that their lives depend on activities in accordance with the sufficiency economy philosophy in high level especially, being honest and aware on sufficiency, occupations, peacefulness in the community leaders’ side, they reported on extravagant reduction, planting home vegetable garden, having household accounting, expense planning by dividing into 3 categories; 1) saving for illness cover 2) saving for business cover, and 3) household daily expense. The samples were also adjusted their livings quite well with the rapid change of urbanization. Although those people have encountered with any hardships, their honesty in occupations and awareness on sufficiency remain to survive happily.

Keywords: sufficiency economy philosophy, individual and household activities, urban community

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Authors: Mariana Paz Sajon, Paula Cecilia Primogerio, Mariana Albarracin

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This study recovers an experience of teacher training carried out in an Undergraduate Business School from a private university in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The purpose of the project was to provide teachers with an opportunity to reflect on their teaching practices at the university. The aim of the study is to systematize lessons and challenges that emerge from this teacher training experience. A group of teachers who showed a willingness to learn teaching abilities was selected to work. They completed a formative journey working in learning communities starting from the immersion in different aspects of teaching and learning, class observations, and an individual and collaborative reflection exercise in a systematic way among colleagues. In this study, the productions of the eight teachers who are members of the learning communities are analyzed, framed in an e-portfolio that they prepared during the training journey. The analysis shows that after the process of shared reflection, traits related to powerful teaching and meaningful learning have appeared in the classes. For their part, teachers reflect having reached an awareness of their own practices, identifying strengths and opportunities for improvement, and the experience of sharing their own way and knowing the successes and failures of others was valued. It is an educational journey of pedagogical transformation of the teachers, which is infrequent in business education, which could lead to a change in teaching practices for the entire Business School. The present study involves theoretical and pedagogic aspects of education in a business school in Argentina and its flow-on implications for the workplace that may be transferred to other educational contexts.

Keywords: Argentina, learning community, meaningful learning, powerful teaching, reflective practice

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Authors: Hasibe Caballero-Gomez, Richard Pepino

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Childhood lead poisoning is an issue that continues to plague major U.S. cities. Lead poisoning has been linked to decreases in academic achievement and IQ at levels as low as 5 ug/dL. Despite efforts from the Philadelphia Health Department to curtail systemic childhood lead poisoning, children continue to be identified with elevated blood lead levels (EBLLs) above the CDC reference level for diagnosis. This problem disproportionately affects low-income Black communities. At the moment, remediation is costly, and with the current policies in place, comprehensive remediation seems unrealistic. This research investigates community engagement policy and the ways pre-exisiting resources in target communities can be adjusted to decrease childhood lead poisoning. The study was done with two methods: content analysis and case studies. The content analysis includes 12 interviews from stakeholders and five published policy recommendations. The case studies focus on Baltimore, Chicago, Rochester, and St. Louis, four cities with significant childhood lead poisoning. Target communities were identified by mapping five factors that indicate a higher risk for lead poisoning. Seven priority zipcodes were identified for the model developed in this study. For these urban centers, 28 policy solutions and suggestions were identified, with three being identified at least four times in the content analysis and case studies. These three solutions create an interdependent model that offers increased community awareness and engagement with the issue that could potentially improve health and social outcomes for at-risk children.

Keywords: at-risk populations, community engagement, environmental justice, policy translation

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Authors: Andrew Laghos

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The Internet is a big part of our everyday lives. People can now access the internet from a variety of places including home, college, and work. Many airports, hotels, restaurants and cafeterias, provide free wireless internet to their visitors. Using technologies like computers, tablets, and mobile phones, we spend a lot of our time online getting entertained, getting informed, and communicating with each other. This study deals with the latter part, namely, human communication through the Internet. People can communicate with each other using social media, social network sites (SNS), e-mail, messengers, chatrooms, and so on. By connecting with each other they form virtual communities. Regarding SNS, types of connections that can be studied include friendships and cliques. Analyzing these connections is important to help us understand online user behavior. The method of Social Network Analysis (SNA) was used on a case study, and results revealed the existence of some useful patterns of interactivity between the participants. The study ends with implications of the results and ideas for future research.

Keywords: human communication, internet communities, online user behavior, psychology

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Authors: Purabi Saikia

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The present study was carried out across 84 vegetated grids (>10% vegetation cover) along an urbanization gradient, ranging from the urban core to peri-urban and natural vegetation in and around Ranchi, Eastern India, aiming to examine the phytosociological attributes by belt transect (167 transects each of 0.5 ha) method. Overall, plant species richness was highest in natural vegetation (242 spp.), followed by peri-urban (198 spp.) and urban (182 spp.). Similarly, H’, CD, E, Dmg, Dmn, and ENS showed significant differences in the tree layer (H’: 0.45-3.36; CD: 0.04-1.00; E: 0.25-0.96; Dmg: 0.18-7.15; Dmn: 0.03-4.24, and ENS: 1-29) in the entire urbanization gradient. Various α-diversity indices of the adult trees (H’: 3.98, Dmg: 14.32, Dmn: 2.38, ENS: 54) were comparatively better in urban vegetation compared to peri-urban (H’: 2.49, Dmg: 10.37, Dmn: 0.81, ENS: 12) and natural vegetation (H’: 2.89, Dmg: 13.46, Dmn: 0.85, ENS: 18). Tree communities have shown better response and adaptability in urban vegetation than shrubs and herbs. The prevalence of rare (41%), very rare (29%), and exotic species (39%) in urban vegetation may be due to the intentional introduction of a number of fast-growing exotic tree species in different social forestry plantations that have created a diverse and heterogeneous habitat. Despite contagious distribution, the majority of trees (36.14%) have shown no regeneration in the entire urbanization gradient. Additionally, a quite high percentage of IUCN red-listed plant species (51% and 178 spp.), including endangered (01 sp.), vulnerable (03 spp.), near threatened (04 spp.), least concern (163 spp.), and data deficient (07 spp.), warrant immediate policy interventions. Overall, the study witnessed subsequent transformations in floristic composition and structure from urban to natural vegetation in Eastern India. The outcomes are crucial for fostering resilient ecosystems, biodiversity conservation, and sustainable development in the region that supports diverse plant communities.

Keywords: floristic communities, urbanization gradients, exotic species, regeneration

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Authors: Hassan Sabo

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Language is a system of conventionally spoken, manual and written symbols by human beings that members of a certain social group and participants in its culture express themselves. Communication, expression of identity and imaginative expression are among the functions of language. Dialect is a form of language, or a regional variety of language that is spoken in a particular geographical setting by a particular group of people. Hausa is one of the major languages in Africa, in terms of large number of people for whom it is the first language. Hausa is one of the western Chadic groups of languages. It constitutes one of the five or six branches of Afro-Asiatic family. The predominant Hausa speakers are in Nigeria and they live in different geographical locations which resulted to variety of dialects within the Hausa language apart of the standard Hausa language, the Hausa language has a variety of dialect that distinguish from one another by such features as phonology, grammar and vocabulary. This study intends to examine such features that serve as means of identification among Hausa speakers who are set off from others, geographically or socially.

Keywords: dialect, features, geographical location, Hausa language

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Authors: Erin Brands-Saliba

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In this evaluation study, we explore the efficacy and implementation of the five guiding principles of Bekaadendang “Being Peaceful,” a suite of services facilitated by our Anti-Human Trafficking Team, and a pivotal component of the Holistic Prevention Services department at NCFST. The guiding principles—trauma-informed care, cultural safety, 4-quadrant medicine wheel approach, harm reduction, and after-care peer support—are the foundation of Bekaadendang's mission to support at-risk individuals and survivors of human trafficking. This evaluation is of paramount importance given the profound impact of human trafficking on these communities and aims to ensure that Bekaadendang's principles are not only understood by staff but experienced by community members in a purposeful and meaningful manner. The issues at the heart of this evaluation are deeply entrenched in the historical and contemporary challenges faced by Indigenous communities, with a particular emphasis on Indigenous women and 2SLGBTQQIA+ individuals. Well-documented reports like the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG) have cast a glaring light on the disproportionately high rates of violence, exploitation, and trafficking experienced by these communities. The MMIWG report underlines the pressing need for holistic, culturally informed interventions like Bekaadendang. Furthermore, the research efforts of scholars, both Indigenous and non-Indigenous, shed light on the persistent systemic issues that make Indigenous individuals more vulnerable to trafficking and exploitation. Recognizing this broader context is crucial to truly grasp the importance of evaluating the guiding principles that underpin Bekaadendang's service model.

Keywords: human trafficking, indigenous healing, MMIWG, program evaluation

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Authors: Achinthya Bandara

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The Portuguese were the first known European Nation to colonize Ceylon during the early 16th century. When the Portuguese set sail in the late 15th century towards the East and West, they first landed in Pondicherry (Pondicherry), an eastern coastal location of early India and established their trade in the Indian Oceanic regions. Sri Lanka (Ceylon until 1972) made its first contact with the Portuguese just a few years after they anchored in India, the Luso-Sri Lankan contact was initiated and became prominent across the time, even during the later colonial rules, i.e., Dutch and British. Such connections created a Luso-Asian hybrid culture in Ceylon that shared both Sri Lankan and European identities. Portuguese Creole communities were prominent among them as an ethnic group with Portuguese descent interwoven with local traditions and customs, yet outcast by the mainstream Portuguese colonials. Hugh Nevil, a British Civil Servant who served Ceylon in the early 1800s, had collected a considerable amount of such Luso-Asian Literature belonging to Sri Lankan Portuguese creole communities, including 180 Portuguese creole verses sung by the creole communities in Eastern Sri Lanka. Though the collection was studied to uncover literature traits, few or no known studies focused on the anti-colonial subaltern discourse appearing in the shades of this work. It is evident that these verses contain local anti-colonial ideologies that create a platform to place them as elements of Luso-Asian subaltern literature. This research explores how the language and content of these verses contradict the mainstream colonial ideologies we intend to position within a regional anti-colonial subaltern context. As this is part of a long-term research project that translates the whole collection into Sinhalese and Tamil, this study will show evidence from early 1800s verses to suggest how Luso-Asian communities create a unique subaltern linguistic and literary discourse.

Keywords: Luso Asian creoles, Luso Asian subalterns, anti-colonial ideologies, Sri Lanka Portuguese creole

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Authors: Olayemi Bakre

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The majoritant of the South African rural populace are directly or indirectly engaged in agricultural practices for a livelihood. However, impediments such as the climate change and inadequacy of governmental support has undermined the once thriving subsistence farming communities of South Africa. Furthermore, the poor leadership in hydrology, coupled with lack of depths in skills to facilitate the understanding and acceptance of groundwater from national level to local governance has made it near impossible for subsistence farmers to optimally benefit from the groundwater beneath their feet. The 2012 drought experienced in South Africa paralysed the farming activities across several subsistence farming communities across the KwaZulu-Natal Province. To revamp subsistence farming, a variety of interventions and strategies such as the Resource Poor Farmers (RPF) and Water Allocation Reforms (WAR) have been launched by the Department of Water and Sanitation (DWS) as an agendum to galvanising the defunct subsistence farming communities of KwaZulu-Natal as well as other subsistence farming communities across South Africa. Despite the enormous resources expended on the subsistence farming communities whom often fall under the Historically Disadvantaged Individuals (HDI); indicators such as the unsustainable farming practices, poor crop yield, pitiable living condition as well as the poor standard of living, are evidential to the claim that these afore cited interventions and a host of other similar strategies indicates that these initiatives have not yield the desired result. Thus, this paper seeks to suggest practicable interventions aimed at salvaging the vulnerability of subsistence farmers within the province understudy. The study pursued a qualitative approach as the view of experts on ground water and similarly related fields from the DWS were solicited as an agendum to obtaining in-depth perspective into the current study. Some of the core challenges undermining the sustainability and growth of subsistence farming in the area of study were - inadequacy of experts (engineers, scientist, researchers) in ground water; water shortages; lack of political will as well as lack of coordination among stakeholders. As an agendum to optimising the ground water usage for subsistence farming, this paper advocates the strengthening of geohydrological skills, development of technical training capacity, interactive participation among stakeholders as well as the initiation of Participatory Action Research as an agenda to optimising the available ground water in KwaZulu-Natal which is intended to orchestrate a sustainable and viable subsistence farming practice within the province.

Keywords: subsistence farming, ground water optimisation, resource poor farmers, and water allocation reforms, hydrology

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Authors: R. A. Temah, L. A. Nkengla-Asi

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Planning for future disasters sets the stage for a variety of activities that may trigger multiple recurring operations and expose the community to opportunities to minimize risks. Local communities are increasingly embracing the necessity for planning based on local risks, but are also significantly challenged to effectively plan and response to disasters. This research examines basic risk-based disaster planning model and compares it with advanced risk-based planning that introduces the identification and alignment of varieties of local capabilities within and out of the local community that can be pivotal to facilitate the management of local risks and cascading effects prior to a disaster. A critical review shows that the identification and alignment of capabilities can potentially enhance risk-based disaster planning. A tailored holistic approach to risk based disaster planning is pivotal to enhance collective action and a reduction in disaster collective cost.

Keywords: capabilities, disaster planning, hazards, local community, risk-based

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Authors: Tolu Lawal

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The genuine development of the grassroots particularly in the developing societies depends largely on the participation of the rural populace in policy conception and implementation, especially in the area of development policies, fundamentally, the rural people play a vital and significance role in economic and political development of the nation. This is because the bulk of the economic produce as well as votes come from these areas. However, the much needed development has continued to elude the rural communities inspire of the various development policies carried out by successive governments in the state. The exclusion of rural communities from planning and implementation of facilities meant to benefit them, and the international debate on sustainable rural development led Ondo State government to re-think its rural development policy with a view to establishing more effective strategies for rural development. The 31s initiatives introduced in 2009 emphasizes the important role of communities in their own development. The paper therefore critically assessed the 31s initiative of the present government in Ondo State with a view to knowing its impact on rural people. The study adopted both primary and secondary data to source its information. Interviews were conducted with the key informants, and field survey (visit) was also part of method of collecting data. Documents, reports and records on 31s initiatives in the selected villages and from outside were also consulted. The paper submitted that 31s initiative has not impacted positively on the lives of rural dwellers in Ondo-State, most especially in the areas of infrastructure and integrated development. The findings also suggested that 31s initiatives is not hopeless, but needs a different kind of investment, for example introducing measures of accountability, addressing the politicization of the initiative and exploiting key principles of development and service delivery.

Keywords: development, infrastructure, rural development, participation

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Authors: Muhammad Imran Nisar, Fyezah Jehan, Tauseef Akhund, Sadia Shakoor, Kanwal Nayani, Furqan Kabir, Asad Ali, Anita Zaidi

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Pneumococcal Vaccine -10 (PCV 10) was included in the Expanded Program of immunization (EPI) in Sindh, Pakistan in February 2013. This study was carried out immediately before the introduction of PCV 10 to establish baseline pneumococcal carriage and prevalent serotypes in naso-pharynx of children 3-11 months of age in an urban and rural community in Sindh, Pakistan. An additional sample of children aged 12 to 59 months was drawn from the urban community. Nasopharyngeal specimens were collected from a random sample of children. Samples were processed in a central laboratory in Karachi. Pneumococci were cultured on 5% Sheep Blood Agar and serotyping was performed using CDC standardized sequential multiplex PCR assay on bacterial colonies. Serotypes were then categorized into vaccine (PCV-10 and PCV-13) type and non-vaccine types. A total of 670 children were enrolled. Carriage rate for pneumococcus based on culture positivity was 74% and 79.5 % in the infant group in Karachi and Matiari respectively. Carriage rate was 78.2% for children aged 12 to 59 months in Karachi. Proportion of PCV 10 serotypes in infants was 38.8% and 33.5% in Karachi and Matiari respectively. In the older age group in Karachi, the proportion was 30.6%. Most common serotypes were 6A, 6B, 23F, 19A and 18C. This survey establishes vaccine and non-vaccine serotype carriage rate in a vaccine-naïve pediatric population among rural and urban communities in Sindh province. Annually planned surveys in the same communities will inform change in carriage rate after the introduction and uptake of PCV 10 in these communities.

Keywords: Naso-Pharyngeal carriage, Pakistan, PCV10, Pneumococcus

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Authors: A. Kolendo

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Pacific Islands are one of the most vulnerable areas to climate change. Sea level rise and accelerating storm surge continuously threaten the communities' habitats on low-lying atolls. With scientific predictions of encroaching tides on their land, the Islanders have been informed about the need for future relocation planning. However, some communities oppose such retreat strategies through the reasoning that comprehends current climatic changes through the lenses of the biblical ark of Noah. This parable states God's promise never to flood the Earth again and never deprive people of their land and habitats. Several interpretations of this parable emerged in Oceania, prompting either climate action or denial. Resistance to relocation planning expressed through Christian thoughts led religion to be perceived as a barrier to dialogue between the Islanders and scientists. Since climate change concerns natural processes, the attitudes towards environmental stewardship prompt the communities' responses to it; some Christian teachings indicate humanity's responsibility over the environment, whereas others ascertain the people's dominion, which prompts resistance and sometimes denial. With church denominations and their various environmental standpoints, competing responses to climate change emerged in Oceania. Before miss-ionization, traditional knowledge had guided the environmental sphere, influencing current Christian teachings. Each atoll characterizes a distinctive manner of traditional knowledge; however, the unique relationship with nature unites all islands. The interconnectedness between the land, sea and people indicates the integrity between the communities and their environments. Such a factor influences the comprehension of Noah's story in the context of climate change that threatens their habitats. Pacific Islanders experience climate change through the slow disappearance of their homelands. However, the Western world perceives it as a global issue that will affect the population in the long-term perspective. Therefore, the Islanders seek to comprehend this global phenomenon in a local context that reads climate change as the Great Deluge. Accordingly, the safety measures that this parable promotes compensate for the danger of climate change. The rainbow covenant gives hope in God's promise never to flood the Earth again. At the same time, Noah's survival relates to the Islanders' current situation. Since these communities have the lowest carbon emissions rate, their contribution to anthropogenic climate change is scarce. Therefore, the lack of environmental sin would contextualize them as contemporary Noah with the ultimate survival of sea level rise. This study aims to defy religion constituting a barrier through secondary data analysis from a risk compensation perspective. Instead, religion is portrayed as a source of knowledge that enables comprehension of the communities' situation. By demonstrating that the Pacific Islanders utilize Noah's story as a vessel for coping with the danger of climate change, the study argues that religion provides safety measures that compensate for the future projections of land's disappearance. The purpose is to build a bridge between religious communities and scientific bodies and ultimately bring an understanding of two diverse perspectives. By addressing the practical challenges of interdisciplinary research with faith-based systems, this study uplifts the voices of communities and portrays their experiences expressed through Christian thoughts.

Keywords: Christianity, climate change, existential threat, Pacific Islands, story of Noah

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Authors: Joy Debski

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Due to the varying degrees of the problem posed by global warming, environmental sustainability dominates international discourse. International initiatives' aims and expectations have proven particularly challenging to put into practice in developing nations. To reduce human exploitation of the environment, stricter measures are urgently needed. However, putting them into practice has proven more difficult. Relatively recent information from the Climate Accountability Institute and academic researchers shows that fossil fuel companies are major contributors to the climate crisis. Host communities in oil and gas-producing areas, particularly in developing nations, have grown hostile toward both oil and gas companies and government policies. It is now essential that the three main stakeholders—government, the oil and gas sector, and host communities—cooperate to achieve the shared objective of environmental sustainability. This research, therefore, advocates a governance system for Nigeria that facilitates the achieving the goal of environmental sustainability. This objective is achieved by the research's examination of the main institutional framework for environmental sustainability, evaluation of the strategies used by major oil companies to increase stakeholder engagement in environmental sustainability, and examination of the involvement of host communities in environmental sustainability. The study reveals that while environmental sustainability is important to the identified stakeholders, it's challenging to accomplish without an informed synergy. Hence the research advocates the centralisation of CSR through a CSR commission for environmental sustainability. The commission’s mandate is to facilitate, partner with, and endorse companies. The commission is strongly advised to incorporate host community liaison offices into the process of negotiating contracts with oil and gas firms, as well as to play a facilitative role in helping firms adhere to both domestic and international regulations. The recommendations can benefit Nigerian policymakers in enhancing their unsuccessful efforts to pass CSR legislation. Through the research-proposed CSR department, which has competent training and stakeholder engagement strategies, oil and gas companies can enhance and centralise their goals for environmental sustainability. Finally, the CSR Commission's expertise would give host communities more leverage when negotiating their memorandum of understanding with oil and gas companies.

Keywords: environmental sustainability, corporate social responsibility, CSR, oil and gas, nigeria

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Authors: Samawi Zepure, Beck Christine, Gallagher Peg

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This community immersion employs the NLN Excellence Model which challenges nursing programs to create student-centered, interactive, and innovative experiences to prepare students for roles in providing high quality care, effective teaching, and leadership in the delivery of nursing services to individuals, families, and communities (NLN, 2006). Senior nursing students collaborate with ethnically and linguistically diverse participants at community-based sites and develop leadership roles of coordination of care linkage within the larger healthcare system, adherence, and self-care management. The immersion encourages students to develop competencies of the NLN Nursing Education Competencies Model (NLN, 2012), proposed to address fast changes in health care delivery, which include values of caring, diversity, and holism; and integrating concepts of context and environment, relationship, and teamwork. Students engage in critical thinking and leadership as they: 1) assess health/illness beliefs, values, attitudes, and practices, explore community resources, interview key informants, and collaborate with community participants to identify learning goals, 2) develop and implement appropriate holistic health promotion and disease prevention teaching interventions promoting continuity, sustainability, and innovation, 3) evaluate interventions through participant feedback and focus groups and, 4) reflect on the immersion experience and future professional role as advocate and citizen.

Keywords: quality of care, health of communities, students as leaders, health promotion

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Authors: Kedar Nath Nepal, Tek Bahadur Thapa, David Guerena;

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The community participation is central to the in-situ project objectives, as farming communities are key stakeholders in the on-farm conservation of agricultural bio- diversity. Besides technical means to adding benefits, the complimentary strategy includes creating market-based value adding measures by increasing users’ awareness of the value of traditional foods and nutritional values; exhibitions and improved processing; and policy incentives. This paper presents various participatory activities carried out in Nepal as options for enhancing benefits to local communities by increased utilization of local crop diversity on -the farm through non-breeding discussed, and outcomes are documented using farmers’ perception data and secondary information. The paper focuses on three major areas of public awareness, market incentives and non-market incentives that may enhance on -farm conservation and use of biodiversity.

Keywords: biodiversity, in-situ, market-based, non-market

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Authors: Prasanna Haddela

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Document analysis is a well matured yet still active research field, partly as a result of the intricate nature of building computational tools but also due to the inherent problems arising from the variety and complexity of human languages. Breaking down language barriers is vital in enabling access to a number of recent technologies. This paper investigates the application of document classification methods to new Sinhalese datasets. This language is geographically isolated and rich with many of its own unique features. We will examine the interpretability of the classification models with a particular focus on the use of evolved Lucene search queries generated using a Genetic Algorithm (GA) as a method of document classification. We will compare the accuracy and interpretability of these search queries with other popular classifiers. The results are promising and are roughly in line with previous work on English language datasets.

Keywords: evolved search queries, Sinhala document classification, Lucene Sinhala analyzer, interpretable text classification, genetic algorithm

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Authors: Nasiru Medugu Idris

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This research is aimed at assessing the vulnerability of climate change to rural communities (farmers, herdsmen and fishermen) in Nigeria with the view to study the underlying causes and degree of vulnerability to climate change and examine the conflict between farmers and herdsmen as a result of climate change. This research employed the use of quantitative and qualitative means of data gathering techniques as well as physical observations. Six states (Kebbi, Adamawa, Nasarawa, Osun, Ebonyi, and Akwa Ibom) have been selected on the ground that they are key food production areas in the country and are therefore essential to continual food security in the country. So also, they also double as fishing communities in order to aid the comprehensive study of all the effects on climate on farmers and fishermen alike. Community focus group discussions were carried out in the various states for an interactive session and also to have firsthand information on their level of awareness on climate change. Climate data from the Nigerian Meteorological Agency over the past decade were collected for the purpose of analyzing trends in climate. The study observed that the level of vulnerability of rural dwellers most especially farmers, herdsmen and fishermen to climate change is very high due to their socioeconomic, ethnic and historical perspective of their trend. The study, therefore, recommends that urgent step needs to be put in place to help control natural hazards and man-made disasters and serious measures are also needed in order to minimize severe societal, economic and political crises; some of which may either escalate to violent conflicts or could be avoided by efforts of conflict resolution and prevention by the initiation of a process of de-escalation. So this study has recommended the best-fit adaptive and mitigation measures to climate change vulnerability in rural communities of Nigeria.

Keywords: adaptation, farmers, fishermen, herdsmen

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Authors: Nadja Ylvestedt

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Uppsala University Library is a geographically dispersed research library consisting of nine subject libraries located in different campus areas throughout the city of Uppsala. Despite the geographical dispersion, it is the library's ambition to be perceived as a cohesive library with consistently high service and quality. A key factor to being one cohesive library is the library's online services, especially the virtual reference service. E-mail, chat and phone are answered by a team of specially trained staff under the supervision of a team leader. When covid-19 hit, well-established routines and processes to provide an infrastructure for students and researchers at the university changed radically. The strong connection between services provided at the library locations as well as at the VRS has been one of the key components of the library’s success in providing patrons with the help they need. With radically minimized availability at the physical locations, the infrastructure was at risk of collapsing. Objectives:- The objective of this project has been to evaluate the consequences of the sudden change in the organization of the library. The focus of this evaluation is the library’s VRS as an important space for learning, interaction and communication between the library and the community when other traditional spaces were not available. The goal of this evaluation is to capture the lessons learned from providing infrastructure for learning and research in times of crisis both on a practical, user-centered level but also to stress the importance of leadership in ever-changing environments that supports and creates agile, flexible services and teams instead of rigid processes adhering to obsolete goals. Results:- Reduced availability at the physical library locations was one of the strategies to prevent the spread of the covid-19 virus. The library staff was encouraged to work from home, so student workers staffed the library’s physical locations during that time, leaving the VRS to be the only place where patrons could get expert help. The VRS had an increase of 65% of questions asked between spring term 2019 and spring term 2020. The VRS team had to navigate often complicated and fast-changing new routines depending on national guidelines. The VRS team has a strong emphasis on agility in their approach to the challenges and opportunities, with methods to evaluate decisions regularly with user experience in mind. Fast decision-making, collecting feedback, an open-minded approach to reviewing rules and processes with both a short-term and a long-term focus and providing a healthy work environment have been key factors in managing this crisis and learn from it. This was resting on a strong sense of ownership regarding the VRS, well-working communication tools and agile and active communication between team members, as well as between the team and the rest of the organization who served as a second-line support system to aid the VRS team. Moving forward, the VRS has become an important space for communication, interaction and provider of infrastructure, implementing new routines and more extensive availability due to the lessons learned during crisis. The evaluation shows that the virtual environment has become an important addition to the physical spaces, existing in its own right but always in connection with and in relationship with the library structure as a whole. Thereby showing that the basis of human interaction stays the same while its form morphs and adapts to changes, thus leaving the virtual environment as a space of communication and infrastructure with unique opportunities for outreach and the potential to become a staple in patron’s education and learning.

Keywords: virtual reference service, leadership, digital infrastructure, research library

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Authors: Jeter Canete, Noreen Joyce Estrella, Yedda Sachi Patrice Madelo

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Zooplankton plays a crucial role in aquatic ecosystems and a number of water parameters involved in it. Despite their relevance, there is inadequate information about zooplankton communities in Sarangani Bay, Sarangani Province: one of the most essential waterbodies in Mindanao. The aim of the present study was to determine the composition, abundance, and diversity of zooplankton as well as to provide more recent data about the physico-chemical characteristics of Sarangani Bay. Zooplankton samples were collected by vertical hauls using a zooplankton net (mouth diameter: 0.5m; mesh size opening: round, 350μm) in three stations in the coastal waters of Alabel, Malapatan, and Maasim during November 2018. A total of 74 species of zooplankton belonging mainly to Kingdom Protozoa, Phylum Arthropoda, Chaetognatha, and Chordata were identified. Results showed a total zooplankton abundance of 1,984,166 ind/m³ with the highest count recorded at Malapatan (717,169 ind/m³) and the lowest at Maasim (624,411 ind/m³). Among 22 zooplankton groups identified, subclass Copepoda was found to be the most dominant (73.10%), followed by Appendicularia (12.18%) and Vertebrata (3.54%). Diversity analysis revealed an even distribution of species and a diverse ecosystem in all stations sampled. Correlation analysis indicated a strong relationship between zooplankton abundance and physico-chemical parameters. Overall, the physico-chemical profile of Sarangani Bay did not differ from the standards set by DENR, and analysis of the zooplankton communities revealed that Sarangani Bay favorably supports marine organisms to flourish. The findings of this study provide useful knowledge on zooplankton communities and can be used to create management strategies to protect the aquatic biodiversity in Sarangani Bay.

Keywords: aquatic biomonitoring, biodiversity, physicochemical analysis, population survey, Sarangani Bay, Sarangani Province, zooplankton

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Authors: Anand Choudhary

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Following the global economic crisis in 2008, businesses and more especially the big multinational conglomerates were increasingly viewed by the people world over as one of the major causes of the economic problems faced by millions globally, in terms of job loss and lifetime savings being wiped out as banks and pension funds went bankrupt and people stared at an insecure financial future. This caused a lot of resentment in the public against big businesses and fueled several protest movements by the people such as “Occupy Wall Street” in different parts of the world. This forced the big businesses to respond to the challenge by adopting more people-centric policies and initiatives for local communities in societies where they operate as part of their corporate social responsibility (CSR), in order to regain their social acceptance among the people whilst earning their ‘social license to operate’. The current paper studies many of such large MNCs across the United States of America, India and South Africa, which changed the way they did business earlier, following the global economic crisis in 2008, by incorporating capacity building initiatives for local communities as part of their CSR strategy and explores whether it has contributed to improving their financial performance. It is a conceptual research paper using secondary source data. The findings reveal that there is a positive correlation between the companies’ corporate social performance and corporate financial performance. In addition, the findings also bring to light that the MNCs examined as part of the current paper have improved their image in the eyes of their stakeholders following the change in their CSR strategy and initiatives.

Keywords: corporate social responsibility (CSR), Corporate Social Performance (CSP), Corporate Financial Performance (CFP), local communities

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Authors: Ahmad Sabry Mohamad, Kai F. Hoettges, Michael Pycraft Hughes

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This study investigates nanowires using Dielectrophoresis (DEP) in non-aqueous suspension of Tin (IV) Oxide (SnO2) nanoparticles dispersed in N,N-dimenthylformamide (DMF). The self assembly of nanowires in DEP impedance spectroscopy can be determined. In this work, dielectrophoretic method was used to measure non-organic molecules for estimating the permittivity and conductivity characteristic of the nanowires. As in aqueous such as salt solution has been dominating the transport of SnO2, which are the wire growth threshold, depend on applied voltage. While DEP assembly of nanowires depend on applied frequency, the applications of dielectrophoretic collection are measured using impedance spectroscopy.

Keywords: dielectrophoresis, impedance spectroscopy, nanowires, N, N-dimenthylformamide, SnO2

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Authors: Jiamin Chen, Liping Yang

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In 2007, sociologist Putnam proposed a pessimistic forecast in the United States' "Social Capital Community Benchmark Survey," suggesting that "ethnic diversity would challenge social unity and undermine social cohesion." If this pessimistic assumption were proven true, it would indicate a risk of division in diverse societies. China, with 56 ethnic groups, is a multi-ethnic country. On May 26, 2014, General Secretary Xi Jinping proposed "building ethnically inter-embedded communities to promote deeper development in interactions, exchanges, and integration among ethnic groups." Researchers unanimously agree that ethnic inter-embedded communities can serve as practical arenas and pathways for solidifying the sense of the Chinese national community However, there is no research providing evidence that ethnic inter-embedded communities can foster the sense of the Chinese national community, and the influencing factors remain unclear. This study adopts a constructivist grounded theory research approach. Convenience sampling and snowball sampling were used in the study. Data were collected in three communities in Kunming City. Twelve individuals were eventually interviewed, and the transcribed interviews totaled 187,000 words. The research has obtained ethical approval from the Ethics Committee of Nanjing Normal University (NNU202310030). The research analyzed the data and constructed theories, employing strategies such as coding, constant comparison, and theoretical sampling. The study found that: firstly, ethnic inter-embedded communities exhibit characteristics of diversity, including ethnic diversity, cultural diversity, and linguistic diversity. Diversity has positive functions, including increased opportunities for contact, promoting self-expansion, and increasing happiness; negative functions of diversity include highlighting ethnic differences, causing ethnic conflicts, and reminding of ethnic boundaries. Secondly, individuals typically engage in interactions within the community using active embedding and passive embedding strategies. Active embedding strategies include maintaining openness, focusing on similarities, and pro-diversity beliefs, which can increase external group identification, intergroup relational identity, and promote ethnic integration. Individuals using passive embedding strategies tend to focus on ethnic stereotypes, perceive stigmatization of their own ethnic group, and adopt an authoritarian-oriented approach to interactions, leading to a perception of more identity threats and ultimately rejecting ethnic integration. Thirdly, the commonality of the Chinese nation is reflected in the 56 ethnic groups as an "identity community" and "interest community," and both active and passive embedding paths affect individual understanding of the commonality of the Chinese nation. Finally, community work and environment can influence the embedding process. The research constructed a social psychological process and mechanism model for solidifying sense of the Chinese national community in ethnic inter-embedded communities. Based on this theoretical model, future research can conduct more micro-level psychological mechanism tests and intervention studies to enhance Chinese national cohesion.

Keywords: diversity, sense of the chinese national community, ethnic inter-embedded communities, ethnic group

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