Search results for: agriculture sector

Authors: Afees Adebayo Salam

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This paper attempts an in-depth analysis of the economic impact of Ogbomoso migrant community in the Jos metropolis. It discusses the factors that motivated a sizeable number of Ogbomoso people (from southwestern Nigeria) to leave their hometown for a new place/space in Jos (northern Nigeria). It examines the historical antecedent of Ogbomoso migrants in northern Nigeria with emphasis on Jos metropolis. The movement of Ogbomoso migrants to Jos was dictated by the economic and social challenges of colonial and post-colonial periods. The political crisis of the 1960s was a contributory factor to the process of Ogbomoso migration to other parts of Nigeria. In the aftermath, many people migrated from Ogbomoso to different parts of the country and beyond to seek for better economic opportunities. The establishment of Ogbomoso migrant community in Jos was dated back to the colonial era when taxation was introduced by the British. Many people could not pay these taxes from their peasant farming activities, while some embarked on migration to places such as Jos, Kaduna, Kano, Keffi and Bauchi due to the harsh economic situation at home. Their settlement in Jos brought about success in several spheres of human endeavours. Ogbomoso migrants dominated both paid jobs and private business sector such as textile merchants, food stuff sellers, herbalists, printers, transporters, and religious missionaries, as well as clerical officers in the government establishments. Their remittances were invested in different sectors of Ogbomoso economy. The migrants had in one way or the other contributed to the socio-economic development of their host community in Jos as entrepreneurs. Branches of such industries were located in their hometown of Ogbomoso as a clear demonstration of community development. The remittance pattern of the migrants has transformed Ogbomoso to enviable position. Moreover, the economic success of Ogbomoso migrants over the period under review indicates the process of nation building due to peaceful nature of inter-ethnic engagements between Ogbomoso migrants and their host community in Jos. Therefore, the paper makes use of oral, archival and secondary sources to analyse the processes of migration and its economic impact. Oral interviews were conducted in Ogbomoso town with veteran migrants and their family members. Interviews were also conducted in Jos with the indigenous host community as well as other urban residents. Archival materials were obtained from Arewa House Archives and the National Archives, Kaduna and the National Archives, Ibadan.

Keywords: Ogbomoso migrants, Jos metropolis, community development, economic impact

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Authors: Lucas Caldas, Pablo Paulse, Karla Hora

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Shipping containers are present in different Brazilian cities, firstly used for transportation purposes, but which become waste materials and an environmental burden in their end-of-life cycle. In the last decade, in Brazil, some buildings made partly or totally from shipping containers started to appear, most of them for commercial and office uses. Although the use of a reused container for buildings seems a sustainable solution, it is very important to measure the thermal and energy aspects when they are used as such. In this context, this study aims to evaluate the thermal and energy performance of an office building totally made from a 12-meter-long, High Cube 40’ shipping container in different Brazilian Bioclimatic Zones. Four different constructive solutions, mostly used in Brazil were chosen: (1) container without any covering; (2) with internally insulated drywall; (3) with external fiber cement boards; (4) with both drywall and fiber cement boards. For this, the DesignBuilder with EnergyPlus was used for the computational simulation in 8760 hours. The EnergyPlus Weather File (EPW) data of six Brazilian capital cities were considered: Curitiba, Sao Paulo, Brasilia, Campo Grande, Teresina and Rio de Janeiro. Air conditioning appliance (split) was adopted for the conditioned area and the cooling setpoint was fixed at 25°C. The coefficient of performance (CoP) of air conditioning equipment was set as 3.3. Three kinds of solar absorptances were verified: 0.3, 0.6 and 0.9 of exterior layer. The building in Teresina presented the highest level of energy consumption, while the one in Curitiba presented the lowest, with a wide range of differences in results. The constructive option of external fiber cement and drywall presented the best results, although the differences were not significant compared to the solution using just drywall. The choice of absorptance showed a great impact in energy consumption, mainly compared to the case of containers without any covering and for use in the hottest cities: Teresina, Rio de Janeiro, and Campo Grande. This study brings as the main contribution the discussion of constructive aspects for design guidelines for more energy-efficient container buildings, considering local climate differences, and helps the dissemination of this cleaner constructive practice in the Brazilian building sector.

Keywords: bioclimatic zones, Brazil, shipping containers, thermal and energy performance

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Authors: Tayyab Ahmad, Gerard Healey

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Sustainability in built environment sector is subject to many development constraints. Building projects are developed under different requirements of deliverables which makes each project unique. For an owner organization, i.e., a higher-education institution, involved in a significant building stock, it is important to prioritize some of the sustainability initiatives over the others in order to align the sustainable building development with organizational goals. The point-based green building rating tools i.e. Green Star, LEED, BREEAM are becoming increasingly popular and are well-acknowledged worldwide for verifying a sustainable development. It is imperative to synthesize a multi-criteria decision-making tool that can capitalize on the point-based methodology of rating systems while customizing the sustainable development of building projects according to the individual requirements and constraints of the client organization. A multi-criteria decision-making tool for the University of Melbourne is developed that builds on the action-learning and experience of implementing Green Buildings at the University of Melbourne. The tool evaluates the different sustainable building initiatives based on the framework of Green Star rating tool of Green Building Council of Australia. For each different sustainability initiative the decision-making tool makes an assessment based on at least five performance criteria including the ease with which a sustainability initiative can be achieved and the potential of a sustainability initiative to enhance project objectives, reduce life-cycle costs, enhance University’s reputation, and increase the confidence in quality construction. The use of a weighted aggregation mathematical model in the proposed tool can have a considerable role in the decision-making process of a Green Building project by indexing the Green Building initiatives in terms of organizational priorities. The index value of each initiative will be based on its alignment with some of the key performance criteria. The usefulness of the decision-making tool is validated by conducting structured interviews with some of the key stakeholders involved in the development of sustainable building projects at the University of Melbourne. The proposed tool is realized to help a client organization in deciding that within limited resources which sustainability initiatives and practices are more important to be pursued than others.

Keywords: higher education institution, multi-criteria decision-making tool, organizational values, prioritizing sustainability initiatives, weighted aggregation model

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Authors: Marek Dosbaba

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Within the mining sector, SEM-based Automated Mineralogy (AM) has been the standard application for quickly and efficiently handling mineral processing tasks. Over the last decade, the trend has been to analyze larger numbers of samples, often with a higher level of detail. This has necessitated a shift from interactive sample analysis performed by an operator using a SEM, to an increased reliance on offline processing to analyze and report the data. In response to this trend, TESCAN TIMA Mineral Analyzer is designed to quickly create a virtual copy of the studied samples, thereby preserving all the necessary information. Depending on the selected data acquisition mode, TESCAN TIMA can perform hyperspectral mapping and save an X-ray spectrum for each pixel or segment, respectively. This approach allows the user to browse through elemental distribution maps of all elements detectable by means of energy dispersive spectroscopy. Re-evaluation of the existing data for the presence of previously unconsidered elements is possible without the need to repeat the analysis. Additional tiers of data such as a secondary electron or cathodoluminescence images can also be recorded. To take full advantage of these information-rich datasets, TIMA utilizes a new archiving tool introduced by TESCAN. The dataset size can be reduced for long-term storage and all information can be recovered on-demand in case of renewed interest. TESCAN TIMA is optimized for network storage of its datasets because of the larger data storage capacity of servers compared to local drives, which also allows multiple users to access the data remotely. This goes hand in hand with the support of remote control for the entire data acquisition process. TESCAN also brings a newly extended open-source data format that allows other applications to extract, process and report AM data. This offers the ability to link TIMA data to large databases feeding plant performance dashboards or geometallurgical models. The traditional tabular particle-by-particle or grain-by-grain export process is preserved and can be customized with scripts to include user-defined particle/grain properties.

Keywords: Tescan, electron microscopy, mineralogy, SEM, automated mineralogy, database, TESCAN TIMA, open format, archiving, big data

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Authors: Elaine Lima Da Fonseca, Eliomar Pereira Da Silva Filho

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The modeling of areas susceptible to soil loss by hydro erosive processes consists of a simplified instrument of reality with the purpose of predicting future behaviors from the observation and interaction of a set of geoenvironmental factors. The models of potential areas for soil loss will be obtained through binary logistic regression, artificial neural networks, and support vector machines. The choice of the municipality of Colorado do Oeste in the south of the western Amazon is due to soil degradation due to anthropogenic activities, such as agriculture, road construction, overgrazing, deforestation, and environmental and socioeconomic configurations. Initially, a soil erosion inventory map constructed through various field investigations will be designed, including the use of remotely piloted aircraft, orbital imagery, and the PLANAFLORO/RO database. 100 sampling units with the presence of erosion will be selected based on the assumptions indicated in the literature, and, to complement the dichotomous analysis, 100 units with no erosion will be randomly designated. The next step will be the selection of the predictive parameters that exert, jointly, directly, or indirectly, some influence on the mechanism of occurrence of soil erosion events. The chosen predictors are altitude, declivity, aspect or orientation of the slope, curvature of the slope, composite topographic index, flow power index, lineament density, normalized difference vegetation index, drainage density, lithology, soil type, erosivity, and ground surface temperature. After evaluating the relative contribution of each predictor variable, the erosion susceptibility model will be applied to the municipality of Colorado do Oeste - Rondônia through the SPSS Statistic 26 software. Evaluation of the model will occur through the determination of the values of the R² of Cox & Snell and the R² of Nagelkerke, Hosmer and Lemeshow Test, Log Likelihood Value, and Wald Test, in addition to analysis of the Confounding Matrix, ROC Curve and Accumulated Gain according to the model specification. The validation of the synthesis map resulting from both models of the potential risk of soil erosion will occur by means of Kappa indices, accuracy, and sensitivity, as well as by field verification of the classes of susceptibility to erosion using drone photogrammetry. Thus, it is expected to obtain the mapping of the following classes of susceptibility to erosion very low, low, moderate, very high, and high, which may constitute a screening tool to identify areas where more detailed investigations need to be carried out, applying more efficient social resources.

Keywords: modeling, susceptibility to erosion, artificial intelligence, Amazon

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Authors: J. George, M. Al Mutairi, W. Aljuryyad, A. Alhussanan, A. Alkashan, T. Aldoghiri, Z. Alamari, A. Albakr

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Introduction: Students make plans for their career and are keen in exploring options of employment in those carriers. They make their employment choice based on their desires and preferences. This study aims to identify if students of King Saud Bin Abdulaziz for Health Sciences, College of Applied Medical Sciences after obtaining appropriate education prefer to work as clinicians, university faculty, or full-time researchers. There are limited studies in Saudi Arabia exploring the university student’s employment choices and preferences. This study would help employers to build the required job positions and prevent misleading employers from opening undesired positions in the job market. Methodology: The study included 394 students from third and fourth years both male and female among the eighth programs of college of applied medical sciences, King Saud Bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences (KSAU-HS), Riyadh campus. A prospective quantitative cross-sectional study was conducted; data were collected by distributing a seven item questionnaire and analyzed using SPSS. Results: Among the participants, 358 (90.9%) of them chose one of the three listed career choices, 263 (66.8%) decided to work as hospital staff after their education, 75 students (19.0%) chose to work as a faculty member in a university after obtaining appropriate degree, 20 students (5.1%) preferred to work as full-time researcher after obtaining appropriate degree, the remaining 36 students (9.1%) had different career goals, such as obtaining a master degree after graduating, to obtain a bachelor of medicine and bachelor in surgery degree, and working in the private sector. The most recurrent reason behind the participants' choice was "career goal", where 276 (70.1%) chose it as a reason. Conclusion: The findings of the study showed that most student’s preferred to work in hospitals as clinicians, followed by choice of working as a faculty in a university, the least choice was to be working as full-time researchers.

Keywords: College of Applied Medical Sciences, employment ambitions, graduating students, King Saud bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences

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Authors: Md Monirul Islam, Shahaduz Zaman, Mosarraf H. Sarker

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Context: Medical waste management (MWM) is a critical sector in Bangladesh due to its impact on human health and the environment. There is a need to assess the current policies and identify the role of policy actors in the policy formulation and implementation process. Research Aim: The study aimed to evaluate the role of policy actors in the medical waste management policy-making process in Bangladesh, identify policy gaps, and provide actionable recommendations for improvement. Methodology: The study adopted a qualitative research method and conducted key informant interviews. The data collected were analyzed using the thematic coding approach through Atlas.ti software. Findings: The study found that policies are formulated at higher administrative levels and implemented in a top-down approach. Higher-level institutions predominantly contribute to policy development, while lower-level institutions focus on implementation. However, due to negligence, ignorance, and lack of coordination, medical waste management receives insufficient attention from the actors. The study recommends the need for immediate strategies, a comprehensive action plan, regular policy updates, and inter-ministerial meetings to enhance medical waste management practices and interventions. Theoretical Importance: The research contributes to evaluating the role of policy actors in medical waste management policymaking and implementation in Bangladesh. It identifies policy gaps and provides actionable recommendations for improvement. Data Collection: The study used key informant interviews as the data collection method. Thirty-six participants were interviewed, including influential policymakers and representatives of various administrative spheres. Analysis Procedures: The data collected was analyzed using the inductive thematic analysis approach. Question Addressed: The study aimed to assess the role of policy actors in medical waste management policymaking and implementation in Bangladesh. Conclusion: In conclusion, the study provides insights into the current medical waste management policy in Bangladesh, the role of policy actors in policy formulation and implementation, and the need for improved strategies and policy updates. The findings of this study can guide future policy-making efforts to enhance medical waste management practices and interventions in Bangladesh.

Keywords: key informant, medical waste management, policy maker, qualitative study

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Authors: Luís R. Silva, Fábio Jesus, Catarina Bento, Ana C. Gonçalves

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Over the last few years, the traditional medicine has gained ground at nutritional and pharmacological level. The natural products and their derivatives have great importance in several drugs used in modern therapeutics. Plant-based systems continue to play an essential role in primary healthcare. Additionally, the utilization of their plant parts, such as leaves, stems and flowers as nutraceutical and pharmaceutical products, can add a high value in the natural products market, not just by the nutritional value due to the significant levels of phytochemicals, but also by to the high benefit for the producers and manufacturers business. Stems of Prunus avium L. are a byproduct resulting from the processing of cherry, and have been consumed over the years as infusions and decoctions due to its bioactive properties, being used as sedative, diuretic and draining, to relief of renal stones, edema and hypertension. In this work, we prepared a hydroethanolic and infusion extracts from stems of P. avium collected in Fundão Region (Portugal), and evaluate the phenolic profile by LC/DAD, antioxidant capacity, α-glucosidase inhibitory activity and protection of human erythrocytes against oxidative damage. The LC-DAD analysis allowed to the identification of 19 phenolic compounds, catechin and 3-O-caffolquinic acid were the main ones. In a general way, hydroethanolic extract proved to be more active than infusion. This extract had the best antioxidant activity against DPPH• (IC50=22.37 ± 0.28 µg/mL) and superoxide radical (IC50=13.93 ± 0.30 µg/mL). Furthermore, it was the most active concerning inhibition of hemoglobin oxidation (IC50=13.73 ± 0.67 µg/mL), hemolysis (IC50=1.49 ± 0.18 µg/mL) and lipid peroxidation (IC50=26.20 ± 0.38 µg/mL) on human erythrocytes. On the other hand, infusion revealed to be more efficient towards α-glucosidase inhibitory activity (IC50=3.18 ± 0.23 µg/mL) and against nitric oxide radical (IC50=99.99 ± 1.89 µg/mL). The Sweet cherry sector is very important in Fundão Region (Portugal), and taking profit from the great wastes produced during processing of the cherry to produce added-value products, such as food supplements cannot be ignored. Our results demonstrate that P. avium stems possesses remarkable antioxidant and free radical scavenging properties. It is therefore, suggest, that P. avium stems can be used as a natural antioxidant with high potential to prevent or slow the progress of human diseases mediated by oxidative stress.

Keywords: stems, Prunus avium, phenolic compounds, biological potential

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Authors: Ombir Singh

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In spite of the religious and cultural pre-dominance of the river Ganga in the Indian ethos, fragmentation and degradation of the river continued down the ages. Recognizing the national concern on environmental degradation of the river and its basin, Ministry of Water Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation (MoWR,RD&GR), Government of India has initiated a number of pilot schemes for the rejuvenation of river Ganga under the ‘Namami Gange’ Programme. Considering the diversity, complexity, and intricacies of forest ecosystems and pivotal multiple functions performed by them and their inter-connectedness with highly dynamic river ecosystems, forestry interventions all along the river Ganga from its origin at Gaumukh, Uttarakhand to its mouth at Ganga Sagar, West Bengal has been planned by the ministry. For that Forest Research Institute (FRI) in collaboration with National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) has prepared a Detailed Project Report (DPR) on Forestry Interventions for Ganga. The Institute has adopted an extensive consultative process at the national and state levels involving various stakeholders relevant in the context of river Ganga and employed a science-based methodology including use of remote sensing and GIS technologies for geo-spatial analysis, modeling and prioritization of sites for proposed forestation and conservation interventions. Four sets of field data formats were designed to obtain the field based information for forestry interventions, mainly plantations and conservation measures along the river course. In response, five stakeholder State Forest Departments had submitted more than 8,000 data sheets to the Institute. In order to analyze a voluminous field data received from five participating states, the Institute also developed a software to collate, analyze and generation of reports on proposed sites in Ganga basin. FRI has developed potential plantation and treatment models for the proposed forestry and other conservation measures in major three types of landscape components visualized in the Ganga riverscape. These are: (i) Natural, (ii) Agriculture, and (iii) Urban Landscapes. Suggested plantation models broadly varied for the Uttarakhand Himalayas and the Ganga Plains in five participating states. Besides extensive plantations in three type of landscapes within the riverscape, various conservation measures such as soil and water conservation, riparian wildlife management, wetland management, bioremediation and bio-filtration and supporting activities such as policy and law intervention, concurrent research, monitoring and evaluation, and mass awareness campaigns have been envisioned in the DPR. The DPR also incorporates the details of the implementation mechanism, budget provisioned for different components of the project besides allocation of budget state-wise to five implementing agencies, national partner organizations and the Nodal Ministry.

Keywords: conservation, Ganga, river, water, forestry interventions

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Authors: Aliaksandr Volchak, Мaryna Barushka

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The territory of Belarus is studied quite well in terms of hydrology but runoff fluctuations over time require more detailed research in order to forecast changes in rivers runoff in future. Generally, river runoff is shaped by natural climatic factors, but man-induced impact has become so big lately that it can be compared to natural processes in forming runoffs. In Belarus, a heavy man load on the environment was caused by large-scale land reclamation in the 1960s. Lands of southern Belarus were reclaimed most, which contributed to changes in runoff. Besides, global warming influences runoff. Today we observe increase in air temperature, decrease in precipitation, changes in wind velocity and direction. These result from cyclic climate fluctuations and, to some extent, the growth of concentration of greenhouse gases in the air. Climate change affects Belarus’s water resources in different ways: in hydropower industry, other water-consuming industries, water transportation, agriculture, risks of floods. In this research we have done an assessment of river runoff according to the scenarios of climate change and global climate forecast presented in the 4th and 5th Assessment Reports conducted by Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and later specified and adjusted by experts from Vilnius Gediminas Technical University with the use of a regional climatic model. In order to forecast changes in climate and runoff, we analyzed their changes from 1962 up to now. This period is divided into two: from 1986 up to now in comparison with the changes observed from 1961 to 1985. Such a division is a common world-wide practice. The assessment has revealed that, on the average, changes in runoff are insignificant all over the country, even with its irrelevant increase by 0.5 – 4.0% in the catchments of the Western Dvina River and north-eastern part of the Dnieper River. However, changes in runoff have become more irregular both in terms of the catchment area and inter-annual distribution over seasons and river lengths. Rivers in southern Belarus (the Pripyat, the Western Bug, the Dnieper, the Neman) experience reduction of runoff all year round, except for winter, when their runoff increases. The Western Bug catchment is an exception because its runoff reduces all year round. Significant changes are observed in spring. Runoff of spring floods reduces but the flood comes much earlier. There are different trends in runoff changes in spring, summer, and autumn. Particularly in summer, we observe runoff reduction in the south and west of Belarus, with its growth in the north and north-east. Our forecast of runoff up to 2035 confirms the trend revealed in 1961 – 2015. According to it, in the future, there will be a strong difference between northern and southern Belarus, between small and big rivers. Although we predict irrelevant changes in runoff, it is quite possible that they will be uneven in terms of seasons or particular months. Especially, runoff can change in summer, but decrease in the rest seasons in the south of Belarus, whereas in the northern part the runoff is predicted to change insignificantly.

Keywords: assessment, climate fluctuation, forecast, river runoff

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Authors: Taeho Park, Ming Zhou, Sangryul Shim

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With the emergence of the global economy, today’s business environment is getting more competitive than ever in the past. And many supply chain (SC) strategies and operations have significantly been altered over the past decade to overcome more complexities and risks imposed onto the global business. First, offshoring and outsourcing are more adopted as operational strategies. Manufacturing continues to move to better locations for enhancing competitiveness. Second, international operations are a challenge to a company’s SC system. Third, the products traded in the SC system are not just physical goods, but also digital goods (e.g., software, e-books, music, video materials). There are three main flows involved in fulfilling the activities in the SC system: physical flow, information flow, and financial flow. An advance of the Internet and electronic communication technologies has enabled companies to perform the flows of SC activities in electronic formats, resulting in the advent of an electronic supply chain management (e-SCM) system. A SC system for digital goods is somewhat different from the supply chain system for physical goods. However, it involves many similar or identical SC activities and flows. For example, like the production of physical goods, many third parties are also involved in producing digital goods for the production of components and even final products. This research aims at identifying process flows of both physical and digital goods in a SC system, and then investigating all risk elements involved in the physical, information, and financial flows during the fulfilment of SC activities. There are many risks inherent in the e-SCM system. Some risks may have severe impact on a company’s business, and some occur frequently but are not detrimental enough to jeopardize a company. Thus, companies should assess the impact and frequency of those risks, and then prioritize them in terms of their severity, frequency, budget, and time in order to be carefully maintained. We found risks involved in the global trading of physical and digital goods in four different categories: environmental risk, strategic risk, technological risk, and operational risk. And then the significance of those risks was investigated through a survey. The survey asked companies about the frequency and severity of the identified risks. They were also asked whether they had faced those risks in the past. Since the characteristics and supply chain flows of digital goods are varying industry by industry and country by country, it is more meaningful and useful to analyze risks by industry and country. To this end, more data in each industry sector and country should be collected, which could be accomplished in the future research.

Keywords: digital goods, e-SCM, risk analysis, supply chain flows

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Authors: Michael Mederle, Heinz Bernhardt

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The Management of machine fleets or autonomous vehicle control will considerably increase efficiency in future agricultural production. Especially entire process chains, e.g. harvesting complexes with several interacting combine harvesters, grain carts, and removal trucks, provide lots of optimization potential. Organization and pre-planning ensure to get these efficiency reserves accessible. One way to achieve this is to optimize infield path planning. Particularly autonomous machinery requires precise specifications about infield logistics to be navigated effectively and process optimized in the fields individually or in machine complexes. In the past, a lot of theoretical optimization has been done regarding infield logistics, mainly based on field geometry. However, there are reasons why farmers often do not apply the infield strategy suggested by mathematical route planning tools. To make the computational optimization more useful for farmers this study focuses on these influencing factors by expert interviews. As a result practice-oriented navigation not only to the field but also within the field will be possible. The survey study is intended to cover the entire range of German agriculture. Rural mixed farms with simple technology equipment are considered as well as large agricultural cooperatives which farm thousands of hectares using track guidance and various other electronic assistance systems. First results show that farm managers using guidance systems increasingly attune their infield-logistics on direction giving obstacles such as power lines. In consequence, they can avoid inefficient boom flippings while doing plant protection with the sprayer. Livestock farmers rather focus on the application of organic manure with its specific requirements concerning road conditions, landscape terrain or field access points. Cultivation of sugar beets makes great demands on infield patterns because of its particularities such as the row crop system or high logistics demands. Furthermore, several machines working in the same field simultaneously influence each other, regardless whether or not they are of the equal type. Specific infield strategies always are based on interactions of several different influences and decision criteria. Single working steps like tillage, seeding, plant protection or harvest mostly cannot be considered each individually. The entire production process has to be taken into consideration to detect the right infield logistics. One long-term objective of this examination is to integrate the obtained influences on infield strategies as decision criteria into an infield navigation tool. In this way, path planning will become more practical for farmers which is a basic requirement for automatic vehicle control and increasing process efficiency.

Keywords: autonomous vehicle control, infield logistics, path planning, process optimizing

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Authors: Arzu K. Harmanci Seren, Feride Eskin Bacaksiz

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The shortage of nursing personnel is considered one of the most important labour force issues in health sector of developed countries since early 1970s. International Labour Organization developed standards for working conditions of nurses in collaboration with World Health Organization with the aim of helping to solve nursing shortage problem all over the world. As a result of this collaboration, ILO Nursing Personnel Convention (C. 149), and the accompanying Recommendation (R. 157) were adopted in 1977. Turkey as a country that has a serious nurse shortage problem, has been a member of ILO since 1932, and has not signed this convention yet. This study was planned to compare some of the working standards in Convention with the present working conditions of nurses in Turkey. The data were collected by an on line survey between 19 January-16 February 2015 for this cross-sectional study. Participants were reached through social network accounts in collaboration with nursing associations. Totally 828 nurses from the 57 provinces of Turkey participated in the study. Survey was consisted of 14 open ended questions related to working conditions of nurses and 34 Likert statements related to nursing policies of the facilities they are working in. The data were analysed using the IBM SPSS 21.0 (licensed to Istanbul University) software. Descriptive and comparative statistics were performed. Most of the participants (81.5%) were staff and 18.5% of them were manager nurses. Most of them had baccalaureate (57.9%) or master (27.4%) degree in nursing. 18.5% of the participants were working in private hospitals, 34.9% of them in university hospitals and 46.6% of them were in Ministry of Health Hospitals. It was found that monthly working schedules were announced mostly 7 days ago (18%), working time of nurses was at least 8 hours (41.5%) and at most 24 hours (22.8%) in a day and had time for lunch or dinner 25.18 (SD=16.66), for resting 21.02 (SD=29.25) minutes. On the other hand, it was determined that 316 (43.2%) nurses did not have time for lunch and 61 (7.9%) of them could not find time for eating anything. It was also explored they were working 15-96 hours in a week (mean=48.28, SD=8.89 hours), 4-29 days in a month (mean=19.29, SD=5.03 days) and 597 (72%) nurses overworked changing form 1 hour to 150 hours (32.80, SD=23.42 hours) before the month in which surveys were filled. Most of the participants did not leave the job due to the sickness (47.5%) even if they felt sick. Also most of them did not leave the job due to any excuse (67.2%) or education (57.3%). This study has significance because of nurses from different provinces participated in and it provides brief information about the working conditions of nurses nationwide. It was explored that nurses in Turkey were working at worse conditions according the International Labour Organization’s recommendations.

Keywords: nurse, international labour organization, recommendations for nurses, working conditions

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Authors: Hirbod Varasteh, Hamidreza Gohari Darabkhani

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The global warming and its impact on climate change is one of main challenges for current century. Global warming is mainly due to the emission of greenhouse gases (GHG) and carbon dioxide (CO₂) is known to be the major contributor to the GHG emission profile. Whilst the energy sector is the primary source for CO₂ emission, Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) are believed to be the solution for controlling this emission. Oxyfuel combustion (Oxy-combustion) is one of the major technologies for capturing CO₂ from power plants. For gas turbines, several Oxy-combustion power cycles (Oxyturbine cycles) have been investigated by means of thermodynamic analysis. NetPower cycle is one of the leading oxyturbine power cycles with almost full carbon capture capability from a natural gas fired power plant. In this manuscript, sensitivity analysis of the heat exchanger design in NetPower cycle is completed by means of process modelling. The heat capacity variation and supercritical CO₂ with gaseous admixtures are considered for multi-zone analysis with Aspen Plus software. It is found that the heat exchanger design has a major role to increase the efficiency of NetPower cycle. The pinch-point analysis is done to extract the composite and grand composite curve for the heat exchanger. In this paper, relationship between the cycle efficiency and the minimum approach temperature (∆Tmin) of the heat exchanger has also been evaluated.  Increase in ∆Tmin causes a decrease in the temperature of the recycle flue gases (RFG) and an overall decrease in the required power for the recycled gas compressor. The main challenge in the design of heat exchangers in power plants is a tradeoff between the capital and operational costs. To achieve lower ∆Tmin, larger size of heat exchanger is required. This means a higher capital cost but leading to a better heat recovery and lower operational cost. To achieve this, ∆Tmin is selected from the minimum point in the diagrams of capital and operational costs. This study provides an insight into the NetPower Oxy-combustion cycle’s performance analysis and operational condition based on its heat exchanger design.

Keywords: carbon capture and storage, oxy-combustion, netpower cycle, oxy turbine cycles, zero emission, heat exchanger design, supercritical carbon dioxide, oxy-fuel power plant, pinch point analysis

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Authors: Merertu Wakuma Rundassa

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Global competition and rapidly changing customer requirements are forcing major changes in the production styles and configuration of manufacturing organizations. Increasingly, traditional centralized and sequential manufacturing planning, scheduling, and control mechanisms are being found insufficiently flexible to respond to changing production styles and highly dynamic variations in product requirements. The traditional approaches limit the expandability and reconfiguration capabilities of the manufacturing systems. Thus many business houses face increasing pressure to lower production cost, improve production quality and increase responsiveness to customers. In a textile and apparel manufacturing, globalization has led to increase in competition and quality awareness and these industries have changed tremendously in the last few years. So, to sustain competitive advantage, companies must re-examine and fine-tune their business processes to deliver high quality goods at very low costs and it has become very important for the textile and apparel industries to integrate themselves with information technology to survive. IT can create competitive advantages for companies to improve coordination and communication among trading partners, increase the availability of information for intermediaries and customers and provide added value at various stages along the entire chain. Ethiopia is in the process of realizing its potential as the future sourcing location for the global textile and garments industry. With a population of over 90 million people and the fastest growing non-oil economy in Africa, Ethiopia today represents limitless opportunities for international investors. For the textile and garments industry Ethiopia promises a low cost production location with natural resources such as cotton to enable the setup of vertically integrated textile and garment operation. However; due to lack of integration of their business activities textile and apparel industry of Ethiopia faced a problem in that it can‘t be competent in the global market. On the other hand the textile and apparel industries of other countries have changed tremendously in the last few years and globalization has led to increase in competition and quality awareness. So the aim of this paper is to study the trend of Ethiopian Textile and Apparel Industry on the application of different IT system to integrate them in the global market.

Keywords: information technology, business integrity, textile and apparel industries, Ethiopia

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Authors: Kyere Francis, Sun Dongying, Asante Dennis, Nkrumah Nana Kwame Edmund, Naana Yaa Gyamea Kumah

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With a focus on renewable energy to achieve low-carbon transition objectives, there is a greater demand for effective collaborative strategies for planning, strategic decision mechanisms, and long-term policy designs to steer the transitions. Government agencies, NGOs, the private sector, and individual citizens play an important role in sustainable energy production. In Ghana, however, such collaboration is fragile in the fight against climate change. This current study seeks to re-examine the position or potential of network governance in Ghana's renewable energy transition. The study adopted a qualitative approach and employed semi-structured interviews for data gathering. To explore network governance and low carbon transitions in Ghana, we examine key themes such as political environment and impact, actor cooperation and stakeholder interactions, financing and the transition, market design and renewable energy integration, existing regulation and policy gaps for renewable energy transition, clean cooking accessibility, and affordability. The findings reveal the following; Lack of comprehensive consultations with relevant stakeholders leads to lower acceptance of the policy model and sometimes lack of policy awareness. Again, the unavailability and affordability of renewable energy technologies and access to credit facilities is a significant hurdle to long-term renewable transition. Ghana's renewable energy transitions require strong networking and interaction among the public, private, and non-governmental organizations. The study participants believe that the involvement of relevant energy experts and stakeholders devoid of any political biases is instrumental in accelerating renewable energy transitions, as emphasized in the proposed framework. The study recommends that the national renewable energy transition plan be evident to all stakeholders and political administrators. Such policy may encourage renewable energy investment through stable and fixed lending rates by the financial institutions and build a network with international organizations and corporations. These findings could serve as valuable information for the transition-based energy process, primarily aiming to govern sustainability changes through network governance.

Keywords: actors, development, sustainable energy, network governance, renewable energy transition

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Authors: Zan Chen, D. Kwok

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The SkillsFuture Singapore’s mission to develop a responsive and forward-looking Training and Adult Education (TAE) and workforce development system is undergirded by how successful TAE providers are in their business performance and strategies that strengthen their operational efficiency and processes. Therefore, understanding the factors that drive the business performance of TAE providers is critical to the success of SkillsFuture Singapore’s initiatives. This study aims to investigate how business strategy, work autonomy, work intensity and professional development support impact the business performance of private TAE providers. Specifically, the three research questions are: (1) Are there significant relationships between the above-mentioned four factors and TAE providers’ business performance?; (2) Are there significant differences on the four factors between low and high TAE providers’ business performance groups?; and (3) To what extent and in what manner do the four factors predict TAE providers’ business performance? This was part of the first national study on organizations and professionals working in the Training and Adult Education (TAE) sector. Data from 265 private TAE providers where respondents were Chief Executive Officers representatives from the Senior Management were analyzed. The results showed that business strategy (the extent that the organization leads the way in terms of developing new products and services; uses up-to-date learning technologies; customizes its products and services to the client’s needs), work autonomy (the extent that the staff personally have an influence on how hard they work; deciding what tasks they are to do; deciding how they are to do the tasks, and deciding the quality standards to which they work) and professional development support (both monetary and non-monetary support and incentives) had positive and significant relationships with business performance. However, no significant relationship is found between work intensity and business performance. A business strategy, work autonomy and professional development support were significantly higher in the high business performance group compared to the low-performance group among the TAE providers. Results of hierarchical regression analyses controlling for the size of the TAE providers showed significant impacts of business strategy, work autonomy and professional development support on TAE providers’ business performance. Overall, the model accounted for 27% of the variance in TAE providers’ business performance. This study provides policymakers with insights into improving existing policies, designing new initiatives and implementing targeting interventions to support TAE providers. The findings also have implications on how the TAE providers could better formulate their organizational strategies and business models. Finally, limitations of study, along with directions for future research will be discussed in the paper.

Keywords: adult education, business performance, business strategy, training, work autonomy

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Authors: Saima Shaikh, Andre Brown, Wallace Enegbuma

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Earthquakes strike both developed and developing countries, causing tremendous damage and the loss of lives of millions of people, mainly due to the collapsing of buildings, particularly in poorer countries. Despite the socio-economic and technological restrictions, the poorer countries have adopted proven and established housing-strengthening techniques from affluent countries. Rural communities are aware of the earthquake-strengthening mechanisms for improving housing resilience, but owing to socio-economic and technological constraints, the seismic guidelines are rarely implemented, resulting in informal construction practice. Unregistered skilled laborers make substantial contributions to the informal construction sector, particularly in rural areas where knowledge is scarce. Laborers employ their local expertise in house construction; however, owing to a lack of seismic expertise in safe building procedures, the authorities' regulated seismic norms are not applied. From the perspective of seismic knowledge transformation in safe buildings practices, the study focuses on the feasibility of seismic guidelines implementation. The study firstly employs a literature review of massive-scale reconstruction after the 2005 earthquake in rural Pakistan. The 2005-earthquake damaged over 400,000 homes, killed 70,000 people and displaced 2.8 million people. The research subsequently corroborated the pragmatic approach using questionnaire field survey among the rural people in 2005-earthquake affected areas. Using the literature and the questionnaire survey, the research analyzing people's perspectives on technical acceptability, financial restrictions, and socioeconomic viability and examines the effectiveness of seismic knowledge transfer in safe buildings practices. The findings support the creation of a knowledge transfer framework in disaster mitigation and recovery planning, assisting rural communities and builders in minimising losses and improving response and recovery, as well as improving housing resilience and lowering vulnerabilities. Finally, certain conclusions are obtained in order to continue the resilience research. The research can be further applied in rural areas of developing countries having similar construction practices.

Keywords: earthquakes, knowledge transfer, resilience, informal construction practices

Procedia PDF Downloads 173

Authors: D. Sun, L. Saw, A. Onyianta, D. O’Rourke, Z. Lu, C. See, C. Wilson, C. Popescu, M. Dorris

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With the rapid development of wearable technology (e.g., smartwatch, activity trackers and health monitor devices), flexible dielectric materials with environmental-friendly, low-cost and high-energy efficiency characteristics are in increasing demand. In this work, a flexible dielectric nanocomposite was processed by incorporating two components: cellulose nanofibrils and alum sludge in a polymer matrix. The two components were used in the reinforcement phase as well as for enhancing the dielectric properties; they were processed using waste materials that would otherwise be disposed to landfills. Alum sludge is a by-product of the water treatment process in which aluminum sulfate is prevalently used as the primary coagulant. According to the data from a project partner-Scottish Water: there are approximately 10k tons of alum sludge generated as a waste from the water treatment work to be landfilled every year in Scotland. The industry has been facing escalating financial and environmental pressure to develop more sustainable strategies to deal with alum sludge wastes. In the available literature, some work on reusing alum sludge has been reported (e.g., aluminum recovery or agriculture and land reclamation). However, little work can be found in applying it to processing energy materials (e.g., dielectrics) for enhanced energy density and efficiency. The alum sludge was collected directly from a water treatment plant of Scottish Water and heat-treated and refined before being used in preparing composites. Cellulose nanofibrils were derived from water hyacinth, an invasive aquatic weed that causes significant ecological issues in tropical regions. The harvested water hyacinth was dried and processed using a cost-effective method, including a chemical extraction followed by a homogenization process in order to extract cellulose nanofibrils. Biodegradable elastomer polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) was used as the polymer matrix and the nanocomposites were processed by casting raw materials in Petri dishes. The processed composites were characterized using various methods, including scanning electron microscopy (SEM), rheological analysis, thermogravimetric and X-ray diffraction analysis. The SEM result showed that cellulose nanofibrils of approximately 20nm in diameter and 100nm in length were obtained and the alum sludge particles were of approximately 200um in diameters. The TGA/DSC analysis result showed that a weight loss of up to 48% can be seen in the raw material of alum sludge and its crystallization process has been started at approximately 800°C. This observation coincides with the XRD result. Other experiments also showed that the composites exhibit comprehensive mechanical and dielectric performances. This work depicts that it is a sustainable practice of reusing such waste materials in preparing flexible, lightweight and miniature dielectric materials for wearable technology applications.

Keywords: cellulose, biodegradable, sustainable, alum sludge, nanocomposite, wearable technology, dielectric

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Authors: Mercedes Del Rio Merino, Jaime Santacruz Astorqui, Paola Villoria Saez, Carmen Viñas Arrebola

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The lack of treatment of the waste from construction and demolition waste (CDW) is a problem that must be solved immediately. It is estimated that in the world not to use CDW generates an increase in the use of new materials close to 20% of the total value of the materials used. The problem is even greater in case these wastes are considered hazardous because the final deposition of them may also generate significant contamination. Therefore, the possibility of including CDW in the manufacturing of building materials, represents an interesting alternative to ensure their use and to reduce their possible risk. In this context and in the last years, many researches are being carried out in order to analyze the viability of using CDW as a substitute for the traditional raw material of high environmental impact. Even though it is true, much remains to be done, because these works generally characterize materials but not specific applications that allow the agents of the construction to have the guarantees required by the projects. Therefore, it is necessary the involvement of all the actors included in the life cycle of these new construction materials, and also to promote its use for, for example, definition of standards, tax advantages or market intervention is necessary. This paper presents the main findings reached in "Waste to resources (W2R)" project since it began in October 2014. The main goal of the project is to develop new materials, elements and construction systems, manufactured from CDW, to be used in improving the energy efficiency of buildings. Other objectives of the project are: to quantify the CDW generated in the energy rehabilitation works, specifically wastes from the building envelope; and to study the traceability of CDW generated and promote CDW reuse and recycle in order to get close to the life cycle of buildings, generating zero waste and reducing the ecological footprint of the construction sector. This paper determines the most important aspects to consider during the design of new constructive solutions, which improve the energy efficiency of buildings and what materials made with CDW would be the most suitable for that. Also, a survey to select best practices for reducing "close to zero waste" in refurbishment was done. Finally, several pilot rehabilitation works conform the parameters analyzed in the project were selected, in order to apply the results and thus compare the theoretical with reality. Acknowledgements: This research was supported by the Spanish State Secretariat for Research, Development and Innovation of the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness under "Waste 2 Resources" Project (BIA2013-43061-R).

Keywords: building waste, construction and demolition waste, recycling, resources

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Authors: Norbert Magyar, Jozsef Kovacs, Peter Tanos, Balazs Trasy, Tamas Garamhegyi, Istvan Gabor Hatvani

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Water is one of the most important common resources, and as a result of urbanization, agriculture, and industry it is becoming more and more exposed to potential pollutants. The prevention of the deterioration of water quality is a crucial role for environmental scientist. To achieve this aim, the operation of monitoring networks is necessary. In general, these networks have to meet many important requirements, such as representativeness and cost efficiency. However, existing monitoring networks often include sampling sites which are unnecessary. With the elimination of these sites the monitoring network can be optimized, and it can operate more economically. The aim of this study is to illustrate the applicability of the CCDA (Combined Cluster and Discriminant Analysis) to the field of water quality monitoring and optimize the monitoring networks of a river (the Danube), a wetland-lake system (Kis-Balaton & Lake Balaton), and two surface-subsurface water systems on the watershed of Lake Neusiedl/Lake Fertő and on the Szigetköz area over a period of approximately two decades. CCDA combines two multivariate data analysis methods: hierarchical cluster analysis and linear discriminant analysis. Its goal is to determine homogeneous groups of observations, in our case sampling sites, by comparing the goodness of preconceived classifications obtained from hierarchical cluster analysis with random classifications. The main idea behind CCDA is that if the ratio of correctly classified cases for a grouping is higher than at least 95% of the ratios for the random classifications, then at the level of significance (α=0.05) the given sampling sites don’t form a homogeneous group. Due to the fact that the sampling on the Lake Neusiedl/Lake Fertő was conducted at the same time at all sampling sites, it was possible to visualize the differences between the sampling sites belonging to the same or different groups on scatterplots. Based on the results, the monitoring network of the Danube yields redundant information over certain sections, so that of 12 sampling sites, 3 could be eliminated without loss of information. In the case of the wetland (Kis-Balaton) one pair of sampling sites out of 12, and in the case of Lake Balaton, 5 out of 10 could be discarded. For the groundwater system of the catchment area of Lake Neusiedl/Lake Fertő all 50 monitoring wells are necessary, there is no redundant information in the system. The number of the sampling sites on the Lake Neusiedl/Lake Fertő can decrease to approximately the half of the original number of the sites. Furthermore, neighbouring sampling sites were compared pairwise using CCDA and the results were plotted on diagrams or isoline maps showing the location of the greatest differences. These results can help researchers decide where to place new sampling sites. The application of CCDA proved to be a useful tool in the optimization of the monitoring networks regarding different types of water bodies. Based on the results obtained, the monitoring networks can be operated more economically.

Keywords: combined cluster and discriminant analysis, cost efficiency, monitoring network optimization, water quality

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Authors: M. Moso-Diez, J. L. Moragues-Oregi, K. Simon-Elorz

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Innovation procurement is designed to steer the development of solutions towards concrete public sector needs as a driver for innovation from the demand side (in public services as well as in market opportunities for companies), is horizontally emerging as a new policy instrument. In 2014 the new EU public procurement directives 2014/24/EC and 2014/25/EC reinforced the support for Public Procurement for Innovation, dedicating funding instruments that can be used across all areas supported by Horizon 2020, and targeting potential buyers of innovative solutions: groups of public procurers with similar needs. Under this programme, new policy adapters and networks emerge, aiming to embed innovation criteria into new procurement processes. As these initiatives are in process, research related to is scarce. We argue that Innovation Public Procurement can arise as an innovative policy instrument to public procurement in different policy domains, in spite of existing institutional and cultural barriers (legal guarantee versus innovation). The presentation combines insights from public procurement to supply management chain management in a sustainability and innovation policy arena, as a means of providing understanding of: (1) the circumstances that emerge; (2) the relationship between public and private actors; and (3) the emerging capacities in the definition of the agenda. The policy adopters are the contracting authorities that mainly are at municipal level where they interact with the supply management chain, interconnecting sustainability and climate measures with other policy priorities such as innovation and urban planning; and through the Competitive Dialogue procedure. We found that geography and territory affect both the level of municipal budget (due to municipal income per capita) and its institutional competencies (due to demographic reasons). In spite of the relevance of institutional determinants for public procurement, other factors play an important role such as human factors as well as both public policy and private intervention. The experience is a ‘city project’ (Bilbao) in the field of brownfield decontamination. Brownfield sites typically refer to abandoned or underused industrial and commercial properties—such as old process plants, mining sites, and landfills—that are available but contain low levels of environmental contaminants that may complicate reuse or redevelopment of the land. This article concludes that Innovation Public Procurement in sustainability and climate issues should be further developed both as a policy instrument and as a policy research line that could enable further relevant changes in public procurement as well as in climate innovation.

Keywords: innovation, city projects, public policy, public procurement

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Authors: Douglas E. Mainhart, Alejandro Fierro-Cabo, Bradley Christoffersen, Charlotte Reemts

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Semi-arid ecosystems across the globe have faced land conversion for agriculture and resource extraction activities, posing a threat to the important ecosystem services they provide. Revegetation-centered restoration efforts in these regions face low success rates due to limited soil water availability and high temperatures leading to elevated seedling mortality after planting. Typical methods to alleviate these stresses require costly post-planting interventions aimed at improving soil moisture status. We set out to evaluate the efficacy of applying in-nursery treatments to address transplant shock. Four native Tamaulipan thornscrub species were compared. Three treatments were applied: elevated CO2, drought hardening (four-week exposure each), and antitranspirant foliar spray (the day prior to planting). Our goal was to answer two primary questions: (1) Do treatments improve survival and growth of seedlings in the early period post-planting? (2) If so, what underlying physiological changes are associated with this improved performance? To this end, we measured leaf gas exchange (stomatal conductance, light saturated photosynthetic rate, water use efficiency), leaf morphology (specific leaf area), and osmolality before and upon the conclusion of treatments. A subset of seedlings from all treatments have been planted, which will be monitored in coming months for in-field survival and growth.First month field survival for all treatment groups were high due to ample rainfall following planting (>85%). Growth data was unreliable due to high herbivory (68% of all sampled plants). While elevated CO2 had infrequent or no detectable influence on all aspects of leaf gas exchange, drought hardening reduced stomatal conductance in three of the four species measured without negatively impacting photosynthesis. Both CO2 and drought hardening elevated leaf osmolality in two species. Antitranspirant application significantly reduced conductance in all species for up to four days and reduced photosynthesis in two species. Antitranspirants also increased the variability of water use efficiency compared to controls. Collectively, these results suggest that antitranspirants and drought hardening are viable treatments for reducing short-term water loss during the transplant shock period. Elevated CO2, while not effective at reducing water loss, may be useful for promoting more favorable water status via osmotic adjustment. These practices could improve restoration outcomes in Tamaulipan thornscrub and other semi-arid systems. Further research should focus on evaluating combinations of these treatments and their species-specific viability.

Keywords: conservation, drought conditioning, semi-arid restoration, plant physiology

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Authors: Abdulrahman Fahim M. Alsulami

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This paper is dedicated to a detailed investigation of the interaction between the agreement on trade-related aspects of intellectual property rights (TRIPS) and bilateral investment treaties (BITs) in the regulation of health-related intellectual property rights in Australia and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The chosen research object is complex and requires a thorough examination of a set of factors influencing the problem under investigation. At the moment, to the author’s best knowledge’ there is no academic research that would conceptualize and critically compare the regulation of health-related intellectual property rights in these two countries. While there is a substantial amount of information in the literature on certain aspects of the problem, the existing knowledge about certain aspects of the health-related regulatory frameworks in Australia and Saudi Arabia barely explains in detail the specifics of the ways in which the TRIPS agreement interacts with (BITs) in the regulation of health-related intellectual property rights. Therefore, this paper will address an evident research gap by studying an intriguing yet under-researched problem. The paper comprises five subsections. The first subsection provides an overview of the investment climate in Saudi Arabia and Australia with an emphasis on the health care industry. It will cover political, economic, and social factors influencing the investment climate in these countries, the systems of intellectual property rights protection, recent patterns relevant to the investment climate’s development, and key characteristics of the investment climate in the health care industry. The second subsection analyses BITs in Saudi Arabia and Australia in light of the countries’ responsibilities under the TRIPS Agreement. The third subsection provides a critical examination of the interaction between the TRIPS Agreement and BITs in Saudi Arabia on the basis of data collected and analyzed in previous subsections. It will investigate key discrepancies concerning the regulation of health-related intellectual property rights in Saudi Arabia and Australia from the position of BITs’ interaction with the TRIPS Agreement and explore the existing procedures for clarifying priorities between them in regulating health-related intellectual property rights. The fourth subsection of the paper provides recommendations concerning the transformation of BITS into a TRIPS+ dimension in regulating health-related intellectual property rights in Saudi Arabia and Australia. The final subsection provides a summary of differences between the Australian and Saudi BITs from the perspective of the regulation of health-related intellectual property rights under the TRIPS agreement and bilateral investment treaties.

Keywords: Australia, bilateral investment treaties, IP law, public health sector, Saudi Arabia

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Authors: Camila Lee Park, Mauro Fracarolli Nunes

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Understood as the preference for products and services that do not involve moral dilemmas, ethical consumption has been increasingly discussed by scholars, practitioners, and consumers. Among its diverse trends, the defense of animal rights and welfare seems to have gained particular momentum in past decades. Not surprisingly, companies, governments, ideologues, and virtually any institution or group interested in (re)shaping society invest in the building of narratives oriented to influence consumption behavior. The animal rights movement, for example, is devoted to the elimination of the use of animals in science, as well as of commercial animal agriculture and hunting activities. Although advances in ethical consumption may be observed in practice, it still seems more popular as rhetoric. Diverse scholars have addressed the disparities between self-professed ethical consumers and their actual purchase patterns, with differences being attributed to factors such as price sensitivity, lack of information, quality, cynicism, and limited availability. The gap is also linked to the 'consumer sovereignty myth', according to which consumers are only able to choose from a pre-determined range of choices made before products reach them. On the other hand, academics also debate ethical consumption behavior as more likely to occur when it assumes compliance with social norms. As sustainability becomes a permanent issue, customers may tend to adhere to ethical consumption, either because of an individual value or due to a social one. Regardless of these efforts, the actual value attributed to ethical businesses remains unclear. Likewise, the power of stakeholders’ initiatives to influence corporate strategies is dubious. In search to offer new perspectives on these matters, the present study concentrates on the following research questions: Do customers value products/companies that respect animal rights? If so, does such enhanced value convert into actions from the part of the companies? Broadly, we aim to understand if customers’ perception holds performative traits (i.e., are capable of either trigger or contribute to changes in organizational behaviour around the respect for animal rights). In addressing these issues, two preliminary behavioral vignette-based experiments were conducted, with the perspectives of 307 participants being assessed. Building on a case of the cosmetics industry, social, emotional, and functional values were hypothesized as directly impacting positive word-of-mouth, which, in turn, would carry direct effects on purchase intention. A first structural equation model was analyzed with the combined samples of studies I and II. Results suggest that emotional value strongly impacts both positive word-of-mouth and purchase intention. Data confirms initial expectations on customers valuing products and companies that comply with ethical postures concerning animals, especially if social-oriented practices are also present.

Keywords: animal rights, business ethics, emotional value, ethical consumption

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Authors: Isabel N. Sierra-Garcia, Maria J. Ferreira, Sandro Figuereido, Newton Gomes, Helena Silva, Angela Cunha

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Plant-associated microbial communities are considered crucial in the adaptation of halophytes to coastal environments. The plant microbiota can be horizontally acquired from the environment or vertically transmitted from generation to generation via seeds. Recruiting of the microbial communities by the plant is affected by geographical location, soil source, host genotype, and cultivation practice. There is limited knowledge reported on the microbial communities in halophytes the influence of biotic and abiotic factors. In this work, the microbiota associated with the halophyte Salicornia ramosissima was investigated to determine whether the structure of bacterial communities is influenced by host genotype or soil source. For this purpose, two contrasting sites where S. ramosissima is established in the estuarine system of the Ria de Aveiro were investigated. One site corresponds to a natural salt marsh where S. ramosissima plants are present (wild plants), and the other site is a former salt pan that nowadays are subjected to intensive crop production of S. ramosissima (crop plants). Bacterial communities from the rhizosphere, seeds and root endosphere of S. ramossisima from both sites were investigated by sequencing bacterial 16S rRNA gene using the Illumina MiSeq platform. The analysis of the sequences showed that the three plant-associated compartments, rhizosphere, root endosphere, and seed endosphere, harbor distinct microbiomes. However, bacterial richness and diversity were higher in seeds of wild plants, followed by rhizosphere in both sites, while seeds in the crop site had the lowest diversity. Beta diversity measures indicated that bacterial communities in root endosphere and seeds were more similar in both wild and crop plants in contrast to rhizospheres that differed by local, indicating that the recruitment of the similar bacterial communities by the plant genotype is active in regard to the site. Moreover, bacterial communities from the root endosphere and rhizosphere were phylogenetically more similar in both sites, but the phylogenetic composition of seeds in wild and crop sites was distinct. These results indicate that cultivation practices affect the seed microbiome. However, minimal vertical transmission of bacteria from seeds to adult plants is expected. Seeds from the crop site showed higher abundances of Kushneria and Zunongwangia genera. Bacterial members of the classes Alphaprotebacteria and Bacteroidia were the most ubiquitous across sites and compartments and might encompass members of the core microbiome. These findings indicate that bacterial communities associated with S. ramosissima are more influenced by host genotype rather than local abiotic factors or cultivation practices. This study provides a better understanding of the composition of the plant microbiota in S. ramosissima , which is essential to predict the interactions between plant and associated microbial communities and their effects on plant health. This knowledge is useful to the manipulations of these microbial communities to enhance the health and productivity of this commercially important plant.

Keywords: halophytes, plant microbiome, Salicornia ramosissima, agriculture

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Authors: Stella Laletas, Andrea Reupert, Melinda Goodyear, Bradley Morgan

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Background: Many people with a mental illness have young children. Research has shown that early childhood is a particularly vulnerable time for children whose parents have a mental illness. Moreover, repeated research has demonstrated the effectiveness of a multiagency approach to family focused practice for improving parental functioning and preventing adverse outcomes in children whose parents have a mental illness, particularly in the early years of a child’s life. However, there is a paucity of professional development resources for professionals who work with families where a parent has a mental illness and has young children. Significance of the study: This study will make a contribution to addressing knowledge gaps around resource development and workforce needs for early childhood and mental health professionals working with young children where a parent has a mental illness. Objective: This presentation describes a newly developed resource, 'Pathways of Care', specifically designed for early childhood educators and mental health workers, alongside pilot evaluation data regarding its effectiveness. ‘Pathways of Care’ aims to promote collaborative practice and present early identification and referral processes for workers in this sector. The resource was developed by the Children of Parents with a Mental Illness (COPMI) National Initiative which is funded by the Australian Government. Method: Using a mixed method design, the effectiveness of the training resource is also presented. Fifteen workers completed the Family Focus Mental Health Practice Questionnaire pre and post using the resource, to measure confidence and practice change; semi-structured interviews were also conducted with eight of these same workers to further explore the utility of the resource. Findings: The findings indicated the resource was effective in increasing knowledge and confidence, particularly for new and/or inexperienced staff. Examples of how the resource was used in practice by various professions emerged from the interview data. Conclusions: Collaborative practice, early identification and intervention in early childhood can potentially play a key role in altering the life trajectory of children who are at risk. This information has important implications for workforce development and staff training in both the early childhood and mental health sectors. Implications for policy and future research are discussed.

Keywords: parents with mental ilnesses, early intervention, evaluation, preschool children

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Authors: Pradip Kumar Das

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As the entire world continues its rapid move towards industrialization, it has seriously threatened mankind’s ability to maintain an ecological balance. Geographical and natural forces have a significant influence on the location of industries. Industrialization is the foundation stone of the development of any country, while the unplanned industrialization and discharge of waste by industries is the cause of environmental pollution. There is growing degree of awareness and concern globally among nations about environmental degradation or pollution. Environmental resources endowed by the gift of nature and not manmade are invaluable natural resources of a country like India. Any developmental activity is directly related to natural and environmental resources. Economic development without environmental considerations brings about environmental crises and damages the quality of life of present, as well as future generation. As corporate sectors in the global market, especially in India, are becoming anxious about environmental degradation, naturally more and more emphasis will be ascribed to how environment-friendly the outcomes are. Maintaining accounts of such environmental and natural resources in the country has become more urgent. Moreover, international awareness and acceptance of the importance of environmental issues has motivated the development of a branch of accounting called “Environmental Accounting”. Environmental accounting attempts to detect and focus the resources consumed and the costs rendered by an industrial unit to the environment. For the sustainable development of mankind, a healthy environment is indispensable. Gradually, therefore, in many countries including India, environment matters are being given top most priority. Accounting and disclosure of environmental matters have been increasingly manifesting as an important dimension of corporate accounting and reporting practices. But, as conventional accounting deals with mainly non-living things, the formulation of valuation, and measurement and accounting techniques for incorporating environment-related matters in the corporate financial statement sometimes creates problems for the accountant. In the light of this situation, the conceptual analysis of the study is concerned with the rationale of environmental accounting on the economy and society as a whole, and focuses the failures of the traditional accounting system. A modest attempt has been made to throw light on the environmental awareness in developing nations like India and discuss the problems associated with the implementation of environmental accounting. The conceptual study also reflects that despite different anomalies, environmental accounting is becoming an increasing important aspect of the accounting agenda within the corporate sector in India. Lastly, a conclusion, along with recommendations, has been given to overcome the situation.

Keywords: environmental accounting, environmental degradation, environmental management, environmental resources

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Authors: Pooja Verma, Rajnesh Tyagi, Sunil Mohan

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Al-Si alloys are widely used in various components such as liner-less engine blocks, piston, compressor bodies and pumps for automobile sector and aerospace industries due to their excellent combination of properties like low thermal expansion coefficient, low density, excellent wear resistance, high corrosion resistance, excellent cast ability, and high hardness. The low density and high hardness of primary Si phase results in significant reduction in density and improvement in wear resistance of hypereutectic Al-Si alloys. Keeping in view of the industrial importance of the alloys, hypereutectic Al-Si alloys containing 14, 16, 18 and 20 wt. % of Si were prepared in a resistance furnace using adequate amount of deoxidizer and degasser and their erosion behavior was evaluated by conducting tests at impingement angles of 30°, 60°, and 90° with an erodent discharge rate of 7.5 Hz, pressure 1 bar using erosion test rig. Microstructures of the cast alloys were examined using Optical microscopy (OM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and the presence of Si particles was confirmed by x-ray diffractometer (XRD). The mechanical properties and hardness were measured using uniaxial tension tests at a strain rate of 10-3/s and Vickers hardness tester. Microstructures of the alloys and X-ray examination revealed the presence of primary and eutectic Si particles in the shape of cuboids or polyhedral and finer needles. Yield strength (YS), ultimate tensile strength (UTS), and uniform elongation of the hypereutectic Al-Si alloys were observed to increase with increasing content of Si. The optimal strength and ductility was observed for Al-20 wt. % Si alloy which is significantly higher than the Al-14 wt. % Si alloy. The increased hardness and the strength of the alloys with increasing amount of Si has been attributed presence of Si in the solid solution which creates strain, and this strain interacts with dislocations resulting in solid-solution strengthening. The interactions between distributed primary Si particles and dislocations also provide Orowan strengthening leading to increased strength. The steady state erosion rate was found to decrease with increasing angle of impact as well as Si content for all the alloys except at 900 where it was observed to increase with the increase in the Si content. The minimum erosion rate is observed in Al-20 wt. % Si alloy at 300 and 600 impingement angles because of its higher hardness in comparison to other alloys. However, at 90° impingement angle the wear rate for Al-20 wt. % Si alloy is found to be the minimum due to deformation, subsequent cracking and chipping off material.

Keywords: Al-Si alloy, erosion wear, cast alloys, dislocation, strengthening

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Authors: Vicente Espinola, Luis Torres, Christhian Gonzalez

Abstract:

Entrepreneurship is a topic of current interest in Mexico and the World, which has been fostered through public policies with great impact on its generation. The strategies used in Mexico have not been successful, being motivational strategies aimed at the masses with the intention that someone in the process generates a venture. The strategies used for its development have been "picking of winners" favoring those who have already overcome the initial stages of undertaking without effective support. This situation shows a disarticulation that appears even more in social entrepreneurship; due to this, it is relevant to research on those elements that could develop them and thus integrate a model of entrepreneurship and social innovation for Mexico. Social entrepreneurship should be generating social innovation, which is translated into business models in order to make the benefits reach the population. These models are proposed putting the social impact before the economic impact, without forgetting its sustainability in the medium and long term. In this work, we present a simple model of innovation and social entrepreneurship for Guanajuato, Mexico. This algorithm was based on how social innovation could be generated in a systemic way for Mexico through different institutions that promote innovation. In this case, the technological parks of the state of Guanajuato were studied because these are considered one of the areas of Mexico where its main objectives are to make technology transfer to companies but overlooking the social sector and entrepreneurs. An experimental design of n = 60 was carried out with potential entrepreneurs to identify their perception of the social approach that the enterprises should have, the skills they consider required to create a venture, as well as their interest in generating ventures that solve social problems. This experiment had a 2K design, the value of k = 3 and the computational simulation was performed in R statistical language. A simple model of interconnected variables is proposed, which allows us to identify where it is necessary to increase efforts for the generation of social enterprises. The 96.67% of potential entrepreneurs expressed interest in ventures that solve social problems. In the analysis of the variables interaction, it was identified that the isolated development of entrepreneurial skills would only replicate the generation of traditional ventures. The variable of social approach presented positive interactions, which may influence the generation of social entrepreneurship if this variable was strengthened and permeated in the processes of training and development of entrepreneurs. In the future, it will be necessary to analyze the institutional actors that are present in the social entrepreneurship ecosystem, in order to analyze the interaction necessary to strengt the innovation and social entrepreneurship ecosystem.

Keywords: social innovation, model, entrepreneurship, technological parks

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