Search results for: social vulnerability index

Authors: Farida Ibrahim

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Right to information is the public's right to know through having access to public information held by state bodies. Recognized as a cornerstone in transparent, participatory and open democracies, the right to information is increasingly perceived today as an emerging human right on the international level. While this right is conceptualized in a range of different contexts, the paper focuses on its conceptualization as a force for socio-economic change for disadvantaged groups. The paper's goal is study the instrumental capacity of this right in empowering the public to access state-held information pertinent to their socio-economic rights. In this regard, the paper views the right to information as an inclusionary tool that is capable of spurring inclusion for individuals excluded from the ambits of both: public participation and social justice. For exploring this, the paper examines the advocacy role played by civil society groups in furthering this instrumental capacity. In particular, the paper presents a focused account on the Egyptian case. While Egypt has recently adopted its constitutional provision on access to information, doubts arise on Egyptian citizens' genuine ability to access information held by state bodies. The politico-economic environment, long term culture of bureaucratic secrecy, and legal framework do not provide promising outcomes on access to public information. Within the particular context of the Egyptian case, this paper questions the extent to which civil society in Egypt is capable of instrumentally employing the political opportunity offered by the constitutional entitlement to information access for pressuring public authorities to disclose information. Through four lawsuits brought by civil society groups in Egypt, the paper argues that the right to information has instrumentally provided civil society actors with new domains of mobilization for furthering the realization of social and economic rights, and ultimately, for renegotiating a new social order lining the relationship between the Egyptian state and its citizens marginalized by socio-economic imbalances.

Keywords: civil society, Egypt, right to information, socio-economic rights

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Authors: Obinna Benedict Duru

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This study focuses on the elderly and the challenges that confront them. The elderly are that particular segment of our population who by virtue of the aging process have attained the stage in most cases where they are confronted with the challenges of economic dependency and social marginality. These challenges are as a result of the physical and biological decline occasioned by social myths and realities which portray the elderly as a dependent population whose members could not and should not work and who need social assistance that the younger population is obliged to provide. From the moment of birth to the moment of death, our bodies are constantly changing. We are all enmeshed in the process of growing old, a transition from youthfulness to elderliness. In youth-oriented modern societies like ours, we tend to attach positive importance and significance to the biological changes that occur early in life and define later physical changes in negative terms. Children growing up and young adults receive more attention, greater responsibilities and more legal rights to reward them on their way. But few people are congratulated on getting old. We commiserate with people who are getting old and make jokes about their supposedly physical, mental and biological decline. Wrinkles, loss of weight and vitality are all parts of the aging process. In almost all parts of the world, earlier researches have shown that about fifty percent of the elderly who suffer from stroke, arthritis, senility and other age related diseases are the disengaged and neglected elderly. Rapid technological changes render the knowledge and skills of the elderly obsolete; education is geared toward the young and the generational competition for jobs leads to pressures on the elderly to retire. Control of initial resources are shifted to the middle-aged and older workers are pushed into positions of economic dependency. This study therefore, among other things tend to discover how some government policies have affected the elderly particularly in Africa. To discover the prospects and possibilities of the elderly for a better living. To make a comparison of the advances in healthcare giving made in the advanced western societies to the practice in Sub Saharan Africa etc. The hypotheses of this study include: that the elderly in Sub Saharan Africa are more vulnerable than their counterparts in Europe and America. The elderly are more prone to social isolation, and that the elderly are mostly affected by age-related sickness etc. With a survey method as the research design, and sample size of about 500 respondents,probability sampling technique was used. Data which were analyzed using chi-square and tables were collected through primary and secondary sources. The findings made include: that the elderly suffer pains of old age especially when disengaged from work or social activity. That loss of income condemn the elderly to a life of vegetable existence, and that those who do not have other means of re-integration usually see old age with regret and despair. It is therefore, recommended among other things that social welfare scheme and the process of re-integration at old age be introduced for the non pensionable elderly in Africa.

Keywords: elderly, social isolation, dependency, re-integration

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Authors: Laila Almulla

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As native plants are better adapted to the local environment, can endure long spells of drought, withstand high soil salinity levels and provide a more natural effect to landscape projects, their use in landscape projects are gaining popularity. Standardization of seed germination methods and raising the hardened plants of selected native plants for their use in landscape projects will both conserve natural resources and produce sustainable greenery. In the present study, Haloxylon salicornicum, a perennial herb with a potential use for urban greenery was selected for seed germination tests as there is an urgent need to mass multiply them for their large-scale use. Among the nine treatments tried with different concentrations of gibberelic acid (GA3) and dry heat, the seeds responded with treatments when the wings were removed. The control as well as 250 GA3 treatments produced the maximum germination of 86%.

Keywords: dormancy, gibberelic acid, germination trays , vigor index

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Authors: Qinghui Li, Lei Zhang

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In China, sport will play a more important role in the future development of the national economy, are facing greater challenges. Sports industry development in this background,innovative technology and cultural forces which will play an important role. Therefore, as a guide of sports culture, the development of science and technology, display the sports scientific and technological achievements, culture showed important - Sports Academic Journals sports technology platform of talent, but also innovation and value-added will through its value function,play an important role in the development of China's sports development and sports industry. At the same time, in the Chinese academic journals of social environment has undergone great changes,one aspect is the national news publishing system reform, change, development group of scientific publishing market has become the mainstream trend of development; on the other hand, digitalization, internationalization development speed of academic journal soon, in such a social background, how sports academic journal of development? How to serve for the development of sports? This research will be based on the sports academic journals in the past, the development status and characteristics and now plays in the history and context of modern academic value and social value, to explore the new era background, especially the development of the reform of the cultural system, marketization and the digital innovation situation of sports academic periodical show in sports, sports industry development and play a more important role in study.

Keywords: sports academin journals, strong sporting nation, innovation, China

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Authors: Taehyun Kim, Taehyun Kim, Hyunjoo Park

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Photovoltaic facility occurs conflicts and disputes over environmental issues such as soil runoff, landscapes damage, and ecosystems damage. Because of these problems, huge social and economic cost occurred. The purpose of this study is to analyze resident‘s acceptability and conflict factors on the location of PV facilities, and suggest ways to promote resident’s acceptability and solutions for conflicts. Literature review, cases analysis, and expert interview on the acceptance and conflict factors related to the location of PV facilities are used to derive results. The results of this study are expected to contribute to the minimization of environmental impact and social conflict due to the development of renewable energy in the future.

Keywords: acceptance factor, conflict factor, factor analysis, photovoltaic facility

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Authors: Diana C. El Assal, Fatima Monteiro, Caroline May, Peter Barbuti, Silvia Bolognin, Averina Nicolae, Hulda Haraldsdottir, Lemmer R. P. El Assal, Swagatika Sahoo, Longfei Mao, Jens Schwamborn, Rejko Kruger, Ines Thiele, Kathrin Marcus, Ronan M. T. Fleming

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Degeneration of substantia nigra pars compacta dopaminergic neurons is one of the hallmarks of Parkinson's disease. These neurons have a highly complex axonal arborisation and a high energy demand, so any reduction in ATP synthesis could lead to an imbalance between supply and demand, thereby impeding normal neuronal bioenergetic requirements. Synaptic mitochondria exhibit increased vulnerability to dysfunction in Parkinson's disease. After biogenesis in and transport from the cell body, synaptic mitochondria become highly dependent upon oxidative phosphorylation. We applied a systems biochemistry approach to identify the metabolic pathways used by neuronal mitochondria for energy generation. The mitochondrial component of an existing manual reconstruction of human metabolism was extended with manual curation of the biochemical literature and specialised using omics data from Parkinson's disease patients and controls, to generate reconstructions of synaptic and somal mitochondrial metabolism. These reconstructions were converted into stoichiometrically- and fluxconsistent constraint-based computational models. These models predict that Parkinson's disease is accompanied by an increase in the rate of glycolysis and a decrease in the rate of oxidative phosphorylation within synaptic mitochondria. This is consistent with independent experimental reports of a compensatory switching of bioenergetic pathways in the putamen of post-mortem Parkinson's disease patients. Ongoing work, in the context of the SysMedPD project is aimed at computational prediction of mitochondrial drug targets to slow the progression of neurodegeneration in the subset of Parkinson's disease patients with overt mitochondrial dysfunction.

Keywords: bioenergetics, mitochondria, Parkinson's disease, systems biochemistry

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Authors: Muhammad Syahir Aminuddin, Zakaria Man, Mohamad Azmi Bustam Khalil

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In order to identify the best possible reaction media for performing H₂S conversion, a total number of 300 different ILs from a combination of 20 cations and 15 anions were screened via COSMO-RS model simulations. By COSMO-RS method, thermodynamic and physicochemical properties of 300 ILs, such as Henry's law constants, activity coefficient, selectivity, capacity, and performance index, are obtained and analyzed. Thus, by comparing the performance of ILs via COSMO-RS, a series of TSILs containing cation of [P66614] with metal chloride anions such as Fe, Ga, and Al were chosen and selected for synthesis based on their performance predicted by COSMO-RS and their economic values. Consequently, the physiochemical properties such as density, viscosity, thermal properties, as well as H₂S absorptive oxidation performances in those TSILs will be systematically investigated.

Keywords: conversion of hydrogen sulfide, hydrogen sulfide, H₂S, sour natural gas, task specific ionic liquids

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Authors: José M. Brotons, Manuel E. Sansalvador

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The relationship between Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and financial performance (FP) is a subject of great interest that has not yet been resolved. In this work, we have developed a new and original tool to measure this relation. The tool quantifies the value contributed to companies that are committed to CSR. The theoretical model used is the fuzzy discounted cash flow method. Two assumptions have been considered, the first, the company has implemented the IQNet SR10 certification, and the second, the company has not implemented that certification. For the first one, the growth rate used for the time horizon is the rate maintained by the company after obtaining the IQNet SR10 certificate. For the second one, both, the growth rates company prior to the implementation of the certification, and the evolution of the sector will be taken into account. By using triangular fuzzy numbers, it is possible to deal adequately with each company’s forecasts as well as the information corresponding to the sector. Once the annual growth rate of the sales is obtained, the profit and loss accounts are generated from the annual estimate sales. For the remaining elements of this account, their regression with the nets sales has been considered. The difference between these two valuations, made in a fuzzy environment, allows obtaining the value of the IQNet SR10 certification. Although this study presents an innovative methodology to quantify the relation between CSR and FP, the authors are aware that only one company has been analyzed. This is precisely the main limitation of this study which in turn opens up an interesting line for future research: to broaden the sample of companies.

Keywords: corporate social responsibility, case study, financial performance, company valuation

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Authors: Misbah Fatma, Anam Saiyeda

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This analysis charts the introduction and expansion of research into the filter bubble phenomena over the last 10 years using a large dataset of academic publications. This bibliometric study demonstrates how interdisciplinary filter bubble research is. The identification of key authors and organizations leading the filter bubble study sheds information on collaborative networks and knowledge transfer. Relevant papers are organized based on themes including algorithmic bias, polarisation, social media, and ethical implications through a systematic examination of the literature. In order to shed light on how these patterns have changed over time, the study plots their historical history. The study also looks at how research is distributed globally, showing geographic patterns and discrepancies in scholarly output. The results of this bibliometric analysis let us fully comprehend the development and reach of filter bubble research. This study offers insights into the ongoing discussion surrounding information personalization and its implications for societal discourse, democratic participation, and the potential risks to an informed citizenry by exposing dominant themes, interdisciplinary collaborations, and geographic patterns. In order to solve the problems caused by filter bubbles and to advance a more diverse and inclusive information environment, this analysis is essential for scholars and researchers.

Keywords: bibliometric analysis, social media, social networking, algorithmic personalization, self-selection, content moderation policies and limited access to information, recommender system and polarization

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Authors: Katharina M. Rischer, Angelika Dierolf, Ana M. Gonzalez-Roldan, Pedro Montoya, Fernand Anton, Marian van der Meulen

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Even though age has been associated with increased and prolonged episodes of pain, little is known about potential age-related changes in the ˈtop-downˈ modulation of pain, such as cognitive distraction from pain. The analgesic effects of distraction result from competition for attentional resources in the prefrontal cortex (PFC), a region that is also involved in executive functions. Given that the PFC shows pronounced age-related atrophy, distraction may be less effective in reducing pain in older compared to younger adults. The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of aging on task-related analgesia and the underpinning neural mechanisms, with a focus on the role of executive functions in distraction from pain. In a first session, 64 participants (32 young adults: 26.69 ± 4.14 years; 32 older adults: 68.28 ± 7.00 years) completed a battery of neuropsychological tests. In a second session, participants underwent a pain distraction paradigm, while fMRI images were acquired. In this paradigm, participants completed a low (0-back) and a high (2-back) load condition of a working memory task while receiving either warm or painful thermal stimuli to their lower arm. To control for age-related differences in sensitivity to pain and perceived task difficulty, stimulus intensity, and task speed were individually calibrated. Results indicate that both age groups showed significantly reduced activity in a network of regions involved in pain processing when completing the high load distraction task; however, young adults showed a larger neural distraction effect in different parts of the insula and the thalamus. Moreover, better executive functions, in particular inhibitory control abilities, were associated with a larger behavioral and neural distraction effect. These findings clearly demonstrate that top-down control of pain is affected in older age, and could explain the higher vulnerability for older adults to develop chronic pain. Moreover, our findings suggest that the assessment of executive functions may be a useful tool for predicting the efficacy of cognitive pain modulation strategies in older adults.

Keywords: executive functions, cognitive pain modulation, fMRI, PFC

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Authors: Keitumetse Gaesirwe

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This study investigated the effect of corporate social responsibility (CSR) on brand equity. Specific objectives include examining the connections between ethics and philanthropic constructs of CSR and brand loyalty in the telecommunication industry in South Africa. A convenience sampling technique was used, and closed-ended questionnaires were administered to 800 research participants across the nine provinces of South Africa. Data collected from the field was analyzed using inferential statistics (Ordinary Least Squares regression and correlation analysis) as well as descriptive statistics. Findings show positive and significant connections between the constructs of CSR and brand loyalty. The implications of the findings indicate that keeping ethical and philanthropy standards can be a source of competitive advantage and guarantee brand loyalty for telecommunication companies in South Africa.

Keywords: CSR, brand awareness, telecommunication industry, COVID-19, South Africa

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Authors: Longtao He, Han Wu

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Summary: As the need for elder care increases in China due to a growing aging population and, in particular, rising cancer rates, it becomes increasingly important to also support family caregivers, who are often the main source of care. We used a qualitative meta-synthesis to systematically evaluate and integrate the caregiving experiences of family caregivers of elderly cancer patients as revealed by articles published in Chinese journals. Findings: Nine studies are included in the final analysis. The caregiver experiences they describe are synthesized into three primary themes: care needs, care burden, and care gains, with numerous secondary themes. Besides the findings that seem to align with other findings across cultures, we have highlighted three main discoveries from the synthesis that may be quite specific to the Chinese context: 1. more sub-themes related to specific caregiving skills caregivers of cancer patients; 2. a call for health professionals to improve their communication skills with family caregivers; 3. the important role of filial piety. Applications: Our findings can be used to help health social workers and relevant policymakers in China support family caregivers by identifying the education and training required for caregivers, ways to make the most of potential care gains, and ways to ease care burdens.

Keywords: cancer, Chinese family caregivers, caregiving skills, care burden, care gains, health social work

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Authors: Ho-Nyeon Lee

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We propose to use a gradual-refractive-index dielectric (GRID) as a simple and efficient light-outcoupling method for organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs). Using the simple GRIDs, we could improve the light outcoupling efficiency of OLEDs rather than relying on difficult nano-patterning processes. Through numerical simulations using a finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method, the feasibility of the GRID structure was examined and the design parameters were extracted. The outcoupling enhancement effects due to the GRIDs were proved through severe experimental works. The GRIDs were adapted to bottom-emission OLEDs and top-emission OLEDs. For bottom-emission OLEDs, the efficiency was improved more than 20%, and for top-emission OLEDs, more than 40%. The detailed numerical and experimental results will be presented at the conference site.

Keywords: efficiency, GRID, light outcoupling, OLED

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Authors: Nadereh Sohrabi Shegefti, Siamak Samani

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Level of adjustment is the first index to check mental health. The aim of this study was developing a valid and reliable Multidimensional Adjustment Scale (MAS). The sample consisted of 150 college students. Multidimensional adjustment scale and Depression, Anxiety, and stress scale (DASS) were used in this study. Principle factor analysis, Pearson correlation coefficient, and Cornbach's Alpha were used to check the validity and reliability of the MAS. Principle component factor analysis showed a 5 factor solution for the MAS. Alpha coefficients for the MAS sub scales were ranged between .69 to .83. Test-retest reliability for MAS was .88 and the mean of sub scales- total score correlation was .88. All these indexes revealed an acceptable reliability and validity for the MAS. The MAS is a short assessment instrument with good acceptable psychometric properties to use in clinical filed.

Keywords: psychological adjustment, psychometric properties, validity, Pearson correlation

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Authors: U. V. S. Seshavatharam, S. Lakshminarayana

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In a unified approach observed cosmic red shift can be re-interpreted as an index of cosmological galactic atomic light emission phenomenon. By increasing the applications of Hubble volume in cosmology as well as in quantum physics, concepts of ‘Black Hole Cosmology’ can be well-confirmed. Clearly speaking ‘quantum mechanics’ can be shown to be a branch of ‘black hole cosmology’. In Big Bang Model, confirmation of all the observations directly depend on the large scale galactic distances that are beyond human reach and raise ambiguity in all respects. The subject of modern black hole physics is absolutely theoretical. Advantage of Black hole cosmology lies in confirming its validity through the ground based atomic and nuclear experimental results.

Keywords: Hubble volume, black hole cosmology, CMBR energy density, Planck’s constant, fine structure ratio, cosmic time, nuclear charge radius, unification

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Authors: Shotiros Protong

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The incidents of sudden landslides in Thailand during the past decade have occurred frequently and more severely. It is necessary to focus on the principal parameters used for analysis such as land cover land use, rainfall values, characteristic of soil and digital elevation model (DEM). The combination of intense rainfall and severe monsoons is increasing due to global climate change. Landslide occurrences rapidly increase during intense rainfall especially in the rainy season in Thailand which usually starts around mid-May and ends in the middle of October. The rain-triggered landslide hazard analysis is the focus of this research. The combination of geotechnical and hydrological data are used to determine permeability, conductivity, bedding orientation, overburden and presence of loose blocks. The regional landslide hazard mapping is developed using the Slope Stability Index SINMAP model supported on Arc GIS software version 10.1. Geological and land use data are used to define the probability of landslide occurrences in terms of geotechnical data. The geological data can indicate the shear strength and the angle of friction values for soils above given rock types, which leads to the general applicability of the approach for landslide hazard analysis. To address the research objectives, the methods are described in this study: setup and calibration of the SINMAP model, sensitivity of the SINMAP model, geotechnical laboratory, landslide assessment at present calibration and landslide assessment under future climate simulation scenario A2 and B2. In terms of hydrological data, the millimetres/twenty-four hours of average rainfall data are used to assess the rain triggered landslide hazard analysis in slope stability mapping. During 1954-2012 period, is used for the baseline of rainfall data at the present calibration. The climate change in Thailand, the future of climate scenarios are simulated by spatial and temporal scales. The precipitation impact is need to predict for the climate future, Statistical Downscaling Model (SDSM) version 4.2, is used to assess the simulation scenario of future change between latitude 16o 26’ and 18o 37’ north and between longitude 98o 52’ and 103o 05’ east by SDSM software. The research allows the mapping of risk parameters for landslide dynamics, and indicates the spatial and time trends of landslide occurrences. Thus, regional landslide hazard mapping under present-day climatic conditions from 1954 to 2012 and simulations of climate change based on GCM scenarios A2 and B2 from 2013 to 2099 related to the threshold rainfall values for the selected the study area in Uttaradit province in the northern part of Thailand. Finally, the landslide hazard mapping will be compared and shown by areas (km2 ) in both the present and the future under climate simulation scenarios A2 and B2 in Uttaradit province.

Keywords: landslide hazard, GIS, slope stability index (SINMAP), landslides, Thailand

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Authors: Pakpoom Hannapha

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This paper investigates the implications of social and political contexts in Thai Post’s news articles written by a columnist, Khon Plai Soy. Samples included twenty eight news articles published between 28th May 2015 and 28th June 2015 selected and analyzed according to Semiotics including implications, connotation, cultural politics, and Thai usage in newspaper articles. The data analysis can be divided into two parts; first, an analysis of signs/signifiers appearing in the articles and second, an analysis of the columnist’s purposes. This study demonstrated representations of signs in the selected articles that were categorized into four groups: events, actions, persons, and organizations. In this study, implications of the news articles were analyzed in two aspects according to Semiotics. It was found that the columnist mostly points out purposes for education, facts, and personal opinions in his works. Also, he offers some solutions to problems discussed in the articles. The writer often explicated knowledge and facts in accordance with either his personal opinions or problem-solutions. According to the research result, studying the implications of news articles in the Thai Post based on the Semiotic approach can help clarify and understand connotative meanings in terms of contents and the writer’s purposes. This paper can enhance readers’ understanding of Semiotic implications through signs and meanings in the texts and thus be used as a model to explore other political news articles

Keywords: semiotic analysis, Thai social contexts, Thai Post’s news, articles

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Authors: E. Lacasa, J. L. Santolaya, I. Millán

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The progress toward sustainability implies maintaining and preferably improving both, human and ecosystem well-being, according to a triple bottom line that includes the environmental, economic and social dimensions. The life cycle assessment (LCA) is a method applicable to all production sectors that aims to quantify the environmental pressures and the benefits related to goods and services, as well as the trade-offs and the scope for improving areas of the production process. While using LCA to measure the environmental dimension of sustainability is widespread, similar approaches for the economic and the social dimensions still have limited application worldwide and there is a need for consistent and robust methods and indicators. This paper focuses on the milk production process and presents the analysis of the flows exchanged by an industrial installation through accounting all the energy and material inputs and the associated emissions and waste outputs at this stage of its life cycle. The functional unit is one litre of milk produced. Different metrics and indicators are used to assess the three dimensions of sustainability. Metrics considered useful to assess the production activities are the total water and energy consumptions and the milk production volume of each cow. The global warming, the value added and the working hours are indicators used to measure each sustainability dimension. The study is performed with two types of feeding of the cows, which includes a change in percentages of components as well. Nutritional composition of the milk obtained is almost kept. It is observed that environmental and social improvements involve high economic costs.

Keywords: milk production, sustainability, indicators, life cycle assessment

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Authors: Langa Hendrick Musawenkosi, Twala Bhekisipho

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The success or failure of students is a concern for every academic institution, college, university, governments and students themselves. Several approaches have been researched to address this concern. In this paper, a view is held that when a student enters a university or college or an academic institution, he or she enters an academic environment. The academic environment is unique concept used to develop the solution for making predictions effectively. This paper presents a model to determine the propensity of a student to succeed or fail in the French South African Schneider Electric Education Center (FSASEC) at the Vaal University of Technology (VUT). The Decision Tree algorithm is used to implement the model at FSASEC.

Keywords: FSASEC, academic environment model, decision trees, k-nearest neighbor, machine learning, popularity index, support vector machine

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Authors: Hsuan Yu Lai, Hsuan Hsuan Chang

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The consumer decision process steps through problems by weighing evidence, examining alternatives, and choosing a decision path. Currently, the COVID 19 made the tourism industry encounter a huge challenge and suffer the biggest amount of economic loss. It would be very important to reexamine the decision-making process model, especially after the pandemic, and consider the differences among different generations. The tourism industry has been significantly impacted by the global outbreak of COVID-19, but as the pandemic subsides, the sector is recovering. This study addresses the scarcity of research on travel decision-making patterns among generations in Taiwan. Specifically targeting individuals who frequently traveled abroad before the pandemic, the study explores differences in decision-making at different stages post-outbreak. So this study investigates differences in travel decision-making among individuals from different generations during/after the COVID-19 pandemic and examines the moderating effects of social media usage and individuals' perception of health risks. The study hypotheses are “there are significant differences in the decision-making process including travel motivation, information searching preferences, and criteria for decision-making” and that social-media usage and health-risk perception would moderate the results of the previous study hypothesis. The X, Y, and Z generations are defined and categorized based on a literature review. The survey collected data including their social-economic background, travel behaviors, motivations, considerations for destinations, travel information searching preferences, and decision-making criteria before/after the pandemic based on the reviews of previous studies. Data from 656 online questionnaires were collected between January to May 2023 and from Taiwanese travel consumers who used to travel at least one time abroad before Covid-19. SPSS is used to analyze the data with One-Way ANOVA and Two-Way ANOVA. The analysis includes demand perception, information gathering, alternative comparison, purchase behavior, and post-travel experience sharing. Social media influence and perception of health risks are examined as moderating factors. The findings show that before the pandemic, the Y Generation preferred natural environments, while the X Generation favored historical and cultural sites compared to the Z Generation. However, after the outbreak, the Z Generation displayed a significant preference for entertainment activities. This study contributes to understanding changes in travel decision-making patterns following COVID-19 and the influence of social media and health risks. The findings have practical implications for the tourism industry.

Keywords: consumer decision-making, generation study, health risk perception, post-pandemic era, social media

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Authors: Nancy Samuel Reyad Farhan

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even though international crook law has grown considerably inside the ultimate decades, it still remains fragmented and lacks doctrinal cohesiveness. Its idea is defined within the doctrine as pretty disputable. there is no concrete definition of the term. in the home doctrine, the hassle of crook law troubles that rise up within the worldwide setting, and international troubles that get up in the national crook regulation, is underdeveloped each theoretically and nearly. To the exceptional of writer’s know-how, there aren't any studies describing worldwide elements of crook law in a complete way, taking a more expansive view of the difficulty. This paper provides consequences of a part of the doctoral studies, assignment a theoretical framework of the worldwide crook law. It ambitions at checking out the present terminology on international components of criminal law. It demonstrates differences among the notions of global crook regulation, criminal regulation international and law worldwide crook. It confronts the belief of crook regulation with associated disciplines and indicates their interplay. It specifies the scope of international criminal regulation. It diagnoses the contemporary criminal framework of global components of criminal regulation, referring to each crook law issues that rise up inside the international setting, and international problems that rise up within the context of national criminal law. ultimately, de lege lata postulates had been formulated and route of modifications in global criminal law turned into proposed. The followed studies hypothesis assumed that the belief of international criminal regulation became inconsistent, not understood uniformly, and there has been no conformity as to its location inside the system of regulation, objective and subjective scopes, while the domestic doctrine did not correspond with international requirements and differed from the global doctrine. applied research strategies covered inter alia a dogmatic and legal technique, an analytical technique, a comparative approach, in addition to desk studies.

Keywords: social networks privacy issues, social networks security issues, social networks privacy precautions measures, social networks security precautions measures

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Authors: Tunde Ope-Davies

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Transmediality and platformization as online content-sharing protocols have continued to accentuate the growing impact of the unprecedented digital revolution across the world. The rapid transformation across all sectors as a result of this revolution has continued to spotlight the increasing importance of new media technologies in redefining and reshaping the rhythm and dynamics of our private and public discursive practices. Equally, social and political activities are being impacted daily through the creation and transmission of political discourse content through multi-channel platforms such as mobile telephone communication, social media networks and the internet. It has been observed that digital platforms have become central to the production, processing, and distribution of multimodal social data and cultural content. The platformization paradigm thus underpins our understanding of how digital platforms enhance the production and heterogenous distribution of media and cultural content through these platforms and how this process facilitates socioeconomic and political activities. The use of multiple digital platforms to share and transmit political discourse material synchronously and asynchronously has gained some exciting momentum in the last few years. Nigeria’s 2023 general elections amplified the usage of social media and other online platforms as tools for electioneering campaigns, socio-political mobilizations and civic engagement. The study, therefore, focuses on transmedia and platformed political discourse as a new strategy to promote political candidates and their manifesto in order to mobilize support and woo voters. This innovative transmedia digital discourse model involves a constellation of online texts and images transmitted through different online platforms almost simultaneously. The data for the study was extracted from the 2023 general elections campaigns in Nigeria between January- March 2023 through media monitoring, manual download and the use of software to harvest the online electioneering campaign material. I adopted a discursive-analytic qualitative technique with toolkits drawn from a computer-mediated multimodal discourse paradigm. The study maps the progressive development of digital political discourse in this young democracy. The findings also demonstrate the inevitable transformation of modern democratic practice through platform-dependent and transmedia political discourse. Political actors and media practitioners now deploy layers of social media network platforms to convey messages and mobilize supporters in order to aggregate and maximize the impact of their media campaign projects and audience reach.

Keywords: social media, digital humanities, political discourse, platformized discourse, multimodal discourse

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Authors: Helene Eller

Abstract:

The aim of non-profit organizations (NPO) is to provide services and goods for its clientele, with profit being a minor objective. By having this definition as the basic purpose of doing business, it is obvious that the goal of an organisation is to serve several bottom lines and not only the financial one. This approach is underpinned by the non-distribution constraint which means that NPO are allowed to make profits to a certain extent, but not to distribute them. The advantage is that there are no single shareholders who might have an interest in the prosperity of the organisation: there is no pie to divide. The gained profits remain within the organisation and will be reinvested in purposeful projects. Good governance is mandatory to support the aim of NPOs. Looking for a measure of good governance the principals of corporate governance (CG) will come in mind. The purpose of CG is direction and control, and in the field of NPO, CG is enlarged to consider the relationship to all important stakeholders who have an impact on the organisation. The recognition of more relevant parties than the shareholder is the link to corporate social responsibility (CSR). It supports a broader view of the bottom line: It is no longer enough to know how profits are used but rather how they are made. Besides, CSR addresses the responsibility of organisations for their impact on society. When transferring the concept of CSR to the non-profit area it will become obvious that CSR with its distinctive features will match the aims of NPOs. As a consequence, NPOs who apply CG apply also CSR to a certain extent. The research is designed as a comprehensive theoretical and empirical analysis. First, the investigation focuses on the theoretical basis of both concepts. Second, the similarities and differences are outlined and as a result the interconnection of both concepts will show up. The contribution of this research is manifold: The interconnection of both concepts when applied to NPOs has not got any attention in science yet. CSR and governance as integrated concept provides a lot of advantages for NPOs compared to for-profit organisations which are in a steady justification to show the impact they might have on the society. NPOs, however, integrate economic and social aspects as starting point. For NPOs CG is not a mere concept of compliance but rather an enhanced concept integrating a lot of aspects of CSR. There is no “either-nor” between the concepts for NPOs.

Keywords: business ethics, corporate governance, corporate social responsibility, non-profit organisations

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Authors: Kaling Taki, Rohit Gahlot, Manish Kumar

Abstract:

Disposal of Sewage Sludge (SS) is a big issue especially in developing nation like India, where there is no control in the dynamicity of SS produced. The present research work demonstrates the potential application of SS amended with varying percentage (0-100%) of Fly Ash (FA) for brick manufacturing as an alternative of SS management. SS samples were collected from Jaspur sewage treatment plant (Ahmedabad, India) and subjected to different preconditioning treatments: (i) atmospheric drying (ii) pulverization (iii) heat treatment in oven (110°C, moisture removal) and muffle furnace (440°C, organic content removal). Geotechnical parameters of the SS were obtained as liquid limit (52%), plastic limit (24%), shrinkage limit (10%), plasticity index (28%), differential free swell index (DFSI, 47%), silt (68%), clay (27%), organic content (5%), optimum moisture content (OMC, 20%), maximum dry density (MDD, 1.55gm/cc), specific gravity (2.66), swell pressure (57kPa) and unconfined compressive strength (UCS, 207kPa). For FA liquid limit, plastic limit and specific gravity was 44%, 0% and 2.2 respectively. Initially, for brick casting pulverized SS sample was heat treated in a muffle furnace around 440℃ (5 hours) for removal of organic matter. Later, mixing of SS, FA and water by weight ratio was done at OMC. 7*7*7 cm3 sample mold was used for casting bricks at MDD. Brick samples were then first dried in room temperature for 24 hours, then in oven at 100℃ (24 hours) and finally firing in muffle furnace for 1000℃ (10 hours). The fired brick samples were then cured for 3 days according to Indian Standards (IS) common burnt clay building bricks- specification (5th revision). The Compressive strength of brick samples (0, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 ,60, 70, 80, 90, 100%) of FA were 0.45, 0.76, 1.89, 1.83, 4.02, 3.74, 3.42, 3.19, 2.87, 0.78 and 4.95MPa when evaluated through compressive testing machine (CTM) for a stress rate of 14MPa/min. The highest strength was obtained at 40% FA mixture i.e. 4.02MPa which is much higher than the pure SS brick sample. According to IS 1077: 1992 this combination gives strength more than 3.5 MPa and can be utilized as common building bricks. The loss in weight after firing was much higher than the oven treatment, this might be due to degradation temperature higher than 100℃. The thermal conductivity of the fired brick was obtained as 0.44Wm-1K-1, indicating better insulation properties than other reported studies. TCLP (Toxicity characteristic leaching procedure) test of Cr, Cu, Co, Fe and Ni in raw SS was found as 69, 70, 21, 39502 and 47 mg/kg. The study positively concludes that SS and FA at optimum ratio can be utilized as common building bricks such as partitioning wall and other small strength requirement works. The uniqueness of the work is it emphasizes on utilization of FA for stabilizing SS as construction material as a replacement of natural clay as reported in existing studies.

Keywords: Compressive strength, Curing, Fly Ash, Sewage Sludge.

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Authors: Ross Guest, Bjarne Jensen

Abstract:

This paper analyses a potentially new consumption dividend from lower fertility arising from imperfect labour substitution by age. A smaller proportion of young workers relative to older workers raises relative youth wages given imperfect labour substitution by age. Discounted lifetime labour income rises which provides a consumption dividend. Simulation results are reported for the four Scandinavian countries, adopting a simple overlapping generations model. Imperfect labour substitution is modelled using a CRESH functional form of an aggregate labour index. The magnitudes of this new consumption dividend from a Low fertility projection compared with a high fertility projection are found to be approximately 4 percent annually, on average over the Scandinavian countries in the very long run, but somewhat lower in the short term. There is some sensitivity to the interest rate and the degree of consumption smoothing.

Keywords: fertility, consumption, productivity, labour substitution

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Authors: Tarek S. Jamil, Ahmed M. Shaban, Eman S. Mansor, Ahmed A. Karim, Azza M. Abdel Aty

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In this manuscript, 35 m³/d NF unit was designed and applied for surface water treatment of river Nile water. Intake of Embaba drinking water treatment plant was selected to install that unit at since; it has the lowest water quality index value through the examined 6 sites in greater Cairo area. The optimized operating conditions were feed and permeate flow, 40 and 7 m³/d, feed pressure 2.68 bar and flux rate 37.7 l/m2.h. The permeate water was drinkable according to Egyptian Ministerial decree 458/2007 for the tested parameters (physic-chemical, heavy metals, organic, algal, bacteriological and parasitological). Single and double sand filters were used as pretreatment for NF membranes, but continuous clogging for sand filters moved us to use UF membrane as pretreatment for NF membrane.

Keywords: River Nile, NF membrane, pretreatment, UF membrane, water quality

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Authors: Zoltan Abram

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Background: In the last time it was hardly increased the prevalence of psychical diseases and disorders which reduce work capacity, life quality and life expectancy. Objectives: The aim of our research is to study the psychical health state of the Romanian adults living in the middle part of the country and the role of some economical, psychological and social factors, especially in relationship with depression. Methods: The study is based on a complex anonymous questionnaire, including Beck depressive scale, which was completed by a representative sample among adult population. The applied method was a combination between stratification and more-steps sampling. Results: After our results depression is the most common psychical illness with 9,1% diagnosis, but the tendency to depression, the existence of depressive symptoms is much higher than the treated illness. The percentage of suicide attempt among the studied population was 2,9%. It is analysed how gender, age, professional and social status, living and working conditions and different social factors are influencing the health state. According to Beck score, it was established a significant difference in the favour of female, elderly people, lower educational level, urban population. Conclusions: In our study it is underlined the importance of health promotion and education. It is concluded that improving living standards, modifying in a proper way the lifestyle of the population, we can positively influence the physical and mental health state of the Romanian adult population.

Keywords: Beck scale, depression, psychological aspects, suicide attempt

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Authors: Prakash Khatarkar, P. A. Khan, Shweta Mukherjee, Roshni Atulkar, P. K. Purohit, A. K. Gwal

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We have investigated the occurrence characteristics of ionospheric scintillations, using dual frequency GPS, installed and operated at Indian scientific base station Maitri (71.45S and 11.45E), Antarctica, during December 2009 to December 2010. The scintillation morphology is described in terms of S4 Index. The scintillations are classified into four main categories as Weak (0.21.0). From the analysis we found that the percentage of weak, moderate, strong and saturated scintillations were 96%, 80%, 58% and 7%, respectively. The maximum percentage of all types of scintillation was observed in the summer season, followed by equinox and the least in winter season. As the year 2010 was a low solar activity period, consequently the maximum occurrences of scintillations were those of weak and moderate and only four cases of saturated scintillation were observed.

Keywords: L-band scintillation, GPS, auroral region, low solar activity

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Authors: N. Mesatywa

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The aim of the article is to emphasize and motivate for the role of integrating cultures in institutions of learning. The article has used a literature review methodology. Findings indicate that cultures espouse immense social capital that can: facilitate and strengthen moral education that will help learners in mitigating moral decadence and HIV/AIDS; embrace and strengthen the tenets of peace and tranquility among learners from different backgrounds; can form education against xenophobia; can facilitate the process of cultural paradigm shift that will slow down cultural attrition and decadence; can bring back cultural strength, cultural revival, cultural reawakening and cultural emancipation, etc. The article recommends governments to finance cultural activities in institutions of learning; to allow cultural practitioners to be part and parcel of cultural education; and challenge people to pride in the social capital of their indigenous cultures.

Keywords: cultures, cultural practitioners, integration, traditional healers

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Authors: Bashayer Alsana

Abstract:

Communication technologies are changing the way we experience life. More specifically, such technologies have changed the interaction system through which women express themselves. Interaction with the other gender, accessibility to useful content, and creative public expression are but a few facets of the new living experience now being offered to women through the use of technology, especially in areas where females are bounded by societal taboos and traditions. An evaluation of the new female experience of expressing themselves through technology is yet to be done. This study aims to fill the void of research conducted around that topic. The study explores women’s use of communication technologies in Kuwait in terms of reasons and effects. women’s responses to survey questions present an overview of the new and changing female experience in this traditional middle eastern country, and draws a framework through which implications and suggestions for future research are discussed to better serve the advancement of women in developing countries.

Keywords: communications, kuwait, social media, women

Procedia PDF Downloads 292