Search results for: job demands and resources

Authors: Xiyang Li, Qi Yu, Lun Zhang

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In the face of natural disasters and other emergency situations, determining the optimal location of rescue centers is crucial for improving rescue efficiency and minimizing impact on affected populations. This paper proposes a method that integrates genetic algorithms (GA) and backpropagation neural networks (BPNN) to address the site selection optimization problem for emergency rescue centers. We utilize BPNN to accurately estimate the cost of delivering supplies from rescue centers to each temporary camp. Moreover, a genetic algorithm with a special partially matched crossover (PMX) strategy is employed to ensure that the number of temporary camps assigned to each rescue center adheres to predetermined limits. Using the population distribution data during the 2022 epidemic in Jiading District, Shanghai, as an experimental case, this paper verifies the effectiveness of the proposed method. The experimental results demonstrate that the BPNN-GA method proposed in this study outperforms existing algorithms in terms of computational efficiency and optimization performance. Especially considering the requirements for computational resources and response time in emergency situations, the proposed method shows its ability to achieve rapid convergence and optimal performance in the early and mid-stages. Future research could explore incorporating more real-world conditions and variables into the model to further improve its accuracy and applicability.

Keywords: emergency rescue centers, genetic algorithms, back-propagation neural networks, site selection optimization

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Authors: Min Wei

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The green hotel provides the products/services consistent with the full utilization of resources, protecting the ecological environment conducive to customers’ requirements and health. In order to better develop the green hospitality industry, this paper applies the game theory to analyze the intrinsic relationship and balanced interests among the stakeholders including government, hotels, and tourists during green hospitality development. Based on the hypothesis in game theory, this paper tries to construct a linkage mechanism in stakeholders, by which a theoretical basis for the interests’ balance can be realized. By using game theory and constructing a game model including tourists, hotels and government, this paper analyzes the relationship of the various stakeholders involved in the green hospitality development, and subsequently proposes the development model of green hospitality industry. On the one hand, this paper applies game theory to construct a green hotel development model and provides a theoretical basis for the interest balance of stakeholders based on theoretical perspective. On the other hand, the current development of green hospitality industry is still in initial phase, and the outcome of this research tries to guide tourists to form a green awareness and to establish the concept of green consumption for hotel development, so that green hotel products/services are provided. In addition, this paper provides a basis for decision making in the relevant government departments so that the interests of all stakeholders are promoted and cooperative game between stakeholders is established, for which the sustainable development of green hotels is achieved. The findings indicate that the process of achieving green hospitality industry development is to maximize the whole interests of stakeholders.

Keywords: green hospitality, game theory, stakeholders, development model

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Authors: Mas Rahmah

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Indonesia is the most populous Southeast Asian nations, as Indonesia`s population is constantly growing, food security has become a crucial trending issue. Although Indonesia has more than enough natural resources and agricultural products to ensure food security for all, Indonesia is still facing the problem of food security because of adverse weather conditions, increasing population, political instability, economic factors (unemployment, rising food prices), and the dependent system of agriculture. This paper will analyze that Geographical Indication (GI) can aid in transforming Indonesian agricultural-dependent system by tapping the unique product attributes of their quality products since Indonesia has a lot of agricultural products with unique quality and special characteristic associated with geographical factors such as Toraja Coffee, Alor Vanili, Banda Nutmeg, Java Tea, Deli Tobacco, Cianjur Rise etc. This paper argues that the reputation and agricultural products and their intrinsic quality should be protected under GI because GI will provide benefit supporting the food security program. Therefore, this paper will expose the benefit of GI protection such as increasing productivity, improving the exports of GI products, creating employment, adding economic value to products, and increasing the diversity of supply of natural and unique quality products, etc. that can contribute to food security. The analysis will finally conclude that the scenario of promoting GI may indirectly contribute to food security through adding value by incorporating territory specific cultural, environmental and social qualities into production, processing and developing of unique local, niche and special agricultural products.

Keywords: geographical indication, food security, agricultural product, Indonesia

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Authors: R. Marhenke, M. Martini

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The distraction of attentional resources after learning hinders long-term memory consolidation compared to several minutes of post-encoding inactivity in form of wakeful resting. We tested whether an 8-minute period of wakeful resting, compared to performing an adapted version of the d2 test of attention after learning, supports memory retention. Participants encoded and immediately recalled a word list followed by either an 8 minute period of wakeful resting (eyes closed, relaxed) or by performing an adapted version of the d2 test of attention (scanning and selecting specific characters while ignoring others). At the end of the experimental session (after 12-24 min) and again after 7 days, participants were required to complete a surprise free recall test of both word lists. Our results showed no significant difference in memory retention between the experimental conditions. However, we found that participants who completed the first lines of the d2 test in less than the given time limit of 20 seconds and thus had short unfilled intervals before switching to the next test line, remembered more words over the 12-24 minute and over the 7 days retention interval than participants who did not complete the first lines. This interaction occurred only for the first test lines, with the highest temporal proximity to the encoding task and not for later test lines. Differences in retention scores between groups (completed first line vs. did not complete) seem to be widely independent of the general performance in the d2 test. Implications and limitations of these exploratory findings are discussed.

Keywords: long-term memory, retroactive interference, attention, forgetting

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Authors: Oanthata Jester Sealetsa, Richie Moalosi

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Musculoskeletal Disorders (MSDs) are reported to be amongst the leading contributing factors of low productivity in many industries across the world, and the most affected being New Emerging Economies (NEC) such as Botswana. This is due to lack of expertise and resources to deal with existing ergonomics challenges. This study was aimed to evaluate occupational postures and the prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders among diamond polishers in a diamond company in Botswana. A case study was conducted with about 106 diamond polishers in Gaborone, Botswana. A case study was chosen because it can investigate and explore an issue thoroughly and deeply, and record behaviour over time so changes in behaviour can be identified. The Corlett and Bishop Body Map was used to determine frequency of MSDs symptoms in different body parts of the workers. This was then followed by the use of the Rapid Entire Body Assessment (REBA) to evaluate the occupational postural risks of MSDs. Descriptive statistics, chi square, and logistic regression were used for data analysis. The results of the study reveal that workers experienced pain in the upper back, lower back, shoulders, neck, and wrists with the most pain reported in the upper back (44.6%) and lower back (44.2%). However, the mean REBA score of 6.07 suggests that sawing, bruiting and polishing were the most dangerous processes in diamond polishing. The study recommends that a redesign of the diamond polishing workstations is necessary to accommodate the anthropometry characteristic of Batswana (people from Botswana) to prevent the development of MSDs.

Keywords: assessment, Botswana, diamond polishing, ergonomics, musculoskeletal disorders, occupational postural risks

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Authors: Atousa Ataieyan, Salvador A. Gomez-Lopera, Gennaro Sepede

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Today, due to the growing urban population and consequently, the increasing water demand in cities, the amount of contaminants entering the water resources is increasing. This can impose harmful effects on the quality of the downstream water. Therefore, predicting the concentration of discharged pollutants at different times and distances of the interested area is of high importance in order to carry out preventative and controlling measures, as well as to avoid consuming the contaminated water. In this paper, the concentration distribution of an injected conservative pollutant in a square reservoir containing four symmetric blocks and three sources using Finite Volume Method (FVM) is simulated. For this purpose, after estimating the flow velocity, classical Advection-Diffusion Equation (ADE) has been discretized over the studying domain by Backward Time- Backward Space (BTBS) scheme. Then, the discretized equations for each node have been derived according to the initial condition, boundary conditions and point contaminant sources. Finally, taking into account the appropriate time step and space step, a computational code was set up in MATLAB. Contaminant concentration was then obtained at different times and distances. Simulation results show how using BTBS differentiating scheme and FVM as a numerical method for solving the partial differential equation of transport is an appropriate approach in the case of two-dimensional contaminant transfer in an advective-diffusive flow.

Keywords: BTBS differentiating scheme, contaminant concentration, finite volume, mass transfer, water pollution

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Authors: Mayank Sharma

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Groundwater has been a matter of great concern in the past years due to the depletion in the water table. This has resulted from the over-exploitation of groundwater resources. Sub-surface exploration of groundwater is a great way to identify the groundwater potential of an area. Thus, in order to meet the water needs for irrigation in the study area, there was a need for a tube well to be installed. Therefore, a Geophysical investigation was carried out to find the most suitable point of drilling and sinking of tube well that encounters an aquifer. Hence, an electrical resistivity survey of geophysical exploration was used to know the aquifer zones of the area. The Vertical Electrical Sounding (VES) method was employed to know the subsurface geology of the area. Seven vertical electrical soundings using Schlumberger electrode array were carried out, having the maximum AB electrode separation of 700m at selected points in Ayma, Kharagpur-1 block of Paschim Midnapore district, West Bengal. The VES was done using an IGIS DDR3 Resistivity meter up to an approximate depth of 160-180m. The data was interpreted, processed and analyzed. Based on all the interpretations using the direct method, the geology of the area at the points of sounding was interpreted. It was established that two deeper clay-sand sections exist in the area at a depth of 50-70m (having resistivity range of 40-60ohm-m) and 70-160m (having resistivity range of 25-35ohm-m). These aquifers will provide a high yield of water which would be sufficient for the desired irrigation in the study area.

Keywords: VES method, Schlumberger method, electrical resistivity survey, geophysical exploration

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Authors: Ugwu Chukwuka E.

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The African context of human right instruments as recognized today can be traced to Africa’s relationship with the Western World. A significant preponderance of these instruments are found in both colonial and post colonial statutes as the colonial laws, the post colonial legal documents as constitutions or Africa’s adherence to relevant international instruments on human rights as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (1981). In spite of all these human rights instruments inherent in the African continent, it is contended in this paper that, these Western-oriented notion of human rights, emphasizes rights that hardly meets the current needs of contemporary African citizens. Adopting a historical research methodology, this study interrogates the dynamics of the African poverty context in relation to the implementation of human rights instruments in the continent. In this vein, using human rights and poverty scenarios from one Anglophone (Uganda) and one Francophone (Senegal) countries in Africa, the study hypothesized that, majority of Africans are not in a historical condition for the realization of these rights. The raison d’etre for this claim emerges from the fact that, the present generations of African hoi polloi are inundated with extensive powerlessness, ignorance, diseases, hunger and overall poverty that emasculates their interest in these rights instruments. In contrast, the few Africans who have access to the enjoyment of these rights in the continent hardly needs these instruments, as their power and resources base secures them that. The paper concludes that the stress of African states and stakeholders on African affairs should concentrated significantly, on the alleviation of the present historical poverty squalor of Africans, which when attended to, enhances the realization of human right situations in the continent.

Keywords: Africa, human rights, poverty, western world

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Authors: G. K. Awari, Vishwajeet V. Ambade, S. W. Rajurkar

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The field of additive manufacturing is growing, and discoveries are being made. 3D printing machines are also being developed to accommodate a wider range of 3D printing materials, including plastics, metals (metal AM powders), composites, filaments, and other materials. There are numerous printing materials available for industrial additive manufacturing. Such materials have their unique characteristics, advantages, and disadvantages. In order to avoid errors in additive manufacturing, key elements such as 3D printing material type, texture, cost, printing technique and procedure, and so on must be examined. It can be complex to select the best material for a particular job. Polylactic acid (PLA) is made from sugar cane or cornstarch, both of which are renewable resources. "Black plastic" is another name for it. Because it is safe to use and print, it is frequently used in primary and secondary schools. This is also how FDM screen printing is done. PLA is simple to print because of its low warping impact. It's also possible to print it on a cold surface. When opposed to ABS, it allows for sharper edges and features to be printed. This material comes in a wide range of colours. Polylactic acid (PLA) is the most common material used in fused deposition modelling (FDM). PLA can be used to print a wide range of components, including medical implants, household items, and mechanical parts. The mechanical behaviour of the printed item is affected by variations in infill patterns that are subjected to compressive tests in the current investigation to examine their behaviour under compressive stresses.

Keywords: fused deposition modelling, polylactic acid, infill density, infill pattern, compressive strength

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Authors: Belyihun Muchie

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Teaching strategies significantly influence the effectiveness of language teaching practices. Macro/micro ELT strategies realizes the practicality of language teaching in the classroom, where the teacher and students play together. The study aimed to identify teaching strategies employed by primary English language teachers in EFL classrooms. It also analyzed the alignment of teaching strategies with the contemporary language teaching approaches and principles. More over, the study evaluated primary English language teachers' perceptions of the challenges and benefits of implementing innovative teaching strategies. The study used a descriptive survey research design with mixed methods approaches and convergent parallel mixed methods of data collection and analysis. Ten primary schools were selected conveniently, including 60 teachers in total. To collect the adequate data classroom observation, questionnaire and document analysis were used. From the analysis, it was found that primary school English language teachers were not teaching English using innovative teaching strategies. Hence, the alignment of their teaching strategies with the principles and syllabus of the English subject was mismatched. Finally, although there were hindrances of employing innovative teaching strategies, teachers’ commitment of trying much alternatives, was found to be less. They voiced concerns about the erosion of respect for the teaching profession, low salaries, lack of incentives for best practices, insufficient teaching resources, and autocratic leadership within schools. Therefore, as teachers found it increasingly difficult to teach English, it was concluded that primary school English language teachers were not employing innovative ELT strategies in their EFL classroom for effective language teaching in Ethiopia.

Keywords: ELT strategies, descriptive survey research design, innovative teaching strategies, primary school English language teachers

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Authors: Natalia Naoumova

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Facing changes and continuous growth of the contemporary cities, along with the globalization effects that accelerate cultural dissolution, the maintenance of cultural authenticity, which is implicit in historical areas as a part of cultural diversity, can be considered one of the key elements of a sustainable society. This article focuses on the polychromy of buildings in a historical context as an important feature of urban settings. It analyses the coloring of Brazilian urban heritage, characterized by the study of historical districts in Pelotas and Piratini, located in the State of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. The objective is to reveal the coloring characteristics of different historical periods, determine the chromatic typologies of the corresponding building styles, and clarify the connection between the historical chromatic aspects and their relationship with the contemporary urban identity. Architectural style data were collected by different techniques such as stratigraphic prospects of buildings, survey of historical records and descriptions, analysis of images and study of projects with colored facades kept in historical archives. Three groups of characteristics were considered in searching for working criteria in the formation of chromatic model typologies: 1) coloring palette; 2) morphology of the facade, and 3) their relationship. The performed analysis shows the formation of the urban chromatic image of the historical center as a continuous and dynamic process with the development of constant chromatic resources. It establishes that the changes in the formal language of subsequent historical periods lead to the changes in the chromatic schemes, providing a different reading of the facades both in terms of formal interpretation and symbolic meaning.

Keywords: building style, historic colors, urban heritage, urban polychromy

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Authors: Carlo Cernicchiaro, Pedro D. Gaspar, Martim L. Aguiar

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The agricultural sector is becoming more critical than ever in view of the expected overpopulation of the Earth. The introduction of robotic solutions in this field is an increasingly researched topic to make the most of the Earth's resources, thus going to avoid the problems of wear and tear of the human body due to the harsh agricultural work, and open the possibility of a constant careful processing 24 hours a day. This project is realized for a terrestrial autonomous robot aimed to navigate in an orchard collecting fallen peaches below the trees. When it receives the signal indicating the low battery, it has to return to the docking station where it will replace its battery and then return to the last work point and resume its routine. Considering a preset path in orchards with tree rows with variable length by which the robot goes iteratively using the algorithm D*. In case of low battery, the D* algorithm is still used to determine the fastest return path to the docking station as well as to come back from the docking station to the last work point. MATLAB simulations were performed to analyze the flexibility and adaptability of the developed algorithm. The simulation results show an enormous potential for adaptability, particularly in view of the irregularity of orchard field, since it is not flat and undergoes modifications over time from fallen branch as well as from other obstacles and constraints. The D* algorithm determines the best route in spite of the irregularity of the terrain. Moreover, in this work, it will be shown a possible solution to improve the initial points tracking and reduce time between movements.

Keywords: path planning, fastest return path, agricultural autonomous terrestrial robot, docking station

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Authors: Miria Gambardella

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The influence of solidarity demonstrations towards the Zapatista National Liberation Army has been constantly present over the years, both locally and internationally, guaranteeing visibility to the cause, shaping the movement’s choices, and influencing its hopes of impact worldwide. Most of the coffee produced by the autonomous cooperatives from Chiapas is exported, therefore making coffee trade the main income from international solidarity networks. The question arises about the implications of the relations established between the communities in resistance in Southeastern Mexico and international solidarity movements, specifically on the strategies adopted to conciliate army's demands for autonomy and economic asymmetries between Zapatista cooperatives producing coffee and European collectives who hold purchasing power. In order to deepen the inquiry on those topics, a year-long multi-site investigation was carried out. The first six months of fieldwork were based in Barcelona, where Zapatista coffee was first traded in Spain and where one of the historical and most important European solidarity groups can be found. The last six months of fieldwork were carried out directly in Chiapas, in contact with coffee producers, Zapatista political authorities, international activists as well as vendors, and the rest of the network implicated in coffee production, roasting, and sale. The investigation was based on qualitative research methods, including participatory observation, focus groups, and semi-structured interviews. The analysis did not only focus on retracing the steps of the market chain as if it could be considered a linear and unilateral process, but it rather aimed at exploring actors’ reciprocal perceptions, roles, and dynamics of power. Demonstrations of solidarity and the money circulation they imply aim at changing the system in place and building alternatives, among other things, on the economic level. This work analyzes the formulation of discourse and the organization of solidarity activities that aim at building opportunities for action within a highly politicized economic sphere to which access must be regularly legitimized. The meaning conveyed by coffee is constructed on a symbolic level by the attribution of moral criteria to transactions. The latter participate in the construction of imaginaries that circulate through solidarity movements with the Zapatista rebellion. Commercial exchanges linked to solidarity networks turned out to represent much more than monetary transactions. The social, cultural, and political spheres are invested by ethics, which penetrates all aspects of militant action. It is at this level that the boundaries of different collective actors connect, contaminating each other: merely following the money flow would have been limiting in order to account for a reality within which imaginary is one of the main currencies. The notions of “trust”, “dignity” and “reciprocity” are repeatedly mobilized to negotiate discontinuous and multidirectional flows in the attempt to balance and justify commercial relations in a politicized context that characterizes its own identity through demonizing “market economy” and its dehumanizing powers.

Keywords: coffee trade, economic anthropology, international cooperation, Zapatista National Liberation Army

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Authors: Norshima Humaidi, Saif Hussein Abdallah Alghazo

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Cybersecurity threat have become a serious issue recently, and one of the cause is because human error, which is usually constituted by carelessness, ignorance, and failure to practice cybersecurity behaviour adequately. Using a data from a quantitative survey, Partial Least Squares-Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) analysis was used to determine the factors that affect cybersecurity protective behaviour (CPB). This study adapts cybersecurity protective behaviour model by focusing on two constructs that can enhance CPB: manager’s information security competencies (MISI) and procedural information security countermeasure (PCM) awareness. Theory of leadership competencies were adapted to measure user’s perception towards competencies among security managers/leader in the organization. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) testing shows that all the measurement items of each constructs were adequate in their validity individually based on their factor loading value. Moreover, each constructs are valid based on their parameter estimates and statistical significance. The quantitative research findings show that PCM awareness strongly influences CPB compared to MISI. Meanwhile, MISI was significantlyPCM awarenss. This study believes that the research findings can contribute to human behaviour in IS studies and are particularly beneficial to policy makers in improving organizations’ strategic plans in information security, especially in this new era. Most organizations spend time and resources to provide and establish strategic plans of information security; however, if employees are not willing to comply and practice information security behaviour appropriately, then these efforts are in vain.

Keywords: cybersecurity, protection behaviour, information security, information security competencies, countermeasure awareness

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Authors: Mohsen Yaghmoor, Sima Radmanesh

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Rapid environmental changes have been threaten the life of many organizations .Enabling and productivity of human resource should be considered as the most important issue in order to increase performance and ensure survival of the organizations. In this research, the effectiveness of management factory in productivity & inability of human resource have been identified and reviewed at glance. Afterward there were two questions they are “what are the factors effecting productivity and enabling of human resource” . And ”what are the priority order based on effective management of human resource in Fars Poultry Complex". A specified questionnaire has been designed in order to priorities and effectiveness of the identified factors. Six factors specify to consist of: Individual characteristics, teaching, motivation, partnership management, authority or power submission and job development that have most effect on organization. Then specify a questionnaire for priority and effect measurement of specified factor that reach after collect information and using statistical tests of keronchbakh alpha coefficient r=0.792 that we can say the questionnaire has sufficient reliability. After information analysis of specified six factors by Friedman test categorize their effect. Measurement on organization respectively consists of individual characteristics, job development or enrichment, authority submission, partnership management, teaching and motivation. At last it has been indicated to approaches to increase making power full and productivity of manpower.

Keywords: productivity, empowerment, enrichment, authority submission, partnership management, teaching, motivation

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Authors: Chibuzo Okoye Daniels, Gillian Glegg, Lynda Rodwell

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Marine debris from fishing nets to medical equipment to food packaging that play major roles in boosting the economy and protecting human health is now more than an environmental problem that can be solved by legislation, law enforcement and technical solutions. It has also been identified as a cultural problem that can only be addressed by identifying instruments that can be used to change human attitudes and behaviors. This may be through management approaches, education and involvement of all sectors/interests, including the public. To contribute to the sustainable development of coastal Nigeria, two case study areas (Ikoyi and Victoria Islands of Lagos State) were used to evaluate the socio-economic impacts of marine debris problem in coastal Nigeria. The following methods were used: (1) semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders and businesses on beaches, waterfronts and waterways within the study areas and (2) observational study of beaches, waterfronts and waterways within the study areas. The results of the study have shown that marine debris is a cultural and multi-sectoral problem that poses great threat not only to the environmental sustainability of the study areas but also to the wellbeing of its citizens and the economy of coastal Nigeria. Current solid waste and marine debris management practices are inefficient due to inadequate knowledge of how to tackle the problem. To ensure environmental sustainability in coastal Nigeria and avoid waste of scarce financial resources, adequate, appropriate and cost effective solutions to the marine debris problem need to be identified and effectively transferred for implementation in the study areas.

Keywords: sustainability, coastal Nigeria, study areas, aquaculture

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Authors: Matteo Rossini, Alberto Portioli Staudacher

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The market competition is moving from the single firm to the whole supply chain one because of increasing competition and growing need for operational efficiencies and customer orientation. Supply chain management allows companies to look beyond their organizational boundaries to develop and leverage resources and capabilities of their supply chain partners. This leads to create competitive advantages in the marketplace and because of this SCM has acquired strategic importance. Lean Approach is a management strategy that focuses on reducing every type of waste present in an organization. This approach is becoming more and more popular among supply chain managers. The supply chain application of lean approach is low diffused. It is not well studied which are the impacts of lean approach principles in a supply chain context. In literature there are only few studies simulating the lean approach performance in single products supply chain. This research work studies the impacts of lean principles implementation along a supply chain. To achieve this, a simulation model of a three-echelon multiproduct product supply chain has been built. Kanban system (and several priority policies) and setup time reduction degrees are implemented in the lean-configured supply chain to apply pull and lot-sizing decrease principles respectively. To evaluate the benefits of lean approach, lean supply chain is compared with an EOQ-configured supply chain. The simulation results show that Kanban system and setup-time reduction improve inventory stock level. They also show that logistics efforts are affected to lean implementation degree. The paper concludes describing performances of lean supply chain in different contexts.

Keywords: inventory policy, Kanban, lean supply chain, simulation study, supply chain management, planning

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Authors: Amiraa Ali Mansor, Haslinda Abdullah, Angela Chan Nguk Fong, Norhaida Hanim Binti Ahmad Tajudin, Asnarulkhadi Abu Samah

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Obesity has risen sharply over the past three decades, posing a grave public health concern globally. In Malaysia, it has also emerged as a significant health threat. While the second Sustainable Development Goal, "Zero Hunger", aims to ensure equitable access to nutritious food for all, a key challenge lies in addressing food insecurity. Food insecurity not only pertains to the quantity but also the quality of food, with both dimensions playing a pivotal role in health outcomes. To date, much of the research on food security has focused on household levels. There remains a research gap concerning university students, a population transitioning to independence from parental support and grappling with limited resources. This study seeks to bridge this gap by extending the Food Security Theory to incorporate the psychological dimension of self-esteem. Using a quantitative approach, data was collected from 452 public university students in Malaysia through a cross-sectional research design and a multi-stage cluster sampling technique. The anticipated findings will provide novel insights by linking food security with self-esteem. Such insights have implications for healthcare policy and the framing of preventive strategies against obesity. It is hoped that this research will not only contribute to the academic discourse on Food Security Theory but also serve as a foundation for refining national health policies and programs aimed at fostering a healthier lifestyle.

Keywords: obesity, food security, body image, self-esteem

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Authors: Shian Saroop, Dhiren Allopi

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In order to stay competitive and to meet upcoming stricter environmental regulations and customer requirements, designers have a key role in designing civil infrastructure so that it is environmentally sustainable. There is an urgent need for engineers to apply technologies and methods that deliver better and more sustainable performance of civil infrastructure as well as a need to establish a standard of measurement for greener infrastructure, rather than merely use tradition solutions. However, there are no systems in place at the design stage that assesses the environmental impact of design decisions on township infrastructure projects. This paper identifies alternative eco-efficient civil infrastructure design solutions and developed sustainability criteria and a toolkit to analyse the eco efficiency of infrastructure projects. The proposed toolkit is aimed at promoting high-performance, eco-efficient, economical and environmentally friendly design decisions on stormwater, roads, water and sanitation related to township infrastructure projects. These green solutions would bring a whole new class of eco-friendly solutions to current infrastructure problems, while at the same time adding a fresh perspective to the traditional infrastructure design process. A variety of projects were evaluated using the green infrastructure toolkit and their results are compared to each other, to assess the results of using greener infrastructure verses the traditional method of designing infrastructure. The application of ‘green technology’ would ensure a sustainable design of township infrastructure services assisting the design to consider alternative resources, the environmental impacts of design decisions, ecological sensitivity issues, innovation, maintenance and materials, at the design stage of a project.

Keywords: eco-efficiency, green infrastructure, infrastructure design, sustainable development

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Authors: Abimbola M. Enitan, Josiah Adeyemo, Sheena Kumari, Feroz M. Swalaha, Faizal Bux

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With the competing demand on water resources and water reuse, discharge of industrial effluents into the aquatic environment has become an important issue. Much attention has been placed on the impact of industrial wastewater on water bodies worldwide due to the accumulation of organic and inorganic matter in the receiving water bodies. The scope of the present work is to assess the physic-chemical composition of the wastewater produced from one of the brewery industry in South Africa. This is to estimate the environmental impact of its discharge into the receiving water bodies or the municipal treatment plant. The parameters monitored for the quantitative analysis of brewery wastewater include biological oxygen demand (BOD5), chemical oxygen demand (COD), total suspended solids, volatile suspended solids, ammonia, total oxidized nitrogen, nitrate, nitrite, phosphorus, and alkalinity content. In average, the COD concentration of the brewery effluent was 5340.97 mg/l with average pH values of 4.0 to 6.7. The BOD and the solids content of the wastewater from the brewery industry were high. This means that the effluent is very rich in organic content and its discharge into the water bodies or the municipal treatment plant could cause environmental pollution or damage the treatment plant. In addition, there were variations in the wastewater composition throughout the monitoring period. This might be as a result of different activities that take place during the production process, as well as the effects of the peak period of beer production on the water usage.

Keywords: Brewery wastewater, environmental pollution, industrial effluents, physic-chemical composition

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Authors: Tingting Liu, Yufeng Wu, Xi Tian, Yu Gong, Tieyong Zuo

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The household solid waste generated by household in Beijing is increasing quickly due to rapid population growth and lifestyle changes. However, there are no rigorous data on the generation and collection of the recyclable household solid wastes. The Beijing city government needs this information to make appropriate policies and plans for waste management. To address this information need, we undertook the first comprehensive study of recyclable household solid waste for Beijing. We carried out a survey of 500 families across sixteen districts in Beijing. We also analyzed the quantities, spatial distribution and categories of collected waste handled by curbside recyclers and permanent recycling centers for 340 of the 9797 city-defined residential areas of Beijing. From our results, we estimate that the total quantity of recyclable household solid waste was 1.8 million tonnes generated by Beijing household in 2013 and 71.6% of that was collected. The main generation categories were waste paper (24.4%), waste glass bottle (23.7%) and waste furniture (14.3%). The recycling rate was varied among different kinds of municipal solid waste. Also based on our study, we estimate there were 22.8 thousand curbside recyclers and 5.7 thousand permanent recycling centers in Beijing. The problems of household solid waste collecting system were inadequacies of authorized collection centers, skewed ratios of curbside recyclers and authorized permanent recycling centers, weak recycling awareness of residents and lack of recycling resources statistics and appraisal system. According to the existing problems, we put forward the suggestions to improve household solid waste management.

Keywords: Municipal waste; Recyclable waste; Waste categories; Waste collection

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Authors: R. Tajau, R. Rohani, M. S. Alias, N. H. Mudri, K. A. Abdul Halim, M. H. Harun, N. Mat Isa, R. Che Ismail, S. Muhammad Faisal, M. Talib, M. R. Mohamed Zin

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Bio-based polymeric materials are increasingly used for a variety of applications, including surface coating, drug delivery systems, and tissue engineering. These polymeric materials are ideal for the aforementioned applications because they are derived from natural resources, non-toxic, low-cost, biocompatible, and biodegradable, and have promising thermal and mechanical properties. The nature of hydrocarbon chains, carbon double bonds, and ester bonds allows various sources of oil (edible), such as soy, sunflower, olive, and oil palm, to fine-tune their particular structures in the development of innovative materials. Palm oil can be the most eminent raw material used for manufacturing new and advanced natural polymeric materials involving radiation techniques, such as coating resins, nanoparticles, scaffold, nanotubes, nanocomposites, and lithography for different branches of the industry in countries where oil palm is abundant. The radiation technique is among the most versatile, cost-effective, simple, and effective methods. Crosslinking, reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT), polymerisation, grafting, and degradation are among the radiation mechanisms. Exposure to gamma, EB, UV, or laser irradiation, which are commonly used in the development of polymeric materials, is used in these mechanisms. Therefore, this review focuses on current radiation processing technologies for the development of various radiation-curable bio-based polymeric materials with a promising future in biomedical and industrial applications. The key focus of this review is on radiation curable palm oil-based products, which have been published frequently in recent studies.

Keywords: palm oil, radiation processing, surface coatings, VOC

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Authors: Farhad Shafiepour Motlagh, Narges Salehi

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Purpose: The aim of the present study was a paradigm model of educational policy review strategies for the development of Professional schools in Iran. Research Methodology: The research method was based on Grounded theory. The statistical population included all articles of the ten years 2022-2010 and the method of sampling in a purposeful manner to the extent of theoretical saturation to 31 articles. For data analysis, open coding, axial coding and selective coding were used. Results: The results showed that causal conditions include social requirements (social expectations, educational justice, social justice); technology requirements (use of information and communication technology, use of new learning methods), educational requirements (development of educational territory, Development of educational tools and development of learning methods), contextual conditions including dual dimensions (motivational-psychological context, context of participation and cooperation), strategic conditions including (decentralization, delegation, organizational restructuring), intervention conditions (poor knowledge) Human resources, centralized system governance) and outcomes (school productivity, school professionalism, graduate entry into the labor market) were obtained. Conclusion: A review of educational policy is necessary to develop Iran's Professional schools, and this depends on decentralization, delegation, and, of course, empowerment of school principals.

Keywords: school productivity, professional schools, educational policy, paradigm

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Authors: Rosiris Maturo Domingues, Patricia Luissa Masmo, Cibele Cavalheiro Neves, Juliana Dalla Martha Rodriguez

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This article reports the experience of the pedagogical consultants responsible for the curriculum development of Senac São Paulo courses when facing the emergency need to maintain the pedagogical process in their schools in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic. The urgent adjustment to distance education resulted in the improvement of the process and the adoption of new teaching and learning strategies mediated by technologies. The processes for preparing and providing guidelines for professional education courses were also readjusted. Thus, a bank of teaching-learning strategies linked to digital resources was developed, categorized, and identified by their didactic-pedagogical potential, having as an intersection didactic planning based on learning objectives based on Bloom's taxonomy (revised), given its convergence with the competency approach adopted by Senac. Methodologically, a relationship was established between connectivity and digital networks and digital evolution in school environments, culminating in new paradigms and processes of educational communication and new trends in teaching and learning. As a result, teachers adhered to the use of digital tools in their practices, transposing face-to-face classroom methodologies and practices to online media, whose criticism was the use of ICTs in an instrumental way, reducing methodologies and practices to teaching only transmissive. There was recognition of the insertion of technology as a facilitator of the educational process in a non-palliative way and the development of a web curriculum, now and fully, carried out in contexts of ubiquity.

Keywords: technologies, education, teaching-learning strategies, Bloom taxonomy

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Authors: M. S. M. Prahastomi, Riki Sunaryo, Lorasa Ximanes

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The research takes place in EP Area, in the Northern part of Buton, Southeast Sulawesi Province, Indonesia. It is one example of karst areas that have good water resources potential. The landscape is in the form of valleys and hills which is good enough for recharge zone and discharge zones of groundwater. However, the geological characteristics of karst dissolution and a complex geological structure are quite influential to the groundwater flow system in the region. The Discharge of groundwater to the surface can be caused by a fracture in the rock, Underground River due to dissolution, and the contact between permeable rocks with impermeable rocks. In the concept of hydrogeology, groundwater is one of the components of the hydrological cycle which is closely linked to the availability of water under the surface, precipitation, infiltration, percolation, evapotranspiration, and surface runoff. Conceptually, the condition of recharge and discharge areas can be identified through a research distribution springs in a region. The understanding of the condition and the nature of the potential catchment area of groundwater flow, mainly from the catchment area to the discharge area, is urgently needed. This research aimed to assess the general geological conditions of the study area, which is expected to provide an overview of groundwater flow events that used by the public as well as industry. Behavioral characteristics of groundwater become an integral part in the search for potential groundwater in the study area. As for the research methods used hydrogeology mapping and laboratory works.

Keywords: Buton Island, groundwater conservation, hydrogeochemistry preliminary, karst

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Authors: Nien-Ming Hong, Kuei-Fang Huang

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Climate change is an important issue in future, which seriously affects water resources for a long term planning and management. Flood assessment is highly related with climate and land use. Increasing rainfall and urbanization will induce the inundated area in future. For adapting the impacts of climate change, a land use planning is a good strategy for reducing flood damage. The study is to build a trade-off process with different land use types. The Ta-Liao watershed is the study area with three types of land uses that are build-up, farm and forest. The build-up area is concentrated in the downstream of the watershed. Different rainfall amounts are applied for assessing the land use in 1996, 2005 and 2013. The adapted strategies are based on retarding the development of urban and a trade-off process. When a land changes from farm area to built-up area in downstream, this study is to search for a farm area and change it to forest/grass area or building a retention area in the upstream. For assessing the effects of the strategy, the inundation area is simulated by the Flo-2D model with different rainfall conditions and land uses. The results show inundation maps of several cases with land use change planning. The results also show the trade-off strategies and retention areas can decrease the inundated area and divide the inundated area, which are better than retarding urban development. The land use change is usually non-reverse and the planning should be constructed before the climate change.

Keywords: climate change, land use change, flood risk assessment, land use planning

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Authors: Emir Borovac, Sedat İnan

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The Silurian Tannezuft Formation within the Ghadames Basin of Northwestern Libya, like other Silurian shales in North Africa and the Middle East, represents a significant prospect for unconventional hydrocarbon exploration. Unlike the more popular and extensively studied Sirt Basin, the Ghadames Basin remains underexplored, presenting untapped potential that warrants further investigation. This study focuses on the thermal maturity and hydrocarbon generation histories of the Tannezuft shales, utilizing calibrated basin modeling approaches. The Tannezuft shales are organic-rich and primarily contain Type II kerogen, especially in the basal layer, which contains up to 10 wt. % TOC, leading to its designation as ‘hot shale’. The research integrates geological, geochemical, and basin modeling data to elucidate the unconventional hydrocarbon potential of this formation, which is crucial given the global demand for energy and the need for new resources. By employing PetroMod software from Schlumberger, calibrated modeling results simulate hydrocarbon generation and migration within the Tannezuft shales. The findings suggest dual-phase hydrocarbon generation from the Lower Silurian Tannezuft source rock, related to deep burial prior to Hercynian orogeny and subsequent Alpine orogeny events. The Ghadames Basin's tectonic history, including major Hercynian and Alpine orogenies, has significantly influenced the generation, migration, and preservation of hydrocarbons, making the Ghadames Basin a promising area for further exploration.

Keywords: tanezzuft formation, ghadames basin, silurian hot shale, unconventional hydrocarbon

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Authors: Haiqiang Song, Huiqing Liu

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The Doseo basin in Chad, Central Africa is one of the most important oil and gas blocks in the world. However, the low degree of oil and gas exploration and the lack of relevant geological data restrict the understanding and resource evaluation of the basin. To further develop the Doseo basin efficiently, it is urgent to deeply analyze the source rock characteristics and hydrocarbon generation potential of the Doseo basin. Based on seismic and drilling data in recent years, this paper systematically evaluates the geochemical characteristics of source rocks and their generated oils in Doseo Basin, explores the development, distribution, and evolution characteristics of source rocks, and evaluates the exploration potential of Doseo Basin according to the hydrocarbon enrichment law. The results show that the Lower Cretaceous Baliemian and Apudian source rocks in Doseo Basin are well developed, with high organic matter abundance (average TOC≥3%) and good organic matter types (type I~II), which are the main development layers of source rocks, but the organic matter maturity is generally low (Ro of the drilled source rocks is mainly between 0.4%~0.8%). The planar structure also shows that the main hydrocarbon accumulation mode in Doseo sag is the forward tectonic reservoirs such as near source anticlines and faulted noses. Finally, it is estimated that the accumulative resources of the main source rocks in the Doseo Basin are about 4.33× 108T in Apudite and Balim terrace layers. The results of this study will help guide the next step of oil and gas exploration, which is expected to drive the next step of oil and gas development.

Keywords: Doseo basin, lower cretaceous, source rock characteristics, developmental characteristics, hydrocarbon generation potential

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Authors: Imkongtenla Pongen

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Self Help Groups (SGHs) are socio-commercial instruments in addressing urban poverty and strengthening livelihoods. Being a member of Self Help Group helped in mutual exchanges of ideas, develop risk taking behaviour, learns flexibility in planning of a programme, and interpersonal communication within the group. In the present study, an attempt has been made to examine the functions, characteristics and practices of Self Help Groups and its impact on sustainable development among the Ao Nagas of Alongkima, Nagaland, NorthEast India. They are a tribal group and racially belong to the Mongoloid stock and linguistically to the Tibeto-Burman group. They follow endogamous, patriarchal, and patrilineal system. Major characteristics of Self Help groups in this study are found to be team spirit and group cohesiveness. Such groups are found to be geared towards a number of self-sufficiency based business ventures. The problems faced in normal functioning of the groups are unpunctuality and the inability to attend a meeting by all the members .Participation in such groups has increased women’s influence over the economic resources and decision making in the household, improved self-confidence and living standard, capacity building, self- dependent and self-reliant with no educational and entrepreneurial background, generate savings and hone their skills as motivators and leaders. All these has enhanced her status in every sphere of life in par with the opposite gender. In a nutshell, we can say that what she cannot achieve as an individual, she can achieve as a member of a Self Help Group. Hence, we should try to develop mechanisms to guarantee the sustainability of Self Help Groups which depends on the way they can deal with both internal and external conflicts like globalization and competition from new markets.

Keywords: Ao nagas, microfinance, self help group, women empowerment

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Authors: Oluwaseun Adeleke, Samuel O. Ikani, Fidelis Edet, Anthony Nwala, Mopelola Raji, Simeon Christian Chukwu

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Background The Delivering Innovations in Selfcare (DISC) project promotes universal access to quality selfcare services beginning with subcutaneous depot medroxy progesterone acetate (DMPA-SC) contraceptive self-injection (SI) option. Self-inject (SI) offers women a highly effective and convenient option that saves them frequent trips to providers. Its increased use has the potential to improve the efficiency of an overstretched healthcare system by reducing provider workloads. State Social and Behavioral Change Communications (SBCC) Officers lead project demand creation and service delivery innovations that have resulted in significant increases in SI uptake among women who opt for injectables. Strategies Service Delivery Innovations The implementation of the "Moment of Truth (MoT)" innovation helped providers overcome biases and address client fear and reluctance to self-inject. Bi-annual program audits and supportive mentoring visits helped providers retain their competence and motivation. Proper documentation, tracking, and replenishment of commodities were ensured through effective engagement with State Logistics Units. The project supported existing state monitoring and evaluation structures to effectively record and report subcutaneous depot medroxy progesterone acetate (DMPA-SC) service utilization. Demand creation Innovations SBCC Officers provide oversight, routinely evaluate performance, trains, and provides feedback for the demand creation activities implemented by community mobilizers (CMs). The scope and intensity of training given to CMs affect the outcome of their work. The project operates a demand creation model that uses a schedule to inform the conduct of interpersonal and group events. Health education sessions are specifically designed to counter misinformation, address questions and concerns, and educate target audience in an informed choice context. The project mapped facilities and their catchment areas and enlisted the support of identified influencers and gatekeepers to enlist their buy-in prior to entry. Each mobilization event began with pre-mobilization sensitization activities, particularly targeting male groups. Context-specific interventions were informed by the religious, traditional, and cultural peculiarities of target communities. Mobilizers also support clients to engage with and navigate online digital Family Planning (FP) online portals such as DiscoverYourPower website, Facebook page, digital companion (chat bot), interactive voice response (IVR), radio and television (TV) messaging. This improves compliance and provides linkages to nearby facilities. Results The project recorded 136,950 self-injection (SI) visits and a self-injection (SI) proportion rate that increased from 13 percent before the implementation of interventions in 2021 to 62 percent currently. The project cost-effectively demonstrated catalytic impact by leveraging state and partner resources, institutional platforms, and geographic scope to scale up interventions. The project also cost effectively demonstrated catalytic impact by leveraging on the state and partner resources, institutional platforms, and geographic scope to sustainably scale-up these strategies. Conclusion Using evidence-informed iterations of service delivery and demand creation models have been useful to significantly drive self-injection (SI) uptake. It will be useful to consider this implementation model during program design. Contemplation should also be given to systematic and strategic execution of strategies to optimize impact.

Keywords: family planning, contraception, DMPA-SC, self-care, self-injection, innovation, service delivery, demand creation.

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