Search results for: national electricity plan

Authors: Reza Taherian, Naziasadat Naseri, Elham Fariborzi, Faride Hashmiannejad

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Effective management plays a crucial role in the success of educational institutions and training organizations. This study aims to develop and validate a professional competency model for managers in the education and training sector of Khorasan Razavi Province using a mindfulness approach based on Langerian theory. Employing a mixed exploratory design, the research involved qualitative data collection from experts and top national and provincial managers, as well as quantitative data collection using a researcher-developed questionnaire. The findings revealed that 81% of the competency of education and training managers is influenced by the dimensions of Langerian mindfulness, including engagement, seeking, producing, and flexibility. These dimensions were found to be predictive of the competencies of education and training managers, which encompass specialized knowledge, professional skills, pedagogical knowledge, commitment to Islamic values, personal characteristics, and creativity. This research provides valuable insights into the essential role of mindfulness in shaping the competencies of education and training managers, shedding light on the specific dimensions that significantly contribute to managerial success in Khorasan Razavi province.

Keywords: school managers, school manager’s competencies, mindfulness, Langerian mindfulness

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Authors: S. M. Giripunje, Mohit Kumar

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Acoustic energy that exists in our everyday life and environment have been overlooked as a green energy that can be extracted, generated, and consumed without any significant negative impact to the environment. The harvested energy can be used to enable new technology like wireless sensor networks. Technological developments in the realization of truly autonomous MEMS devices and energy storage systems have made acoustic energy harvesting (AEH) an increasingly viable technology. AEH is the process of converting high and continuous acoustic waves from the environment into electrical energy by using an acoustic transducer or resonator. AEH is not popular as other types of energy harvesting methods since sound waves have lower energy density and such energy can only be harvested in very noisy environment. However, the energy requirements for certain applications are also correspondingly low and also there is a necessity to observe the noise to reduce noise pollution. So the ability to reclaim acoustic energy and store it in a usable electrical form enables a novel means of supplying power to relatively low power devices. A quarter-wavelength straight-tube acoustic resonator as an acoustic energy harvester is introduced with polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) and PVDF doped with ZnO nanoparticles, piezoelectric cantilever beams placed inside the resonator. When the resonator is excited by an incident acoustic wave at its first acoustic eigen frequency, an amplified acoustic resonant standing wave is developed inside the resonator. The acoustic pressure gradient of the amplified standing wave then drives the vibration motion of the PVDF piezoelectric beams, generating electricity due to the direct piezoelectric effect. In order to maximize the amount of the harvested energy, each PVDF and PVDF-ZnO piezoelectric beam has been designed to have the same structural eigen frequency as the acoustic eigen frequency of the resonator. With a single PVDF beam placed inside the resonator, the harvested voltage and power become the maximum near the resonator tube open inlet where the largest acoustic pressure gradient vibrates the PVDF beam. As the beam is moved to the resonator tube closed end, the voltage and power gradually decrease due to the decreased acoustic pressure gradient. Multiple piezoelectric beams PVDF and PVDF-ZnO have been placed inside the resonator with two different configurations: the aligned and zigzag configurations. With the zigzag configuration which has the more open path for acoustic air particle motions, the significant increases in the harvested voltage and power have been observed. Due to the interruption of acoustic air particle motion caused by the beams, it is found that placing PVDF beams near the closed tube end is not beneficial. The total output voltage of the piezoelectric beams increases linearly as the incident sound pressure increases. This study therefore reveals that the proposed technique used to harvest sound wave energy has great potential of converting free energy into useful energy.

Keywords: acoustic energy, acoustic resonator, energy harvester, eigenfrequency, polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF)

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Authors: Burova Anna

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The current reality, changes in the world system, and the accelerating process of internationalization of the economies of the Middle East, Asia, and Africa dictate new challenges and opportunities. As cultural identity comes to the fore, understanding and developing cross-cultural competencies for effective collaboration becomes essential. Today, we are experiencing both -the integration of the world's economies and cultural disintegration, as each country feels the need for its own cultural, political, and economic sovereignty. Global and effective economic ties are critically needed at this stage of our common historical development. The role of intercultural aspects and sociocultural characteristics of our partners and colleagues cannot be exaggerated. This article presents an analysis of the most common intercultural conflicts in the general corporate environment and current ways of preventing as well as resolving them. A comparative analysis of business communications has revealed certain features of interaction. Based on contextual “landmarks” and points of fundamental disagreement in the perception of verbal and non-verbal messages of representatives of different national cultures, practical conclusions were drawn, and specific recommendations were formed to overcome weaknesses and develop strengths to establish closer and more effective economic and business ties in the international community.

Keywords: cross-cultural business communications, management of cross-cultural teams, intercultural conflicts prevention, intercultural competencies development, management, cross-culture

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Authors: Yafa Haron, Hanna Adami

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Background: World Health Organization emphasizes the contribution of nurses in planning and implementing health policies and reforms. Aim: To evaluate nursing students’ attitudes towards nurses’ involvement in health policy issues. Methods: Mixed-methods; qualitative and quantitative – a descriptive study. Participants - nursing students who were enrolled in their last year in the undergraduate program (BSN). Qualitative data included two open-ended questions: What is health policy and what is the importance of studying health policy, and 18 statements on the Likert Scale range 1-5. Results: Qualitativeanalysisrevealed that the majority of students defined health policy as a set of rules and regulations that defined procedures, borders, and proper conduct. 73% of students responded that nurses should be active in policymaking, but only 22% thought that nurses were currently involved in political issues. 28% thought that nurses do not have the knowledge and the time needed (60%) for political activity. 77% thought that the work environment did not encourage nurses to be politically active. Nursing students are aware of the importance towards nurses’ involvement in health policy issues, however, they do not have role models based on their low evaluation regarding nurses’ involvement in the health policy decision making process at the local or national level. Conclusions: Results emphasize the importance and the need of implementation the recommendation to include “advance policy changes” as core competency in nursing education and practice.

Keywords: health policy, nursing education, health systems, student perceptions

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Authors: Ria M. Caramoan, Analiza P. Rollon, Karl N. Vergel

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The Simple Interactive Models for Better Air Quality (SIM-air) is an integrated approach model that allows the available information to support the integrated urban air quality management. This study utilized the vehicular air pollution information system module of SIM-air for the assessment of vehicular emissions in Commonwealth Avenue, Quezon City, Philippines. The main objective of the study is to assess and predict the contribution of different types of vehicles to the vehicular emissions in terms of PM₁₀, SOₓ, and NOₓ at different policy and technology scenarios. For the base year 2017, the results show vehicular emissions of 735.46 tons of PM₁₀, 108.90 tons of SOₓ, and 2,101.11 tons of NOₓ. Motorcycle is the major source of particulates contributing about 52% of the PM₁₀ emissions. Meanwhile, Public Utility Jeepneys contribute 27% of SOₓ emissions and private cars using gasoline contribute 39% of NOₓ emissions. Ambient air quality monitoring was also conducted in the study area for the standard parameters of PM₁₀, S0₂, and NO₂. Results show an average of 88.11 µg/Ncm, 47.41 µg/Ncm and 22.54 µg/Ncm for PM₁₀, N0₂, and SO₂, respectively, all were within the DENR National Ambient Air Quality Guideline Values. Future emissions of PM₁₀, NOₓ, and SOₓ are estimated at different scenarios. Results show that in the year 2030, PM₁₀ emissions will be increased by 186.2%. NOₓ emissions and SOₓ emissions will also be increased by 38.9% and 5.5%, without the implementation of the scenarios.

Keywords: ambient air quality, emissions inventory, mobile air pollution, vehicular emissions

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Authors: Deepak Chaudhary

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This paper attempts to analyze the leadership phenomena, its challenges, and prospects in Nepal. Literature is reviewed rigorously to explain the theoretical and empirical aspects of leadership. Besides, In-depth interviews with three national leaders were interviewed to know the challenges regarding polity and leadership. Similarly, a survey among 434 households in Katahari rural municipality and Godavari municipality was carried out to assess people’s perceptions of leaders. Leadership is normally pronounced in the wake of the success of the country’s development or crisis management. Real leaders are those who can avert any crisis successfully and proceed with the country in a progressive and normal way. Leadership’s working style can create a favorable institutional environment in the public institution that can lead development programs successfully. However, the literature suggests that Nepal is still struggling towards modernization in comparison to some East-Asian countries whose socio-economic situation was more similar in the 1950s. Similarly, Nepal has been facing several social movements after the 1990s, which resulted in a new political system, though the performance of the public institution has been a question and it goes to the leadership’s role. The poor tackling of natural disasters like earthquakes flooding, and pandemics raises the questions of the leadership’s role to some extent. The government of Nepal's record of developmental expenditures is dismal. However, leadership has been the central part of people, community, and country, and hence, the study of leadership phenomena in relation to a country’s well-being is intrinsic.

Keywords: challenges, leadership, institutionalization, effectiveness

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Authors: Benard Omogo

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The Kenyan Constitution 2010 introduced various commissions to devolve the powers that were previously centralized through the imperial Presidency. One of the commissions that directly determine the levels of remuneration and terms of service of Kenyan workers is the Salary and Remuneration Commission (SRC). Article 230 of the Kenyan Constitution 2010 mandates this commission to regularly review the remuneration and benefits of all the state officers and to advise the national and county governments on the remuneration and benefits of all other public officers. At the same time, article 54 of the Kenyan Labor Relations Act 2007 provides for the recognition of trade unions and collective bargaining agreements. The emerging challenges, therefore, originate from the conflicts of the mandate of the Salary and Remuneration Commission, whose advice is almost adopted as the order and this undermines the outcome of the Collective Bargaining Agreements. This has seen so many trade unions in Kenya being rendered irrelevant. This research paper is therefore going to sample the various trade unions of Kenya to assess the challenges that result from the position of the Salary and Remuneration Commission. We will also extend it by purposively sampling several trade unions in Africa to determine how they handle such challenges. The results from this paper will be useful to the Kenyan Lawmakers and Africa at large and may inform them to consider reviewing the laws and acts that relate to the trade unions for prosperity.

Keywords: salary, remuneration, collective, bargaining, labor laws

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Authors: Nor-Edine Abriak, Ilyas Ennahal, Abdeljalil Zri, Mahfoud Benzerzour

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Nord Pas de Calais is one of the French regions that records a large volume of dredged sediment in harbors and waterways. To ensure navigation within ports and waterways, harbor and river managers are forced to find solutions to remove sediment that contamination levels exceed levels established by regulations. Therefore, this non- submersible sediment must be managed on land and will be subject to the waste regulation. In this paper, some examples of concrete achievements and experiments of reusing dredged sediment in civil engineering and sector will be illustrated. These achievements are alternative solutions to sediment landfilling and guarantee the reuse of this material in a logic of circular economy and ecological transition. It permits to preserve the natural resources increasingly scarce and resolve issues related to the accumulation of sediments in the harbor basins, rivers, dams, and lakes, etc. Examples of beneficial use of dredged material illustrated in this paper are the result of different projects reusing harbor and waterways sediments in several applications. These projects were funded under the national SEDIMATERIAUX approach. Thus the technical and environmental feasibility of the reuse of dredged sediment is demonstrated and verified; the dredged sediment reusing would meet multiple challenges of sustainable development in relation to environmental, economic, social and societal.

Keywords: circular economy, sediment, SEDIMATERIAUX, waterways

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Authors: Sahar Navabakhsh, Rokia Raslan, Yair Schwartz

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Decision-making on regeneration of housing estates, whether to refurbish or re-build, has been mostly triggered by economic factors. To enable sustainable growth, it is vital that environmental and social impacts of different scenarios are also taken into account. The methodology used to include all the three sustainable development pillars is called Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment (LCSA), which comprises of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) for the assessment of environmental impacts of buildings. Current practice of LCA is regularly conducted post design stage and by sustainability experts. Not only is undertaking an LCA at this stage less effective, but issues such as the limited scope for the definition and assessment of environmental impacts, the implication of changes in the system boundary and the alteration of each of the variable metrics, employment of different Life Cycle Impact Assessment Methods and use of various inventory data for Life Cycle Inventory Analysis can result in considerably contrasting results. Given the niche nature and scarce specialist domain of LCA of buildings, the majority of the stakeholders do not contribute to the generation or interpretation of the impact assessment, and the results can be generated and interpreted subjectively due to the mentioned uncertainties. For an effective and democratic assessment of environmental impacts, different stakeholders, and in particular the community and design team should collaborate in the process of data collection, assessment and analysis. This paper examines and evaluates a participatory approach to LCSA through the analysis of a case study of a housing estate in South West London. The study has been conducted throughout tier-based collaborative methods to collect and share data through surveys and co-design workshops with the community members and the design team as the main stakeholders. The assessment of lifecycle impacts is conducted throughout the process and has influenced the decision-making on the design of the Community Plan. The evaluation concludes better assessment transparency and outcome, alongside other socio-economic benefits of identifying and engaging the most contributive stakeholders in the process of conducting LCSA.

Keywords: life cycle assessment, participatory LCA, life cycle sustainability assessment, participatory processes, decision-making, housing estate regeneration

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Authors: Juan Santos Garcia

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Introduction: Tuberculosis is a chronic granulomatous disease caused by a microorganism called Mycobacterium tuberculosis, it has the capacity to spread from the lungs to other parts of the body. Globally, the rate per 100 thousand inhabitants has varied from 136 in 2007 to 122 in 2012; while in the region of the Americas has been much lower: 32 cases per 100,000 in 2007, to 29 in 2012. In El Salvador have also varied incidence rates from 2007 to 2012, from 27.4 cases per 100 000 population to 32 in the period indicated. Methods: Screening was performed with smear and chest X-ray at 80 military personnel from Military Brigade # 5 of El Salvador. Besides HIV tests were taken at the positive cases, which are also made interview, investigating demographic, clinical, laboratory and risk factors data. Frequencies, percentages and rates were calculated using Excel page. The rates were calculated for each of the 5 military bedrooms (called A, B, C, D, and E). Results: Attack rate was 18.75% in the bedroom C. the index case was identified and two secondary cases, with an exposure period of 59 days. Only the index case presented symptoms: cough, fever and weight loss. The other two cases had no symptoms. Discussion: We found a rate of tuberculosis 526 times higher than the national rate. He was also 12.5 times higher than that found in other studies in closed populations such as school facilities. It was not possible to make association analysis.

Keywords: tuberculosis, outbreak, military brigade, chronic granulomatous disease

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Authors: Akiko Kondo, Akio Kondo

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We are facing serious problems related to a long-term depopulation and an aging society with a falling birth rate in Japan. In this situation, we are suffering from a shortfall in human resources as well as a shortage of workforce in rural regions. In addition, we are struggling with a protracted economic slump and excess concentration of population in the Tokyo Metropolitan area. It is an urgent national issue to consider how to live in this country and what kind of structure of society and administration policy is needed. It is necessary to clarify people’s desire for their way of living and social assistance to be provided. The aim of this study is to clarify the characteristics of regional issues and the degree of their seriousness in local municipalities of Japan. We conducted a questionnaire survey about regional agenda in all local municipalities in Japan. We obtained responses concerning the degree of seriousness of regional issues and degree of importance of policies. Based on the data gathered from the survey, it is apparent that many local municipalities are facing an aging population and declining population. We constructed a model to analyze factors for declining population. Using the model, it was clarified that a population’s age structure, job opportunities, and income level affect the decline of population. In addition, we showed the way of the evaluation of the state of a local municipality.

Keywords: evaluation, local municipality, regional analysis, regional issue

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Authors: Sahl Abdullah Waheeb

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The Ministry of Higher Education is currently developing and executing a large number of university buildings and campuses Al around Saudi Arabia annually due to the increased number of students. This is carried out through high international standards. Energy and environmental issues have been given a lot of consideration so the operation will be economical, environmentally and socially efficient enough. This paper will shed light on the application of building sustainability standards on buildings and university campuses during the design and construction stage. University campuses and buildings are currently under major construction development. In this research, data for green building standards were collected and a building sustainability methodology was appointed for applying sustainable standards, recommend to all is inserted imparting a guidelines standards for university buildings. Architecture design and construction imparting were assisted by environmental criteria. This paper highly recommends applying an environmental and sustainable building measurement tool in Saudi Arabia. Special attention should be paid to university building and similar project organizers due to the high energy demand in such project organizers. Moreover, a national environmental programme should be created to set the related standards to the local architecture to be applied to measuring green building and sustainable architecture design in Saudi Arabia.

Keywords: sustainable universities, university buildings, sustainability in Saudi Arabia, green buildings, sustainable building

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Authors: Robert E. Kenney, Efrain Antunez, Samuel Nodal, Ameer Malik, Richard B. Aguilar

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Physician burnout has gained much attention during the COVID pandemic. After-hours workload, HCC coding, HEDIS metrics, and clinical documentation negatively impact career satisfaction. These and other influences have increased the rate of physicians leaving the workforce. In addition, roughly 1% of the entire physician workforce will be retiring earlier than expected based on pre-pandemic trends. The two Medical Specialties with the highest rates of burnout are Family Medicine and Primary Care. With a predicted shortage of primary care physicians looming, the need to address physician burnout is crucial. Commonly reported issues leading to clinician burnout are clerical documentation requirements, increased time working on Electronic Health Records (EHR) after hours, and a decrease in work-life balance. Clinicians experiencing burnout with physical and emotional exhaustion are at an increased likelihood of providing lower quality and less efficient patient care. This may include a lack of suitable clinical documentation, medication reconciliation, clinical assessment, and treatment plans. While the annual baseline turnover rates of physicians hover around 6-7%, the COVID pandemic profoundly disrupted the delivery of healthcare. A report found that 43% of physicians switched jobs during the initial two years of the COVID pandemic (2020 and 2021), tripling the expected average annual rate to 21.5 %/yr. During this same time, an average of 4% and 1.5% of physicians retired or left the workforce for a non-clinical career, respectively. The report notes that 35.2% made career changes for a better work-life balance and another 35% reported the reason as being unhappy with their administration’s response to the pandemic. A physician-led primary care-focused health organization, Cano Health (CH), based out of Florida, sought to preemptively address this problem by implementing several supportive measures. Working with >120 clinics and >280 PCPs from Miami to Tampa and Orlando, managing nearly 120,000 Medicare Advantage lives, CH implemented a number of changes to assist with the clinician’s workload. Supportive services such as after hour and home visits by APRNs, in-clinic care managers, and patient educators were implemented. In 2021, assistive Artificial Intelligence Software (AIS) was integrated into the EHR platform. This AIS converts free text within PDF files into a usable (copy-paste) format facilitating documentation. The software also systematically and chronologically organizes clinical data, including labs, medical records, consultations, diagnostic images, medications, etc., into an easy-to-use organ system or chronic disease state format. This reduced the excess time and documentation burden required to meet payor and CMS guidelines. A clinician Documentation Support team was employed to improve the billing/coding performance. The effects of these newly designed workflow interventions were measured via analysis of clinician turnover from CH’s hiring and termination reporting software. CH’s annualized average clinician turnover rate in 2020 and 2021 were 17.7% and 12.6%, respectively. This represents a 30% relative reduction in turnover rate compared to the reported national average of 21.5%. Retirement rates during both years were 0.1%, demonstrating a relative reduction of >95% compared to the national average (4%). This model successfully promoted the retention of clinicians in a Value-Based Care setting.

Keywords: clinician burnout, COVID-19, value-based care, burnout, clinician retirement

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Authors: Yosep Chong, Yejin Kim, Jingyun Choi, Hwanjo Yu, Eun Jung Lee, Chang Suk Kang

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For the past decades, immunohistochemistry (IHC) has been playing an important role in the diagnosis of human neoplasms, by helping pathologists to make a clearer decision on differential diagnosis, subtyping, personalized treatment plan, and finally prognosis prediction. However, the IHC performed in various tumors of daily practice often shows conflicting and very challenging results to interpret. Even comprehensive diagnosis synthesizing clinical, histologic and immunohistochemical findings can be helpless in some twisted cases. Another important issue is that the IHC data is increasing exponentially and more and more information have to be taken into account. For this reason, we reached an idea to develop an expert supporting system to help pathologists to make a better decision in diagnosing human neoplasms with IHC results. We gave probabilistic decision tree algorithm and tested the algorithm with real case data of lymphoid neoplasms, in which the IHC profile is more important to make a proper diagnosis than other human neoplasms. We designed probabilistic decision tree based on Bayesian theorem, program computational process using MATLAB (The MathWorks, Inc., USA) and prepared IHC profile database (about 104 disease category and 88 IHC antibodies) based on WHO classification by reviewing the literature. The initial probability of each neoplasm was set with the epidemiologic data of lymphoid neoplasm in Korea. With the IHC results of 131 patients sequentially selected, top three presumptive diagnoses for each case were made and compared with the original diagnoses. After the review of the data, 124 out of 131 were used for final analysis. As a result, the presumptive diagnoses were concordant with the original diagnoses in 118 cases (93.7%). The major reason of discordant cases was that the similarity of the IHC profile between two or three different neoplasms. The expert supporting system algorithm presented in this study is in its elementary stage and need more optimization using more advanced technology such as deep-learning with data of real cases, especially in differentiating T-cell lymphomas. Although it needs more refinement, it may be used to aid pathological decision making in future. A further application to determine IHC antibodies for a certain subset of differential diagnoses might be possible in near future.

Keywords: database, expert supporting system, immunohistochemistry, probabilistic decision tree

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Authors: Pooja Rawat, Rakhi Tyagi

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Globally, almost 3 billion people rely on biomass (wood, charcoal, dung and crop residues) and coal as their primary source of domestic energy. Cooking and heating with solid fuels on open fire give rise to major pollutants. Women are primarily affected by these pollutants as they spend most of their time in the house. The WHO World Health Report 2002 estimates that indoor air pollution (IAP) is responsible for 2.7% of the loss of disability adjusted life years (DALYs) worldwide and 3.7% in high mortality developing countries. Indoor air pollution has the potential to not only impact health, but also impact the general economic well-being of the household. Exposure to high level of household pollution lead to acute and chronic respiratory conditions (e.g.: pneumonia, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, lung cancer and cataract). There has been many strategies for reducing IAP like subsidize cleaner fuel technologies, for example use of kerosene rather than traditional biomass fuels. Another example is development, promotion of 'improved cooking stoves'. India, likely ranks second- distributing over 12 million improved stoves in the first seven years of a national program to develop. IAP should be reduced by understanding the welfare effects of reducing IAP within households and to understanding the most cost effective way to reduce it.

Keywords: open fire, indoor pollution, lung diseases, indoor air pollution

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Authors: Mukesh Lal Das, Muthukumar Muthuchamy

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Climate change Adaptation strategy (AS) is a scientific approach to dealing with the impacts of climate change (CC). Efforts are being made to contain the global emission of greenhouse gas within threshold limits, thereby limiting the rise of global temperature to an optimal level. Global Climate change is a spontaneous process; therefore, reversing the damage would take decades. The climate change adaptation strategy recommended by various stakeholders could be a key to resilience for biodiversity. The Indian Government has constituted the panel to synthesize the climate change action report at the federal and state levels. This review scavenged the published literature on the Western Ghats hotspots. And highlight the adaptation strategy recommended by diverse scientific actors to conserve biodiversity. It also reviews the grey literature adopted by state and federal governments and its effectiveness in mitigating the impacts on biodiversity. We have narrowed the scope of interest to the state action report by 6 Indian states such as Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu, which host Western Ghats global biodiversity hotspot. Western Ghats(WGs) act as the water tower to the peninsular part of India, and its extensive watershed caters to the water demand of the Industry sector, Agriculture and urban community. Conservation of WGs is the key to the prosperity of Peninsular India. The global scientific community suggested more than 600+ Climate change adaptation strategies for the policymakers, stakeholders, and other state actors to take proactive actions. The preliminary analysis of the federal and the state action plan on climate change in the wake of CC indicate inadequacy in motion as per recommended scientific adaptation strategies. Tamil Nadu and Kerala state constitute nine effective adaptation strategies out of the 40+ recommended for Western Ghats conservation. And other four states' adaptation strategies are deficient, confusing and vague. Western Ghats' resilience capacity will soon or might have reached its threshold, and the frequency of severe drought and flash floods might upsurge manifold in the decades to come. The lack of a clear roadmap to climate change adaptation strategies in the federal and state action stirred us to identify the gap and address it by offering a holistic approach to WGs biodiversity conservation.

Keywords: adaptation strategy, biodiversity conservation, climate change, resilience, Western Ghats

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Authors: Gerald Steyn

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Sub-Saharan Africa is the world's fastest urbanizing region, but approximately 60 to 70 percent of urban African households are poor and living in slums. Although influential global institutions such as the World Bank propagate a new approach to housing and land policies, sustainable African urban concepts have yet to be applied significantly or even convincingly conceptualized. Most African city planners, urban designers, architects, policymakers, and developers have been trained in Western curriculums and continue to practice and plan according to such formal paradigms. Only a few activists promote Post-Colonial Afrocentric urbanism, recognizing the imperative of foregrounding the needs of low-income people. There is a vast body of authoritative literature on analyzing poverty and slums in sub-Saharan Africa and on promoting the need for land and city planning reform. However, of the latter, only a few venture beyond advising and sometimes outlining policy changes. The current study moves beyond a purely theoretical discourse into the realm of practice by designing replicable diagrammatic concepts at different urban scales. The guiding philosophy was that land-use concepts and urban requirements favoring low-income households must be fully integrated into the larger conurbation. Information was derived from intensive research over two decades, involving literature surveys and observations during regular travels into East and Southern Africa. Appropriate existing urban patterns, particularly vernacular and informal, were subsequently analyzed and reimagined as precedents to inform and underpin the represented design concepts. Five interrelated concepts are proposed, ranging in scale from (1) regional to (2) cities and (3) urban villages to (4) neighborhoods and (5) streets. Each concept is described, first in terms of its context and associated issues of concern, followed by a discussion of the patterns available to inform a possible solution, and finally, an explanation and graphic illustration of the proposal. Since each of the five concepts is unfolded from existing informal and vernacular practices studied in situ, the approach is entirely bottom-up. Contrary to an idealized vision of the African city, this study proposes actual concepts for critical assessment by peers in the tradition of architectural research in design.

Keywords: african urban concepts, post-colonial afrocentric urbanism, sub-saharan africa, sustainable african urban design

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Authors: Yelda Yenel, Orkut Acele

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This research aims to examine the role of celebrities in the securitization and desecuritization of Syrian migrants in Türkiye on social media platforms. Traditionally, the securitization process has been driven by political actors and mainstream media. However, with the rise of social media, celebrities have emerged as influential actors, contributing to these processes. The topic of Syrian migrants, particularly those arriving in Türkiye after 2011, has sparked national debates, framing them both as a security threat and as a humanitarian issue, thereby dividing public opinion.The primary objective of this study is to analyze celebrities’ discourses about migrants on social media and to explore how these narratives contribute to the processes of securitization (presenting migrants as a threat) and desecuritization (framing migrants within a humanitarian context). This research will focus on social media platforms such as Twitter and Instagram, examining celebrities' posts and analyzing the narratives produced through content and discourse analysis techniques.By investigating how celebrities frame the migrant issue and how these frames resonate with the public, this study seeks to explore the impact of celebrity discourse on the securitization and desecuritization processes. Additionally, it will examine the influence of celebrities on social media users, offering a new perspective on how securitization theory is shaped by the role of celebrities in the digital age.

Keywords: securitization, desecuritization, celebrities, Syrian migrants, social media discourse

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Authors: Maria Jose Ramos Villagra

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Since the boom of tourism in the late 80s and 90s, Costa Rica is considered as one of the leading countries for tourism. The size and geography of its territory, its low population density, and its image of being one of the most stable Latin American democracies make Costa Rica an attractive and safe target for foreign investors. Land ownership by foreign investors has increased as the natural resources in rural communities have been exhausted. When nature becomes an instrument to increase profit, it loses its communal value contributing to local communities losing their sovereignty and access to basic resources. The rural regions in proximity to the most tourist areas are often the most marginalized. The purpose of this research is to use the case of the rural community Sardinal and its struggle to protect its aquifer to investigate the economic and cultural consequences of the tourism boom in Costa Rican rural communities. The process of reclaiming the access to and the preservation of the aquifer enabled individuals to redefine their political views and their political power. The case of Sardinal broke the stereotypes about rural individuals and their ability to politically educate themselves and organize. Sardinal´s conflict brought to light the necessity of questioning the role of modern tourism as part of Costa Rica’s national identity, and as a tool for development

Keywords: Costa Rica, tourism, rural development, economy, ecotourism, environment, water, Sardinal

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Authors: Mi-Hye Hwang, Young Min Son, Kichan Lee, Bang-Hun Hyun, Byeong Yeal Jung

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Botulism is a paralytic disease of human beings and animals caused by neurotoxin produced by Clostridium botulinum. The neurotoxins are genetically distinguished into 8 types, A to H. Ingestion of performed toxin, usually types B, C, and D, have been shown to produce diseases in most cases of cattle botulism. Vaccination is the best measure to prevent cattle botulism. However, the commercially available toxoid-based vaccines are difficult and hazardous to produce. We produced recombinant protein using gene of heavy chain domain of botulinum toxin B of which binds to cellular receptor of neuron cells and used as immunogen. In this study, we evaluated the safety and efficacy of botulism vaccine composed of recombinant types B. Safety test was done by National Regulation for Veterinary Biologicals. For efficacy test, female ICR mice (5 weeks old) were subcutaneously injected, intraperitoneally challenged, and examined the survival rates compared with vaccination and non-vaccination group. Mouse survival rate of recombinant types B vaccine was above 80%, while one of non-vaccination group was 0%. A vaccine composed of recombinant types B was safe and efficacious in mouse. Our results suggest that recombinant heavy chain receptor binding domain can be used as an effective vaccine candidate for type B botulism.

Keywords: botulism, livestock, vaccine, recombinant protein, toxin

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Authors: R. Edward Minchin Jr.

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The U.S. Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) Every Day Counts Program (EDC) has resulted in state DOTs putting evermore emphasis on speeding up the delivery of highway and bridge construction projects for use by the driving public. This has resulted in an increase in the use of alternative construction delivery systems such as design-build (D-B), construction manager at-risk (CMR) or construction manager/general contractor (CM/GC), and adding alternative technical concepts (ATCs) to traditional design-bid-build (DBB) contracts. ATCs have exhibited great potential for delivering substantial benefits like cost savings, increased constructability, and quicker project delivery. Previous research has found that knowledge of project constructability was lacking in state Department of Transportation (DOT) planning, programming, and environmental staffs. Many agencies have therefore relied on a set of ‘acceptable’ design solutions over the years of working with their local resource agencies. The result is that the permitting process for several government agencies has become increasingly restrictive with the result that the DOTs and their industry partners lose the ability to innovate after a permit is approved. The intent of this paper is to report on the research team’s progress in this ongoing effort furnish the United States government with a uniform set of guidelines for the application of constructability reviews during all phases of project development and delivery. The research uses surveys and interviews to determine which states have implemented formal programs to ensure that the constructor is furnished with a set of contract documents that affords said constructor with the best possible opportunity to successfully construct the project with the highest quality standards, within the contract duration and without exceeding the construction budget. Once these states are identified, workshops are held all over the nation, resulting in the team learning the best current practices and giving the team the ability to recommend new practices that will improve the process. The plan is for the FHWA to encourage or require state DOTs to use these practices on all federally funded highway and bridge construction projects. The project deliverable is a Guidebook for FHWA to use in disseminating the recommended practices to the states.

Keywords: alternative construction delivery, alternative technical concepts, constructability, construction design plans

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Authors: Bayu Rizky Pratama, Hardiansyah Nur Sahaya

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Riau Province is the worst emitter for forest burning which causes the huge scale of externality such as declining of forest habitat, health disease, and climate change impact. Indonesia forum of budget transparency for Riau Province (FITRA) reported the length of forest burning reached about 186.069 hectares which is 7,13% of total national forest burning disaster, consisted of 107.000 hectares of peatland and the rest 79.069 hectares of mineral land. Anti-fire group, a voluntary group next to the forest, to help in protecting the forest burning and heavily smoke residual has been established but unfortunately the implementation still far from expectation. This research will emphasize on (1) how the anti-fire group contribute to fire hazard tackling; (2) the identification of SWOT analysis to enhance the group benefit; and (3) government policy implication to maximize the role of Anti-fire group and reduce the case of forest burning as well as heavily smoke which can raise climate change impact. As the observation found some weakness from SWOT identification such as (1) lack of education and training; (2) facility in extinguishing the fire damage; (3) law for economic incentive; (4) communication and field experience; (5) also the reporting the fire case.

Keywords: anti-fire group, forest burning impact, SWOT, climate change mitigation

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Authors: Wesam Rababa, Jamal Al-Qawasmi

Abstract:

The global climate is negatively impacted by CO2 emissions, which are mostly produced by buildings. Several green building rating systems (GBRS) have been proposed to impose low-carbon criteria in order to address this problem. The Green Globes certification is one such system that evaluates a building's sustainability level by assessing different categories of environmental impact and emerging concepts aimed at reducing environmental harm. Therefore, assessment tools at the national level are crucial in the developing world, where specific local conditions require a more precise evaluation. This study analyzed eight sustainable building assessment systems from different regions of the world, comparing a comprehensive list of CO2-related indicators with a various assessment system for conducting coverage analysis. The results show that GBRS includes both direct and indirect indicators in this regard. It reveals deep variation between examined practices, and a lack of consensus not only on the type and the optimal number of indicators used in a system, but also on the depth and breadth of coverage of various sustainable building SB attributes. Generally, the results show that most of the examined systems reflect a low comprehensive coverage, the highest of which is found in materials category. On the other hand, the most of the examined systems reveal a very low representative coverage.

Keywords: Assessment tools, CO2-related indicators, Comparative study, Green Building Rating Systems

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Authors: Mahdi Fakheri, Mohammad Mohsen Mahdizadeh Naeini

Abstract:

This paper addresses an understudied aspect of U.S. foreign aids between the years 2000 and 2020. Despite a growing body of literature on the impacts of U.S. aids, the question about how the United States uses its foreign aids to change developing countries has remained unanswered. As foreign aid is a tool of the United States' foreign policy, answering this very question can reveal the future that the U.S. prefers for developing countries and that secures its national interest. This paper will explore USAID's official dataset, which includes the data of foreign aids to the Middle East, Africa, Latin America, and Southeast Asia from 2000 to 2020. Through an empirical analysis, this paper argues that the focus of U.S. foreign aid is evenly divided between institutional and non-institutional (i.e., slight enhancement of status quo) changes. The former is induced by training and education, funding the initiatives and projects, making capacity and increasing the efficiency of human, operational, and management sectors, and enhancing the living condition of the people. Moreover, it will be demonstrated that the political, military, cultural, economic, and judicial are some of the institutions that the U.S. has planned to change in the aforementioned period and regions.

Keywords: USAID, foreign aid, development, developing countries, Middle East, Africa, Southeast Asia, Latin America

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Authors: Gourida Siham

Abstract:

Chinese society has witnessed a continuing trend of nationwide rural to urban migration since the 1970's. Before that age, under restricted hukou systems, peasants were kept still and fixed in the farm land. The year 1978 and later years saw the control of migration in China was relaxed gradually, freeing peasants to start their own businesses and reach out to work also in urban areas. Since then the “floating population” (migrants without local hukou) took great momentum and drew great attention from both the media and academia. The scale of such internal migration is enormous –the floating population has reached to a number of 79 million in 2000, and as of 2010, the number of migrant workers from rural China amounts to over 221 million and according to the annual survey results projections by National Bureau of Statistics; the total migrant workers in china in 2012 amounted to 262.61 million, which refers to an increase of 9.83 million compared with the previous year with increase percentage by 3.9%. Using China’s Jiangxi Province as a case, this paper examines patterns of internal migration as a response of emigrations in the context of high emigration communities. Our findings suggest that emigration of individuals initially deterred both inter-provincial and intra- provincial migration of other family members, and yet, overtime they had an increasing propensity to migrate internally at both scales.

Keywords: internal migration, jiangxi, nanchang, remittances

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Authors: Sudir Silwal, Surendra KC

Abstract:

Nepalese legal system was derived from Hindu sacred before the democratic movement in 1990. Before this movement, Nepal had a patrimonial system. Nepal has ratified the UN Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). Women organizations of the various political parties, different social organizations and women activists are playing the significant role to empower the women through the social awareness campaign across the country. As a result, 33% women representation in the local government has ascertained by the current constitution. The Constitution of Nepal-2015 has mentioned the rights of women as a fundamental right and it also has provisioned the National Women Commission as the constitutional body. This constitution is the model of gender friendly constitution in the world. As per this constitution, the Citizenship certificate is issued based on the lineage of the mother or father along with gender identity. The current constitution has guaranteed 33% women participation in judiciary, bureaucracy and legislation. This constitution further states that the parliament must elect a woman either as the president or the vice president. Similarly same rule is applied to elect the speaker and the deputy speaker in the parliament. In the same constitution, rights of the third gender also has guaranteed. The guiding principles of the constitution further explain that the constitution has followed the rule of positive discrimination and proportional representation of women in all elements of the state. This study shows that the state is not only focused in the representation of women in all structure of the nation but also need to emphasize the enhancement of the capability of the women to make them equal to the men.

Keywords: constitution, empowerment, representation, women's rights

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Authors: Ningombam Linthoingambi Devi, Amrendra Kumar

Abstract:

The long term sampling at one of the most populated city in Indo-Gangetic region shows higher mass concentration of atmospheric aerosol (PM₂.₅) during spring season (144.70µg/m³), summer season (91.96 µg/m³), the autumn season (266.48µg/m³) and winter season (367.09 µg/m³) respectively. The concentration of PM₂.₅ in Patna across the year shows much higher than the limit fixed by the national ambient air quality level fixed by central pollution control board India (CPCB, India) and World Health Organization (WHO). Different water-soluble cation (Na⁺, K⁺, Ca²⁺, NH₄⁺ , and Mg²⁺) and anion (Cl⁻, NO₃⁻ , and SO₄²⁻) species were detected in PM₂.₅. Results show the significantly higher loaded of water-soluble ions during winter and spring seasons. The acidity of the atmosphere was revealed and calculated using selected major cations (K⁺, Ca²⁺ , and NH₄⁺) and anions (SO₄²⁻, and NO₃⁻). A regression correlation was analyzed to check the significant linkage between the acidity and alkalinity ions. During the winter season (r² = 0.79) and spring season (r² = 0.64) shows good significant correlation between the cations and anions. The ratio of NO₃⁻/SO₄²⁻ indicates the sources of secondary pollutants were mainly influenced by industrial and vehicular emission however SO₄²⁻ mostly emitted from industries during the winter season.

Keywords: aerosols, inorganic species, source apportionment, Indo-Gangetic region

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Authors: Victoria Lewis, L. Dumbell

Abstract:

The British Equestrian Federation (BEF) aims to develop a holistic coach education and certification program, moving away from traditional autocratic instruction in line with the UK Coaching Framework. This framework is based on generic coaching science research where the coach is cited as a pivotal aspect in developing sporting success. Theoretic knowledge suggests that the role of the sports coach is to develop the physical, tactical, technical and psychological attributes of the athlete and is responsible for the planning, organization and delivery of the training plan and competition schedule. However, to the best of the author’s knowledge, there is no empirical evidence to suggest that is the role required in equestrian sport as the rider takes responsibility for many of these tasks. This research aimed to address the void in current knowledge by gaining an understanding of coaching in equestrian sport in order to improve coaching education system through awareness of the role of the coach. Objectives were to examine the relationship between coach and rider at elite level in equestrian sport providing empirical evidence to suggest that the rider is, in part, ‘self –coached’. To identify the elite equestrian coaches’ role in coaching these ‘self-coached riders. A qualitative method using semi-structured interviews was used. A sample of elite coaches (N=3) and elite riders (N=3) were interviewed. Analysis of the transcripts revealed a total of 534 meaning units that were further grouped into sub-themes and general themes from the coaches’ perspective and the riders’ perspective. This led to the development of a final thematic structure revealing major dimensions that characterized coaching in elite equestrian sport. It was found that the riders at the elite level coach themselves the majority of the time, therefore, can be considered as ‘self-coached’ athletes. However, they do use elite coaches in a mentoring and consultancy role, where they seek guidance from the coach on specific problems, to sound ideas off or to seek reassurance that what they are doing is correct. Findings from this research suggest that the rider-coach relationship at the elite level is a professional one, based on trust and respect, but not a close relationship as seen in other sports. The results show the imperative need for the BEF to educate coaches in coaching the self-coached rider at the elite level, particularly in terms of mentoring skills. As well as incorporating rider education aimed at developing the independent, self-coached riders.

Keywords: coaching, elite sport, equestrian, self coached

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Authors: K. W. Lee, C. M. Choi, H. C. Tsang, W. K. Fong, Y. K. Cheng, L. Y. Chan, C. K. Yuen, P. W. Lau, Y. L. To, K. C. Chow

Abstract:

QR (Quick Response) Code is a matrix barcode. It enables users to open websites, photos and other information with mobile devices by just snapping the code. In usual Long Term Oxygen Therapy arrangement, piles of LTOT related information like leaflets from different oxygen service providers are given to patients to choose an appropriate plan according to their needs. If these printed materials are transformed into electronic format (QR Code), it would be more environmentally-friendly. More importantly, electronic materials including LTOT equipment operation and dyspnoea relieving techniques also empower patients in long-term disease management. The objective to this study is to investigate the effect of QR code in patient education on new LTOT users. This study was carried out in medical wards of North District Hospital. Adult patients and relatives who followed commands, were able to use smartphones with internet services and required LTOT arrangement on hospital discharge were recruited. In LTOT arrangement, apart from the usual LTOT education booklets which included patients’ personal information (e.g. oxygen titration and six-minute walk test results etc.), extra leaflets consisted of 1. QR codes of LTOT plans from different oxygen service providers, 2. Education materials of dyspnoea management and 3. Instructions on LTOT equipment operation were given. Upon completion of LTOT arrangement, a questionnaire about the use of QR code on patient education was filled in by patients or relatives. A total of 10 new LTOT users were recruited from November 2017 to January 2018. Initially, 70% of them did not know anything about the QR code, but all of them understood its operation after a simple demonstration. 70% of them agreed that it was convenient to use (20% strongly agree, 40% agree, 10% somewhat agree). 80% of them agreed that QR code could facilitate the retrieval of more LTOT related information (10% strongly agree, 70% agree) while 90% agreed that we should continue delivering QR code leaflets to new LTOT users in the future (30% strongly agree, 40% agree, 20% somewhat agree). It is proven that QR code is a convenient and environmentally-friendly tool to deliver information. It is also relatively easy to be introduced to new users. It has received welcoming feedbacks from current users.

Keywords: long-term oxygen therapy, physiotherapy, patient education, QR code

Procedia PDF Downloads 148

Authors: Johnson Adafin, James O. B. Rotimi, Suzanne Wilkinson, Abimbola O. Windapo

Abstract:

An aspect of client expenditure management that requires attention is the level of accuracy achievable in design-stage elemental cost planning. This has been a major concern for construction clients and practitioners in New Zealand (NZ). Pre-tender estimating inaccuracies are significantly influenced by the level of risk information available to estimators. Proper cost planning activities should ensure the production of a project’s likely construction costs (initial and final), and subsequent cost control activities should prevent unpleasant consequences of cost overruns, disputes and project abandonment. If risks were properly identified and priced at the design stage, observed variance between design-stage elemental cost plans (ECPs) and final tender sums (FTS) (initial contract sums) could be reduced. This study investigates the variations between design-stage ECPs and FTS of construction projects, with a view to identifying risk factors that are responsible for the observed variance. Data were sourced through interviews, and risk factors were identified by using thematic analysis. Access was obtained to project files from the records of study participants (consultant quantity surveyors), and document analysis was employed in complementing the responses from the interviews. Study findings revealed the discrepancies between ECPs and FTS in the region of -14% and +16%. It is opined in this study that the identified risk factors were responsible for the variability observed. The values obtained from the analysis would enable greater accuracy in the forecast of FTS by Quantity Surveyors. Further, whilst inherent risks in construction project developments are observed globally, these findings have important ramifications for construction projects by expanding existing knowledge on what is needed for reasonable budgetary performance and successful delivery of construction projects. The findings contribute significantly to the study by providing quantitative confirmation to justify the theoretical conclusions generated in the literature from around the world. This therefore adds to and consolidates existing knowledge.

Keywords: accuracy, design-stage, elemental cost plan, final tender sum

Procedia PDF Downloads 268