Search results for: global south

Authors: G. S. Dangayach, Gaurav Gaurav, Alok Bihari Singh

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The popularity of vehicles in both industrialized and developing economies led to a rise in the production of tyres. People have become increasingly concerned about the tyre industry's possible environmental impact in the last two decades. The life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology was used to assess the environmental impacts of industrial tyres throughout their life cycle, which included four stages: manufacture, transportation, consumption, and end-of-life. The majority of prior studies focused on tyre recycling and disposal. Only a few studies have been conducted on the environmental impact of tyre production process. LCA methodology was employed to determine the environmental impact of tyre manufacture process (gate to gate) at an Indian firm. Comparative analysis was also conducted to identify the environmental hotspots in various stages of tire manufacturing. This study is limited to gate-to-gate analysis of manufacturing processes with the functional unit of a single tyre weighing 50 kg. GaBi software was used to do both qualitative and quantitative analysis. Different environmental impact indicators are measured in terms of CO2, SO2, NOx, GWP (global warming potential), AP (acidification potential), EP (eutrophication potential), POCP (photochemical oxidant formation potential), and HTP (toxic human potential). The results demonstrate that the major contributor to environmental pollution is electricity. The Banbury process has a very high negative environmental impact, which causes respiratory problems to workers and operators.

Keywords: life cycle assessment (LCA), environmental impact indicators, tyre manufacturing process, environmental impact assessment

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Authors: G. Sridevi, Amalendu Jyotishi, Sushanta Mahapatra, G. Jagadeesh, Satyasiba Bedamatta

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Climate change is a main challenge for agriculture, food security and rural livelihoods for millions of people in India. Agriculture is the sector most vulnerable to climate change due to its high dependence on climate and weather conditions. Among India’s population of more than one billion people, about 68% are directly or indirectly involved in the agricultural sector. This sector is particularly vulnerable to present-day climate variability. In this contest this paper examines the Socio-economic and climate analytical study of the vulnerability index in Indian states of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. Using secondary data; it examines the vulnerability through five different sub-indicator of socio-demographic, agriculture, occupational, common property resource (CPR), and climate in respective states among different districts. Data used in this paper has taken from different sources, like census in India 2011, Directorate of Economics and Statistics of respective states governments. Rainfall data was collected from the India Meteorological Department (IMD). In order to capture the vulnerability from two different states the composite vulnerability index (CVI) was developed and used. This indicates the vulnerability situation of different districts under two states. The study finds that Adilabad district in Andhra Pradesh and Chamarajanagar in Karnataka had highest level of vulnerability while Hyderabad and Bangalore in respective states have least level of vulnerability.

Keywords: vulnerability, agriculture, climate change, global warming

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Authors: Majdi Al Shdifat, Juan Chiachio, Esther Puertas, María L. Jalón, Álvaro Blanca-Hoyos

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In recent years, the world has begun to adopt more sustainable practices in response to today's environmental and climate challenges. The construction sector is one of the most resource-intensive among others, so researchers are testing different types of materials with different processes and methodologies to achieve more environmentally and sustainably friendly buildings. Plastic is one of the most harmful materials for the environment. The global production of plastics has increased dramatically in recent decades, and it is one of the most widely used materials. However, plastic waste is not biodegradable and has a chemical composition that is stable for many years in the environment, both on land and in water bodies. Recycled plastics have been tested to be used in construction in many ways to reduce the amount of plastic in the environment and the use of raw materials in construction. In this context, the main objective of this research is to test the use of plastic fibers with one of the most promising materials to replace cement, which is rammed earth. In fact, rammed earth is considered one of the most environmentally friendly materials due to its use of local raw materials, recyclability, and low embodied energy. In this research, three different types of plastic fibers were used. Then, the blends were evaluated by considering their mechanical properties, including compressive strength and tensile strength. In addition, the non-destructive ultrasonic wave velocity was measured. The result shows excellent potential for the use of plastic fibers in rammed earth, especially in terms of compressive strength.

Keywords: mechanical characterization, plastic fibers reinforcement, rammed earth, sustainable material

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Authors: Marat Kozhomberdiev

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The research will investigate the modern corporate finance management technologies currently used in the era of digitalization of the global economy and the degree to which financial institutions are utilizing these new technologies in the field of corporate finance management in Kyrgyzstan. The main purpose of the research is to reveal the role of financial management technologies as joint service centers, intercompany banks, specialized payment centers in the third-world country. Particularly, the analysis of the implacability of automated corporate finance management systems such as enterprise resource planning system (ERP) and treasury management system (TMS) will be carried out. Moreover, the research will investigate the role of cloud accounting systems in corporate finance management in Kyrgyz banks and whether it has any impact on the field of improving corporate finance management. The study will utilize a data collection process via surveying 3 banks in Kyrgyzstan, namely Mol-Bulak, RSK, and KICB. The banks were chosen based on their ownerships, such as state banks, private banks with local authorized capital, and private bank with international capital. The regression analysis will be utilized to reveal the correlation between the ownership of the bank and the use of new financial management technologies. The research will provide policy recommendations to both private and state banks on developing strategies for switching and utilizing modern corporate finance management technologies in their daily operations.

Keywords: digital economy, corporate finance, digital environment, digital technologies, cloud technologies, financial management

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Authors: Merkineh Markos Lorato, Gedefaw Diress Alene

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Introduction: Visual impairment is any condition of the eye or visual system that results in loss/reduction of visual functioning. It significantly influences the academic routine and social activities of children, and the effect is severe for low-income countries like Ethiopia. So, this study aimed to determine the pooled prevalence of visual impairment among school children in Ethiopia. Methods: Databases such as Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System Online, Excerpta Medica dataBASE, World Wide Web of Science, and Cochrane Library searched to retrieve eligible articles. In addition, Google Scholar and a reference list of the retrieved eligible articles were addressed. Studies that reported the prevalence of visual impairment were included to estimate the pooled prevalence. Data were extracted using a standardized data extraction format prepared in Microsoft Excel and analysis was held using STATA 11 statistical software. I² was used to assess the heterogeneity. Because of considerable heterogeneity, a random effect meta-analysis model was used to estimate the pooled prevalence of visual impairment among school children in Ethiopia. Results: The result of 9 eligible studies showed that the pooled prevalence of visual impairment among school children in Ethiopia was 7.01% (95% CI: 5.46, 8.56%). In the subgroup analysis, the highest prevalence was reported in South Nations Nationalities and Tigray region together (7.99%; 3.63, 12.35), while the lowest prevalence was reported in Addis Ababa (5.73%; 3.93, 7.53). Conclusion: The prevalence of visual impairment among school children is significantly high in Ethiopia. If it is not detected and intervened early, it will cause a lifetime threat to visually impaired school children, so that school vision screening program plan and its implementation may cure the life quality of future generations in Ethiopia.

Keywords: visual impairment, school children, Ethiopia, prevalence

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Authors: Azadeh Mohajer Milani

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Urbanization constitutes an irreversible global trend, presenting myriad challenges such as heightened energy consumption, pollution, congestion, and the depletion of natural resources. Today's urban landscapes have emerged as focal points for economic, social, and environmental challenges, underscoring the pressing need for sustainable development. This article delves into the realm of sustainable urban development, concentrating on the pivotal role played by integrated green spaces as an optimal solution to address environmental concerns within cities. The study utilizes Tehran as a case study. Our findings underscore the imperative of preserving and expanding green spaces in urban areas, coupled with the establishment of well-designed ecological networks, to enhance environmental quality and elevate the sustainability of cities. Notably, Tehran's urban green spaces exhibit a disjointed design, lacking a cohesive network to connect various patches and corridors, resulting in significant environmental impacts. The results emphasize the necessity of a balanced and proportional distribution of urban green spaces and the creation of a cohesive patch-corridor-matrix network tailored to the ecological and social needs of residents. This approach is crucial for fostering a more sustainable and livable urban environment for all species, with a specific focus on humans.

Keywords: ecology, sustainable urban development, sustainable landscape, urban green space network

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Authors: Minakshi Jain, I. P. Singh

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The mountain system makes the one fifth of the world’s landscape and is the home to the 600 million people. Though hills and mountains contain about 10 percent of the total population of the country, yet almost half of the country’s population living in or adjacent to the mountain areas depend directly or indirectly on the resources of the hills. Mountain environments are essential to the survival of the global ecosystems, as they sustain the economy of India through its perennial river system and precious forest wealth. Hill areas, with distinct climate, diverse vegetation and valuable flora & fauna are distinguished primarily by unique eco-system, rich both in bio-diversity and visual resources. These areas have special significance in terms of environment and economy. Still the irony is that these mountain ecosystems are fragile and highly susceptible to disturbance, with a low ability to rebound and heal after damage. Hills are home to endangered species, biological diversity and an essential part of the ecosystem. They are extremely sensitive to any human related development. Natural systems are the most ignored in the hills. The way the cities and towns have encroached them today has the serious repercussions on the climate. Amidst immense resources and constraints of nature, the town had a fantastic diversity of cultural and ethnic characteristics nurtured through ages along river basin and valley strung across the length and breadth of this Himalayan setting.

Keywords: eco-system, bio-diversity, urban sprawl, vernacular landscape

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Authors: Ismail Okur, Betul Taspinar, Turkan Pasali Kilit, Eda O. Okur, Ferruh Taspinar

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Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM) is one of the most important global health emergencies and every year more and more people are affected by T2DM. T2DM causes life-changing complications by affecting organ and systems. Although diet and exercise are the best way to treat patients with T2DM, those patients generally have a sedentary life style. This study was planned to determine whether patients with T2DM have kinesiophobia (fear of movement). A controlled trial was conducted on 87 adults. Forty-one individuals with T2DM (study group, 34 female and 7 male) and 46 nondiabetic individuals (control group, 39 female and 7 male) were included in the study. Patients were screened for fear of movement using the Tampa Scale for Kinesiophobia (TSK). The data including age, sex, weight, height, and TSK scores were obtained. Mann Whitney U test were used to analyse the data. The mean ages and BMI of study and control groups were 51.98 ± 6.03 year and 49.52 ± 5.61 year and 31.82 ± 2.88 kg/m2 and 30.22 ± 2.91 kg/m2, respectively. The groups have similar demographic properties. The kinesiophobia scores of study and control groups were 42.78 ± 5.50 and 39.48 ± 5.05, respectively and the difference was statistically significant (p=0.05). This study showed that patients with T2DM had high kinesiophobia scores rather than nondiabetics. Those patients might avoid to do exercise. In other words, patients with T2DM might have lower physical activity level. Therefore the authors suggest that to evaluate and interfere with kinesiophobia before conducting exercise therapy will be useful for diabetes care.

Keywords: diabetes, fear of movement, kinesiophobia, type 2 diabetes mellitus

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Authors: Raymond Ndhlovu, Jen Snowball

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It has long been known that the Cultural and Creative Industries (CCIs) have the potential to aid in physical, social and economic renewal and regeneration of towns and cities, hence their importance when dealing with regional development. The CCIs can act as a catalyst for activity and investment in an area because the ‘consumption’ of cultural activities will lead to the activities and use of other non-cultural activities, for example, hospitality development including restaurants and bars, as well as public transport. ‘Consumption’ of cultural activities also leads to employment creation, and diversification. However, CCIs tend to be clustered, especially around large cities. There is, moreover, a case for development of CCIs around smaller towns and cities, because they do not rely on high technology inputs, and long supply chains, and, their direct link to rural and isolated places makes them vital in regional development. However, there is currently little research on how to craft cultural policy for regions with smaller towns and cities. Using the Sarah Baartman District (SBDM) in South Africa as an example, this paper describes the process of developing cultural policy for a region that has potential, and existing, cultural clusters, but currently no one, coherent policy relating to CCI development. The SBDM was chosen as a case study because it has no large cities, but has some CCI clusters, and has identified them as potential drivers of local economic development. The process of developing cultural policy is discussed in stages: Identification of what resources are present; including human resources, soft and hard infrastructure; Identification of clusters; Analysis of CCI labour markets and ownership patterns; Opportunities and challenges from the point of view of CCIs and other key stakeholders; Alignment of regional policy aims with provincial and national policy objectives; and finally, design and implementation of a regional cultural policy.

Keywords: cultural and creative industries, economic impact, intrinsic value, regional development

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Authors: Taruna Katyal Arora, Geeta Kumari, Hari Shankar, Neelima Mishra

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Substandard and counterfeit antimalarials is a major problem in malaria endemic areas. The availability of counterfeit/ substandard medicines is not only decreasing the efficacy in patients, but it is also one of the contributing factors for developing antimalarial drug resistance. Owing to this, a pilot study was conducted to survey quality of drugs collected from different malaria endemic areas of India. Artesunate+Sulphadoxine-Pyrimethamine (AS+SP), Artemether-Lumefantrine (AL), Chloroquine (CQ) tablets were randomly picked from public health facilities in selected states of India. The quality of antimalarial drugs from these areas was assessed by using Global Pharma Health Fund Minilab test kit. This includes physical/visual inspection and disintegration test. Thin-layer chromatography (TLC) was carried out for semi-quantitative assessment of active pharmaceutical ingredients. A total of 45 brands, out of which 21 were for CQ, 14 for AL and 10 for AS+SP were tested from Uttar Pradesh (U.P.), Mizoram, Meghalaya and Gujrat states. One out of 45 samples showed variable disintegration and retension factor. The variable disintegration and retention factor which would have been due to substandard quality or other factors including storage. However, HPLC analysis confirms standard active pharmaceutical ingredient, but may be due to humid temperature and moisture in storage may account for the observed result.

Keywords: antimalarial medicines, counterfeit, substandard, TLC

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Authors: Othman Maklouf, Matouk Elamari, M. Rgeai, Fateh Alej

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In modern avionics the main fundamental component is the flight management system (FMS). An FMS is a specialized computer system that automates a wide variety of in-flight tasks, reducing the workload on the flight crew to the point that modern civilian aircraft no longer carry flight engineers or navigators. The main function of the FMS is in-flight management of the flight plan using various sensors such as Global Positioning System (GPS) and Inertial Navigation System (INS) to determine the aircraft's position and guide the aircraft along the flight plan. GPS which is satellite based navigation system, and INS which generally consists of inertial sensors (accelerometers and gyroscopes). GPS is used to locate positions anywhere on earth, it consists of satellites, control stations, and receivers. GPS receivers take information transmitted from the satellites and uses triangulation to calculate a user’s exact location. The basic principle of an INS is based on the integration of accelerations observed by the accelerometers on board the moving platform, the system will accomplish this task through appropriate processing of the data obtained from the specific force and angular velocity measurements. Thus, an appropriately initialized inertial navigation system is capable of continuous determination of vehicle position, velocity and attitude without the use of the external information. The main objective of article is to introduce a comparative study between the two systems under different conditions and scenarios using MATLAB with SIMULINK software.

Keywords: flight management system, GPS, IMU, inertial navigation system

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Authors: Jie Liu, Wei Wei, Chun-Ping Chang

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Using a sample of 110 countries over the period 1984-2013, this paper examines the impacts of country risks on choosing a specific exchange rate regime (first by utilizing the Levy-Yeyati and Sturzenegger de facto classification and then robusting it by the IMF de jure measurement) relative to other regimes via the panel multinomial logit approach. Empirical findings are as follows. First, in the full samples case we provide evidence that government is more likely to implement a flexible regime, but less likely to adopt a fixed regime, under a low level of composite and financial risk. Second, we find that Eurozone countries are more likely to choose a fixed exchange rate regime with a decrease in the level of country risk and favor a flexible regime in response to a shock from an increase of risk, which is opposite to non-Eurozone countries. Third, we note that high-risk countries are more likely to choose a fixed regime with a low level of composite and political risk in the government, but do not adjust the exchange rate regime as a shock absorber when facing economic and financial risks. It is interesting to see that those countries with relatively low risk display almost opposite results versus high-risk economies. Overall, we believe that it is critically important to account for political economy variables in a government’s exchange rate policy decisions, especially for country risks. All results are robust to the panel ordered probit model.

Keywords: country risk, political economy, exchange rate regimes, shock absorber

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Authors: Mary I. Marire

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This seminar examined globalization and civil society organization of Nigeria: The business community. The study examined the effect of globalization on the growth of civil society organizations in Nigeria. It equally evaluated the effect of globalization on the development of Nigerian business environment. The population consists of 562 members of Ohanaeze Ndigbo civil society organisation in Enugu State. The study used the survey approach. The primary sources used were used to administer 290 copies of questionnaire to the sampled members of the group, 282 were returned and accurately filled. The validity of the instrument was tested using content analysis and the result was good. The reliability was tested using the Pearson correlation coefficient (r). It gave a reliability co-efficient of 0.79 which was also good. The hypotheses were analyzed using f-statistics (ANOVA) tool. The findings indicated that that globalization has significant effect on the growth of civil society organizations in Nigeria and development of Nigerian business environment. Based on the findings, the study recommends that efforts should be directed at service delivery and the reduction of corruption to bring about a sustainable socio economic development in Nigeria. This will enable civil society groups to stand the test of time by organizing itself in a manner that will not make them apron or dependent on the government. There is the dire need for government at all levels to show and indeed demonstrate the political will and zeal to cope and meet with the current global realities in its totality.

Keywords: globalization, business environment, civil society, business growth

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Authors: Liu Yi Hui

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The COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 has globally affected all aspects of life, with social distancing and quarantine orders causing turmoil and learning in community colleges being temporarily paused. In fact, this is the first time that adult education has faced such a severe challenge. It forces researchers to reflect on the impact of pandemics on adult education and ways to respond. Distance learning appears to be one of the pedagogical tools capable of dealing with interpersonal isolation and social distancing caused by the pandemic. This research aims to examine whether the impact of social distancing during COVID-19 will lead to increased acceptance of technology and, subsequently, an increase in adults ’ willingness to participate in distance learning. The hypothesis that social distancing and the desire to participate in distance learning affects learners’ tendency to accept technology is investigated. Teachers ’ participation in distance education and acceptance of technology are used as adjustment variables with the relationship to “social distancing,” “participation in distance learning,” and “acceptance of technology” of learners. A questionnaire survey was conducted over a period of twelve months for teachers and learners at all community colleges in Taiwan who enrolled in a basic unit course. Community colleges were separated using multi-stage cluster sampling, with their locations being metropolitan, non-urban, south, and east as criteria. Using the G*power software, 660 samples were selected and analyzed. The results show that through appropriate pedagogical strategies or teachers ’ own acceptance of technology, adult learners’ willingness to participate in distance learning could be influenced. A diverse model of participation can be developed, improving adult education institutions’ ability to plan curricula to be flexible to avoid the risk associated with epidemic diseases.

Keywords: social distancing, adult learning, community colleges, technology acceptance model

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Authors: Humphrey Atwijukiire, Gladys Nakidde, Anne Tweheyo Otwine, Jane Kabami

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Experiences of HIV Positive Serostatus Disclosure to Sexual Partner Among Individuals in Discordant Couples in Mbarara City, Southwestern Uganda Introduction: Disclosure of HIV status is key in HIV management. Despite many studies on serostatus disclosure, there is a gap in experiences regarding HIV status disclosure among discordant couples. This study explored the lived experiences of serostatus disclosure among discordant couples in Mbarara City, South Western Uganda. Methods: We conducted 12 in-depth interviews using translated interview guide, and audio recorders. Participants were purposively enrolled in the study. The study was conducted at three public health facilities in Mbarara City. Data was analyzed using thematic content analysis. Approval for this research was obtained from Mbarara University Research Ethics Committee and administrative clearance from city clerk of Mbarara City. Results: The mean age of participants was 38 years. An equal number of males (six) and females participated. Most of them had at least secondary level education, only three had primary education. Experienced benefits of HIV serostatus disclosure included: social support and care; decisions regarding health, fertility, and child bearing; sharing information on HIV prevention and protection; positive living; and, ease of HIV disclosure. The challenges included: misunderstandings in the families. Conclusion: Socially, psychologically and financially PLWHIV have benefited from their negative partners. Health wise, they have been supported, and cared for, but some have faced challenges, such as family misunderstandings. Couple HIV counseling and testing by a trained health worker is beneficial in HIV care and could mitigate the challenges related HIV serostatus disclosure.

Keywords: discordant couples, disclosure, experiences, HIV

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Authors: Thobela Conco, Sheena Kumari, Chika Nnadozie, Mahmoud Nasr, Thor A. Stenström, Mushal Ali, Arshad Ismail, Faizal Bux

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The discharge of antibiotics and its residues into the wastewater treatment plants (WWTP’s) create a conducive environment for the development of antibiotic resistant pathogens. This presents a risk of potential dissemination of antibiotic resistant pathogens and antibiotic resistance genes into the environment. It is, therefore, necessary to study the level of antibiotic resistance genes (ARG’s) among bacterial pathogens that proliferate in biological wastewater treatment systems. In the current study, metagenomic and meta-transcriptomic sequences of samples collected from the influents, secondary effluents and post chlorinated effluents of three wastewater treatment plants treating domestic and hospital effluents in Durban, South Africa, were analyzed for profiling of ARG’s among bacterial pathogens. Results show that a variety of ARG’s, mostly, aminoglycoside, β-lactamases, tetracycline and sulfonamide resistance genes were harbored by diverse bacterial genera found at different stages of treatment. A significant variation in diversity of pathogen and ARGs between the treatment plant was observed; however, treated final effluent samples from all three plants showed a significant reduction in bacterial pathogens and detected ARG’s. Both pre- and post-chlorinated samples showed the presence of mobile genetic elements (MGE’s), indicating the inefficiency of chlorination to remove of ARG’s integrated with MGE’s. In conclusion, the study showed the wastewater treatment plant efficiently caused the reduction and removal of certain ARG’s, even though the initial focus was the removal of biological nutrients.

Keywords: antibiotic resistance, mobile genetic elements, wastewater, wastewater treatment plants

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Authors: Kshanaprava Dhalsamant, Punyadarshini P. Tripathy, Shanker L. Shrivastava

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With present high global population, the need for rising food usage by minimizing food wastage and investment is highly necessary to achieve food security. The purpose of this study is to enlighten the effect of pre-drying treatment on rehydration, color, texture, nanohardness, microstructure and surface morphology of solar dried potato samples dried in the mixed-mode solar dryer. Locally bought potatoes were cleaned and cut into cylindrical pieces and pretreated with sodium metabisulfite (0.5%) for 10 min before placing them in natural convection solar dryer designed and developed in Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, India. Advanced quality characteristics were studied using Atomic Force Microscope (AFM), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and nanoindentation method, along with color, texture and water activity. The rehydration indices of solar dried potatoes were significantly biased by pretreatment followed by rehydration temperature. A lower redness index (a*) with a higher value of yellowness index (b*), chroma (C*) and hue angle (h*) were obtained for pretreated samples. Also, the average nanohardness (H) of untreated samples exhibited substantial lower value (18.46%) compared to pretreated samples. Additionally, a creep displacement of 43.27 nm during 20 s dwell time under constant load of 200

Keywords: pretreatment, nanohardness, microstructure, surface morphology

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Authors: M. Suwaibah, S. W. Tan, I. Aiini, K. Yusoff, A. R. Omar

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Respiratory diseases are the most important infectious diseases affecting poultry worldwide. One of the avian respiratory virus of global importance causing significant economic losses is Infectious Bronchitis Virus (IBV). The virus causes a wide spectrum disease known as Infectious Bronchitis (IB), affecting not only the respiratory system but also the kidney and the reproductive system, depending on its strain. IB and Newcastle disease are two of the most prevalent diseases affecting poultry in Malaysia. However, a study on the molecular characterization of Malaysian IBV is lacking. In this study, an IBV strain IBS130 which was isolated in 2015 was fully sequenced using next-gene sequencing approach. Sequence analysis of IBS130 based on the complete genome, polyprotein 1ab and S1 genes were compared with other IBV sequences available in Genbank, National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI). IBV strain IBS130 is characterised as QX-like strain based on whole genome and S1 gene sequence analysis. Comparisons of the virus with other IBV strains showed that the nucleotide identity ranged from 67% to 99.2%, depending on the region analysed. The similarity in whole genome nucleotide ranging from 84.9% to 90.7% with the least similar was from Singapore strains (84.9%) and highly similar with China QX-like strains. Meanwhile, the similarity in polyprotein 1ab ranging from 85.3% to 89.9% with the least similar to Singapore strains (85.3%) and highly similar with Mass strains from USA.

Keywords: infectious bronchitis virus, phylogenetic analysis, chicken, Malaysia

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Authors: Nimasha Malalasekera

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Working with the indigenous Adivasi (Vedda) community of Dambana in the district of Badulla in Sri Lanka, this research documents linguistic data to address language and cultural endangerment. The ancestral language of Adivasi has undergone sustained restructuration over a long historical period due to its contact with Sinhala, an Indo-Aryan language spoken by the majority Sinhalese. The Vedda language is highly endangered today. At present, all speakers of the Vedda language spoken in Dambana are Adivasi men in the parent generation, who are Sinhala-Vedda bilinguals. Adivasi women and children do not speak the Vedda language but Sinhala in everyday life. Women can understand the Vedda language and would respond to a Vedda language utterance in Sinhala. The use of the Vedda language is largely restricted to self-ascribing Adivasi men who employ it in the context of cultural tourism in Dambana to index ethnolinguistic otherness. Adivasi of Dambana often refers to this distinct linguistic code that they speak as baasapojja or language. This research employs a cooperative model of ethnographic documentation to explore the interrelations between discursive practices, linguistic structures, and linguistic (and broader sociocultural) ideologies in this community. The Vedda language has been previously identified as a dialect of Sinhala or a creole emerging in the contact between Sinhala and the ancestral Vedda language. This paper analyzes the current language endangerment context of bilingual Adivasi members that allows the birth of a mixed language. The aim of this research is to preserve ongoing linguistic innovation among this endangered language speech community. It contributes to the appreciation of creative cultural and linguistic production of a stigmatized minuscule indigenous community of South Asia that strives to assert a distinct linguistic and cultural identity from the dominant populations.

Keywords: Vedda language, language endangerment, mixed languages, indigenous identity

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Authors: M. Akhlaque Ahmed, Sidra A. Shaikh, Maliha A. Siddiqui

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Global and diffuse solar radiation on horizontal surface of Lower Sindh, namely Karachi, Hyderabad, Nawabshah were carried out using sunshine hour data of the area to assess the feasibility of solar energy utilization for power generation in Sindh province. The results obtained show a large variation in the direct and diffuse component of solar radiation in summer and winter months in Lower Sindh (50% direct and 50% diffuse for Karachi and Hyderabad). In Nawabshah area, the contribution of diffuse solar radiation is low during the monsoon months, July and August. The K_T value of Nawabshah indicates a clear sky throughout almost the entire year. The percentage of diffuse radiation does not exceed more than 20%. In Nawabshah, the appearance of cloud is rare even during the monsoon months. The estimated values indicate that Nawabshah has high solar potential, whereas Karachi and Hyderabad have low solar potential. During the monsoon months the Lower part of Sindh can utilize the hybrid system with wind power. Near Karachi and Hyderabad, the wind speed ranges between 6.2 m/sec to 6.9 m/sec. A wind corridor exists near Karachi, Hyderabad, Gharo, Keti Bander and Shah Bander. The short fall of solar can be compensated by wind because in the monsoon months of July and August, wind speeds are higher in the Lower region of Sindh.

Keywords: hybrid power system, lower Sindh, power generation, solar and wind energy potential

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Authors: Gurukiran Veerapur, Nytik Birudavolu, Seetharam U. N., Chandravva Hebbi, R. Praneeth Reddy

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This work presents a robust approach for the recognition of characters in Telugu and Kannada, two South Indian scripts with structural similarities in characters. To recognize the characters exhaustive datasets are required, but there are only a few publicly available datasets. As a result, we decided to create a dataset for one language (source language),train the model with it, and then test it with the target language.Telugu is the target language in this work, whereas Kannada is the source language. The suggested method makes use of Canny edge features to increase character identification accuracy on pictures with noise and different lighting. A dataset of 45,150 images containing printed Kannada characters was created. The Nudi software was used to automatically generate printed Kannada characters with different writing styles and variations. Manual labelling was employed to ensure the accuracy of the character labels. The deep learning models like CNN (Convolutional Neural Network) and Visual Attention neural network (VAN) are used to experiment with the dataset. A Visual Attention neural network (VAN) architecture was adopted, incorporating additional channels for Canny edge features as the results obtained were good with this approach. The model's accuracy on the combined Telugu and Kannada test dataset was an outstanding 97.3%. Performance was better with Canny edge characteristics applied than with a model that solely used the original grayscale images. The accuracy of the model was found to be 80.11% for Telugu characters and 98.01% for Kannada words when it was tested with these languages. This model, which makes use of cutting-edge machine learning techniques, shows excellent accuracy when identifying and categorizing characters from these scripts.

Keywords: base characters, modifiers, guninthalu, aksharas, vattakshara, VAN

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Authors: Mohamamd Ayish

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This study addresses media diplomacy as an integral component of public diplomacy which emerged in the United States in the post-World War II era and found applications in other countries around the world. The study seeks to evolve a conceptual framework for understanding the practice of public diplomacy through social networks, often referred to as social engagement diplomacy. This form of diplomacy is considered far more ahead of the other two forms associated with both government controlled and independent media. The cases of the Voice of America Arabic Service and the 1977 CBS interviews with the late Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin are cited in this study as reflecting the two traditional models. The new social engagement model sees public diplomacy as an act of communication that seeks to effect changes in target audiences through a process of persuasion shaped by discourse orientations and technological features. The proposed conceptual framework for social, diplomatic engagement draws on an open communication environment, an empowered audience, an interactive and symmetrical process of communication, multimedia-based flows of information, direct and credible feedback, distortion and high risk. The writer believes this study would be helpful in providing appropriate knowledge pertaining to our understanding of social diplomacy and furnishing concrete insights into how diplomats could harness virtual space to maximize their goals in the global environment.

Keywords: diplomacy, engagement, social, globalization

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Authors: Mohamed Al Araby, Amany Salman, Mostafa Amin, Mohamed Madbully, Dalia Keraa, Mariam Ali, Marah Abdelfatah, Mariam Ahmed, Ahmed Hassab

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In recent years, the architecture, engineering, and construction (A.E.C.) industry have been exposed to important innovations, most notably the global integration of digital design and fabrication (D.D.F.) processes in the industry’s workflow. Despite this evolution in that sector, Africa was excluded from the examination of this development. The reason behind this exclusion is the preconceived view of it as a developing region that still employs traditional methods of construction. The primary objective of this review is to investigate the trend of digital construction (D.C.) in the African environment and the difficulties in its regular utilization of it. This objective can be attained by recognizing the notion of distributed computing in Africa and evaluating the impact of the projects deploying this technology on both the immediate and broader contexts. The paper’s methodology begins with the collection of data from 224 initiatives throughout Africa. Then, 50 of these projects were selected based on the criteria of the project's recency, typology variety, and location diversity. After that, a literature-based comparative analysis was undertaken. This study’s findings reveal a pattern of motivation for applying digital fabrication processes. Moreover, it is essential to evaluate the socio-economic effects of these projects on the population living near the analyzed subject. The last step in this study is identifying the influence on the neighboring nations.

Keywords: Africa, digital construction, digital design, fabrication

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Authors: Majdi Al Shdifat, Juan Chiachio, Esther Puertas, María L. Jalón, Álvaro Blanca-Hoyos

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In recent years, the world has begun to adopt more sustainable practices in response to today's environmental and climate challenges. The construction sector is one of the most resource-intensive among others, so researchers are testing different types of materials with different processes and methodologies to achieve more environmentally and sustainably friendly buildings.Plastic is one of the most harmful materials for the environment. The global production of plastics has increased dramatically in recent decades, and it is one of the most widely used materials. However, plastic waste is not biodegradable and has a chemical composition that is stable for many years in the environment, both on land and in water bodies. Recycled plastics have been tested to be used in construction in many ways to reduce the amount of plastic in the environment and the use of raw materials in construction. In this context, the main objective of this research is to test the use of plastic fibers with one of the most promising materials to replace cement, which is rammed earth. In fact, rammed earth is considered one of the most environmentally friendly materials due to its use of local raw materials, recyclability, and low embodied energy. In this research, three different types of plastic fibers were used. Then, the blends were evaluated by considering their mechanical properties, including compressive strength and tensile strength. In addition, the non-destructive ultrasonic wave velocity was measured. The result shows excellent potential for the use of plastic fibers in rammed earth, especially in terms of compressive strength.

Keywords: mechanical characterization, plastic fibers reinforcement, rammed earth, sustainable material

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Authors: Mohamed Muse Hassan

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Selling through the Internet is changing the norms of doing business globally. Today, selling and buying from the Internet is not only an option but the dominant form of shopping. But, this phenomenon is not thriving in the developing countries, mainly in Africa. Therefore, although previous studies focused on the e-retailers’ side, this study investigates the effect of consumer trust and online payment options on the awareness and perception of e-commerce in Africa. We developed a five-construct model and empirically tested the model by targeting professionals and college students who reside in Somalia. We employed structural equation modeling (SEM) technique for path analysis to probe answers for the variables under study. The main findings of the study show that there is significant evidence that online payment option impacts both the awareness level and perception of e-commerce in Somalia. Consumer trust was also found to determine both the awareness and perception of online shopping in the country. Moreover, the current global payment options available ignore local technologies popular in Africa. For example, the inclusion of a mobile payment option alone would make a big difference in Africa. The paper also determined that consumer trust toward online retailers is very low and this can be solved if consumers are given assurances for their financial transactions. The paper concludes that increased online payment options are needed in Somalia and, in Africa, in general. Limitations and further research suggestions are also included at the end of this paper.

Keywords: Africa, consumer trust, e-commerce, online payment

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Authors: Anas Alsuhaibani

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Observing debate and discussion over social media has been found to be a promising tool to investigate different types of opinion. On 23 June 2016, Brexit voters in the UK decided to depart from the EU, with 51.9% voting to leave. On Twitter, there had been a massive debate in this context, and the hashtag Brexit was allocated as number six of the most tweeted hashtags across the globe in 2016. The study aimed to investigate the sentiment and themes expressed in a sample of tweets during a political event (Brexit) in 2016. A sentiment and thematic analysis was conducted on 1304 randomly selected tweets tagged with the hashtag Brexit in Twitter for the period from 10 June 2016 to 7 July 2016. The data were coded manually into two code frames, sentiment and thematic, and the reliability of coding was assessed for both codes. The sentiment analysis of the selected sample found that 45.63% of tweets conveyed negative emotions while there were only 10.43% conveyed positive emotions. It also surprisingly resulted that 29.37% were factual tweets, where the tweeter expressed no sentiment and the tweet conveyed a fact. For the thematic analysis, the economic theme dominated by 23.41%, and almost half of its discussion was related to business within the UK and the UK and global stock markets. The study reported that the current UK government and relation to campaign themes were the most negative themes. Both sentiment and thematic analyses found that tweets with more than one opinion or theme were rare, 8.29% and 6.13%, respectively.

Keywords: Brexit, political opinion mining, social media, twitter

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Authors: Mark Williams

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The digital revolution has radically transformed our social environment creating vast opportunities for interconnectivity and social interaction. This revolution, however, has also changed the reach and impact of hate crime, with social media providing a new platform to victimize and harass users in their homes. In this way, developments in the information and communication technologies have exacerbated and facilitated the commission of hate crime, increasing its prevalence and impact. Unfortunately, legislators, policymakers and criminal justice professionals have struggled to keep pace with these technological developments, reducing their ability to intervene in, regulate and govern the commission of hate crimes online. This work is further complicated by the global nature of this crime due to the tendency for offenders and victims to reside in multiple different jurisdictions, as well as the need for criminal justice professionals to obtain the cooperation of private companies to access information required for prosecution. Drawing on in-depth interviews with key criminal justice professionals and policymakers with detailed knowledge in this area, this paper examines the specific challenges the police and prosecution services face as they attempt to intervene in and prosecute the commission of hate crimes online. It is argued that any attempt to reduce online othering, such as the commission of hate crimes online, must be multifaceted, collaborative and involve both innovative technological solutions as well as internationally agreed ethical and legal frameworks.

Keywords: cybercrime, digital policing, hate crime, social media

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Authors: Ivana Cestar, Ivica Stančerić, Saša Ahac, Vesna Dragčević, Tamara Džambas

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On special paved areas, such as road intersections, vehicles are usually moving through horizontal curves with smaller radii and occupy considerably greater area compared to open road segments. Planning procedure of these areas is mainly an iterative process that consists of designing project elements, assembling those elements to a design project, and analyzing swept paths for the design vehicle. If applied elements do not fulfill the swept path requirements for the design vehicle, the process must be carried out again. Application of specialized computer software for swept path analysis significantly facilitates planning procedure of special paved areas. There are various software of this kind available on the global market, and each of them has different specifications. In this paper, comparison of two software commonly used in Croatia (Auto TURN and Vehicle Tracking) is presented, their advantages and disadvantages are described, and their applicability on a particular paved area is discussed. In order to reveal which one of the analyszed software is more favorable in terms of swept paths widths, which one includes input parameters that are more relevant for this kind of analysis, and which one is more suitable for the application on a certain special paved area, the analysis shown in this paper was conducted on a number of different intersection types.

Keywords: software comparison, special paved areas, swept path analysis, swept path input parameters

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Authors: Farnaz Yusuf, Naseem A. Gaur

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The increase in environmental concerns, rapid depletion of fossil fuel reserves and intense interest in achieving energy security has led to a global research effort towards developing renewable sources of fuels. Second generation biofuels have attracted more attention recently as the use of lignocellulosic biomass can reduce fossil fuel dependence and is environment-friendly. Xylose is the main pentose and second most abundant sugar after glucose in lignocelluloses. Saccharomyces cerevisiae does not readily uptake and use pentose sugars. For an economically feasible biofuel production, both hexose and pentose sugars must be fermented to ethanol. Therefore, it is important to develop S. cerevisiae host platforms with more efficient xylose utilization. This work aims to construct a xylose fermenting yeast strains with engineered oxido-reductative pathway for xylose metabolism. Engineered strain was further improved by adaptive evolutionary engineering approach. The engineered strain is able to grow on xylose as sole carbon source with the maximum ethanol yield of 0.39g/g xylose and productivity of 0.139g/l/h at 96 hours. The further improvement in strain development involves over expression of pentose phosphate pathway and protein engineering of xylose reductase/xylitol dehydrogenase to change their cofactor specificity in order to reduce xylitol accumulation.

Keywords: biofuel, lignocellulosic biomass, saccharomyces cerevisiae, xylose

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Authors: Tri Harianto, Lawalenna Samang, St. Hijraini Nur, Arwin

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Recently, a port development is constructed in Makassar city, South Sulawesi Province, Indonesia. Makassar city is located in lowland area that dominated by soft marine clay deposit. A two kilometers causeway construction was built which is situated on the soft clay layer. In order to investigate the behavior of causeway embankment, a full-scale test was conducted of high embankment built on a soft clay deposit. The embankment with 3,5 m high was supported by two types of reinforcement such as raft and raft-aggregate column foundation. Since the ground was undergoing consolidation due to the preload, the raft and raft-aggregate column foundations were monitored in order to analyze the vertical ground movement by inducing the settlement of the foundation. In this study, two types of foundation (raft and raft-aggregate column) were tested to observe the effectiveness of raft-aggregate column compare to raft foundation in reducing the settlement. The settlement monitored during the construction stage by using the settlement plates, which is located in the center and toe of the embankment. Measurements were taken every day for each embankment construction stage (4 months). In addition, an analytical calculation was conducted in this study to compare the full-scale test result. The result shows that the raft-aggregate column foundation significantly reduces the settlement by 30% compared to the raft foundation. A raft-aggregate column foundation also reduced the time period of each loading stage. The Good agreement of analytical calculation compared to the full-scale test result also found in this study.

Keywords: full-scale, preloading, raft-aggregate column, soft clay

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