Search results for: strategic issues

Authors: N. P. Bhandary, R. C. Tiwari, R. Yatabe

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The research employs finite element method to evaluate the stability of roadside settlements slopes from Barpak to Yamagaon through Laprak village of Gorkha, Nepal after the 7.8Mw 2015 Barpak, Gorkha, Nepal earthquake. It includes three major villages of Gorkha, i.e., Barpak, Laprak and Yamagaun that were devastated by 2015 Gorkhas’ earthquake. The road head distance from the Barpak to Laprak and Laprak to Yamagaun are about 14 and 29km respectively. The epicentral distance of main shock of magnitude 7.8 and aftershock of magnitude 6.6 were respectively 7 and 11 kilometers (South-East) far from the Barpak village nearer to Laprak and Yamagaon. It is also believed that the epicenter of the main shock as said until now was not in the Barpak village, it was somewhere near to the Yamagaun village. The chaos that they had experienced during the earthquake in the Yamagaun was much more higher than the Barpak. In this context, we have carried out a detailed study to investigate the stability of Yamagaun settlements slope as a case study, where ground fissures, ground settlement, multiple cracks and toe failures are the most severe. In this regard, the stability issues of existing settlements and proposed road alignment, on the Yamagaon village slope are addressed, which is surrounded by many newly activated landslides. Looking at the importance of this issue, field survey is carried out to understand the behavior of ground fissures and multiple failure characteristics of the slopes. The results suggest that the Yamgaun slope in Profile 2-2, 3-3 and 4-4 are not safe enough for infrastructure development even in the normal soil slope conditions as per 2, 3 and 4 material models; however, the slope seems quite safe for at Profile 1-1 for all 4 material models. The result also indicates that the first three profiles are marginally safe for 2, 3 and 4 material models respectively. The Profile 4-4 is not safe enough for all 4 material models. Thus, Profile 4-4 needs a special care to make the slope stable.

Keywords: earthquake, finite element method, landslide, stability

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Authors: Meenakshi Chaubey

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A principle proposed in the cross-cultural adaption of behavior among Indian and Tibetan societies in which there are not any great variations between their young adults on the mindset of day-to-day marriage, Marriage plays a dominant position in constructing the society, which in large part comprises underneath the domain of lifestyle. Way of life is a social behavior and norm located in human societies where an extensive range of phenomena can be transmitted thru social studying. It acts characteristic of the individual has been the diploma day-to-day which they have got cultivated a specific stage of class in arts, science, architecture. The existing studies preliminarily on young adults of each community, wherein we carried out a comparative observe of the mindset of daily marriage among Indian and Tibetan teens. Further, we studied statistics comprehensively on the mindset closer day by day the marriage between Indian adult males and Tibetan younger males. With the extension of a complete look, we considered the mindset of an everyday marriage of Indian girls and Tibetan young ladies. Studies 1 showed that there might be no sizable distinction within the attitude of the day-to-day marriage of Indian and Tibetan teenagers. It, in addition, showed that they followed each different marriage beliefs and customs. Studies 2 showed that there might be no important difference in the attitude toward the everyday marriage of Indian and Tibetan young males. It similarly showcased that day-to-day secular schooling gadget in Tibetan society complements their clinical approach and changes their point of view on distinct social issues along with marriage. Research three confirmed that there is no substantial difference in the mindset of the daily marriage of Indian and Tibetan younger females. It similarly spread out the strict authorities' recommendations that they may no longer be allowed day-to-day comply with their marriage practices, including polygamy and polyandry. Thus, the information showed that there's a shift of lifestyle from one network every day to some other community because of social every day, which affects the conduct and results of daily past cultural adaptation.

Keywords: culture, marriage, attitude, society, young adults, Indian, Tibetan

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Authors: Marko Kolakovic, Mihaela Mikic, Martina Taborin

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Women entrepreneurship is often regarded as the unused economical potential in many countries, including Republic of Croatia. Although women represent a majority in the population, they are still a minority in the field of entrepreneurship and face many challenges in fulfilling their entrepreneurship potential. The reasons are often hided in historical distorted perceptions about value, credibility, competitiveness, responsibility and knowledge which women have, or can have. This is significant for at least two reasons. First, in terms of global economic crisis, the economy needs more quality, more skilled and educated people willing to face entrepreneurial challenges and create new jobs, new opportunities and higher living standards. Second, in the entrepreneurial activity, women finally have a chance to highlight their own abilities, such as knowledge, relentless work, organizational skills, communication and negotiation skills, responsibility, flexibility, etc., in order to insure their economic independence, for a better social position, and to increase confidence and faith in their own abilities. This paper empirically analyses characteristics of women entrepreneurship in Croatia and conducted policies for it improvement. An empirical research was conducted with the goal of discovering real life experiences and attitudes of Croatian women entrepreneurs. Results show that Croatian women entrepreneurs are usually highly educated, have previous work experience and operate in service sector, due to lower need for start-up capital. The biggest obstacle on their entrepreneurial path represents government bureaucracy. Although the number of women entrepreneurs is rising today and the gap between male and women entrepreneurs in Croatia, as well as women entrepreneurship levels lower than the European average, we believe that there is still a long way to reach potential and successful women entrepreneurship development. Research showed that by breaking down the barriers as access to finance, education investments, knowledge, skills and confidence development, women will be able to accomplish more significant and more efficient entrepreneurial outcome.

Keywords: Croatia, policy, SMEs, women entrepreneurial strategy, women entrepreneurship

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Authors: Anil Kumar Kursenge

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In the State of united Andhra Pradesh, many Adivasi People live in areas rich in living and non-living resources, including forests that contain abundant biodiversity, water and minerals. Of united Andhra Pradesh 76.2m population, over five million are Adivasi population of forest landscape. They depend on forests for a substantial part of their livelihoods and close cultural affinity with forests. However, they are the most impoverished population of the State, and the high levels of poverty in Andhra Pradesh forest landscapes are largely an outcome of historically-rooted institutionalised marginalisation. As the State appropriated forests and forest land for itself, it deprived local people of their customary rights in the forest. The local realities of the forest rights deprivations are extremely complex, reflecting a century and a half of compounded processes. With growing population pressure and ever-increasing demands for natural and mineral resources, Adivasi Peoples' lands, which are often relatively rich in resources, become more and more attractive to 'developers.' The development projects and institutionalised marginalisation have been deprived Adivasi people's rights over natural resources has resulted in serious negative effects on Adivasi people and on their lands. Historically, the desire for development for such resources has resulted in the removal, decimation, or extermination of many tribal communities. These deprivations have led to highly conflictual relations between the State and the Adivasi people and forest areas in Andhra Pradesh. Today, the survival of the Adivasi Peoples requires recognition of their rights to the forest resources found in their lands and territories on which they depend for their economic, cultural, survival, spiritual and physical well-being. In this context, this paper attempts to discuss the issues of deprivation with regard to access to forest resources and development projects where many Adivasis in State uprooted from their homes and lands.

Keywords: tribal people, forest rights, livelihoods, deprivation, marginalisation, Andhra Pradesh

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Authors: Vahid Ramezankhani, Keith J. Stevenson, Stanislav. S. Fedotov

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Lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) play a pivotal role in achieving the key objective “zero-carbon emission” as countries agreed to reach a 1.5ᵒC global warming target according to the Paris agreement. Nowadays, due to the tremendous mobile and stationary consumption of small/large-format LIBs, the demand and consequently the price for such energy storage devices have been raised. The aforementioned challenges originate from the shrinkage of the major applied critical materials in these batteries, such as cobalt (Co), nickel (Ni), Lithium (Li), graphite (G), and manganese (Mn). Therefore, it is imperative to consider alternative elements to address issues corresponding to the limitation of resources around the globe. Potassium (K) is considered an effective alternative to Li since K is a more abundant element, has a higher operating potential, a faster diffusion rate, and the lowest stokes radius in comparison to the closest neighbors in the periodic table (Li and Na). Among all reported materials for metal-ion batteries, some of them possess the general formula AMXO4L [A = Li, Na, K; M = Fe, Ti, V; X = P, S, Si; L= O, F, OH] is of potential to be applied both as anode and cathode and enable researchers to investigate them in the full symmetric battery format. KTiPO4F (KTP structural material) has been previously reported by our group as a promising cathode with decent electronic properties. Herein, we report a synthesis, crystal structure characterization, morphology, as well as K-ion storage properties of KTiPO4F. Our investigation reveals that KTiPO4F delivers discharge capacity > 150 mAh/g at 26.6 mA/g (C/5 current rate) in the potential window of 0.001-3 V. Surprisingly, the cycling performance of C-KTiPO4F//K cell is stable for 1000 cycles at 130 mA/g (C current rate), presenting capacity > 130 mAh/g. More interestingly, we achieved to assemble full symmetric batteries where carbon-coated KTiPO4F serves as both negative and positive electrodes, delivering >70 mAh/g in the potential range of 0.001-4.2V.

Keywords: anode material, potassium battery, chemical characterization, electrochemical properties

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Authors: Kailash Pattanaik, Giribala Mohanty

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Dhanujatra is a folk performance of ODISHA, India, that transports the participants, on lookers and all alike into a mythical atmosphere for eleven days and nights as well. In this performance the whole town becomes stage. The uniqueness of the festival lies in the fact that all the episodes of this Jatra enacted in different parts of the town making it the largest open air theatre in the world. The paper would emphasize on the uniqueness and the impact of this performance.Different episodes are enacted at different places in the regime. So, Dhanujatra does not confine itself to a fixed static or dead stage, as in case of other Jatra’s; it rather becomes the stage for the world at large. For that, it is said that, Worlds biggest open air theatre held in the tiny town called Bargarh in the western part of Orissa. The play moves sequentially day after day and the audience moves from locale to locale. Here it is analogues to the Ramleela of Ramnagar of Benars. Parallal enactment is a significant feature of this Jatra. From the second day, parallal performances take place in both Bargarh town and Ambapalli epitomising ‘Mathura’ and ‘Gokul’ respectively. Krishna is born in the prison on the second day of the jatra. Basudeb exchanges the child with the Nanda’s newborn baby in Gokul. In this way, parallal performances go on both in Mathura and Gokul. The ordinary persons who act as the mythological characters, or become historical heroes or the legendary Saints or Bhaktas in a Jatra in the evening, lead the lives of ordinary persons during day time. The dramatic personas of those individuals are shed with the end of the Jatra. On the contrary, the persons who act as the main characters of Dhanujatra are exceptions in this regard. They are identified as the characters they enact for the whole period of performance, both in the evenings and during daytime. It is worth mentioning that generally in the folk performances there is an ample scope to touch upon or interpret or comment or satirize the issues of contemporary relevance with the sole purpose to convey some specific message. Dhanujatra is no exception to that.

Keywords: folk performance, Jatra, parallel enactment, open-air stage, Odisha

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Authors: David E. Culler, Noah D. Anderson

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Integrated systems for product design, manufacturing, and lifecycle management are difficult to implement and customize. Commercial software vendors, including CAD/CAM and third party PDM/PLM developers, create user interfaces and functionality that allow their products to be applied across many industries. The result is that systems become overloaded with functionality, difficult to navigate, and use terminology that is unfamiliar to engineers and production personnel. For example, manufacturers of automotive, aeronautical, electronics, and household products use similar but distinct methods and processes. Furthermore, each company tends to have their own preferred tools and programs for controlling work and information flow and that connect design, planning, and manufacturing processes to business applications. This paper presents a methodology and a case study that addresses these issues and suggests that in the future more companies will develop personalized applications that fit to the natural way that their business operates. A functioning system has been implemented at a highly competitive U.S. aerospace tooling and component supplier that works with many prominent airline manufacturers around the world including The Boeing Company, Airbus, Embraer, and Bombardier Aerospace. During the last three years, the program has produced significant benefits such as the automatic creation and management of component and assembly designs (parametric models and drawings), the extensive use of lightweight 3D data, and changes to the way projects are executed from beginning to end. CATIA (CAD/CAE/CAM) and a variety of programs developed in C#, VB.Net, HTML, and SQL make up the current system. The web-based platform is facilitating collaborative work across multiple sites around the world and improving communications with customers and suppliers. This work demonstrates that the creative use of Application Programming Interface (API) utilities, libraries, and methods is a key to automating many time-consuming tasks and linking applications together.

Keywords: PDM, PLM, collaboration, CAD/CAM, scalable systems

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Authors: N. Allouache, W. Elgahri, A. Gahfif, M. Belmedani

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Solar radiation is by far the largest and the most world’s abundant, clean and permanent energy source. The amount of solar radiation intercepted by the Earth is much higher than annual global energy use. The energy available from the sun is greater than about 5200 times the global world’s need in 2006. In recent years, many promising technologies have been developed to harness the sun's energy. These technologies help in environmental protection, economizing energy, and sustainable development, which are the major issues of the world in the 21st century. One of these important technologies is the solar cooling systems that make use of either absorption or adsorption technologies. The solar adsorption cooling systems are a good alternative since they operate with environmentally benign refrigerants that are natural, free from CFCs, and therefore they have a zero ozone depleting potential (ODP). A numerical analysis of thermal and solar performances of an adsorption solar refrigerating system using different adsorbent/adsorbate pairs, such as activated carbon AC35 and activated carbon BPL/Ammoniac; is undertaken in this study. The modeling of the adsorption cooling machine requires the resolution of the equation describing the energy and mass transfer in the tubular adsorber, that is the most important component of the machine. The Wilson and Dubinin- Astakhov models of the solid-adsorbat equilibrium are used to calculate the adsorbed quantity. The porous medium is contained in the annular space, and the adsorber is heated by solar energy. Effect of key parameters on the adsorbed quantity and on the thermal and solar performances are analysed and discussed. The performances of the system that depends on the incident global irradiance during a whole day depends on the weather conditions: the condenser temperature and the evaporator temperature. The AC35/methanol pair is the best pair comparing to the BPL/Ammoniac in terms of system performances.

Keywords: activated carbon-methanol pair, activated carbon-ammoniac pair, adsorption, performance coefficients, numerical analysis, solar cooling system

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Authors: Bassey O. Bassey

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Benchmarking has progressively become entrenched as a requisite activity for process improvement and enhancing service delivery at petroleum jetties and terminals, most especially during tanker discharge operations at the ship – shore interface, as avoidable delays result in extra operating costs, non-productive time, high demurrage payments and ultimate product scarcity. The jetty and terminal in focus had been operational for 3 and 8 years respectively, with proper operational and logistic records maintained to evaluate their progress over time in order to plan and implement modifications and review of procedures for greater technical and economic efficiency. Regular and emergency staff meetings were held on a team, departmental and company-wide basis to progressively address major challenges that were encountered during each operation. The process and outcome of the resultant collectively planned changes carried out within the past two years forms the basis of this paper, which mirrors the initiatives effected to enhance operational and maintenance excellence at the affected facilities. Operational modifications included a second cargo receipt line designated for gasoline, product loss control at jetty and shore ends, enhanced product recovery and quality control, and revival of terminal–jetty backloading operations. Logistic improvements were the incorporation of an internal logistics firm and shipping agency, fast tracking of discharge procedures for tankers, optimization of tank vessel selection process, and third party product receipt and throughput. Maintenance excellence was achieved through construction of two new lay barges and refurbishment of the existing one; revamping of existing booster pump and purchasing of a modern one as reserve capacity; extension of Phase 1 of the jetty to accommodate two vessels and construction of Phase 2 for two more vessels; regular inspection, draining, drying and replacement of cargo hoses; corrosion management program for all process facilities; and an improved, properly planned and documented maintenance culture. Safety, environmental and security compliance were enhanced by installing state-of-the-art fire fighting facilities and equipment, seawater intake line construction as backup for borehole at the terminal, remediation of the shoreline and marine structures, modern spill containment equipment, improved housekeeping and accident prevention practices, and installation of hi-technology security enhancements, among others. The end result has been observed over the past two years to include improved tanker turnaround time, higher turnover on product sales, consistent product availability, greater indigenous human capacity utilisation by way of direct hires and contracts, as well as customer loyalty. The lessons learnt from this exercise would, therefore, serve as a model to be adapted by other operators of similar facilities, contractors, academics and consultants in a bid to deliver greater sustainability and profitability of operations at the ship – shore interface to this strategic industry.

Keywords: benchmarking, optimisation, petroleum jetty, petroleum terminal

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Authors: Jakia Rajoana

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The aim of this paper is to examine the role of women entrepreneurs in bringing about sustainable rural tourism (SRT) development in Sundarbans area of Bangladesh. Theoretically, it draws upon empowerment and entrepreneurial marketing concepts. Women entrepreneurship development and lack of empowered women as role models is an important issue for developing economies in South Asia. Despite the substantial role women play in rural economy of Sundarbans, their contribution remains overlooked as enterprises led by them are run on an informal basis and their business acumen is not taken seriously both by their families and society at large. Studies on SRT fail to engage in sufficient depth with the term applied in this paper as ‘invisible women on the margins’ who run their enterprises with no formal training or societal/familial support. Moreover, the link between their (non) tourism enterprise and their empowerment remains under-theorized. Thus empirically, this research seeks to fill a significant gap by focusing on a considerably under-researched Sundarbans region. Methodologically, this study follows a qualitative research design using visual ethnographic approach. Participant observation, semi-structured interviews, and documentation are the primary data collection instruments in three coastal communities – Munshigonj, Burigoalini and Gabura – in the Sundarbans area. By focusing on the narratives of these under-investigated women, this work aims to provide in-depth and nuanced insights into salient issues on marginal communities experience from rural women’s perspectives. Initial findings illustrate that the Sundarbans women have low income due to no or little education. In addition, socio-cultural and religious factors also restrict the scope of their extensive contribution to workplace. In addition, physical and social violence which is a common occurrence for these women inhibits their agency and contributes to their disempowerment.

Keywords: gender, empowerment, entrepreneurial marketing, sustainable rural tourism, Sundarbans

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Authors: Neo Mohlabane

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-- Feminists across various contexts have written extensively on the subject of ‘Woman.’ Recently the question of difference; to account for the cultural, ethnic, and racial diversity among women themselves has become a highly contested issue in feminist theories. Tensions have ensued where ‘western feminisms’ have been criticized for bias that is embedded in the objectification of ‘different’ women often regarded as ‘other’; traditional, therefore inferior. Thus, it is argued that womanhood; a set of socially defined attributes appropriate for women, holds different meanings depending on the context in which it is defined. Drawing on decolonial feminist approaches, this qualitative study explored the constructions of ‘womanhood’ from the perspective of unmarried Basotho women in Lesotho, where womanhood is predominantly defined in marital terms. Through the narrated life-stories of twenty unmarried Basotho women, the study revealed that as opposed to the ‘traditional’ definition that accounts for a single attribute woman as ‘wife,’ unmarried Basotho women defined ‘womanhood’ in different ways that deconstructed fixed gendered categories. The women drew meaning from their past personal experiences of childhood to construct and re-construct womanhood in adulthood. By transforming their embodied experiences of hardship and sorrow into valuable constructs with which they self-evaluated as resilient and perseverant, the women constructed a base for self-affirmation as woman. In addition, the women anchored their constructions and reconstructions of woman by transforming the meanings attached to the realms of respectability, sexuality and motherhood. Thus, to the question; what is a Woman? In part, the study concluded that there is no such thing as a ‘unitary’ definition of womanhood, instead Mosotho womanhood has always been and will always be in a state of flux; bearing multiplicity and complexity. This study highlights the need to exercise caution when using western concepts to understand the experiences of women in local African contexts. In order to decolonize feminist scholarship, African feminisms need to re-construct conceptual and theoretical frameworks appropriate for analyzing and understanding gender issues in African contexts.

Keywords: decoloniality, feminism, Lesotho, womanhood

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Authors: Sara Cumming, Julianne DiSanto, Leah Burton

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Homelessness in Canada is a persistent problem. It has been widely argued that the best tactic for eradicating homelessness is to approach social issues from a Housing First perspective—an approach that centers on quickly moving people into permanent and independent housing and then providing them additional support and services as needed. It is recognized that life skills training is both necessary and an effective way to reduce cyclical homelessness; however, there is a scarcity of research on effective ways to teach life skills; this problem was exacerbated in a pandemic context, where in-person delivery was severely restricted or no longer possible. Very little attention has been paid to the diverse cultural needs of clients in a multicultural context and the need to foster cultural knowledge/awareness in individuals to successfully contribute to the cultural safety of communities. This research attempts to fill these gaps in the literature and in practice by employing a community-engaged research (CER) approach. Academic, government, funders, front-line staff, and clients at 15 not-for-profits from across the Greater Toronto Area in Ontario, Canada, collaborated to co-create a virtual, client-centric, equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) informed life skill learning management system. We employed a triangulation methodology for this research. An environmental scan was conducted for best practices. Two separate Creative Problem Solving Sessions were held with over 100 front-line workers, managers, and executive directors who work with homeless populations. Quantitative and open-ended surveys were completed by over 200 individuals with experience with homelessness. All sections of this research aimed to discover the areas of skills that individuals need to maintain housing and to ascertain what a more client-driven EDI approach to life skills training should include. This research will showcase which life skills are deemed essential for homeless and precariously housed individuals.

Keywords: homelessness, Housing First, life skills, community engaged research

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Authors: Paivi Hietanen

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At family with children, divorce is a risk for a child to lose the relationship to the parent with whom the child doesn't live. A child has the right to the get care from both parents after the divorce. Even though your ex-spouse isn’t longer your companion, to the child he or she is still unique as a parent and parents must cooperate and support their child in the new family situation. To divorcee, it's necessary to understand the difference between the intimate relationship that ends and parenthood that continues. Cooperative parenting takes a lot of effort and flexibility for the parents to make joint custody work well. It is vital that parents get help to understand the situation from child points of view. When parent is facing divorce, and all the emotions that it brings along, can the child easily be forgotten. To help children, we must help parents to understand, that a relationship can end, parenthood cannot. As professionals, we should help the parents to see the significance and value of both parents to the child and try to support and protect parenthood-relationship between parents. The Federation of Mother and Child Homes and Shelters have developed group models to work with parents during or after divorce. These support groups are led by professionals, but peer support is also used. These support groups have been held over 10 years and there are found from 20 different cities in Finland. Eroneuvo event (divorce advice) service is intended for parents who are considering or have already divorced. The Vanhemman neuvo (parents' council) is a peer support group that helps parents with post-divorce parenting issues. From these groups, parents receive information and peer support for matters related to divorcing and how to support the child and do co-parenting. At the groups and in given information for divorced parents, is used a method called the 'Irreversible triangle'. It's a way to picture the intimate relationship and parenthood after the divorce and what is the difference between these two things. 'Irreversible triangle' is used to help parents and professionals to understand, what happens if a child loses the relationship to the other parent or if parents co-parenting doesn't work well. From the largely collected feedback, group members tell that they feel themselves relieved after taking part of the group. Parents also experience that talking with other parents helps to survive. Group members learn to co-operate with the other parent, and they'll also learn to see the best interest of the child after the divorce. Parents would highly recommend these groups to other parents.

Keywords: child's right, co-parenting, parenthood after the divorce, peer support

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Authors: Ming-Juei Chang, Hui-Ing Ma, Tsung-Hsueh Lu

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Introduction: Because of the advance of medical care (e.g., ventilation techniques and gastrostomy feeding), more and more children with CP can live to adulthood. However, little is known about the use of health care services from children to adults who have CP. The patterns of utilization of ambulatory care are heavily influenced by insurance coverage and primary care gatekeeper regulation. The purpose of this study was to examine patterns of ambulatory care utilization among individuals with CP in Taiwan, a country with universal coverage and no gatekeeper regulation. Methods: A representative sample of one million patients (about 1/23 of total population) covered by Taiwan’s National Health Insurance was used to analyze the ambulatory care utilization in individuals with CP. Data were analyzed by 3 different age groups (children, youth and adults) during 2000 to 2003. Participants were identified by the presence of CP diagnosis made by pediatricians or physicians of physical and rehabilitation medicine and stated at least three times in claims data. Results: Annual rates of outpatient physician visits were 31680 for children, 16492 for youth, and 28617 for adults with CP (per 1000 persons). Individuals with CP received over 50% of their outpatient care from hospital outpatient department. Higher use of specialist physician services was found in children (54.7%) than in the other two age groups (28.4% in youth and 18.8% in adults). Diseases of respiratory system were the most frequent diagnoses for visits in both children and youth with CP. Diseases of the circulatory system were the main reasons (24.3%) that adults with CP visited hospital outpatient care department or clinics. Conclusion: This study showed different patterns of ambulatory care utilization among different age groups. It appears that youth and adults with CP continue to have complex health issues and rely heavily on the health care system. Additional studies are needed to determine the factors which influence ambulatory care utilization among individuals with CP.

Keywords: cerebral palsy, health services, lifespan, universal coverage

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Authors: Yalisa Tonsorn

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The objectives of this study are 1) to study the readiness of Thai tour operators in order to prepare for being ASEAN members, 2) to study opportunity and obstacles of the management of Thai tour operators, and 3) to find approach for developing value chain in order to enhance the management efficiency of Thai tour operators in order to support free trade within the framework of ASEAN cooperation. The research methodology is mixed between qualitative method and quantitative method. In-depth interview was done with key informants, including management supervisors, medium managers, and officers of the travel agencies. The questionnaire was conducted with 300 sampling. According to the study, it was found that the approach for developing value chain to enhance the management efficiency of Thai travel agencies in order to support free trade within the framework of ASEAN cooperation, the tour operators must give priority to the customer and deliver the service exceeding the customer’s expectation. There are 2 groups of customers: 1) external customers referring to tourist, and 2) internal customers referring to staff who deliver the service to the customers, including supervisors, colleagues, or subordinates. There are 2 issues which need to be developed: 1) human resource development in order to cultivate the working concept by focusing on importance of customers, and excellent service providing, and 2) working system development by building value and innovation in operational process including services to the company in order to deliver the highest impressive service to both internal and external customers. Moreover, the tour operators could support the increased number of tourists significantly. This could enhance the capacity of the business and affect the increase of competition capability in the economic dimension of the country.

Keywords: AEC (ASEAN Economic Eommunity), core activities, support activities, values chain

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Authors: Maria Ana T. Quimbo

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As the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA) approaches its 50th founding anniversary. It continues to pursue its mission of strengthening the capacities of Southeast Asian leaders and institutions under its reformulated mission of Inclusive and Sustainable Agricultural and Rural Development (ISARD). Guided by this mission, this study analyzed the desired and priority capacity development needs of institutions heads and key personnel toward addressing the constraints, problems, and issues related to agricultural and rural development toward achieving their institutional goals. Adopting an exploratory, descriptive research design, the study examined the competency needs at the institutional and personnel levels. A total of 35 institution heads from seven countries and 40 key personnel from eight countries served as research participants. The results showed a variety of competencies in the areas of leadership and management, agriculture, climate change, research, monitoring, and evaluation, planning, and extension or community service. While mismatch was found in a number of desired and priority competency areas as perceived by the respondents, there were also interesting concordant answers in both technical and non-technical areas. Interestingly, the competency needs both desired and prioritized were a combination of “hard” or technical skills and “soft” or interpersonal skills. Policy recommendations were forwarded on the need to continue building capacities in core competencies along ISARD; have a balance of 'hard' skills and 'soft' skills through the use of appropriate training strategies and explicit statement in training objectives, strengthen awareness on “soft” skills through its integration in workplace culture, build capacity on action research, continue partnerships encourage mentoring, prioritize competencies, and build capacity of desired and priority competency areas.

Keywords: capacity development, competency needs assessment, sustainability and development, ISARD

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Authors: Pranab Kumar Goswami, Elena Gurung

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Small and medium enterprises (SME) are considered as the driving force for the economic growth of a developing country like India. Most of the SMEs are located in residential/non-industrial areas to avoid legal obligations of occupational safety and health (OSH) provisions. This study was conducted in Delhiwith a view to analyze the accidents that occurredduringthe year 2019 & 2020. The objective of the study was to find out the accident prone SMEs in Delhi and major causes of such accidents. Methods: Survey and comprehensive data analysis methods, followed by applying simple statistical techniques, were used for this study. The accident reports for the study period collected from the labour department and police stations were analyzed for the study. The injured workers were interviewed to ascertain safety compliances, training and awareness programs, etc. The study was completed in March2021. Results: It was found that most of the accidents took place in SMEs located in residential/non- industrial areas in Delhi. The accident-prone machines were found to be power presses (42%) and injection moulding machines (37%). Predominantly unsafe machinery or unsafe working conditions and lack of training of worker were observed to be the major causes of accidents in such industries. Conclusions: It was concluded from the study that unsafe machinery/equipment and lack of proper training to the workers were two main reasons for increase in accidents.It was also concluded that the industries located in industrial areas were better placed in terms of workplace compliances. The managements who were running their operations from residential/non-industrial areaswere found to be less aware on health and safety issues. Lack of enforcement by government agencies in such areas has escalated this problem. Adequate training to workers, managing safe & healthy workplace, and sustained enforcement can reduce accidents in such industries.

Keywords: SME, accident prevention, cause of accident, unorganised

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Authors: Sareh Rajabi, Taha Anjamrooz, Salwa Bheiry

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The continuous increase in the world population, resource shortage and the warning of climate change cause various environmental and social issues to the world. Thus, sustainability concept is much needed nowadays. Organizations are progressively falling under strong worldwide pressure to integrate sustainability practices into their project decision-making development. Construction projects in the industry are amongst the most significant, since it is one of the biggest divisions and of main significance for the national economy and hence has a massive effect on the environment and society. So, it is important to discover approaches to incorporate sustainability into the management of those projects. This study presents a combined sustainability index of projects with sustainable transportation which has been formed as per a comprehensive literature review and survey study. Transportation systems enable the movement of goods and services worldwide, and it is leading to economic growth and creating jobs while creating negative impacts on the environment and society. This research is study to quantify the sustainability indicators, through 1) identifying the importance of sustainable transportation indicators that are based on the sustainable practices used for the construction projects and 2) measure the effectiveness of practices through these indicators on the three sustainable pillars. A total 26 sustainability indicators have been selected and grouped under each related sustainability pillars. A survey was used to collect the opinion about the sustainability indicators by a scoring system. A combined sustainability index considering three sustainable pillars can be helpful in evaluating the transportation sustainable practices of a project and making decisions regarding project selection. In addition to focus on the issue of financial resource allocation in a project selection, the decision-maker could take into account the sustainability as an important key in addition to the project’s return and risk. The purpose of this study is to measure the performance of transportation sustainability which allow companies to assess multiple projects selection. This is useful to decision makers to rank and focus more on future sustainable projects.

Keywords: sustainable transportation, transportation performances, sustainable indicators, sustainable construction practice, sustainability

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Authors: Md. Mahamud Hassan, Shantanu Biswas Linkon, Nur Mohammad Khan

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Over the last three decades, the primary education system in Bangladesh has experienced significant improvement, but it has failed to cope with different social and cultural aspects, which present many challenges for children, families, and the public school system. Neglecting our own contextual learning environment, it is a matter of sorrow that much attention has been paid to the more physical outcome-focused model, which is nothing but mere infrastructural development, and less subtle to the environment that suits the child's psychology and improves their social, emotional, physical, and moral competency. In South Asia, the symbol of education was never the little red house of colonial architecture but “A Guru sitting under a tree", whereas a responsive and inclusive design approach could help to create more innovative learning environments. Such an approach incorporates how the built, natural, and cultural environment shapes the learner; in turn, learners shape the learning. This research will be conducted to, i) identify the major issues and drawbacks of government policy for primary education development programs; ii) explore and evaluate the morphology of the conventional model of school, and iii) propose an alternative model in a collaborative design process with the stakeholders for maximizing the relationship between the physical learning environments and learners by treating “the built environment” as “the third teacher.” Based on observation, this research will try to find out to what extent built, and natural environments can be utilized as a teaching tool for a more optimal learning environment. It should also be evident that there is a significant gap in the state policy, predetermined educational specifications, and implementation process in response to stakeholders’ involvement. The outcome of this research will contribute to a people-place sensitive design approach through a more thoughtful and responsive architectural process.

Keywords: built environment, conventional planning, indigenous learning space, responsive design

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Authors: Ankush, Harshit Sosan Lakra, Rachita Kuthial

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Climate change poses significant challenges to vulnerable communities, particularly indigenous populations in ecologically sensitive regions. Jharkhand, located in the heart of India, is home to several indigenous communities, including the Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs). The Indigenous architecture of the region functions as a significant reservoir of climate adaptation wisdom. It explores the architectural analysis encompassing the construction materials, construction techniques, design principles, climate responsiveness, cultural relevance, adaptation, integration with the environment and traditional wisdom that has evolved through generations, rooted in cultural and socioeconomic traditions, and has allowed these communities to thrive in a variety of climatic zones, including hot and dry, humid, and hilly terrains to withstand the test of time. Despite their historical resilience to adverse climatic conditions, PVTG tribal communities face new and amplified challenges due to the accelerating pace of climate change. There is a significant research void that exists in assimilating their traditional practices and local wisdom into contemporary climate resilience initiatives. Most of the studies place emphasis on technologically advanced solutions, often ignoring the invaluable Indigenous Local knowledge that can complement and enhance these efforts. This research gap highlights the need to bridge the disconnect between indigenous knowledge and contemporary climate adaptation strategies. The study aims to explore and leverage indigenous knowledge of vernacular architecture as a strategic tool for enhancing climatic resilience among PVTGs of the region. The first objective is to understand the traditional wisdom of vernacular architecture by analyzing and documenting distinct architectural practices and cultural significance of PVTG communities, emphasizing construction techniques, materials and spatial planning. The second objective is to develop culturally sensitive climatic resilience strategies based on findings of vernacular architecture by employing a multidisciplinary research approach that encompasses ethnographic fieldwork climate data assessment considering multiple variables such as temperature variations, precipitation patterns, extreme weather events and climate change reports. This will be a tailor-made solution integrating indigenous knowledge with modern technology and sustainable practices. With the involvement of indigenous communities in the process, the research aims to ensure that the developed strategies are practical, culturally appropriate, and accepted. To foster long-term resilience against the global issue of climate change, we can bridge the gap between present needs and future aspirations with Traditional wisdom, offering sustainable solutions that will empower PVTG communities. Moreover, the study emphasizes the significance of preserving and reviving traditional Architectural wisdom for enhancing climatic resilience. It also highlights the need for cooperative endeavors of communities, stakeholders, policymakers, and researchers to encourage integrating traditional Knowledge into Modern sustainable design methods. Through these efforts, this research will contribute not only to the well-being of PVTG communities but also to the broader global effort to build a more resilient and sustainable future. Also, the Indigenous communities like PVTG in the state of Jharkhand can achieve climatic resilience while respecting and safeguarding the cultural heritage and peculiar characteristics of its native population.

Keywords: vernacular architecture, climate change, resilience, PVTGs, Jharkhand, indigenous people, India

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Authors: Victor Toom

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Albeit it is never possible to anticipate the full range of difficulties after a catastrophe, efforts to identify victims of mass casualty events have become institutionalized and standardized with the aim of effectively and efficiently addressing the many challenges and contingencies. Such ‘disaster victim identification’ (DVI) practices are dependent on the forensic sciences, are subject of national legislation, and are reliant on technical and organizational protocols to mitigate the many complexities in the wake of catastrophe. Apart from such technological, legal and bureaucratic elements constituting a DVI operation, victims’ families and their emotions are also part and parcel of any effort to identify casualties of mass human fatality incidents. Take for example the fact that forensic experts require (antemortem) information from the group of relatives to make identification possible. An identified body or body part is also repatriated to kin. Relatives are thus main stakeholders in DVI operations. Much has been achieved in years past regarding facilitating victims’ families’ issues and their emotions. Yet, how families are dealt with by experts and authorities is still considered a difficult topic. Due to sensitivities and required emphatic interaction with families on the one hand, and the rationalized DVI efforts, on the other hand, there is still scope for improving communication, providing information and meaningful inclusion of relatives in the DVI effort. This paper aims to bridge the standardized world of DVI efforts and families’ experienced realities and makes suggestions to further improve DVI efforts through inclusion of victims’ families. Based on qualitative interviews, the paper narrates involvement and experiences of inter alia DVI practitioners, victims’ families, advocates and clergy in the wake of the 1995 Srebrenica genocide which killed approximately 8,000 men, and the 9/11 in New York City with 2,750 victims. The paper shows that there are several models of including victims’ families into a DVI operation, and it argues for a model of where victims’ families become a partner in DVI operations.

Keywords: disaster victim identification (DVI), victims’ families, social science (qualitative), 9/11 attacks, Srebrenica genocide

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Authors: Gbone Akou Sophie

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Lome state in Togo is considered to have the highest HIV prevalence in Togo according to NAIIS 2023, with the prevalence of 5.5%, Female Sex Workers (FSW) are one of the most vulnerable population, and they are vital in HIV programming. They have the highest HIV prevalence compared to others such as HRM, PWID and Transgender in lome State, Togo. Evidence from Integrated Biological Behavioral Surveillance Survey shows increasing burden of HIV infection from 13.7% in 20018 to 17.2% in 2020 and now 22.9% in 2021 among Female Sex Workers (FSW). This shows their HIV prevalence has been rising over time. The vulnerability status of the FSW in the riverine areas of lome is heightened because of cultural and economic issues where there is exchange of sex for commodities with cross border traders as well as limited access to HIV prevention information. Methods:A cross sectional study which recruited 120 FSW from two Riverine LGAs of Agoe and Kpehenou LGA of Lome State using both snowballing and simple random sampling technique. While semi-structured questionnaire was used as an instrument for data collection among the 120 FSW respondents. Additional information was also elicited from 10 FSW key opinion leaders and community members through in-depth interviews (IDI). Results: 44(36%) of respondents were willing to receive regular HIV care and services as well as visit for STI check-ups at any service point. However, 47(40%) were willing to receive services at private facilities alone, 10 (8%) were willing to receive services at public facilities, 6 (5%) were willing to access services in their homes rather than in the health facility. 13 (11%) were also willing to have peers assist in getting HIV testing services. Conclusion: integrated differentiated model of care for HIV services helps improve HIV services uptake among FSW community especially in the hard- to reach riverine areas which will further lead to epidemic control. Also targeted HIV information should be designed to suit the learning needs of the hard-to reach communities like the riverine areas. More peer educators should be engaged to ensure information and other HIV services reach the riverine communities.

Keywords: female sex workers ( FSW), human immuno-deficiency virus(HIV), prevanlence, service delivery

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Authors: Debasis Sarkar, Jatan Talati

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This paper is an attempt to develop an Integrated Mass Rapid Transit System (MRTS) for a smart city project in Western India. Integrated transportation is one of the enablers of smart transportation for providing a seamless intercity as well as regional level transportation experience. The success of a smart city project at the city level for transportation is providing proper integration to different mass rapid transit modes by way of integrating information, physical, network of routes fares, etc. The methodology adopted for this study was primary data research through questionnaire survey. The respondents of the questionnaire survey have responded on the issues about their perceptions on the ways and means to improve public transport services in urban cities. The respondents were also required to identify the factors and attributes which might motivate more people to shift towards the public mode. Also, the respondents were questioned about the factors which they feel might restrain the integration of various modes of MRTS. Furthermore, this study also focuses on developing a utility equation for respondents with the help of multiple linear regression analysis and its probability to shift to public transport for certain factors listed in the questionnaire. It has been observed that for shifting to public transport, the most important factors that need to be considered were travel time saving and comfort rating. Also, an Integrated MRTS can be obtained by combining metro rail with BRTS, metro rail with monorail, monorail with BRTS and metro rail with Indian railways. Providing a common smart card to transport users for accessing all the different available modes would be a pragmatic solution towards integration of the available modes of MRTS.

Keywords: mass rapid transit systems, smart city, metro rail, bus rapid transit system, multiple linear regression, smart card, automated fare collection system

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Authors: Naif A. Haddad

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Greek, Hellenistic and Roman theatre heritage are exposed to multiple risks at varied times or simultaneously. There is no single reason why a theatre building becomes ‘at risk’, as each case has different circumstances which have led to the theatre building decay. There are complicated processes of destruction and distress that show divergence in theatre building materials' decay. Theatre modern use for cultural performances causes much of the risks concerning the physical structure and authenticity of theatre sites. In addition, there are some deterioration and deformations due to previous poor quality restorations and interventions through related excavation and conservation programmes as also risks to authenticity due to new additions. For preventive conservation, theatre natural and anthropogenic risks management can provide a framework for decision making. These risks to ancient theatre heritage may stem from exposure to one or more risk or synergy of many factors. We, therefore, need to link the theatre natural risks to the risks that come from anthropogenic factors associated with social and economic development. However, this requires a holistic approach, and systematic methodology for understanding these risks from various sources while incorporating specific actions, planning and strategies for each specific risk. Elaborating on recent relevant studies, and ERATO and ATHENA EU projects for ancient theaters and odea and general surveys, this paper attempts to discuss the main aspects of the ancient Greek, Hellenistic and Roman theatres risk related issues. Relevant case studies shall also be discussed and investigated to examine frameworks for risk mitigation, and related guidelines and recommendations that provide a systematic approach for sustainable management and planning in relation mainly to ‘compatible use’ of theatre sites.

Keywords: cultural heritage management, European ancient theatres projects, Anthropogenic risks mitigation, sustainable management and planning, preventive conservation, modern use, compatible use

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Authors: Alebiosu Olugbenga Shadrak, Victor Victoria

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Honey bees exhibit preferences in their foraging behaviour on pollen and nectar for food and honey production, respectively. Melissopalynology is the study of pollen in honey and other honey products. Several work have been conducted on the palynological studies of honeys from the southern parts of Nigeria but with relatively scant records from the Northern region of the country. This present study aimed at revealing the favourably visited plants by honey bees, Apis melifera var. adansonii, at some apiaries in Northern Nigeria, as well as determining the quality of honeys produced. Honeys were harvested and collected from four apiaries of the region, namely: Sarkin Dawa missionary bee farm, Taraba State; Eleeshuwa Bee Farm, Keffi, Nassarawa State, Bulus Beekeeper Apiaries, Kagarko, Kaduna State and Mai Gwava Bee Farm, Kano State. These honeys were acetolysed for palynological microscopic analysis and subjected to standard treatment methods for the determination of their proximate composition and sugar profiling. Fresh anthers of two dominantly represented plants in the honeys were then collected for the quantification of their pollen protein contents, using the micro-kjeldhal procedure. A total of 30 pollen types were identified in the four honeys, and some of them were common to the honeys. A classification method for expressing pollen frequency class was employed: Senna cf. siamea, Terminalia cf. catappa, Mangifera indica, Parinari curatelifolia, Vitellaria paradoxa, Elaeis guineensis, Parkia biglobosa, Phyllantus muellerianus and Berlina Grandiflora, as “Frequent” (16-45%); while the others are either Rare (3-15%) or Sporadic (less than 3 %). Pollen protein levels of the two abundantly represented plants, Senna siamea (15.90mg/ml) and Terminalia catappa (17.33mg/ml) were found to be considerably lower. The biochemical analyses revealed varying amounts of proximate composition, non-reducing sugar and total sugar levels in the honeys. The results of this study indicate that pollen and nectar of the “Frequent” plants were preferentially foraged by honeybees in the apiaries. The estimated pollen protein contents of Senna same and Terminalia catappa were considerably lower and not likely to have influenced their favourable visitation by honeybees. However, a relatively higher representation of Senna cf. siamea in the pollen spectrum might have resulted from its characteristic brightly coloured and well scented flowers, aiding greater entomophily. Terminalia catappa, Mangifera indica, Elaeis guineensis, Vitellaria paradoxa, and Parkia biglobosa are typical food crops; hence they probably attracted the honeybees owing to the rich nutritional values of their fruits and seeds. Another possible reason for a greater entomophily of the favourably visited plants are certain nutritional constituents of their pollen and nectar, which were not investigated in this study. The nutritional composition of the honeys was observed to fall within the safe limits of international norms, as prescribed by Codex Alimentarius Commission, thus they are good honeys for human consumption. It is therefore imperative to adopt strategic conservation steps in ensuring that these favourably visited plants are protected from indiscriminate anthropogenic activities and also encourage apiarists in the country to establish their bee farms more proximally to the plants for optimal honey yield.

Keywords: honeybees, melissopalynology, preferentially foraged, nutritional, bee farms, proximally

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Authors: Ameer Alalwan

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Summary: The aim of this research is to identify trends of municipal council member in practicing his administrative control, decision-making, and counsultive role on municipalities' main municipal activities in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia. This research is conducted after the implementation of the new municipal system resolution no. (M\61) in 1435 in the work of municipal councils for the third session. To achieve the goal of this research, a questionnaire has been designed to obtain the opinion of municipal councils on this matter. This questionnaire has been tested for reliability and validity. The results of this research show that in general performance of municipal council is moderate after the implementation of the new municipal system resolution no. (M\61) in 1435 in the work of municipal councils for the third session. Also, extend that municipal council member practice his roles on the main municipality activities is moderate and weak. In addition, results show that municipal council member practice big role in decision-making, and moderate role in administrative control, and weaker role in giving opinion on municipality main issues. Furthermore, the results show that there is a significant difference between municipal council member's responses by the change of their Personal characteristics. Educated and appointed municipal council members practicing their role more than others do. In addition, municipal council presidents, and vice presidents, and in regional and sub-regional municipalities practice their role more than others do. Finally, this research in general recommened that muincialty council member must be empowered, so that he can practice his role on muicipality main activities. In addition, research suggest, granting municipal council member the authority, resources needed, training and appointment of qualified members, so that they will be able to practice their roles. Furthermore, this research suggest for the time being maintain certain percent of municipal council's appointed until this experience mature in the kingdom.

Keywords: municipal council, municipal council member, municipality, decision-making role

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Authors: F. Pedro, S. Dias, A. Tadeu, J. António, Ó. López, A. Coelho

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Railway transportation is considered the most economical and sustainable way to travel. However, future mobility brings important challenges to railway operators. The main target is to develop solutions that stimulate sustainable mobility. The research and innovation goals for this domain are efficient solutions, ensuring an increased level of safety and reliability, improved resource efficiency, high availability of the means (train), and satisfied passengers with the travel comfort level. These requirements are in line with the European Strategic Agenda for the 2020 rail sector, promoted by the European Rail Research Advisory Council (ERRAC). All these aspects involve redesigning current equipment and, in particular, the interior of the carriages. Recent studies have shown that two of the most important requirements for passengers are reasonable ticket prices and comfortable interiors. Passengers tend to use their travel time to rest or to work, so train interiors and their systems need to incorporate features that meet these requirements. Among the various systems that integrate train interiors, the flooring system is one of the systems with the greatest impact on passenger safety and comfort. It is also one of the systems that takes more time to install on the train, and which contributes seriously to the weight (mass) of all interior systems. Additionally, it presents a strong impact on manufacturing costs. The design of railway floor, in the development phase, is usually made relying on a design software that allows to draw and calculate several solutions in a short period of time. After obtaining the best solution, considering the goals previously defined, experimental data is always necessary and required. This experimental phase has such great significance, that its outcome can provoke the revision of the designed solution. This paper presents the methodology and some of the results of an experimental characterisation of composite panels for railway application. The mechanical tests were made for unaged specimens and for specimens that suffered some type of aging, i.e. heat, cold and humidity cycles or freezing/thawing cycles. These conditionings aim to simulate not only the time effect, but also the impact of severe environmental conditions. Both full solutions and separated components/materials were tested. For the full solution, (panel) these were: four-point bending tests, tensile shear strength, tensile strength perpendicular to the plane, determination of the spreading of water, and impact tests. For individual characterisation of the components, more specifically for the covering, the following tests were made: determination of the tensile stress-strain properties, determination of flexibility, determination of tear strength, peel test, tensile shear strength test, adhesion resistance test and dimensional stability. The main conclusions were that experimental characterisation brings a huge contribution to understand the behaviour of the materials both individually and assembled. This knowledge contributes to the increase the quality and improvements of premium solutions. This research work was framed within the POCI-01-0247-FEDER-003474 (coMMUTe) Project funded by Portugal 2020 through the COMPETE 2020.

Keywords: durability, experimental characterization, mechanical tests, railway flooring system

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Authors: Babar Rasheed, Saad Ghafoor

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Introduction: Idea campaigns are commonly held across organizations for generating employee engagement. The contribution is specifically designed to identify and solve prevalent issues. It is argued that numerous organizations fail to achieve their desired goals despite arranging for such campaigns and investing heavily in them. There are however practices that organizations use to achieve higher degree of effectiveness, and these practices may be up for exploration by research to make them usable for the other organizations. Purpose: The aim of this research is to surface the idea management practices of a leading electric company with global operations. The study involves a large sized, multi site organization that is attributed to have added challenges in terms of managing ideas from employees, in comparison to smaller organizations. The study aims to highlight the factors that are looked at as the idea management team strategies for the campaign, sets terms and rewards for it, makes follow up with the employees and lastly, evaluate and award ideas. Methodology: The study is conducted in a leading electric appliance corporation that has a large number of employees and is based in numerous regions of the world. A total of 7 interviews are carried out involving the chief innovation officer, innovation manager and members of idea management and evaluation teams. The interviews are carried out either on Skype or in-person based on the availability of the interviewee. Findings: While this being a working paper and while the study is under way, it is anticipated that valuable information is being achieved about specific details on how idea management systems are governed and how idea campaigns are carried out. The findings may be particularly useful for innovation consultants as resources they can use to promote idea campaigning. The usefulness of the best practices highlighted as a result is, in any case, the most valuable output of this study.

Keywords: employee engagement, motivation, idea campaigns, large organizations, best practices, employees input, organizational output

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Authors: Bibiana Hlebova

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The Slovak Republic is a democratic and plural society consisting of people differing in language and culture, and its citizens should already be well prepared for the coexistence of multiple nations, nationalities or ethnic groups. Reflection on culture, art and literature of the Roma minority has taken on a new dimension in Slovakia in the past two decades when it comes to social, cultural and arts integration of this ethnic group with the plural society. Non-Roma view Roma as a specific ethnic group with their own culture, language, customs and traditions, social norms and coexistence that has retained archetypal qualities of Roma identity (romipen) in their real lives as well as in the literary world. Roma characters in works of art are specific and distinguishable from other literary characters simply by being Roma, that is, of a different origin and social status, they represent a different way of life, a distinctive hierarchy of values. The portrayal of Roma and the life of Roma ethnic group in the most dominant genre of Roma literature for children and youth, a Roma fairy tale (paramisi), can work as a suitable means to learn about, accept and tolerate the otherness of Roma in the conditions of school inclusion of students coming from the Roma ethnic group, and to support their identification with their own ethnic group and its cultural traditions. The paper aims to point out not only the specific nature of Roma identity (romipen) through the selected Roma fairy tale (paramisa) – Children of the Sun, but also the diversity of its uses in the educational process within primary education of pupils at elementary schools, advocating the philosophy of inclusive education. Through the suggestions of multi-cultural, emotional, and language and communication education of pupils through the work with the selected Roma fairy tale (paramisa), the author is exploring ways to overcome the issues stemming from the coexistence of Roma and Non-Roma pupils, which are burdened with prejudice, intolerance, aggression and racism on both sides, in the education process.

Keywords: inclusive education, otherness, Roma, Roma fairy tale, Roma identity

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Authors: Kinga Zebrowska, Maria Falis, Katarzyna Kosinska-Kaczynska, Bartosz Godek, Olga Plaza, Katarzyna Kwiatkowska

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Introduction: According to the ministerial decree of 16 August 2018, each woman in Poland during childbirth has the right to the pharmacological and non-pharmacological labour pain management (LPM). Aim: The aim of the study was to assess the knowledge of Polish mothers about pharmacological and non-pharmacological LPM, to investigate which methods they chose and their satisfaction with chosen ones. Material And Methods: A prospective cross-sectional study was performed among women who gave birth between 2015 and 2018. The self-composed questionnaire was distributed via the Internet in October 2018. Results: 13.727 women participated in the study. 75% have learned about LPM from the Internet. 68% of them did not gain any information on LPM from doctors during their prenatal appointments Safety of the newborn (46%), midwife’s advice (40%) and the chance of the immediate pain relief (39%) were the most important issues while choosing LPM. Respondents used a wide range of non-pharmacological methods, such as the assistance of partner during labour (81%), physical activity (58%), immersion in water (37%), relaxation techniques (15%) and others. 11% of mothers did not use any of the LPM methods. 52% of women declared that they wanted to use the pharmacological anaesthesia, while 49% had it performed (28% epidural, 16% inhaled anaesthesia, 5% parenteral opioids). Pharmacological methods were unavailable due to lack of anaesthesiologist in the maternity ward (41%) or inaccessibility of the chosen methods in the hospital (31%) and too advanced labour (43%). 48% of respondents did not decide to use pharmacological methods, because the pain was bearable (29%), anxiety of child’s health (17%), or belief that the pain is natural and it should not be avoided (16%). 83% of respondents believed that epidural analgesia has no influence on the time needed to gain a full cervix dilatation and 81% of them claimed that serious spinal cord injury is a common side effect of epidural. 51% believed that epidural increases the risk of caesarean section. Conclusions: The knowledge about the methods of LPM is not satisfactory. We should focus on well- maintained education guided by doctors, midwives, and media.

Keywords: childbirth, labour pain management, maternity experiences, obstetrics

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