Search results for: new public administration

Authors: Zhijun Wu

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While social living is considered to be an indispensable part of human life in today's ever-connected world, social distancing has recently received much public attention on its importance since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic. In fact, social distancing has long been practiced in nature among solitary species and has been taken by humans as an effective way of stopping or slowing down the spread of infectious diseases. A social distancing problem is considered for how a population, when in the world with a network of social sites, decides to visit or stay at some sites while avoiding or closing down some others so that the social contacts across the network can be minimized. The problem is modeled as a population game, where every individual tries to find some network sites to visit or stay so that he/she can minimize all his/her social contacts. In the end, an optimal strategy can be found for everyone when the game reaches an equilibrium. The paper shows that a large class of equilibrium strategies can be obtained by selecting a set of social sites that forms a so-called maximal r-regular subnetwork. The latter includes many well-studied network types, which are easy to identify or construct and can be completely disconnected (with r = 0) for the most-strict isolation or allow certain degrees of connectivity (with r > 0) for more flexible distancing. The equilibrium conditions of these strategies are derived. Their rigidity and flexibility are analyzed on different types of r-regular subnetworks. It is proved that the strategies supported by maximal 0-regular subnetworks are strictly rigid, while those by general maximal r-regular subnetworks with r > 0 are flexible, though some can be weakly rigid. The proposed model can also be extended to weighted networks when different contact values are assigned to different network sites.

Keywords: social distancing, mitigation of spread of epidemics, populations games, networked social environments

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Authors: P. Thepnarintra, S. Nikorn

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Agricultural machinery industry plays an important role in the industrial development especially the production industry of the country. There has been continuing development responding to the higher demand of the production. However, the problem in agricultural machinery production still exists. Thus, the purpose of this research is to investigate problems on fundamental factors of industry based on the entrepreneurs’ point of view. The focus was on the small and medium size industry receiving a factory license typed number 0660 from the Department of Industrial Works. The investigation was on the comparison between the management of the small and medium size agricultural industry in 3 provinces in the central region of Thailand. Population in this study consisted of 189 company managers or managing directors, of which 101 were from the small size and 88 were from the medium size industry. The data were analyzed to find percentage, arithmetic mean, and standard deviation with independent sample T-test at the statistical significance .05. The results showed that the small and medium size agricultural machinery manufacturers in the central region of Thailand reported high problems in every aspect. When compared the problems on basic factors in running the business, it was found that there was no difference statistically at .05 in managing of the small and medium size agricultural machinery manufacturers. However, there was a statistically significant difference between the small and medium size agricultural machinery manufacturers on the aspect of policy and services of the government. The problems reported by the small and medium size agricultural machinery manufacturers were the services on public tap water and the problem on politic and stability of the country.

Keywords: agricultural machinery, manufacturers, problems, on running the business

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Authors: Nadine Abuqtaish

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Females’ participation in athletic sports events has increased in the last decades, and the discovery of eating disorders and menstrual dysfunction has been evident since the early 1980s. The term “Female athlete triad” was initially defined by the Task Force on Women’s Issues of the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) in 1992. Menstrual irregularities have been prevalent in competitive female athletes, especially in their adolescence and early adulthood age. Nutritional restrictions to maintain a certain physique and lean look are sought to be advantageous in female athletes such as gymnastics, cheerleading, or weight-sensitive sports such as endurance sports (cycling and marathoners). This stress places the female at risk of irregularities in their menstrual cycle which can lead them to lose their circadian estrogen levels. Estrogen is an important female reproductive hormone that plays a role in maintaining bone mass. Bone mineral density peaks by the age 25. Inadequate estrogen due to missed menstrual cycle or amenorrhea has been estimated to cause a yearly loss of 2% of bone mass, increasing the risk of osteoporosis in the postmenopausal phase. This paper is intended to have a better depth understanding of whether female athletes are being monitored by their official entities or coaches. A qualitative research method through online search engines and keywords “females, athletes, triad, amenorrhea, anorexia, osteoporosis” were used to collect the available primary sources from official public library databases. The latest consensus was published in 2014 by the Female Athlete Triad Coalition and the need for further research and emphasis on this issue is still lacking.

Keywords: female, athlete, triad, amenorrhea, anorexia, bone loss

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Authors: Hafsa Raheel

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Background: Adolescents who suffer from depression early in life, have an increase in suicidal tendency, anxiety, conduct disorders, substance abuse, and continue to be depressed, later on in life. This study was conducted to identify the prevalence and correlates of depression among adolescent girls in Riyadh city in order to carry out early intervention. Methods: A cross‑sectional, school‑based survey was conducted among 1028 adolescent girls aged 15–19 years in secondary schools of Riyadh city. Riyadh was divided into clusters and within each cluster, both public and private schools were enrolled. From the selected schools students from grade 10–12 were surveyed. Survey was conducted using a structured questionnaire including the beck depression inventory‑II, and questions exploring the correlates of depression. Results: About 30% of participants were found to be depressed. Depression was more prevalent among female adolescents whose household income was inferior to 12,000 Saudi Riyal/month (odds ratio [OR] 2.17, confidence interval [CI] 0.97–6.84), did not have a good relationship with peers and family members (OR 4.63, CI 2.56–8.41), lived with single parent or alone (OR 1.77, CI 0.97–3.23), had been emotionally abused (OR 3.45, CI 2.56–8.41), and those who had been subjected to physical violence at least once (OR 3.34, CI 1.89–5.91). Conclusions: Strategies need to be developed to identify early signs and symptoms of depression among Saudi female adolescents. Training can be given to groups of students to help their peers, and also to the teachers to identify, and help students identify early signs of depression and provide them with better‑coping strategies to combat progression of depression and anxiety among such adolescents.

Keywords: adolescents, depression, Saudi Arabia, mental health

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Authors: Abimbola Olaotan Akinsete

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Government all over the world has intensified efforts in making internet and resource centres readily available in public institutions and centres for the advancement of humanity and working processes. Information and communication resource centre will not only help in the reduction of task that are presumed to be herculean. This centres influenced the working rate and productivity of both staffs and students and its benefit. The utilization of the internet and information resource centre will not only speed up service delivery, working time and efficiency of the system. Information and Communication Technology plays significant roles in presenting equalization strategy for developing university community and improving educational service delivery. This equalization will not only advance, accelerate and ensure results are accessed electronically, ensuring the transfer and confirmation of students’ academic records and their results in the world without physically available to request for these services. This study seeks to make Critical Appraisal of Adekunle Ajasin University Policy on Internet Resource Centre in Service Delivery Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko, Ondo State. The study employ descriptive survey design method in identifying hindrances of the non-utilization of technology in the service delivery in the university. Findings revealed that the adoption of internet and resource centre in the Exams and Records unit of the University shall help in delivering more in students’ records/results processing.

Keywords: internet, resource, centre, policy and service delivery

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Authors: Raheel Shakoor Siddiqui, Sanjay Narayana Murthy, Manikandar Srinivas Cheruvu, Kash Akhtar

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Major trauma is a dynamic public health epidemic that is continuously evolving. Major trauma care services rely on multi-disciplinary team input involving highly trained pre and in-hospital critical care teams. Pre-hospital critical care teams (PHCCTs), major trauma centres (MTCs), trauma units, and rehabilitation facilities all form an efficient and organised trauma system. England comprises 27 MTCs funded by the National Health Service (NHS). Major trauma care entails enhanced resuscitation protocols coupled with the expertise of dedicated trauma teams and rapid radiological imaging to improve trauma outcomes. Literature reports a change in the demographic of major trauma as elderly patients (silver trauma) with injuries sustained from a fall of 2 metres or less commonly present to services. Evidence of an increasing population age with multiple comorbidities necessitates treatment within the first hour of injury (golden hour) to improve trauma survival outcomes. Staffing and funding pressures within the NHS have subsequently led to a shortfall of available physician-led PHCCTs. Thus, there is a strong emphasis on targeted research and funding to appropriately deploy resources to deprived areas. This review article will discuss the current English trauma system whilst critically appraising present challenges, identifying insufficiencies, and recommending aims for an improved future trauma system in England.

Keywords: trauma, orthopaedics, major trauma, trauma system, trauma network

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Authors: Rahmoune Abdelhaq

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Systemic risk is a key concern for central banks charged with safeguarding overall financial stability. In this work, we investigate how systemic risk is affected by the structure of the financial system. We construct banking systems that are composed of a number of banks that are connected by interbank linkages. We then vary the key parameters that define the structure of the financial system — including its level of capitalization, the degree to which banks are connected, the size of interbank exposures and the degree of concentration of the system — and analyses the influence of these parameters on the likelihood of contagious (knock-on) defaults. First, we find that the better-capitalized banks are, the more resilient is the banking system against contagious defaults and this effect is non-linear. Second, the effect of the degree of connectivity is non-monotonic, that is, initially a small increase in connectivity increases the contagion effect; but after a certain threshold value, connectivity improves the ability of a banking system to absorb shocks. Third, the size of interbank liabilities tends to increase the risk of knock-on default, even if banks hold capital against such exposures. Fourth, more concentrated banking systems are shown to be prone to larger systemic risk, all else equal. In an extension to the main analysis, we study how liquidity effects interact with banking structure to produce a greater chance of systemic breakdown. We finally consider how the risk of contagion might depend on the degree of asymmetry (tier) inherent in the structure of the banking system. A number of our results have important implications for public policy, which this paper also draws out. This paper also discusses why bank risk management is needed to get the optimal one.

Keywords: financial stability, contagion, liquidity risk, optimal risk

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Authors: Alexandre Olkoski, Marcelo Curth

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Football in Brazil is considered a passion, being the most popular sport in the country, both by the consumer public and by the means of communication that divulge it individually, when compared with other sports modalities. In the last two decades, the soccer teams have given greater importance to the management, since they understood that the same should be managed as a company, but with peculiarities related to the business. In this sense, Brazilian soccer clubs started to make bigger investments for the adhesion of fans in their social frames, allowing a greater need of understanding about the profile of this group of fans/clients. Thus, this work aims to understand the reasons that cause the fans to join the club and identify variables present in the process of intention to join the club. For that, a qualitative exploratory research was conducted, in which thirty-one membership of a soccer club from southern Brazil were interviewed. Based on the interviews, five categories were classified as emotional aspects (passion and love), cognitive aspects (easy access to the stadium and promotional values in tickets), external influences (family and friends), situational aspects (club moment) and aspects related to the event (engagement by modality). As results found in the analysis, it can be highlighted that the motivation of the majority of the respondents to become a member of the analyzed club, is related to the emotional aspects, such as passion and love. Thus, it is perceived that sport, in the case of soccer, generates in the involved ones (fans and leaders) different manifestations, suggesting that the management of this type of business has great complexity and should not be observed only by the spectrum of the club like a business.

Keywords: consumer behavior, marketing, membership, soccer

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Authors: Abdul Rauf, Xiaoxing Liu, Rizwan Qaisar Danish, Waqas Amin

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The core intention of this study is to analyze the linkage of training, job attitudes and motivation through a mediation model in the banking sector of Pakistan. Moreover, this study is executed to answer a range of queries regarding the consideration of employees about training, job satisfaction, motivation and organizational commitment. Hence, the association of training with job satisfaction, job satisfaction with motivation, organizational commitment with job satisfaction, organization commitment as independently with motivation and training directly related to motivation is determined in this course of study. A questionnaire crafted for comprehending the purpose of this study by including four variables such as training, job satisfaction, motivation and organizational commitment which have to measure. A sample of 450 employees from seventeen private (17) banks and two (2) public banks was taken on the basis of convenience sampling from Pakistan. However, 357 questionnaires, completely filled were received back. AMOS used for assessing the conformity factor analysis (CFA) model and statistical techniques practiced to scan the collected data (i.e.) descriptive statistics, regression analysis and correlation analysis. The empirical findings revealed that training and organizational commitment has a significant and positive impact directly on job satisfaction and motivation as well as through the mediator (job satisfaction) also the impact sensing in the same way on the motivation of employees in the financial Banks of Pakistan. In this research study, the banking sector is under discussion, so the findings could not generalize on other sectors such as manufacturing, textiles, telecom, and medicine, etc. The low sample size is also the limitation of this study. On the foundation of these results the management fascinates to make the revised strategies regarding training program for the employees as it enhances their motivation level, and job satisfaction on a regular basis.

Keywords: job satisfaction, motivation, organizational commitment, Pakistan, training

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Authors: Juvanie C. Lapesigue

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Worldwide school closures result from a significant public health crisis that has affected the nation and the entire world. It has affected students, educators, educational organizations globally, and many other aspects of society. Academic institutions worldwide teach students using diverse approaches of various learning delivery modes. This paper investigates the competence and performance of physical education teachers using various learning delivery modes, including Distance learning, Blended Learning, and Homeschooling during online distance education. To identify the Gap between their age generation using various learning delivery that affects teachers' preparation for distance learning and evaluates how these modalities impact teachers’ competence and performance in the case of a pandemic. The respondents were the Senior High School teachers of the Department of Education who taught in Davao City before and during the pandemic. Purposive sampling was utilized on 61 Senior High School Teachers in Davao City Philippines. The result indicated that teaching performance based on pedagogy and assessment has significantly affected teaching performance in teaching physical education, particularly those Non-PE teachers teaching physical education subjects. It should be supplied with enhancement training workshops to help them be more successful in preparation in terms of teaching pedagogy and assessment in the following norm. Hence, a proposed unique training design for non-P.E. Teachers has been created to improve the teachers’ performance in terms of pedagogy and assessment in teaching P.E subjects in various learning delivery modes in the next normal.

Keywords: distance learning, learning delivery modes, P.E teachers, senior high school, teaching competence, teaching performance

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Authors: Joleen L. H. Lee, K. F. Yen, Janette W. P. Ng, D. Woon, Mandy M. Y. Lau, Ivan M. H. Woo, S. N. Goh

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Case assignment systems are created to meet a need for equity in work distribution and better match between medical social workers' (MSWs) competencies and patients' problems. However, there is no known study that has explored how MSWs in Singapore assign cases to achieve equity in work distribution. Focus group discussions were conducted with MSWs from public hospitals to understand their perception on equitable workload and case allocation. Three approaches to case allocation were found. First is the point system where points are allocated to cases based on a checklist of presenting issues identified most of the time by non-MSWs. Intensity of case is taken into consideration, but allocation of points is often subject to variation in appreciation of roles of MSWs by the source of referral. Second is the round robin system, where all MSWs are allocated cases based on a roster. This approach resulted in perceived equity due to element of luck, but it does not match case complexity with competencies of MSWs. Third approach is unit-based allocation, where MSWs are assigned to attend to cases from specific unit. This approach helps facilitate specialization among MSWs but may result in MSWs having difficulty providing transdisciplinary care due to narrow set of knowledge and skills. Trade-offs resulted across existing approaches for case allocation by MSWs. Conversations are needed among Singapore MSWs to decide on a case allocation system that comes with trade-offs that are acceptable for patients and other key stakeholders of the care delivery system.

Keywords: case allocation, equity, medical social worker, work distribution

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Authors: Lin Zhang

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The fear of leprosy has been longstanding throughout the human history. In an era where isolation is practiced as a means of epidemic prevention, the leprosy rehabilitation group has itself become an isolated community with an entrenched metaphor. In the process of new mediatization of the leprosy isolation community, what are the relations among media literacy, the leprosy internalized stigma and social support? To address the question, the “portrait” of leprosy rehabilitation group is re-delineated through two field studies in the “post-leprosy age” in 2012 and 2020, respectively. Taking an isolation community on Si’an Leprosy Island in Dongguan City, Guangdong Province, China as the study object, it is found that new media promotes the dissolution of segregation effect of the leprosy isolation community and the cultivation of opinion leaders by breaking spatial, psychological and social segregation and by building a community of village affairs and public space in the following way: the cured patients with high new media literacy, especially those who use WeChat and other applications and largely rely on new media for information, have a low level of leprosy internalized stigma and a high level of social support, and they are often the opinion leaders inside their community; on the contrary, the cured patients with low new media literacy, a high level of leprosy internalized stigma and a low level of social support are often the followers inside their community. Such effects of dissolution and construction are reflected not only in the vertical differentiation of the same individual at different times, but also in the horizontal differentiation between different individuals at the same time.

Keywords: segregation, the leprosy rehabilitation group, new mediatization, digital empowerment, opinion leaders

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Authors: Amadou Darboe, Kuo Hsien-Wen

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Background/Objective: The Effort-Reward Imbalance (ERI) model by Siegrist et al (1986) have been widely used to examine the relationship between psychosocial factors at work and health. It claimed that failed reciprocity in terms of high efforts and low rewards elicits strong negative emotions in combination with sustained autonomic activation and is hazardous to health. The aim of this study is to identify the association between Self-rated Health and Effort-reward Imbalance (ERI) among Nurses and Environmental Health officers in the Gambia. Method: a cross-sectional study was conducted using a multi-stage random sampling of 296 healthcare professionals (206 nurses and 90 environmental health officers) working in public health facilities. The 22 items Effort-reward imbalance questionnaire (ERI-L version 22.11.2012) will be used to collect data on the psychosocial factors defined by the model. In addition, self-rated health will be assessed by using structured questionnaires containing Likert scale items. Results: We found that self-rated health among environmental health officers has a significant negative correlation with extrinsic effort and a positive significant correlations with occupational reward and job satisfaction. However, among the nurses only job satisfaction was significantly correlated with self-rated health and was positive. Overall, Extrinsic effort has a significant negative correlation with reward and job satisfaction but a positive correlation with over-commitment. Conclusion: Because low reward and high over-commitment among the nursing group, It is necessary to modify working conditions through improving psychosocial factors, such as reasonable allocation of resources to increase pay or rewards from government.

Keywords: effort-reward imbalance model, healthcare professionals, self-rated health

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Authors: Luciano Tarantino

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Gas gangrene is a rare, severe infection with a very high mortality rate caused by Clostridium species. The infection causes a non-suppurative localized producing gas lesion from which harmful toxins that impair the inflammatory response cause vessel damage and multiple organ failure. Gas gangrene of the liver is very rare and develops suddenly, often as a complication of abdominal surgery and liver transplantation. The present paper deals with a case of gas gangrene of the liver that occurred after percutaneous MW ablation of hepatocellular carcinoma, resulting in progressive liver necrosis and multi-organ failure in spite of specific antibiotics administration. The patient was successfully treated with percutaneous Radiofrequency ablation. Case report: Female, 76 years old, Child A class cirrhosis, treated with synchronous insertion of 3 MW antennae for large HCC (5.5 cm) in the VIII segment. 24 hours after treatment, the patient was asymptomatic and left the hospital . 2 days later, she complained of fever, weakness, abdominal swelling, and pain. Abdominal US detected a 2.3 cm in size gas-containing area, eccentric within the large (7 cm) ablated area. The patient was promptly hospitalized with the diagnosis of anaerobic liver abscess and started antibiotic therapy with Imipenem/cilastatine+metronidazole+teicoplanine. On the fourth day, the patient was moved to the ICU because of dyspnea, congestive heart failure, atrial fibrillation, right pleural effusion, ascites, and renal failure. Blood tests demonstrated severe leukopenia and neutropenia, anemia, increased creatinine and blood nitrogen, high-level FDP, and high INR. Blood cultures were negative. At US, unenhanced CT, and CEUS, a progressive enlargement of the infected liver lesion was observed. Percutaneous drainage was attempted, but only drops of non-suppurative brownish material could be obtained. Pleural and peritoneal drainages gave serosanguineous muddy fluid. The Surgeon and the Anesthesiologist excluded any indication of surgical resection because of the high perioperative mortality risk. Therefore, we asked for the informed consent of the patient and her relatives to treat the gangrenous liver lesion by percutaneous Ablation. Under conscious sedation, percutaneous RFA of GG was performed by double insertion of 3 cool-tip needles (Covidien LDT, USA ) into the infected area. The procedure was well tolerated by the patient. A dramatic improvement in the patient's condition was observed in the subsequent 24 hours and thereafter. Fever and dyspnea disappeared. Normalization of blood tests, including creatinine, was observed within 4 days. Heart performance improved, 10 days after the RFA the patient left the hospital and was followed-up with weekly as an outpatient for 2 months and every two months thereafter. At 18 months follow-up, the patient is well compensated (Child-Pugh class B7), without any peritoneal or pleural effusion and without any HCC recurrence at imaging (US every 3 months, CT every 6 months). Percutaneous RFA could be a valuable therapy of focal GG of the liver in patients non-responder to antibiotics and when surgery and liver transplantation are not feasible. A fast and early indication is needed in case of rapid worsening of patient's conditions.

Keywords: liver tumor ablation, interventional ultrasound, liver infection, gas gangrene, radiofrequency ablation

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Authors: Chimmoe Fomo Michelle Larissa

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The challenges of cybersecurity in Africa are increasingly significant as the continent undergoes rapid digital transformation. With the rise of internet connectivity, mobile phone usage, and digital financial services, Africa faces unique cybersecurity threats. The significance of this study lies in understanding these threats and the multifaceted challenges that hinder effective cybersecurity measures across the continent. The methodologies employed in this study include a comprehensive analysis of existing cybersecurity frameworks in various African countries, surveys of key stakeholders in the digital ecosystem, and case studies of cybersecurity incidents. These methodologies aim to provide a detailed understanding of the current cybersecurity landscape, identify gaps in existing policies, and evaluate the effectiveness of implemented security measures. Major findings of the study indicate that Africa faces numerous cybersecurity challenges, including inadequate regulatory frameworks, insufficient cybersecurity awareness, and a shortage of skilled professionals. Additionally, the prevalence of cybercrime, such as financial fraud, data breaches, and ransomware attacks, exacerbates the situation. The study also highlights the role of international cooperation and regional collaboration in addressing these challenges and improving overall cybersecurity resilience. In conclusion, addressing cybersecurity challenges in Africa requires a multifaceted approach that involves strengthening regulatory frameworks, enhancing public awareness, and investing in cybersecurity education and training. The study underscores the importance of regional and international collaboration in building a robust cybersecurity infrastructure capable of mitigating the risks associated with the continent's digital growth.

Keywords: Africa, cybersecurity, challenges, digital infrastructure, cybercrime

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Authors: Sahar Esmaeili, Ramezanali Ghaderi sanavi, Masoomeh Maarefvand, Samaneh Hosseinzadeh

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Introduction: Conducted researches reveal that nowadays, 60 percent of women around the world are the households. The adverse economic condition causes female-headed households and their children to be the most vulnerable people against social harm. Mainly a symptoms of mental illness such as depression, anxiety, obsession and aggression can be seen in female-headed households and their children are potentially exposed to issues such as crime-work, child labor in the black and informal jobs, education deprivation and malnutrition. The aim of this study is to evaluate the effect of Orem self-care education with the FGC technique on the public health of female-headed households. Methods: Sixty-four Female-headed householders who were supported by Saleh Foundation participated in a clinical trial study and were assigned to the case (n=32) and control (n=32) groups. The case group received 4-session Orem’s self-care education with family group conferencing technique. Data were collected using the demographic questionnaire and General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-28) prior to intervention and post-intervention. ANOVA was used to evaluate outcomes. Results: The results showed significant improvement of the intervention group in GHQ (P<0.001) and subscales of Physical Health (P<0.001) Agitation and Insomnia (P<0.001) and Social disorder (P<0.001) and Depression (P<0.001) compared with the control group after the intervention. Conclusion: The intervention of Orem’s self-care education with family group conferencing technique was effective in improving the General Health of Female-headed households

Keywords: orem’s self-care, female-headed households, general health, group

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Authors: A. Al Hinai, H. Jayasuriya, H. Kotagama

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Most Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries with oil-based economy like Oman are looking for other potential revenue generation options as the crude oil price is regularly fluctuating due to changing geopolitical environment. Oman has advantage of possessing world-heritage nature tourism hotspots around the country and the government is making investments and strategies to uplift the tourism industry following Oman Vision 2040 strategies. Oman’s agriculture is not significantly contributing to the economy, but possesses specific and diversified arid cropping systems. Oman has modern farms; nevertheless some of the agricultural production activities are done with cultural practices and styles that would be attractive to tourists. The aim of this paper is to investigate the potentials for promoting agritourism industry in Oman; recognize potential sites, commodities and activities, and predict potential revenue generation as a projection from that of the tourism sector. Moreover, the study enables to foresee possible auxiliary advantages of agritourism such as, empowerment of women and youth, enhancement in the value-addition industry for agricultural produce through technology transfer and capacity building, and producing export quality products. Agritourism could increase employability, empowerment of women and youth, improve value-addition industry and export-oriented agribusiness. These efforts including provision of necessary technology-transfer and capacity-building should be rendered by the collaboration of academic institutions, relevant ministries and other public and private sector stakeholders.

Keywords: agritourism, nature-based tourism, potentials, revenue generation, value addition

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Authors: Eugene Mashapa

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The age of information has witnessed countless unprecedented technological developments, which signal the articulation of succinct technological capabilities that can match these cutting-edge technological trends. These changes have impacted patterns in the production, distribution, and consumption of media content, a space that the Film and Publication Board (FPB) is concerned with. Consequently, the FPB is keen to understand the nature and impact of these technological changes on media content regulation. This exploratory study sought to investigate how content regulators in high and middle-income economies have adapted to the changes in this space, seeking insights into innovations, technological and operational, that facilitate continued relevance during this fast-changing environment. The study is aimed at developing recommendations that could assist and inform the organisation in regulating media content as it evolves. Thus, the overall research strategy in this analysis is applied research, and the analytical model adopted is a mixed research design guided by both qualitative and quantitative research instruments. It was revealed in the study that the FPB was significantly impacted by the unprecedented technological advancements in the media regulation space. Additionally, there exists a need for the FPB to understand the current and future penetrations of 4IR technology in the industry and its impact on media governance and policy implementation. This will range from reskilling officials to align with the technological skills to developing technological innovations as well as adopting co-regulatory or self-regulatory arrangements together with content distributors, where more content is distributed in higher volumes and with increased frequency. Importantly, initiating an interactive learning process for both FPB employees and the general public can assist the regulator and improve FPB’s operational efficiency and effectiveness.

Keywords: media, regulation, technology, film and publications board

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Authors: Seyedfateh Moradi, Abas Ali Rahbar

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The present study focuses on investigating group psychoanalysis in the Middle East. The study uses a descriptive-analytic method and library resources have been used to collect the data. Additionally, the researcher’s observations of people’s everyday behavior have played an important role in the production and analysis of the study. Group psychoanalysis in the Middle East can be conducted through people’s daily behaviors, proverbs, poetry, mythology, etc., and some of the general characteristics of people in the Middle East include: xenophobia, revivalism, fatalism, nostalgic, wills and so on. Members of the group have often failed to achieve Libido wills and it is very important in unifying and reproduction violence. Therefore, if libidinal wills are irrationally fixed, it will be important in forming fundamentalist and racist groups, a situation that is dominant among many groups in the Middle East. Adversities, from early childhood and afterwards, in the subjects have always been influential in the political behavior of group members, and it manifests itself as counter-projections. Consequently, it affects the foreign policy of the governments. On the other hand, two kinds of subjects are identifiable in the Middle East, one; classical subject that is related to nostalgia and mythology and, two; modern subjects which is self-alienated. As a result, both subjects are seeking identity and self-expression in public in relation to forming groups. Therefore, collective unconscious in the Middle East shows itself as extreme boundaries and leads to forming groups characterized with violence. Psychoanalysis shows important aspects to identify many developments in the Middle East; totally analysis of Freud, Carl Jung and Reich about groups can be applied in the present Middle East.

Keywords: political, psychoanalysis, group, Middle East

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Authors: Shannon Clayton

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In an effort to explore the potential transformation of North American postwar suburbs, this M.Arch thesis actively engages in the ongoing critique of modernism from the mid 20th century to the present. Contemporary urban design practice has emerged out of the reaction to orthodox modernism. Typically, new suburban development falls into one of two strategies; an attempt to replicate pre-war fabric that never existed, or a reliance on high-density to create instant urbanism. In both cases, the critical role of architecture has been grossly undervalued. Ironically, it is the denial of suburbia’s inherent modernity that has served to prevent genuine place-making. As history demonstrates, modernism is not antithetical to architecture and place. In the postwar years, a critical discussion emerged amongst architects, which sought to evolve modernism beyond functionalism. This was demonstrated through critical discussions on image, experience, and monumentality. As well as increased interest in civic space, and investigations into mat urbanism and the megastructure. The undercurrent within these explorations was a belief that the scale and complexity of modern development could become an opportunity to create urbanism, rather than squander it. This critical discourse has continued through architectural work in the Netherlands and Denmark since the early 1990s, where an emphasis on visual variety, human scale, and public interaction has been given high priority. This thesis applies principles from this ongoing dialogue, and identifies hidden potential within existing North American suburban networks. As a result, the project re-evaluates the legacy of the master plan from a contemporary perspective.

Keywords: urbanism, modernism, suburbia, place-making

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Authors: Veronika Solopova, Oana-Iuliana Popescu, Tim Landgraf, Christoph Benzmüller

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Beginning in 2014, slowly building geopolitical tensions in Eastern Europe led to a full-blown conflict between the Russian Federation and Ukraine that generated an unprecedented amount of news articles and data from social media data, reflecting the opposing ideologies and narratives as a background and the essence of the ongoing war. These polarized informational campaigns have led to countless mutual accusations of misinformation and fake news, shaping an atmosphere of confusion and mistrust for many readers all over the world. In this study, we analyzed scraped news articles from Ukrainian, Russian, Romanian and English-speaking news outlets, on the eve of 24th of February 2022, compared to day five of the conflict (28th of February), to see how the media influenced and mirrored the changes in public opinion. We also contrast the sources opposing and supporting the stands of the Russian government in Ukrainian, Russian and Romanian media spaces. In a data-driven way, we describe how the narratives are spread throughout Eastern and Central Europe. We present predictive linguistic features surrounding war propaganda. Our results indicate that there are strong similarities in terms of rhetoric strategies in the pro-Kremlin media in both Ukraine and Russia, which, while being relatively neutral according to surface structure, use aggressive vocabulary. This suggests that automatic propaganda identification systems have to be tailored for each new case, as they have to rely on situationally specific words. Both Ukrainian and Russian outlets lean towards strongly opinionated news, pointing towards the use of war propaganda in order to achieve strategic goals.

Keywords: linguistic, news, propaganda, Russia, ukraine

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Authors: Shantanu Prakash, Suruchi Shukla, Amita Jain

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Introduction: The hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a major public health problem and a leading cause of chronic liver disease. Injection drug use and individuals receiving blood and blood products are the primary modes of HCV transmission. Our study aims to establish the prevalent genotypes/ subtypes of HCV circulating in Uttar Pradesh, North India, as reported from a tertiary care hospital. Methods: It is a retrospective observational analysis of consecutive 404 HCV RNA positive cases referred to our hospital during September 2014 to April 2017. The study was approved by an institutional ethics committee. Written informed consent was taken from each participant. Clinical and demographic details of these patients were recorded using predesigned questionnaires. All the laboratory testing was carried on stored serum sample of enrolled cases. Genotyping of all 404 strains was done by Sanger’s sequencing of the core region. The phylogenetic analysis of 179 HCV strains with high -quality sequencing data was performed. Results: The distribution of prevalent genotypes/ subtypes as noted in the present study was; Genotype (GT)1a [n-101(25%)], GT1b [n-12(2.9%)], GT1c [1(0.25%)], GT3a [275(68.07%)], GT3b [9(2.2%)], GT3g [2(0.49%)], GT3i [3(0.74%)], and GT4a [1(0.24%)]. HCV genotypes GT2, GT5 and GT6 were not detected from our region. Sequence analysis showed high genotypic variability in HCV GT3. Phylogenetic analysis showed that HCV GT3 and GT1 circulating in our region were related to Indian strains reported earlier. Conclusions: HCV genotypes 3a and 1a are commonest circulating genotypes in Uttar Pradesh (UP), India.

Keywords: Hepatitis C virus, genetic variation, bioinformatics, genotype, HCV

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Authors: Christantus Begealawuh Nchongayi

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As clearly stated in goal 14 of sustainable development goals, global oceans greatly contribute to making the earth habitable for mankind. This explains why ocean governance is an important global concern today. The emerging maritime security problems and the impact of climate change on African oceans, evidenced by tropical cyclones as seen recently in the Southern region of Africa, is also an indication that maritime governance and policymaking are important elements of peace and security in Africa. Within the last decade, there have been commendable efforts towards maritime governance and policymaking in Africa, although implementation of existing maritime policies is still lacking. This paper provides a snapshot of the overall state of the maritime policymaking process in Africa. It specifically explores the challenges facing policymakers in developing national and regional maritime security strategy in the East African Community. For methodology, the paper relied on primary and secondary data. Primary data was collected from informal discussions with policymakers and key policy-making bodies in Africa, and from a survey of public opinions. The study found that the Africa Integrated Maritime Strategy (2050 AIMS) is a recent template for regional and national maritime security policymaking in Africa and that although maritime security has in the past not been prioritized in the security agenda of the East African Community, developing and aligning a regional maritime security strategy to the 2050 AIMS will result to positive regional integration outcomes in East Africa.

Keywords: 2050 Africa integrated maritime strategy, east African community, maritime policy-making, maritime security

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Authors: Md. Kamrul Hassan, Ari Pappinen

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Wood energy is the single most important form of renewable energy in many parts of the world especially in the least developing countries in South Asia like Bangladesh. The last portion of the national population of this country depends on wood energy for their daily primary energy need. This paper deals with the estimation of wood fuel at the current level and identifies the challenges and strategies related to the development of this resource. Desk research, interactive research and field survey were conducted for gathering and analyzing of data for this study. The study revealed that wood fuel plays a significant role in total primary energy supply in Bangladesh, and the contribution of wood fuel in final energy consumption in 2013 was about 24%. Trees on homestead areas, secondary plantation on off forest lands, and forests are the main sources of supplying wood fuel in the country. Insufficient supply of wood fuel against high upward demand is the main cause of concern for sustainable consumption, which eventually leads deterioration and depletion of the resources. Inadequate afforestation programme, lack of initiatives towards the utilization of set-aside lands for wood energy plantations, and inefficient management of the existing resources have been identified as the major impediments to the development of wood energy in Bangladesh. The study argued that enhancement of public-private-partnership afforestation programmes, intensifying the waste and marginal lands with short-rotation tree species, and formulation of biomass-based rural energy strategies at the regional level are relevant to the promotion of sustainable wood energy in the country.

Keywords: Bangladesh, challenge, supply, wood energy

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Authors: Carolyne Ndungu, Wesley Too, Diana Kassaman

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Diabetes is a global public health problem with an increasing morbidity and mortality rate across the globe. It is reported that 422 million people worldwide have diabetes with type 2 diabetes more common in people of African descent. Whilst prevalence of diabetes is four times more than it was in the last three decades, making it the world's ninth greatest cause of mortality, treatment of complications resulting from poor glycemic control is still high, contributing to poverty level in sub-Saharan. Poor treatment adherence has also been identified as a major contributing factor poor glycemic control among diabetic patients and still remains a significant challenge especially among patients living in rural Kenya. This study therefore seeks to identify gaps, barriers and challenges towards medication non-adherence among diabetic patients on follow-up at Kiambu County Referral Hospital, Kenya. Methods: A cross- sectional descriptive study was carried out at Gatundu Level five Hospital in Kiambu County. The study population consisted of adult patients with type two diabetes mellitus (T2DM) on follow up, at the Diabetes clinic between the month of June to July 2022. Systematic sampling of 200 participants was carried out. Ethical approvals from relevant authorities were done and ethical aspects of the study were also observed. Data analysis is ongoing using logistic regression analysis. Results, recommendations -contribution of this study will be highlighted within the next one month.

Keywords: adherence, diabetes, medication, Kenya

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Authors: Satya Eswari Jujjavarapu, Swast Dhagat

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Contagious diseases enact severe public health problems and have upsetting consequences. The cyclic lipopeptides explained by bacteria Bacillus, Paenibacillus, Pseudomonas, Streptomyces, Serratia, Propionibacterium and fungus Fusarium are very critical in confining the pathogens. As the degree of drug resistance upsurges in unparalleled manner, the perseverance of searching novel cyclic lipopeptides is being professed. The intense study has shown the implication of these bioactive compounds extending beyond antibacterial and antifungal. Lipopeptides, composed of single units of peptide and fatty acyl moiety, show broad spectrum antimicrobial effects. Among the surplus of cyclic lipopeptides, only few have materialized as strong antibiotics. For their functional vigor, polymyxin, daptomycin, surfactin, iturin and bacillomycin have been integrated in mainstream healthcare. In our work daptomycin has been a major part of antimicrobial resource since the past decade. Daptomycin, a cyclic lipopeptide consists of 13-member amino acid with a decanoyl side-chain. This structure of daptomycin confers it the mechanism of action through which it forms pore in the bacterial cell membrane resulting in the death of cell. Daptomycin is produced by Streptococccus roseoporus and acts against Streptococcus pneumonia (PSRP), methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE). The PDB structure and ligands of daptomycin are available online. The molecular docking studies of these ligands with the lipopeptides were performed and their docking score and glide energy were recorded.

Keywords: daptomycin, molecular docking, structure-based drug design, lipopeptide

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Authors: Luiz Drude de Lacerda, Kevin Luiz Cordeiro Ferrer do Carmo, Victor Lacerda Moura, Rayone Wesley Santos de Oliveira, Moisés Fernandes Bezerra

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Fish is a food source well recognized for its health benefits. However, the consumption of fish, especially carnivorous species, is the main path of human exposure to Hg, a widely distributed pollutant on the planet and that accumulates along food chains. Studies on the impacts on public health by fish intake show existing toxic risks even when at low concentrations. This study quantifies, for the first time, the concentrations of Hg in muscle tissue of the nine most commercialized fish species in the fish market of São Luís (MA) in north Brazil and estimates the consequent human exposure through consumption. Concentrations varied according to trophic level, with the highest found in the larger carnivorous species; the Yellow hake (Cynoscion acoupa) (296.4 ± 241.2 ng/g w.w) and the Atlantic croaker (Micropogonias undulatus) (262.8 ± 89.1 ng/g w.w.), whereas the lowest concentrations were recorded in iliophagous Mullets (Mugil curema) (20.5 ± 9.6 ng/g w.w.). Significant correlations were observed between Hg concentrations and individual length in only two species: the Flaming catfish (Bagre marinus) and the Atlantic bumper (Chloroscombrus crysurus). Given the relatively uniform size of individuals of the other species and/or the small number of samples, this relationship was not found for the other species. The estimated risk coefficients, despite the relatively low concentrations of Hg, suggest that yellow hake and Whitemouth croaker (Micropogonias furnieri), fish most consumed by the local population, present some risk to human health (> 1) HQ and THQ, depending on the frequency of their consumption.

Keywords: contamination, fish, human exposure, risk assessment

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Authors: Lormaine Anne A. Branzuela, Elysa V. Largo, Monet Concepcion M. Detras, Neil C. Concibido

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The electricity demand is still increasing, and currently, the Philippine government is investigating the feasibility of operating the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP) to address the country’s energy problem. However, the lack of process safety studies on BNPP focused on the effects of hazardous substances on the integrity of the structure, equipment, and other components, have made the plant operationalization questionable to the public. The three major nuclear power plant incidents – TMI-2, Chernobyl, and Fukushima – have made many people hesitant to include nuclear energy in the energy matrix. This study focused on the safety evaluation of possible operations of a nuclear power plant installed with a Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR), which is similar to BNPP. Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA) is one of the Process Hazard Analysis (PHA) techniques used for the identification of equipment failure modes and minimizing its consequences. Using the FMEA technique, this study was able to recognize 116 different failure modes in total. Upon computation and ranking of the risk priority number (RPN) and criticality rating (CR), it showed that failure of the reactor coolant pump due to earthquakes is the most critical failure mode. This hazard scenario could lead to a nuclear meltdown and radioactive release, as identified by the FMEA team. Safeguards and recommended risk reduction strategies to lower the RPN and CR were identified such that the effects are minimized, the likelihood of occurrence is reduced, and failure detection is improved.

Keywords: PHA, FMEA, nuclear power plant, bataan nuclear power plant

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Authors: Andras Gyorfi, Andras Torma, Adrienn Buruzs

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Mobility has been evolved to a determining field of science. The continuously developing segment involves a variety of affected issues such as public and economic sectors. Beside the changes in mobility the state of environment had also changed in the last period. Alternative mobility as a separate category and the idea of its widespread appliance is such a new field that needs to be studied deeper. Alternative mobility implies finding new types of propulsion, using innovative kinds of power and energy resources, revolutionizing the approach to vehicular control. Including new resources and excluding others has such a complex effect which cannot be unequivocally confirmed by today’s scientific achievements. Changes in specific parameters will most likely reduce the environmental impacts, however, the production of new substances or even their subtraction of the system will cause probably energy deficit as well. The aim of this research is to elaborate the environmental impact matrix of alternative mobility and cognize the factors that are yet unknown, analyse them, look for alternative solutions and conclude all the above in a coherent system. In order to this, we analyse it with a method called ‘the system of systems (SoS) method’ to model the effects and the dynamics of the system. A part of the research process is to examine its impacts on the environment, and to decide whether the newly developed versions of alternative mobility are affecting the environmental state. As a final result, a complex approach will be used which can supplement the current scientific studies. By using the SoS approach, we create a framework of reference containing elements in which we examine the interactions as well. In such a way, a flexible and modular model can be established which supports the prioritizing of effects and the deeper analysis of the complex system.

Keywords: environment, alternative mobility, complex model, element analysis, multidimensional map

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Authors: Adel Mohamed El-Baghdady, Walid Sayed Abdulgalil, Ahmad Asran, Ibrahim Nosier

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This paper studies the effectiveness of applying value engineering to actual concrete mixtures. The study was conducted in the State of Qatar on a number of strategic construction projects with international engineering specifications for the 2022 World Cup projects. The study examined the concrete mixtures of Doha Metro project and the development of KAHRAMAA’s (Qatar Electricity and Water Company) Abu Funtas Strategic Desalination Plant, in order to generally improve the quality and productivity of ready-mixed concrete used in construction and hydraulic projects. The application of value engineering to such concrete mixtures resulted in the following: i) improving the quality of concrete mixtures and increasing the durability of buildings in which they are used; ii) reducing the waste of excess materials of concrete mixture, optimizing the use of resources, and enhancing sustainability; iii) reducing the use of cement, thus reducing CO₂ emissions which ensures the protection of environment and public health; iv) reducing actual costs of concrete mixtures and, in turn, reducing the costs of construction projects; and v) increasing the market share and competitiveness of concrete producers. This research shows that applying the methodology of value engineering to ready-mixed concrete is an effective way to save around 5% of the total cost of concrete mixtures supplied to construction and hydraulic projects, improve the quality according to the technical requirements and as per the standards and specifications for ready-mixed concrete, improve the environmental impact, and promote sustainability.

Keywords: value management, cost of concrete, performance, optimization, sustainability, environmental impact

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