Search results for: social patterns

Authors: Siyu Chen, Yuqiu Wei

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With the issue of climate warming attracting much concern on a global scale, the potential of the construction industry in sustainable development and reducing carbon emissions is being tapped, gradually becoming a significant force in driving the development of a green economy. In this study, two specific cases, the cafeteria, and the production workshop, are selected as the research objects, utilizing the DongHe Building Carbon Emission Calculation and Analysis Software to compare carbon emissions from reinforced concrete frame structures and lightweight steel frame structures over their entire life cycles. Life cycle assessment (LCA) is adopted as the cornerstone of the study, which helps to carry out systematic research; meanwhile, the method of carbon emission factors is combined to quantitatively analyze the differences in carbon emissions between the two. The findings indicate that carbon emissions of reinforced concrete frame buildings (life-cycle carbon emissions of 3719.08kgCO₂e/m²) are 17.56% higher than those of lightweight steel frame buildings (life-cycle carbon emissions of 2694.93kgCO₂e/m²) in the phase of production of building materials to demolition, and 46.43% higher in the phase of operation of the building. The difference in the former's carbon emissions is mostly attributed to the intrinsic differences between the two building structural frameworks, while the latter is mainly influenced by the differences in energy consumption patterns due to the different uses of the building. The study provides empirical evidence for building design and takes an active part in pushing the construction industry's transition to a low-carbon and sustainable direction.

Keywords: construction industry, life-cycle carbon emissions, lightweight steel frame, reinforced concrete

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Authors: Sultana Razia

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The number of children whose social, communication and behavior pattern is affected due to mental and developmental conditions is on the rise. Most of these conditions develop to uncontrollable levels because of ignorance and unaware about their child’s condition. The many myths surrounding mental or developmental conditions are a major cause of families of affected children to develop bitterness and to shy off from seeking appropriate help in time. Several early intervention programs have been put in place, and the number of beneficiaries of these programs is increasing by the day. This research seeks to look into early intervention programs and their effectiveness. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of early therapeutic intervention for the children with autism spectrum disorder. Participants were 140 children with autism spectrum disorder from Autism Corner in a selected rehabilitation center of Bangladesh. This study included children who are at age of 18-month to 36-month and who were taking occupational therapy and speech and language therapy from the autism center. They were primarily screened using M-CHAT; however, children with other physical disability or medical conditions excluded. 3-months interventions of 6 sessions per week are a minimum of 45-minutes long per session, one to one interaction followed by parent-led structured home-based therapy were provided. The results indicated that early intensive therapeutic intervention improve understanding, social skills and sensory skills. It can be concluded that therapeutic early intervention a positive effect on diminishing symptoms of Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Keywords: M-CHAT, ASD, sensory cheeklist, OT

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Authors: Berhanu Terfa, Nengcheng C.

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The study deals with the analysis of urban expansion and land transformation of Hawass City using remote sensing data and landscape metrics during last three decades (1987–2017). Remote sensing data from Various multi-temporal satellite images viz., TM (1987), TM (1995), ETM+ (2005) and OLI (2017) were used to examine the urban expansion, growth types, and spatial isolation within the urban landscape to develop an understanding the trends of built-up growth in Hawassa City, Ethiopia. Landscape metrics and built-up density were employed to analyze the pattern, process and overall growth status. The area under investigation was divided into concentric circles with a consecutive circle of 1 km incremental radius from the central pixel (Central Business District) for analysis. The result exhibited that the built-up area had increased by 541.32% between 1987 and 2017and an extension growth types (more than 67 %) was observed. The major growth took place in north-west direction followed by north direction in haphazard manner during 1987–1995 period, whereas predominant built-up development was observed in south and southwest direction during 1995–2017 period. Land scape metrics result revealed that the of urban patches density, total edge and edge density increased, while mean nearest neighbors’ distance decreased showing the tendency of sprawl.

Keywords: landscape metrics, spatial patterns, remote sensing, multi-temporal, urban sprawl

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Authors: Ling Chen, Lanyan Peng

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In the new round of institutional reform of the State Council, Ministry of Culture and Ministry of Tourism were formed into a new department, Ministry of Culture and Tourism, which embodied the idea of the fusion development of cultural and tourism industries. At the same time, domestic tourists pay more attention to the tourism experience and tourism quality. The tourism patterns have been changed from the sightseeing mode of the individual scenic spot to the lifestyle mode of feeling the cultural atmosphere of the tourist destination. Therefore, this paper focuses on the tourism pattern based on lifestyle, studies the development status, content, and implementation measures of the tourism pattern. As the tourism pattern based on lifestyle integrating cultural and tourism industries in-depth, tourists can experience the living atmosphere, living conditions and living quality of the tourist destination, and deeply understand the urban cultural connotation during the trip. Suzhou has taken a series of measures to build up a tourism pattern based on lifestyle-'Suzhou life' tourism, including regional planning of tourism, integration of cultural resources, construction of urban atmosphere, and upgrading infrastructure. 'Suzhou life' tourism is based on the Suzhou food (cooked wheaten food, dim sum, specialty snacks), tourist attractions (Suzhou gardens, the ancient city) and characteristic recreational ways (appreciating Kun opera, enjoying Suzhou Pingtan, tea drinking). And the continuous integration of the three components above meet the spiritual, cultural needs of tourists and upgrade the tourism pattern based on lifestyle. Finally, the paper puts forward the tourism pattern planning suggestions.

Keywords: tourism pattern, lifestyle, integration of cultural and tourism industries, Suzhou life

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Authors: Luljeta Gashi, Naser Ramadani, Zana Deva, Dafina Gexha-Bunjaku

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The official HIV/AIDS data in Kosovo are based on HIV case reporting from health-care services, the blood transfusion system and Voluntary Counselling and Testing centres. Between 1986 and 2014, are reported 95 HIV and AIDS cases, of which 49 were AIDS, 46 HIV and 40 deaths. The majority (69%) of cases were men, age group 25 to 34 (37%) and route of transmission is: heterosexual (90%), MSM (7%), vertical transmission (2%) and IDU (1%). Based on existing data and the UNAIDS classification system, Kosovo is currently still categorised as having a low-level HIV epidemic. Even though with a low HIV prevalence, Kosovo faces a number of threatening factors, including increased number of drug users, a stigmatized and discriminated MSM community, high percentage of youth among general population (57% of the population under the age of 25), with changing social norms and especially the sexual ones. Methods: Data collection was done using self administered structured questionnaires amongst 249 high school students. Data were analysed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). Results: The findings revealed that 68% of students know that HIV transmission can be reduced by having sex with only one uninfected partner who has no other partners, 94% know that the risk of getting HIV can be reduced by using a condom every time they have sex, 68% know that a person cannot get HIV from mosquito bites, 81% know that they cannot get HIV by sharing food with someone who is infected and 46% know that a healthy looking person can have HIV. Conclusions: Seventy one percent of high school students correctly identify ways of preventing the sexual transmission of HIV and who reject the major misconceptions about HIV transmission. The findings of the study indicate a need for more health education and promotion.

Keywords: Kosovo, KPAR, HIV, high school

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Authors: Shah Fahad

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Managing the Urban Heat Island (UHI) effects is a pressing concern for achieving sustainable urban development and ensuring thermal comfort in major cities of developing nations, such as Lahore, Pakistan. The current UHI effect is mostly triggered by climate change and rapid urbanization. This study explored UHI over the Lahore district and its adjoining urban and rural-urban fringe areas. Landsat satellite data was utilized to investigate spatiotemporal patterns of Land Use and Land Cover changes (LULC), Land Surface Temperature (LST), UHI, Normalized Difference Built-up Index (NDBI), Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), and Urban Thermal Field Variance Index (UTFVI). The built-up area increased very fast, with a coverage of 22.99% in 2000, 36.06% in 2010, and 47.17% in 2020, while vegetation covered 53.21 % in 2000 and 46.16 % in 2020. It also revealed a significant increase in the mean LST, from 33°C in 2000 to 34.8°C in 2020. The results indicated a significantly positive correlation between LST and NDBI, a weak correlation was also observed between LST and NDVI. The study used scatterplots to show the correlation between NDBI and NDVI with LST, results revealed that the NDBI and LST had an R² value of 0.6831 in 2000 and 0.06541 in 2022, while NDVI and LST had an R² value of 0.0235 in 1998 and 0.0295 in 2022. Proper environmental planning is vital in specific locations to enhance quality of life, protect the ecosystem, and mitigate climate change impacts.

Keywords: land use land cover, spatio-temporal analysis, remote sensing, land surface temperature, urban heat island, lahore pakistan

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Authors: Ghadeer Aly, Yasmeen Hanafy

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The way we research travel options and decide where to go has substantially changed in the digital age. Atypical search engines like social networking sites like TikTok have evolved, influencing the preferences of various generations. The influence of TikTok use as a search engine for choosing travel locations and its effect on a country's destination branding are both examined in this study. The study specifically focuses on the comparative preferences and actions of Generations Y and Z within the Egyptian community, shedding light on how these generations interact with travel related TikTok content and how it influences their perceptions of various destinations. It also investigates how TikTok Accounts use tourism branding techniques to promote a country's tourist destination. The investigation of how social media platforms are changing as unconventional search engines has theoretical relevance. This study can advance our knowledge of how digital platforms alter information-seeking behaviors and affect the way people make decisions. Furthermore, investigating the relationship between TikTok video and destination branding might shed light on the intricate interplay between social media, perceptions of locations, and travel preferences, enhancing theories about consumer behavior and communication in the digital age. Regarding the methodology of the research, the study is conducted in two stages: first, both generations are polled, and from the results, the top three destinations are chosen to be subjected to content analysis. As for the research's theoretical framework, it incorporates the tourism destination branding model as well as the conceptual model of nation branding. Through the use of the survey as a quantitative approach and the qualitative content analysis, the research will rely on both quantitative and qualitative methods. When it comes to the theoretical framework, both the Nation Branding Model and the Tourism Branding Model can offer useful frameworks for analyzing and comprehending the dynamics of using TikTok as a search engine to choose travel destinations, especially in the context of Generation Y and Generation Z in the Egyptian community. Additionally, the sample will be drawn specifically from both Gen-Y and Gen-Z. 100 members of Gen Z and 100 members of Gen Y will be chosen from TikTok users and followers of travel-related accounts, and the sample for the content analysis will be chosen based on the survey's results.

Keywords: tiktok, nation image, egyptian community, tourism branding

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Authors: Hanjun Hu, Jinxiang Zhang

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With the decline of "growthism", China's urbanization process has shifted from the stage of spatial expansion to the stage of optimization of built-up spaces, and urban renewal has gradually become a new wave of China's urban movement in recent years. The ongoing urban renewal movement in China not only needs to generate new motivation for urban development but also solve the backlog of social problems caused by rapid urbanization, which provides an opportunity for the transformation of China's urban governance model. Unlike previous approaches that focused on physical space and functional renewal, such as urban reconstruction, redevelopment, and reuse, the key challenge of urban renewal in the post-growth era lies in coordinating the complex interest relationships between multiple stakeholders. The traditional theoretical frameworks that focus on the structural relations between social groups are insufficient to explain the behavior logic and mutual cooperation mechanism of various groups and individuals in the current urban renewal practices. Therefore, based on the long-term tracking of the urban renewal practices in the Old City of Nanjing (OCN), this paper introduces the "collective action" theory to deeply analyze changes in the urban renewal governance model in OCN and tries to summarize the governance strategies that promote the formation of collective action within recent practices from a micro-scale. The study found that the practice in OCN experienced three different stages "government-led", "growth coalition" and "asymmetric game". With the transformation of government governance concepts, the rise of residents' consciousness of rights, and the wider participation of social organizations in recent years, the urban renewal in OCN is entering a new stage of "collective renewal action". Through the establishment of the renewal organization model, incentive policies, and dynamic negotiation mechanism, urban renewal in OCN not only achieves a relative balance between individual interests and collective interests but also makes the willingness of residents the dominant factor in formulating urban renewal policies. However, the presentation of "collective renewal action" in OCN is still mainly based on typical cases. Although the government is no longer the dominant role, a large number of resident-led collective actions have not yet emerged, which puts forward new research needs for a sustainable governance policy innovation in this action.

Keywords: urban renewal, collective action theory, governance, cooperation mechanism, China

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Authors: Shanaj Parvin Jonaki

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After the first wave of the feminist movement, gender has become one of the most important issues to be researched in social science. Many gender theories have been invented and opened a new window to look at. These works showed how gender is a social construct, how gender has been used to oppress, how to rule. While it's the education system’s duty to guide students to understand the concept of gender, it sometimes shows gender-based discrimination. Transgenders exclusion from educational institutes of Bangladesh justifies this very statement. This study aims to figure out how people perceive transgenders’ identity, their inclusion in secondary schools, as well as the underlying barriers in the pathway of inclusion in the context of Bangladesh. A qualitative approach was taken to explore different perspectives towards transgender inclusion from several stakeholders such as students, parents, and teachers of secondary schools and transgenders as well. Data were collected through focus group discussion and interview by convenient sampling. 15 students, 10 parents, and 5 teachers were selected from Bangla Medium school as well as from Madrasha. Collected data were analyzed thematically and were run by experts of gender, education, and psychology to identify the core barriers of inclusion. The study revealed that most of the students, teachers, and parents lacked the knowledge of non-binary gender identities, and they showed unwillingness towards the inclusion of transgender in schools because of the cultural context of Bangladesh. Moreover, this study suggests future initiatives to be taken to ensure the inclusion of transgenders in a secondary school in our country and analyzes it through the lens of feminist theories.

Keywords: education, gender, inclusion, transgender

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Authors: Lucia Varra, Marzia Timolo

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The interest of scholars towards corporate sustainability has strengthened in recent years in parallel with the growing need to undertake paths of cultural and organizational change, as a way for greater competitiveness and stakeholders’ satisfaction. In fact, studies on the business sustainability, while on the one hand have integrated the three dimensions of sustainability that existed for some time in the economic approaches (economic, environmental and social dimensions), on the other hand did not give rise to an organic construct that puts together the aspects of strategic management with corporate social responsibility and even less with the organizational issues. Therefore some important questions remain open: Which organizational structure and which operational mechanisms are coherent or propitious to a sustainability strategy? Existing studies appear to be fragmented, although some aspects have shared importance: knowledge management, human resource, management, leadership, innovation, etc. The construction of a model of sustainable organization that supports the sustainability strategy no longer seems to be postponed, as is its connection with the main practices of measuring corporate social responsibility performance. The paper aims to identify the organizational characteristics of a sustainable corporate. To this end, from a theoretical point of view the work examines the main existing literary contributions and, from a practical point of view, it presents a business case referring to a service organization that for years has undertaken the sustainability strategy. This paper is divided into two parts: the first part concerns a review of the main articles on the strategic management topic and the main organizational issues raised by the literature, such as knowledge management, leadership, innovation, etc.; later, a modeling of the main variables examined by scholars and an integration of these with the international measurement standards of CSR is proposed. In the second part, using the methodology of the case study company, the hypotheses and the structure of the proposed model that aims to integrate the strategic issues with the organizational aspects and measurement of sustainability performance, are applied to an Italian company, which has some organizational and human resource management interventions are in place to align strategic decisions with the structure and operating mechanisms of the structure. The case presented supports the hypotheses of the model.

Keywords: CSR, strategic management, sustainable leadership, sustainable human resource management, sustainable organization

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Authors: Sudikshya Bhandari, Jonathan K. London

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The earthquake of April 2015 was one of the biggest disasters in the history of Nepal. The epicenter was located near Barpak, north of the Gorkha district. Before the disaster, this settlement was a compact and homogeneous settlement manifesting its uniqueness through the social and cultural activities, and a distinct vernacular architecture. Narrow alleys with stone paved streets, buildings with slate roofs, and common spaces between the houses made this settlement socially, culturally, and environmentally cohesive. With the presence of micro hydro power plants, local economic activities enabled the local community to exist and thrive. Agriculture and animal rearing are the sources of livelihood for the majority of families, along with the booming homestays (where local people welcome guests to their home, as a business) and local shops. Most of these activities are difficult to find as the houses have been destroyed with the earthquake and the process of reconstruction has been transforming the outlook of the settlement. This study characterized the drastic transformation in Barpak post-earthquake, and analyzed the consequences of the reconstruction process. In addition, it contributes to comprehending a broader representation about unsustainability created by the lack of contextual post-disaster development. Since the research is based in a specific area, a case study approach was used. Sample houses were selected on the basis of ethnicity and house typology. Mixed methods such as key informant and semi structured interviews, focus groups, observations and photographs are used for the collection of data. The research focus is predominantly on the physical change of the house typology from vernacular to externally adopted designs. This transformation of the house entails socio-cultural changes such as social fragmentation with differences among the rich and the poor and decreases in the social connectivity within families and neighborhood. Families have found that new houses require more maintenance and resources that have increased their economic expenses. The study also found that the reconstructed houses are not thermally comfortable in the cold climate of Barpak, leading to the increased use of different sources of heating like electric heaters and more firewood. Lack of storage spaces for crops and livestock have discouraged them to pursue traditional means of livelihood and depend more on buying food from stores, ultimately making it less economical for most of the families. The transformation of space leading to the economic, social and cultural changes demonstrates the unsustainability of Barpak. Conclusions from the study suggest place based and inclusive planning and policy formations that include locals as partners, identifying the possible ways to minimize the impact and implement these recommendations into the future policy and planning scenarios.

Keywords: earthquake, Nepal, reconstruction, settlement, transformation

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Authors: Anouar El Younssi

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This study seeks to shed some light on the political and social ramifications and implications of Haifaa al-Mansour’s 2012 film Wadjda. The film made international headlines following its release, and was touted as the first film ever to be shot in its entirety inside the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and also the first to be directed by a female (Haifaa al-Mansour). Wadjda revolves around a simple storyline: A teenage Saudi girl living in the capital city Riyadh—named Wadjda—wants to have a bicycle just like her male teenage neighbor and friend Abdullah, but her ultra-conservative Saudi society places so many constraints on its female population—including not allowing girls and women to ride bicycles. Wadjda, who displays a rebellious spirit, takes concrete steps to save money in order to realize her dream of buying a bicycle. For example, she starts making and selling sports bracelets to her school mates, and she decides to participate in a Qur’an competition in hopes of winning a sum of money that comes with the first prize. In the end, Wadjda could not beat the system on her own, but the film reverses course, and the audience gets a happy ending: Wadjda’s mother, whose husband has decided to take a second wife, defies the system and buys her daughter the very bicycle Wadjda has been dreaming of. It is quite significant that the mother takes her daughter’s side on the subject of the bicycle at the end of the film, for this shows that she finally came to the realization that she and her daughter are both oppressed by the cultural norms prevalent in Saudi society. It is no coincidence that this change of heart and action on the part of the mother takes place immediately after the wedding night celebrating her husband’s second marriage. Gender inequality is thus placed front and center in the film. Nevertheless, a major finding of this study is that the film carries out its social critique in a soft and almost covert manner. The female actors in the film never issue a direct criticism of Saudi society or government; the criticism is consistently implied and subtle throughout. It is a criticism that relies more on showing than telling. The film shows us—rather than tells us directly—what is wrong, and lets us, the audience, decide and make a judgment. In fact, showing could arguably be more powerful and impactful than telling. Regarding methodology, this study will focus on and analyze the visuals and a number of key utterances by the main actor Wadjda in order to corroborate the study’s argument about the film’s bent on critiquing patriarchy. This research will attempt to establish a link between the film as an art object and as a social text. Ultimately, Wadjda sends a message of hope, that change is possible and that it is already happening slowly inside the Kingdom. It also sends the message that an insurrectional approach regarding women’s rights in Saudi Arabia is perhaps not the right one, at least at this historical juncture.

Keywords: bicycle, gender inequality, social critique, Wadjda, women’s rights

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Authors: Shasta Bula

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This research provides the first case study of the Santa Ana riverbed homeless encampment. It contributes valuable information about the little-studied factors contributing to the formation and dismantling of transient homeless encampments. According to the author’s best knowledge, this is the discussion of three reoccurring characteristics of homeless camps: camps form a self-governing system, camps are viewed by the community as unsavory places, and the campers are viewed as being unable or unwilling to participate in normal society. Three theories are proposed as explanations for these characteristics: the social capital theory as a reason for homeless campers to develop a system of self-government, the aesthetics theory as rationale for camps being viewed as unsavory places, and the theory of vulnerable and inevitable inequality as a reason why campers are seen as being unable or unwilling to participate in normal society. Three hypotheses are introduced to assess these theories: The encampment was created because it provided inhabitants a sense of safety and autonomy. It was dismantled due to its highly visible location and lack of adherence to the Orange County consumption and leisure aesthetic. Most homeless people from this encampment relocated approximately thirty miles east to Riverside County to avoid harassment by police. An extensive review of interviews with camp inhabitants revealed that fifty-one percent resided in the camp because it gave them a sense of safety and autonomy. An examination of Anaheim city council meeting meetings showed that thirty-eight percent of complaints were related to aesthetic concerns. Analysis of population reports from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development indicated that there was a notable increase in homelessness in Orange County the year after the camp was dismantled. These results reflect that the social capital theory is an applicable explanation for the homeless being drawn to set up camp as a collective. The aesthetics theory can be used to explain why a third of residents complained about the encampment. Camp residents did not move East to Riverside after the camp was dismantled. Further investigation into the enforcement of anti-camping ordinances needs to be conducted to evaluate if policing contributed to the vulnerability of the homeless.

Keywords: poverty, social relations, transformation of urban settlements, urban anthropology

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Authors: Nourah Almulhim

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This paper takes a critical discourse analysis (CDA) approach to investigate discourse and ideology in political blogs, focusing in particular on the Conservative Home blog from the UK’s current governing party. The Conservative party member’s discourse strategies as the blogger, alongside the discourse used by members of the public who reply to the blog in the below-the-lines comments, will be examined. The blog discourse reflects the writer's political identity and authorial voice. The analysis of the below-the-lines comments enables members of the public to engage in creating adversative positions, introducing different language users who bring their own individual and collective identities. These language users can play the role of news reporters, political analysts, protesters or supporters of a specific agenda and current socio-political topics or events. This study takes a qualitative approach to analyze the discriminatory context towards Islam/Muslims in ' The Conservative Home' blog. A cognitive approach is adopted and an analysis of dominant discourses in the blog text and the below-the-line comments is used. The focus of the study is, firstly, on the construction of self/ collective national identity in comparison to Muslim identity, highlighting the in-group and out-group construction. Second, the type of attitudes, whether feelings or judgments, related to these social actors as they are explicated to draw on the social values. Third, the role of discursive strategies in justifying and legitimizing those Islamophobic discriminatory practices. Therefore, the analysis is based on the systematic analysis of social actors drawing on actors, actions, and arguments to explicate identity construction and its development in the different discourses. A socio-semantic categorization of social actors is implemented to draw on the discursive strategies in addition to using literature to understand these strategies. An appraisal analysis is further used to classify attitudes and elaborate on core values in both genres. Finally, the grammar of othering is applied to explain how discriminatory dichotomies of 'Us' Vs. ''Them' actions are carried in discourse. Some of the key findings of the analysis can be summarized in two main points. First, the discursive practice used to represent Muslims/Islam as different from ‘Us’ are different in both genres as the blogger uses a covert voice while the commenters generally use an overt voice. This is to say that the blogger uses a mitigated strategy to represent the Muslim identity, for example, using the noun phrase ‘British Muslim’ but then representing them as ‘radical’ and ‘terrorists'. Contrary to this is in below the lines comments, where a direct strategy with an active declarative voice is used to negatively represent the Muslim identity as ‘oppressors’ and ‘terrorists’ with no inclusion of the noun phrase ‘British Muslims’. Second, the negotiation of the ‘British’ identity and values, such as culture and democracy, are prominent in the comment section as being unique and under threat by Muslims, while in the article, these standpoints are not represented.

Keywords: xenophobia, blogs, identity, critical discourse analysis

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Authors: Bashir Ahmad Amiri, Nsenda Lukumwena

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The global trend indicates that more and more people live and will continue to live in urban areas. Today cities are expanding both in physical size and number due to the rapid population growth along with sprawl development, which caused the cities to expand beyond the growth boundary and exerting intense pressure on environmental resources specially farmlands to accommodate new housing and urban facilities. Also noticeable is the increase in urban decay along with the increase of slum dwellers present another challenge that most cities in developed and developing countries have to deal with. Today urban practitioners, researchers, planners, and decision-makers are seeking for alternative development and growth management policies to house the rising urban population and also cure the urban decay and slum issues turn to Smart Growth to achieve their goals. Many cities across the globe have adopted smart growth as an alternative growth management tool to deal with patterns and forms of development and to cure the rising urban and environmental problems. The method used in this study is a literature analysis method through reviewing various resources to highlight the potential benefits of Smart Growth in both developed and developing countries and analyze, to what extent it can be a strategic alternative for Afghanistan’s cities, especially the capital city. Hence a comparative analysis is carried on three countries, namely the USA, China, and India to identify the potential benefits of smart growth likely to serve as an achievable broad base for recommendations in different urban contexts.

Keywords: growth management, housing, Kabul city, smart growth, urban-expansion

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Authors: Hira Jabbar

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Education is vital for inclusive growth of an economy and a critical contributor for investment in human capital. Like other developing countries, Pakistan is facing enormous challenges regarding the provision of public facilities, improper infrastructure planning, accelerating rate of population and poor accessibility. The influence of the rapid advancement and innovations in GIS and RS techniques have proved to be a useful tool for better planning and decision making to encounter these challenges. Therefore present study incorporates GIS and RS techniques to investigate the spatial distribution of school facilities, identifies settlements with served and unserved population, finds potential areas for new schools based on population and develops an accessibility index to evaluate the higher accessibility for schools. For this purpose high-resolution worldview imagery was used to develop road network, settlements and school facilities and to generate school accessibility for each level. Landsat 8 imagery was utilized to extract built-up area by applying pre and post-processing models and Landscan 2015 was used to analyze population statistics. Service area analysis was performed using network analyst extension in ArcGIS 10.3v and results were evaluated for served and underserved areas and population. An accessibility tool was used to evaluate a set of potential destinations to determine which is the most accessible with the given population distribution. Findings of the study may contribute to facilitating the town planners and education authorities for understanding the existing patterns of school facilities. It is concluded that GIS and remote sensing can be effectively used in urban transport and facility planning.

Keywords: accessibility, geographic information system, landscan, worldview

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Authors: Jaime R. Silva, Gabriel E. Reyes, Marianne Krause

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Background: The two-polarity model of the depressive personality argues that experience is organized around two axes: interpersonal relatedness and self-definition. Differential emphasis on one of these poles defines three types of depressive experience: Anaclitic, Introjective or Mixed pattern. On the one hand, Anaclitic pattern has been conceptually related with exaggerated biological stress sensitivity. On the other hand, the Introjective pattern was linked with anhedonic symptomatology. The general aim of the study was to find empirical support for this relationship. Methods: 101 non-clinical individuals participated in two experimental sessions. During the first session, the biological stress reactivity (cortisol concentration in saliva) and the subjective stress perceived (self-reported) during the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST), were investigated. In the second session, a visual discrimination task with a specific reward system, to study the reinforcement sensitivity (anhedonia), was performed. Results: Results evidenced that participants with Introjective depressive symptoms showed a higher interpersonal sensitivity and a diminished sensitivity to reinforcement. In addition, results also indicated that such a group has a poor psychological detection of its exacerbated reactivity to stress, which is the opposite pattern evidenced amongst the Anaclitic group. Conclusions: In perspective, these results empirically support the two-polarity of the depressive personality model. Clinical implications are discussed.

Keywords: depression, interpersonal stress, personality, trier social stress test

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Authors: Mona Hejazi, Ali Motie Nasrabadi

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Epilepsy is a persistent neurological disorder that affects more than 50 million people worldwide. Hence, there is a necessity to introduce an efficient prediction model for making a correct diagnosis of the epileptic seizure and accurate prediction of its type. In this study we consider how the Effective Connectivity (EC) patterns obtained from intracranial Electroencephalographic (EEG) recordings reveal information about the dynamics of the epileptic brain and can be used to predict imminent seizures, as this will enable the patients (and caregivers) to take appropriate precautions. We use this definition because we believe that effective connectivity near seizures begin to change, so we can predict seizures according to this feature. Results are reported on the standard Freiburg EEG dataset which contains data from 21 patients suffering from medically intractable focal epilepsy. Six channels of EEG from each patients are considered and effective connectivity using Directed Transfer Function (DTF) and Granger Causality (GC) methods is estimated. We concentrate on effective connectivity standard deviation over time and feature changes in five brain frequency sub-bands (Alpha, Beta, Theta, Delta, and Gamma) are compared. The performance obtained for the proposed scheme in predicting seizures is: average prediction time is 50 minutes before seizure onset, the maximum sensitivity is approximate ~80% and the false positive rate is 0.33 FP/h. DTF method is more acceptable to predict epileptic seizures and generally we can observe that the greater results are in gamma and beta sub-bands. The research of this paper is significantly helpful for clinical applications, especially for the exploitation of online portable devices.

Keywords: effective connectivity, Granger causality, directed transfer function, epilepsy seizure prediction, EEG

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Authors: Faizan Sultan

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Non-government organizations (NGOs) in Pakistan have the potential to deliver services such as health, education, and rural development through targeting the most vulnerable communities of society. Having this significant importance, NGOs are facing numerous challenges in service delivery. So, there is a need to identify the challenges NGOs face in community development, particularly post-conflict development. The current study has analyzed the social and political constraints in development projects in the post-conflict region of the Swat district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The objectives of this study are “What are the social and political constraints faced by the nongovernmental organizations in the implementation of development aid Projects in post-conflict development of Swat and to examine the challenges in coordination mechanism between government departments, NGOs, and community in reconstruction activities”. This research is based upon both the quantitative and qualitative data that is being gathered from the NGO representatives, government officials, and community members who were involved in post-conflict development interventions in the Swat region. A purposive sampling technique was used to select respondents from the community members/activists (25 in number) and government and NGO officials (10 in number). Based on analysis against our objectives, NGOs have faced numerous constraints such as Insecurity, Negative Perceptions about NGOs, restrictions on women's mobility, government policies and regulations, lack of coordination and networking, trust deficit, and political interference while implementing their project interventions. These findings concluded that constraints have affected project implementation to a greater extent, including women's participation, involvement of marginalized populations, and equal distribution of resources. In the Swat region, NGOs cannot openly discuss sensitive projects such as human rights, gender-based projects, or women empowerment as these issues are very sensitive to the local community due to their cultural values. The community may not allow their females to go outside their homes as this region is a male-dominated society. Similarly, lack of communication and poor networking for the arrangements of the project meetings were also the major constraints.

Keywords: national disaster management authority, millennium development goals, provincial disaster management authority, provincial reconstruction, rehabilitation and settlement authority

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Authors: Monica Violeta Achim, Sorin Nicolae Borlea

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This aim of this work is to stress the needs for enhancing the role of forensic accounting in fighting economic and financial crime, in the context of the new international regulation movements in this area enhanced by the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC). Corruption, money laundering, tax evasion and other frauds significant hamper the economic growth and human development and, ultimately, the UN Sustainable Development Goals. The present paper also stresses the role of good governance in fighting the frauds, in order to achieve the most suitable sustainable development of the society. In this view, we made a bibliometric systematic review on forensic accounting and its contribution towards fraud detection and prevention and theirs relationship with good governance and Sustainable Developments Goals (SDGs). In this view, two powerful bibliometric visual software tools, VosViewer and CiteSpace are used in order to analyze published papers identifies in Scopus and Web of Science databases over the time. Our findings reveal the main red flags identified in literature as used tools by forensic accounting, the evolution in time of the interest of the topic, the distribution in space among world countries and connectivity with patterns of a good governance. Visual designs and scientific maps are useful to show these findings, in a visual way. Our findings are useful for managers and policy makers to provide important avenues that may help in reaching the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted by all United Nations Member States in 2015, in the area of using forensic accounting in preventing frauds.

Keywords: forensic accounting, frauds, red flags, SDGs

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Authors: Dolores Hidalgo, Jesús M. Martín-Marroquín, Francisco Corona

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Municipal waste consist of a variety of items that are everyday discarded by the population. They are usually collected by municipalities and include waste generated by households, commercial activities (local shops) and public buildings. The composition of municipal waste varies greatly from place to place, being mostly related to levels and patterns of consumption, rates of urbanization, lifestyles, and local or national waste management practices. Each year, a huge amount of resources is consumed in the EU, and according to that, also a huge amount of waste is produced. The environmental problems derived from the management and processing of these waste streams are well known, and include impacts on land, water and air. The situation in remote areas is even worst. Difficult access when climatic conditions are adverse, remoteness of centralized municipal treatment systems or dispersion of the population, are all factors that make remote areas a real municipal waste treatment challenge. Furthermore, the scope of the problem increases significantly because the total lack of awareness of the existing risks in this area together with the poor implementation of advanced culture on waste minimization and recycling responsibly. The aim of this work is to analyze the existing situation in remote areas in reference to the production of municipal waste and evaluate the efficiency of different management alternatives. Ideas for improving waste management in remote areas include, for example: the implementation of self-management systems for the organic fraction; establish door-to-door collection models; promote small-scale treatment facilities or adjust the rates of waste generation thereof.

Keywords: door to door collection, islands, isolated areas, municipal waste, remote areas, rural communities

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Authors: Amirreza Razzaghipour, Mahdi Khalili

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References from the World Health Organization and the Center for Disease Control for deceleration the spread of the Novel COVID-19, comprises social estrangement, frequent handwashing, and covering your mouth when around others. As hearing healthcare specialists, the influence of existenceinvoluntary to boundary social interactions on persons with hearing impairment was significant for us to understand. We found ourselves delaying cochlear implant (CI) surgeries. All children, and chiefly those with hearing loss, are susceptible to reductions in spoken communication. Hearing plans, such as cochlear implants, provide children with hearing loss access to spoken communication and provision language development. when provided early and used consistently, these supplies help children with hearing loss to engage in spoken connections. Cochlear implant (CI) is a standard medical-surgical treatment for bilateral severe to profound hearing loss with no advantage with the hearing aid. Hearing is one of the most important senses in humans. Pediatric hearing loss establishes one of the most important public health challenges. Children with hearing loss are recognized early and habilitated via hearing aids or with cochlear implants (CIs). Suitable care and maintenance as well as continuous auditory verbal therapy (AVT) are also essential in reaching for the successful attainment of language acquisition. Children with hearing loss posture important challenges to their parents, particularly when there is limited admission to their hearing care providers. The disruption in the routine of their hearing and therapy follow-up services has had substantial effects on the children as well as their parents.

Keywords: healthcare, covid-19, cochlear implants, spoken communication, hearing loss

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Authors: Jamaluddin Abd Rashid, Aris Abdul Rahman

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Mobile phones have become the most popular way to communicate with other individuals and it has created an unspoken social dependency. Making phone calls, instant messaging, playing online games and accessing the Internet are among the features added to a mobile phone, attracting teenagers to spend more hours fixated on their gadgets. As such, this study attempted to examine the frequency of time spent on mobile phones and how this influenced academic performance. A quantitative methodology was applied in this study, where face to face survey through the distribution of questionnaires was facilitated onto a group of 200 secondary school students from the Shah Alam community in Selangor,Malaysia. Both genders, male and females were assessed equally to find out if there exists a correlation between genders when measuring higher or lower frequency of attachment to mobile phones. It can also be seen that 100% correspondents have a mobile phone in their possession. The adolescents uses mobile phones daily, which shows students being somewhat addicted, as they tend to feel that it is necessary to use a mobile phone. The main findings of this research found out that, students that are mobile phone addictive received a lower grade in schools. Mobile phone addiction does affect academic performance negatively. As this study discusses the modern-day phenomenon, it is hoped that the findings and discussion could add to present literary works and help future researchers understand the relationship between mobile phone addiction and academic performance.

Keywords: academic performance, mobile phone addiction, social media, student

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Authors: Chuan-Ming Tung, Tzu-Chiao Yuan

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This research aims to construct the supply indicators and weights of shelter space from a perspective of the needs of the elderly by virtue of literature review, a systematical compilation of related regulations, and the use of the Analytical Hierarchy Process method, the questionnaires regarding the indicators filled out by 16 experts and scholars. The researcher then used 3 schools and 2 activity centers in Banqiao District, New Taipei City, as study cases to evaluate the ‘friendliness’ degree/level for the supply of shelters meeting the needs of elderly people. The supply evaluation indicators of friendly shelters meeting the needs of the elderly include "Administrative Operations and Service Needs" and "Residence-related and Living Needs"; under the "Administrative Operations and Service Needs" are "Management Operations and Information Provision", "Shelter Space Preparedness and Logistics Support", "Medical Care and Social Support", and "Shelters and Medical Environment", a total of 17 assessment items in four indicators, while under the "Residence-related and Living Needs" are "Dietary Needs", "Sleep Needs", "Hygiene and Sanitation Needs", "Accessibility and Convenience Needs ", etc., a total of 18 assessment items in four indicators. The results show that "Residence-related and Living Needs" is the most important item in the main levels of the supply indicators of the needs for friendly shelters to elderly people (weigh value 0.5504), followed by "Administrative Operations and Service Needs" (0.4496). The order of importance of the supply indicators of friendly shelters for the needs of elderly people is as follows: "Hygiene and Sanitation Needs" (0.1721), "Dietary Needs" (0.1340), "Medical Care and Social Support" (0.1300), "Sleep Needs" (0.1277), "Accessibility and Convenience Needs" (0.1166), "Basic Environment of Shelters" (0.1145), "Shelter Space Preparedness and Logistics Support" (0.1115) and "Management Operations and Information Provision" (0.0936). In addition, it can be noticed from the results of the case evaluation that the provision of refuges and shelters, mainly from schools and activity centers, is extremely inadequate for the needs of the elderly. In a set of comprehensive comparisons and contrasts, the evaluation indicators of refuges and shelters that need to be improved are "Medical Care and Social Support", "Hygiene and Sanitation Needs", "Sleep Needs", "Dietary Needs", and "Shelter Space Preparedness and Logistics Support".

Keywords: needs of the elderly people, urban shelters, evaluation indicators/indices., taiwan

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Authors: Eliziane Fernanda Navarro, Aparecida Eleonora Sitta

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Child of the Dark is the work of the Brazilian author Carolina Maria de Jesus, published at the first time by Ática and Francisco Alves in 1960. It is, mostly, a story of lack of rights. It lacks to men who live in the slums what is essential in order to take advantage of the privilege of rationality to develop themselves as civilized humans. It is, therefore, in the withholding of the basic rights that inequality finds space to build itself to be the main misery on Earth. Antonio Candido, a Brazilian sociologist claims that it is the right to literature has the ability to humanize men, once the aptitude to create fiction and fable is essential to the social balance. Hence, for the forming role that literature holds, it must be thought as the number of rights that assure human dignity, such as housing, education, health, freedom, etc. When talking about her routine, Carolina puts in evidence something that has great influence over the formation of human beings, contributing to the way they live: the slum. Even though it happens in a distinct way and using her own linguistics variation, Carolina writes about something that will only be discussed later on Brazil’s Cities Statute and Erminia Maricato: the right to the city, and how the slums are, although inserted in the city, an attachment, an illegal city, a dismissing room. It interests ourselves, for that matter, in this work, to analyse how the deprivation of the rights to the city and literature, detailed in Carolina’s journal, conditions human beings to a life where the instincts overcome the social values.

Keywords: Child of the Dark, slum, literature, architecture and urbanism, fundamental rights, Brazil

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Authors: Priyadharshini Ahrumugam

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Cooperative groups through much research have been recognized to churn remarkable achievements instead of solitary or individualistic efforts. Based on Johnson and Johnson’s model of cooperative learning, the five key components of cooperation are positive interdependence, face-to-face promotive interaction, individual accountability, social skills and group processing. In 2011, the Malaysian Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE) introduced the Holistic Student Development policy with the aim to develop morally sound individuals equipped with lifelong learning skills. The Community Service project was included in the improvement initiative. The purpose of this study is to assess the relationship of team-based learning in facilitating particularly students’ positive interdependence and face-to-face promotive interaction. The research methods involve in-depth interviews with the team leaders and selected team members, and a content analysis of the undergraduate students’ reflective journals. A significant positive relationship was found between students’ progressive outlook towards teamwork and the highlighted two components. The key findings show that students have gained in their individual learning and work results through teamwork and interaction with other students. The inclusion of Community Service as a MOHE subject resonates with cooperative learning methods that enhances supportive relationships and develops students’ social skills together with their professional skills.

Keywords: community service, cooperative learning, positive interdependence, teamwork

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Authors: Richard Roberts, Anna Kravtcova

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Introduction: The realisation that personality can change over the course of a lifetime has led to a new companion model to the Big Five, the behavioural, emotional, and social skills approach (BESSA). BESSA hypothesizes that this set of skills represents how the individual is thinking, feeling, and behaving when the situation calls for it, as opposed to traits, which represent how someone tends to think, feel, and behave averaged across situations. The five major skill domains share parallels with the Big Five Factor (BFF) model creativity and innovation (openness), self-management (conscientiousness), social engagement (extraversion), cooperation (agreeableness), and emotional resilience (emotional stability) skills. We point to noteworthy limitations in the current operationalisation of BESSA skills (i.e., via Likert-type items) and offer up a different measurement approach: forced choice. Method: In this forced-choice paradigm, individuals were given three skill items (e.g., managing my time) and asked to select one response they believed they were “worst at” and “best at”. The Thurstonian IRT models allow these to be placed on a normative scale. Two multivariate studies (N = 1178) were conducted with a 22-item forced-choice version of the BESSA, a published measure of the BFF, and various criteria. Findings: Confirmatory factor analysis of the forced-choice assessment showed acceptable model fit (RMSEA<0.06), while reliability estimates were reasonable (around 0.70 for each construct). Convergent validity evidence was as predicted (correlations between 0.40 and 0.60 for corresponding BFF and BESSA constructs). Notable was the extent the forced-choice BESSA assessment improved upon test-criterion relationships over and above the BFF. For example, typical regression models find BFF personality accounting for 25% of the variance in life satisfaction scores; both studies showed incremental gains over the BFF exceeding 6% (i.e., BFF and BESSA together accounted for over 31% of the variance in both studies). Discussion: Forced-choice measurement models offer up the promise of creating equated test forms that may unequivocally measure skill gains and are less prone to fakability and reference bias effects. Implications for practitioners are discussed, especially those interested in selection, succession planning, and training and development. We also discuss how the forced choice method can be applied to other constructs like emotional immunity, cross-cultural competence, and self-estimates of cognitive ability.

Keywords: Big Five, forced-choice method, BFF, methods of measurements

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Authors: Reet Bishnoi

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Climate change poses a pressing global challenge, with far-reaching consequences for the planet's ecosystems and biodiversity. This abstract introduces the research topic, "Assessing the Impact of Climate Change on Biodiversity Hotspots: A Multidisciplinary Study," which delves into the intricate relationship between climate change and biodiversity in the world's most ecologically diverse regions. Biodiversity hotspots, characterized by their exceptionally high species richness and endemism, are under increasing threat due to rising global temperatures, altered precipitation patterns, and other climate-related factors. This research employs a multidisciplinary approach, incorporating ecological, climatological, and conservationist methodologies to comprehensively analyze the effects of climate change on these vital regions. Through a combination of field research, climate modelling, and ecological assessments, this study aims to elucidate the vulnerabilities of biodiversity hotspots and understand how changes in temperature and precipitation are affecting the diverse species and ecosystems that inhabit these areas. The research seeks to identify potential tipping points, assess the resilience of native species, and propose conservation strategies that can mitigate the adverse impacts of climate change on these critical regions. By illuminating the complex interplay between climate change and biodiversity hotspots, this research not only contributes to our scientific understanding of these issues but also informs policymakers, conservationists, and the public about the urgent need for coordinated efforts to safeguard our planet's ecological treasures. The outcomes of this multidisciplinary study are expected to play a pivotal role in shaping future climate policies and conservation practices, emphasizing the importance of protecting biodiversity hotspots for the well-being of the planet and future generations.

Keywords: climate change, biodiversity hotspots, ecological diversity, conservation, multidisciplinary study

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Authors: Lanka Dinushke Weerasiri, Subrat Das, Daniel Fabijanic, William Yang

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Fluidization at vacuum pressure has been a topic that is of growing research interest. Several industrial applications (such as drying, extractive metallurgy, and chemical vapor deposition (CVD)) can potentially take advantage of vacuum pressure fluidization. Particularly, the fine chemical industry requires processing under safe conditions for thermolabile substances, and reduced pressure fluidized beds offer an alternative. Fluidized beds under vacuum conditions provide optimal conditions for treatment of granular materials where the reduced gas pressure maintains an operational environment outside of flammability conditions. The fluidization at low-pressure is markedly different from the usual gas flow patterns of atmospheric fluidization. The different flow regimes can be characterized by the dimensionless Knudsen number. Nevertheless, hydrodynamics of bubbling vacuum fluidized beds has not been investigated to author’s best knowledge. In this work, the two-fluid numerical method was used to determine the impact of reduced pressure on the fundamental properties of a fluidized bed. The slip flow model implemented by Ansys Fluent User Defined Functions (UDF) was used to determine the interphase momentum exchange coefficient. A wide range of operating pressures was investigated (1.01, 0.5, 0.25, 0.1 and 0.03 Bar). The gas was supplied by a uniform inlet at 1.5U_mf and 2U_mf. The predicted minimum fluidization velocity (U_mf) shows excellent agreement with the experimental data. The results show that the operating pressure has a notable impact on the bed properties and its hydrodynamics. Furthermore, it also shows that the existing Gorosko correlation that predicts bed expansion is not applicable under reduced pressure conditions.

Keywords: computational fluid dynamics, fluidized bed, gas-solid flow, vacuum pressure, slip flow, minimum fluidization velocity

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Authors: Kwaku Damoah

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The agricultural sector is characterized by continuous transformation, driven by factors such as demographic shifts, evolving consumer preferences, climate change, and migration trends. This dynamic environment presents complex challenges for key stakeholders including farmers, governments, and investors, who must navigate these changes to achieve optimal investment returns. To effectively predict market trends and uncover promising investment opportunities, a systematic, data-driven approach is essential. This paper introduces the Structural Evolution Index (SEI), a machine learning-based methodology. SEI is specifically designed to analyse long-term trends and forecast the potential of emerging agricultural products for investment. Versatile in application, it evaluates various agricultural metrics such as production, yield, trade, land use, and consumption, providing a comprehensive view of the evolution within agricultural markets. By harnessing data from the UN Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAOSTAT), this study demonstrates the SEI's capabilities through Comparative Exploratory Analysis and evaluation of international trade in agricultural products, focusing on Malaysia and Singapore. The SEI methodology reveals intricate patterns and transitions within the agricultural sector, enabling stakeholders to strategically identify and capitalize on emerging markets. This predictive framework is a powerful tool for decision-makers, offering crucial insights that help anticipate market shifts and align investments with anticipated returns.

Keywords: agricultural investment, algorithm, comparative exploratory analytics, machine learning, market trends, predictive analytics, structural evolution index

Procedia PDF Downloads 56