Search results for: public relations specialist

Authors: Patrick Dzimiri

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This chapter discusses the military-orchestrated leadership change in Zimbabwe that transpired in November 2017. Fundamentally, the chapter provides a critical examination of military interference in the country's politics and its implications for a political transition in the post-Mugabe dispensation. This chapter offers insight into Zimbabwe's political crises propelled by the lack of a succession plan. It emerged that the succession battle within ZANU-PF got complicated by the militarisation of factionalism. The chapter builds from an extensive review of primary and secondary data sources on political developments before and post-Mugabe era. Vilfredo Pareto's (1848-18923) theory on elite circulation is deployed herein to explain the absence of a succession mechanism within ZANU-PF and the militarisation of socio-politics life Zimbabwe. The chapter argues that what transpired in Zimbabwe’s power wrangle within the ZANU-PF political elites was triggered by a lack of a clear succession policy. Building from insights offered by Pareto's theory of elite circulation, it is averred that the removal of Mugabe by the military did not herald any form of political transition but rather a mere power play of one elite replacing another. In addition, it is argued that the lack of political reform by the Mnangagwa government affirms the position that political elites seek power for personal self-actualisation and not the public good. The chapter concludes that Mnangagwa's rise to power is nothing but a new elite displacing the old elite structure and does not herald a positive transition and transformation in the politics of Zimbabwe.

Keywords: military, politics, zimbabwe, governance, political transition

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Authors: Emeka Thaddues Njoku

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Since 2009, the Nigerian Government has established diverse counter-terrorism legislations and practices in response terrorism in North Eastern part of the country. However, these measures have hampered not only the ability of civil society organizations to sustain the autonomous spaces that define/locate them at the intersection between the state and public but also the balance between freedom and security. Hence, this study examines the various elements associated with the interface between the counter terrorism security framework of the government and the capacity of civil society organizations to carry out their mandates in Nigeria. In order to achieve this, the survey research of the ex-post facto type will be adopted using the multi-stage sampling technique. A total of two hundred (200) copies of questionnaire will be administered to members of the civil society organizations and 24 In-Depth Interviews (IDI) will be conducted for officials of security agencies, Ministry of Defence and operators of civil society organizations. Fifty respondents will be drawn from each civil society organisations in the areas of humanitarian assistance, human rights Advocacy, development-oriented, peace-building. Moreover, 24 interviewees drawn from the key members of the security agencies (6), Ministry of Defence (6) and 12 operators of civil society organizations-three respondents each will represent the four civil society organizations mentioned above. Also, secondary data will be used to complement In-depth Interview (IDI) sessions. All collected data will be coded and analysed using descriptive statistics of frequency counts and simple percentage in the Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS). Content analysis will be used for the In-depth interview and secondary data.

Keywords: counter-terrorism, civil society organizations, freedom, terrorism

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Authors: H. Shola Adeosun, F. Ajoke Adebiyi

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This study appraises the impact of television on the coverage of Lassa Fever disease. The objectives of the study are to find out whether television is an effective tool for raising awareness about Lassa fever shapes the perception of members of the public. The research work was based on the theoretical foundation of Agenda – setting and reinforcement theory. Survey research method was adopted in the study to elicit data from the residents of Obafemi Owode Local Government, area of Ogun state. Questionnaire and oral interview were adopted as a tool for data gathering. Simple random sampling techniques were used to draw a sample for this study. Out of filled 400 questionnaires distributed to the respondents. 37 of them were incorrectly filled and returned at the stipulated time. This is about (92.5% Tables, percentages, and figures were used to analyse and interpret the data and hypothesis formulation for this study revealed that Lassa fever diseases with higher media coverage were considered more serious and more representative of a disease and estimated to have lower incidents, than diseases less frequently found in the media. Thus, 92% of the respondents agree that they have access to television coverage of Lassa fever disease led to exaggerated perceptions of personal vulnerability. It, therefore, concludes that there is a need for relevant stakeholders to ensure better community health education and improved housing conditions in southwestern Nigeria, with an emphasis on slum areas and that Nigeria need to focus on the immediate response, while preparing for the future because a society or community is all about the people who inhabit. Therefore every effort must be geared towards their society and survival.

Keywords: impact, television, coverage, Lassa fever disease

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Authors: Büşra Güven, Ebru Kerimoğlu

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Relevant departments of universities in creative fields are increasingly facing the challenge of developing curriculum for more employable creative workforce. In Turkey, as a developing country, the creative industries have not yet argued in the political axis and higher education also has not been addressed in this context. Istanbul has the highest creative and cultural industries share also provides both rooted and developing higher education institutes for these sectors in Turkey. With this in mind, the main purpose of the paper attempts to clarify that how does higher education in creative fields deal with the demands of creative industries in Istanbul? First, the paper elaborated creative class theory, second creative industries, employability and curriculum triangle is examined. The research methodology consisted of a qualitative model based on interview analysis. Data are collected by interviews with the head of the relevant departments and professional associations authorities in selected sectors. Four higher education institutes in Istanbul are selected according to the some clarified factors related to the literature. This also offered a comparing between public and private universities in terms of the adaptability of this changing concept of work. Industry expectations and content of educations were compared and found the blind spots in the education-industry relationships. As a consequence, produced inclusive policies for universities and industries to overcome these spots with collaboration, flexibility, adaptability, openness and feedback management and also for future policies in particular outcomes of university-industry collaborations.

Keywords: creative industries, curriculum, employability, high education, Istanbul

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Authors: Xu Jiaqiao

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Text sentiment analysis is an important branch of natural language processing. This technology is widely used in public opinion analysis and web surfing recommendations. At present, the mainstream sentiment analysis methods include three parts: sentiment analysis based on a sentiment dictionary, based on traditional machine learning, and based on deep learning. This paper mainly analyzes and compares the advantages and disadvantages of the SVM method of traditional machine learning and the Long Short-term Memory (LSTM) method of deep learning in the field of Chinese sentiment analysis, using Chinese comments on Sina Microblog as the data set. Firstly, this paper classifies and adds labels to the original comment dataset obtained by the web crawler, and then uses Jieba word segmentation to classify the original dataset and remove stop words. After that, this paper extracts text feature vectors and builds document word vectors to facilitate the training of the model. Finally, SVM and LSTM models are trained respectively. After accuracy calculation, it can be obtained that the accuracy of the LSTM model is 85.80%, while the accuracy of SVM is 91.07%. But at the same time, LSTM operation only needs 2.57 seconds, SVM model needs 6.06 seconds. Therefore, this paper concludes that: compared with the SVM model, the LSTM model is worse in accuracy but faster in processing speed.

Keywords: sentiment analysis, support vector machine, long short-term memory, Chinese microblog comments

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Authors: Chaomeng Liu, Li Li, Xiao Wang, Li Ren, Qinge Zhang

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Late-life depression (LLD) is a prevalent mental disorder among the elderly, frequently accompanied by significant cognitive decline, and has emerged as a worldwide public health concern. Microglia, astrocytes, and peripheral immune cells play pivotal roles in regulating inflammatory responses within the central nervous system (CNS) across diverse cerebral disorders. This review commences with the clinical research findings and accentuates the recent advancements pertaining to microglia and astrocytes in the neuroinflammation process of LLD. The reciprocal communication network between the CNS and immune system is of paramount importance in the pathogenesis of depression and cognitive decline. Stress-induced downregulation of tight and gap junction proteins in the brain results in increased blood-brain barrier permeability and impaired astrocyte function. Concurrently, activated microglia release inflammatory mediators, initiating the kynurenine metabolic pathway and exacerbating the quinolinic acid/kynurenic acid imbalance. Moreover, the balance between Th17 and Treg cells is implicated in the preservation of immune homeostasis within the cerebral milieu of individuals suffering from LLD. The ultimate objective of this review is to present future strategies for the management and treatment of LLD, informed by the most recent advancements in research, with the aim of averting or postponing the onset of AD.

Keywords: neuroinflammation, late-life depression, microglia, astrocytes, central nervous system, blood-brain barrier, Kynurenine pathway

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Authors: Ahlam A. Alghamdi

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For many years and until now, education based on gendered division is endorsed in the public Saudi schools starting from the primary grades (1,2, 3rd grades). Although preschool has no boys and girls segregation restrictions, children from first grade starting their first form of cultural ideology based on gender. Ensuring high-quality education serving all children -both boys and girls- is an aim for policymakers and early learning professionals in Saudi Arabia. The past five years have witnessed a major change in terms of shifting the paradigm to educating young children in the country. In May 2018, the Ministry of Education (MoE) had declared a commencement decision of inclusion schools serve both girls and boys in primary grades with a high-quality early learning opportunity. This study sought to shed light on one of the earliest schools that have implemented the inclusion experience. The methodological approach adopted is based on the qualitative inquiry of case study to investigate complex phenomena within the contexts of inclusion school. Data collection procedures included on-site visitations and semi-structured interviews with the teachers to document their thoughts, narratives, and living experiences. The findings of this study identified three themes based on cultural, educational, and professional interpretations. An overview of recommendations highlighted the benefits and possible challenges of future implementations of inclusion schools in Saudi Arabia.

Keywords: early learning, gender division, inclusion school, Saudi Arabia

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Authors: Preeti Khanna, Bani T. Aeri

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Background: Recent studies have indicated challenges that hamper health and wellbeing of a vast majority of adolescents in developing countries. Many modifiable factors like behavior and temperament related to food intake among adolescents have not been adequately explored. The aim of the proposed research is to study the impact of behavior and temperament on food intake and diet quality of adolescents. Objectives: In the present study data on dietary behavior and anthropometry of adolescent boys & girls (aged 13-16 years) studying in public schools of Delhi will be gathered to ascertain the quality of diet among adolescent boys and girls and to study the effect of behavior and temperament on diet quality of adolescents. Methods: In total, 400 adolescents will participate in this cross-sectional study. Weight and height of adolescents will be measured and BMI will be calculated. Information will be obtained on their socio-demographic profile and various factors influencing their Food Choices and diet quality such as body image perception, Behavior, temperament, locus of control and parental influence. Expected results: Several direct effects of adolescent traits and behavior on food intake will be observed. Maturational patterns and gender differences in behavior traits will be assessed. By profiling of the behavior and temperament traits, we will have a better understanding of impact of these factors on weight and eating behaviors in overweight/obese or even underweight adolescents. Conclusions: The proposed study will highlight the association of behavioral factors with nutritional status of adolescents. It will also serve as a strategic approach for the obesity prevention and health management policies designed for adolescents.

Keywords: behaviour, temperament, food intake, adolescents

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Authors: Mohammed-Hareef Asunramu, Sana Hashemi, Raja Ohri, Luc Worthington, Nadia Zaman, Junkai Zhu

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Background: The 2012 Health and Social Care Act committed to a ‘parity of esteem between mental and physical health services. Although this investment, aimed to both increase the quality of services and ensure the retention of mental health staff, questions remained regarding its ability to prevent mental health problems. One possible solution is a focus on the social determinants of health which have been shown to impact mental health. Aim: To examine the relationship between the index of multiple deprivations (IMD) and the prevalence of common mental health disorders (CMD) for CCGs in NHS England between 2019 and 2020. Design and setting: Cross-sectional analysis of 189 CCGs in NHS England. Methods: A multivariate linear regression model was utilized with CMD as outcome variable and IMD, age and ethnicity as explanatory variables. Datasets were obtained from Public Health England and the latest UK Census. Results: CCG IMD was found to have a significantly positive relationship with CMD. For every 1-point increase in IMD, CMD increases by 0.25%. Ethnicity had a significantly positive relationship with CMD. For every 1% increase in the population that identifies as BME, there is a 0.03% increase in CMD. Age had a significantly negative relationship with CMD. For every 1% increase in the population aged 60+, there is a 0.11% decrease in CMD. Conclusion: This study demonstrates that addressing mental health issues may require a multi-pronged approach. Beyond budget increases, it is essential to prioritize health equity, with careful considerations towards ethnic minorities and different age brackets.

Keywords: deprivation, health inequality, mental health, social determinants

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Authors: Adetunji Abiola Olaoye

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The study examined the students’ self-concepts and mathematics achievement viz-a-viz the existing three theoretical models: Humanist self-concept (M1), Contemporary self-concept (M2) and Skills development self-concept (M3). As a qualitative research study, it comprised of one research question, which was transformed into hypothesis viz-a-viz the existing theoretical models. Sample to the study comprised of twelve public secondary schools from which twenty-five mathematics teachers, twelve counselling officers and one thousand students of Upper Basic II were selected based on intact class as school administrations and system did not allow for randomization. Two instruments namely 10 items ‘Achievement test in Mathematics’ (r1=0.81) and 10 items Student’s self-concept questionnaire (r2=0.75) were adapted, validated and used for the study. Data were analysed through descriptive, one way ANOVA, t-test and correlation statistics at 5% level of significance. Finding revealed mean and standard deviation of pre-achievement test scores of (51.322, 16.10), (54.461, 17.85) and (56.451, 18.22) for the Humanist Self-Concept, Contemporary Self-Concept and Skill Development Self-Concept respectively. Apart from that study showed that there was significant different in the academic performance of students along the existing models (F-cal>F-value, df = (2,997); P<0.05). Furthermore, study revealed students’ achievement in mathematics and self-concept questionnaire with the mean and standard deviation of (57.4, 11.35) and (81.6, 16.49) respectively. Result confirmed an affirmative relationship with the Contemporary Self-Concept model that expressed an individual subject and specific self-concept as the primary determinants of higher academic achievement in the subject as there is a statistical correlation between students’ self-concept and mathematics achievement viz-a-viz the existing three theoretical models of Contemporary (M2) with -Z_cal<-Z_val, df=998: P<0.05*. The implication of the study was discussed with recommendations and suggestion for further studies proffered.

Keywords: contemporary, humanists, self-concepts, skill development

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Authors: Abdullah Almowanes

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The speed of adoption of new information and communication technologies is often seen as an indicator of the growth of knowledge- and technological innovation-based regional economies. Indeed, technological progress and scientific inquiry in any society have undergone a particularly profound transformation with the introduction of computer networks. In the spring of 1981, the Bitnet network was launched to link thousands of nodes all over the world. In 1985 and as one of the first adopters of Bitnet, Saudi Arabia launched a Bitnet-based network named Gulfnet that linked computer centers, universities, and libraries of Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries through high speed communication lines. In this paper, the origins and the deployment of Gulfnet are discussed as well as social, economical, political, and cultural ramifications of the new information reality created by the network. Despite its significance, the social and cultural aspects of Gulfnet have not been investigated in history of science and technology literature to a satisfactory degree before. The presented research is based on an extensive archival research aimed at seeking out and analyzing of primary evidence from archival sources and records. During its decade and a half-long existence, Gulfnet demonstrated that the scope and functionality of public computer networks in Saudi Arabia have to be fine-tuned for compliance with Islamic culture and political system of the country. It also helped lay the groundwork for the subsequent introduction of the Internet. Since 1980s, in just few decades, the proliferation of computer networks has transformed communications world-wide.

Keywords: Bitnet, computer networks, computing and culture, Gulfnet, Saudi Arabia

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Authors: A. Ascenso, C. Silveira, B. Augusto, S. Rafael, S. Coelho, J. Ferreira, A. Monteiro, P. Roebeling, A. I. Miranda

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Innovative nature-based solutions (NBSs) can provide answers to the challenges that urban areas are currently facing due to urban densification and extreme weather conditions. The effects of NBSs are recognized and include improved quality of life, mental and physical health and improvement of air quality, among others. Part of the work developed in the scope of the UNaLab project, which aims to guide cities in developing and implementing their own co-creative NBSs, intends to assess the impacts of NBSs on air quality, using Eindhoven city as a case study. The state-of-the-art online air quality modelling system WRF-CHEM was applied to simulate meteorological and concentration fields over the study area with a spatial resolution of 1 km2 for the year 2015. The baseline simulation (without NBSs) was validated by comparing the model results with monitored data retrieved from the Eindhoven air quality database, showing an adequate model performance. In addition, land use changes were applied in a set of simulations to assess the effects of different types of NBSs. Finally, these simulations were compared with the baseline scenario and the impacts of the NBSs were assessed. Reductions on pollutant concentrations, namely for NOx and PM, were found after the application of the NBSs in the Eindhoven study area. The present work is particularly important to support public planners and decision makers in understanding the effects of their actions and planning more sustainable cities for the future.

Keywords: air quality, modelling approach, nature based solutions, urban area

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Authors: Adriana Salgado, Sandra Castaneda, Ivan Perez

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Learning to read and write is a complex process involving several cognitive skills, contextual, and cultural environments. The basis of this development is linguistic skills, such as the ability to name and understand vocabulary, retell a story, phonological awareness, letter knowledge, among others. In children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), one of the main concerns is related to language disorders. Nevertheless, most of the children with ASD are able to decode written information but have difficulties in reading comprehension. The research of these processes in the Spanish-speaking population is limited. However, the increasing prevalence of this diagnosis (1 in 115 children) in Mexico has implications at different levels. Educational research is an important area of interest in ASD children, such as emergent literacy. Reading and writing expand the possibilities of academic, cultural, and social information access. Taking this information into account, the objective of this research was to identify the relationship between language skills, alphabet knowledge, phonological awareness, and early reading and writing in ASD Spanish-speaking children. The method used for this research was based on tasks that were selected, adapted and in some cases designed to measure initial reading and writing, as well as language skills (naming, receptive vocabulary, and narrative skills), phonological awareness (similar phonological word pairs, beginning sound awareness and spelling) and letter knowledge, in a sample of 45 children (38 boys and 7 girls) with prior diagnosis of ASD. Descriptive analyses, as well as bivariate correlations, cluster analysis, and canonical correspondence, were obtained for the data results. Results showed that variability was large; however, it was possible to characterize the sample in low, medium, and high score groups regarding children performance. The low score group (46.7% of the sample), had a null or deficient performance in language skills and phonological awareness, some could identify up to five letters of the alphabet, showed no early reading skills but they could scribble. The middle score group was characterized by a highly variable performance in different tasks, with better language skills in receptive and naming vocabulary, some narrative, letter knowledge, and phonological awareness (beginning sound awareness) skills. The high score group, (24.4% of the sample) had the best performance in language skills in relation to the sample data, as well as in the rest of the measured skills. Finally, scores were canonically correlated between naming, receptive vocabulary, narrative, phonological awareness, letter knowledge and initial learning of reading and writing skills for the high score group and letter knowledge, naming and receptive vocabulary for the lower score group, which is consistent with previous research in typical and ASD children. In conclusion, the obtained data is consistent with previous studies. Despite large variability, it was possible to identify performance profiles and relations based on linguistic, phonological awareness, and letter knowledge skills. These skills were predictor variables of the initial development of reading and writing. The above has implications for a future program and strategies development that may benefit the acquisition of reading and writing in ASD children.

Keywords: autism, autism spectrum disorders, early literacy, emergent literacy

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Authors: Prakash Singh, Piet Maphodisa Kgohlo

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Knowledge-worker productivity is one of the biggest leadership challenges facing all organizations in the twenty-first century. It cannot be denied that knowledge-worker productivity affects all organizations. The work and the workforce are both undergoing greater changes currently than at any time, since the beginning of the industrial revolution two centuries ago. Employees welcome collegial teaming (CT) as an innovative way to develop their work-integrated learning competencies. Human resource development policies must evoke the symbiotic relationship between CT and work-integrated learning, seeing that employees need to be endowed with the competence to move from one skill to another, as each one becomes obsolete, and to simultaneously develop their cognitive and emotional intelligence. The outcome of this relationship must culminate in the development of highly productive knowledge-workers. While this study focuses on teachers, the conceptual framework and the findings of this research can be beneficial for any organization, public or private sector, business or non-business. Therefore, in this quantitative study, the benefits of CT are considered in developing human resources to sustain knowledge-worker productivity. The ANOVA p-values reveal that the majority of teachers agree that CT can empower them to overcome the challenges of managing curriculum change. CT can equip them with continuous and sustained learning, growth and improvement, necessary for knowledge-worker productivity. This study, therefore, confirms that CT benefits all workers, immaterial of their age, gender or experience. Hence, this exploratory research provides a new perspective of CT in addressing knowledge-worker productivity when organizational change alters the vision of the organization.

Keywords: collegial teaming, human resource development, knowledge-worker productivity, work-integrated learning

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Authors: Peter Ferguson

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In 2018, Japan’s Ministry of Education revised the public elementary school curriculum. As part of widespread reforms, the recent Course of Study established English as an academic subject in Grades 5 and 6 plus lowered the starting age of 'foreign language activities' to Grade 3. These changes were implemented in April 2020. This presentation will examine the process and effects that policy implementation had on schools and teachers. A critical analysis of the 2018 Course of Study policy documents revealed several discourses were expressed concerning not only English education and foreign language acquisition, but that larger political and socioeconomic ideological beliefs on globalization, language, nation, culture, and identity were also articulated. Using excerpts from document analysis, the presenter will demonstrate how competing discourses were expressed in policy texts. Data from interviews with national policymakers also exposed several challenges policymakers faced as they tried to balance competing discourses and articulate important pedagogical concepts while having their voices heard. Findings show that some stakeholders were marginalized during the processes of policy creation, transmission, and implementation. This presentation is part of a larger multiple case study that utilized ethnography of language policy and critical analysis of discourse to examine how English education language policy was implemented into the national elementary school curriculum in Japan, and how stakeholders at the various educational levels contended with the creation, interpretation, and appropriation of the language policy.

Keywords: ethnography of language policy, elementary school EFL, language ideologies, discourse analysis

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Authors: Carly Madge, Melanie Zurba, Ryan Bullock

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The Boreal Forest has experienced some of the most drastic climate change-induced temperature rises in Canada, with average winter temperatures increasing by 3°C since 1948. One of the main concerns of the province of Saskatchewan, and particularly wildfire managers, is the increased risk of wildfires due to climate change. With these concerns in mind Sakaw Askiy Management Inc., a forestry corporation located in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan with operations in the Boreal Forest biome, is developing wildfire risk reduction strategies that are supported by the shareholders of the corporation as well as the stakeholders of the Prince Albert Forest Management Area (which includes citizens, hunters, trappers, cottage owners, and outfitters). In the past, wildfire management strategies implemented through harvesting have been received with skepticism by some community members of Prince Albert. Engagement of the stakeholders of the Prince Albert Management Area through the development of the wildfire risk reduction strategies aims to reduce this skepticism and rebuild some of the trust that has been lost between industry and community. This research project works with the framework of social learning, which is defined as the learning that occurs when individuals come together to form a group with the purpose of understanding environmental challenges and determining appropriate responses to them. The project evaluates the social learning processes that occur through the development of the risk reduction strategies and how the learning has allowed Sakaw to work towards implementing the strategies into their forest harvesting plans. The incorporation of wildfire risk reduction strategies works to increase the adaptive capacity of Sakaw, which in this case refers to the ability to adjust to climate change, moderate potential damages, take advantage of opportunities, and cope with consequences. Using semi-structured interviews and wildfire workshop meetings shareholders and stakeholders shared their knowledge of wildfire, their main wildfire concerns, and changes they would like to see made in the Prince Albert Forest Management Area. Interviews and topics discussed in the workshops were inductively coded for themes related to learning, adaptive capacity, areas of concern, and preferred methods of wildfire risk reduction strategies. Analysis determined that some of the learning that has occurred has resulted through social interactions and the development of networks oriented towards wildfire and wildfire risk reduction strategies. Participants have learned new knowledge and skills regarding wildfire risk reduction. The formation of wildfire networks increases access to information on wildfire and the social capital (trust and strengthened relations) of wildfire personnel. Both factors can be attributed to increases in adaptive capacity. Interview results were shared with the General Manager of Sakaw, where the areas of concern and preferred strategies of wildfire risk reduction will be considered and accounted for in the implementation of new harvesting plans. This research also augments the growing conceptual and empirical evidence of the important role of learning and networks in regional wildfire risk management efforts.

Keywords: adaptive capacity, community-engagement, social learning, wildfire risk reduction

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Authors: Oluwatofunmi Musa-Ajakaiye, Paul Olorunfemi M.D MPH, John Obafaiye

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Introduction: The U.S Food and Drug Administration (FDA) reports the public notices for recalled FDA-regulated products over periods of time. It study reviewed the primary reasons for recalls of products of various types over a period of 7 years. Methods: The study analyzed data provided in the FDA’s archived recalls for the years 2010-2017. It identified the various reasons for product recalls in the categories of foods, beverages, drugs, medical devices, animal and veterinary products, and dietary supplements. Using SPSS version 29, descriptive statistics and chi-square analysis of the data were performed. Results (numbers, percentages, p-values, chi-square): Over the period of analysis, a total of 931 recalls were reported. The most frequent reason for recalls was undeclared products (36.7%). The analysis showed that the most recalled product type in the data set was foods and beverages, representing 591 of all recalled products (63.5%).In addition, it was observed that foods and beverages represent 77.2% of products recalled due to the presence of microorganisms. Also, a sub-group analysis of recall reasons of food and beverages found that the most prevalent reason for such recalls was undeclared products (50.1%) followed by Listeria (17.3%) then Salmonella (13.2%). Conclusion: This analysis shows that foods and beverages have the greatest percentages of total recalls due to the presence of undeclared products listeria contamination and Salmonella contamination. The prevalence of Salmonella and Listeria contamination suggests that there is a high risk of microbial contamination in FDA-approved products and further studies on the effects of such contamination must be conducted to ensure consumer safety.

Keywords: food, beverages, listeria, salmonella, FDA, contamination, microbial

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Authors: Ghoul Rachid Brahim

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Introduction: Back pain is a real public health problem with a significant socio-economic impact. It is the consequence of a degeneration of the lumbar intervertebral disc (IVD). This often asymptomatic pathology is compatible with an active life. As soon as it becomes symptomatic, conservative treatment is recommended in the majority of cases. The physical or functional disability is resistant to well-monitored conservative treatment, which justifies a surgical alternative which imposes a well-studied reflection on the objectives to be achieved. Objective: Evaluate the indication and short and medium term contribution of surgery in the management of painful degenerative lumbar disc disease. To prove the effectiveness of surgical treatment in the management of painful lumbar degenerative disc disease. Materials and methods: This is a prospective descriptive mono-centric study without comparison group, comprising a series of 104 patients suffering from lumbar painful degenerative disc disease treated surgically. Retrospective analysis of data collected prospectively. Comparison between pre and postoperative clinical status, by pain self-assessment scores and on the impact on pre and postoperative quality of life (3, 6 to 12 months). Results: This study showed that patients who received surgical treatment had great improvements in symptoms, function and several health-related quality of life in the first year after surgery. Conclusions: The surgery had a significantly positive impact on patients' pain, disability and quality of life. Overall, 97% of the patients were satisfied.

Keywords: degenerative disc disease, intervertebral disc, several health-related quality, lumbar painful

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Authors: M. Moiz

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Family planning has been known and accepted as a key tool to decrease fertility, provides birth spacing and plays a vital role to attain better outcomes for maternal and child health. Pakistan initiated various family planning programs to preserve maternal and child health for six decades. However, less contraceptive use leading to high fertility and low birth spacing is ultimately a risk for increasing morbidity and mortality. As an outcome of 2012 London Summit on Family Planning where 20 countries including Pakistan made its commitment to increase contraceptive prevalence rate by 55% and provide a universal access to reproductive health to protect human rights of women and ensure safe, choice informed and affordable contraceptives throughout the country. This paper will assess some of the factors of service delivery, coverage and the role of Ministry of Health and Population Welfare Department in providing Family Planning services and how it can be improved in Pakistan. In view of Pakistan Demographic Health Survey 2017-18, there are total nine million potential users of contraceptives and one third among them never used with unmet need while every fifth pregnancy ends into abortion indicates need for Family Planning services. In order to explain this concern, a comprehensive analysis has been done on role of governance in implementing family planning policy and its limitations are discussed. Moreover, this paper highlights policy options and recommendations for improving service provision through public and private sector in creating demand for Family Planning services in Pakistan.

Keywords: contraceptive prevalence rate, family planning, maternal and child health, policy options

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Authors: Celine Delacroix

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Analyses of global emission scenarios demonstrate that slowing population growth could lead to substantial emissions reductions and play an important role to avoid dangerous climate change. For this reason, the advancement of individual reproductive rights might represent a valid climate change mitigation and adaptation option. With this focus, we reflected on population ethics and the ethical dilemmas associated with environmental degradation and climate change. We conducted a mixed-methods qualitative data study consisting of an online survey followed by in-depth interviews with stakeholders of the reproductive health and rights and environmental sustainability movements to capture the ways in which the linkages between family planning, population growth, and environmental sustainability are perceived by these actors. We found that the multi-layered marginalization of this issue resulted in two processes, the polarization of opinions and its eschewal from the public fora through population reductionism. Our results indicate that stakeholders of the reproductive rights and environmental sustainability movements find that population size and family planning influence environmental sustainability and overwhelmingly find that the reproductive health and rights ideological framework should be integrated in a wider sustainability frame reflecting environmental considerations. This position, whilst majoritarily shared by all participants, was more likely to be adopted by stakeholders of the environmental sustainability sector than those from the reproductive health and rights sector. We conclude that these processes, taken in the context of a context of a climate emergency, threaten to weaken the reproductive health and rights movement.

Keywords: environmental sustainability, family planning, population growth, population ethics, reproductive rights

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Authors: D. Avnieli

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Immunity of judges from liability represents a departure from the principle that all are equal under the law, and that victims may be granted compensation from their offenders. The purpose of the study is to determine if judicial immunity coincides with the need to ensure the existence of highly independent and incorruptible judiciary. Judges are immune from civil and criminal liability for their judicial acts. Judicial immunity is justified by the need to maintain complete independence and discretion of the judiciary. Scholars and judges believe that absolute immunity is needed to shield judges from pressures, threats, or outside interference. It is commonly accepted, that judges should be free to perform their judicial role in accordance with their assessment of the fact and their understanding of the law, without any restrictions, influences, inducements or interferences. In most countries, immunity applies when judges act in excess of jurisdiction. In some countries, it applies even when they act maliciously or corruptly. The only exception to absolute immunity applicable in all judicial systems is when judges act without jurisdiction over the subject matter. The Israeli Supreme Court recently decided to embrace absolute immunity and strike off a lawsuit of a refugee, who was unlawfully incarcerated. The Court ruled that the plaintiff cannot sue the State or the judge for damages. The questions of malice, dignity, and public scrutiny were not discussed. This paper, based on comparative analysis of many cases, aims to determine if immunity affects the dignity and behavior of judges. It demonstrates that most judges maintain their dignity and ethical code of behavior, but sometimes do not hesitate to act consciously in excess of jurisdiction, and in rare cases even corruptly. Therefore, in order to maintain independent and incorruptible judiciary, immunity should not be applied where judges act consciously in excess of jurisdiction or with malicious incentives.

Keywords: incorruptible judiciary, immunity, independent, judicial, judges, jurisdiction

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Authors: Funmilola Ajani, I. A. Ayodele, O.A. Filade

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Tourism has direct, indirect and induced impacts on economic development and the industry is one of the most crucial tradable sectors in the world. The study was therefore carried out to assess the potentials of ecotourism to nature conservation and its contributions to the improvement of the livelihood of Oke- Ila Orangun community. One hundred and fifty residents were chosen by stratified random sampling as respondents. Respondents awareness of ecotourism was assessed using an 8-point scale while respondents acceptance of ecotourism was assessed using a 14-point scale. Contributions to improvement of livelihood of residents and perceived constraints identified by residents to the development of the water fall and socio-economic variables among others were also obtained. Also, in-depth interview was conducted with the king of Ayikunnugba. The data was analyzed using descriptive statistics such as frequency count, mean and percentages. Correlation analysis was used to determine whether or not a relationship exists between two variables at 0.05 level of significance. Perception of respondents based on the awareness of ecotourism and contributions to livelihood development was high (78.3%). A significant relationship exists between acceptance of ecotourism and its contributions to peoples’ livelihood. Also, relationship between constraints encountered by respondents and its contributions to peoples livelihood is highly significant(r =0.546; P =0.00). Majority (71.3%) of the respondents believed that the development of the area will not lead to environmental pollution. Public- Private- Partnership (PPP) is therefore recommended so as to enable the recreation site to meet international standard in terms of development and management.

Keywords: Ayikunnugba water fall, ecotourism constraints, nature conservation, awareness

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Authors: Jiraporn Prommaha

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The purpose of this research is to study the development of Thailand Brand Identity and the perception of its image in order to find any guidelines for the identity development and the image perception of Thailand Brand in Health and Wellness Tourism. The paper is conducted through mixed methods research, both the qualitative and quantitative researches. The qualitative focuses on the in-depth interview of executive administrations from public and private sectors involved scholars and experts in identity and image issue, main 11 people. The quantitative research was done by the questionnaires to collect data from foreign tourists 800; Chinese tourists 400 and UK tourists 400. The technique used for this was the Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA), this was to determine the relation between the structures of the variables by categorizing the variables into group by applying the Varimax rotation technique. This technique showed recognition the Thailand brand image related to the 2 countries, China and UK. The results found that guidelines for brand identity development and image perception of health and wellness tourism in Thailand; as following (1) Develop communication in order to understanding of the meaning of the word 'Health and beauty tourism' throughout the country, (2) Develop human resources as a national agenda, (3) Develop awareness rising in the conservation and preservation of natural resources of the country, (4) Develop the cooperation of all stakeholders in Health and Wellness Businesses, (5) Develop digital communication throughout the country and (6) Develop safety in Tourism.

Keywords: brand identity, image perception, nation branding, health and wellness tourism, mixed methods research

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Authors: Ali Essam El Shazly

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The slum survey of 'Sequina' area in Alexandria details the building rooms of twenty-building samples according to the integral measure of space syntax. The essence of room organization sets the most integrative 'visitor' domain between the 'inhabitant' wings of less integrated 'parent' than the 'children' structure with visual ring of 'balcony' space. Despite the collective real relative asymmetry of 'pheno-type' aggregation, the relative asymmetry of individual layouts reveals 'geno-type' structure of spatial diversity. The multifunction of rooms optimizes the integral structure of graph and visibility merge, which contrasts with the deep tailing structure of distinctive social domains. The most integrative layout inverts the geno-type into freed rooms of shallow 'inhabitant' domain against the off-centered 'visitor' space, while the most segregated layout further restricts the pheno-type through isolated 'visitor' from 'inhabitant' domains across the 'staircase' public domain. The catalyst 'kitchen & living' spaces demonstrate multi-structural dimensions among the various social domains. The former ranges from most exposed central integrity to the most hidden 'motherhood' territories. The latter, however, mostly integrates at centrality or at the further ringy 'childern' domain. The study concludes social structure of spatial integrity for redevelopment, which is determined through the micro-level survey of rooms with integral dimensions.

Keywords: Alexandria, Sequina slum, spatial integration, space syntax

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Authors: Sanusi Abubakar Sadiq

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Despite the significance of tourism as a key revenue earner and employment generator, it is still being disregarded in many areas. The prospects of existing resources could boost development in communities; region, etc. are less used. This study is carried out with the view of developing Pandi-Tekki in Tanglang in Billiri Local Government Area as a Tourism Destination. It was primarily aimed at identifying features of Pandi-Tekki that could be developed into tourism attraction and suggest ways of developing the prospective site into a tourism destination, as well as exploring its possible contribution to tourism sector in Gombe State. Literature was reviewed based on relevant published materials. Data was collected through the use of qualitative and quantitative methods which include personal observation and structured questionnaire. Data was analyzed using the statistical package for the social sciences (SPSS) software. Result based on the data collected shows that Pandi-Tekki has potentials that can be developed as an attraction. The result also shows that the local community perceives tourism as a good development that will open them up to the entire world and also generate revenue to stimulate their economy. Conclusions were drawn based on the findings with regard to the analysis carried out in this research. It was discovered that Pandi-Tekki can be developed as a tourism destination, and there will be a great success towards achieving the aim and objectives of the development. Therefore, recommendations were made on creating awareness on the need to develop Pandi-Tekki as a Tourism Destination and the need for government to provide tourism facilities at the destination since it is a public outfit.

Keywords: attraction, destination, developing, features

Procedia PDF Downloads 289

Authors: Khodi Morgan, Kasey Crowe, Amanda Morgan

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Canadian High School Students' Attitudes & Perspectives Towards People With Disabilities, Autism, and ADHD. Objective: To survey Canadian high school students' regarding their attitudes and perspectives towards people with disabilities and explore how age, gender, and personal experience with disability may impact these views. Methods A survey was developed using the standardized Attitude Toward Persons With Disability Scale as its base, with the addition of questions specifically about Autism and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). The survey also gathered information about the participants’ age and gender and whether or not they, or a close family member, had any disabilities. Participants were recruited at a public Canadian high school by fellow student researchers. Results A total of 219 (N=219) students ranging from 13 - 19 years old participated in the study (m= 15.9 years of age). Gender was equally split, with 44% male, 42% female and 14% undeclared. Experience with disability was common amongst participants, with 25% self-identifying as having a personal disability and 48% claiming to have a close family member with a disability. Exploratory trends indicated that females, and people with self-identified disabilities, and people with close family members with disabilities trended towards having more positive attitudes toward persons with disabilities. This poster will report upon these trends and explore in more depth how personal factors such as age, gender and personal disability status impact high school students attitudes toward persons with disability in general and in regards to Autism and ADHD specifically.

Keywords: disability, autism, ADHD, community research, acceptance, adolescence, high school

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Authors: Oxana Vasilyeva

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This paper draws on research in progress focusing on independent art in the Russian Federation. I am using the concept of independent art to mean art free from state control and established restrictive narratives. The Russian state pursues its interests by supporting or forbidding certain forms of art, and art that promotes values in opposition to the official political course is often forbidden. Arguments presented below draw from fieldwork carried out in Russian cities of Moscow and Saint Petersburg in June – August 2019, which included in-depth interviews with artists. This research explores socially engaged artistic works and their effect on socio-political state of affairs. It argues that artistic works entering public places have a potential to challenge autocratic system and inspire civil society to be critically engaged and to be capable to resist state propaganda. I am focusing on those artists who have a critical stance towards the current Russian political regime and analyzing their works in terms of transgression. By using the framework of transgression I aim to demonstrate how artists step across existing norms with their art influencing political and social order. To show the connection between the factors mentioned above, I will turn to two examples of transgressive aesthetics; one is individual and another is collective. The first example is Konstantin Benkovich, an artist who makes his works out of steel rebar, which is considered to be a symbol of the lack of freedom, as it is usually encountered in prison settings. The second example is a collective art practice called Monstration. It combines techniques of a demonstration and a carnival atmosphere. In 2019 Monstration was held in 30 Russian cities, despite the dissatisfaction of the authorities.

Keywords: art, culture, resistance, Russia

Procedia PDF Downloads 127

Authors: Carol Yue-En Ong, Angelina Hui-Min Tan, Quan Liu, Paul Chi-Lui Ho

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A public general hospital in Singapore has recently implemented an automated unit-dose machine in their inpatient dispensary, Swisslog, with the objective of reducing human error and improving patient safety. However, a concern in stability arises as tablets are removed from their original packaging (bottled loose tablets/capsules) and are repackaged into individual, clear plastic wrappers as unit doses in the system. Drugs that are light-sensitive and hygroscopic would be more susceptible to degradation as the wrapper does not offer full protection. Hence, this study was carried out to study the stability of haloperidol tablets and phenytoin capsules that are light-sensitive and hygroscopic respectively. Validated HPLC-UV assays were first established for quantification of these two compounds. The medications involved were put in the Swisslog and sampled every week for one month. The collected data was analysed and showed no degradation over time. This study also explored an alternative approach for drug stability determination-Raman spectroscopy. The advantage of Raman spectroscopy is its high time efficiency and non-destructive nature. The results suggest that drug degradation can indeed be detected using Raman microscopy, but further research is needed to establish this approach for quantification or qualification of compounds. NanoRam®, a portable Raman spectrocope was also used alongside Raman microscopy but was unsuccessful in detecting degradation in this study.

Keywords: drug stability, haloperidol, HPLC, phenytoin, raman spectroscopy, Swisslog

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Authors: Yue Hao

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COVID-19 vaccines not only protect individuals but society as a whole. In this case, having an understanding of the change and trend of vaccination conditions may shed some light on revising and making up-to-date policies regarding large-scale public health promotions and calls in order to lead and encourage the adoption of COVID-19 vaccines. However, vaccination status change over time and vary from place to place hidden patterns that were not fully explored in previous research. In our research, we took advantage of the spatial-temporal analytical methods in the domain of geographic information science and captured the spatial-temporal changes regarding COVID-19 vaccination status in the United States during 2020 and 2021. After conducting the emerging hot spots analysis on both the state level data of the US and county level data of California we found that: (1) at the macroscopic level, there is a continuously increasing trend of the vaccination rate in the US, but there is a variance on the spatial clusters at county level; (2) spatial hotspots and clusters with high vaccination amount over time were clustered around the west and east coast in regions like California and New York City where are densely populated with considerable economy conditions; (3) in terms of the growing trend of the daily vaccination among, Los Angeles County alone has very high statistics and dramatic increases over time. We hope that our findings can be valuable guidance for supporting future decision-making regarding vaccination policies as well as directing new research on relevant topics.

Keywords: COVID-19 vaccine, GIS, space time cube, spatial-temporal analysis

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Authors: Virender Singh, Mathew Rees, Simon Hampton, Sivaram Annadurai

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Plant identification is a challenging task that aims to identify the family, genus, and species according to plant morphological features. Automated deep learning-based computer vision algorithms are widely used for identifying plants and can help users narrow down the possibilities. However, numerous morphological similarities between and within species render correct classification difficult. In this paper, we tested custom convolution neural network (CNN) and vision transformer (ViT) based models using the PyTorch framework to classify plants. We used a large dataset of 88,000 provided by the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) and a smaller dataset of 16,000 images from the PlantClef 2015 dataset for classifying plants at genus and species levels, respectively. Our results show that for classifying plants at the genus level, ViT models perform better compared to CNN-based models ResNet50 and ResNet-RS-420 and other state-of-the-art CNN-based models suggested in previous studies on a similar dataset. ViT model achieved top accuracy of 83.3% for classifying plants at the genus level. For classifying plants at the species level, ViT models perform better compared to CNN-based models ResNet50 and ResNet-RS-420, with a top accuracy of 92.5%. We show that the correct set of augmentation techniques plays an important role in classification success. In conclusion, these results could help end users, professionals and the general public alike in identifying plants quicker and with improved accuracy.

Keywords: plant identification, CNN, image processing, vision transformer, classification

Procedia PDF Downloads 105