Search results for: survey methodology

Authors: Maria Angela Bedini, Fabio Bronzini

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Most of the Italian territory is at seismic risk. Many earthquakes have hit Italy, and devastating effects have been generated. The specific objective of the research is to distinguish the negative approaches that have generated unacceptable social situations of marginalization, abandonment, and economic regression, from positive methodological approaches. On the basis of the different situations examined, the study proposes strategies and guidelines to obtain the best possible results, in Italy or abroad, in the event of new earthquakes. At national and international level, many theoretical studies address the aspects of prevention, while the comparisons, carried out in this study, between the techniques and the operative procedures applied and the results obtained are rare. The adopted methodology compares the different pre-earthquake urban-planning approaches, for the emergency (temporary urban planning), and for the post-earthquake (socio-economic-territorial processes) in Italy. Attention is placed on the current consolidated planning and programming acquisitions, pre and post-earthquake. The main results of the study concern the prospects in Italy of protection from seismic risks in the next decades. An integrated settlement system for a new economic and social model, aimed at the rebirth of territories in crisis, is proposed. Finally, the conclusions describe the disciplinary positions, procedures and the fundamental points generally shared by the scientific community for each approach, in order to identify the strategic choices and the disciplinary and management paths that will be followed in the coming decades.

Keywords: post-earthquake, seismic emergency, seismic prevention, urban planning interventions in Italy

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Authors: Pankaj Kumar Kalita

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Ineffectiveness of formal institutional mechanisms such as official audit to improve public service delivery has been a serious concern to scholars working on governance reforms in developing countries. Scholars argue that public service delivery in local self-governing institutions can be improved through application of informal mechanisms such as social accountability. Social accountability has been reinforced with the engagement of citizens and civic organizations in the process of service delivery to reduce the governance gap in developing countries. However, there are challenges that may impede the scope of establishing social accountability initiatives in the performance of local self-governing institutions. This study makes an attempt to investigate the factors that may impede the scope of establishing social accountability, particularly in culturally heterogeneous societies like India. While analyzing the implementation of two rural development schemes by Panchayats, the local self-governing institutions functioning in rural Assam in India, this study argues that the scope of establishing social accountability in the performance of local self-governing institutions, particularly in culturally heterogeneous societies in developing countries will be impeded by the absence of inter-caste and inter-religion networks. Data has been collected from five selected districts of Assam using in-depth interview method and survey method. The study further contributes to the debates on 'good governance' and citizen-centric approaches in developing countries.

Keywords: citizen engagement, local self-governing institutions, networks, social accountability

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Authors: Lamia Ismayil

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The COVID-19 pandemic has drastically changed the everyday lives of people all over the world. This pandemic affects heavily the lifestyle of people in different aspects of life, including eating habits. The objective of this paper is to study the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on key factors affecting food habits among the Community College of Qatar (CCQ) students. Method: The research is a cross-sectional survey that deployed a questionnaire among 217 CCQ students. Results: The results showed that 47.5% of the respondents were male and 52.5% female. In our previous study about 30% percentage obesity with a BMI of 30-35 was shown. Surprisingly, during the pandemic, the obesity percentage remains almost the same, but the BMI range jumped to 30-46. The nutritional knowledge of CCQ students is at an average level. Besides, during pandemic the personal eating habits continued to be imbalanced and getting unhealthier than in the pre-pandemic period. Regarding the key factors that could affect eating habits, most of the respondents reported that during the pandemic in the absence of restaurants they had daily meals with their families, and had a lack of physical activity. Besides, most of the respondents agree that they gained weight during the pandemic. These findings indicate that the pandemic changed the food habits and the lifestyle of Qatari students. Accordingly, increasing the awareness among college students (and Qatari community at large) is recommended. College students can be given some recommendations related to healthy eating tips to overcome the effect of pandemic on their health status. The detailed comparative analysis between pre- and post-pandemic eating habits of students can help reveal the main differences and give effective guidance to improve body composition and health status of students.

Keywords: food habits, BMI, obesity, COVID-19, nutritional knowledge, community college of Qatar, pandemic

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Authors: Efua Ehiaguina, Haruna Moda

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Interest in the development of appropriate safety culture in the oil and gas industry has taken centre stage among stakeholders in the industry. Human behaviour has been identified as a major contributor to occupational accidents, where abnormal activities associated with safety management are taken as normal behaviour. Poor safety culture is one of the major factors that influence employee’s safety behaviour at work, which may consequently result in injuries and accidents and strengthening such a culture can improve workers safety performance. Nigeria oil and gas industry has contributed to the growth and development of the country in diverse ways. However, in terms of safety and health of workers, this industry is a dangerous place to work as workers are often exposed to occupational safety and health hazard. To ascertain the impact of employees’ safety and how it impacts health and safety compliance within the local industry, online safety culture survey targeting frontline workers within the industry was administered covering major subjects that include; perception of management commitment and style of leadership; safety communication method and its resultant impact on employees’ behaviour; employee safety commitment and training needs. The preliminary result revealed that 54% of the participants feel that there is a lack of motivation from the management to work safely. In addition, 55% of participants revealed that employers place more emphasis on work delivery over employee’s safety on the installation. It is expected that the study outcome will provide measures aimed at strengthening and sustaining safety culture in the Nigerian oil and gas industry.

Keywords: oil and gas safety, safety behaviour, safety culture, safety compliance

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Authors: Danjuma Moudu Momoh

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Participation in sports is of immense benefit to the soundness of individual mental and social wellness, particularly among youngsters. The 1980’s and 1990’s compared to 2000’s witnessed great involvement of youngsters in school games arising from the high administrative supports attached to sports. Previous studies in an attempt to increase youngster’s participation in sports had focused more on other factors rather than on administrative factors. This study, therefore, investigated the importance of administrative factors (availability of facilities, availability of equipment, funding, scheduling of sports programme and administrative style of school principals) on students’ sports participation in private and public secondary schools in Kwara State, Nigeria. Descriptive survey research design using validated and structured questionnaire, was adopted. Stratified random sampling technique was used to pick the students both male and female. A total of two thousand five hundred and sixty participants were involved in the study. A reliable coefficient of r=0.82 was obtained for the instruments using Cronbach Alpha. Data were analyzed using multiple regressions to test the hypotheses at 00.5 significant levels. At the end of the study, it was discovered that the relative contributions of administrative factors among the students were: availability of facilities (β=0.314), availability of equipment (β=0.444), funding (β=0.301), scheduling of sports programme (β=0.447), made relative contributions to the dependent variable, administrative style of school principal (β=0.077) did not make significant but minimal contribution to the student’s sports participation.

Keywords: administrative determinants, secondary school students, physical activity, sports participation

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Authors: Yan Liu

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The Gini coefficient indicates that the inequality of income distribution is rising in China. How individuals viewing the equality of current society is an important predicator of social turbulence. Perceptions of social justice may vary according to the social stratification. People usually use socioeconomic status to identify divisions between social stratifications. The objective of this study is to explore the potential influence of socioeconomic status on citizens’ perceptions of social justice in China. Socioeconomic status (SES) is usually reflected by either an SES indicator or a composite of three core dimensions: education, income and occupation. With data collected in the 2010 Chinese General Social Survey (CGSS), this study uses OLS regression analyses to examine the relationship between socioeconomic status (SES) and citizens’ perceptions of social justice. This study finds that most Chinese citizens believe that the current society is fair or more than fair. Socioeconomic status (SES) has a positive impact on citizens’ perceptions of social justice, which means individuals with higher indicator of socioeconomic status prefer to believe current society is fair. However, the three core dimensions which are used to measure socioeconomic status (SES) have different influences on perceptions of social justice: First, income helps enhance citizens’ sense of social justice. Second, education weakens citizens’ sense of social justice. Third, compared to the middle occupational status, people of both higher occupational status and lower occupational status have higher levels of perceptions of social justice. Though education creates a negative influence on perceptions of social justice, its effect is much weaker than that of income, which indicates income is a determining factor for enhancing people’s perceptions of social justice in China’s market society. Policy implications are discussed.

Keywords: education, income, occupation, perceptions of social justice, social stratification, socioeconomic status

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Authors: Lana Singleton

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Achieving a sufficient global solution to climate change seems elusive through disappointing climate agreements and lack of cooperation. However, is this reluctance of coordination deep rooted on a more individual, societal level within countries due to a fundamental lack of social and institutional trust? The risks of climate change are illustrious and widely accepted, yet responses on an individual level are also largely inadequate. This research looks to further investigate types of trust, risk perception of climate change, and their interaction to build a greater understanding of whether a social trap (Rothstein, 2005) – where an absence of trust can overwhelm an individuals’ risk perception and result in minimal action despite knowing the dangers of no action – exists and where it is more prevalent. Presence of the social trap will be analysed for willingness to act in favour of climate change mitigation as well as attitude (acceptance) of different types of renewable energy forms. Using probit models with cross-sectional survey data on four developed European countries (UK, France, Germany, and Norway), we find evidence of the social trap in the aggregated data model, which highlights the importance of social trust regarding willingness to act in favour of climate mitigation as there is a high probability of action regardless of risk perception of climate change when social trust is high. In contrast, the same is not true for renewables, as interactions were mainly insignificant, although there were interesting findings involving institutional trust, gender, and country specific results for particular renewables.

Keywords: climate risk, renewables, risk perception, social trap, trust, willingness to act

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Authors: Thirayu Jumsai Na Ayudhya

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The attempt to understand about what architecture means to people as they go about their everyday life revealed that knowledge such as environmental psychology, environmental perception, environmental aesthetics, inadequately address the contextualized and holistic theoretical framework. In my previous research, it was found that people’s making senses of their everyday architecture can be addressed in terms of four super‐ordinate themes; (1) building in urban (text), (2) building in (text), (3) building in human (text), (4) and building in time (text). In this research, Bangkok CBD was selected as the focal urban context that the integrated style of architecture is noticeable. It is expected that in a unique urban context like Bangkok CBD unprecedented super-ordinate themes will be unveiled through the reflection of people’s everyday experiences. In this research, people’s architectural experience conducted in Bangkok CBD, Thailand, will be presented succinctly. The research addresses the question of how do people make sense of their everyday architecture/buildings especially in a unique urban context, Bangkok CBD, and identifies ways in which people make sense of their everyday architecture. Two key methodologies are adopted. First, Participant-Produced-Photograph (PPP) allows people to express their experiences of the everyday urban context freely without any interference or forced-data generating by researchers. Second, Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) are also applied as main methodologies. With IPA methodology, a small pool of participants is considered giving the detailed level of analysis and its potential to produce a meaningful outcome.

Keywords: architectural experience, building appreciation, design psychology, environmental psychology, sense-making, the everyday experience, transactional theory

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Authors: E. C. Mattos, V. S. M. G. Daros, R. Dal Col, A. L. Nascimento

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The aim of this study is to present the results of a retrospective survey on the foreign matter found in foods analyzed at the Adolfo Lutz Institute, from July 2001 to July 2015. All the analyses were conducted according to the official methods described on Association of Official Agricultural Chemists (AOAC) for the micro analytical procedures and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the macro analytical procedures. The results showed flours, cereals and derivatives such as baking and pasta products were the types of food where foreign matters were found more frequently followed by condiments and teas. Fragments of stored grains insects, its larvae, nets, excrement, dead mites and rodent excrement were the most foreign matter found in food. Besides, foreign matters that can cause a physical risk to the consumer’s health such as metal, stones, glass, wood were found but rarely. Miscellaneous (shell, sand, dirt and seeds) were also reported. There are a lot of extraneous materials that are considered unavoidable since are something inherent to the product itself, such as insect fragments in grains. In contrast, there are avoidable extraneous materials that are less tolerated because it is preventable with the Good Manufacturing Practice. The conclusion of this work is that although most extraneous materials found in food are considered unavoidable it is necessary to keep the Good Manufacturing Practice throughout the food processing as well as maintaining a constant surveillance of the production process in order to avoid accidents that may lead to occurrence of these extraneous materials in food.

Keywords: extraneous materials, food contamination, foreign matter, surveillance

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Authors: Ali H.Alyami, Hussam Darraj, Faisal Hakami, Mohammed Awaf, Sulaiman Hamdi, Nawaf Bakri, Abdulaziz Saber, Khalid Hakami, Almuhanad Alyami, Mohammed khashab

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Introduction: Adolescents frequently self-report pain, according to epidemiological research. The knee is one of the sites where the pain is most common. One of the main factors contributing to the number of years people spend disabled and having substantial personal, societal, and economic burdens globally are musculoskeletal disorders. Adolescents may have knee pain due to an abrupt, traumatic injury or an insidious, slowly building onset that neither the adolescent nor the parent is aware of. Objectives: The present study’s authors aimed to estimate the prevalence of knee pain in Saudi adolescents. Methods: This cross-sectional survey, carried out from June to November 2022, included 676 adolescents ages 10 to 18. Data are presented as frequencies and percentages for categorical variables. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to compare means between groups, while the chi-square test was used for the comparison of categorical variables. Statistical significance was set at P< 0.05.Result: Adolescents were invited to take part in the study. 57.5% were girls, and 42.5% were males,68.8% were 676 aged between 15 and 18. The prevalence of knee pain was considerably high among females (26%), while it was 19.2% among males. Moreover, age was a significant predictor for knee pain; also BMI was significant for knee pain. Conclusion: Our study noted a high rate of knee pain among adolescents, so we need to raise awareness about risk factors. Adolescent knee pain can be prevented with conservative methods and some minor lifestyle/activity modifications.

Keywords: knee pain, prevalence of knee pain, exercise training, physical activity

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Authors: Melissa Angus Baboun

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Utilizing a Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) methodology and a theoretical framework based on disability studies, how Jamaican and Trinidadian newspapers discussed issues relating to the Deaf community were examined. The term deaf was inputted into the search engine tool of the online website for the Jamaica Observer and the Trinidad & Tobago Guardian. All 27 articles that contained the term deaf in its content and were written between August 1, 2017 and November 15, 2017 were chosen for the study. The data analysis was divided into three steps: (1) listing and analysis instances of metaphorical deafness (e.g. fall on deaf ears), (2) categorization of the content of the articles into the models of disability discourse (the medical, socio-cultural, and superscrip models of disability narratives), and (3) the analysis of any additional data found. A total of 42% of the articles pulled for this study did not deal with the Deaf community in any capacity, but rather instances of the use of idiomatic expressions that use deafness as a metaphor for a non-physical, undesirable trait. The most common idiomatic expression found was fall on deaf ears. Regarding the models of disability discourse, eight articles were found to follow the socio-cultural model, two were found to follow the medical model, and two were found to follow the superscrip model. The additional data found in these articles include two instances of the term deaf and mute, an overwhelming use of lower case d for the term deaf, and the misuse of the term translator (to mean interpreter).

Keywords: deafness, disability, news coverage, Caribbean newspapers

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Authors: Lucia Perez, Maria Gaton y Santa Palella

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Starting from the etymology of the word culture, the Latin term ‘colere’, whose meaning is to cultivate, we understand that the society that cultivates its knowledge is laying the foundations for new possibilities. In this sense, art and fashion contain the same attributes: concept, aesthetic principles, and refined techniques. Both play a crucial role, communication, and this implies a sense of community, relationship with tradition, and innovation. This is the mirror in which to contemplate, but also the space that helps to grow. This is the framework where our object of study opens up: the anthropological management or the mission management model applied to fashion exhibitions in museums and cultural institutions. For this purpose, a bibliographic review has been carried out with its subsequent analysis, a case study of three successful exhibitions: ‘Christian Dior: designer of dreams’, ‘Balenciaga and the Spanish painting’, and ‘China: Through the Looking Glass’. The methodology has been completed with interviews focused on the curators. Amongst the results obtained, it is worth highlighting the fundamental role of transcendent leadership, which, in addition to being results-oriented, must align the motivations of the collaborators with the mission. The anthropological management model conceives management as a service, and it is oriented to the interests of the staff and the public, in short, of the person; this is what enables the objectives of effectiveness, efficiency, and social value to be achieved; dimensions, all necessary for the proper development of the mission of the exhibitions. Fashion, understood as art, is at the service of culture, and therefore of the human being, which defines a transcendent mission. We conclude that the profile of an anthropological management model applied to fashion exhibitions in museums is the ideal one to achieve the purpose of these institutions.

Keywords: art, culture, fashion, anthropological model, fashion exhibitions

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Authors: Francys Souza, Alberto Ohashi, Dorival Leao

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We present a general solution for finding the ε-optimal controls for non-Markovian stochastic systems as stochastic differential equations driven by Brownian motion, which is a problem recognized as a difficult solution. The contribution appears in the development of mathematical tools to deal with modeling and control of non-Markovian systems, whose applicability in different areas is well known. The methodology used consists to discretize the problem through a random discretization. In this way, we transform an infinite dimensional problem in a finite dimensional, thereafter we use measurable selection arguments, to find a control on an explicit form for the discretized problem. Then, we prove the control found for the discretized problem is a ε-optimal control for the original problem. Our theory provides a concrete description of a rather general class, among the principals, we can highlight financial problems such as portfolio control, hedging, super-hedging, pairs-trading and others. Therefore, our main contribution is the development of a tool to explicitly the ε-optimal control for non-Markovian stochastic systems. The pathwise analysis was made through a random discretization jointly with measurable selection arguments, has provided us with a structure to transform an infinite dimensional problem into a finite dimensional. The theory is applied to stochastic control problems based on path-dependent stochastic differential equations, where both drift and diffusion components are controlled. We are able to explicitly show optimal control with our method.

Keywords: dynamic programming equation, optimal control, stochastic control, stochastic differential equation

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Authors: Nathaniel Carpenter

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Web-enabled systems for supporting youth mental health management in Australia are pioneering in their field; however, with their success, these systems are experiencing exponential growth in demand which is straining an already stretched service. Supporting youth mental is critical as the lack of support is associated with significant and lasting negative consequences. To meet this growing demand, and provide critical support, investigations are needed on evaluating and improving existing online support services. Improvements should focus on developing frameworks capable of augmenting and scaling service provisions. There are few investigations informing best-practice frameworks when implementing e-mental health support systems for youth mental health; there are fewer which implement machine learning or artificially intelligent systems to facilitate the delivering of services. This investigation will use a case study methodology to highlight the design features which are important for systems to enable young people to self-manage their mental health. The investigation will also highlight the current information system challenges, to include challenges associated with service quality, provisioning, and scaling. This work will propose methods of meeting these challenges through improved design, service augmentation and automation, service quality, and through artificially intelligent inspired solutions. The results of this study will inform a framework for supporting youth mental health with intelligent and scalable web-enabled technologies to support an ever-growing user base.

Keywords: artificial intelligence, information systems, machine learning, youth mental health

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Authors: Christopher Benedikt Jakob

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Human beings are intrigued by luxury watches for decades. It is fascinating that customers pay an enormous amount of money for specific wristwatch models. It is fascinating that customers of the luxury watch industry accept a yearly price increase. This behavior increases their desirability even more. Luxury watches are perceived as status symbols, but they are additionally accepted as a currency without the disadvantage of currency fluctuations. It is obvious that the symbolic value is more important as the functional value with reference to the buying-reasons as regards luxury watches. Nowadays human beings do not need a wristwatch to read the time. Tablets, notebooks, smartphones, the watch in the car and watches on public places are used to inform people about the current time. This is one of the reasons why there is a trend that people do not wear wristwatches anymore. Due to these facts, this study has the intention to give answers to the question why people invest an enormous amount of money on the consumption of luxury watches and why those watches are seen as a status symbol. The study examines why the luxury watch industry records significant growth rates. The self-expression model is used as an appropriate methodology to find reasons why human beings purchase specific luxury watches. This evaluative approach further discusses if human beings are aware of their current self and their ideal self and how they express them. Furthermore, the research critically evaluates the people’s social self and their ideal social self. One of the goals is to identify if customers know why they like specific luxury watches and dislike others although they have the same quality and cost comparable prices.

Keywords: luxury watch, brand awareness, buying-behaviour, consumer, self-expression

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Authors: Aayushi Dalal

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It is the mother who bears the child in her womb for 9 months. It is typically rooted in the Indian culture that it is solely the responsibility of women to take care of the children and as a result the gender roles are stereotyped. Instead of a 50-50 partnership in parenting the child, it is hackneyed that men take the responsibility of the bread earner while women nurture the children by staying at home. Thus, mothers are considered to be more psychologically connected to the children than fathers. But the current society is observing role dilution of parents which can create a gap in understanding from the organization’s perspective. This is the basis of the study. The emergence of women into the job market has forever changed how society views the traditional roles of fathers and mothers. Feminism and financial power has reformed the classic parenting model. This has given rise to a more open and flexible society consequently emphasizing the father's importance in the emotional well being of the child while also being capable caretakers and disciplinarians. This study focuses on analyzing the comparative differences of the father's role in the psychological development of the child in India and USA while taking into consideration the organization’s support towards them. A sample size of 150 fathers- 75 from India and 75 from USA was selected and a structured survey was carried out which had several open ended as well as closed ended questions probing to the issue. It was made sure that the environmental factors had as minimal effect as possible on the subjects. The findings of this research would materialize a framework for fathers to understand the magnitude of their role in their child's upbringing. This would not only ameliorate the "father-child" relationship but also make organization more sympathetic towards their employees.

Keywords: paternity, child development, psychology, gender role, organization policy

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Authors: Ugwu Chukwuka E.

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The African context of human right instruments as recognized today can be traced to Africa’s relationship with the Western World. A significant preponderance of these instruments are found in both colonial and post colonial statutes as the colonial laws, the post colonial legal documents as constitutions or Africa’s adherence to relevant international instruments on human rights as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (1981). In spite of all these human rights instruments inherent in the African continent, it is contended in this paper that, these Western-oriented notion of human rights, emphasizes rights that hardly meets the current needs of contemporary African citizens. Adopting a historical research methodology, this study interrogates the dynamics of the African poverty context in relation to the implementation of human rights instruments in the continent. In this vein, using human rights and poverty scenarios from one Anglophone (Uganda) and one Francophone (Senegal) countries in Africa, the study hypothesized that, majority of Africans are not in a historical condition for the realization of these rights. The raison d’etre for this claim emerges from the fact that, the present generations of African hoi polloi are inundated with extensive powerlessness, ignorance, diseases, hunger and overall poverty that emasculates their interest in these rights instruments. In contrast, the few Africans who have access to the enjoyment of these rights in the continent hardly needs these instruments, as their power and resources base secures them that. The paper concludes that the stress of African states and stakeholders on African affairs should concentrated significantly, on the alleviation of the present historical poverty squalor of Africans, which when attended to, enhances the realization of human right situations in the continent.

Keywords: Africa, human rights, poverty, western world

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Authors: Abosede Ijabadeniyi, Jeevarathnam P. Govender

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Prevailing strategic Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) research is predominantly centred around the predictive implications of the construct on behavioural outcomes. This phenomenon limits the depth of our understanding of the trajectory of strategic CSR. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the mediating effects of CSR expectations on the relationship between consumer value and purchase behaviour by identifying the implications of the multidimensionality of CSR (economic, legal, ethical and philanthropic) on the latter. Drawing from the stakeholder theory and its interplay with the prevalence of Ubuntu values; the underlying force which governs the values of South African camaraderie, we hypothesise that the multidimensionality of CSR expectations has positive mediating effects in the relationship between consumer value and purchase behaviour. Partial Least Square (PLS) path modelling was employed, using six measures of the average path coefficient (APC) to test the relationship between the constructs. Results from a sample of mall shoppers of (n=411), based on a survey conducted across five major malls in Durban, South Africa, indicate that only the legal dimension of CSR serves as a mediating factor in the relationship among the constructs. South Africa’s unique history of segregation, leading to the proliferation of spontaneous organisational approach to CSR and higher expectations of organisational legitimacy are identified as antecedents of consumers’ reliance on the law (legal CSR) to redress the ills of the past, sustainable development, and socially responsible behaviour. The paper also highlights theoretical and managerial implications for future research.

Keywords: consumer value, corporate marketing, corporate social responsibility, purchase behaviour, Ubuntu

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Authors: Simona Ziukaite, Remigijus Ivanauskas, Gintaras Denafas

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Market development of electrical and electronic equipment and a short life cycle is driven by the increasing waste streams. Gold Au, copper Cu, silver Ag and palladium Pd can be found on printed circuit board. These metals make up the largest value of printed circuit board. Therefore, the printed circuit boards scrap is valuable as potential raw material for precious metals recovery. A comparison of Cu, Au, Ag, Pd recovery from waste printed circuit techniques was selected metals leaching of chemical reagents. The study was conducted using the selected multistage technique for Au, Cu, Ag, Pd recovery of printed circuit board. In the first and second metals leaching stages, as the elution reagent, 2M H2SO4 and H2O2 (35%) was used. In the third stage, leaching of precious metals used solution of 20 g/l of thiourea and 6 g/l of Fe2 (SO4)3. Verify the efficiency of the method was carried out the metals leaching test with aqua regia. Based on the experimental study, the leaching efficiency, using the preferred methodology, 60 % of Au and 85,5 % of Cu dissolution was achieved. Metals leaching efficiency after waste mechanical crushing and thermal treatment have been increased by 1,7 times (40 %) for copper, 1,6 times (37 %) for gold and 1,8 times (44 %) for silver. It was noticed that, the Au amount in old (> 20 years) waste is 17 times more, Cu amount - 4 times more, and Ag - 2 times more than in the new (< 1 years) waste. Palladium in the new printed circuit board waste has not been found, however, it was established that from 1 t of old printed circuit board waste can be recovered 1,064 g of Pd (leaching with aqua regia). It was found that from 1 t of old printed circuit board waste can be recovered 1,064 g of Ag. Precious metals recovery in Lithuania was estimated in this study. Given the amounts of generated printed circuit board waste, the limits for recovery of precious metals were identified.

Keywords: leaching efficiency, limits for recovery, precious metals recovery, printed circuit board waste

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Authors: Farid Adisaputra Gumilang

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Kucing Liar Underground Mine is a future mine of PT Freeport Indonesia PTFI that is currently being developed. In the development process, problems were found when blasting the tunnels; there were overbreak, and void occur caused by geological contact or poor rock conditions. Geotechnical engineers must evaluate not only the remnant capacity of ground support systems but also investigate the depth of rock mass yield within pillars. To prevent the potential hazard caused by void zones, geotechnical engineers must ensure the planned drift is mined in the best location where people can work safely. GPR, or Ground penetrating radar, is a geophysical method that can image the subsurface. This non-destructive method uses electromagnetic radiation and detects the reflected signals from subsurface structures. The GPR survey measurements are conducted 48 meters along the drift that has a poor ground condition with 150MHz antenna with several angles (roof, wall, and floor). Concern grounds are determined by the continuity of reflector/low reflector in the radargram section. Concern grounds are determined by the continuity of reflector/low reflector in the radargram section. In this paper, processing data using instantaneous amplitude to identify the void zone. In order to have a good interpretation and result, it combines with the geological information and borehole camera data, so the calibrated GPR data allows the geotechnical engineer to determine the safe location to change the drift location.

Keywords: underground mine, ground penetrating radar, reflectivity, borehole camera

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Authors: Carol Cameletti

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The goal of this study was to perform a pilot survey to assess pain frequency and intensity in an elderly population and to assess treatment options for chronic pain that include complementary and alternative medicines (CAM). Ten participants were recruited from an independent and supportive living housing facility in Northern Ontario and asked to complete two questionnaires: 1) a self-assessment on pain, and 2) the use of CAM for pain. Results from our study show that 80% of the participants experienced pains other than the regular everyday pains such as minor headaches, sprains or toothaches. Although participants stated that on average the highest level of pain they experienced within the past 24 hours had a score of 6.5 (0=no pain, 10=worst pain imaginable) the level of pain they experienced moderately interfered with their daily activities. Unfortunately, participants stated that they were only able to attain minimal levels of pain relief using treatments or medications causing some of the participants to seek alternative therapies or self-help practices. The most commonly used CAMs were vitamins/minerals, herbs and supplements, and self-help practices such as meditation, prayer, visualization and relaxation techniques. Although some of the participants stated that they had received complementary treatments directly from their physician, four of the nine participants said that they had not disclosed CAM use to their physician thereby indicating a need to open the lines of communication between healthcare providers and patients with regards to CAM use. It is our hope that the data generated from this study will serve as the platform for a pain management clinic that is client-centered, consumer-driven and truly integrative and tailored in order to meet the unique needs of older adults in Great Sudbury, Ontario.

Keywords: alternative, complementary, elderly, medicine

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Authors: Leila Habibi, Hadi Hakimi, Maryam Jafari Mehrabadi, Hadi Sadeghian

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Nowadays, the importance of information technology and web- based information in tourism is very obvious. Increasing of sales and promotion of brands, the rise of information about tourist attractions and tourist areas, Entrepreneurship and making money, introducing of hotels and side information to tourists via web are some Examples of website effects on tourism. The hotels using web-based information can succeed in attracting tourists and improve the quality of services to the tourists so; the study of hotel websites has become one of the most important issues in tourism. Therefore, this research aims to analyze the status of hotel websites in Yazd City as one of the most tourist visited counties in Iran. The quality of hotel website in a city such as this city can be very vital for tourism. Hence, this research compares the status of hotel websites in Yazd City with standard indexes and items that extracted from Literature and theoretical framework. It is used content analysis for analyzing of hotel websites with indexes and items in methodology. In the other words, all of the items is compared with the content of hotel-websites in Yazd one by one. Finally, every hotel archived final score and it represents the position of the hotel among the others. All of scores and status of hotels is displayed in their own Figures. The result of this research shows that many hotels do not offer standard web -based services and information. So, the existing situation is not very suitable for the attraction of web users or improving the tourism. The result of this research may help the managers and authorities of tourism to offer and improve the web- based services and information.

Keywords: e-tourism, hotel websites, tourism, web-tourism

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Authors: V. A. Ritchie

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The loss of life and livelihood experienced after the magnitude 9.3 Sumatra earthquake and tsunami on 26 December 2004 and magnitude 9 earthquake and tsunami in northeastern Japan on 11 March 2011, has raised global awareness and brought tsunami phenomenology, nomenclature, and representation into sharp focus. At the same time, travel and tourism continue to increase, contributing around 1 in 11 jobs worldwide. This increase in tourism is especially true for coastal zones, placing pressure on decision-makers to downplay tsunami risks and at the same time provide adequate tsunami warning so that holidaymakers will feel confident enough to visit places of high tsunami risk. This study investigates how well tsunami preparedness messages are getting through for tourist-based businesses in Hawke’s Bay New Zealand, a region of frequent seismic activity and a high probability of experiencing a nearshore tsunami. The aim of this study is to investigate whether tourists based businesses are well informed about tsunamis, how well they understand that information and to what extent their clients are included in awareness raising and evacuation processes. In high-risk tsunami zones, such as Hawke’s Bay, tourism based businesses face competitive tension between short term business profitability and longer term reputational issues related to preventable loss of life from natural hazards, such as tsunamis. This study will address ways to accommodate culturally and linguistically relevant tourist awareness measures without discouraging tourists or being too costly to implement.

Keywords: tsunami risk and response, travel and tourism, business preparedness, cross cultural knowledge transfer

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Authors: Ada Garus

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This paper presents the outcomes of the sustainability assessment of food delivery with a last-mile delivery service introduced in a real-world case study. The methodology used in the sustainability assessment integrates multi-criteria decision-making analysis, sustainability pillars, and scenario analysis to best reflect the conflicting needs of stakeholders involved in the last mile delivery system. The case study provides an application of the framework to the food delivery system of the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission where three alternative solutions were analyzed I) the existent state in which individuals frequent the local cantine or pick up their food, using their preferred mode of transport II) the hypothetical scenario in which individuals can only order their food using the delivery droid system III) a scenario in which the food delivery droid based system is introduced as a supplement to the current system. The environmental indices are calculated using a simulation study in which decision regarding the food delivery is predicted using a multinomial logit model. The vehicle dynamics model is used to predict the fuel consumption of the regular combustion engines vehicles used by the cantine goers and the electricity consumption of the droid. The sustainability assessment allows for the evaluation of the economic, environmental, and social aspects of food delivery, making it an apt input for policymakers. Moreover, the assessment is one of the first studies to investigate automated delivery droids, which could become a frequent addition to the urban landscape in the near future.

Keywords: innovations in transportation technologies, behavioural change and mobility, urban freight logistics, innovative transportation systems

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Authors: Dewi Indah Irianti

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Introduction: Street children include one of the populations at risk of HIV infection. Their vulnerability to these situations is increased by their lack of understanding of the changes associated with adolescence, the lack of knowledge and skills which could help them to make healthy choices. Social integration increased AIDS knowledge among migrant workers in Thailand. Although social integration has been incorporated into health research in other areas, it has received less attention in AIDS prevention research. This factor has not been integrated into models for HIV prevention. Objectives: The goal of this review is to summarize available knowledge about factors related to HIV/AIDS knowledge and to examine whether social integration was reviewed among street children. Methodology: This study performed a systematic search for English language articles published between January 2006 and March 2016 using the following keywords in various combination: street children, HIV/AIDS knowledge and social integration from the following bibliographic databases: Scopus, ProQuest, JSTOR, ScienceDirect, SpringerLink, EBSCOhost, Sage Publication, Clinical Key, Google Web, and Google Scholar . Results: A total of 10 articles met the inclusion criteria were systematically reviewed. This study reviews the existing quantitative and qualitative literature regarding the HIV/AIDS knowledge of street children in many countries. The study locations were Asia, the Americas, Europe, and Africa. The most determinants associated with HIV/AIDS knowledge among street children are age and sex. In this review, social integration that may be associated with HIV/AIDS knowledge among street children has not been investigated. Conclusion: To the best of the author’s knowledge, this study found that there is no research examining the relationship of social integration with the HIV knowledge among street children. This information may assist in the development of relevant strategies and HIV prevention programs to improve HIV knowledge and decrease risk behaviors among street children.

Keywords: HIV/AIDS knowledge, review, social integration, street children

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Authors: Sonny Nyeko, Moses Niwe

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Purpose: This research paper examined the mediation effect of organization culture in the relationship between information technology (IT) competence and IT governance effectiveness in Ugandan public universities. The purpose of the research paper is to examine the role of organizational culture in the relationship between IT competence and IT governance effectiveness. Design/methodology/approach: The paper adopted the MedGraph program, Sobel tests and Kenny and Baron Approach for testing the mediation effects. Findings: It is impeccable that IT competence and organization culture are true drivers of IT governance effectiveness in Ugandan public universities. However, organizational culture reveals partial mediation in the IT competence and IT governance effectiveness relationship. Research limitations/implications: The empirical investigation in this research depends profoundly on public universities. Future research in Ugandan private universities could be undertaken to compare results. Practical implications: To effectively achieve IT governance effectiveness, it means senior management requires IT knowledge which is a vital ingredient of IT competence. Moreover, organizations today ought to adopt cultures that are intended to have them competitive in their businesses, with IT operations not in isolation. Originality/value: Spending thousands of dollars on IT resources in advanced institutes of learning necessitates IT control. Preliminary studies in Ugandan public universities have revealed the ineffective utilization of IT resources. Besides, IT governance issues with IT competence and organization culture remain outstanding. Thus, it’s a new study testing the mediating outcome of organization culture in the association between IT competence and IT governance effectiveness in the Ugandan universities.

Keywords: organization culture, IT competence, IT governance, effectiveness, mediating effect, universities, Uganda

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Authors: Salaheddine Bendak, Sara S. Alnaqbi

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The seat belt is a vital tool in improving traffic safety conditions and minimising injuries due to traffic accidents. Most developing countries are facing a big problems associated with the human and financial losses due to traffic accidents. One way to minimise these losses is the use of seat belts by passengers both in the front and rear seats of a vehicle; however, at the same time, close to nothing is known about the rates of seat belt utilisation among rear seat passengers in many developing countries. Therefore, there is a need to estimate these rates in order to know the extent of this problem and how people interact with traffic safety measures like seat belts and find demographic characteristics that contribute to wearing or non-wearing of seat belts with the aim of finding solutions to improve wearing rates. In this paper, an observational study was done to gather data on restraints use in motor vehicle rear seats in eight observational stations in a rapidly developing country, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and estimate a use rate for the whole country. Also, a questionnaire was used in order to study demographic characteristics affecting the wearing of seatbelts in rear seats. Results of the observational study showed that the overall wearing/usage rate was 12.3%, which is considered very low when compared to other countries. Survey results show that single, male, less educated passengers from Arab and South Asian backgrounds use seat belts reportedly less than others. Finally, solutions are put forward to improve this wearing rate based on the results of this study.

Keywords: Seat belts, traffic crashes, United Arab Emirates, rear seats

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Authors: Jitendra Jain, Cassandra Hidajat, Hansraj Riteesh Bookun

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Graft patency underpins long-term prognosis after coronary artery bypass grafting surgery (CABG). The benefits of the combined use of only the left internal mammary artery and radial artery, referred to as total arterial revascularisation (TAR), on long-term clinical outcomes and quality of life are relatively unknown. The aim of this study was to identify whether there were differences in long term clinical outcomes between recipients of TAR compared to a cohort of mostly arterial revascularization involving the left internal mammary, at least one radial artery and at least one saphenous vein graft. A retrospective analysis was performed on all patients who underwent TAR or were re-vascularized with supplementary saphenous vein graft from February 1996 to December 2004. Telephone surveys were conducted to obtain clinical outcome parameters including major adverse cardiac and cerebrovascular events (MACCE) and Short Form (SF-36v2) Health Survey responses. A total of 176 patients were successfully contacted to obtain postop follow up results. The mean follow-up length from time of surgery in our study was TAR 12.4±1.8 years and conventional 12.6±2.1. PCS score was TAR 45.9±8.8 vs LIMA/Rad/ SVG 44.9±9.2 (p=0.468) and MCS score was TAR 52.0±8.9 vs LIMA/Rad/SVG 52.5±9.3 (p=0.723). There were no significant differences between groups for NYHA class 3+ TAR 9.4% vs. LIMA/Rad/SVG 6.6%; or CCS 3+ TAR 2.35% vs. LIMA/Rad/SVG 0%.

Keywords: CABG; MACCEs; quality of life; total arterial revascularisation

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Authors: Shima Dehghan

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Aim: imbalance between antioxidant defensive system and increasing production of free radicals caused oxidative stress that can be rolled in cellular damage and occurring some of diseases such as diabetes. The aim of current study was to investigate the effect of eight weeks aerobic training on peroxidant and antioxidants indicators in women with type2 diabetes. Methodology: thirty two inactive women with type 2 diabetes were randomly assigned into four groups: 1. control, 2. Aerobic training, 3. Purslane seed and 4. Aerobic training + Purslane seed groups. Subjects were asked to accomplish eight weeks aerobic training (50 min aerobic exercise, 3 days/week, for to achieve 65-75% maximum of heart rate). Also, subjects in certain groups received purslane seeds for eight weeks. Blood samples were obtained in two sets (one session and after 8 weeks). Data was analyzed using one way ANOVA. A significant difference was accepted at p < 0/05 level. Results: After eight weeks of aerobic training with purslane seeds supplementation, malon dyaldehyde (MDA) concentration in training group were significantly decreased (p < 0/000), but A difference significant was not found in control group. Superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT) concentrations in training group were significantly increased (p < 0/000), while difference significant wasnot found in control group. Conclusion: The finding of the current study indicates that disciplined aerobic training with purslane seeds supplementation can be caused improvement in peroxidant/antioxidant balance in women with type2 diabetes.

Keywords: aerobic training, purslane seed, peroxidant/antioxidant balance, diabetes2

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Authors: A. S. Akinbani

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Overdependence on petroleum is causing set back in Nigeria economy. Field survey was carried out to assess the profitability and production of selected arable crops in six selected towns and villages of Ondo southwestern. Data were collected from 240 arable crop farmers with the aid of both primary and secondary data. Data were collected with the use of oral interview and structured questionnaires. Data collected were analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics. Forty farmers were randomly selected to give a total number of 240 respondents. 84 farmers interviewed had no formal education, 72 had primary education, 50 farmers attained secondary education while 38 attained beyond secondary education. The majority of the farmers hold less than 10 acres of land. The data collected from the field showed that 192 farmers practiced mixed cropping which includes mixtures of yam, cowpea, cocoyam, vegetable, cassava and maize while only 48 farmers practiced monocropping. Among the sampled farmers, 93% agreed that arable production is profitable while 7% disagreed. The findings show that managerial practices that conserve the soil fertility and reduce labor cost such as planting of leguminous crops and herbicide application instead of using hand held hoe for weeding should be encouraged. All the respondents agreed that yam, cowpea, cocoyam, sweet potato, rice, maize and vegetable production will solve the problem of hunger and increase standard of living compared with petroleum product that Nigeria relied on as means of livelihood.

Keywords: farmers, arable crop, cocoyam, respondents, maize

Procedia PDF Downloads 242