Search results for: living with HIV

Authors: Hafiz A. Sakandar, M. Afzaal, U. Khan, M. N. Akhtar

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Food is the primary concern of living organisms, provision of diet for maintenance of good physical and mental health is a basic right of an individual and the outcome of factors related to diet on health has been matter of apprehension since ancient times. Healthy and fresh food always demanded by the consumers. Modern research has find out many alternatives of traditional packaging. Now the consumer knows that good packaging system is that which protects the food from the contaminants and increases shelf life of food product. While in Pakistan about 40% of fruits and vegetables lost due to spoilage caused by poor handling, transportation, and poor packaging interaction with other environmental conditions. So it is crucial for developing countries like Pakistan to pay attention to these exacerbating situations for economy losses by considering food packaging an ultimate solution to the problem.

Keywords: packaging, food safety, antimicrobial, food losses

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Authors: Nancy N. Sharmila, Aparna Mishra

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Hemiparesis affects almost 80% of stroke patients each year. It is marked by paralysis or weakness on one half of the body. Our model provides both assistance and physical therapy for hemiparesis patients for swift recovery. In order to accomplish our goal a force is provided that pulls the forearm up (as in flexing the arm), and pushes the forearm down (as in extending the arm), which will also assist the user during ADL (Activities of Daily Living). The model consists of a mechanical component which is placed around the patient’s bicep and an EMG control circuit to assist patients in daily activities, which makes it affordable and easy to use. In order to enhance the neuromuscular system’s effectiveness in synchronize the movement, proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation (PNF) concept is used. The EMG signals are acquired from the unaffected arm as an input to drive the orthosis. This way the patient is invigorated to use the orthosis for regular exercise.

Keywords: EMG, hemiparesis, orthosis, rehabilitation

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Authors: Robert H. Bradley, Robert F. Corwyn

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There is abundant research showing that socio-economic status is implicated in parenting. However, additional factors such as family context, parent personality, parenting history and child behavior also help determine how parents enact the role of caregiver. Each of these factors not only helps determine how a parent will act in a given situation, but each can serve to moderate the influence of the other factors. Personality has long been studied as a factor that influences parental behavior, but it has almost never been considered as a moderator of family contextual factors. For this study, relations between three maternal personality characteristics (agreeableness, extraversion, neuroticism) and four aspects of parenting (harshness, sensitivity, stimulation, learning materials) were examined when children were 6 months, 36 months, and 54 months old and again at 5th grade. Relations between these three aspects of personality and the overall home environment were also examined. A key concern was whether maternal personality characteristics moderated relations between household income and the four aspects of parenting and between household income and the overall home environment. The data for this study were taken from the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development (NICHD SECCYD). The total sample consisted of 1364 families living in ten different sites in the United States. However, the samples analyzed included only those with complete data on all four parenting outcomes (i.e., sensitivity, harshness, stimulation, and provision of learning materials), income, maternal education and all three measures of personality (i.e., agreeableness, neuroticism, extraversion) at each age examined. Results from hierarchical regression analysis showed that mothers high in agreeableness were more likely to demonstrate sensitivity and stimulation as well as provide more learning materials to their children but were less likely to manifest harshness. Maternal agreeableness also consistently moderated the effects of low income on parental behavior. Mothers high in extraversion were more likely to provide stimulation and learning materials, with extraversion serving as a moderator of low income on both. By contrast, mothers high in neuroticism were less likely to demonstrate positive aspects of parenting and more likely to manifest negative aspects (e.g., harshness). Neuroticism also served to moderate the influence of low income on parenting, especially for stimulation and learning materials. The most consistent effects of parent personality were on the overall home environment, with significant main and interaction effects observed in 11 of the 12 models tested. These findings suggest that it may behoove professional who work with parents living in adverse circumstances to consider parental personality in helping to better target prevention or intervention efforts aimed at supporting parental efforts to act in ways that benefit children.

Keywords: home environment, household income, learning materials, personality, sensitivity, stimulation

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Authors: Danielle A. Walker, Kyle L. Johnson, Patrick J. Fox, Jacen S. Moore

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The HIV Continuum of Care has become a universal model to provide context for the process of HIV testing, linkage to care, treatment, and viral suppression. HIV testing is the first step in moving toward community viral suppression. Countries with a lower socioeconomic status experience the lowest rates of testing and access to care. The Democratic Republic of the Congo is located in the heart of sub-Saharan Africa, where testing and access to care are low and women experience higher HIV prevalence compared to men. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo there is only a 21.6% HIV testing rate among women. Because a critical gap exists between a woman’s risk of contracting HIV and the decision to be tested, this study was conducted to obtain a better understanding of the relationship between factors that could influence HIV testing among women. The datasets analyzed were from the 2013-14 Democratic Republic of the Congo Demographic and Health Survey Program. The data was subset for women with an age range of 18-49 years. All missing cases were removed and one variable was recoded. The total sample size analyzed was 14,982 women. The results showed that there did not seem to be a difference in HIV testing by mean age. Out of 11 religious categories (Catholic, Protestant, Armee de salut, Kimbanguiste, Other Christians, Muslim, Bundu dia kongo, Vuvamu, Animist, no religion, and other), those who identified as Other Christians had the highest testing rate of 25.9% and those identified as Vuvamu had a 0% testing rate (p<0.001). There was a significant difference in testing by religion. Only 0.7% of women surveyed identified as having no religious affiliation. This suggests partnerships with key community and religious leaders could be a tool to increase testing. Over 60% of women who had never been tested for HIV did not know where to be tested. This highlights the need to educate communities on where testing facilities can be located. Almost 80% of women who believed HIV could be transmitted by supernatural means and/or witchcraft had never been tested before (p=0.08). Cultural beliefs could influence risk perception and testing decisions. Consequently, misconceptions need to be considered when implementing HIV testing and prevention programs. Location by province, years of education, and wealth index were also analyzed to control for socioeconomic status. Kinshasa had the highest testing rate of 54.2% of women living there, and both Equateur and Kasai-Occidental had less than a 10% testing rate (p<0.001). As the education level increased up to 12 years, testing increased (p<0.001). Women within the highest quintile of the wealth index had a 56.1% testing rate, and women within the lowest quintile had a 6.5% testing rate (p<0.001). This study concludes that further research is needed to identify culturally competent methods to increase HIV education programs, build partnerships with key community leaders, and improve knowledge on access to care.

Keywords: Democratic Republic of the Congo, cultural beliefs, education, HIV testing

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Authors: Aziza Al-Sawafi

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Introduction: The evidence of family interventions in schizophrenia is robust primarily in high-income settings. However, they have been adapted to other settings and cultures to improve effectiveness and acceptability. In Oman, there is limited integration of psychosocial interventions in the treatment of schizophrenia. Therefore, the adaptation of family intervention to the Omani culture may facilitate its uptake. Most service users in Oman live with their families outside the healthcare system, and nothing is known about their experience, needs, or resources. Furthermore, understanding caregivers' and mental health professionals' preferences, perceptions, and experience is a fundamental element in the process of intervention development. Therefore, this study aims to develop a culturally sensitive, feasible, and acceptable family intervention for relatives living with schizophrenia in Oman. Method: The Medical Research Council's framework for the evaluation of complex health care interventions provided the conceptual structure for the study. The development phase was carried out, which involved three stages: 1) systematically reviewing the available literature regarding culturally adapted family interventions in the Arab world 2) In-depth interviews with caregivers to explore their experience and perceived needs and preferences regarding intervention 3) A focus group study involving health professionals to explore the acceptability and feasibility of delivering the family intervention in the Omani context. Data synthesis determined the design of the proposed intervention according to the findings obtained from the previous stages. Results: Stage one: The systematic review found limited evidence of culturally-adapted family interventions in the Arab region. However, the cultural adaptation process was comprehensive, and the implementation was reported to be feasible and acceptable. Stage two: The experience of family caregivers illuminated four main themes: burden, stigma, violence, and family needs. Burdens of care included objective and subjective burdens, positive feelings, and coping mechanisms. Caregivers gave their opinion about the content and preference of the intervention from their personal experiences. Stage three: mental health professionals discussed the delivery system of the intervention from a clinical standpoint concerning issues and barriers to implementation. They recommended modifications to the components of the intervention to ensure its acceptability and feasibility in the local setting. Data synthesis was carried out, and the intervention was designed. Conclusion: This study provides evidence of the potential applicability and acceptability of a culturally sensitive family intervention for families of individuals with schizophrenia in Oman. However, more work needs to be done to test the feasibility of the study and overcome the practical challenges.

Keywords: cultural-adaptation, family intervention, Oman, schizophrenia

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Authors: Winnie Wing Mui So, Yu Chen

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This study investigated primary school teachers’ and students’ perceptions of science learning in an e-learning environment. This study used a multiple case study design and involved eight science teachers and their students from four Hong Kong primary schools. The science topics taught included ‘season and weather’ ‘force and movement’, ‘solar and lunar eclipse’ and ‘living things and habitats’. Data were collected through lesson observations, interviews with teachers, and interviews with students. Results revealed some differences between the teachers’ and the students’ perceptions regarding the usefulness of e-learning resources, the organization of student-centred activities, and the impact on engagement and interactions in lessons. The findings have implications for the more effective creation of e-learning environments for science teaching and learning in primary schools.

Keywords: e-learning, science education, teacher' and students' perceptions, primary schools

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Authors: Pedro Paulino

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The majority of the world’s population is already living in urban areas and the urban population is expected to keep increasing in the next decades. This exponential increase in urban population carries with it obvious mobility problems. Not only a new paradigm in the transport sector is needed in order to address these problems; effective regulatory policies to ensure the quality of services, passenger rights, competition between operators and consistency of the entire mobile ecosystem are needed as well. The purpose of this paper is to present the problems the world faces in this sector and contribute to their solution. Indeed, our study concludes that only through the active supervision of the markets and the activity of monitoring the various operators will it be possible to develop a sustainable and efficient transport system which meets the needs of a changing world.

Keywords: mobility, regulation policies, sanctioning powers, sustainable transport

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Authors: Sharmistha Chanda, Anindita Choudhuri

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This exploratory study highlights the psychological aspects of women's empowerment to find the importance of the psychological dimension of empowerment, such as; meaning, competence, self-determination, impact, and assumption, especially in the weaker marginalized section of women. A large proportion of rural, suburban, and urban poor survive by working in unorganized sectors of metropolitan cities. Relative Poverty and lack of employment in rural areas and small towns drive many people to the metropolitan city for work and livelihood. Women working in that field remain unrecognized as people of low socio-economic status. They are usually willing to do domestic work as daily wage workers, single wage earners, street vendors, family businesses like agricultural activities, domestic workers, and self-employed. Usually, these women accept such jobs because they do not have such an opportunity as they lack the basic level of education that is required for better-paid jobs. The unorganized sector, on the other hand, has no such clear-cut employer-employee relationships and lacks most forms of social protection. Having no fixed employer, these workers are casual, contractual, migrant, home-based, own-account workers who attempt to earn a living from whatever meager assets and skills they possess. Women have become more empowered both financially and individually through small-scale business ownership or entrepreneurship development and in household-based work. In-depth interviews have been done with 10 participants in order to understand their living styles, habits, self-identity, and empowerment in their society in order to evaluate the key challenges that they may face following by qualitative research approach. Transcription has been done from the collected data. The three-layer coding technique guides the data analysis process, encompassing – open coding, axial coding, and selective coding. Women’s Entrepreneurship is one of the foremost concerns as the Government, and non-government institutions are readily serving this domain with the primary objectives of promoting self-employment opportunities in general and empowering women in specific. Thus, despite hardship and unrecognition unorganized sector provides a huge array of opportunities for rural and sub-urban poor to earn. Also, the upper section of society tends to depend on this working force. This study gave an idea about the well-being, and meaning in life, life satisfaction on the basis of their lived experience.

Keywords: marginalized women, psychological empowerment, relative poverty, unorganized sector

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Authors: Yajing Jiang, Jing Wu

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Residential area construction links many problems such as population resources, ecology, social values, public services and transportation in the city. After Chinese housing reform, a large number of residential area development accompanied by the loss of agricultural and ecological land. To explore the future of Chinese urban residential area, this article concentrates on how the 'Compact Settlement' behaves in improving the living environment and saving the resources. Through the research of residential area in Hangzhou, there are some determines that increasing the development intensity of the area can indeed bring some improvement in the overall environment. In conclusion, possible design alternatives are discussed for leading Chinese urban development towards a more sustainable path.

Keywords: compact city development, environmental sustainability, residential area, Hangzhou

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Authors: Hyeong-Jin Kim, Jong Kook Lee

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Zirconia has biological, mechanical and optical properties, so, it used as a dental implant material in human body. But, it is difficult to form directly bonding with living tissues after the procedure and induces the falling away from implanted parts of the body. To improve this phenomenon, it is essential to increase the surface roughness of zirconia implants and induce a forming-ability of strong bonds. In this study, we performed a room temperature spray coating on zirconia specimen to obtain a highly roughened zirconia surface. To get optimal surface roughness, we controlled the distance between the nozzle and the substrate, coating times and powder condition. Bonding microstructure, surface roughness, and chemical composition of the coating layer were observed by SEM, XRD and roughness tester.

Keywords: implant, aerosoldeposition, zirconia, dental

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Authors: Ruchi Agarwal

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The Indian diaspora in Thailand is as ethnically diverse as any other country. Although a relatively small community, the Indian diaspora has long established its roots, some with their fifth generation now living in Thailand. The community has a solid social and economic standing recognized by the host country but lacks connections with its ethnic roots in the home country. The biggest dilemma faced by the younger generation of the Indian diasporic community is the identity crisis. Regardless of being born and brought up in Thailand and possessing Thai citizenship, they do not get recognition as Thais by their Thai counterparts. However, with the Act Asia Policy of the Indian government, there has been an increase in social and political activities organized by old and new Indian associations, bringing new hopes of recognizing the Thai-Indian diasporic community.

Keywords: Indian, Thailand, diaspora, Act East Policy, Thai

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Authors: Patcharaporn Sakulpong, Wiriya Phokhwang

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Background: Banpunrug (Love Sharing House) established in 2013 provides a community-based palliative care for patients with cancer from 7 provinces in southern Thailand. These patients come to receive outpatient chemotherapy and radiotherapy at Suratthani Cancer Hospital. They are poor and uneducated; they need an accommodation during their 30-45 day course of therapy. Methods: A community-participatory action research (PAR) was employed to establish a model of palliative care for patients with cancer. The participants included health care providers, community, and patients and families. The PAR process includes problem identification and need assessment, community and team establishment, field survey, organization founding, model of care planning, action and inquiry (PDCA), outcome evaluation, and model distribution. Results: The model of care at Banpunrug involves the concepts of HHHS model, in that Banpunrug is a Home for patients; patients live in a house comfortable like in a Hotel resource; the patients are given care and living facilities similarly to those in a Hospital; the house is a School for patients to learn how to take care themselves, how to live well with cancer, and most importantly how to prepare themselves for a good death. The house is also a humanized care school for health care providers. Banpunrug’s philosophy of care is based on friendship therapy, social and spiritual support, community partnership, patient-family centeredness, Live & Love sharing house, and holistic and humanized care. With this philosophy, the house is managed as a home of the patients and everyone involved; everything is costless for all eligible patients and their family members; all facilities and living expense are donated from benevolent people, friends, and community. Everyone, including patients and family, has a sense of belonging to the house and there is no authority between health care providers and the patients in the house. The house is situated in a temple and a community and supported by many local nonprofit organizations and healthcare facilities such as a health promotion hospital at sub-disctrict level and Suratthani Cancer Hospital. Village health volunteers and multi-professional health care volunteers have contributed not only appropriate care, but also knowledge and experience to develop a distinguishing HHHS community-based palliative care model for patients with cancer. Since its opening the house has been a home for more than 400 patients and 300 family members. It is also a model for many national and international healthcare organizations and providers, who come to visit and learn about palliative care in and by community. Conclusions: The success of this palliative care model comes from community involvement, multi-professional volunteers and distributions, and concepts of HHHS model. Banpunrug promotes a consistent care across the cancer trajectory independent of prognosis in order to strengthen a full integration of palliative

Keywords: community-based palliative care, model, participatory action research, patients with cancer

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Authors: Keivan Jamshidi

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Myiasis is defined as the infestation of living tissues of vertebrates by larvae of flies. Gingival myiasis is an uncommon type of myiasis. In oral inspection of a death dog (Garmsar, Iran) for routine training postmortem investigation, gingival myiasis was found. Only one larva was removed from the lesions and sent to a parasitology laboratory for identification. For histopathological studies, affected area of the gingiva was cut and placed in 10% formalin, and then sent to pathology laboratory. On parasitological examination the causative agent of this condition was found as larva of Wohlfahrtia magnifica. Histopathological examination of the injured gingiva showed hyperplasia of squamous epithelial tissue and acanthosis in mucosal membrane, hyperemia and infiltration of mononuclear cells and eosinophils into lamina propria. The present report seems to be the first report of gingival myiasis in dog in Iran.

Keywords: Wohlfahrtia magnifica, gingiva, myiasis, dog

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Authors: Randall Gray Underwood

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Within the past few decades, zombie cinema has evolved from a niche outgrowth of the horror genre into one of the most widely-discussed and thoroughly-analyzed subgenres of film. Rising to international popularity during the 1970s and 1980s following the release of George Romero’s landmark classic, Night of the Living Dead (1968), and its much-imitated sequel, Dawn of the Dead (1978), the zombie genre returned to global screens in full force at the turn of the century following earth-shattering events such as the 9/11 terrorist attacks, America’s subsequent war in the Middle East, environmental pandemics, and the emergence of a divided and disconnected global populace in the age of social media. Indeed, the presence of the zombie in all manner of art and entertainment—movies, literature, television, video games, comic books, and more—has become nothing short of pervasive, engendering a plethora of scholarly writings, books, opinion pieces, and video essays from all manner of academics, cultural commentators, critics, and casual fans, with each espousing their own theories regarding the zombie’s allegorical and symbolic value within global fiction. Consequently, the walking dead of recent years have been variously positioned as fictive manifestations of human fears of societal collapse, environmental contagion, sexually-transmitted disease, primal regression, dwindling population rates, global terrorism, and the foreign “Other”. Less commonly analyzed within film scholarship, however, is the connection between the zombie’s folkloric roots and native African/Haitian spiritual practice; specifically, how this connection impacts the zombie’s presentation in African films by native storytellers versus in similar narratives told from a western perspective. This work will examine the unlikely connections and contrasts inherent the portrayal of the traditional African/Haitian zombie (or zombi, in Haitian French) in the Nollywood film Witchdoctor of the Livingdead (1985, Charles Abi Enonchong) versus its depiction in the early Hollywood films White Zombie (1932, Victor Halperin) and I Walked with a Zombie (1943, Jacques Tourneur), through analysis of each cinemas’ use of the zombie as a visual metaphor for subjugation/slavery, as well as differences in their representation of the the spiritual folklore from which the figure of the zombie originates. Select films from the post-Night of the Living Dead zombie cinema landscape will also warrant brief discussion in relation to Witchdoctor of the Livingdead.

Keywords: Nollywood, Zombie cinema, Horror cinema, Classical Hollywood

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Authors: Catherine Bernard

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The maldistribution of clinicians within countries is well documented. It is a common theme throughout the world that rural areas often struggle to recruit and retain health workers resulting in inadequate healthcare for many. This paper will concentrate on the responsibilities that medical schools may have in addressing this shortage of rural health workers. Recommendations are made with regards to targeted rural student admissions, rurally-based medical schools, rural clinical rotations and a curriculum orientated towards rural health issues. The evidence gathered suggests that individual factors are positive in encouraging health workers to practice in rural locations. However, there is strength in numbers, and combining all the recommendations will likely result in a synergistic effect, thereby increasing numbers of rural health workers and achieving accessible healthcare for those living in rural populations.

Keywords: medical education, medical education design, public health, rural health

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Authors: Celine Davis

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The novel coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) is an infectious disease caused by the virus SARS-CoV-2, which has detrimental respiratory, cardiovascular, and neurological effects impacting over one million lives in the United States. New researches has emerged indicating long-term neurologic consequences in those who survive COVID-19 infections, including more than seven million Americans and another 27 million people worldwide. These consequences include attentional deficits, memory impairments, executive function deficits and aphasia-like symptoms which fall within the purview of speech-language pathology. The National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) is a comprehensive annual survey conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), a branch of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the United States. The NHIS is one of the most significant sources of health-related data in the country and has been conducted since 1957. The longitudinal nature of the study allows for analysis of trends in various variables over the years, which can be essential for understanding societal changes and making treatment recommendations. This current study will utilize NHIS data from 2020-2022 which contained interview questions specifically related to COVID-19. Adult cases of individuals between the ages of 18-50 diagnosed with COVID-19 in the United States during 2020-2022 will be identified using the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS). Multiple regression analysis of self-reported data confirming COVID-19 infection status and challenges with concentration, communication, and memory will be performed. Latent class analysis will be utilized to identify subgroups in the population to indicate whether certain demographic groups have higher susceptibility to cognitive-linguistic deficits associated with COVID-19. Completion of this study will reveal whether there is an association between confirmed COVID-19 diagnosis and heightened incidence of cognitive deficits and subsequent implications, if any, on activities of daily living. This study is distinct in its aim to utilize national survey data to explore the relationship between confirmed COVID-19 diagnosis and the prevalence of cognitive-communication deficits with a secondary focus on resulting activity limitations. To the best of the author’s knowledge, this will be the first large-scale epidemiological study investigating the associations between cognitive-linguistic deficits, COVID-19 and implications on activities of daily living in the United States population. These findings will highlight the need for targeted interventions and support services to address the cognitive-communication needs of individuals recovering from COVID-19, thereby enhancing their overall well-being and functional outcomes.

Keywords: cognition, COVID-19, language, limitations, memory, NHIS

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Authors: Fikram Rettob

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Racism is human rights violence that has been prohibited for long time ago. However, it is still happening in some part of the world, such as Indonesia. In this journal, the author is going to write about the racism toward Papuan which occurred in 2019 to 2021. The author found that the cause behind this human rights violence was the single assumption about race supremacy in Indonesia. Some people of Indonesia which are in Java that is near from central government believe that their race and the power are above other Indonesia’s race. In this research the author is using the concept of group or collectively oriented rights which explains that solidarity has rights to express their feeling, living in healthy environment, free to humanitarian assistance, communication and share in the common heritage of mankind. This research is applying qualitative methodology which based on secondary data that the author collected from news, journals, books, and articles, and then the author analyses and selects only the relevance one to put into the writing.

Keywords: racism, Indonesia, Papuan, violence

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Authors: Bahadır Aydın

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Being one of the most important elements of social evolution, energy has a vital role for a sustainable economy and development. Energy has great importance to level up the welfare. By this importance, countries having rich resources can apply energy as an political instrument. While needs of energy is increasing, sources to respond this need is very limited. Therefore, countries seek for alternative resources to meet their needs. Renewable energy sources have firstly taken into consideration. Being clean and belonging to countries own sources, renewable energy resources have been widely applied during the last decades. However, renewable energy cannot meet all the expectation of energy needs. In this respect, energy efficiency can be seen as an alternative. Energy efficiency can minimize energy consumption without degrading standard of living, lessening quality of products and without increasing energy bills. In this article, energy resources, SWOT analysis of renewable sources, and energy efficiency topics are mainly discussed.

Keywords: energy efficiency, renewable energy, energy regulations, oil, international relations

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Authors: Caitlin Bailey, Marian Frattarola Saulino, Beth Steinberg

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Today, virtually all programs offered to people with intellectual and developmental disabilities tout themselves as person-centered, community-based and inclusive, yet there is a vast range in type and quality of services that use these similar descriptors. The issue is exacerbated by the fields’ measurement practices around quality, inclusion, independent living, choice and person-centered outcomes. For instance, community inclusion for people with disabilities is often measured by the number of times person steps into his or her community. These measurement approaches set standards for quality too low so that agencies supporting group home residents to go bowling every week can report the same outcomes as an agency that supports one person to join a book club that includes people based on their literary interests rather than disability labels. Ultimately, lack of delineation in measurement contributes to the confusion between face value “quality” and true quality services and supports for many people with disabilities and their families. This exploratory study adopts alternative approaches to quality measurement including co-production methods and systems theoretical framework in order to identify the factors that 1) lead to high-quality supports and, 2) differentiate high-quality services. Project researchers have partnered with community practitioners who are all committed to providing quality services and supports but vary in the degree to which they are actually able to provide them. The study includes two parts; first, an online survey distributed to more than 500 agencies that have demonstrated commitment to providing high-quality services; and second, four in-depth case studies with agencies in three United States and Israel providing a variety of supports to children and adults with disabilities. Results from both the survey and in-depth case studies were thematically analyzed and coded. Results show that there are specific factors that differentiate service quality; however meaningful quality measurement practices also require that researchers explore the contextual factors that contribute to quality. These not only include direct services and interactions, but also characteristics of service users, their environments as well as organizations providing services, such as management and funding structures, culture and leadership. Findings from this study challenge researchers, policy makers and practitioners to examine existing quality service standards and measurements and to adopt alternate methodologies and solutions to differentiate and scale up evidence-based quality practices so that all people with disabilities have access to services that support them to live, work, and enjoy where and with whom they choose.

Keywords: co-production, inclusion, independent living, quality measurement, quality supports

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Authors: Abolade Olajoke, Adigun Folasade Oyenike, Odunjo Oluronke Omolola Olaleye, Babajide Rotimi

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Against the shortfall associated with unprecedented urbanization in most cities of the world, coupled with rapid expansion of outer boundaries, is the resultant birth of the development of new towns. The paper therefore examines the impacts of Ibeju - Lekki New Town on Neighbouring communities of Ibeju Lekki. Random systematic sampling was employed elicit relevant information from a total number of 269 residents at interval of five buildings in four neighbouring communities. Descriptive statistics was employed to test for the socioeconomic characteristics of respondents, problems faced by government officials during the implementation and monitoring process. Likert scale was employed to ascertain respondents view on the impact of the new town on neighbouring communities. Result from the findings shows that male (56.9%) are the most dominant occupant in the study area of which most (68.1%) fall within the most the active age group (18-39 and 40-59 years). Results further shows that 36% of the total respondents are traders and majority (32%) earn below government salary wage cap of ₦18000 thus indicating that majority of the respondents are petty traders. Results of findings from development authority reveals that the major problem encountered during monitoring and implementation is harassment of government officials (35%). Result of likert scale further show that new town has brought increase in intensity of land use within neighbouring communities (RAI 3.65), provision of job opportunity (RAI 3.57). This have consequently improve standard of living of the neighbouring community (RAI 3.27). On the contrary some (RAI 1.97) opined that attention should paid to provision of power supply and provision of recreation facilities (RAI I.63). The study recommends that government should make adequate provisions for basic facilities such power supply, adequate health care system, basic education and provision of healthy portable water. This should be given utmost priority to enhance the living condition of residents. To forestall attack from residents’ adequate security measures should be provided as backup for Government official during implementation and monitoring. Appropriate sanction to illegal occupants and demolition of illegal structures should be fully implemented, This will indubitably prevent haphazard development and also promote a liveable environment. Against the shortfall associated with unprecedented urbanization in most cities of the world, coupled with rapid expansion of outer boundaries, is the resultant birth of the development of new towns. The paper therefore examines the impacts of Ibeju - Lekki New Town on Neighbouring communities of Ibeju Lekki. Random systematic sampling was employed elicit relevant information from a total number of 269 residents at interval of five buildings in four neighbouring communities. Descriptive statistics was employed to test for the socioeconomic characteristics of respondents, problems faced by government officials during the implementation and monitoring process. Likert scale was employed to ascertain respondents view on the impact of the new town on neighbouring communities. Result from the findings shows that male (56.9%) are the most dominant occupant in the study area of which most (68.1%) fall within the most the active age group (18-39 and 40-59 years). Results further shows that 36% of the total respondents are traders and majority (32%) earn below government salary wage cap of ₦18000 thus indicating that majority of the respondents are petty traders. Results of findings from development authority reveals that the major problem encountered during monitoring and implementation is harassment of government officials (35%) Result of likert scale further show that new town has brought increase in intensity of land use within neighbouring communities (RAI 3.65), provision of job opportunity (RAI 3.57). This have consequently improve standard of living of the neighbouring community (RAI 3.27). On the contrary some (RAI 1.97) opined that attention should paid to provision of power supply and provision of recreation facilities (RAI I.63). The study recommends that government should make adequate provisions for basic facilities such power supply, adequate health care system, basic education and provision of healthy portable water. This should be given utmost priority to enhance the living condition of residents. To forestall attack from residents’ adequate security measures should be provided as backup for Government official during implementation and monitoring. Appropriate sanction to illegal occupants and demolition of illegal structures should be fully implemented, This will indubitably prevent haphazard development and also promote a liveable environment.

Keywords: new town, urbanization, infrastructure boundary

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Authors: Sharmistha Chanda, Anindita Chaudhuri

Abstract:

This exploratory study highlights the psychological aspects of women's empowerment to find the importance of the psychological dimension of empowerment, such as; meaning, competence, self-determination, impact, and assumption, especially in the weaker marginalized section of women. A large proportion of rural, suburban, and urban poor survive by working in unorganized sectors of metropolitan cities. Relative Poverty and lack of employment in rural areas and small towns drive many people to the metropolitan city for work and livelihood. Women working in that field remain unrecognized as people of low socio-economic status. They are usually willing to do domestic work as daily wage workers, single wage earners, street vendors, family businesses like agricultural activities, domestic workers, and self-employed. Usually, these women accept such jobs because they do not have such an opportunity as they lack the basic level of education that is required for better-paid jobs. The unorganized sector, on the other hand, has no such clear-cut employer-employee relationships and lacks most forms of social protection. Having no fixed employer, these workers are casual, contractual, migrant, home-based, own-account workers who attempt to earn a living from whatever meager assets and skills they possess. Women have become more empowered both financially and individually through small-scale business ownership or entrepreneurship development and in household-based work. In-depth interviews have been done with 10 participants in order to understand their living styles, habits, self-identity, and empowerment in their society in order to evaluate the key challenges that they may face following by qualitative research approach. Transcription has been done from the collected data. The three-layer coding technique guides the data analysis process, encompassing – open coding, axial coding, and selective coding. Women’s Entrepreneurship is one of the foremost concerns as the Government, and non-government institutions are readily serving this domain with the primary objectives of promoting self-employment opportunities in general and empowering women in specific. Thus, despite hardship and unrecognition unorganized sector provides a huge array of opportunities for rural and sub-urban poor to earn. Also, the upper section of society tends to depend on this working force. This study gave an idea about the well-being, and meaning in life, life satisfaction on the basis of their lived experience.

Keywords: marginalized women, psychological empowerment, relative poverty, and unorganized sector.

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Authors: S. Khurram, N. Mubashar

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The paper examines, through the lens of Postcolonial Theory, how natives resist and react in Derrek Walcott’s “Dream on Monkey Mountain”. It aims at how natives, for being ‘recognized and reformed’, mimic and adapt the white’s ways of living. It also focuses how Walcott expresses natives’ reaction when they cannot construct their identity. Moreover, the paper exploits the Homi. K Bhaba’s concept of Mimicry and Berry’s concepts of Hybridity to explain Caribbean native’s plight. Furthermore, it bring forth Walcott’s deep insight into the psychology of the Caribbean natives. He digs deep into the colonial discourse to reconstruct post-colonial identity and he, as a post-colonial writer, does so by deconstructing colonial ideology of racism by resisting against it.

Keywords: postcolonial theory, mimicry, hybridity, reaction

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Authors: Adeyemi Oluremi Olubusuyi

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In most of the developed countries, entrepreneurship education has been and will continue to be, a great economic stimulator. Entrepreneurship advantages cannot be overemphasized in any society that desires sustainable national development because it creates new technologies, production and services; which in turn encourage improved productivity and rapid economic growth. Economic growth will invariably have positive influences on the health, thereby leading to sound body systems, increase in the lifespan, improvement in social status and standard condition of living. Promoting an effective application of entrepreneurship education principle will, in no small measure, propel Nigeria to the much desired enviable national development level which the country is currently yearning for. The focus of this paper is to discuss entrepreneurship education with reference to its concept, nature, objectives and development approaches.

Keywords: entreprenuership, entrepreneurship education, national development, tertiary institutions

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Authors: R. Alrashedi, A. Persaud

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This study provides insights into the readiness of users to participate in e-government activities in Saudi Arabia. A user-centric model of e-participation is developed based on a review of the literature and empirically tested. The findings are based on an online survey of a sample of 200 hundred Saudi citizens and residents living in Saudi Arabia. The study found that trust of the government, attitude towards e-participation, e-participation through the use of social media, and social influence and social identity positively influence e-participation while perceived benefits of e-government is negatively related to e-participation. This study contributes to the literature by providing empirical evidence of the drivers of e-participation. The study also provides insights that could be used by policymakers to increase the level of e-participation in Saudi Arabia.

Keywords: e-government, e-participation, social media, trust, social influence and social identity

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Authors: Huawei Ma, Wencai Du, Shengbin Liang

Abstract:

Smart Home Healthcare technologies for the elderly represent a transformative paradigm that leverages emerging technologies to provide the elderly’ health indicators and daily life monitoring, emergency calls, environmental monitoring, behavior perception, and other services to ensure the health and safety of the elderly who are aging in their own home. However, the excessive complexity in the main adopted framework has affected the acceptance and adoption of the elderly. Therefore, this paper proposes a lightweight synergy architecture of IoT data and service for elderly home smart health environment. It includes the modeling of IoT applications and their workflows, data interoperability, interaction, and storage paradigms to meet the growing needs of older people so that they can lead an active, fulfilling, and quality life.

Keywords: smart home healthcare, IoT, independent living, lightweight framework

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Authors: Jaroslav Kraus

Abstract:

Spatial information about demographic processes are a standard part of outputs in the Czech Republic. That was also the case of Population and Housing Census which was held on 2011. This is a starting point for a follow up study devoted to two basic types of households: single person households and households of one completed family. Single person households and one family households create more than 80 percent of all households, but the share and spatial structure is in long-term changing. The increase of single households is results of long-term fertility decrease and divorce increase, but also possibility of separate living. There are regions in the Czech Republic with traditional demographic behavior, and regions like capital Prague and some others with changing pattern. Population census is based - according to international standards - on the concept of currently living population. Three types of geospatial approaches will be used for analysis: (i) firstly measures of geographic distribution, (ii) secondly mapping clusters to identify the locations of statistically significant hot spots, cold spots, spatial outliers, and similar features and (iii) finally analyzing pattern approach as a starting point for more in-depth analyses (geospatial regression) in the future will be also applied. For analysis of this type of data, number of households by types should be distinct objects. All events in a meaningful delimited study region (e.g. municipalities) will be included in an analysis. Commonly produced measures of central tendency and spread will include: identification of the location of the center of the point set (by NUTS3 level); identification of the median center and standard distance, weighted standard distance and standard deviational ellipses will be also used. Identifying that clustering exists in census households datasets does not provide a detailed picture of the nature and pattern of clustering but will be helpful to apply simple hot-spot (and cold spot) identification techniques to such datasets. Once the spatial structure of households will be determined, any particular measure of autocorrelation can be constructed by defining a way of measuring the difference between location attribute values. The most widely used measure is Moran’s I that will be applied to municipal units where numerical ratio is calculated. Local statistics arise naturally out of any of the methods for measuring spatial autocorrelation and will be applied to development of localized variants of almost any standard summary statistic. Local Moran’s I will give an indication of household data homogeneity and diversity on a municipal level.

Keywords: census, geo-demography, households, the Czech Republic

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Authors: Yajing Jiang, Jing Wu, Siyu Bu

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The development of opening residential district is the inevitable trend in China. The landscape resources in opening districts are the main resource for their sharing. However, there is a certain contradiction between the ideal of urban development and the reality of constraints. How to find a balance, to ensure a reasonable open ‘degree’ is particularly important. The opening residential district landscape design should reflect the relative independence of living space, taking into account the basic needs of residents; but also the integration of space, resource sharing, to ensure that the order of daily life on the basis of social interaction and adapt to the dynamic development of the city changes. And ultimately to achieve a reasonable degree of openness to settlements.

Keywords: degree of openness, landscape design, opening residential district, urban design

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Authors: Yener Tekeli, Hayri Baba

Abstract:

The natural active compounds found in medicinal plants are belong to various chemical structures including polyphenolic compounds, flavonoids, essential oils, and vitamins and some of these compounds have anticancer, antioxidant, and antimicrobial activity. However, these compounds have been little known about mechanisms to confer antibacterial drug resistance. In this study; some macrofungi extracts (Pholiota lucifera, Gnaoderma applanatum and Pleurotus ostreatus) were investigated for their abilities to enhance bacterial permeability by flow cytometry. This experiments exhibited enhancement of these extracts to disrupt the cytoplasmic membrane of living bacterial (Listeria innocua and Escherichia coli) cells. These experiments were designed to detect uptake of PI&SYT by enhancing with a ranged concentration of herb extracts.

Keywords: antimicrobial activity, flow cytometry, macrofungi, multidrug resistant

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Authors: S. M. Ahuja

Abstract:

There are about 12000 stone crusher units in India and are located in clusters around urban areas to the stone quarries. These crushers create lot of fugitive dust emissions and noise pollution which is a major health hazard for the people working in the crushers and also living in its vicinity. Ambient air monitoring was carried out near various stone crushers and it has been observed that fugitive emission varied from 300 to 8000 mg/Nm3. A number of stone crushers were thoroughly studied and their existing pollution control devices were examined. Limitations in the existing technology were also studied. A technology consisting of minimal effective spray nozzles to reduce the emissions at source followed by a containment cum control system having modular cyclones as air pollution control device has been conceived. Besides preliminary energy audit has also been carried out in some of the stone crushers which indicates substantial potential for energy saving.

Keywords: stone crushers, spray nozzles, energy audit

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Authors: Belaynesh Tefera, Ahmed Mohammed, Zelalem Bayisa

Abstract:

This study focuses on the issue of underage internal migration from rural to urban areas in Ethiopia, specifically in the context of child labor. It addresses the significant disparities in living standards between rural and urban areas, which motivate individuals from rural areas to migrate to urban areas in search of better economic opportunities. The study was conducted in Addis Ababa, where there is a high prevalence of underage internal migrants engaged in child labor due to extreme poverty in rural parts of the country. The aim of this study is to explore the life experiences of shoe-makers who have migrated from rural areas of Ethiopia to Addis Ababa. The focus is on understanding the factors that push these underage individuals to migrate, the challenges they face, and the implications for child labor. This study adopts a qualitative approach, using semistructured face-to-face interviews with underage migrants. A total of 27 interviews were conducted in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, until the point of data saturation. The criteria for selecting interviewees include working as shoemakers and migrating to Addis Ababa underage, below 16 years old. The interviews were audio-taped, transcribed into Amharic, and then translated into English for analysis. The study reveals that the major push factors for underage internal migration are socioeconomic and environmental factors. Despite improvements in living standards for underage migrants and their families, there is a high prevalence of child labor and lack of access to education among them. Most interviewees migrated without the accompaniment of their family members and faced various challenges, including sleeping on the streets. This study highlights the role of social marketing in addressing the issues of underage internal migration and child labor. It suggests that social marketing can be an effective strategy to protect children from abuse, loneliness, and harassment during their migration process. The data collection involved conducting in-depth interviews with the underage migrants. The interviews were transcribed and translated for analysis. The analysis focused on identifying common themes and patterns within the interview data. The study addresses the factors contributing to underage internal migration, the challenges faced by underage migrants, the prevalence of child labor, and the potential role of social marketing in addressing these issues. The study concludes that although Ethiopia has policies against child internal migration, it is difficult to protect underage laborers who migrate from rural to urban areas due to the voluntary nature of their migration. The study suggests that social marketing can serve as a solution to protect children from abuse and other challenges faced during migration.

Keywords: underage, internal migration, social marketing, child labor, Ethiopia

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