Search results for: women’s rights implementation

Authors: Aschenaki Zerihun Kea, Bernt Lindtjorn, Achamyelesh Gebretsadik, Sven Gudmund Hinderaker

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Introduction: Maternal mortality studies conducted at the national level do not provide the information needed for planning and monitoring health programs at lower administrative levels. The aim of this study was to measure maternal mortality, identify risk factors and district-level variations in Sidama National Regional State, southern Ethiopia. Methods: A cross sectional population-based survey was carried out in households where women reported pregnancy and birth outcomes in the past five years. The study was conducted in the Sidama National Regional State, southern Ethiopia, from July 2019 to May 2020. Multi-stage cluster sampling technique was employed. The outcome variable of the study was maternal mortality. Complex sample logistic regression analysis was applied to assess variables independently associated with maternal mortality. Results: We registered 10602 live births (LB) and 48 maternal deaths, yielding an overall maternal mortality ratio (MMR) of 419; 95% CI: 260-577 per 100,000 LB. Aroresa district had the highest MMR with 1142 (95% CI: 693-1591) per 100,000 LB. Leading causes of death were haemorrhage 21 (41%) and eclampsia 10 (27%). Thirty (59%) mothers died during labour, or within 24 hours after delivery, 25 (47%) died at home and 17 (38%) at a health facility. Mothers who did not have formal education had a higher risk of maternal death (AOR: 4.4; 95% CI: 1.7 – 11.0). The risk of maternal death was higher in districts with a low midwife-to-population ratio (AOR: 2.9; 95% CI: 1.0-8.9). Conclusion: The high maternal mortality with district-level variations in Sidama Region highlights the importance of improving obstetric care and employing targeted interventions in areas with high mortality rates. Due attention should be given to improving access to female education. Additional midwives have to be trained and deployed to improve maternal health services and consequently save the lives of mothers.

Keywords: maternal mortality variation, maternal death, Sidama, Ethiopia

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Authors: Kristine Joy Simpao

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Improving labour productivity is one of the most enthralling and challenging aspects of managing hotels and restaurant business. The demand to secure countless productivity became an increasingly pivotal role of managers to survive and sustain the business. Besides making business profitable, they are in the doom to make every resource to become productive and effective towards achieving company goal while maximizing the value of organization. This paper examines what productivity means to the services industry, in particular, to the hotel industry. This is underpinned by an investigation of the extent of practice of respondent hotels to the labour productivity aspect in the areas of materials management, human resource management and leadership management and in a way, computing the labour productivity ratios using the hotel simple ratios of productivity in order to find a suitable measurement and control standards for hotels with SBMA, Olongapo City as the locale of the study. The finding shows that hotels labour productivity ratings are not perfect with some practices that are far below particularly on strategic and operational decisions in improving performance and productivity of its human resources. It further proves of the no significant difference ratings among the respondent’s type in all areas which indicated that they are having similar perception of the weak implementation of some of the indicators in the labour productivity practices. Furthermore, the results in the computation of labour productivity efficiency ratios resulted relationship of employees versus labour productivity practices are inversely proportional. This study provides a potential measurement and control standards for the enhancement of hotels labour productivity. These standards should also contain labour productivity customized for standard hotels in Subic Bay Freeport Zone to assist hotel owners in increasing the labour productivity while meeting company goals and objectives effectively.

Keywords: labour productivity, hotel, measurement and control, standards, efficiency ratios, practices

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Authors: Saurav S. Rath, Birendra K. David

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Generic pharmaceutical industry has to operate in strict timelines of product development and scale-up from lab to plant. Hence, detailed product & process understanding and implementation of appropriate mechanistic modelling and Quality-by-design (QbD) approaches are imperative in the product life cycle. This work provides example cases of such efforts in topical dosage products. Topical products are typically in the form of emulsions, gels, thick suspensions or even simple solutions. The efficacy of such products is determined by characteristics like rheology and morphology. Defining, and scaling up the right manufacturing process with a given set of ingredients, to achieve the right product characteristics presents as a challenge to the process engineer. For example, the non-Newtonian rheology varies not only with CPPs and CMAs but also is an implicit function of globule size (CQA). Hence, this calls for various mechanistic models, to help predict the product behaviour. This paper focusses on such models obtained from computational fluid dynamics (CFD) coupled with population balance modelling (PBM) and constitutive models (like shear, energy density). In a special case of the use of high shear homogenisers (HSHs) for the manufacture of thick emulsions/gels, this work presents some findings on (i) scale-up algorithm for HSH using shear strain, a novel scale-up parameter for estimating mixing parameters, (ii) non-linear relationship between viscosity and shear imparted into the system, (iii) effect of hold time on rheology of product. Specific examples of how this approach enabled scale-up across 1L, 10L, 200L, 500L and 1000L scales will be discussed.

Keywords: computational fluid dynamics, morphology, quality-by-design, rheology

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Authors: Irfan Ameer

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Bribery control in developing countries is the biggest challenge for multinational enterprises (MNEs). Bribery practices are socially embedded and institutionalized, and therefore may achieve collective legitimacy in the society. MNEs often have better and strict norms, codes and standards about such corrupt practices. Bribery in B2B sales relationships has been researched but studies focusing on the role of firm in controlling bribery are scarce. The main objective of this paper is to explore MNEs strategies to control bribery in an environment where bribery is institutionalized. This qualitative study uses narrative approach and focuses on key events, actors and their role in controlling bribery in B2B sales relationships. The context of this study is pharmaceutical industry of Pakistan and data is collected through 23 episodic interviews supported by secondary data. The Corporate social responsibility (CSR) literature e.g. CSR three domain model and CSR pyramid is used to make sense of MNEs strategies to control bribery in developing countries. Results show that MNEs’ bribery control strategies are rather emerging based on the role of some key stakeholders and events which shape bribery strategies. Five key bribery control strategies were found through which MNEs can control both demand and supply side of bribery: bribery related codes development; bribery related codes implementation; focusing on competitive advantage; find mutually beneficial ethical solution; and collaboration with ethical stakeholders. The results also highlight the problems associated with each strategy. Study is unique in a sense that it focuses on stakeholders having unethical interests and provides guidelines to MNEs in controlling bribery practices in B2B sales relationships.

Keywords: bribery, developing countries, CSR, narrative research, B2B sales, MNEs

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Authors: Soumaya Mrabet, Taieb Ach, Imen Akkari, Amira Atig, Neirouz Ghannouchi, Koussay Ach, Elhem Ben Jazia

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Introduction: Celiac disease (CD) and type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1D) are complex disorders with shared genetic components. The association between CD and T1D has been reported in many pediatric series. The aim of our study is to describe the epidemiological, clinical and evolutive characteristics of adult patients presenting this association. Material and Methods: This is a retrospective study including patients diagnosed with CD and T1D, explored in Internal Medicine, Gastroenterology and Endocrinology and Diabetology Departments of the Farhat Hached University Hospital, between January 2005 and June 2016. Results: Among 57 patients with CD, 15 patients had also T1D (26.3%). There are 11 women and 4 men with a median age of 27 years (16-48). All patients developed T1D prior to the diagnosis of CD with an average duration of 47 months between the two diagnosis (6 months-5 years). CD was revealed by recurrent abdominal pain in 11 cases, diarrhea in 10 cases, bloating in 8 cases, constipation in 6 cases and vomiting in 2 cases. Three patients presented cycle disorders with secondary amenorrhea in 2 patients. Anti-Endomysium, anti-transglutaminase and Anti-gliadin antibodies were positive respectively in 57, 54 and 11 cases. The biological tests revealed anemia in 10 cases, secondary to iron deficiency in 6 cases and folate and vitamin B12 deficiency in 4 cases, hypoalbuminaemia in 4 cases, hypocalcemia in 3 cases and hypocholesterolemia in 1 patient. Upper gastrointestinal endoscopy showed an effacement of the folds of the duodenal mucosa in 6 cases and a congestive duodenal mucosa in 3 cases. The macroscopic appearance was normal in the others cases. Microscopic examination showed an aspect of villous atrophy in 57 cases, which was partial in 10 cases and total in 47 cases. After an average follow-up of 3 years 2 months, the evolution was favorable in all patients under gluten-free diet with the necessity of less important doses of insulin in 10 patients. Conclusion: In our study, the prevalence of T1D in adult patients with CD was 26.3%. This association can be attributed to overlapping genetic HLA risk loci. In recent studies, the role of gluten as an important player in the pathogenesis of CD and T1D has been also suggested.

Keywords: celiac disease, gluten, prevalence, type 1 diabetes

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Authors: Allison Streutker, Josephine Tan

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Universities across Canada have experienced unprecedented growth in international student enrollment from across the world. As cultural diversity in Canada and other countries increases, understanding the social support needs of all students is important for providing them with the assistance they need to thrive psychologically and academically. Those from individualistic cultural orientations tend to seek explicit social support, which involves expressly asking for assistance in times of stress. However, those from collectivistic cultural orientations are more likely to seek implicit social support, where encouragement is obtained from spending time among valued social groups without explicitly talking about problems. This study explored whether the relationship between the type of social support needs (implicit or explicit) and psychological and academic functioning might be moderated by cultural orientations (individualistic, collectivistic) among university students. Participants were 110 university students (70 women, 40 men; mean age = 24.8 years, SD = 6.6). They completed the Individualism and Collectivism Scale (ICS), Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), Interpersonal Support Evaluation List (ISEL) which assesses implicit and explicit social support, Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS), Scale of Positive and Negative Experience (SPANE) which yields positive and negative experience scores, Flourishing Scale (FS), and reported their grade point average (GPA) as a measure of academic performance. Moderated regression analysis demonstrated that, for those scoring lower on individualism, reporting lower level of implicit support predicted higher levels of perceived stress. For those scoring higher on individualism, lower levels of explicit social support predicted higher levels of perceived stress and a greater number of negative experiences. Generally, higher levels of implicit support were associated with greater satisfaction with life for all students, with the association becoming stronger among students with higher collectivism scores. No other significant findings were found. The results point to the value of considering the cultural orientations of students when designing programs to maintain and improve their sense of well-being.

Keywords: cultural orientation, social support, university students, well-being

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Authors: Prashansa Singh, Rohit Bajaj, Manjot Kaur

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In the modern agricultural landscape, precision farming has emerged as a pivotal strategy for enhancing crop yield and optimizing resource utilization. This paper introduces an innovative Crop Recommendation System (CRS) that leverages the Internet of Things (IoT) technology and the Message Queuing Telemetry Transport (MQTT) protocol to collect critical environmental and soil data via sensors deployed across agricultural fields. The system is designed to address the challenges of real-time data acquisition, efficient data transmission, and dynamic crop recommendation through the application of advanced Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) models. The CRS architecture encompasses a network of sensors that continuously monitor environmental parameters such as temperature, humidity, soil moisture, and nutrient levels. This sensor data is then transmitted to a central MQTT server, ensuring reliable and low-latency communication even in bandwidth-constrained scenarios typical of rural agricultural settings. Upon reaching the server, the data is processed and analyzed by AI/ML models trained to correlate specific environmental conditions with optimal crop choices and cultivation practices. These models consider historical crop performance data, current agricultural research, and real-time field conditions to generate tailored crop recommendations. This implementation gets 99% accuracy.

Keywords: Iot, MQTT protocol, machine learning, sensor, publish, subscriber, agriculture, humidity

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Authors: Harriet Kebirungi, Majaliwa Jackson-Gilbert Mwanjalolo, S. Livingstone Luboobi, Richard Joseph Kimwaga, Consolata Kabonesa

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This paper assessed gender responsiveness of water and sanitation policies and legal frameworks at Makerere University, Uganda. The objectives of the study were to i) examine the gender responsiveness of water and sanitation related policies and frameworks implemented at Makerere University; and ii) assess the challenges faced by the University in customizing national water and sanitation policies and legal frameworks into University policies. A cross-sectional gender-focused study design was adopted. A checklist was developed to analyze national water and sanitation policies and legal frameworks and University based policies. In addition, primary data was obtained from Key informants at the Ministry of Water and Environment and Makerere University. A gender responsive five-step analytical framework was used to analyze the collected data. Key findings indicated that the policies did not adequately address issues of gender, water and sanitation and the policies were gender neutral consistently. The national policy formulation process was found to be gender blind and not backed by situation analysis of different stakeholders including higher education institutions like Universities. At Makerere University, due to lack of customized and gender responsive water and sanitation policy and implementation framework, there were gender differences and deficiencies in access to and utilization of water and sanitation facilities. The University should take advantage of existing expertise within them to customize existing national water policies and gender, and water and sanitation sub-sector strategy. This will help the University to design gender responsive, culturally acceptable and environmental friendly water and sanitation systems that provide adequate water and sanitation facilities that address the needs and interests of male and female students.

Keywords: gender, Makerere University, policies, water, sanitation

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Authors: Sumit Kumar Das, Laishram Ladusingh

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Aim: The aim of the study is to examine the differential of epidemiological transition across fifteen agro-climatic zones of India and its effect on health-seeking behavior. Data and Methods: Unit level data on consumption expenditure on health of India from three decadal rounds conducted by National Sample Survey Organization are used for the analysis. These three rounds are 52nd (1995-96), 60th (2004-05) and 71st (2014-15). The age-adjusted prevalence rate for communicable diseases and non-communicable diseases are estimated for fifteen agro-climatic zones of India for three time periods. Bivariate analysis is used to find out determinants of health-seeking behavior. Multilevel logistic regression is used to examine factors effecting on household health-seeking behavior. Result: The prevalence of communicable diseases is increasing in most of the zones of India. Every South Indian zones, Gujarat plains, and lower Gangetic plain are facing the severe attack of dual burden of diseases. Demand for medical advice has increased in southern zones, and east zones, reliance on private healthcare facilities are increasing in most of the zone. Demographic characteristics of the household head have a significant impact on health-seeking behavior. Conclusion: Proper program implementation is required considering the disease prevalence and differential in the pattern of health seeking behavior. Along with initiation and strengthening of programs for non-communicable, existing programs for communicable diseases need to monitor and supervised strictly.

Keywords: agro-climatic zone, epidemiological transition, health-seeking behavior, multilevel regression

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Authors: Mokhtar Azizi

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Due to heavy traffic and congested roads, it is crucial that the most popular main public transport services in Kuala Lumpur i.e. Putra LRT, Star LRT, KTM Commuter, KL Monorail and Rapid Bus must be continuously monitored and improved to fulfill the rider’s requirement and kept updated by the transit agencies. Evaluation on the current status of the services has been determined out by calculating the transit supportive area (TSA) and level of service (LOS) for each transit station. This research study has carried out the TSA and LOS mapping based on GIS techniques. The detailed census data of the region along the line of services has been collected from the Department of Statistics Malaysia for this purpose. The service coverage has been decided by 400 meters buffer zone for bus stations and 800 meters for rails station and railways in measurement the Quality of Service along the line of services. All the required information has been calculated by using the customized GIS software called Kuala Lumpur Transit Information System (KLTIS). The transit supportive area was calculated with the employment density at least 10 job/hectare or household density at 7.5 unit/hectare and total area covered by transit supportive area is 22516 hectare and the total area that is not supported by transit is 1718 hectare in Kuala Lumpur. The level of service is calculated with the percentage of transit supportive area served by transit for each station. In overall the percentage transit supportive areas served by transit for all the stations were less than 50% which falls in a very low level of service category. This research has proven its benefit by providing the current transit services operators with vital information for improvement of existing public transport services.

Keywords: service coverage, transit supportive area, level of service, transit system

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Authors: Akaki Qatamidze

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Implementation of the project will be a step forward in terms of reliability in Georgia and the improvement of the construction and the development of construction. Completion of the project is expected to result in a complete knowledge, which is expressed in concrete and stone structures of assessing the technical condition of the processing. This method is based on a detailed examination of the structure, in order to establish the injuries and the elimination of the possibility of changing the structural scheme of the new requirements and architectural preservationists. Reinforced concrete and stone structures research project carried out in a systematic analysis of the important approach is to optimize the process of research and development of new knowledge in the neighboring areas. In addition, the problem of physical and mathematical models of rational consent, the main pillar of the physical (in-situ) data and mathematical calculation models and physical experiments are used only for the calculation model specification and verification. Reinforced concrete and stone construction defects and failures the causes of the proposed research to enhance the effectiveness of their maximum automation capabilities and expenditure of resources to reduce the recommended system analysis of the methodological concept-based approach, as modern science and technology major particularity of one, it will allow all family structures to be identified for the same work stages and procedures, which makes it possible to exclude subjectivity and addresses the problem of the optimal direction. It discussed the methodology of the project and to establish a major step forward in the construction trades and practical assistance to engineers, supervisors, and technical experts in the construction of the settlement of the problem.

Keywords: building, reinforced concrete, expertise, stone structures

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Authors: Shadia Al-Bahlani, Ruqaya Al-Rashdi, Shadia Al-Sinawi, Maya Al-Bahri

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Background: Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women worldwide. Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is an aggressive type of breast cancer, which is defined by the absence of Estrogen (ER), Progesterone (PR) and Human epidermal growth factor (Her-2) receptors. The calpain system plays an important role in many cellular processes including apoptosis, necrosis, cell signaling and proliferation. The role of clapins in pathogenesis and tumor progression has been studied in certain cancer types; however, its definite role is not yet established in breast cancer especially in the TNBC subtype. Objectives: This study aims to measure calpain-1 expression and correlate this measurement with the proliferating/apoptotic index as well with the prognostic factors in TNBC patients’ tissue. Materials and Methods: Thirty nine paraffin blocks from patients diagnosed with TNBC were used to measure the expression of calpain-1 and Ki-67 (proliferating marker) proteins using immunohistochemistry. Apoptosis was assessed morphological and biochemically using conventional Haematoxylin and Eosin (H&E) staining method and terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediate dUTP nick and labeling (TUNEL) assay respectively. Data was statistically analyzed using Pearson X2 test of association. Results: Calpain-1 content was visualized in the nucleus of the TNBC cells and its expression varied from low to high among the patients tissue. Calpain expression showed no significant correlation with the proliferating/apoptotic index as well with the clinicopathological variables. Apoptotic counts quantified by H&E staining showed significant association with the apoptotic TUNEL assay, validating both approaches. Conclusion: Although calpain-1 expression showed no significant association with the clinical outcome, its variable level of expression might indicate a hidden role in breast cancer tissue. Larger number of samples and different mode of assessments are needed to fully investigate such role. Exploring the involvement of calpain-1 in cancer progression might help in considering it as a biomarker of breast cancer.

Keywords: breast cancer, calpain, apoptosis, prognosis

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Authors: Choonsik Lee, Les Folio

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Pregnant patients may undergo CT in emergencies unrelated with pregnancy, and potential risk to the developing fetus is of concern. It is critical to accurately estimate fetal organ doses in CT scans. We developed a fetal organ dose calculation tool using pregnancy-specific computational phantoms combined with Monte Carlo radiation transport techniques. We adopted a series of pregnancy computational phantoms developed at the University of Florida at the gestational ages of 8, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, and 38 weeks (Maynard et al. 2011). More than 30 organs and tissues and 20 skeletal sites are defined in each fetus model. We calculated fetal organ dose-normalized by CTDIvol to derive organ dose conversion coefficients (mGy/mGy) for the eight fetuses for consequential slice locations ranging from the top to the bottom of the pregnancy phantoms with 1 cm slice thickness. Organ dose from helical scans was approximated by the summation of doses from multiple axial slices included in the given scan range of interest. We then compared dose conversion coefficients for major fetal organs in the abdominal-pelvis CT scan of pregnancy phantoms with the uterine dose of a non-pregnant adult female computational phantom. A comprehensive library of organ conversion coefficients was established for the eight developing fetuses undergoing CT. They were implemented into an in-house graphical user interface-based computer program for convenient estimation of fetal organ doses by inputting CT technical parameters as well as the age of the fetus. We found that the esophagus received the least dose, whereas the kidneys received the greatest dose in all fetuses in AP scans of the pregnancy phantoms. We also found that when the uterine dose of a non-pregnant adult female phantom is used as a surrogate for fetal organ doses, root-mean-square-error ranged from 0.08 mGy (8 weeks) to 0.38 mGy (38 weeks). The uterine dose was up to 1.7-fold greater than the esophagus dose of the 38-week fetus model. The calculation tool should be useful in cases requiring fetal organ dose in emergency CT scans as well as patient dose monitoring.

Keywords: computed tomography, fetal dose, pregnant women, radiation dose

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Authors: Mirjana Ilic, Dragan Zivotic, Aleksandra Perovic, Predrag Gavrilovic

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The service quality perception depends on many factors, such as the area in which the services are provided, socioeconomic status, educational status, experience, age and gender of consumers, as well as many others. For this reason, it is not possible to apply instrument for establishing the service quality perception that is developed in other areas and in other populations. The aim of the research was to form an instrument for assessing the quality perception in the field of fitness in Serbia. After analyzing the available literature and conducting a pilot research, there were 15 isolated areas in which it was possible to observe the service quality perception. The areas included: material and technical basis, secondary facilities, coaches, programs, reliability, credibility, security, rapid response, compassion, communication, prices, satisfaction, loyalty, quality outcomes and motives. These areas were covered by a questionnaire consisted of 100 items where the number of items varied from area to area from 3 up to 11. The questionnaire was administered to 350 subjects of both genders (174 men and 176 women) aged from 18 to 68 years, being beneficiaries of fitness services for at least 1 year. In each of the areas was conducted a factor analysis in its exploratory form by principal components method. The number of significant factors has been determined in accordance with the Kaiser Guttman criterion. The initial factor solutions were simplified using the Varimax rotation. Analyses per areas have produced from 1 to 4 factors. Afterward, the factor analysis of factor scores on the first principal component of each of the respondents in each of the analyzed area was performed, and the factor structure was obtained with four latent dimensions interpreted as offer, the relationship with the coaches, the experience of quality and the initial impression. This factor structure was analysed by hierarchical analysis of Oblique factors, which in the second order space produced single factor interpreted as a general factor of the service quality perception. The resulting questionnaire represents an instrument which can serve managers in the field of fitness to optimize the centers development, raising the quality of services in line with consumers needs and expectations.

Keywords: fitness, hierarchical model, quality perception, factor analysis

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Authors: Ugbede Onalo, Mohd Lizam, Ahmad Kaseri

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In view of dearth of studies on changes in accounting standards and banks’ earnings management particularly in the context of emerging economies, and the recent Malaysia and Nigeria change from their respective local GAAP to IFRS, this study deemed it overwhelming to investigate the effects of the switch on banks’ earnings management focusing on LLP as the manipulative device. This study employed judgmental sampling to select twenty eight banks- eight Malaysia and twenty Nigeria banks as sample covering period 2008-2013. To provide an empirical research setting in pursuant of the objective of this study, the study period is further partitioned into pre (2008, 2009, 2010) and post (2011, 2012, 2013) IFRS adoption periods. This study consistent with previous studies models a LLP regression model to investigate specific discretionary accruals of banks. Findings suggest that Malaysia and Nigeria banks individually use LLP to manage reported earnings more prior to IFRS implementation. Comparative overall results evidenced that the pre IFRS adoption or domestic GAAP era for both Malaysia and Nigeria sample banks is associated with higher prevalent earnings management through LLP than the corresponding post IFRS adoption era in diverse magnitude but in favour of Malaysia banks for both periods. With results demonstrating that IFRS adoption is linked to lower earnings management via LLP, this study therefore recommends the global adoption of IFRS as reporting framework. This study also endorses that Nigeria banks embrace and borrow a leaf from Malaysia banks good corporate governance practices.

Keywords: accounting standards, IFRS, FRS, SAS, LLP, earnings management

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Authors: Theresa Slump, Paula Neumeister, Katharina Feldker, Carina Y. Heitmann, Thomas Straube

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A characteristic feature of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is the automatic processing of disorder-specific stimuli that expresses itself in intrusive symptoms such as intense physical and psychological reactions to trauma-associated stimuli. That automatic processing plays an essential role in the development and maintenance of symptoms. The aim of our study was, therefore, to investigate the behavioral and neural correlates of automatic processing of trauma-related stimuli in PTSD. Although interpersonal traumatization is a form of traumatization that often occurs, it has not yet been sufficiently studied. That is why, in our study, we focused on patients suffering from interpersonal traumatization. While previous imaging studies on PTSD mainly used faces, words, or generally negative visual stimuli, our study presented complex trauma-related and neutral visual scenes. We examined 19 female subjects suffering from PTSD and examined 19 healthy women as a control group. All subjects did a geometric comparison task while lying in a functional-magnetic-resonance-imaging (fMRI) scanner. Trauma-related scenes and neutral visual scenes that were not relevant to the task were presented while the subjects were doing the task. Regarding the behavioral level, there were not any significant differences between the task performance of the two groups. Regarding the neural level, the PTSD patients showed significant hyperactivation of the hippocampus for task-irrelevant trauma-related stimuli versus neutral stimuli when compared with healthy control subjects. Connectivity analyses revealed altered connectivity between the hippocampus and other anxiety-related areas in PTSD patients, too. Overall, those findings suggest that fear-related areas are involved in PTSD patients' processing of trauma-related stimuli even if the stimuli that were used in the study were task-irrelevant.

Keywords: post-traumatic stress disorder, automatic processing, hippocampus, functional magnetic resonance imaging

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Authors: Xinrui Zhao

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Connective actions acquired a completely different outlook of a social movement which credited with the rapid developed of social media technologies. New social movements amalgamate and mobilize around hashtags, memes, and personalized action frames. In 2017, the #MeToo movements from America spread to a variety of countries as a hashtag on social media. It attempted to demonstrate the widespread prevalence of sexual assault and harassment movement. It also encouraged Chinese women to participate by devoting and contributing their voices and acts. Furthermore, China’s #MeToo movement shows certain characteristics which are strongly shaped by particular political and cultural backgrounds, that also need to be studied. This paper serves as supplementary materials of connective action studies by addressing the #MeToo movement issues in China, which is rarely mentioned previously in the literature, it also supports a view that suggests that ideological and cultural drivers both strategically contribute to personalized action frames. This paper combines textual analysis methods, collecting attached materials from search engines in China’s social media, portrays the structure of China’s #MeToo movements by showing prominent activists, scholars, organization and the public’s action frame in China’s social media(Weibo, wechat, zhihu, douban). In doing so, it seeks to find how China’s #MeToo movements are organized and reveal diversities of social action approaches among those three subjects, digs out the correlations of their actions related to different social media platforms. This analysis suggests that while facing the government's censorship and moral judgments from the public, China’s #MeToo movement combines with few influential sexual assault and harassment events and is lead by the prominent activists who also are the victims in the events. The debates and critiques among Chinese scholars concerned the outcomes and significance of China’s #MeToo movement are divided into sides. Organizations still show less power in participating China’s movement social media. Public’s participation is varied of platforms which hugely affected by their personal experiences and knowledge.

Keywords: connective action, China, MeToo movement, social media

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Authors: Sakapas Saengchai, Wilasinee Jintalikitdee, Matinee Kongsatit, Natapol Puaprasert

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The study on promotion of public participation in community planning is a qualitative research. The data collection tools included participating observation, in-depth interview and focus group of executives of sub-district administrative organizations, sub-district headmen, community leaders of 5 villages, including civil society forums for exchanging ideas of village members. The study results revealed that key promotions of public participation in community planning were as follows: 1) Perception on public authorities’ information: Public relations should be set and information on community planning, key principles of local people participation should be prepared. Collaboration with community leaders in each village via sub-district administrative organizations should be established. 2) Discussion: In civil society forums, village members should brainstorm their opinions towards community development, village development, quality of life, current situation and problems to be revolved. 3) Participation: Members of each village should jointly participate, with community leaders, in setting sub-district development policies and community development projects. 4) Collaboration: To achieve goals, communities of each member should participate in project implementation and activities of community plans. 5) People power promotion: In each stage of communication planning, community leaders, village committees, local people should jointly set directions of village development and make decisions. This will enhance their joint learning and create community driving power. Community will become strong leading to sustainable self-reliance.

Keywords: people participation, community plans, community development, community driving power

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Authors: Taju Abdela Mohammed

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Introduction: There has been a rise in awareness of violence against young women and girls, particularly when it occurs in educational environments. Gender-based violence in schools is a significant barrier. Therefore, it would be a threat to the achievement of the sustainable development goals, strive for gender equality in all our programs, right from the planning stages, to make sure we are as equitable as possible. Research on the causes, attitudes, and perceptions of gender-based violence was scant. Furthermore, there aren't many studies done on female students attending private colleges. Thus, the purpose of this study is to evaluate the frequency of gender-based violence and related variables among female students attending private colleges in Harar City, Ethiopia. Methodology: A facility-based mixed method concurrent triangulation study design was conducted among 500 randomly selected Private college female students in Harar City. Self-administered questionnaire and an in-depth interview were used to collect the data. The collected data were cleaned and analyzed using a statistical package for social science. Descriptive statistics were conducted and the results were reported using frequency, and percentile. Bivariate logistic regression was performed to identify associated factors. Adjusted odds ratios with 95% confidence intervals and p values < 0.05 were used to explain statistically significant associations. Thematic analysis was used to manually translate, transcribe, and analyze qualitative data. Result: The study showed the prevalence of gender-based violence was 338 (67.6%) (CI 0.432–0.721) Private college female students in Harar city Administration. Age less than 20 years and 20–24 years, [AOR = 0.21, 95% CI (0.03–0.81)] and [AOR = 0.12, 95% CI (0.03–0.51)], tight family control, [AOR = 5.12, 95% CI (1.43–6.9)], Witnessed father abuse mother at childhood; [AOR = 4.04, 95% CI (1.36–12.1)], had drunkenness female or boyfriend; [AOR = 2.12, 95% CI (1.60–14.05)] had significant association with gender-based violence. Conclusion: Our study shows the prevalence of gender-based violence among Private college female students is significant. This is due to the fact that gender-based violence, such as school dropout, unintended pregnancy, abortion, STDs, and psychological disorders, is abandoning young girls' lives and lowering their productivity.

Keywords: female students, gender-violence, harar, Ethiopia

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Authors: Farbod Behnaminia, Saeed Samet

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The COVID-19 pandemic has paralyzed many lives until a vaccine was available, which caused the so-called “new normal.” According to the World Health Organization (WHO), COVID-19 is an infectious disease. It can cause significant illness or death in anyone. Governments and health officials tried to impose rules and regulations to avoid and slow down transmission. Therefore, software engineers worldwide developed applications to trace and track patients’ movements and notify others, mainly using Bluetooth. In this way, everyone could be informed whether they come in close contact with someone who has COVID-19 and takes proper safety precautions. Because most of the applications use technologies that can potentially reveal the user’s identity and location, researchers have debated privacy preservation and how to improve user privacy during such pandemics. Thanks to Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT), there have been some proposed methods to develop privacy-preserving Patient Tracking Systems in the last two years. As an instance of the DLT, Blockchain is like a decentralized peer-to-peer database that maintains a record of transactions. Transactions are immutable, transparent, and anonymous in this system. We conducted a comprehensive evaluation of the literature by looking for papers in the relevant field and dividing them into pre- and post-pandemic systems. Additionally, we discussed the many uses of blockchain technology in pandemic control. We found that two major obstacles facing blockchain implementation across many healthcare systems are scalability and privacy. The Polkadot platform is presented, along with a review of its efficacy in tackling current concerns. A more scalable healthcare system is achievable in the near future using Polkadot as well as a much more privacy-preserving environment.

Keywords: blockchain, electronic record management, EHR, privacy-preserving, patient tracking, COVID-19, trust and confidence, Polkadot

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Authors: Linh Tong

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This paper aims to contribute to the understanding of key education reforms in Vietnam from 1945 to 2017, which reflects an evolution of socio-political needs of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam throughout this period. It explores the contextual conditions, motivations and ambitions influencing the formation of the education reforms in Vietnam. It also looks, from an applied practical perspective, at the influence of politics on education policy-making. The research methodology includes a content analysis of curriculum designs proposed by the Ministry of Education and Training, relevant resolutions and executive orders passed by the National Assembly and the Prime Minister, as well as interviews with experts and key stakeholders. The results point to a particular configuration of factors which have been inspiring the shape and substance of these reforms and which have most certainly influenced their implementation. This configuration evolves from the immediate needs to erase illiteracy and cultivate socialist economic model at the beginning of Vietnam’s independence in 1945-1975, to a renewed urge to adopt market-oriented economy in 1986 and cautiously communicate with the outside world until 2000s, and to currently a demonstrated desire to fully integrate into the global economy and tackle with rising concerns about national security (the South China Sea Dispute), environmental sustainability, construction of a knowledge economy, and a rule-of-law society. Overall, the paper attempts to map Vietnam’s socio-political needs with the changing sets of goals and expected outcomes in teaching and learning methodologies and practices as introduced in Vietnamese key education reforms.

Keywords: curriculum development, knowledge society, national security, politics of education policy-making, Vietnam's education reforms

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Authors: Oktia Woro Kasmini Handayani, Sri Ratna Rahayu, Efa Nugroho, Bertakalswa Hermawati

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In Indonesia, from 2007 until 2013, the prevalence of overnutrition in children under five years and school age tends to increase. Clean and Health Life Behavior of school children supporting nutrition status still below the determined target. On the other side, school institution is an ideal place to educate and form health behavior, that should be initiated as early as possible (Early Age Education/PAUD level). The objective of this research was to find out the effectivity of education model through partnership with school institution in urban region, city of Semarang, Central Java Province, Indonesia. The research used quantitative approach supported with qualitative data. The population consist of all mother having school children of ages 3-5 years within the research region; sampling technique was purposive sampling, as many as 237 mothers. Research instrument was Clean and Health Life Behavior evaluation questionaire, and video as education media. The research used experimental design. Data analysis used effectivity criteria from Sugiyono and 2 paired sampel t test. Education model optimalization in the effort to improve nutrition status indicates t test result with signification < 0.05 (there was significant effect before and after model intervention), with effectivity test result of 79% (effective), but still below expected target which is 80%. Education model need to be utilized and optimallized the implementation so that expected target reached.

Keywords: nutrition status, early age education, clean dan health life behavior, education model

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Authors: M. Verde, G. Falzarano

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The paper examines the connection between corporate social responsibility (CSR), capability approach and poverty reduction; in particular, the local employment development (LED) by way of CSR initiatives. The joint action of LED/CSR results in a win-win situation, not only for the enterprises but also for all the stakeholders involved; in this regard, subsidiarity and coordination between national and regional/local authorities are central to a socially-oriented market economy. In the first section, the CSR is analysed on the basis of its social function in the fight against poverty, as a 'capabilities deprivation'. In the central part, the attention is focused on the relationship between CSR and LED; ergo, on the role of the enterprises in fostering capabilities development (the employment). Besides, all the potential solutions are presented, stressing the possible combinations, in the last part. The benchmark is the enterprise as an economic and a social institution: the business should not be combined with profit merely, paying more attention to its sustainable impact and social contribution. In which way could it be possible? The answer is the CSR. The impact of CSR on poverty reduction is still little explored. The companies help to reduce poverty through economic contribution, human rights and social inclusion; hence, the business becomes an 'agent of development' in order to fight against 'inequality'. The starting point is the pyramid of social responsibility, where ethic and philanthropic responsibilities involve programmes and actions aimed at personal development of the individuals, improving human standard of living in all forms, including poverty, when people do not have a choice between different 'life options', ranging from level of education to employment. At this point, CSR comes into play and works on two dimensions: poverty reduction and poverty prevention, by means of a series of initiatives: first of all, job creation and precarious work reduction. Empowerment of the local actors, financial support and combination of top down and bottom up initiatives are some of CSR areas of activity. Several positive effects occur on individual levels of educations, access to capital, individual health status, empowerment of youth and woman, access to social networks and it was observed that these effects depend on the type of CSR strategy. Indeed, CSR programmes should take into account fundamental criteria, such as the transparency, the information about benefits, a coordination unit among institutions and more clear guidelines. In this way, the advantages to the corporate reputation and to the community translate into a better job matching on the labour market, inter alia. It is important to underline that the success depends on the specific measures of the areas in question, by adapting them to the local needs, in light of general principles and index; therefore, the concrete commitment of the all stakeholders involved is decisive in order to achieve the goals. The enterprise would represent a concrete contribution for the pursuit of sustainable development and for the dissemination of a social and well being awareness.

Keywords: capability approach, local employment development, poverty, social inclusion

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Authors: Vida Dones-Jimenez

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The main purpose of this study is to determine the preschool teachers’ technology and 21st-century skills and its relation to teachers’ performance. The participants were 94 preschool teachers and 59 school administrators from the CDAPS member schools. The data were collected by using 21st Century Skill, developed by ISSA (2009), Technology Skills of Teachers Survey (2013) and Teacher Performance Evaluation Criteria and Descriptors (200) was modified by the current researcher to suit the needs of her study and was administered personally by her. The surveys were designed to measure the participants’ 21st-century skills, technology skills and teaching performance. The result of the study indicates that the majority of the preschool teachers are the college graduate. Most of them are in the teaching profession for 0 to 10 years. It also indicated that the majority of the school administrators are masters’ degree holder. The preschool teachers are outstanding in their teaching performance as rated by the school administrators. The preschool teachers are skillful in using technology, and they are very skillful in executing the 21st-century skills in teaching. It was further determined that no significant difference between preschool teachers 21st-century skill in regards to educational attainment same as with the number of years in teaching, likewise with their technology skills. Furthermore, the study has shown that there is a very weak relationship between technology and 21st-century skills of preschool teachers, a weak relationship between technology skills and teaching performance and a very weak relationship between 21st-century skills and teaching performance were also established. The study recommends that the preschool teachers should be encouraged to enroll in master degree programs. School administrators should support the implementation of newly adopted technologies and support faculty members at various levels of use and experience. It is also recommended that regular review of the professional development plan be undertaken to upgrade 21st-century teaching and learning skills of preschool teachers.

Keywords: preschool teacher, teaching performance, technology, 21st century skills

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Authors: Tatiana Pratt, Benyamin Hanasabzadeh, Panayiota Courelli

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The COVID-19 pandemic is one of the largest global public health issues of this current century. COVID-19 puts people diagnosed with obesity at higher risk of not only contracting the virus but also being hospitalized and dying, making this a vital time to implement obesity prevention programs. However, COVID-19 is predicted to rapidly increase the obesity rate in the United States due to the mandatory sedentary lifestyle the pandemic demands; this is especially harmful to adolescent-aged children because it creates lifelong unhealthy habits and behaviors. Adolescent obesity prevention programs have been rigorously implemented throughout the last century to help diminish the ever-increasing adolescent obesity rate. Since the pandemic kept adolescents inside and away from in-person school, many programs have now become ineffective due to their in-person participation. Examples of in-person participation programs include school lunch programs, OSNAP and New Moves. Therefore, online programs or remote intervention measures are now more essential. This leads to programs such as Time2bHealthy, HEALTH[e]TEEN, and SWITCH should be looked at with more vitality. Adolescents have intertwined their lives with technology and screen usage. Therefore, online and remote prevention programs will continue to play a large role in the post-pandemic era. This literature review will be reviewing past and current adolescent obesity prevention programs and their effectiveness with the new remote, sedentary lifestyle adolescents. Furthermore, it will suggest new ways to more productively decrease adolescent obesity rates by analyzing the harmful factors that COVID-19 introduced into their lifestyles.

Keywords: adolescent, obesity, overweight, COVID-19, preventative care, public health, public policy, obesity prevention programs, online programs

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Authors: Sarah Gounden, Mukesh Dheda, Boikhutso Tlou, Elizabeth Ojewole, Frasia Oosthuizen

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Background: Antiretroviral therapy (ART) has been effective in the reduction of mortality and resulted in an improvement in the prognosis of HIV-infected patients. However, treatment with antiretrovirals (ARVs) has led to the development of many adverse drug reactions (ADRs). It is, therefore, necessary to determine the safety profile of these medicines in a South African population in order to ensure safe and optimal medicine use. Objectives: The aim of this study was to quantify ADRs experienced with the different ARVs currently used in South Africa, to determine the safety profile of ARV medicine in South Africa based on reported ADRs, and to determine the ARVs with the lowest risk profile based on specific patient populations. Methodology: This was a quantitative study. Individual case safety reports for the period January 2010 – December 2013 were obtained from the National Pharmacovigilance Center; these reports contained information on ADRs, ARV medicine, and patient demographics. Data was analysed to find associations that may exist between ADRs experienced, ARV medicines used and patient demographics. Results: A total of 1916 patient reports were received of which 1534 met the inclusion criteria for the study. The ARV with the lowest risk of ADRs were found to be lamivudine (0.51%, n=12), followed by lopinavir/ritonavir combination (0.8%, n=19) and abacavir (0.64%, n=15). A higher incidence of ADRs was observed in females compared to males. The age group 31–50 years and the weight group 61–80 kg had the highest incidence of ADRs reported. Conclusion: This study found that the safest ARVs to be used in a South African population are lamivudine, abacavir, and the lopinavir/ritonavir combination. Gender differences play a significant role in the occurrence of ADRs and both anatomical and physiological differences account for this. An increased BMI (body mass index) in both men and women showed an increase in the incidence of ADRs associated with ARV therapy.

Keywords: adverse drug reaction, antiretrovirals, HIV/AIDS, pharmacovigilance, South Africa

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Authors: Maninder Singh

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The Chandigarh city is under the strain of exponential growth of car density across various neighborhood. The consumerist nature of society today is to be blamed for this menace because everyone wants to own and ride a car. Car manufacturers are busy selling two or more cars per household. The Regional Transport Offices are busy issuing as many licenses to new vehicles as they can in order to generate revenue in the form of Road Tax. The car traffic in the neighborhoods of Chandigarh has reached a tipping point. There needs to be a more empirical and sustainable model of cars per household, which should be based on specific parameters of livable neighborhoods. Sector 22 in Chandigarh is one of the first residential sectors to be established in the city. There is scope to think, reflect, and work out a method to know how many cars we need to sell our citizens before we lose the argument to traffic problems, parking problems, and road rage. This is where the true challenge of a planner or a designer of the city lies. Currently, in Chandigarh city, there are no clear visible answers to this problem. The way forward is to look at spatial mapping, planning, and design of car parking units to address the problem, rather than suggesting extreme measures of banning cars (short-term) or promoting plans for citywide transport (very long-term). This is a chance to resolve the problem with a pragmatic approach from a citizen’s perspective, instead of an orthodox development planner’s methodology. Since citizens are at the center of how the problem is to be addressed, acceptable solutions are more likely to emerge from the car and traffic problem as defined by the citizens. Thus, the idea and its implementation would be interesting in comparison to the known academic methodologies. The novel and innovative process would lead to a more acceptable and sustainable approach to the issue of number of car parks in the neighborhood of Chandigarh city.

Keywords: cars, Chandigarh, neighborhood, sustainable living, walkability

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Authors: Parthiban Srinivasan

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With recent advances in computational power and access to enough data in biosciences, artificial intelligence methods are increasingly being used in drug discovery research. These methods are essentially a series of advanced statistics based exercises that review the past to indicate the likely future. Our goal is to develop a model that accurately predicts biological activity and toxicity parameters for novel compounds. We have compiled a robust library of over 150,000 chemical compounds with different pharmacological properties from literature and public domain databases. The compounds are stored in simplified molecular-input line-entry system (SMILES), a commonly used text encoding for organic molecules. We utilize an automated process to generate an array of numerical descriptors (features) for each molecule. Redundant and irrelevant descriptors are eliminated iteratively. Our prediction engine is based on a portfolio of machine learning algorithms. We found Random Forest algorithm to be a better choice for this analysis. We captured non-linear relationship in the data and formed a prediction model with reasonable accuracy by averaging across a large number of randomized decision trees. Our next step is to apply deep neural network (DNN) algorithm to predict the biological activity and toxicity properties. We expect the DNN algorithm to give better results and improve the accuracy of the prediction. This presentation will review all these prominent machine learning and deep learning methods, our implementation protocols and discuss these techniques for their usefulness in biomedical and health informatics.

Keywords: deep learning, drug discovery, health informatics, machine learning, toxicity prediction

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Authors: Sawsan Saridar masri, Hisham Arnaouty

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Architecture both defines and is defined by social, cultural, political and financial constraints: this is where the discipline and the profession of architecture meet. This mutual sway evolves wherever interferences in the built environment are thought-out and can be strengthened or weakened by the many ways in which the practice of architecture can be undertaken. The more familiar we are about the concerns and factors that control what can be made, the greater the opportunities to propose and make appropriate architectures. Apparently, the criteria in any qualification policy should permit flexibility of approach and will – for reasons including cultural choice, political issues, and son on – vary significantly from country to country. However the weighting of the various criteria have to ensure adequate standards both in educational system as in the professional training. This paper develops, deepens and questions about the regulatory entry routes to the professional practice of architecture in the Arab world. It is also intended to provide an informed basis about strategies for conventional and unconventional models of practice in preparation for the next stages of architect’s work experience and professional experience. With the objective of promoting the implementation of adequate built environment in the practice of architecture, a comprehensive analysis of various pathways of access to the profession are selected as case studies, encompassing examples from across the world. The review of such case studies allows the creation of a comprehensive picture in relation to the conditions for qualification of practitioners of the built environment at the level of the Middle Eastern countries and the Arab World. Such investigation considers the following aspects: professional title and domain of practice, accreditation of courses, internship and professional training, professional examination and continuing professional development.

Keywords: architecture, internship, mobility, professional practice

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Authors: Eny Syatriana, Ardiansyah

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The purpose of recent study was to develop a learning model on writing, based on the reading texts which will be read by the students using reflection strategy. The strategy would allow the students to read the text and then they would write back the main idea and to develop the text by using their own sentences. So, the writing practice was begun by reading an interesting text, then the students would develop the text which has been read into their writing. The problem questions are (1) what kind of learning model that can develop the students writing ability? (2) what is the achievement of the students of STKIP YPUP through reflection strategy? (3) is the using of the strategy effective to develop students competence In writing? (4) in what level are the students interest toward the using of a strategy In writing subject? This development research consisted of some steps, they are (1) need analysis (2) model design (3) implementation (4) model evaluation. The need analysis was applied through discussion among the writing lecturers to create a learning model for writing subject. To see the effectiveness of the model, an experiment would be delivered for one class. The instrument and learning material would be validated by the experts. In every steps of material development, there was a learning process, where would be validated by an expert. The research used development design. These Principles and procedures or research design and development .This study, researcher would do need analysis, creating prototype, content validation, and limited empiric experiment to the sample. In each steps, there should be an assessment and revision to the drafts before continue to the next steps. The second year, the prototype would be tested empirically to four classes in STKIP YPUP for English department. Implementing the test greatly was done through the action research and followed by evaluation and validation from the experts.

Keywords: learning model, reflection, strategy, reading, writing, development

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