Search results for: disability services and policy

Authors: Sujan Barua

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Buddhism relies upon natural events which are appeared from the four auto-elements of nature. It has seemed to be an authentic proof of mono-actions that have chronically been existing through our lives circles into the action and reaction that can produce more and more suffering in entire beings. Religion is called such politic through giving up on worthy concerns. Birth, aging, getting sick, lamentation, and death are just a politic of four conditions that depend upon one mind. Those are greed, hatred, and delusion, which are the first fueling to fall into a worthy realm again and again. It is because of having numerous ways of sense faculties, six senses, and five aggregates. These are all defaults of the deluded mind’s conditions and total ignorance covered by not understanding through the emancipating religion. Buddhism is dependent upon the threefold morality, which is the basic politic of giving up birth, aging, getting sick, lamentation, and death. Morality is the primordial theme of reach at ultimate happiness called “Nirvana”. It is a politic of one’s non-understanding ignorance. In Buddhism, the Buddha emphasizes that to understand the politic of the samsara, one must profoundly understand the own action that appears from the threefold ways. One must need authentically verify the own karma and reflection from the self-mind. The worthy concerns are the cause of political suffering to fall in samsara. By avoiding the entire, one can attain ultimate happiness. To attain Nirvana is not like an achievement of worthy happiness and proper understanding of functionality as we comfort in our daily lives. There is no virtue or non-virtual deeds to rebirth, no gripes, no upsetting, no greed, no hatred, no aging, no sickness, no death. It is totally uprooted from 31 types of states of worthy concerns. Nirvana is the stability of ultimate realization, but worthy states are the levels of grasping impurities in life span that make us fall into one clan according to our actions. By profoundly observing, the Buddha crucially founds that the source of rebirth is ignorance. Ignorance drives physical, verbal, and mental, which makes us reborn into the 31 types of realms in cycling existence. It is believed that the best knowledge of how many beings are in this world except the Enlightenment one. The enlightened one knows everything while he thinks about when it is causally necessary for demonstrating someone or verifying the truth of the relational way. It is a political view for entire beings that are chronic because covering by ignorance. It is tremendously toxic, and the person who truly understands this politic of turning here to there is a person who wishes to have eager to find the truth and way to leave those massive toxicities to discover the fixed state of nonexistence. The word non-existence is known as “Suiyata” or emptiness. One can able to find the ultimate truth with the effort of achieving the arch truth of leaving suffering from the cycling system.

Keywords: ultimate realization, nirvana, the easiest way policy to give up worthily concerns, profound understanding of 31 types of cosmology, four noble truths

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Authors: Caroline McDonald-Harker, Julie Drolet

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Abstract— In the last six years Canada In the last six years Canada has experienced two major and catastrophic environmental disasters– the 2013 Southern Alberta flood and the 2016 Fort McMurray, Alberta wildfire. These two disasters resulted in damages exceeding 12 billion dollars, the costliest disasters in Canadian history. In the aftermath of these disasters, many families faced the loss of homes, places of employment, schools, recreational facilities, and also experienced social, emotional, and psychological difficulties. Children and youth are among the most vulnerable to the devastating effects of disasters due to the physical, cognitive, and social factors related to their developmental life stage. Yet children and youth also have the capacity to be resilient and act as powerful catalyst for change in their own lives and wider communities following disaster. Little is known, particularly from a sociological perspective, about the specific factors that contribute to resilience in children and youth, and effective ways to support their overall health and well-being. This paper focuses on the voices and experiences of children and youth residing in these two disaster-affected communities in Alberta, Canada and specifically examines: 1) How children and youth’s lives are impacted by the tragedy, devastation, and upheaval of disaster; 2) Ways that children and youth demonstrate resilience when directly faced with the adversarial circumstances of disaster; and 3) The cumulative internal and external factors that contribute to bolstering and supporting resilience among children and youth post-disaster. This paper discusses the characteristics associated with high levels of resilience in 183 children and youth ages 5 to 17 based on quantitative and qualitative data obtained through a mix methods approach. Child and youth participants were administered the Children and Youth Resilience Measure (CYRM-28) in order to examine factors that influence resilience processes including: individual, caregiver, and context factors. The CYRM-28 was then supplemented with qualitative interviews with children and youth to contextualize the CYRM-28 resiliency factors and provide further insight into their overall disaster experience. Findings reveal that high levels of resilience among child and youth participants is associated with both individual factors and caregiver factors, specifically positive outlook, effective communication, peer support, and physical and psychological caregiving. Individual and caregiver factors helped mitigate the negative effects of disaster, thus bolstering resilience in children and youth. This paper discusses the implications that these findings have for understanding the specific mechanisms that support the resiliency processes and overall recovery of children and youth following disaster; the importance of bridging the gap between children and youth’s needs and the services and supports provided to them post-disaster; and the need to develop resiliency processes and practices that empower children and youth as active agents of change in their own lives following disaster. These findings contribute to furthering knowledge about pragmatic and representative changes to resources, programs, and policies surrounding disaster response, recovery, and mitigation.

Keywords: children and youth, disaster, environment, resilience

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Authors: Arnon Medzini, Lilach Lev Ari

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Migration, the driving force behind increased urbanization, has made cities much more diverse places to live in. Nearly one-fifth of all migrants live in the world’s 20 largest cities. In many of these global cities, migrants constitute over a third of the population. Many of contemporary migrants are in fact ‘forced migrants,’ pushed from their countries of origin due to political or ethnic violence and persecution or natural disasters. During the past decade, massive numbers of labor migrants and asylum seekers have migrated from African countries to Israel via Egypt. Their motives for leaving their countries of origin include ongoing and bloody wars in the African continent as well as corruption, severe conditions of poverty and hunger, and economic and political disintegration. Most of the African migrants came to Israel from Eritrea and Sudan as they saw Israel the closest natural geographic asylum to Africa; soon they found their way to the metropolitan Tel-Aviv area. There they concentrated in poor neighborhoods located in the southern part of the city, where they live under conditions of crowding, poverty, and poor sanitation. Today around 45,000 African migrants reside in these neighborhoods, and yet there is no legal option for expelling them due to dangers they might face upon returning to their native lands. Migration of such magnitude to the weakened neighborhoods of south Tel-Aviv can lead to the destruction of physical, social and human infrastructures. The character of the neighborhoods is changing, and the local population is the main victim. These local residents must bear the brunt of the failure of both authorities and the government to handle the illegal inhabitants. The extremely crowded living conditions place a heavy burden on the dilapidated infrastructures in the weakened areas where the refugees live and increase the distress of the veteran residents of the neighborhoods. Some problems are economic and some stem from damage to the services the residents are entitled to, others from a drastic decline in their standard of living. Even the public parks no longer serve the purpose for which they were originally established—the well-being of the public and the neighborhood residents; they have become the main gathering place for the infiltrators and a center of crime and violence. Based on secondary data analysis (for example: The Israel’s Population, Immigration and Border Authority, the hotline for refugees and migrants), the objective of this presentation is to discuss the effects of forced migration to Tel Aviv on the following tensions: between the local population and the immigrants; between the local population and the state authorities, and between human rights groups vis-a-vis nationalist local organizations. We will also describe the changes which have taken place in the urban infrastructure of the city of Tel Aviv, and discuss the efficacy of various Israeli strategic trajectories when handling human problems arising in the marginal urban regions where the forced migrant population is concentrated.

Keywords: African asylum seekers, forced migrants, marginal urban regions, urban infrastructure

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Authors: Amunupura Kiriwandeiye Gedara, Asintha Saminda Gnanaratne

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The security forces can be described as a workforce that goes beyond the role of ensuring the national security and contributes to the development process of the country. Soldiers are following combatant training courses during their tenure, they are equipped with a variety of vocational training courses to satisfy the needs of the army, to equip them with vocational training capabilities to achieve the development and reconstruction goals of the country as well as for the betterment of society in the event of emergencies. But with retirement, their relationship with the military is severed, and they are responsible for the future of their lives. The main purpose of this study was to examine how such professional capabilities can contribute to the development of the country, the current socio-economic status of the retired soldiers, and the current application of the vocational training skills they have mastered in the army to develop and rebuild the country in an effective manner. After analyzing the available research literature related to this field, a conceptual framework was developed and according to qualitative research methodology, and data obtained from Case studies and interviews are analyzed by using thematic analysis. Factors influencing early retirement include a lack of understanding of benefits, delays in promotions, not being properly evaluated for work, getting married on hasty decisions, and not having enough time to spend on family and household chores. Most of the soldiers are not aware about various programs and benefits available to retirees. They do not have a satisfactory attitude towards the retirement guidance they receive from the army at the time of retirement. Also, due to the lack of understanding about how to use their vocational capabilities successfully pursue their retirement life, the majority of people are employed in temporary jobs, and some are successful in post-retirement life due to their successful use of training received. Some live on pensions without engaging in any income-generating activities, and those who retire after 12 years of service are facing severe economic hardships as they do not get pensions. Although they have received training in various fields, they do not use them for their benefit due to lack of proper guidance. Although the government implements programs, they are not clearly aware of them. Barriers to utilization of training include an absence of a system to identify the professional skills of retired soldiers, interest in civil society affairs, exploration of opportunities in the civil and private sectors, and politicization of services. If they are given the opportunity, they will be able to contribute to the development and reconstruction process. The findings of the study further show that it has many social, economic, political, and psychological benefits not only for individuals but also for a country. Entrepreneurship training for all retired soldiers, improving officers' understanding, streamlining existing mechanisms, creating new mechanisms, setting up a separate unit for retirees, and adapting them to civil society, private and non-governmental contributions, and training courses can be identified as potential means to improve the current situation.

Keywords: development, reconstruction, retired soldiers, vocational capabilities

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Authors: Flavia Oliveira de A. M. Cruz, Edison Tostes Faria, Paula Elaine D. Reis

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When the breast is submitted to radiation therapy (RT), the most common effects are pain, skin changes, mobility restrictions, local sensory alteration, and fatigue. These effects, if not managed properly, may reduce the quality of life of cancer patients and may lead to the treatment discontinuation. Therefore, promoting knowledge and guidelines for symptom management remain a high priority for patients and a challenge for health professionals, due to the need to handle side effects in a population with a life-threatening disease. Printed materials are important strategies for supporting educative activities since they help the individual to assimilate and understand the amount of information transmitted. Nurses' behavior can be systematized through the use of an educative manual, which may be effective in promoting information regarding the treatment, self-care and how to control the effects of RT at home. In view of the importance of guaranteeing the validity of the material before its use, the objective of this research was to validate the content and appearance of an educative manual for breast cancer patients undergoing RT. The Theory of Psychometrics was used for the validation process in this descriptive methodological research. A minimum agreement rate (AR) of 80% was considered to guarantee the validity of the material. The data were collected from October to December 2017, by means of two assessments tools, constructed in the form of a Likert scale, with five levels of understanding. These instruments addressed different aspects of the evaluation, in view of two different groups of participants; 17 experts in the theme area of the educative manual, and 12 women that received RT previously to treat breast cancer. The manual was titled 'Orientation Manual: radiation therapy in breast', and was focused on breast cancer patients attended at the Department of Oncology of the Brasília University Hospital (UNACON/HUB). The research project was submitted to the Research Ethics Committee at the School of Health Sciences of the University of Brasília (CAAE: 24592213.1.0000.0030). Only two items of the assessment tool for the experts, one related to the manual's ability to promote behavioral and attitude changes and the other related to the extent of its use for other health services, obtained AR < 80% and were reformulated based on the participants' suggestions and in the literature. All other items were considered appropriate and/or complete appropriate in the three blocks proposed for the experts: objectives - 89%, structure and form - 93%, and relevance - 93%; and good and/or very good in the five blocks of analysis proposed for patients: objectives - 100%, organization - 100%, writing style - 100%, appearance - 100%, and motivation. The appearance and content validation of the educative manual proposed were attended to. The educative manual was considered relevant and pertinent and may contribute to the understanding of the therapeutic process by breast cancer patients during RT, as well as support clinical practice through the nursing consultation.

Keywords: oncology nursing, nursing care, validation studies, educational technology

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Authors: Mauro Cristeche

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This paper approaches the intervention of the American State in the social arena and the modeling of the rights system from the Argentinian experience, by observing the characteristics of its federal budgetary system, the evolution of social public spending and welfare programs in recent years, labor and poverty statistics, and the changes on the labor market structure. The analysis seeks to combine different methodologies and sources: in-depth interviews with specialists, analysis of theoretical and mass-media material, and statistical sources. Among the results, it could be mentioned that the tendency to state interventionism (what has been called ‘nationalization of social life’) is quite evident in the United States, and manifests itself in multiple forms. The bibliography consulted, and the experts interviewed pointed out this increase of the state presence in historical terms (beyond short-term setbacks) in terms of increase of public spending, fiscal pressure, public employment, protective and control mechanisms, the extension of welfare policies to the poor sectors, etc. In fact, despite the significant differences between both countries, the United States and Argentina have common patterns of behavior in terms of the aforementioned phenomena. On the other hand, dissimilarities are also important. Some of them are determined by each country's own political history. The influence of political parties on the economic model seems more decisive in the United States than in Argentina, where the tendency to state interventionism is more stable. The centrality of health spending is evident in America, while in Argentina that discussion is more concentrated in the social security system and public education. The biggest problem of the labor market in the United States is the disqualification as a consequence of the technological development while in Argentina it is a result of its weakness. Another big difference is the huge American public spending on Defense. Then, the more federal character of the American State is also a factor of differential analysis against a centralized Argentine state. American public employment (around 10%) is comparatively quite lower than the Argentinian (around 18%). The social statistics show differences, but inequality and poverty have been growing as a trend in the last decades in both countries. According to public rates, poverty represents 14% in The United States and 33% in Argentina. American public spending is important (welfare spending and total public spending represent around 12% and 34% of GDP, respectively), but a bit lower than Latin-American or European average). In both cases, the tendency to underemployment and disqualification unemployment does not assume a serious gravity. Probably one of the most important aspects of the analysis is that private initiative and public intervention are much more intertwined in the United States, which makes state intervention more ‘fuzzy’, while in Argentina the difference is clearer. Finally, the power of its accumulation of capital and, more specifically, of the industrial and services sectors in the United States, which continues to be the engine of the economy, express great differences with Argentina, supported by its agro-industrial power and its public sector.

Keywords: state intervention, welfare policies, labor market, system of rights, United States of America

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Authors: Zafar Tabrez, Nizamuddin Khan

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Agriculture in India in the pre-green revolution period was mostly controlled by terrain, climate and edaphic factors. But after the introduction of innovative factors and technological inputs, green revolution occurred and agricultural scene witnessed great change. In the development of India’s agriculture, speedy, and extensive introduction of technological change is one of the crucial factors. The technological change consists of adoption of farming techniques such as use of fertilisers, pesticides and fungicides, improved variety of seeds, modern agricultural implements, improved irrigation facilities, contour bunding for the conservation of moisture and soil, which are developed through research and calculated to bring about diversification and increase of production and greater economic return to the farmers. The green revolution in India took place during late 60s, equipped with technological inputs like high yielding varieties seeds, assured irrigation as well as modern machines and implements. Initially the revolution started in Punjab, Haryana and western Uttar Pradesh. With the efforts of government, agricultural planners, as well as policy makers, the modern technocratic agricultural development scheme was also implemented and introduced in backward and marginal regions of the country later on. Agriculture sector occupies the centre stage of India’s social security and overall economic welfare. The country has attained self-sufficiency in food grain production and also has sufficient buffer stock. Our first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru said ‘everything else can wait but not agriculture’. There is still a continuous change in the technological inputs and cropping patterns. Keeping these points in view, author attempts to investigate extensively the mechanization of agriculture and the change by selecting western Trans-Ghaghara plain as a case study and block a unit of the study. It includes the districts of Gonda, Balrampur, Bahraich and Shravasti which incorporate 44 blocks. It is based on secondary sources of data by blocks for the year 1997 and 2007. It may be observed that there is a wide range of variations and the change in farm mechanization, i.e., agricultural machineries such as ploughs, wooden and iron, advanced harrow and cultivator, advanced thrasher machine, sprayers, advanced sowing instrument, and tractors etc. It may be further noted that due to continuous decline in size of land holdings and outflux of people for the same nature of works or to be employed in non-agricultural sectors, the magnitude and direction of agricultural systems are affected in the study area which is one of the marginalized regions of Uttar Pradesh, India.

Keywords: agriculture, technological inputs, farm mechanization, food production, cropping pattern

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Authors: Sedef Sert, Paola Garrone, Marco Melacini, Alessandro Perego

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This paper is aimed at enhancing our current understanding of motivations behind corporate in-kind donations and to find out whether economic efficiency may be a major driver. Our empirical setting is consisted of surplus food recovery and donation by companies from food supply chain. This choice of empirical setting is motivated by growing attention on the paradox of food insecurity and food waste i.e. a total of 842 million people worldwide were estimated to be suffering from regularly not getting enough food, while approximately 1.3 billion tons per year food is wasted globally. Recently, many authors have started considering surplus food donation to nonprofit organizations as a way to cope with social issue of food insecurity and environmental issue of food waste. In corporate philanthropy literature the motivations behind the corporate donations for social purposes, such as altruistic motivations, enhancements to employee morale, the organization’s image, supplier/customer relationships, local community support, have been examined. However, the relationship with economic efficiency is not studied and in many cases the pure economic efficiency as a decision making factor is neglected. Although in literature there are some studies give us the clue on economic value creation of surplus food donation such as saving landfill fees or getting tax deductions, so far there is no study focusing deeply on this phenomenon. In this paper, we develop a conceptual framework which explores the economic barriers and drivers towards alternative surplus food management options i.e. discounts, secondary markets, feeding animals, composting, energy recovery, disposal. The case study methodology is used to conduct the research. Protocols for semi structured interviews are prepared based on an extensive literature review and adapted after expert opinions. The interviews are conducted mostly with the supply chain and logistics managers of 20 companies in food sector operating in Italy, in particular in Lombardy region. The results shows that in current situation, the food manufacturing companies can experience cost saving by recovering and donating the surplus food with respect to other methods especially considering the disposal option. On the other hand, retail and food service sectors are not economically incentivized to recover and donate surplus food to disfavored population. The paper shows that not only strategic and moral motivations, but also economic motivations play an important role in managerial decision making process in surplus food management. We also believe that our research while rooted in the surplus food management topic delivers some interesting implications to more general research on corporate in-kind donations. It also shows that there is a huge room for policy making favoring the recovery and donation of surplus products.

Keywords: corporate philanthropy, donation, recovery, surplus food

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Authors: Andrea Bikfalvi, Josep Llach, Ferran Lazaro, Bojan Jovanovski

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Due to the continuous need to foster university-business cooperation in both developed and developing countries, some higher education institutions face the challenge of designing, piloting, operating, and consolidating knowledge and technology transfer units. University-business cooperation has different maturity stages worldwide, with some higher education institutions excelling in these practices, but with lots of others that could be qualified as intermediate, or even some situated at the very beginning of their knowledge transfer adventure. These latter face the imminent necessity to formally create the technology transfer unit and to draw its roadmap. The complexity of this operation is due to various aspects that need to align and coordinate, including a major change in mission, vision, structure, priorities, and operations. Qualitative in approach, this study presents 5 case studies, consisting of higher education institutions located in the Western Balkans – 2 in Albania, 2 in Bosnia and Herzegovina, 1 in Montenegro- fully immersed in the entrepreneurial journey of creating their knowledge and technology transfer unit. The empirical evidence is developed in a pan-European project, illustratively called KnowHub (reconnecting universities and enterprises to unleash regional innovation and entrepreneurial activity), which is being implemented in three countries and has resulted in at least 15 pilot cooperation agreements between academia and business. Based on a peer-mentoring approach including more experimented and more mature technology transfer models of European partners located in Spain, Finland, and Austria, a series of initial lessons learned are already available. The findings show that each unit developed its tailor-made approach to engage with internal and external stakeholders, offer value to the academic staff, students, as well as business partners. The latest technology underpinning KnowHub services and institutional commitment are found to be key success factors. Although specific strategies and plans differ, they are based on a general strategy jointly developed and based on common tools and methods of strategic planning and business modelling. The main output consists of providing good practice for designing, piloting, and initial operations of units aiming to fully valorise knowledge and expertise available in academia. Policymakers can also find valuable hints on key aspects considered vital for initial operations. The value of this contribution is its focus on the intersection of three perspectives (service orientation, organisational innovation, business model) since previous research has only relied on a single topic or dual approaches, most frequently in the business context and less frequently in higher education.

Keywords: business model, capacity building, entrepreneurial education, knowledge transfer

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Authors: Vibol San, Vin Spoann

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Manufacturing plays an important role in job creation around the world. In 2013, it is estimated that there were more than half a billion jobs in manufacturing. In Cambodia in 2015, the primary industry occupies 26.18% of the total economy, while agriculture is contributing 29% and the service sector 39.43%. The number of industrial factories, which are dominated by garment and textiles, has increased since 1994, mainly in Phnom Penh city. Approximately 56% out of total 1302 firms are operated in the Capital city in Cambodia. Industrialization to achieve the economic growth and social development is directly responsible for environmental degradation, threatening the ecosystem and human health issues. About 96% of total firms in Phnom Penh city are the most and moderately polluting firms, which have contributed to environmental concerns. Despite an increasing array of laws, strategies and action plans in Cambodia, the Ministry of Environment has encountered some constraints in conducting the monitoring work, including lack of human and financial resources, lack of research documents, the limited analytical knowledge, and lack of technical references. Therefore, the necessary information on industrial pollution to set strategies, priorities and action plans on environmental protection issues is absent in Cambodia. In the absence of this data, effective environmental protection cannot be implemented. The objective of this study is to estimate industrial pollution load by employing the Industrial Pollution Projection System (IPPS), a rapid environmental management tool for assessment of pollution load, to produce a scientific rational basis for preparing future policy direction to reduce industrial pollution in Phnom Penh city. Due to lack of industrial pollution data in Phnom Penh, industrial emissions to the air, water and land as well as the sum of emissions to all mediums (air, water, land) are estimated using employment economic variable in IPPS. Due to the high number of employees, the total environmental load generated in Phnom Penh city is estimated to be 476.980.93 tons in 2014, which is the highest industrial pollution compared to other locations in Cambodia. The result clearly indicates that Phnom Penh city is the highest emitter of all pollutants in comparison with environmental pollutants released by other provinces. The total emission of industrial pollutants in Phnom Penh shares 55.79% of total industrial pollution load in Cambodia. Phnom Penh city generates 189,121.68 ton of VOC, 165,410.58 ton of toxic chemicals to air, 38,523.33 ton of toxic chemicals to land and 28,967.86 ton of SO2 in 2014. The results of the estimation show that Textile and Apparel sector is the highest generators of toxic chemicals into land and air, and toxic metals into land, air and water, while Basic Metal sector is the highest contributor of toxic chemicals to water. Textile and Apparel sector alone emits 436,015.84 ton of total industrial pollution loads. The results suggest that reduction in industrial pollution could be achieved by focusing on the most polluting sectors.

Keywords: most polluting area, polluting industry, pollution load, pollution intensity

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Authors: S. A. Abeykoon

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This study explores the empowerment potential of the mobile phone, the widely penetrated and greatly affordable communication technology in Sri Lanka, for female heads of households in Trincomalee District, Sri Lanka-an area recovering from the effects of a 30-year civil war and the 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami. It also investigates how the use of mobile phones by these women is shaped and appropriated by the gendered power relations and inequalities in their respective communities and by their socio-economic factors and demographic characteristics. This qualitative study is based on the epistemology of constructionism; interpretivist, functionalist and critical theory approaches; and the process of action research. The data collection was conducted from September 2014 to November 2014 in two Divisional Secretaries of the Trincomalee District, Sri Lanka. A total of 30 semi-structured depth interviews and six focus groups with the female heads of households of Sinhalese, Tamil and Muslim ethnicities were conducted using purposive, representative and snowball sampling methods. The Grounded theory method was used to analyze transcribed interviews, focus group discussions and field notes that were coded and categorized in accordance with the research questions and the theoretical framework of the study. The findings of the study indicated that the mobile phone has mainly enabled the participants to balance their income earning activities and family responsibilities and has been useful in maintaining their family and social relationships, occupational duties and in making decisions. Thus, it provided them a higher level of security, safety, reassurance and self-confidence in carrying out their daily activities. They also practiced innovative strategies for the effective and efficient use of their mobile expenses. Although participants whose husbands or relatives have migrated were more tended to use smart phones, mobile literacy level of the majority of the participants was at a lower level limited to making and receiving calls and using SMS (Short Message Service) services. However, their interaction with the mobile phone was significantly shaped by the gendered power relations and their multiple identities based on their ethnicity, religion, class, education, profession and age. Almost all the participants were precautious of giving their mobile numbers to and have been harassed with ‘nuisance calls’ from men. For many, ownership and use of their mobile phone was shaped and influenced by their children and migrated husbands. Although these practices limit their use of the technology, there were many instances that they challenged these gendered harassments. While man-made and natural destructions have disempowered and victimized the women in the Sri Lankan society, they have also liberated women making them stronger and transforming their agency and traditional gender roles. Therefore, their present position in society is reflected in their mobile phone use as they assist such women to be more self-reliant and liberated, yet making them disempowered at some time.

Keywords: mobile phone, gender power relations, empowerment, female heads of households

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Authors: Fabrizio Ascione, Martina Borrelli, Rosa Francesca De Masi, Silvia Ruggiero, Giuseppe Peter Vanoli

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The Directive 2010/31/EC 'Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 may 2010 on the energy performance of buildings' moved the targets of the previous version toward more ambitious targets, for instance by establishing that, by 31 December 2020, all new buildings should demand nearly zero-energy. Moreover, the demonstrative role of public buildings is strongly affirmed so that also the target nearly zero-energy buildings is anticipated, in January 2019. On the other hand, given the very low turn-over rate of buildings (in Europe, it ranges between 1-3%/yearly), each policy that does not consider the renovation of the existing building stock cannot be effective in the short and medium periods. According to this proposal, the study provides a novel, holistic approach to design the refurbishment of educational buildings in colder cities of Mediterranean regions enabling stakeholders to understand the uncertainty to use numerical modelling and the real environmental and economic impacts of adopting some energy efficiency technologies. The case study is a university building of Molise region in the centre of Italy. The proposed approach is based on the application of the cost-optimal methodology as it is shown in the Delegate Regulation 244/2012 and Guidelines of the European Commission, for evaluating the cost-optimal level of energy performance with a macroeconomic approach. This means that the refurbishment scenario should correspond to the configuration that leads to lowest global cost during the estimated economic life-cycle, taking into account not only the investment cost but also the operational costs, linked to energy consumption and polluting emissions. The definition of the reference building has been supported by various in-situ surveys, investigations, evaluations of the indoor comfort. Data collection can be divided into five categories: 1) geometrical features; 2) building envelope audit; 3) technical system and equipment characterization; 4) building use and thermal zones definition; 5) energy building data. For each category, the required measures have been indicated with some suggestions for the identifications of spatial distribution and timing of the measurements. With reference to the case study, the collected data, together with a comparison with energy bills, allowed a proper calibration of a numerical model suitable for the hourly energy simulation by means of EnergyPlus. Around 30 measures/packages of energy, efficiency measure has been taken into account both on the envelope than regarding plant systems. Starting from results, two-point will be examined exhaustively: (i) the importance to use validated models to simulate the present performance of building under investigation; (ii) the environmental benefits and the economic implications of a deep energy refurbishment of the educational building in cold climates.

Keywords: energy simulation, modelling calibration, cost-optimal retrofit, university building

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Authors: Koteswara Rao Pagolu, Raghava Rao Tamanam

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The present study was aimed to find out the prevalence of DD's in Visakhapatnam, one of the north coastal districts of Andhra Pradesh, India during a span of five years. A cross-sectional investigation was held at District early intervention center (DEIC), Visakhapatnam from 2016 to 2020. To identify the pattern and trend of different DD's including seasonal variations, a retrospective analysis of the health center's inpatient database for the past 5 years was done. Male and female children aged 2 months-18 years are included in the study with the prior permission of the concerned medical officer. The screening tool developed by the Ministry of health and family welfare, India, was used for the study. Among 26,423 cases, children with birth defects are 962, 2229 with deficiencies, 7516 with diseases, and 15716 with disabilities were admitted during the study period. From birth defects, congenital deafness occurred in large numbers with 22.66%, and neural tube defect observed in a small number of cases with 0.83% during the period. From the side of deficiencies, severe acute malnutrition has mostly occurred (66.80 %) and a small number of children were affected with goiter (1.70%). Among the diseases, dental carriers (67.97%) are mostly found and these cases were at peak during the years 2016 and 2019. From disabilities, children with vision impairment (20.55%) have mostly approached the center. Over the past 5 years, the admission rate of down's syndrome and congenital deafness cases showed a rising trend up to 2019 and then declined. Hearing impairment, motor delay, and learning disorder showed a steep rise and gradual decline trend, whereas severe anemia, vitamin-D deficiency, otitis media, reactive airway disease, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder showed a declining trend. However, congenital heart diseases, dental caries, and vision impairment admission rates showed a zigzag pattern over the past 5 years. This center had inadequate diagnostic facilities related to genetic disease management. For advanced confirmation, the cases are referred to a district government hospital or private diagnostic laboratories in the city for genetic tests. Information regarding the overall burden and pattern of admissions in the health center is obtained by the review of DEIC records. Through this study, it is observed that the incidence of birth defects, as well as genetic disease burden, is high in the Visakhapatnam district. Hence there is a need for strengthening of management services for these diseases in this region.

Keywords: child health screening, developmental delays, district early intervention center, genetic disease management, infrastructural facility, Visakhapatnam district

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Authors: Katarina Ott, Velibor Mačkić, Mihaela Bronić, Branko Stanić

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The determinants of national budget transparency have been widely discussed in the literature, while research on determinants of local budget transparency are scarce and empirically inconclusive, particularly in the new, fiscally centralised, EU member states. To fill the gap, we combine two strands of the literature: that concerned with public administration and public finance, shedding light on the economic and financial determinants of local budget transparency, and that on the political economy of transparency (principal agent theory), covering the relationships among politicians and between politicians and voters. Our main hypothesis states that variables describing residents’ capacity have a greater impact on local budget transparency than variables indicating the institutional capacity of local government units (LGUs). Additional subhypotheses test the impact of each variable analysed on local budget transparency. We address the determinants of local budget transparency in Croatia, measured by the number of key local budget documents published on the LGUs’ websites. By using a data set of 128 cities and 428 municipalities over the 2015-2017 period and by applying panel data analysis based on Poisson and negative binomial distribution, we test our main hypothesis and sub-hypotheses empirically. We measure different characteristics of institutional and residents’ capacity for each LGU. Age, education and ideology of the mayor/municipality head, political competition indicators, number of employees, current budget revenues and direct debt per capita have been used as a measure of the institutional capacity of LGU. Residents’ capacity in each LGU has been measured through the numbers of citizens and their average age as well as by average income per capita. The most important determinant of local budget transparency is average residents' income per capita at both city and municipality level. The results are in line with most previous research results in fiscally decentralised countries. In the context of a fiscally centralised country with numerous small LGUs, most of whom have low administrative and fiscal capacity, this has a theoretical rationale in the legitimacy and principal-agent theory (opportunistic motives of the incumbent). The result is robust and significant, but because of the various other results that change between city and municipality levels (e.g. ideology and political competition), there is a need for further research (both on identifying other determinates and/or methods of analysis). Since in Croatia the fiscal capacity of a LGU depends heavily on the income of its residents, units with higher per capita incomes in many cases have also higher budget revenues allowing them to engage more employees and resources. In addition, residents’ incomes might be also positively associated with local budget transparency because of higher citizen demand for such transparency. Residents with higher incomes expect more public services and have more access to and experience in using the Internet, and will thus typically demand more budget information on the LGUs’ websites.

Keywords: budget transparency, count data, Croatia, local government, political economy

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Authors: Gideon Abagna Azunre

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Informal urbanism is perhaps the most ubiquitous urban phenomenon in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and Ghana specifically. Estimates suggest that about two-fifths of urban dwellers (37.9%) in Ghana live in informal settlements, while two-thirds of the working labour force are within the informal economy. This makes Ghana invariably an ‘informal country.’ Informal urbanism involves economic and housing activities that are – in law or in practice – not covered (or insufficiently covered) by formal regulations. Many urban folks rely on informal urbanism as a survival strategy due to limited formal waged employment opportunities or rising home prices in the open market. In an era of globalizing neoliberalism, this struggle to survive in cities resonates with several people globally. For years now, there have been intense debates on the utility of informal urbanism – both its economic and housing dimensions – in developing sustainable cities. While some scholars believe that informal urbanism is beneficial to the sustainable city development agenda, others argue that it generates unbearable negative consequences and it symbolizes lawlessness and squalor. Consequently, the main aim of this research was to dig below the surface of the narratives to locate the role of informal urbanism in the quest for sustainable cities. The research geographically focused on Ghana and its burgeoning informal sector. Also, both primary and secondary data were utilized for the analysis; Secondary data entailed a synthesis of the fragmented literature on informal urbanism in Ghana, while primary data entailed interviews with informal stakeholders (such as informal settlement dwellers), city authorities, and planners. These two data sets were weaved together to discover the nexus between informal urbanism and the tripartite dimensions of sustainable cities – economic, social, and environmental. The results from the research showed a two-pronged relationship between informal urbanism and the three dimensions of sustainable city development. In other words, informal urbanism was identified to both positively and negatively affect the drive for sustainable cities. On the one hand, it provides employment (particularly to women), supplies households’ basic needs (shelter, health, water, and waste management), and enhances civic engagement. However, on the other hand, it perpetuates social and gender inequalities, insecurity, congestion, and pollution. The research revealed that a ‘black and white’ interpretation and policy approach is incapable of capturing the complexities of informal urbanism. Therefore, trying to eradicate or remove it from the urbanscape because it exhibits some negative consequences means cities will lose their positive contributions. The inverse also holds true. A careful balancing act is necessary to maximize the benefits and minimize the costs. Overall, the research presented a de-colonial theorization of informal urbanism and thus followed post-colonial scholars’ clarion call to African cities to embrace the paradox of informality and find ways to integrate it into the city-building process.

Keywords: informal urbanism, sustainable city development, economic sustainability, social sustainability, environmental sustainability, Ghana

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Authors: Katarina Revocati Mteule

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The background of this research arises from global demands for fair business opportunities. As one of responses to these demands, nations embarked on reforms in commercial laws. In 1990s Tanzania resorted to economic transformation through liberalization to attract more investments included reform in commercial laws enforcement. This research scrutinizes the effectiveness of reforms in Tanzania in comparison with Canada and Singapore and the role of technology. The methodology to be used is doctrinal legal research mixed with international comparative legal research. It involves comparative analysis of library, online, and internet resources as well as Case Laws and Statutory Laws. Tanzania, Canada and Singapore are sampled comparators basing on their distinct level of economic development. The criteria of analysis includes the nature of reforms, type of technology, technological infrastructure and human resource technical competence in each country. As the world progresses towards reforms in commercial laws, improvements in law, policy, and regulatory frameworks are paramount. Specifically, commercial laws are essential in contract enforcement and dispute resolution and how it copes with modern technologies is a concern. Harnessing the best technology is necessary to cope with the modernity in world businesses. In line with this, Tanzania is improving its business environment, including law enforcement mechanisms that are supportive to investments. Reforms such as specialized commercial law enforcement coupled with alternative dispute resolutions such as arbitration, mediation, and reconciliation are emphasized. Court technology as one of the reform tools given high priority. This research evaluates the progress and the effectiveness of the reforms in Commercial Laws towards friendly business environment in Tanzania in comparison with Canada and Singapore. The experience of Tanzania is compared with Canada and Singapore to see what to improve for each country to enhance quick and fair enforcement of commercial law. The research proposes necessary global standards of procedures and in national laws to offer a business-friendly environment and the use of appropriate technology. Solutions are proposed in tackling the challenges of delays in enforcing Commercial Laws such as case management, funding, legal and procedural hindrances, laxity among staff, and abuse of Court process among litigants, all in line with modern technology. It is the finding of the research that proper use of technology has managed to reduce case backlogs and time taken to resolve a commercial dispute, to increase court integrity by minimizing human contacts in commercial law enforcement which may lead to solicitation of favors and saving of parties’ time due to online service. Among the three countries, each one is facing a distinct challenge due to the level of poverty and remoteness from online service. How solutions are found in one country is a lesson to another. To conclude, this paper is suggesting solutions for improving the commercial law enforcement mechanisms in line with modern technology. The call for technological transformation is essential for the enforcement of commercial laws.

Keywords: commercial law, enforcement, technology

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Authors: William Elnemer, Nauman Hussain, Samir Al-Ali, Henry Shu, Diane Ghanem, Babar Shafiq

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Introduction: The incidence of infection in open tibial shaft injuries varies depending on the severity of the injury, with rates ranging from 1.8% for Gustilo-Anderson type I to 42.9% for type IIIB fractures. The timely administration of antibiotics upon presentation to the emergency department (ED) is an essential component of fracture management, and evidence indicates that prompt delivery of antibiotics is associated with improved outcomes. The objective of this study is to identify factors that contribute to the expedient administration of antibiotics. Methods: This is a retrospective study of open tibial shaft fractures at an academic Level I trauma center. Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) codes identified all patients treated for open tibial shaft fractures between 2015 and 2021. Open fractures were identified by reviewing ED and provider notes, and with ballistic fractures were considered open. Chart reviews were performed to extract demographics, fracture characteristics, postoperative outcomes, time to operative room, time to antibiotic order, and delivery. Univariate statistical analysis compared patients who received early antibiotics (EA), which were delivered within one hour of ED presentation, and those who received late antibiotics (LA), which were delivered outside of one hour of ED presentation. A multivariate analysis was performed to investigate patient, fracture, and transport/ED characteristics contributing to faster delivery of antibiotics. The multivariate analysis included the dependent variables: ballistic fracture, activation of Delta Trauma, Gustilo-Andersen (Type III vs. Type I and II), AO-OTA Classification (Type C vs. Type A and B), arrival between 7 am and 11 pm, and arrival via Emergency Medical Services (EMS) or walk-in. Results: Seventy ED patients with open tibial shaft fractures were identified. Of these, 39 patients (55.7%) received EA, while 31 patients (44.3%) received LA. Univariate analysis shows that the arrival via EMS as opposed to walk-in (97.4% vs. 74.2%, respectively, p = 0.01) and activation of Delta Trauma (89.7% vs. 51.6%, respectively, p < 0.001) was significantly higher in the EA group vs. the LA group. Additionally, EA cases had significantly shorter intervals between the antibiotic order and delivery when compared to LA cases (0.02 hours vs. 0.35 hours, p = 0.007). No other significant differences were found in terms of postoperative outcomes or fracture characteristics. Multivariate analysis shows that a Delta Trauma Response, arrival via EMS, and presentation between 7 am and 11 pm were independent predictors of a shorter time to antibiotic administration (Odds Ratio = 11.9, 30.7, and 5.4, p = 0.001, 0.016, and 0.013, respectively). Discussion: Earlier antibiotic delivery is associated with arrival to the ED between 7 am and 11 pm, arrival via EMS, and a coordinated Delta Trauma activation. Our findings indicate that in cases where administering antibiotics is critical to achieving positive outcomes, it is advisable to employ a coordinated Delta Trauma response. Hospital personnel should be attentive to the rapid administration of antibiotics to patients with open fractures who arrive via walk-in or during late-night hours.

Keywords: antibiotics, emergency department, fracture management, open tibial shaft fractures, orthopaedic surgery, time to or, trauma fractures

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Authors: Naiara Ozamiz Etcebarria, Sonia Ruiz De Azua Garcia, Agurtzane Ortiz Jauregi, Virginia Guillen Cañas

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Introduction: The most relevant competencies of a health professional are an adequate communication capacity, which will influence the satisfaction of professionals and patients, therapeutic compliance, conflict prevention, clinical outcomes´ improvement and efficiency of health services. The ability of Active listening , empathy, assertiveness and social skills, are important abilities to develop in all professions in which there is a relationship with other people. In the field of health, it is even more important to have adequate qualities so that the treatment with the patient will be adequate and satisfactory. We conducted a research with students of third year in the Degree of Medicine with the objectives: - to know how the active listening, empathy, assertiveness and social skills of students are. - to know if there are differences according to different demographic variables, such as sex, language, age, number of siblings and interest in the subject. Material and Methods: The students of the Third year in the Degree of Medicine (N = 212) participated voluntarily. Sociodemographic data were collected. Descriptive and comparative analysis of the averages of the students with respect to active listening, empathy, assertiveness and social skills were performed. Once the questionnaires were collected, they were entered into the SPSS 21 database. Four communicational aspects were evaluated: The active listening questionnaire, the TECA empathy questionnaire, the ACDA questionnaire and the EHS questionnaire Social Skills Scale. The active listening questionnaire assesses these factors: Listening without interruption and less contradiction, Listening with 100% attention, Listening beyond words, Listening encouraging the other to go deeper. The TECA questionnaire of cognitive and affective empathy evaluates: Adoption of perspectives, Emotional Comprehension, Emphasizing stress, Empathic joy. The EHS questionnaire Social Skills Scale: Self-expression in social situations, Defending one's own rights as a consumer, Expressing anger or dissatisfaction, Refusing to do and cutting interactions off, Making requests, Initiating positive interactions with the other sex. The ACDA questionnaire Assertiveness Assessment Scale evaluates self-assertiveness and heteroaservitivity. Applicability: To train these skills is so important for clinical practice of medical students and these capabilities that can be measured in a longitudinal way time. Ethical-legal aspects: The data were anonymous. The study was approved by the Ethics Committee. Results: The students of the Third year in the Degree of Medicine (34.4% Basque speakers and 65.6% Spanish speakers) with average age 20.93, (27.8% men and 72.2% women). There are no differences in social skills between men and women. The Basque speaker students of are more heteroactive (ACDA) than Spanish students. Active listening has a high correlation with social skills, especially with self-expression in social situations. Listening without interruption has a high correlation with self-expression in social situations and initiating positive interactions with the opposite sex. Adoption of perspectives presents a high correlation with auto- assertiveness. Emotional understanding presents a high correlation with positive interactions with the opposite sex. Empathic joy correlates with self-assertiveness, self-expression in social situations, and initiating positive interactions with the opposite sex.

Keywords: active listening, assertiveness, communicational skills, empathy, students of medicine

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Authors: Maylen Villamanan Alba

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Latin America is marked by its history: conquest, colonialism, and slavery left deep footprints in most Latin American countries. Also, the past century has been affected by wars, military dictatorships, and political violence, which profoundly influenced Latin American popular culture. Consequently, reminiscences of historical crimes are frequently present in daily life, media, public opinion, and arts. This legacy is remembered in novels, paintings, songs, and films. In fact, Latin American cinema has a trend which refers to the verisimilitude with reality in fiction films. These films about historical violence are narrated as fictional characters, but their stories are based on real historical contexts. Therefore, cultural criminology has considered films as a significant field to understand social representations of violence related to historical crimes. The aim of the present contribution is to analyze the legacy of past and historical memory in social representations of violence in Latin American cinema as a critical approach to historical crimes. This qualitative research is based on content analysis. The sample is seven multi-award winning films of the International Festival of New Latin American Cinema of Havana. The films selected are Kamchatka, Argentina (2002); Carandiru, Brazil (2003); Enlightened by fire, Argentina (2005); Post-mortem, Chile (2010); No, Chile (2012) Wakolda; Argentina (2013) and The Clan, Argentina (2015). Cultural criminology highlights that cinema shapes meanings of social practices such as historical crimes. Critical criminology offers a critical theory framework to interpret Latin American cinema. This analysis reveals historical conditions deeply associated with power relationships, policy, and inequality issues. As indicated by this theory, violence is characterized as a structural process based on social asymmetries. These social asymmetries are crossed by social scopes, including institutional and personal dimensions. Thus, institutions of the states are depicted through personal stories of characters involved with human conflicts. Intimacy and social background are linked in the personages who simultaneously perform roles such as soldiers, policemen, professionals or inmates and they are at the same time depict as human beings with family, gender, racial, ideological or generational issues. Social representations of violence related to past legacy are a portrait of historical crimes perpetrated against Latin American citizens. Thereby, they have contributed to political positions, social behaviors, and public opinion. The legacy of these historical crimes suggests a path that should never be taken again. It means past legacy is a reminder, a warning, and a historic lesson for Latin American people. Social representations of violence are permeated by historical memory as denunciation under a critical approach.

Keywords: Latin American cinema, historical memory, social representation, violence

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Authors: Zia Ul Haq, Saleem Muhammad, Naeem Ullah, Abbas Shah, Abdullah Shah

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Pakistan being the developing country is facing double burden of communicable and non-communicable disease. The aspect of secondary prevention of ischemic heart disease in developing countries is the dire need for public health specialists, clinicians and policy makers. There is some evidence that psychotherapeutic measures, including psychotherapy, recreation, exercise and stress management training have positive impact on secondary prevention of cardiovascular diseases but there are some contradictory findings as well. Cardiac rehabilitation program (CRP) has not yet fully implemented in Pakistan. Psychological, physical and specific health-related quality of life (HRQoL) outcomes needs assessment with respect to its practicality, effectiveness, and success. Objectives: To determine the effect of cardiac rehabilitation program (CRP) on the health-related quality of life (HRQoL) measures of post MI patients compared to the usual care. Hypothesis: Post MI patients who receive the interventions (CRP) will have better HRQoL as compared to those who receive the usual cares. Methods: The randomized control trial was conducted at a Cardiac Rehabilitation Unit of Lady Reading Hospital (LRH), Peshawar. LRH is the biggest hospital of the Province Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP). A total 206 participants who had recent first myocardial infarction were inducted in the study. Participants were randomly allocated into two group i.e. usual care group (UCG) and cardiac rehabilitation group (CRG) by permuted-block randomization (PBR) method. CRP was conducted in CRG in two phases. Three HRQoL outcomes i.e. general health questionnaire (GHQ), self-rated health (SRH) and MacNew quality of life after myocardial infarction (MacNew QLMI) were assessed at baseline and follow-up visits among both groups. Data were entered and analyzed by appropriate statistical test in STATA version 12. Results: A total of 195 participants were assessed at the follow-up period due to lost-to-follow-up. The mean age of the participants was 53.66 + 8.3 years. Males were dominant in both groups i.e. 150 (76.92%). Regarding educational status, majority of the participants were illiterate in both groups i.e. 128 (65.64%). Surprisingly, there were 139 (71.28%) who were non-smoker on the whole. The comorbid status was positive in 120 (61.54%) among all the patients. The SRH at follow-up among UCG and CRG was 4.06 (95% CI: 3.93, 4.19) and 2.36 (95% CI: 2.2, 2.52) respectively (p<0.001). GHQ at the follow-up of UCG and CRG was 20.91 (95% CI: 18.83, 21.97) and 7.43 (95% CI: 6.59, 8.27) respectively (p<0.001). The MacNew QLMI at follow-up of UCG and CRG was 3.82 (95% CI: 3.7, 3.94) and 5.62 (95% CI: 5.5, 5.74) respectively (p<0.001). All the HRQoL measures showed strongly significant improvement in the CRG at follow-up period. Conclusion: HRQOL improved in post MI patients after comprehensive CRP. Education of the patients and their supervision is needed when they are involved in their rehabilitation activities. It is concluded that establishing CRP in cardiac units, recruiting post-discharged MI patients and offering them CRP does not impose high costs and can result in significant improvement in HRQoL measures. Trial registration no: ACTRN12617000832370

Keywords: cardiovascular diseases, cardiac rehabilitation, health-related quality of life, HRQoL, myocardial infarction, quality of life, QoL, rehabilitation, randomized control trial

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Authors: Stefanie M. Vanneste, Stijn Goeminne

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This paper studies the effect of political characteristics of 308 Flemish municipalities on their budget balance in the period 1995-2011. All local governments experience the same economic and financial setting, however some governments have high budget balances, while others have low budget balances. The aim of this paper is to explain the differences in municipal budget balances by a number of economic, socio-demographic and political variables. The economic and socio-demographic variables will be used as control variables, while the focus of this paper will be on the political variables. We test four hypotheses resulting from the literature, namely (i) the partisan hypothesis tests if left wing governments have lower budget balances, (ii) the fragmentation hypothesis stating that more fragmented governments have lower budget balances, (iii) the hypothesis regarding the power of the government, higher powered governments would resolve in higher budget balances, and (iv) the opportunistic budget cycle to test whether politicians manipulate the economic situation before elections in order to maximize their reelection possibilities and therefore have lower budget balances before elections. The contributions of our paper to the existing literature are multiple. First, we use the whole array of political variables and not just a selection of them. Second, we are dealing with a homogeneous database with the same budget and election rules, making it easier to focus on the political factors without having to control for the impact of differences in the political systems. Third, our research extends the existing literature on Flemish municipalities as this is the first dynamic research on local budget balances. We use a dynamic panel data model. Because of the two lagged dependent variables as explanatory variables, we employ the system GMM (Generalized Method of Moments) estimator. This is the best possible estimator as we are dealing with political panel data that is rather persistent. Our empirical results show that the effect of the ideological position and the power of the coalition are of less importance to explain the budget balance. The political fragmentation of the government on the other hand has a negative and significant effect on the budget balance. The more parties in a coalition the worse the budget balance is ceteris paribus. Our results also provide evidence of an opportunistic budget cycle, the budget balances are lower in pre-election years relative to the other years to try and increase the incumbents reelection possibilities. An additional finding is that the incremental effect of the budget balance is very important and should not be ignored like is being done in a lot of empirical research. The coefficients of the lagged dependent variables are always positive and very significant. This proves that the budget balance is subject to incrementalism. It is not possible to change the entire policy from one year to another so the actions taken in recent past years still have an impact on the current budget balance. Only a relatively small amount of research concerning the budget balance takes this considerable incremental effect into account. Our findings survive several robustness checks.

Keywords: budget balance, fragmentation, ideology, incrementalism, municipalities, opportunistic budget cycle, panel data, political characteristics, power, system GMM

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Authors: Anna Lower, Michal Lower, Robert Masztalski, Agnieszka Szumilas

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Contemporary cities are facing serious congestion and parking problems. In urban transport policy the introduction of the park and ride system (P&R) is an increasingly popular way of limiting vehicular traffic. The determining of P&R facilities location is a key aspect of the system. Criteria for assessing the quality of the selected location are formulated generally and descriptively. The research outsourced to specialists are expensive and time consuming. The most focus is on the examination of a few selected places. The practice has shown that the choice of the location of these sites in a intuitive way without a detailed analysis of all the circumstances, often gives negative results. Then the existing facilities are not used as expected. Methods of location as a research topic are also widely taken in the scientific literature. Built mathematical models often do not bring the problem comprehensively, e.g. assuming that the city is linear, developed along one important communications corridor. The paper presents a new method where the expert knowledge is applied to fuzzy inference model. With such a built system even a less experienced person could benefit from it, e.g. urban planners, officials. The analysis result is obtained in a very short time, so a large number of the proposed location can also be verified in a short time. The proposed method is intended for testing of car parks location in a city. The paper will show selected examples of locations of the P&R facilities in cities planning to introduce the P&R. The analysis of existing objects will also be shown in the paper and they will be confronted with the opinions of the system users, with particular emphasis on unpopular locations. The research are executed using the fuzzy inference model which was built and described in more detail in the earlier paper of the authors. The results of analyzes are compared to documents of P&R facilities location outsourced by the city and opinions of existing facilities users expressed on social networking sites. The research of existing facilities were conducted by means of the fuzzy model. The results are consistent with actual users feedback. The proposed method proves to be good, but does not require the involvement of a large experts team and large financial contributions for complicated research. The method also provides an opportunity to show the alternative location of P&R facilities. The performed studies show that the method has been confirmed. The method can be applied in urban planning of the P&R facilities location in relation to the accompanying functions. Although the results of the method are approximate, they are not worse than results of analysis of employed experts. The advantage of this method is ease of use, which simplifies the professional expert analysis. The ability of analyzing a large number of alternative locations gives a broader view on the problem. It is valuable that the arduous analysis of the team of people can be replaced by the model's calculation. According to the authors, the proposed method is also suitable for implementation on a GIS platform.

Keywords: fuzzy logic inference, park and ride system, P&R facilities, P&R location

Procedia PDF Downloads 309

Authors: Brajesh

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Introduction: It is generally believed that women's lack power to making decision may restrict their use of modern contraceptives practices. However, few studies have examined the different dimensions of women's empowerment and contraceptive use in Asian content. Pervasive gendered inequities and norms regarding the subordination of women give Asian men disproportionately more power than women, particularly in relation to the sex. We hypothesize that lack of sexual empowerment may pose an important barrier to reproductive health and adoption of family planning methods. Using the Demographic Health Survey, we examine the association between women’s sexual empowerment and contraceptive use in Nepal, Bangladesh and Pakistan. Objectives: To understand the trend and pattern of contraceptive choices and use among women due to sexual empowerment in selected south Asian countries. To examine the association between women’s sexual empowerment and contraceptive practices among non-pregnant married and partnered women in Nepal, Bangladesh and Pakistan. Methods: Data came from the latest round of Demographic and Health Surveys conducted between 2010-12 in and during deacde1990 -92 in Nepal, Bangladesh and Pakistan. Responses from married or cohabiting women aged 15-49 years were analyzed for six dimensions of empowerment and the current use of female-only methods or couple of methods. Bi-variate and multivariate multinomial regressions were used to identify associations between the empowerment dimensions and method use. Results: Positive associations were found between the overall empowerment score and method use in all countries (relative risk ratios, 1.1-1.3). In multivariate analysis, household economic decision-making was associated with the use of either female-only or couple methods (relative risk ratios -1. 1 for all), as was agreement on fertility preferences (RRR-1.3-1.6) and the ability to negotiate sexual activity (RRR -1. 1-1.2). In Bangladesh, women's negative attitudes toward domestic violence were correlated with the use of couple of methods (RRR -1. 1). Increasing levels of sexual empowerment were found to be associated with use of contraceptives, even after adjusting for demographic predictors of contraceptive use. This association is moderated by the wealth. Formal education, increasing wealth, and being in an unmarried partnership are associated with contraceptive use, whereas women who identify as being Muslim are less likely to use contraceptives than those who identify as being Hindus or other. These findings suggest that to achieve universal access to reproductive health services, gendered disparities in sexual empowerment, particularly among economically disadvantaged women, need to be better addressed. Conclusions: Intervention programs aimed at increasing contraceptive use may need to involve different approaches, including promoting couples' discussion of fertility preferences and family planning, improving women's self-efficacy in negotiating sexual activity and increasing their economic independence. Policies are needed to encourage the rural families to give their girls a chance of attending higher level education and professional course so that can get a better job opportunity and can economically support their family as son are expected to do.

Keywords: reproductive and child health (RCH), relative risk ratios (RRR), demographic and health survey (DHS), women’s sexual empowerment (WSE)

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Authors: Bolatbek Rysbaiuly, Nazerke Rysbayeva, Aigerim Rysbayeva

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Relevance: Energy saving elevated to public policy in almost all developed countries. One of the areas for energy efficiency is improving and tightening design standards. In the tie with the state standards, make high demands for thermal protection of buildings. Constructive arrangement of layers should ensure normal operation in which the humidity of materials of construction should not exceed a certain level. Elevated levels of moisture in the walls can be attributed to a defective condition, as moisture significantly reduces the physical, mechanical and thermal properties of materials. Absence at the design stage of modeling the processes occurring in the construction and predict the behavior of structures during their work in the real world leads to an increase in heat loss and premature aging structures. Method: To solve this problem, widely used method of mathematical modeling of heat and mass transfer in materials. The mathematical modeling of heat and mass transfer are taken into the equation interconnected layer [1]. In winter, the thermal and hydraulic conductivity characteristics of the materials are nonlinear and depends on the temperature and moisture in the material. In this case, the experimental method of determining the coefficient of the freezing or thawing of the material becomes much more difficult. Therefore, in this paper we propose an approximate method for calculating the thermal conductivity and moisture permeability characteristics of freezing or thawing material. Questions. Following the development of methods for solving the inverse problem of mathematical modeling allows us to answer questions that are closely related to the rational design of fences: Where the zone of condensation in the body of the multi-layer fencing; How and where to apply insulation rationally his place; Any constructive activities necessary to provide for the removal of moisture from the structure; What should be the temperature and humidity conditions for the normal operation of the premises enclosing structure; What is the longevity of the structure in terms of its components frost materials. Tasks: The proposed mathematical model to solve the following problems: To assess the condition of the thermo-physical designed structures at different operating conditions and select appropriate material layers; Calculate the temperature field in a structurally complex multilayer structures; When measuring temperature and moisture in the characteristic points to determine the thermal characteristics of the materials constituting the surveyed construction; Laboratory testing to significantly reduce test time, and eliminates the climatic chamber and expensive instrumentation experiments and research; Allows you to simulate real-life situations that arise in multilayer enclosing structures associated with freezing, thawing, drying and cooling of any layer of the building material.

Keywords: energy saving, inverse problem, heat transfer, multilayer walling

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Authors: Kaaryn M. Cater

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Students with sensory processing sensitivity (SPS), Meares-Irlen Syndrome (MIS) and dyslexia can become overwhelmed and struggle to thrive in traditional tertiary learning environments. An estimated 50% of tertiary students who disclose learning related issues are dyslexic. This study explores the relationship between SPS, MIS and dyslexia. Baseline measures will be analysed to establish any correlation between these three minority methods of information processing. SPS is an innate sensitivity trait found in 15-20% of the population and has been identified in over 100 species of animals. Humans with SPS are referred to as Highly Sensitive People (HSP) and the measure of HSP is a 27 point self-test known as the Highly Sensitive Person Scale (HSPS). A 2016 study conducted by the author established base-line data for HSP students in a tertiary institution in New Zealand. The results of the study showed that all participating HSP students believed the knowledge of SPS to be life-changing and useful in managing life and study, in addition, they believed that all tutors and in-coming students should be given information on SPS. MIS is a visual processing and perception disorder that is found in approximately 10% of the population and has a variety of symptoms including visual fatigue, headaches and nausea. One way to ease some of these symptoms is through the use of colored lenses or overlays. Dyslexia is a complex phonological based information processing variation present in approximately 10% of the population. An estimated 50% of dyslexics are thought to have MIS. The study exploring possible correlations between these minority forms of information processing is due to begin in February 2017. An invitation will be extended to all first year students enrolled in degree programmes across all faculties and schools within the institution. An estimated 900 students will be eligible to participate in the study. Participants will be asked to complete a battery of on-line questionnaires including the Highly Sensitive Person Scale, the International Dyslexia Association adult self-assessment and the adapted Irlen indicator. All three scales have been used extensively in literature and have been validated among many populations. All participants whose score on any (or some) of the three questionnaires suggest a minority method of information processing will receive an invitation to meet with a learning advisor, and given access to counselling services if they choose. Meeting with a learning advisor is not mandatory, and some participants may choose not to receive help. Data will be collected using the Question Pro platform and base-line data will be analysed using correlation and regression analysis to identify relationships and predictors between SPS, MIS and dyslexia. This study forms part of a larger three year longitudinal study and participants will be required to complete questionnaires at annual intervals in subsequent years of the study until completion of (or withdrawal from) their degree. At these data collection points, participants will be questioned on any additional support received relating to their minority method(s) of information processing. Data from this study will be available by April 2017.

Keywords: dyslexia, highly sensitive person (HSP), Meares-Irlen Syndrome (MIS), minority forms of information processing, sensory processing sensitivity (SPS)

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Authors: K. C. Sharda

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Introduction: In the world, almost half of the population are lacking proper access to improved sanitation services. In Nepal, large number of people are living without access to any sanitation facility. Ecological sanitation toilet which is defined as water conserving and nutrient recycling system for use of human urine and excreta in agriculture would count a lot to utilize locally available resources, to regenerate soil fertility, to save national currency and to achieve the goal of elimination open defecation in country like Nepal. The objectives of the research were to test the efficacy of human urine for improving crop performance and to evaluate the feasibility of ecological sanitation in rural area of Central Nepal. Materials and Methods: The field investigation was carried out at Palung Village Development Committee (VDC) of Makawanpur District, Nepal from March – August, 2016. Five eco-san toilets in two villages (Angare and Bhot Khoriya) were constructed and questionnaire survey was carried out. During the questionnaire survey, respondents were asked about socio-economic parameters, farming practices, awareness of ecological sanitation and fertilizer value of human urine and excreta in agriculture. In prior to a field experiment, soil was sampled for analysis of basic characteristics. In the field experiment, cauliflower was cultivated for a month in the two sites to compare the fertilizer value of urine with chemical fertilizer and no fertilizer with three replications. The harvested plant samples were analyzed to understand the nutrient content in plant with different treatments. Results and Discussion: Eighty three percent respondents were engaged in agriculture growing mainly vegetables, which may raise the feasibility of ecological sanitation. In the study area, water deficiencies in dry season, high demand of chemical fertilizer, lack of sanitation awareness were found to be solved. The soil at Angare has sandier texture and lower nitrogen content compared to that in Bhot Khoriya. While the field experiment in Angare showed that the aboveground biomass of cauliflower in the urine fertilized plot were similar with that in the chemically fertilized plot and higher than those in the non-fertilized plots, no significant difference among the treatments were found in Bhot Khoriya. The more distinctive response of crop growth to the three treatments in the former might be attributed to the poorer soil productivity, which in turn could be caused by the poorer inherent soil fertility and the poorer past management by the farmer in Angare. Thus, use of urine as fertilizer could help poor farmers with low quality soil. The significantly different content of nitrogen and potassium in the plant samples among three treatments in Bhot Khoriya would require further investigation. When urine is utilized as a fertilizer, the productivity could be increased and the money to buy chemical fertilizer would be utilized in other livelihood activities. Ecological sanitation is feasible in the area with similar socio-economic parameter.

Keywords: cauliflower, chemical fertilizer, ecological sanitation, Nepal, urine

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Authors: Marita Pigłowska, Beata Kurc, Maciej Galiński

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The application of carbon materials in the branches of the electrochemical industry shows an increasing tendency each year due to the many interesting properties they possess. These are, among others, a well-developed specific surface, porosity, high sorption capacity, good adsorption properties, low bulk density, electrical conductivity and chemical resistance. All these properties allow for their effective use, among others in supercapacitors, which can store electric charges of the order of 100 F due to carbon electrodes constituting the capacitor plates. Coals (including expanded graphite, carbon black, graphite carbon fibers, activated carbon) are commonly used in electrochemical methods of removing oil derivatives from water after tanker disasters, e.g. phenols and their derivatives by their electrochemical anodic oxidation. Phenol can occupy practically the entire surface of carbon material and leave the water clean of hydrophobic impurities. Regeneration of such electrodes is also not complicated, it is carried out by electrochemical methods consisting in unblocking the pores and reducing resistances, and thus their reactivation for subsequent adsorption processes. Graphite is commonly used as an anode material in lithium-ion cells, while due to the limited capacity it offers (372 mAh g-1), new solutions are sought that meet both capacitive, efficiency and economic criteria. Increasingly, biodegradable materials, green materials, biomass, waste (including agricultural waste) are used in order to reuse them and reduce greenhouse effects and, above all, to meet the biodegradability criterion necessary for the production of lithium-ion cells as chemical power sources. The most common of these materials are cellulose, starch, wheat, rice, and corn waste, e.g. from agricultural, paper and pharmaceutical production. Such products are subjected to appropriate treatments depending on the desired application (including chemical, thermal, electrochemical). Starch is a biodegradable polysaccharide that consists of polymeric units such as amylose and amylopectin that build an ordered (linear) and amorphous (branched) structure of the polymer. Carbon is also used as a catalyst. Elemental carbon has become available in many nano-structured forms representing the hybridization combinations found in the primary carbon allotropes, and the materials can be enriched with a large number of surface functional groups. There are many examples of catalytic applications of coal in the literature, but the development of this field has been hampered by the lack of a conceptual approach combining structure and function and a lack of understanding of material synthesis. In the context of catalytic applications, the integrity of carbon environmental management properties and parameters such as metal conductivity range and bond sequence management should be characterized. Such data, along with surface and textured information, can form the basis for the provision of network support services.

Keywords: carbon materials, catalysis, BET, capacitors, lithium ion cell

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Authors: S. Fantin

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This study is the result of the legal research on cybersecurity and data protection within the EUNITY (Cybersecurity and Privacy Dialogue between Europe and Japan) project, aimed at fostering the dialogue between the European Union and Japan. Based on the research undertaken therein, the author offers an outline of the main asymmetries in the laws governing such fields in the two regions. The research is a comparative analysis of the two legal frameworks, taking into account specific provisions, ratio legis and policy initiatives. Recent doctrine was taken into account, too, as well as empirical interviews with EU and Japanese stakeholders and project partners. With respect to the protection of personal data, the European Union has recently reformed its legal framework with a package which includes a regulation (General Data Protection Regulation), and a directive (Directive 680 on personal data processing in the law enforcement domain). In turn, the Japanese law under scrutiny for this study has been the Act on Protection of Personal Information. Based on a comparative analysis, some asymmetries arise. The main ones refer to the definition of personal information and the scope of the two frameworks. Furthermore, the rights of the data subjects are differently articulated in the two regions, while the nature of sanctions take two opposite approaches. Regarding the cybersecurity framework, the situation looks similarly misaligned. Japan’s main text of reference is the Basic Cybersecurity Act, while the European Union has a more fragmented legal structure (to name a few, Network and Information Security Directive, Critical Infrastructure Directive and Directive on the Attacks at Information Systems). On an relevant note, unlike a more industry-oriented European approach, the concept of cyber hygiene seems to be neatly embedded in the Japanese legal framework, with a number of provisions that alleviate operators’ liability by turning such a burden into a set of recommendations to be primarily observed by citizens. With respect to the reasons to fill such normative gaps, these are mostly grounded on three basis. Firstly, the cross-border nature of cybercrime brings to consider both magnitude of the issue and its regulatory stance globally. Secondly, empirical findings from the EUNITY project showed how recent data breaches and cyber-attacks had shared implications between Europe and Japan. Thirdly, the geopolitical context is currently going through the direction of bringing the two regions to significant agreements from a trade standpoint, but also from a data protection perspective (with an imminent signature by both parts of a so-called ‘Adequacy Decision’). The research conducted in this study reveals two asymmetric legal frameworks on cyber security and data protection. With a view to the future challenges presented by the strengthening of the collaboration between the two regions and the trans-national fashion of cybercrime, it is urged that solutions are found to fill in such gaps, in order to allow European Union and Japan to wisely increment their partnership.

Keywords: cybersecurity, data protection, European Union, Japan

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Authors: Jovina Concepcion Bachynski, Lenora Duhn, Idevania G. Costa, Pilar Camargo-Plazas

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Kidney failure is a life-limiting condition for which treatment, such as dialysis (hemodialysis and peritoneal dialysis), can exact a tremendously high physical and psychosocial symptom burden. Kidney failure can be severe enough to require a palliative approach to care. The term supportive care can be used in lieu of palliative care to avoid the misunderstanding that palliative care is synonymous with end-of-life or hospice care. Kidney supportive care, encompassing advance care planning, is an approach to care that improves the quality of life for people receiving dialysis through early identification and treatment of symptoms throughout the disease trajectory. Advanced care planning involves ongoing conversations about the values, goals, and preferences for future care between individuals and their healthcare teams. Kidney supportive care is underutilized and often initiated late in this population. There is evidence to indicate nurses are not providing the necessary elements of supportive kidney care. Dialysis nurses’ delay or lack of engagement in supportive care until close to the end of life may result in people dying without receiving optimal palliative care services. Using Charmaz’s constructivist grounded theory, the purpose of this doctoral study is to develop a substantive theory that explains the process of engagement in supportive care by nurses working in dialysis settings in Canada. Through initial purposeful and subsequent theoretical sampling, 23 nurses with current or recent work experience in outpatient hemodialysis, home hemodialysis, and peritoneal dialysis settings drawn from across Canada were recruited to participate in two intensive interviews using the Zoom© teleconferencing platform. Concurrent data collection and data analysis, constant comparative analysis of initial and focused codes until the attainment of theoretical saturation, and memo-writing, as well as researcher reflexivity, have been undertaken to aid the emergence of concepts, categories, and, ultimately, the constructed theory. At the time of abstract submission, data analysis is currently at the second level of coding (i.e., focused coding stage) of the research study. Preliminary categories include: (a) focusing on biomedical care; (b) multi-dimensional challenges to having the conversation; (c) connecting and setting boundaries with patients; (d) difficulty articulating kidney-supportive care; and (e) unwittingly practising kidney-supportive care. For the conference, the resulting theory will be presented. Nurses working in dialysis are well-positioned to ensure the delivery of quality kidney-supportive care. This study will help to determine the process and the factors enabling and impeding nurse engagement in supportive care in dialysis to effect change for normalizing advance care planning conversations in the clinical setting. This improved practice will have substantive beneficial implications for the many individuals living with kidney failure and their supporting loved ones.

Keywords: dialysis, kidney failure, nursing, supportive care

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Authors: Andrew Cummings, Rhianne Boag, Sarah Bryson, Gordon Turner

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Packages designed for transport of radioactive material must satisfy rigorous safety regulations specified by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Higher Activity Waste (HAW) transport packages have to maintain containment of their contents during normal and accident conditions of transport (NCT and ACT). To ensure containment criteria is satisfied these packages are required to be leak-tight in all transport conditions to meet allowable activity release rates. Package design safety reports are the safety cases that provide the claims, evidence and arguments to demonstrate that packages meet the regulations and once approved by the competent authority (in the UK this is the Office for Nuclear Regulation) a licence to transport radioactive material is issued for the package(s). The standard approach to demonstrating containment in the RWM transport safety case is set out in BS EN ISO 12807. In this document a method for measuring a leak rate from the package is explained by way of a small interspace test volume situated between two O-ring seals on the underside of the package lid. The interspace volume is pressurised and a pressure drop measured. A small interspace test volume makes the method more sensitive enabling the measurement of smaller leak rates. By ascertaining the activity of the contents, identifying a releasable fraction of material and by treating that fraction of material as a gas, allowable leak rates for NCT and ACT are calculated. The adherence to basic safety principles in ISO12807 is very pessimistic and current practice in the demonstration of transport safety, which is accepted by the UK regulator. It is UK government policy that management of HAW will be through geological disposal. It is proposed that the intermediate level waste be transported to the geological disposal facility (GDF) in large cuboid packages. This poses a challenge for containment demonstration because such packages will have long seals and therefore large interspace test volumes. There is also uncertainty on the releasable fraction of material within the package ullage space. This is because the waste may be in many different forms which makes it difficult to define the fraction of material released by the waste package. Additionally because of the large interspace test volume, measuring the calculated leak rates may not be achievable. For this reason a justification for a lower releasable fraction of material is sought. This paper considers the use of aerosol processes to reduce the releasable fraction for both NCT and ACT. It reviews the basic coagulation and removal processes and applies the dynamic aerosol balance equation. The proposed solution includes only the most well understood physical processes namely; Brownian coagulation and gravitational settling. Other processes have been eliminated either on the basis that they would serve to reduce the release to the environment further (pessimistically in keeping with the essence of nuclear transport safety cases) or that they are not credible in the conditions of transport considered.

Keywords: aerosol processes, Brownian coagulation, gravitational settling, transport regulations

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