Search results for: natural resources

Authors: Małgorzata Osowiecka

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Negative emotions are rather seen as creativity inhibitor. On the other hand, it is worth noting that negative emotions may be good for our functioning. Negative emotions enhance cognitive resources and improve evaluative processes. Moreover maintaining a negative emotional state allow for cognitive reinterpretation of the emotional stimuli, what is good for our creativity, especially cognitive flexibility. Writing a diary or writing about difficult emotional experiences in general can be the way to not only improve psychical health, but also – enhance creative behaviors. Thanks to translating difficult emotions to the verbal level and giving them ‘a name’ or ‘a label’, we can get easier access to both emotional content of an experience and to the semantic content, without the need of speaking out loud. Expressive writing improves academic results and the efficiency of working memory. The classical method of writing about emotions consists in a long-term process of describing negative experiences. Present research demonstrate the efficiency of this process over a shorter period of time - one writing session, on school children sample. Participants performed writing task. Writing task had two different topics: emotions connected with their negative emotions (expressive writing) and content not connected with negative emotional state (writing about one’s typical day). Creativity was measured by Guilford’s Alternative Uses Task. Results have shown that writing about negative emotions results in the higher level of divergent thinking in all three parameters: fluency, flexibility and originality. After the writing task mood of expressive writing participants remained negative more than the mood of the controls. Taking an expressive action after a difficult emotional experience can support functioning, which can be observed in enhancement of divergent thinking. Writing about emotions connected with negative experience makes one more creative, than writing about something unrelated with difficult emotional moments. Research has shown that young people should not demonize negative emotions. Sometimes, properly applied, negative emotions can be the basis of creation. Preparation was supported by a The Young Scientist University grant titled ‘Dynamics of emotions in the creative process’ from The Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education.

Keywords: creativity, divergent thinking, emotions, expressive writing

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Authors: Amber Zahid, Fatima Naseer, Maham Atta, Fareeha Zafar

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Corporate social authority (CSR) talk, scholarly scrutinize, open arrangement and media editorials, which have thrived in the previous not many decades according to the craving to characterize the nexus between business and social order had a tendency to center primarily on expansive corporate associations which are required to act mindfully. The enormous organizations have for a long time pulled in huge volume of expositive expression on CSR. Almost no expositive expression is presently accessible to upgrade our comprehension about the engagement of little and medium-measured endeavors (SMEs) in CSR. The SMEs, regularly characterized differently regarding turnover terrible stake quality, proprietorship structure and the amount of workers, is a noteworthy part worldwide as far as monetary ecological and the social effect they make. This paper endeavoured to extend this obvious research bay, characterized the way of SMEs the total commitments of the area to economies of both advanced and advancing countries and their part engagement in CSR. The study embraced qualitative literary works review strategy. An audit of the negligible expositive expression furnished knowledge and characterized the course of examination in this significant and underexplored region of study. SMEs were discovered to perform parts connected with group improvement, representative activities, consumerism, natural movements, and production network necessities. To defeat the imperatives going up against SMEs engagement in CSR activities the paper prescribed expanded assets, preparing programs advancement of SMEs arranged instruments and guidelines to guide appropriation and execution and government mediation systems to make the fundamental motivating forces and underpin administrations for adequate engagement.

Keywords: corporate social responsibility, small and medium-sized enterprises, responsible practices, corporate citizenship

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Authors: Sara Khan Mohammadi

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The world is facing a major challenge of feeding a growing population while ensuring the sustainability of food systems. The United Nations estimates that the global population will reach 9.7 billion by 2050, which means that food production needs to increase by 70% to meet the demand. However, this increase in food production should not come at the cost of environmental degradation, loss of biodiversity, and climate change. Therefore, there is a need for sustainable food systems that can provide healthy and nutritious food while minimizing their impact on the environment. Nutrition and Food Engineering: Nutrition and food engineering play a crucial role in promoting sustainable food system. Nutrition is concerned with the study of nutrients in foods, their absorption, metabolism, and their effects on health. Food engineering involves the application of engineering principles to design, develop, and optimize food processing operations. Together, nutrition and food engineering can help to create sustainable food systems by: 1. Developing Nutritious Foods: Nutritionists and food engineers can work together to develop foods that are rich in nutrients such as vitamins, minerals, fiber, and protein. These foods can be designed to meet the nutritional needs of different populations while minimizing waste. 2. Reducing Food Waste: Food waste is a major problem globally as it contributes to greenhouse gas emissions and wastes resources such as water and land. Nutritionists and food engineers can work together to develop technologies that reduce waste during processing, storage, transportation, and consumption. 3. Improving Food Safety: Unsafe foods can cause illnesses such as diarrhea, cholera, typhoid fever among others which are major public health concerns globally. Nutritionists and food engineers can work together to develop technologies that improve the safety of foods from farm to fork. 4. Enhancing Sustainability: Sustainable agriculture practices such as conservation agriculture can help reduce soil erosion while improving soil fertility. Nutritionists and food engineers can work together to develop technologies that promote sustainable agriculture practices.

Keywords: sustainable food, developing food, reducing food waste, food safety

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Authors: Paul Lam, Chi Him Chan, Alan Tse

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Language laboratories have been widely used in language learning, starting in the middle of the last century as one of the earliest forms of educational technology. They are designed to assist students’ language learning with technological innovations. Traditional language laboratories provide individual workstations that allow students to access multimedia language resources. In this type of facility, students can train their listening and speaking abilities, and teachers can also assess the performance of an individual student. Although such a setting promotes a student-centered pedagogy by encouraging students to work at their own pace and according to their own needs, it still favours a traditional, behaviourist language learning pedagogy which focuses on repetitive drilling. The change of pedagogies poses challenges to both the teachers and the facilities. The peer-learning pedagogy advocates that language learning should focus on the social aspect, which emphasizes the importance of everyday communication in language learning. The self-access, individual workstation language laboratories may not be able to provide the flexibility for interaction in the new pedagogies. Modern advancement in technology is another factor that drove our language laboratory renovation. In particular, mobile and wireless technology enabled the use of smaller and more flexible devices, making possible much clever use of space. The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) renovated nine existing language laboratories to provide lighter and more advanced equipment, movable tables, and round desks. These facilities allow more flexibility and encourage students’ interaction. It is believed that the renovated language laboratories can serve different peer learning activities and thus support peer-learning pedagogies in language teaching and learning. A survey has been conducted to collect comments from the teachers who have used the renovated language laboratories and received forty-four response. The teachers’ comments reveal that they experienced different challenges in using the renovated language laboratories, and there is a need to provide guidance to teachers during the technological and pedagogical transition. For example, teachers need instruction on using the newly installed devices such as touch-monitor and visualizer. They also need advice on planning new teaching and learning activities. Nevertheless, teachers appreciated that the renovated language laboratories are flexible and provide more spaces for different learning activities.

Keywords: language laboratories, language learning, peer-learning, student interaction

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Authors: Abidemi C. Adegboye, Samuel Iweriebor

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The primary link between financial institutions and economic performance is the provision of resources by these institutions to businesses in order to drive enterprise expansion, sustainability, and development. In this study, the role of access to finance in driving innovations and productivity in Nigerian SMEs is investigated using the World Bank Enterprise Survey (ES) dataset. Innovation is defined based on the ES analysis using five compositions including product, method, organisational, use of foreign-licensed technology, and spending on R&D. The study considers finance in terms of source in meeting investment needs and in terms of access. Moreover, finance access is categorized as external and internal to a firm with each having different implications. The research methodology adopted a survey analysis based on the 2014 World Bank Enterprise Survey of 19 states in Nigeria. The survey comprised over 10,000 manufacturing and services firms, both at the small scale and medium scale levels. The logit estimation technique is used to estimate the relationships in the study. The results from the empirical analysis show that in general, access to finance drives SME innovation in Nigeria. In particular, ease of accessing bank loans and credit is shown to be the strongest positive force in driving all types of innovation among SMEs in Nigeria. In the same vein, the type of finance source for investment matters in terms of how it affects innovation: it is shown that both internal and external sources improve investment in product, process, and organisational innovation, but only external financing has effect on R&D spending and use of foreign licensed technology. Overall spending on R&D is only driven by access to external finance by the SMEs. For productivity, the results show that while structure of financing investment improves productivity, increased access to finance may actually lead to productivity decline among SMEs in Nigeria. There is a need for the financial system to evolve structures to increase fund availability to SMEs in Nigeria, especially for the purpose of innovation investment.

Keywords: access to finance, financing investment, innovation, productivity, SMEs

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Authors: Gihan Thilakarathna, Fernando Ishara, Rathnayake Yasith, Bandara A. M. R. Y.

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E-learning is a crucial component of intelligent education. Even in the midst of a pandemic, E-learning is becoming increasingly important in the educational system. Several e-learning programs are accessible for students. Here, we decided to create an e-learning framework for children. We've found a few issues that teachers are having with their online classes. When there are numerous students in an online classroom, how does a teacher recognize a student's focus on academics and below-the-surface behaviors? Some kids are not paying attention in class, and others are napping. The teacher is unable to keep track of each and every student. Key challenge in e-learning is online exams. Because students can cheat easily during online exams. Hence there is need of exam proctoring is occurred. In here we propose an automated online exam cheating detection method using a web camera. The purpose of this project is to present an E-learning platform for math education and include games for kids as an alternative teaching method for math students. The game will be accessible via a web browser. The imagery in the game is drawn in a cartoonish style. This will help students learn math through games. Everything in this day and age is moving towards automation. However, automatic answer evaluation is only available for MCQ-based questions. As a result, the checker has a difficult time evaluating the theory solution. The current system requires more manpower and takes a long time to evaluate responses. It's also possible to mark two identical responses differently and receive two different grades. As a result, this application employs machine learning techniques to provide an automatic evaluation of subjective responses based on the keyword provided to the computer as student input, resulting in a fair distribution of marks. In addition, it will save time and manpower. We used deep learning, machine learning, image processing and natural language technologies to develop these research components.

Keywords: math, education games, e-learning platform, artificial intelligence

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Authors: Bougema Theodore Ntenkeh, Chi-bikom Barbara Kyien

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The reduction of poverty and hunger sits at the heart of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and are the first two of the Sustainable Development Goals. The World Food Day celebrated on the 16th of October every year, highlights the need for people to have physical and economic access at all times to enough nutritious and safe food to live a healthy and active life; while the world poverty day celebrated on the 17th of October is an opportunity to acknowledge the struggle of people living in poverty, a chance for them to make their concerns heard, and for the community to recognize and support poor people in their fight against poverty. The association between household food security and poverty reduction is not only sparse in Cameroon but mostly qualitative. The paper therefore investigates the effect of household food security on poverty reduction in Cameroon quantitatively using data from the Cameroon Household Consumption Survey collected by the Government Statistics Office. The methodology employed five indicators of household food security using the Multiple Correspondence Analysis and poverty is captured as a dummy variable. Using a control function technique, with pre and post estimation test for robustness, the study postulates that household food security has a positive and significant effect on poverty reduction in Cameroon. A unit increase in the food security score reduces the probability of the household being poor by 31.8%, and this effect is statistically significant at 1%. The result further illustrates that the age of the household head and household size increases household poverty while households residing in urban areas are significantly less poor. The paper therefore recommends that households should diversify their food intake to enhance an effective supply of labour in the job market as a strategy to reduce household poverty. Furthermore, family planning methods should be encouraged as a strategy to reduce birth rate for an equitable distribution of household resources including food while the government of Cameroon should also develop the rural areas given that trend in urbanization are associated with the concentration of productive economic activities, leading to increase household income, increased household food security and poverty reduction.

Keywords: food security, poverty reduction, SDGs, Cameroon

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Authors: Yusuf Hussaini Atulukwu, Daramola Japheth, Tabitit S. Tabiti, Daramola Elizabeth Lara

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In view of the recent limitations faced by the township concerning poorly constructed and in some cases non - existence of drainage facilities that resulted into incessant flooding in some parts of the community poses threat to life,property and the environment. The research seeks to address this issue by showing the spatial distribution of drainage network in Bida Urban using Geographic information System techniques. Relevant features were extracted from existing Bida based Map using un-screen digitization and x, y, z, data of existing drainages were acquired using handheld Global Positioning System (GPS). These data were uploaded into ArcGIS 9.2, software, and stored in the relational database structure that was used to produce the spatial data drainage network of the township. The result revealed that about 40 % of the drainages are blocked with sand and refuse, 35 % water-logged as a result of building across erosion channels and dilapidated bridges as a result of lack of drainage along major roads. The study thus concluded that drainage network systems in Bida community are not in good working condition and urgent measures must be initiated in order to avoid future disasters especially with the raining season setting in. Based on the above findings, the study therefore recommends that people within the locality should avoid dumping municipal waste within the drainage path while sand blocked or weed blocked drains should be clear by the authority concerned. In the same vein the authority should ensured that contract of drainage construction be awarded to professionals and all the natural drainages caused by erosion should be addressed to avoid future disasters.

Keywords: drainage network, spatial, digitization, relational database, waste

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Authors: Suleiman Garba, Haruna Ishaku

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Information and communication technology (ICT) includes any communication device encompassing: radio, television, cellular phones, computer, satellite systems and so on, as well as the various services and applications associated with them. The significance of ICT cannot be over-emphasized in education. The teaching and learning processes have integrated with the application of ICTs for effectiveness and enhancement of academic performance among the students. Today, as the educational sector is faced with series of changes and reforms, it was noted that the problem of information technology illiteracy was a serious one among the schools’ teachers in the country as it cuts across primary, secondary schools and tertiary institutions. This study investigated the impact of ICT on the academic performance of senior secondary schools students in Gwagwalada Area Council of Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja. A sample of 120 SSS III students was involved in the study. They were selected by using simple random sampling technique. A questionnaire was developed and validated through expert judgement and reliability co-efficient of 0.81 was obtained. It was used to gather relevant data from the respondents. Findings revealed that there was positive impact of ICT on academic performance of senior secondary schools students. The findings indicated the causes of poor academic performance among the students as lack of qualified teachers to teach in schools, peer group influence, and bullying. Significantly, the findings revealed that ICT had a positive impact on students’ academic performance. The null hypotheses were tested using t-test at 0.05 level of significance. It was discovered that there was significant difference between male and female secondary schools’ students' impact of ICT on academic performance in Gwagawalada Area Council of FCT-Abuja. Based on these findings, some recommendations were made which include: adequate funds should be provided towards procurement of ICT resources, relevant textbooks to enhance students’ active participation in learning processes and students should be provided with internet accessibility at inexpensive rate so as to create a platform for accessing useful information in the pursuit of academic excellence.

Keywords: academic performance, impact, information communication technology, schools, students

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Authors: Rumana Keyani, Haleema Sadia, Asia Nosheen, Rabia Naz, Humaira Yasmin, Sidra Zahoor

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Tomato is a significant crop of the world and is one of the staple foods of Pakistan. A vast number of plant pathogens from simple viruses to complex parasites cause diseases in tomatoes but fungal infection in our country is quite high. Sometimes the symptoms are too harsh destroying the crop altogether. Countries like our own with continuously increasing massive population and limited resources cannot afford such an economic loss. There is an array of morphological, genetic, biochemical and molecular processes involved in plant resistance mechanisms to biotic stress. The study of different metabolic pathways like Jasmonic acid (JA) pathways and most importantly signaling molecules like ROS/RNS and their redoxin enzymes i.e. TRX and NRX is crucial to disease management, contributing to healthy plant growth. So, improving tolerance in crop plants against biotic stresses is a dire need of our country and world as whole. In the current study, fungal pathogenic strains Alternaria solani and Rhizoctonia solani were used to inoculate tomatoes to check the defense responses of tomato plant against these pathogens at molecular as well as phenotypic level with jasmonic acid and spermidine pretreatment. All the growth parameters (root and shoot length, dry and weight root, shoot weight measured 7 days post-inoculation, exhibited that infection drastically declined the growth of the plant whereas jasmonic acid and spermidine assisted the plants to cope up with the infection. Thus, JA and Spermidine treatments maintained comparatively better growth factors. Antioxidant assays and expression analysis through real time quantitative PCR following time course experiment at 24, 48 and 72 hours intervals also exhibited that activation of JA defense genes and a polyamine Spermidine helps in mediating tomato responses against fungal infection when used alone but the two treatments combined mask the effect of each other.

Keywords: fungal infection, jasmonic acid defence, tomato, spermidine

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Authors: Ebtisam A. Al-Mslemani, Khalid A. Enan, Asmaa Abdelgadier, Nada Assaad, Zaynab Elhussein, Khalid Eltom

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Background: Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii) is a zoonotic parasite that can be transmitted from animals to humans, with felids acting as its definitive host. Thus, understanding the epidemiology of this parasite in animal populations is vital to controlling its transmission to humans as well as to other animal groups. Objectives: This systematic review and meta-analysis aim to summarise and analyse reports of T. gondii infection in animal species residing in the Arabian Peninsula. Methods: It was conducted in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA), with relevant studies being retrieved from MEDLINE/PubMed, Scopus, Cochrane Library, Google Scholar and ScienceDirect. All articles published in Arabic or English languages between January 2000 and December 2020 were screened for eligibility. The random effects model was used to calculate the pooled prevalence of T. gondii infection in different animal populations which were found to harbour this infection. The critical appraisal tool for prevalence studies designed by the Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) was used to assess the risk of bias in all included studies. Results: A total of 15 studies were retrieved, reporting prevalence estimates from 4 countries in this region and in 13 animal species. A quantitative meta-analysis estimated a pooled prevalence of 43% in felids [95% confidence interval (CI) = 23-64%, I2 index = 100%], 48% in sheep (95% CI = 27-70%, I2 = 99%) and 21% in camels (95% CI = 7-35%, I2 = 99%). Evidence of possible publication bias was found in both felids and sheep. Conclusions: This meta-analysis estimates a high prevalence of T. gondii infection in animal species that are of high economic and cultural importance to countries of this region. Hence, these findings provide valuable insight to public health authorities as well as economic and animal resources advisors in countries of the Arabian Peninsula.

Keywords: Arabian Peninsula, toxoplasma gondii, animals; meta-analysis, toxoplasmosis

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Authors: Merrylord Harb-Azar

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Traditionally, PTSD treatment has involved trauma-focused cognitive behaviour therapy (TF CBT) to consolidate traumatic memories. A piloted integrated treatment of TF CBT and eye movement desensitisation reprocessing therapy (EMDR) of eight phases will fasten the rate memory is being consolidated and enhance cognitive functioning in patients with PTSD. Patients spend a considerable amount of time in treatment managing their traumas experienced firsthand, or from aversive details ranging from war, assaults, accidents, abuse, hostage related, riots, or natural disasters. The time spent in treatment or as inpatient affects overall quality of life, relationships, cognitive functioning, and overall sense of identity. EMDR is being offered twice a week in conjunction with the standard prolonged exposure as an inpatient in a private hospital. Prolonged exposure for up to 5 hours per day elicits the affect response required for EMDR sessions in the afternoon to unlock unprocessed memories and facilitate consolidation in the amygdala and hippocampus. Results are indicating faster consolidation of memories, reduction in symptoms in a shorter period of time, reduction in admission time, which is enhancing the quality of life and relationships, and improved cognition. The impact of events scale (IES) results demonstrate a significant reduction in symptoms, trauma symptoms inventory (TSI), and posttraumatic stressor disorder check list (PCL) that demonstrates large effect sizes to date. An integrated treatment approach for PTSD achieves a faster resolution of memories, improves cognition, and reduces the amount of time spent in therapy.

Keywords: EMDR enhances cognitive functioning, faster consolidation of trauma memory, integrated treatment of TF CBT and EMDR, reduction in inpatient admission time

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Authors: Nasser Hosseini

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Energy cycle is one of the essential points in agricultural ecosystems all over the world. Corn is one of the important products in Khoy city. Knowing input energy level and evaluating output energy from farms to reduce energy and increase efficiency in farms is very important if one can reduce input energy level into farms through the indices like poisons, fertilization, tractor energy and labour force. In addition to the net income of the farmers, this issue would play a significant role in preserving farm ecosystem from pollution and wrecker factors. For this reason, energy balance sheet in corn farms as well as input and output energy in 2012-2013 were researched by distributing a questionnaire among farmers in various villages in Khoy city. Then, the input energy amount into farms via energy-consuming factors, mentioned above, with regard to special coefficients was computed. Energy was computed on the basis of seed corn function, chemical compound and its content as well. In this investigation, we evaluated the level of stored energy 10792831 kcal per hectare. We found out that the greatest part of energy depended on irrigation which has 5136141.8 kcal and nitrate fertilizer energy with 2509760 kcal and the lowest part of energy depended on phosphor fertilizer, the rate of posited energy equaled 36362500 kcal and energy efficiency on the basis of seed corn function were estimated as 3.36. We found some ways to reduce consumptive energy in farm and nitrate fertilizer and, on the other hand, to increase balance sheet. They are, to name a few, using alternative farming and potherbs for biological stabilizing of nitrogen and changing kind of fertilizers such as urea fertilizer with sulphur cover, and using new generation of irrigation, the compound of water super absorbent like colored hydrogels and using natural fertilizer to preserve.

Keywords: corn (KSC704), output and input, energy efficiency, Khoy city

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Authors: Kwan-Ho Kim, Jin-Hong Park

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The multi-valued logic (MVL) circuits, which can handle more than two logic states, are one of the promising solutions to overcome the bit density limitations of conventional binary logic systems. Recently, tunneling devices such as Esaki diode and resonant tunneling diode (RTD) have been extensively explored to construct the MVL circuits. These tunneling devices present a negative differential resistance (NDR) phenomenon in which a current decreases as a voltage increases in a specific applied voltage region. Due to this non-monotonic current behavior, the tunneling devices have more than two threshold voltages, consequently enabling construction of MVL circuits. Recently, the emergence of two dimensional (2D) van der Waals (vdW) crystals has opened up the possibility to fabricate such tunneling devices easily. Owing to the defect-free surface of the 2D crystals, a very abrupt junction interface could be formed through a simple stacking process, which subsequently allowed the implementation of a high-performance tunneling device. Here, we report a vdW heterostructure based tunneling device with multiple threshold voltages, which was fabricated with black phosphorus (BP) and hafnium diselenide (HfSe₂). First, we exfoliated BP on the SiO₂ substrate and then transferred HfSe₂ on BP using dry transfer method. The BP and HfSe₂ form type-Ⅲ heterojunction so that the highly doped n+/p+ interface can be easily implemented without additional electrical or chemical doping process. Owing to high natural doping at the junction, record high peak to valley ratio (PVCR) of 16 was observed to the best our knowledge in 2D materials based NDR device. Furthermore, based on this, we first demonstrate the feasibility of the ternary latch by connecting two multi-threshold voltage devices in series.

Keywords: two dimensional van der Waals crystal, multi-valued logic, negative differential resistnace, tunneling device

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Authors: Sadeeq Launi

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NGOs, the world over, have been recognized as part of the institutions that complement government activities in providing services to the people, particularly in respect of human development. This study examined the role played by the NGOs in human development in Bauchi State, Nigeria, between 2004 and 2013. The emphasis was on reproductive health and access to education role of the selected NGOs. All the research questions, objectives and hypotheses were stated in line with these variables. The theoretical framework that guided the study was the participatory development approach. Being a survey research, data were generated from both primary and secondary sources with questionnaires and interviews as the instruments for generating the primary data. The population of the study was made up of the staff of the selected NGOs, beneficiaries, health staff and school teachers in Bauchi State. The sample drawn from these categories were 90, 107 and 148 units respectively. Stratified random and simple random sampling techniques were adopted for NGOs staff, and Health staff and school teachers data were analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively and hypotheses were tested using Pearson Chi-square test through SPSS computer statistical package. The study revealed that despite the challenges facing NGOs operations in the study area, NGOs rendered services in the areas of health and education This research recommends among others that, both government and people should be more cooperative to NGOs to enable them provide more efficient and effective services. Governments at all levels should be more dedicated to increasing accessibility and affordability of basic education and reproductive health care facilities and services in Bauchi state through committing more resources to the Health and Education sectors, this would support and facilitate the complementary role of NGOs in providing teaching facilities, drugs, and other reproductive health services in the States. More enlightenment campaigns should be carried out by governments to sensitize the public, particularly women on the need to embrace immunization programmes for their children and antenatal care services being provided by both the government and NGOs.

Keywords: access to education, human development, NGOs, reproductive health

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Authors: E. J. Cilliers, Z. Goosen

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The impact that urban green spaces have on sustainability and quality of life is phenomenal. This is also true for the local South African environment. However, in reality green spaces in urban environments are decreasing due to growing populations, increasing urbanization and development pressure. This further impacts on the provision of child-friendly spaces, a concept that is already limited in local context. Child-friendly spaces are described as environments in which people (children) feel intimately connected to, influencing the physical, social, emotional, and ecological health of individuals and communities. The benefits of providing such spaces for the youth are well documented in literature. This research therefore aimed to investigate the concept of child-friendly spaces and its applicability to the South African planning context, in order to guide the planning of such spaces for future communities and use. Child-friendly spaces in the urban environment of the city of Durban, was used as local case study, along with two international case studies namely Mullerpier public playground in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, and Kadidjiny Park in Melville, Australia. The aim was to determine how these spaces were planned and developed and to identify tools that were used to accomplish the goal of providing successful child-friendly green spaces within urban areas. The need and significance of planning for such spaces was portrayed within the international case studies. It is confirmed that minimal provision is made for green space planning within the South African context, when there is reflected on the international examples. As a result international examples and disciples of providing child-friendly green spaces should direct planning guidelines within local context. The research concluded that child-friendly green spaces have a positive impact on the urban environment and assist in a child’s development and interaction with the natural environment. Regrettably, the planning of these child-friendly spaces is not given priority within current spatial plans, despite the proven benefits of such.

Keywords: built environment, child-friendly spaces, green spaces, public places, urban area

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Authors: Tamer Shehata

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Recently, nanotechnology acquired a great interest in the field of pharmaceutical production. Several pharmaceutical equipment were introduced into the research field for production of nanoparticles, among them, BÜCHI’ fourth generation nano-spray dryer B-90. B-90 is specialized with single step of production and drying of nano and microparticles. Currently, our research group is investigating several pharmaceutical formulations utilizing BÜCHI Nano-Spray Dryer B-90 technology. One of our projects is the formulation and evaluation of metformin hydrochloride mucoadhesive microparticles for treatment of type 2-diabetis. Several polymers were investigated, among them, gelatin and sodium alginate. The previous polymers are natural polymers with mucoadhesive properties. Preformulation studies such as atomization head mesh size, flow rate, head temperature, polymer solution viscosity and surface tension were performed. Postformulation characters such as particle size, flowability, surface scan and dissolution profile were evaluated. Finally, the pharmacological activity of certain selected formula was evaluated in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats. B-90’spray head was 7 µm hole heated to 120 with air flow rate 3.5 mL/min. The viscosity of the solution was less than 11.5 cP with surface tension less than 70.1 dyne/cm. Successfully, discrete, non-aggregated particles and free flowing powders with particle size was less than 2000 nm were obtained. Gelatin and Sodium alginate combination in ratio 1:3 were successfully sustained the in vitro release profile of the drug. Hypoglycemic evaluation of the previous formula showed a significant reduction of blood glucose level over 24 h. In conclusion, mucoadhesive metformin hydrochloride microparticles obtained from B-90 could offer a convenient dosage form with enhanced hypoglycemic activity.

Keywords: mucoadhesive, microparticles, metformin hydrochloride, nano-spray dryer

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Authors: Taoues Hadour

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Twitter has become a popular means of communication used in a variety of fields, such as politics, journalism, and academia. This widely used online platform has an impact on the way people express themselves and is changing language usage worldwide at an unprecedented pace. The language used online reflects the linguistic battle that has been going on for several decades in French society. This study enables a deeper understanding of users' linguistic behavior online. The implications are important and allow for a rise in awareness of intercultural and cross-language exchanges. This project investigates the mixing of French-English language usage among French users of Twitter using a topic analysis approach. This analysis draws on Gumperz's theory of conversational switching. In order to collect tweets at a large scale, the data was collected in R using the rtweet package to access and retrieve French tweets data through Twitter’s REST and stream APIs (Application Program Interface) using the software RStudio, the integrated development environment for R. The dataset was filtered manually and certain repetitions of themes were observed. A total of nine topic categories were identified and analyzed in this study: entertainment, internet/social media, events/community, politics/news, sports, sex/pornography, innovation/technology, fashion/make up, and business. The study reveals that entertainment is the most frequent topic discussed on Twitter. Entertainment includes movies, music, games, and books. Anglicisms such as trailer, spoil, and live are identified in the data. Change in language usage is inevitable and is a natural result of linguistic interactions. The use of different languages online is just an example of what the real world would look like without linguistic regulations. Social media reveals a multicultural and multilinguistic richness which can deepen and expand our understanding of contemporary human attitudes.

Keywords: code-switching, French, sociolinguistics, Twitter

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Authors: Muhammad Adeel Arshad, Shaukat Ali Bhatti, Faiz-ul Hassan

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Manipulating microbial ecosystem in the rumen is considered as an important strategy to optimize production efficiency in ruminants. In the past, antibiotics and synthetic chemical compounds have been used for the manipulation of rumen fermentation. However, since the non-therapeutic use of antibiotics has been banned, efforts are being focused to search out safe alternative products. In tropics, crop residues and forage grazing are major dietary sources for ruminants. Poor digestibility and utilization of these feedstuffs by animals is a limiting factor to exploit the full potential of ruminants in this area. Hence, there is a need to enhance the utilization of these available feeding resources. One of the potential strategies in this regard is the use of direct-fed microbes. Bacteria and fungi are mostly used as direct-fed microbes to improve animal health and productivity. Commonly used bacterial species include lactic acid-producing and utilizing bacteria (Lactobacillus, Streptococcus, Enterococcus, Bifidobacterium, and Bacillus) and fungal species of yeast are Saccharomyces and Aspergillus. Direct-fed microbes modulate microbial balance in the gastrointestinal tract through the competitive exclusion of pathogenic species and favoring beneficial microbes. Improvement in weight gain and feed efficiency has been observed as a result of feeding direct-fed bacteria. The use of fungi as a direct-fed microbe may prevent excessive production of lactate and harmful oxygen in the rumen leading to better feed digestibility. However, the mechanistic mode of action for bacterial or fungal direct-fed microbes has not been established yet. Various reports have confirmed an increase in dry matter intake, milk yield, and milk contents in response to the administration of direct-fed microbes. However, the application of a direct-fed microbe has shown variable responses mainly attributed to dosages and strains of microbes. Nonetheless, it is concluded that the inclusion of direct-fed microbes may mediate the rumen ecosystem to manage lactic acid production and utilization in both clinical and sub-acute rumen acidosis.

Keywords: microbes, roughages, rumen, feed efficiency, production, fermentation

Procedia PDF Downloads 108

Authors: Yamma Rose, Kone Martine, Yonli Arsène, Wanko Ngnien Adrien

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Soil pollution and, consequently, water resources by micropollutants from gold mine tailings constitute a major threat in developing countries due to the lack of waste treatment. Phytoremediation is an alternative for extracting or trapping micropollutants from contaminated soils by mining residues. The potentialities of Chrysopogon zizanioides (acclimated plant) and Andropogon gayanus (native plant) to accumulate arsenic (As), mercury (Hg), iron (Fe) and zinc (Zn) were studied in artisanal gold mine in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. The phytoremediation effectiveness of two plant species was studied in 75 pots of 30 liters each, containing mining residues from the artisanal gold processing site in the rural commune of Nimbrogo. The experiments cover three modalities: Tn - planted unpolluted soils; To – unplanted mine tailings and Tp – planted mine tailings arranged in a randomized manner. The pots were amended quarterly with compost to provide nutrients to the plants. The phytoremediation assessment consists of comparing the growth, biomass and capacity of these two herbaceous plants to extract or to trap Hg, Fe, Zn and As in mining residues in a controlled environment. The analysis of plant species parameters cultivated in mine tailings shows indices of relative growth of A. gayanus very significantly high (34.38%) compared to 20.37% for C.zizanioides. While biomass analysis reveals that C. zizanioides has greater foliage and root system growth than A. gayanus. The results after a culture time of 6 months showed that C. zizanioides and A. gayanus have the potential to accumulate Hg, Fe, Zn and As. Root biomass has a more significant accumulation than aboveground biomass for both herbaceous species. Although the BCF bioaccumulation factor values for both plants together are low (<1), the removal efficiency of Hg, Fe, Zn and As is 45.13%, 42.26%, 21.5% and 2.87% respectively in 24 weeks of culture with C. zizanioides. However, pots grown with A. gayanus gives an effectiveness rate of 43.55%; 41.52%; 2.87% and 1.35% respectively for Fe, Zn, Hg and As. The results indicate that the plant species studied have a strong phytoremediation potential, although that of A. gayanus is relatively less than C. zizanioides.

Keywords: artisanal gold mine tailings, andropogon gayanus, chrysopogon zizanioides, phytoremediation

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Authors: Frew Yirgalem Mane

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This study has examined Africa’s experiment with authoritarian model of development drawing from the experience of Ethiopia. With the tectonic crisis of neoliberal ideology, the dominant policy agenda in Africa pertains to bringing the state back to development. More concretely, countries epitomized by Ethiopia, Rwanda and Uganda have been constructing a highly interventionist state with authoritarian character. The central motive appears to facilitate development and salvage people out of appalling and grinding poverty. Each country warrants closer inspection. However, this study focuses on Ethiopia- a country often applauded as ‘Africa’s Great Run’ for delivering socio-economic success over the past two decades. In fact, inspired by East Asia’s including Chinese model of authoritarian development, Ethiopia orchestrated a vanguard party, centralized rent control system with politicized bureaucracy and militaristic mobilization resources for development. This arrangement may explain Ethiopia economic success story as one the fastest growing countries in the world. However, this paper detected, Ethiopia’s attempt to bring the state back in development has precipitated institutionalization of a new breed of authoritarianism and informalization of public institutions. Ethiopia’s model of state-led development may constitute a noticeable shift away from the vengeful adherence to neoliberal policies. However, the manner the model has been practiced proved to be neither smooth nor appears to address Ethiopia’s aspiration for political and economic transformation. Partly, this can be illustrated by recent widespread grievances that fed into the popular uprising and animated opposition against the state. Sources of the grievance are complex, but they are highly ingrained with the way the authoritarian model of development is functioning and also the model’s dis-functioning in terms of benefiting people. In light of these findings, the study has arrived at the following conclusion. Africa’s attempt to emulate development models from other countries is not such a ‘bad’ thing. However, emulation makes sense if it is contextualized and sensitive to complex local socio-economic interests.

Keywords: Africa, authoritarianism, development, Ethiopia, neoliberalism

Procedia PDF Downloads 155

Authors: Edmund M. Muthigani

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Background: Adequate, decent housing is a universal human right integral component. Resources’ costs and intensified rural-urban migration have increased the demand for affordable housing in urban areas. Modern knowledge-based economy uses innovation. The construction industry uses product and process innovation to provide adequate and decent low-cost housing. Kenya adopted innovation practices in slum upgrading that used cost-effectively locally available building materials. This study objectively looked at the outcomes, social and economic impacts of innovative housing technologies construction in the Mathare valley slums upgrading project. Methods: This post-occupancy study used an exploratory-descriptive research design. Random sampling was used to sample 384 users of low-cost housing projects in Mathare Valley, Nairobi County. Research instruments included semi-structured questionnaires and interview guides. Pilot study, validity and reliability tests ensured the quality of a study. Ethical considerations included university approval and consent. Statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) software version 21 was applied to compute the descriptive and inferential statistics. Findings: Slum-upgrading had a significant-positive outcome on improved houses and community. Social impacts included communal facilities, assurance of security of tenure, and retained frameworks of establishments. Economic impacts included employment; affordable and durable units (p values <0.05). The upgrading process didn’t influence rent fees, was corrupt and led to the displacement of residents. Conclusion: Slum upgrading process impacted positively. Similar projects should consider residents in decision-making.

Keywords: innovation, technologies, slum upgrading, Mathare valley slum, social impact, economic impact

Procedia PDF Downloads 147

Authors: Sudha Summarwar, Sudesh Agarwal, Deepali Lall, Nalini Kataria, Jyotsana Pandey

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Assessment of antioxidant status is an effective tool to appraise the presence of oxidative stress. A combination of assays can be used to evaluate the antioxidant status like serum catalase (CAT), superoxide dismutase (SOD) and monoamine oxidase (MAO). In human medicine pregnancy is known to be associated with oxidative stress. Oxidative stress produces harmful effects to the developing foetus. Several metabolic changes occur in the maternal body to meet the demand of energy of developing foetus. Due to these changes susceptibility of maternal body increases to oxidative stress. There is paucity of research work on this aspect in nondescript goats. Therefore, the present study was intended to appraise the oxidative stress in pregnant and non-pregnant non-descript goat. Blood samples were collected for serum separation in otherwise healthy pregnant and non-pregnant nondescript goats. Mean values of serum CAT, SOD and MAO were found on a higher side (p≤0.05) with serum SOD values showing a rise of 2.5 times higher than the control healthy value. Correlations among all the three parameters were found to be highly significant (p≤0.01) especially greatest in youngest group of pregnant animals. Illustration of result enlightened the veracity of bumped up production of free radicals in pregnant animals. Technical savoir-faire of oxidative stress supervision is essential for upholding of health status of foetus. The upshot of present study undoubtedly implied the development of oxidative stress in pregnant goats on the basis of altered antioxidant status. These findings conclude that initially the oxidative stress due to pregnancy is critically combated by the intricate defensive mechanism of natural antioxidant system of the body. It appears that this imbalance between oxidant and antioxidant must be checked in time to prevent cellular damage by regularly appraising the antioxidant status through laboratory methods.

Keywords: antioxidant, oxidative stress, pregnancy, serum catalase

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Authors: Pallavi Gajjar, Vinayak Malhotra

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Rockets have been known to have played a predominant role in spacecraft propulsion. The quintessential aspect of combustion-related requirements of a rocket engine is the minimization of the surrounding risks/hazards. Over time, it has become imperative to understand the combustion rate variation in presence of external energy source(s). Rocket propulsion represents a special domain of chemical propulsion assisted by high speed flows in presence of acoustics and thermal source(s). Jet noise leads to a significant loss of resources and every year a huge amount of financial aid is spent to prevent it. External heat source(s) induce high possibility of fire risk/hazards which can sufficiently endanger the operation of a space vehicle. Appreciable work had been done with justifiable simplification and emphasis on the linear variation of external energy source(s), which yields good physical insight but does not cater to accurate predictions. Present work experimentally attempts to understand the correlation between inter-energy conversions with the non-linear placement of external energy source(s). The work is motivated by the need to have better fire safety and enhanced combustion. The specific objectives of the work are a) To interpret the related energy transfer for combustion in presence of alternate external energy source(s) viz., thermal and acoustic, b) To fundamentally understand the role of key controlling parameters viz., separation distance, the number of the source(s), selected configurations and their non-linear variation to resemble real-life cases. An experimental setup was prepared using incense sticks as potential fuel and paraffin wax candles as the external energy source(s). The acoustics was generated using frequency generator, and source(s) were placed at selected locations. Non-equidistant parametric experimentation was carried out, and the effects were noted on regression rate changes. The results are expected to be very helpful in offering a new perspective into futuristic rocket designs and safety.

Keywords: combustion, acoustic energy, external energy sources, regression rate

Procedia PDF Downloads 115

Authors: Mariam G. Eshak, Ahmed Abbas, M. I. El-Sabry, M. M. Mashaly

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This investigation was conducted to determine the physiological response and evaluate the expression of inflammatory and cell death genes and DNA damage induced by endotoxic shock in laying hens. Endotoxic shock was induced by a single intravenous injection of 107 Escherichia coli (E. coli,) colony/hen. In the present study, 240 forty-week-old laying hens (H&N) were randomly assigned into 2 groups with 3 replicates of 40 birds each. Hens were reared in battery cages with wire floors in an open-sided housing system under natural conditions. Housing and general management practices were similar for all groups. At 42-wk of age, 45 hens from the first group (15 replicate) were infected with E. coli, while the same number of hens from the second group was injected with saline and served as a control. Heat shock protein-70 (HSP-70) expression, plasma corticosterone concentration, body temperature, and the gene expression of bax, caspase-3 activity, P38, Interlukin-1β (Il-1β), and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) genes and DNA damage in the brain and liver were measured. Hens treated with E. coli showed significant (P≤0.05) increase of body temperature by 1.2 ᴼC and plasma corticosterone by 3 folds compared to the controls. Further, hens injected with E.Coli showed markedly over-expression of HSP-70 and increase DNA damage in brain and liver. These results were synchronized with activating cell death program since our data showed significant (P≤0.05) high expression of bax and caspase-3 activity genes in the brain and liver. These results were related to remarkable over-inflammation gene expression of P38, IL-1β, and TNF-α in brain and liver. In conclusion, our results indicate that endotoxic shock induces inflammatory physiological response and triggers cell death program by promoting P38, IL-1β, and TNF-α gene expression in the brain and liver.

Keywords: chicken, DNA damage, Escherichia coli, gene expression, inflammation

Procedia PDF Downloads 325

Authors: F. S. Al-Anzi, M. Sarfraz, A. Elmi, A. R. Khan

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Researchers are responding to the environmental challenges of Kuwait in localized, innovative, effective and economic ways. One of the vital and significant examples of the natural challenges is lack or water and desertification. In this research, the project team focuses on redesigning a prototype, using Value Engineering Methodology, which would provide similar functionalities to the well-known technology of Waterboxx kits while reducing the capital and operational costs and simplifying the process of manufacturing and usability by regular farmers. The design employs used tires and recycled plastic sheets as raw materials. Hence, this approach is going to help not just fighting desertification but also helping in getting rid of ever growing huge tire dumpsters in Kuwait, as well as helping in avoiding hazards of tire fires yielding in a safer and friendlier environment. Several alternatives for implementing the prototype have been considered. The best alternative in terms of value has been selected after thorough Function Analysis System Technique (FAST) exercise has been developed. A prototype has been fabricated and tested in a controlled simulated lab environment that is being followed by real environment field testing. Water and soil analysis conducted on the site of the experiment to cross compare between the composition of the soil before and after the experiment to insure that the prototype being tested is actually going to be environment safe. Experimentation shows that the design was equally as effective as, and may exceed, the original design with significant savings in cost. An estimated total cost reduction using the VE approach of 43.84% over the original design. This cost reduction does not consider the intangible costs of environmental issue of waste recycling which many further intensify the total savings of using the alternative VE design. This case study shows that Value Engineering Methodology can be an important tool in innovating new designs for reducing costs.

Keywords: desertification, functional analysis, scrap tires, value engineering, waste recycling, water irrigation rationing

Procedia PDF Downloads 177

Authors: Alex Rodriguez, Adam Guerrero

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Purpose: This study is designed to examine the institutions that comprise the Online Consortium of Independent Colleges and Universities (OCICU) to understand better the types of higher education institutions that comprise their membership. The literature on this topic is extensive in analyzing the current economic environment around higher education, which is largely considered to be negative for independent, tuition-driven institutions, and is forcing colleges and universities to reexamine how the college-attending population defines value and how institutions can best utilize their existing resources (and those of other institutions) to meet that value expectation. The results from this analysis are intended to give OCICU the ability to target their current customer base better, based on their most notable differences, and other institutions to see how to best approach consolidation within higher education. Design/Methodology: This study utilized k-means cluster analysis in order to explore the possibility that different segments exist within the seventy-one colleges and universities that have comprised OCICU. It analyzed fifty different variables, whose selection was based on the previous literature, collected by the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), whose data is self-reported by individual institutions. Findings: OCICU member institutions are partitioned into two clusters: "access institutions" and "conventional institutions” based largely on the student profile they target. Value: The methodology of the study is relatively unique as there are not many studies within the field of higher education marketing that have employed cluster analysis, and this type of analysis has never been conducted on OCICU members, specifically, or that of any higher education consolidated offering. OCICU can use the findings of this study to obtain a better grasp as to the specific needs of the two market segments OCICU currently serves and develop measurable marketing programs around how those segments are defined that communicate the value sought by current and potential OCICU members or those of similar institutions. Other consolidation efforts within higher education can also employ the same methodology to determine their own market segments.

Keywords: Consolidation, Colleges, Enrollment, Higher Education, Marketing, Strategy, Universities

Procedia PDF Downloads 112

Authors: Vathanachannbo Veth, Ilan Ich, Sophea Rom Phy, Ty Sok, Layheang Song, Sophal Try, Chantha Oeurng

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Climate change is one of the major global challenges inducing disaster risks and threatening livelihoods and communities through adverse impacts on food and water security, ecosystems, and services. Prek Thnot River Basin of Cambodia is one of the largest tributaries in the Lower Mekong that has been exposed to hazards and disasters, particularly floods and is said to be the effect of climate change. Therefore, the assessment of precipitation and streamflow changes under the effect of climate change was proposed in this river basin using Soil Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model and different flow indices under baseline (1997 to 2011) and climate change scenarios (RCP2.6 and RCP8.5 with three General Circulation Models (GCMs): GFDL, GISS, and IPSL) in two time-horizons: near future (the 2030s: 2021 to 2040) and medium future (2060s: 2051 to 2070). Both intensity and frequency indices compared with the historical extreme rainfall indices significantly change in the GFDL under the RCP8.5 for both 2030s and 2060s. The average rate change of Rx1day, Rx10day, SDII, and R20mm in the 2030s and 2060s of both RCP2.6 and RCP8.5 was found to increase in GFDL and decrease in both GISS and IPSL. The mean percentage change of the flow analyzed in the IHA tool (Group1) indicated that the flow in the Prek Thnot River increased in GFDL for both RCP2.6 and RCP8.5 in both 2030s and 2060s, oppositely in GISS, the flow decreases. Moreover, the IPSL affected the flow by increasing in five months (January, February, October, November, and December), and in the other seven months, the flow decreased accordingly. This study provides water resources managers and policymakers with a wide range of precipitation and water flow projections within the Prek Thnot River Basin in the context of plausible climate change scenarios.

Keywords: IHA, climate change, disaster risk, Prek Thnot River Basin, Cambodia

Procedia PDF Downloads 74

Authors: Gobena D. Bayisa, A. Mekonen, Megersa O. Dinka, Tilahun H. Nebi, M. Boja

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Crop production in arid and semi-arid regions of Ethiopia is largely limited by water availability. Changing climate conditions and declining water resources increase the need for appropriate approaches to improve water use and find ways to increase production through reduced and more reliable water supply. In the years 2021/22 and 2022/23, a field experiment was conducted to evaluate the effect of limited irrigation water use on bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) production, water use efficiency, and financial benefits. Five irrigation treatments, i.e., full irrigation (100% ETc/ control), 85% ETc, 70% ETc, 55% ETc, and 40% ETc, were evaluated using a randomized complete block design (RCBD) with four replicates in the semi-arid climate condition of Awash basin of Ethiopia. Statistical analysis showed a significant effect of irrigation levels on wheat grain yield, water use efficiency, crop water response factor, economic profit, wheat grain quality, aboveground biomass, and yield index. The highest grain yield (5085 kg ha⁻¹) was obtained with 100% ETc irrigation (417.2 mm), and the lowest grain yield with 40% ETc (223.7 mm). Of the treatments, 70% ETc produced the higher wheat grain yield (4555 kg ha⁻¹), the highest water use efficiency (1.42 kg m⁻³), and the highest yield index (0.43). Using the saved water, wheat could be produced 23.4% more with a 70% ETc deficit than full irrigation on 1.38 ha of land, and it could get the highest profit (US$2563.9) and higher MRR (137%). The yield response factor and crop-water production function showed potential reductions associated with increased irrigation deficits. However, a 70% ETc deficit is optimal for increasing wheat grain yield, water use efficiency, and economic benefits of irrigated wheat production. The result indicates that deficit irrigation of wheat under the typical arid and semi-arid climatic conditions of the Awash Basin can be a viable irrigation management approach for enhancing water use efficiency while minimizing the decrease in crop yield could be considered effective.

Keywords: crop-water response factor, deficit irrigation, water use efficiency, wheat production

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Authors: Sibonakaliso Shadrack Nhlabathi

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In South Africa local governments which are charged with the provision of services and amenities, frequently, face challenges of public protests against what the public perceives to be poor services. Public protests are common, even though the Integrated Development Plan, a central public participation document, which informs local government planning and resources management, ought to be a reflection of the voices of the beneficiary communities. The Integrated Development Plan concept –which evolved from the international discourse on governance, planning, and urban management of the 1990s, and, which bears similarities to the UK’s approaches to urban management and planning– is a significant concept in the planning practice in South Africa. Against this backdrop of the spread of public protests and the supposedly public participation in IDP formulation, this study investigated the extent to which residents of the city of uMhlathuze municipality, South Africa, could use Geographical Information Systems (GIS) Story Maps to enhance public participation in the provision of services and amenities. To this effect, this study collected and analysed data obtained through interactive web maps or hard copy maps; this map data was accompanied by research participants’ attributes data. Research participants identified positive or negative service delivery areas. Positive places were the places which the residents represented as good infrastructural, and amenities areas and weak places were marked as poor amenities. Participants then located each of their identified strong or weak places as points on the GIS Story Maps or on hard copy maps of the city. The information which participants provided was subsequently analysed to produce maps of patterns of service provision. In this way, the study succeeded to identify places that needed attention regarding delivery of services and amenities. Thus, this study advanced service provision through GIS Story Maps.

Keywords: GIS, IPD, South Africa, story maps

Procedia PDF Downloads 101