Search results for: science education

Authors: M. A. Ojo, E. O. Ogbole, A. O. Ojo

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This study analysed improved household solid waste management system in Minna metropolis, Niger state. Multi-staged sampling technique was used to administer 155 questionnaires to respondents, where Minna was divided into two income groups A and B based on the quality of the respondent’s houses. Primary data was collected with the aid of structured questionnaires and analysed using descriptive statistics to obtain results for the socioeconomic characteristics of respondents, types of waste generated and methods of disposing solid waste, the level of awareness and reliability of waste disposal methods as well as the willingness of households to pay for solid waste management in the area. The results revealed that majority of the household heads in the study area were male, 94.20% of the household heads fell between the ages of 21 and 50 and also that 96.80% of them had one form of formal education or the other. The results also revealed that 47.10% and 43.20% of the households generated food wastes and polymers respectively as a major constituent of waste disposed. The results of this study went further to reveal that 81.90% of the household heads were aware of the use of collection cans as a method of waste disposal while only 32.90% of them considered the method highly reliable. Multiple regression was used to determine the factors affecting the willingness of households to pay for waste disposal in the study area. The results showed that 76.10% of the respondents were willing to pay for solid waste management which indicates that households in Minna are concerned and willing to cater for their immediate environment. The multiple regression results revealed that age, income, environmental awareness and household expenditure have a positive and statistically significant relationship with the willingness of households to pay for waste disposal in the area while household size has a negative and statistically significant relationship with households’ willingness to pay. Based on these findings, it was recommended that more waste management services be made readily available to residents of Minna, waste collection service should be privatised to increase their effectiveness through increased competition and also that community participatory approach be used to create more environmental awareness amongst residents.

Keywords: household, solid waste, management, WTP

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Authors: Kalayanee Senasu

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This research investigates the influences of different factors on the happiness of Thai people, including both general factors and sustainable ones. Additionally, this study also monitors Thai people’s happiness via Thai Happiness Index developed in 2017. Besides reflecting happiness level of Thai people, this index also identifies related important issues. The data were collected by both secondary related data and primary survey data collected by interviewed questionnaires. The research data were from stratified multi-stage sampling in region, province, district, and enumeration area, and simple random sampling in each enumeration area. The research data cover 20 provinces, including Bangkok and 4-5 provinces in each region of the North, Northeastern, Central, and South. There were 4,960 usable respondents who were at least 15 years old. Statistical analyses included both descriptive and inferential statistics, including hierarchical regression and one-way ANOVA. The Alkire and Foster method was adopted to develop and calculate the Thai happiness index. The results reveal that the quality of household economy plays the most important role in predicting happiness. The results also indicate that quality of family, quality of health, and effectiveness of public administration in the provincial level have positive effects on happiness at about similar levels. For the socio-economic factors, the results reveal that age, education level, and household revenue have significant effects on happiness. For computing Thai happiness index (THaI), the result reveals the 2018 THaI value is 0.556. When people are divided into four groups depending upon their degree of happiness, it is found that a total of 21.1% of population are happy, with 6.0% called deeply happy and 15.1% called extensively happy. A total of 78.9% of population are not-yet-happy, with 31.8% called narrowly happy, and 47.1% called unhappy. A group of happy population reflects the happiness index THaI valued of 0.789, which is much higher than the THaI valued of 0.494 of the not-yet-happy population. Overall Thai people have higher happiness compared to 2017 when the happiness index was 0.506.

Keywords: happiness, quality of life, sustainability, Thai Happiness Index

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Authors: R. Clancy, M. Ahern, D. O’Sullivan, K. Bruton

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The manufacturing industry is currently undergoing a digital transformation as part of the mega-trend Industry 4.0. As part of this phase of the industrial revolution, traditional manufacturing processes are being combined with digital technologies to achieve smarter and more efficient production. To successfully digitally transform a manufacturing facility, the processes must first be digitized. This is the conversion of information from an analogue format to a digital format. The objective of this study was to explore the research area of digitizing manufacturing data as part of the worldwide paradigm, Industry 4.0. The formal methodology of a systematic mapping study was utilized to capture a representative sample of the research area and assess its current state. Specific research questions were defined to assess the key benefits and limitations associated with the digitization of manufacturing data. Research papers were classified according to the type of research and type of contribution to the research area. Upon analyzing 54 papers identified in this area, it was noted that 23 of the papers originated in Germany. This is an unsurprising finding as Industry 4.0 is originally a German strategy with supporting strong policy instruments being utilized in Germany to support its implementation. It was also found that the Fraunhofer Institute for Mechatronic Systems Design, in collaboration with the University of Paderborn in Germany, was the most frequent contributing Institution of the research papers with three papers published. The literature suggested future research directions and highlighted one specific gap in the area. There exists an unresolved gap between the data science experts and the manufacturing process experts in the industry. The data analytics expertise is not useful unless the manufacturing process information is utilized. A legitimate understanding of the data is crucial to perform accurate analytics and gain true, valuable insights into the manufacturing process. There lies a gap between the manufacturing operations and the information technology/data analytics departments within enterprises, which was borne out by the results of many of the case studies reviewed as part of this work. To test the concept of this gap existing, the researcher initiated an industrial case study in which they embedded themselves between the subject matter expert of the manufacturing process and the data scientist. Of the papers resulting from the systematic mapping study, 12 of the papers contributed a framework, another 12 of the papers were based on a case study, and 11 of the papers focused on theory. However, there were only three papers that contributed a methodology. This provides further evidence for the need for an industry-focused methodology for digitizing and analyzing manufacturing data, which will be developed in future research.

Keywords: analytics, digitization, industry 4.0, manufacturing

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Authors: Antonios Paraskevas, Michael Madas

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For a university to maintain its international competitiveness in education, it is essential to recruit qualitative academic staff as it constitutes its most valuable asset. This selection demonstrates a significant role in achieving strategic objectives, particularly by emphasizing a firm commitment to the exceptional student experience and innovative teaching and learning practices of high quality. In this vein, the appropriate selection of academic staff establishes a very important factor of competitiveness, efficiency and reputation of an academic institute. Within this framework, our work demonstrates a comprehensive methodological concept that emphasizes the multi-criteria nature of the problem and how decision-makers could utilize our approach in order to proceed to the appropriate judgment. The conceptual framework introduced in this paper is built upon a hybrid neutrosophic method based on the Neutrosophic Analytical Hierarchy Process (N-AHP), which uses the theory of neutrosophy sets and is considered suitable in terms of a significant degree of ambiguity and indeterminacy observed in the decision-making process. To this end, our framework extends the N-AHP by incorporating the Neutrosophic Delphi Method (N-DM). By applying the N-DM, we can take into consideration the importance of each decision-maker and their preferences per evaluation criterion. To the best of our knowledge, the proposed model is the first which applies the Neutrosophic Delphi Method in the selection of academic staff. As a case study, it was decided to use our method for a real problem of academic personnel selection, having as the main goal to enhance the algorithm proposed in previous scholars’ work, and thus taking care of the inherent ineffectiveness which becomes apparent in traditional multi-criteria decision-making methods when dealing with situations alike. As a further result, we prove that our method demonstrates greater applicability and reliability when compared to other decision models.

Keywords: multi-criteria decision making methods, analytical hierarchy process, delphi method, personnel recruitment, neutrosophic set theory

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Authors: Gjergji Buzo

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This paper presents the communist policy about tangible and intangible religious heritage in Pogradec District, Albania. The district of Pogradec lies in the southeast of Albania and consists of the municipality, located on the shore of Ohrid Lake, and 7 Administrative Units, with a population of about 61,530 inhabitants. From the statistical data provided by the Institute of Statistics, the city of Pogradec has 55.9% Muslims, 19.9% Orthodox, 1.4% Catholic and 1.1% Bektashi. While the religious affiliation in the Administrative Unit is as follows: Muslim 72.1%, Orthodox 3.32%, Catholic 1.18%, Bektashi 0.2%. The percentages are approximate values, taking into consideration that 13.8% of the total population preferred not to answer the question on religion and that for 2.4% of the persons who answered, the information provided was not relevant or stated. The percentage of the persons who declared themselves as believers without belonging to any religion was 5.5 and the persons who declared themselves as a non-believer and not belonging to any religion was 2.5. Number of persons who declared themselves as evangelists was 0.1% and the number of them declared as "other Christians" was 0.1%. About 80% of the population believe in God, and most of them practice one of the monotheist religions. We have divided religious practices into three major periods. The first is until 1967, when different religions were practiced in Pogradec in harmony with each other; the second is the period 1967-1990, during which the practice of religion was prohibited, and the period after 1990, when religious freedom was restored. This article is focused on the communist period 1967-1990 when Albania (and Pogradec as part of it) became the only atheist country in the world. The object of the study is the impact of these policies on spiritual and material religious identity. The communist regime destroyed or transformed the religious objects, whether Islamic or Christian and prohibited practicing religious rituals in Albania. They followed an education policy with an atheistic spirituality among young people, characterizing religion as opium for the people. All these left traces on the people and brought a deformation of the religious identity. In order to better understand the reality of that time and how this policy was experienced by the people, we conducted a survey in Pogradect District with the participation of 1000 people.

Keywords: communism policy, heritage, identity, religion, statistics, survey

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Authors: Rui Teixeira, Alan O’Connor, Maria Nogal

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The statistical theory of extreme events is progressively a topic of growing interest in all the fields of science and engineering. The changes currently experienced by the world, economic and environmental, emphasized the importance of dealing with extreme occurrences with improved accuracy. When it comes to the design of offshore structures, particularly offshore wind turbines, the importance of efficiently characterizing extreme events is of major relevance. Extreme events are commonly characterized by extreme values theory. As an alternative, the accurate modeling of the tails of statistical distributions and the characterization of the low occurrence events can be achieved with the application of the Peak-Over-Threshold (POT) methodology. The POT methodology allows for a more refined fit of the statistical distribution by truncating the data with a minimum value of a predefined threshold u. For mathematically approximating the tail of the empirical statistical distribution the Generalised Pareto is widely used. Although, in the case of the exceedances of significant wave data (H_s) the 2 parameters Weibull and the Exponential distribution, which is a specific case of the Generalised Pareto distribution, are frequently used as an alternative. The Generalized Pareto, despite the existence of practical cases where it is applied, is not completely recognized as the adequate solution to model exceedances over a certain threshold u. References that set the Generalised Pareto distribution as a secondary solution in the case of significant wave data can be identified in the literature. In this framework, the current study intends to tackle the discussion of the application of statistical models to characterize exceedances of wave data. Comparison of the application of the Generalised Pareto, the 2 parameters Weibull and the Exponential distribution are presented for different values of the threshold u. Real wave data obtained in four buoys along the Irish coast was used in the comparative analysis. Results show that the application of the statistical distributions to characterize significant wave data needs to be addressed carefully and in each particular case one of the statistical models mentioned fits better the data than the others. Depending on the value of the threshold u different results are obtained. Other variables of the fit, as the number of points and the estimation of the model parameters, are analyzed and the respective conclusions were drawn. Some guidelines on the application of the POT method are presented. Modeling the tail of the distributions shows to be, for the present case, a highly non-linear task and, due to its growing importance, should be addressed carefully for an efficient estimation of very low occurrence events.

Keywords: extreme events, offshore structures, peak-over-threshold, significant wave data

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Authors: N. Ismail, O. Thammajinda, U. Thongpanya

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Games-based learning (GBL) has become increasingly important in teaching and learning. This paper explains the first two phases (analysis and design) of a GBL development project, ending up with a prototype design based on students’ and teachers’ perceptions. The two phases are part of a full cycle GBL project aiming to help secondary school students in Thailand in their study of Comprehensive Sex Education (CSE). In the course of the study, we invited 1,152 students to complete questionnaires and interviewed 12 secondary school teachers in focus groups. This paper found that GBL can serve students in their learning about CSE, enabling them to gain understanding of their sexuality, develop skills, including critical thinking skills and interact with others (peers, teachers, etc.) in a safe environment. The objectives of this paper are to outline the development of GBL variables from the research question(s) into the developers’ flow chart, to be responsive to the GBL beneficiaries’ preferences and expectations, and to help in answering the research questions. This paper details the steps applied to generate GBL variables that can feed into a game flow chart to develop a GBL prototype. In our approach, we detailed two models: (1) Game Elements Model (GEM) and (2) Game Object Model (GOM). There are three outcomes of this research – first, to achieve the objectives and benefits of GBL in learning, game design has to start with the research question(s) and the challenges to be resolved as research outcomes. Second, aligning the educational aims with engaging GBL end users (students) within the data collection phase to inform the game prototype with the game variables is essential to address the answer/solution to the research question(s). Third, for efficient GBL to bridge the gap between pedagogy and technology and in order to answer the research questions via technology (i.e. GBL) and to minimise the isolation between the pedagogists “P” and technologist “T”, several meetings and discussions need to take place within the team.

Keywords: games-based learning, engagement, pedagogy, preferences, prototype

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Authors: Atefe Malekkhani, Lee Beattie, Mohsen Mohammadzadeh

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Unprecedented growth of megacities and urban areas all around the world have resulted in numerous risks, concerns, and problems across various aspects of urban life, including environmental, social, and economic domains like climate change, spatial and social inequalities. In this situation, ever-increasing progress of technology has created a hope for urban authorities that the negative effects of various socio-economic and environmental crises can potentially be mitigated with the use of information and communication technologies. The concept of 'smart city' represents an emerging solution to urban challenges arising from increased urbanization using ICTs. However, smart cities are often perceived primarily as technological initiatives and are implemented without considering the social and cultural contexts of cities and the needs of their residents. The implementation of smart city projects and initiatives has the potential to (un)intentionally exacerbate pre-existing social, spatial, and cultural segregation. Investigating the impact of smart city on social capital of people who are users of smart city systems and with governance as policymakers is worth exploring. The importance of inhabitants to the existence and development of smart cities cannot be overlooked. This concept has gained different perspectives in the smart city studies. Reviewing the literature about social capital and smart city show that social capital play three different roles in smart city development. Some research indicates that social capital is a component of a smart city and has embedded in its dimensions, definitions, or strategies, while other ones see it as a social outcome of smart city development and point out that the move to smart cities improves social capital; however, in most cases, it remains an unproven hypothesis. Other studies show that social capital can enhance the functions of smart cities, and the consideration of social capital in planning smart cities should be promoted. Despite the existing theoretical and practical knowledge, there is a significant research gap reviewing the knowledge domain of smart city studies through the lens of social capital. To shed light on this issue, this study aims to explore the domain of existing research in the field of smart city through the lens of social capital. This research will use the 'Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses' (PRISMA) method to review relevant literature, focusing on the key concepts of 'Smart City' and 'Social Capital'. The studies will be selected Web of Science Core Collection, using a selection process that involves identifying literature sources, screening and filtering studies based on titles, abstracts, and full-text reading.

Keywords: smart city, urban digitalisation, ICT, social capital

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Authors: Ignatius Madu

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The study aims at assessing the environmental and socioeconomic determinants of climate change resilience in rural Nigeria. This is necessary because researches and development efforts on building climate change resilience of rural areas in developing countries are usually made without the knowledge of the impacts of the inherent rural characteristics that determine resilient capacities of the households. This has, in many cases, led to costly mistakes, delayed responses, inaccurate outcomes, and other difficulties. Consequently, this assessment becomes crucial not only to policymakers and people living in risk-prone environments in rural areas but also to fill the research gap. To achieve the aim, secondary data were obtained from the Annual Abstract of Statistics 2017, LSMS-Integrated Surveys on Agriculture and General Household Survey Panel 2015/2016, and National Agriculture Sample Survey (NASS), 2010/2011.Resilience was calculated by weighting and adding the adaptive, absorptive and anticipatory measures of households variables aggregated at state levels and then regressed against rural environmental and socioeconomic characteristics influencing it. From the regression, the coefficients of the variables were used to compute the impacts of the variables using the Stochastic Regression of Impacts on Population, Affluence and Technology (STIRPAT) Model. The results showed that the northern States are generally low in resilient indices and are impacted less by the development indicators. The major determining factors are percentage of non-poor, environmental protection, road transport development, landholding, agricultural input, population density, dependency ratio (inverse), household asserts, education and maternal care. The paper concludes that any effort to a successful resilient building in rural areas of the country should first address these key factors that enhance rural development and wellbeing since it is better to take action before shocks take place.

Keywords: climate change resilience; spatial impacts; STIRPAT model; Nigeria

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Authors: Malephole Philomena Sefotho

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Nowadays, it is a fact that the majority of people, worldwide, are bilingual rather than monolingual due to the surge of globalisation and mobility. Consequently, bilingual education is a topical issue of discussion among researchers. Several studies that have focussed on it have highlighted the importance and need for incorporating learners’ linguistic repertoires in multilingual classrooms and move away from the colonial approach which is a monolingual bias – one language at a time. Researchers pointed out that a systematic approach that involves the concurrent use of languages and not a separation of languages must be implemented in bilingual classroom settings. Translanguaging emerged as a systematic approach that assists learners to make meaning of their world and it involves allowing learners to utilize all their linguistic resources in their classrooms. The South African language policy also room for diverse languages use in bi/multilingual classrooms. This study, therefore, sought to explore how teachers apply translanguaging in bilingual classrooms in incorporating learners’ linguistic repertoires. It further establishes teachers’ perspectives in the use of more than one language in teaching and learning. The participants for this study were language teachers who teach at bilingual primary schools in Johannesburg in South Africa. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to establish their perceptions on the concurrent use of languages. Qualitative research design was followed in analysing data. The findings showed that teachers were reluctant to allow translanguaging to take place in their classrooms even though they realise the importance thereof. Not allowing bilingual learners to use their linguistic repertoires has resulted in learners’ negative attitude towards their languages and contributed in learners’ loss of their identity. This article, thus recommends a drastic change to decolonised approaches in teaching and learning in multilingual settings and translanguaging as a decolonial move where learners are allowed to translanguage freely in their classroom settings for better comprehension and making meaning of concepts and/or related ideas. It further proposes continuous conversations be encouraged to bring eminent cultural and linguistic genocide to a halt.

Keywords: bilingualism, decolonisation, linguistic repertoires, translanguaging

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Authors: A. Y. Tsidulko, T. M. Pankova, E. V. Grigorieva

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High-grade gliomas are the most frequent and most aggressive brain tumors which are characterized by active invasion of tumor cells into the surrounding brain tissue, where the extracellular matrix (ECM) plays a crucial role. Disruption of ECM can be involved in anticancer drugs effectiveness, side-effects and also in tumor relapses. The anti-inflammatory agent dexamethasone is a common drug used during high-grade glioma treatment for alleviating cerebral edema. Although dexamethasone is widely used in the clinic, its effects on normal brain tissue ECM remain poorly investigated. It is known that proteoglycans (PGs) are a major component of the extracellular matrix in the central nervous system. In our work, we studied the effects of dexamethasone on the ECM proteoglycans (syndecan-1, glypican-1, perlecan, versican, brevican, NG2, decorin, biglican, lumican) using RT-PCR in the experimental animal model. It was shown that proteoglycans in rat brain have age-specific expression patterns. In early post-natal rat brain (8 days old rat pups) overall PGs expression was quite high and mainly expressed PGs were biglycan, decorin, and syndecan-1. The overall transcriptional activity of PGs in adult rat brain is 1.5-fold decreased compared to post-natal brain. The expression pattern was changed as well with biglycan, decorin, syndecan-1, glypican-1 and brevican becoming almost equally expressed. PGs expression patterns create a specific tissue microenvironment that differs in developing and adult brain. Dexamethasone regimen close to the one used in the clinic during high-grade glioma treatment significantly affects proteoglycans expression. It was shown that overall PGs transcription activity is 1.5-2-folds increased after dexamethasone treatment. The most up-regulated PGs were biglycan, decorin, and lumican. The PGs expression pattern in adult brain changed after treatment becoming quite close to the expression pattern in developing brain. It is known that microenvironment in developing tissues promotes cells proliferation while in adult tissues proliferation is usually suppressed. The changes occurring in the adult brain after dexamethasone treatment may lead to re-activation of cell proliferation due to signals from changed microenvironment. Taken together obtained data show that dexamethasone treatment significantly affects the normal brain ECM, creating the appropriate microenvironment for tumor cells proliferation and thus can reduce the effectiveness of anticancer treatment and promote tumor relapses. This work has been supported by a Russian Science Foundation (RSF Grant 16-15-10243)

Keywords: dexamthasone, extracellular matrix, glioma, proteoglycan

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Authors: Maris Eugênia Dela Rosa, Ana Luiza Menegatti Pavan, Marcela De Oliveira, Diana Rodrigues De Pina, Luis Carlos Vulcano

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In medical veterinary as well as in human medicine, radiological study is essential for a safe diagnosis in clinical practice. Thus, the quality of radiographic image is crucial. In last year’s there has been an increasing substitution of image acquisition screen-film systems for computed radiology equipment (CR) without technical charts adequacy. Furthermore, to carry out a radiographic examination in veterinary patient is required human assistance for restraint this, which can compromise image quality by generating dose increasing to the animal, for Occupationally Exposed and also the increased cost to the institution. The image optimization procedure and construction of radiographic techniques are performed with the use of homogeneous phantoms. In this study, we sought to develop a homogeneous phantom of canine chest to be applied to the optimization of these images for the CR system. In carrying out the simulator was created a database with retrospectives chest images of computed tomography (CT) of the Veterinary Hospital of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science - UNESP (FMVZ / Botucatu). Images were divided into four groups according to the animal weight employing classification by sizes proposed by Hoskins & Goldston. The thickness of biological tissues were quantified in a 80 animals, separated in groups of 20 animals according to their weights: (S) Small - equal to or less than 9.0 kg, (M) Medium - between 9.0 and 23.0 kg, (L) Large – between 23.1 and 40.0kg and (G) Giant – over 40.1 kg. Mean weight for group (S) was 6.5±2.0 kg, (M) 15.0±5.0 kg, (L) 32.0±5.5 kg and (G) 50.0 ±12.0 kg. An algorithm was developed in Matlab in order to classify and quantify biological tissues present in CT images and convert them in simulator materials. To classify tissues presents, the membership functions were created from the retrospective CT scans according to the type of tissue (adipose, muscle, bone trabecular or cortical and lung tissue). After conversion of the biologic tissue thickness in equivalent material thicknesses (acrylic simulating soft tissues, bone tissues simulated by aluminum and air to the lung) were obtained four different homogeneous phantoms, with (S) 5 cm of acrylic, 0,14 cm of aluminum and 1,8 cm of air; (M) 8,7 cm of acrylic, 0,2 cm of aluminum and 2,4 cm of air; (L) 10,6 cm of acrylic, 0,27 cm of aluminum and 3,1 cm of air and (G) 14,8 cm of acrylic, 0,33 cm of aluminum and 3,8 cm of air. The developed canine homogeneous phantom is a practical tool, which will be employed in future, works to optimize veterinary X-ray procedures.

Keywords: radiation protection, phantom, veterinary radiology, computed radiography

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Authors: Nadezhda Kvatashidze, Elena Kharabadze

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It is broadly known that lease is a flexible means of funding enterprises. Lease reduces the risk related to access and possession of assets, as well as obtainment of funding. Therefore, it is important to refine lease accounting. The lease accounting regulations under the applicable standard (International Accounting Standards 17) make concealment of liabilities possible. As a result, the information users get inaccurate and incomprehensive information and have to resort to an additional assessment of the off-balance sheet lease liabilities. In order to address the problem, the International Financial Reporting Standards Board decided to change the approach to lease accounting. With the deficiencies of the applicable standard taken into account, the new standard (IFRS 16 ‘Leases’) aims at supplying appropriate and fair lease-related information to the users. Save certain exclusions; the lessee is obliged to recognize all the lease agreements in its financial report. The approach was determined by the fact that under the lease agreement, rights and obligations arise by way of assets and liabilities. Immediately upon conclusion of the lease agreement, the lessee takes an asset into its disposal and assumes the obligation to effect the lease-related payments in order to meet the recognition criteria defined by the Conceptual Framework for Financial Reporting. The payments are to be entered into the financial report. The new lease accounting standard secures supply of quality and comparable information to the financial information users. The International Accounting Standards Board and the US Financial Accounting Standards Board jointly developed IFRS 15: ‘Revenue from Contracts with Customers’. The standard allows the establishment of detailed revenue recognition practical criteria such as identification of the performance obligations in the contract, determination of the transaction price and its components, especially price variable considerations and other important components, as well as passage of control over the asset to the customer. IFRS 15: ‘Revenue from Contracts with Customers’ is very similar to the relevant US standards and includes requirements more specific and consistent than those of the standards in place. The new standard is going to change the recognition terms and techniques in the industries, such as construction, telecommunications (mobile and cable networks), licensing (media, science, franchising), real property, software etc.

Keywords: assessment of the lease assets and liabilities, contractual liability, division of contract, identification of contracts, contract price, lease identification, lease liabilities, off-balance sheet, transaction value

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Authors: Metrek Almetrek, Naser Alqahtani, Eisa Ghazwani, Mona Asiri, Mohammed Alqahtani, Magboolah Balobaid

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Background: Advocacy of potential for community coalitions to positively address social determinants of health and quality of life, little is known about the views of stakeholders involved in such efforts. This study sought to assess the provinces leaders’ perspectives about social determinants related to the Health Neighborhood Initiative (HNI), a new county effort to support community coalitions. Method and Subjects: We used a descriptive, qualitative study using personal interviews in 2022. We conducted it in the community coalition's “main cities committees” set across service planning areas that serve vulnerable groups located in the seven registered healthy cities to WHO (Abha, Tareeb, Muhayel, Balqarn, Alharajah, Alamwah, and Bisha). We conducted key informant interviews with 76 governmental, profit, non-profit, and community leaders to understand their perspectives about the HNI. As part of a larger project, this study focused on leaders’ views about social determinants of health related to the HNI. All interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed. An inductive approach to coding was used, with text segments grouped by social determinant categories. Results: Provinces leaders described multiple social determinants of health and quality of life that were relevant to the HNI community coalitions: housing and safety, community violence, economic stability, city services coordination and employment and education. Leaders discussed how social determinants were interconnected with each other and the need for efforts to address multiple social determinants simultaneously to effectively improve health and quality of life. Conclusions: Community coalitions have an opportunity to address multiple social determinants of health and quality of life to meet the social needs of vulnerable groups. Future research should examine how community coalitions, like those in the HNI, can actively engage with community members to identify needs and then deliver evidence-based care.

Keywords: social determinants, health and quality of life, vulnerable groups, qualitative research

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Authors: Miriam Colleran, Barbara Sheehy-Skeffington

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Background: To explore if there are unique features in the palliative care needs of patients with intellectual disability that may impact on planning for resource and service provision for them. Aim: The purpose of this practice review is to assess the indications for, numbers of and outcomes of care for adults with intellectual disabilities referred to a specialist palliative care service over a twoyear period. Service utilization aspects considered included the frequency of home visits by a specialist palliative care doctor or clinical nurse specialist and the number of hospice admissions that occurred for the patients. Method: A retrospective review was carried out of persons 18 years and older with intellectual disabilities referred to a specialist palliative care service over a 5-year period from 30.11.3018 to 29.11.2023. A manual review was carried out of the register using key terms, namely, known residential care and community dwelling places of service providers for persons with intellectual disabilities in the area and registered diagnoses in addition to the patients known to the clinicians who had intellectual disabilities. Results: 25 referrals were made to the specialist palliative care service of 23 persons with intellectual disabilities during that time. However, this may be an underestimate. 15 women and 8 men were referred with an age range of 19 to 86 years of age. The majority had a diagnosis of Down’s syndrome or Trisomy 21. 5 patients referred did not have home visits from the specialist palliative care team. A range of 2 to 48 phone calls per person occurred by the specialist palliative care team regarding this cohort of patients. The outcomes for the patients included discharge and death. The majority of patients that died, did so in the community. One person however died in hospital. Another person died in a hospice out of area. Conclusion: Providing specialist palliative care for adults with intellectual disabilities is an important element of palliative care. The dominance of the community as the place of death for these patients and the limited number of patients dying in either hospice or hospital are noteworthy. Further research is necessary and education to inform, support, and empower specialist palliative care professionals in optimizing palliative and end-of-life care for persons with intellectual disabilities and to inform service development and provision.

Keywords: about intellectual disability, palliative care

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Authors: Abanda Wilfred Chick

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Background: According to World Health Organization (WHO), the role of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in health sectors of developing nations has been demonstrated to have had a great improvement of fifty percent reduction in mortality and or twenty-five-fifty percent increase in productivity. The objective of this study was to assess the use of information and communication technologies in enhancing health care delivery for Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) patients in Bamenda Health District. Methods: This was a descriptive-analytical cross-sectional study in which 388 participants were consecutively selected amongst health personnel and HIV patients from public and private health institutions involved in Human Immunodeficiency Virus management. Data on socio-demographic variables, the use of information and communication technologies tools, and associated challenges were collected using structured questionnaires. Descriptive statistics with a ninety-five percent confidence interval were used to summarize findings, while Cramer’s V test, logistic regression, and Chi-square test were used to measure the association between variables, Epi info version7.2, MS Excel, and SPSS version 25.0 were utilized for data entry and statistical analysis respectively. Results: Of the participants, one-quarter were health personnel, and three-quarters were HIV patients. For both groups of participants, there was a significant relationship between the use of ICT and demographic information such as level of education, marital status, and age (p<0.05). For the impediments to using ICT tools, a greater proportion identified the high cost of airtime or internet bundles, followed by an average proportion that indicated inadequate training on ICT tools; for health personnel, the majority said inadequate training on ICT tools/applications and half said unavailability of electricity. Conclusion: Not up to half of the HIV patients effectively make use of ICT tools/applications to receive health care. Of health personnel, three quarters use ICTs, and only one quarter effectively use mobile phones and one-third of computers, respectively, to render care to HIV patients.

Keywords: ICT tools, HIV patients, health personnel, health care delivery

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Authors: Ankush Raina, Ankush Anand

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Plyometric training is a form of specialised strength training that uses fast muscular contractions to improve power and speed in sports conditioning by coaches and athletes. Despite its useful role in sports conditioning programme, the information about plyometric training on the athletes cardiovascular health especially Electrocardiogram (ECG) has not been established in the literature. The purpose of the study was to determine the effects of lower and upper body plyometric training on ECG of athletes. The study was guided by three null hypotheses. Quasi–experimental research design was adopted for the study. Seventy-two university male athletes constituted the population of the study. Thirty male athletes aged 18 to 24 years volunteered to participate in the study, but only twenty-three completed the study. The volunteered athletes were apparently healthy, physically active and free of any lower and upper extremity bone injuries for past one year and they had no medical or orthopedic injuries that may affect their participation in the study. Ten subjects were purposively assigned to one of the three groups: lower body plyometric training (LBPT), upper body plyometric training (UBPT), and control (C). Training consisted of six plyometric exercises: lower (ankle hops, squat jumps, tuck jumps) and upper body plyometric training (push-ups, medicine ball-chest throws and side throws) with moderate intensity. The general data were collated and analysed using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS version 22.0). The research questions were answered using mean and standard deviation, while paired samples t-test was also used to test for the hypotheses. The results revealed that athletes who were trained using LBPT had reduced ECG parameters better than those in the control group. The results also revealed that athletes who were trained using both LBPT and UBPT indicated lack of significant differences following ten weeks plyometric training than those in the control group in the ECG parameters except in Q wave, R wave and S wave (QRS) complex. Based on the findings of the study, it was recommended among others that coaches should include both LBPT and UBPT as part of athletes’ overall training programme from primary to tertiary institution to optimise performance as well as reduce the risk of cardiovascular diseases and promotes good healthy lifestyle.

Keywords: boundary lubrication, copper oxide, friction, nano diamond

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Authors: Wudneh Asegedech Ayele

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Background: Dietary diversity is strongly related with non-communicable disease (NCDs). Diet plays a key role as a risk factor for hypertension. Diets rich in fruits, vegetables, and low-fat dairy products that include whole grains, poultry, fish, and nuts, that contain only small amounts of red meat, sweets, and sugar-containing beverages, and that contain decreased amounts of total and saturated fat and cholesterol have been found to have a protective effect against hypertension. Methods: hospital based Cross-sectional study design was employed from June 1-June 25, 2021. Sampling technique was Systematic random sampling and data were collected using an interview method. Data were entered into Epi Data version 3.1 and exported to SPSS version 25 for processed and analysis respectively. Descriptive statistics were used to summarize data. Bivariate and multivariate logistic regression will employed to determine dietary diversity among hypertension patients. Results: Adequate dietary diversity score were 96 (24.68%). Most of them cereal, white roots and tubers, dark green leafy vegetables, Vitamin A rich fruits ,meat, egg and coffee or tea more intakes. Hypertensive patients who didn’t consume cereals four times less likely adequate dietary diversity than who consumed cereals [AOR= 4.083, 95%: CI (2.096 -7.352)]. Hypertensive patients who didn’t consume white roots and tubers 14 times less likely adequate dietary diversity than who consumed white roots and tubers [AOR= 13.733, 95% CI: (5.388-34.946)]. Conclusion and recommendation the study showed one of fourth part reported adequate dietary diversity score. Cereals, fruits, vegetables and milk and milk products were statistically associated with dietary diversity practice. Health education about dietary modifications and behavioral change to dietary diversity

Keywords: dietary diversity practice and associated facrors among hypertension patients at tirunesh beijing hospital, hypertension, dietary, diversity and tirunesh beijing hospital, associated facrors among hypertension patient, at tirunesh beijing hospita

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Authors: Ram Sharan Mehta, Sanjeev Sharma

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Introduction: Haemodialysis (HD) is a mechanical process of removing waste products from the blood and replacing essential substances in patients with renal failure. First artificial kidney developed in Netherlands in 1943 AD First successful treatment of CRF reported in 1960AD, life-saving treatment begins for CRF in 1972 AD. In 1973 AD Medicare took over financial responsibility for many clients and after that method become popular. BP Koirala institute of health science is the only center outside the Kathmandu, where HD service is available. In BPKIHS PD started in Jan.1998, HD started in August 2002 till September 2003 about 278 patients received HD. Day by day the number of HD patients is increasing in BPKIHS as with institutional growth. No such type of study was conducted in past hence there is lack of valid & reliable baseline data. Hence, the investigators were interested to conduct the study on " Profile of the Renal Failure patients under Haemodialysis at B.P. Koirala Institute of Health Sciences Nepal". Objectives: The objectives of the study were: to find out the Socio-demographic characteristics of the patients, to explore the knowledge of the patients regarding disease process and Haemodialysis and to identify the problems encountered by the patients. Methods: It is a hospital-based exploratory study. The population of the study was the clients under HD and the sampling method was purposive. Fifty-four patients undergone HD during the period of 17 July 2012 to 16 July 2013 of complete one year were included in the study. Structured interview schedule was used for collect data after obtaining validity and reliability. Results: Total 54 subjects had undergone for HD, having age range of 5-75 years and majority of them were male (74%) and Hindu (93 %). Thirty-one percent illiterate, 28% had agriculture their occupation, 80% of them were from very poor community, and about 30% subjects were unaware about the disease they suffering. Majority of subjects reported that they had no complications during dialysis (61%), where as 20% reported nausea and vomiting, 9% Hypotension, 4% headache and 2%chest pain during dialysis. Conclusions: CRF leading to HD is a long battle for patients, required to make major and continuous adjustment, both physiologically and psychologically. The study suggests that non-compliance with HD regimen were common. The socio-demographic and knowledge profile will help in the management and early prevention of disease and evaluate aspects that will influence care and patients can select mode of treatment themselves properly.

Keywords: profile, haemodialysis, Nepal, patients, treatment

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Authors: Ying Shi, June Zhang, Lu Shao, Xiyan Xie, Aidi Lao, Zhangan Wang

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Background: Low levels of physical activity are associated with poorer health outcomes, and this situation is more critical in older adults living in long‐term care facilities. Objectives: To systematically identify, appraise, and synthesize current qualitative research evidence regarding the barriers and facilitators to physical activity as reported by older adults and care staff in long‐term care facilities. Design: This is a systematic review with qualitative evidence synthesis adhering to PRISMA guidelines. Methods: We conducted a systematic search on PubMed, Science Citation Index Expanded, Social Sciences Citation Index, EMBASE, CINAHL, and PsychInfo databases from inception until 30 June 2023. Thematic synthesis was undertaken to identify the barriers and facilitators relating to physical activity. Then, we mapped them onto the Capability, Opportunity, Motivation, and Behavior model and Theoretical Domains Framework. Methodological quality was assessed using the CASP Qualitative Studies Checklist, and confidence in review findings was assessed using the GRADE-CERQual approach. Results: We included 32 studies after screening 10496 citations and 177 full texts. Seven themes and 17 subthemes were identified relating to barriers and facilitators influencing physical activity in elderly residents. The main themes were mapped onto COM-B) model-Capability (physical activity knowledge gaps and individual health issues), Opportunity (social support and macro-level resources) and Motivation (health beliefs, fear of falling or injury, and personal and social incentives to physical activity). Most subthemes were graded as high (n = 9) or moderate (n = 3) confidence. Conclusions and Implications: Our comprehensive synthesis of 32 studies provides a wealth of knowledge of barriers and facilitators to physical activity from both residents and care staff’s perspectives. Intervention components were also suggested within the context of long‐term care facilities. End users such as older residents, care staff, and researchers can have confidence in our findings when formulating policies and guidance on promoting physical activity among elderly residents in long‐term care facilities.

Keywords: long‐term care, older adults, physical activity, qualitative, systematic review

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Authors: Shaibu Baanni Azumah, William Adzawla

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Rice is an important staple crop, with current demand higher than the domestic supply in Ghana. This has led to a high and unfavourable import bill. Therefore, recent policies and interventions in the agricultural sub-sector aim at promoting various improved agricultural technologies in order to improve domestic production and reduce the importation of rice. In this study, we examined the effect of the adoption of Urea Deep Placement (UDP) technology by rice farmers on the position of the production frontier. This involved 200 farmers selected through a multi stage sampling technique in the Northern region of Ghana. A Cobb-Douglas stochastic frontier model was fitted. The result showed that the adoption of UDP technology shifts the output frontier outward and also move the farmers closer to the frontier. Farmers were also operating under diminishing returns to scale which calls for redress. Other factors that significantly influenced rice production were farm size, labour, use of certified seeds and NPK fertilizer. Although there was an opportunity for improvement, the farmers were highly efficient (92%), compared to previous studies. Farmers’ efficiency was improved through increased education, household size, experience, access to credit, and lack of extension service provision by MoFA. The study recommends the revision of Ghana’s agricultural policy to include the UDP technology. Agricultural Extension officers of the Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA) should be trained on the UDP technology to support IFDC’s drive to improve adoption by rice farmers. Rice farmers are also encouraged to expand their farm lands, improve plant population, and also increase the usage of fertilizer to improve yields. Mechanisms through which credit can be made easily accessible and effectively utilised should be identified and promoted.

Keywords: efficiency, rice farmers, stochastic frontier, UDP technology

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Authors: Anh Nguyen, Jane Fisher, Thach Tran, Anh T. T. Tran

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Trait Emotional Intelligence is the knowledge, beliefs, and attitudes an individual has about their own and other people’s emotions. It is believed that trait emotional intelligence is a component of personality. Petrides’ Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire (TEIQue) is well regarded and well-established, with validation data about its functioning among adults from many countries. However, there is little data yet about its use among Asian populations, including adolescents. The aims were to translate and culturally verify the Trait Emotional Intelligence Adolescent Short Form (TEIQue-ASF) and investigate content validity, construct validity, and reliability among adolescents attending high schools in Vietnam. Content of the TEIQue-ASF was translated (English to Vietnamese) and back-translated (Vietnamese to English) in consultation with bilingual and bicultural health researchers and pilot tested among 51 potential respondents. Phraseology and wording were then adjusted and the final version is named the VN-TEIQue-ASF. The VN-TEIQue-ASF’s properties were investigated in a cross-sectional elf-report survey among high school students in Central Vietnam. In total 1,546 / 1,573 (98.3%) eligible students from nine high schools in rural, urban, and coastline areas completed the survey. Explanatory Factor Analysis yielded a four-factor solution, including some with facets that loaded differently compared to the original version: Well-being, Emotion in Relationships, Emotion Self-management, and Emotion Sensitivity. The Cronbach’s alpha of the global score for the VN-TEIQue-ASF was .77. The VN-TEIQue-ASF is comprehensible and has good content and construct validity and reliability among adolescents in Vietnam. The factor structure is only partly replicated the original version. The VN-TEIQue-ASF is recommended for use in school or community surveys and professional study in education, psychology, and public health to investigate the trait emotional intelligence of adolescents in Vietnam.

Keywords: adolescents, construct validity, content validity, factor analysis, questionnaire validity, trait emotional intelligence, Vietnam

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Authors: Ana Cristina Lindsay, Sherrie Wallington, Faith Lees, Mary Greaney

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Purpose: Latino children in low-income families are at elevated risk of becoming overweight or obese. The purpose of this study was to examine low-income Latino parents’ beliefs, parenting styles and practices related to their children’s eating and physical activity behaviors while at home. Design and Methods: Qualitative study using focus group discussions with 33 low-income Latino parents of preschool children 2 to 5 years of age. Transcripts were analyzed using thematic analysis. Results: Data analyses revealed that most parents recognize the importance of healthy eating and physical activity for their children and themselves. However, daily life demands including conflicting schedules, long working hours, financial constraints, and neighborhood safety concerns, etc., impact parents’ ability to create a home environment supportive of these behaviors. Conclusions: This study provides information about how the home environment influences low-income Latino preschool children’s eating and physical activity habits. This information is useful for pediatric nurses in their health promotion and disease prevention efforts with low-income Latino families with young children, and for the development of home-based and parenting interventions to prevent and control childhood obesity among this population group. Practice Implications: Pediatric nurses can facilitate communication, provide education, and offer guidance to low-income Latino parents that support their children’s development of early healthy eating and physical activity habits, while taking into account daily life barriers faced by families. Moreover, nurses can play an important role in the integration and coordination of home-visitation to complement office-based visits and provide a continuum of care to low-income Latino families.

Keywords: home environment, Latino, obesity, parents, healthy eating, physical activity

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Authors: Kebron Abich Asnake

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The outbreak of COVID-19 has had far-reaching socio-economic consequences globally, and Ethiopia is no exception. This abstract provides a summary of a research study on the socio-economic impact of COVID-19 in Ethiopia. The study analyzes the health impact, economic repercussions, social consequences, government response measures, and opportunities for post-crisis recovery. In terms of health impact, the research explores the spread and transmission of the virus, the capacity and response of the healthcare system, and the mortality rate, with a focus on vulnerable populations. The economic impact analysis entails investigating the contraction of the GDP, employment and income loss, disruption in key sectors such as agriculture, tourism, and manufacturing, and the specific implications for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), foreign direct investment, and remittances. The social impact section looks at the disruptions in education and the digital divide, food security and nutrition challenges, increased poverty and inequality, gender-based violence, and mental health issues. The research also examines the measures taken by the Ethiopian government, including health and safety regulations, economic stimulus packages, social protection programs, and support for vulnerable populations. Furthermore, the study outlines long-term recovery prospects, social cohesion, and community resilience challenges. It highlights the need to strengthen the healthcare system and finds a balance between health and economic priorities. The research concludes by presenting recommendations for policy-makers and stakeholders, emphasizing opportunities for post-crisis recovery such as diversification of the economy, enhanced healthcare infrastructure, investment in digital infrastructure and technology, and support for domestic tourism and local industries. This research provides valuable insights into the socio-economic impact of COVID-19 in Ethiopia, offering a comprehensive analysis of the challenges faced and potential pathways towards recovery.

Keywords: impact, covid, ethiopia, health

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Authors: Vandana Dave, Neelam Kumari

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India, a fast growing global power, is climbing the ladder of success very swiftly and has been attracting the world’s attention in recent decades. But unfortunately in the modern society, women who constitute half the population of our country have been the victims of violence in different fields of life both physically, socially, mentally and economically. Women face a lot of societal pressure, gender based violence – including rape, domestic violence, dowry death, murder and sexual abuse. But none the less, it is not considered as a problem of serious concern. Among the issues related to women, domestic violence is one of the major issue in our society which is occurring within the safe confines of home at the hands of close family members and cuts across line of race, nationality, language, culture, economics, sexual orientation, physical ability and religion to affect women from all walks of life. It is not to be perceived as a law and order problem alone but it is a socio- cultural problem and it is directly affecting the family life, health of women and life of children. Structural imbalance of power, systematic gender based discrimination; inequality between women and men and other kind of subordination are the context and cause of violence against women. Understanding it as a major problem of our society, the present study was conducted to assess the status of women of Rohtak, district of Haryana. The present study is based on primary and secondary data, adopting feminist research methodology. Case study method was incorporated during the research. It was observed that violence varied according to different age groups of women, marital status, education status, economic status and sociodemography factors. The case studies depicted the inadequate justice system for the victims of domestic violence. The study also revealed that the victims failed to understand the judiciary system and considered themselves helpless and hopeless. The study indicates the need of women friendly justice system for the upliftment of the society.

Keywords: domestic violence, women, victim, justice

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Authors: Erinma Chibuzo Nwandu

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Graduates unemployment has risen astronomically in spite of the emphasis on teaching of small scale business and Entrepreneurship in schools. This study sets out to evaluate the effect of teaching small scale business and Entrepreneurship on graduates’ unemployment in Nigeria. This study adopted the survey research design. Thus the nature of data for this study is primary, sourced by the use of a questionnaire administered to a sample of two thousand and sixty-five (2065) respondents drawn from groups of graduates who are employed, unemployed and self-employed in South East Nigeria. Simple percentages, Chi-square and regression analysis were used to derive useful and meaningful information and test the hypotheses respectively. Findings from the study suggest that Nigeria graduates are ill prepared to embark on small-scale business and entrepreneurship after graduation, and that teaching of small scale business and entrepreneurship in Nigeria tertiary institutions is ineffective on graduate unemployment reduction. Findings also suggest that while a lot of graduates agreed that they have taken a class(s) on small scale or entrepreneurship, they received more theoretical teachings than practical, more so while teachings on small scale business or entrepreneurship motivated graduates to think of self-employment, most of them cannot do a good business plan and hence could not benefit from some kind of Government assisted program for small-scale business and bank loan for the sake of small scale business. Thus, so many graduates are not interested in small scale business or entrepreneurship development as a result of lack of startup capital. The study thus recommends that course content and teaching method of entrepreneurship education needs to be reviewed and re-structured to constitute more practical teachings than theoretical teachings. Also, graduates should be exposed to seminar /workshop for self-employment at least once every semester. There should be practical teaching and practice of developing a business plan that will be viable to attract government or private sponsorship as well for it to be viable to attract financing from financing institutions. Government should provide a fund such as venture capital financing arrangement to empower business startups in Nigeria by graduates’.

Keywords: entrepreneurship, small scale business, startup capital, unemployment

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Authors: Lateef Hakim Zai Khyber, Syed Rashid Ali

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In the post 9/11 era, a new trend has developed of terrorist profiling on the basis of the ethnic, religious, political, psychological, social, and economic background of the terrorists to anticipate and assess the possible risk and to prevent and prosecute the suspected before they commit any violent act. The same profiling approach was adopted in different militant or terrorist de-radicalization and rehabilitation programs across the world in order to evaluate and identify the reasons and causes for joining terrorism in terms of push and pull factors. This paper attempts to explore and investigate the profiles of the detainees in the Sabaoon de-radicalization and Emancipation program, which aimed at de-radicalizing the former militants of Tehrik-e-Taliban (TTP) Pakistan in the Swat valley of Pakistan. This research attempted to use qualitative methods for collecting data, including a number of formal and informal open-ended interviews with the former staff members of Sabaoon to explore various aspects of the program, such as various approaches used at Sabaoon for terrorist profiling. It conducts a thorough examination of the profiles of the terrorist through their socioeconomic, ideological, emotional, intellectual, and psychological conditions and orientations, personal details, family issues, social preferences, etc. The study finds out that the majority of the terrorists belonged to the marginalized groups or lower class, including underprivileged tenants and poor laborers, of society having no access to land. They possess almost the same profiles, including low socioeconomic status, absence of a father or strict behavior of parents, large and combined families, lack of education, lack of religious understanding, etc. They also possess some common traits such as anxiety disorder, emotional instability, aggressive impulses and insecurity, depression, inferiority complex, lack of critical thinking and logical reasoning, authority-seeking behavior, and revenge-seeking behavior.

Keywords: terrorist profiling, Sabaoon, de-radicalization, rehabilitation, Swat, Pakistan, juvenile militants

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Authors: Murorunkwere Marie Claire

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Introduction: In Sub-Saharan Africa and specifically in Rwandan rural areas, mother-to-Child human immunodeficiency virus transmission remains a big challenge. This is mainly due to lack of awareness and ignorance among pregnant rural women, leading to neglect regular taking of prophylactic antiretroviral treatment and to persistently beliefs in traditional healers and home deliveries. This paper explores the factors associated with stagnant reduction in human immunodeficiency virus vertical transmission among pregnant rural women and provides solutions to tackle it. Methodology: The first phase of this research will be a qualitative survey was conducted to assess the knowledge, attitudes and practices towards vertical human immunodeficiency virus transmission among pregnant women in one rural district in Rwanda. The data generated from phase one of this research will be used to address the main factors revealed through community mobilization and motivation on attending required antenatal consultations and hospital deliveries, proper and regular antiretroviral treatment taking, and discouraging beliefs in traditional healers and home deliveries. Refresher training seminars will also be organized for healthcare providers qualified on conducting deliveries about current measures to maximize the reduction of chances that can lead to mother -child contamination (to avoid early rupture of membranes and to prevent any source of contamination). Results: This paper is expected to contribute in a significant reduction of the vertical human immunodeficiency virus transmission burden among pregnant rural women. Conclusion: Strong campaigns on prevention of mother- to-child human immunodeficiency virus transmission and community mobilization of pregnant rural women, and house to house education and continuous reminders as well as training seminars to health care personnel on updated measures is, key in addressing vertical human immunodeficiency virus transmission.

Keywords: attitudes transformation, community mobilisation, pregnant rural women, vertical HIV transmission

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Authors: Olorunsanya E. O., Adedeji S. O., Anyanwu A. A.

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Food insecurity is a challenge to many nations Nigeria inclusive. It is increasingly becoming a major problem among farm households due to many factors chief of which is low labour productivity. This study therefore profiles the food security status of a representative randomly selected 90 farming households in Chanchaga area of Nigeria’s Guinea Savana using structured interview schedule Descriptive and inferential statistics were used as analytical tools for the study. The results of the descriptive statistics show that majority (35.56%) of the surveyed household heads fall within the age range of 40 – 49 years and (88.89%) are male while (78.89) are married. More than half of the respondents have formal education. About 43.3% of the household heads have farm experience of 11- 20 years and a modal household size class range of 7 – 12. The results further reveal that majority (68.8%) earned more than N12, 500 (22.73 US Dollar) per month. The result of households’ food expenditure pattern reveals that an average household spends about N3, 644.44 (6.63 US Dollar) on food and food items on a weekly basis. The result of the analysis of food diversity intake in the study area shows that 63.33% of the sampled households fell under the low household food diversity intake, while 33 households, representing 36.67% ranks high in term of household food diversity intake. The result for the food security status shows that the sampled population was food secure (58.89%) while 41.11% falls below the recommended threshold. The result for the logistics regression model shows that age, engagement in off farm employment and household size are significant in determining the food security status of farm household in the study area. The three variables were significant at 10%, 5% and 1% respectively. The study therefore recommends among others, that measures be put in place by stakeholders to make agriculture attractive for youth since age is a significant determinant of food security in the study area. Awareness should also be created by stakeholders on the needs for effective family planning methods to be adopted by farm household in the study area.

Keywords: Niger State, Guinea Savana, food diversity, logit regression model and food security

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Authors: Mballa Abanda Luc Aurelien Serge, Henda Gnakate Biba, Kuate Guemo Romaric, Akono Rufine Nicole, Zabotom Yaya Fadel Biba, Petfiang Sidonie, Bella Suzane Jenifer

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The main hypotheses proposed around the definition of the syllable and of music, of the common origin of music and language, should lead the reader to reflect on the cross-cutting questions raised by the debate on the notion of universals in linguistics and musicology. These are objects of controversy, and there lies its interest: the debate raises questions that are at the heart of theories on language. It is an inventive, original, and innovative research thesis. A contribution to the theoretical, musicological, ethno musicological, and linguistic conceptualization of languages, giving rise to the practice of interlocution between the social and cognitive sciences, the activities of artistic creation, and the question of modeling in the human sciences: mathematics, computer science, translation automation, and artificial intelligence. When you apply this theory to any text of a folksong of a world-tone language, you do not only piece together the exact melody, rhythm, and harmonies of that song as if you knew it in advance but also the exact speaking of this language. The author believes that the issue of the disappearance of tonal languages and their preservation has been structurally resolved, as well as one of the greatest cultural equations related to the composition and creation of tonal, polytonal, and random music. The experimentation confirming the theorization, I designed a semi-digital, semi-analog application that translates the tonal languages of Africa (about 2,100 languages) into blues, jazz, world music, polyphonic music, tonal and anatonal music, and deterministic and random music). To test this application, I use music reading and writing software that allows me to collect the data extracted from my mother tongue, which is already modeled in the musical staves saved in the ethnographic (semiotic) dictionary for automatic translation ( volume 2 of the book). The translation is done (from writing to writing, from writing to speech, and from writing to music). Mode of operation: you type a text on your computer, a structured song (chorus-verse), and you command the machine a melody of blues, jazz, and world music or variety, etc. The software runs, giving you the option to choose harmonies, and then you select your melody.

Keywords: language, music, sciences, quantum entenglement

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