Search results for: regional and Great powers

Authors: Michaela Wang

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Since British established colonial settlements across the East Coast, Native Americans have suffered stark socio economic disparities in comparison to their neighboring communities. This paper employs the 1990, 2000, and 2010 United States Decennial Census to assess whether and to what extent the casino economy helped to close this socioeconomic gap between the Mohegan tribe and its surrounding community. These three Decennial Censuses cover two decades, from six years prior to the erection of Mohegan Sun casino to 14 years afterwards, including the Great Recession 2007-2009. Income, employment, education and housing parameters are selected as socio economic indicators. The profitable advent of the Mohegan Sun in 1996 dramatically improved the socio economic status of the Mohegan Tribe between 1990 and 2000. In fact, for most of these indicators––poverty, median household income, employment, home ownership, and car ownership––disparities shifted; tribal socioeconomic parameters improved from well below the level of New London County in 1990, to the same level or above the county rates in 2000. However, economic downturn in 2007-2009 Great Recession impacted Mohegan people remarkably. By 2010, disparities for household income, employment, home ownership, and car ownership returned. The casino bridged socio economic inequalities, but at the face of economic crises, the mono-product economy grew vulnerable.

Keywords: socio economic, indigenous, native American, disparity

Procedia PDF Downloads 114

Authors: Pia Wetzl

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The learning process of students can be optimized by combining online teaching with face-to-face sessions. So-called blended learning offers extensive flexibility as well as contact opportunities with fellow students and teachers. Furthermore, learning can be individualized and self-regulated. The aim of this article is to investigate which factors are necessary for blended learning to be successful. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with students (N = 60) and lecturers (N = 21) from different disciplines at two German universities. The questions focused on the perception of online, face-to-face and blended learning courses. In addition, questions focused on possible optimization potential and obstacles to practical implementation. The results show that on-site presence is very important for blended learning to be successful. If students do not get to know each other on-site, there is a risk of loneliness during the self-learning phases. This has a negative impact on motivation. From the perspective of the lecturers, the willingness of the students to participate in the sessions on-site is low. Especially when there is no obligation to attend, group work is difficult to implement because the number of students attending is too low. Lecturers would like to see more opportunities from the university and its administration to enforce attendance. In their view, this is the only way to ensure the success of blended learning. In addition, they see the conception of blended learning courses as requiring a great deal of time, which they are not always willing to invest. More incentives are necessary to keep the lecturers motivated to develop engaging teaching material. The study identifies factors that can help teachers conceptualize blended learning. It also provides specific implementation advice and identifies potential impacts. This catalogue has great value for the future-oriented development of courses at universities. Future studies could test its practical use.

Keywords: blended learning, higher education, teachers, student learning, qualitative research

Procedia PDF Downloads 69

Authors: Sujatha Shanmugasundaram

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Background: It has been since one year that COVID-19 has emerged into the world. Since then, healthcare professionals facing a great challenge in to fight against this deadly virus. According to World Health Organization (WHO) 2021, it is estimated that more than 131 million confirmed cases and 2million deaths around the world due to this pandemic. Nurses are the frontline workers who play a major role in safeguarding the lives of the people in acute care settings. Evidence suggests that there are numbers of research have been carried out on nurses' and healthcare provider’s experiences during the pandemic. But, unfortunately, there are no or little evidence available on Muslim nurse’s perspective. Hence, this research will investigate the experiences of Muslim nurses working in an acute care setting during the pandemic. Purpose: The purpose of the study is to explore the experiences of Muslim nurses working in an acute setting during the COVID-19 pandemic. Research Methods: A qualitative research approach will be utilized for the study. Semi-structured interview schedule will be used to collect the data. Face to face interviews will be conducted. All interviews will be conducted in Arabic, and it will be audio recorded. Verbatim will be noted. Muslim nurses working in an acute setting will be included in the study. Convenient sampling technique will be used to recruit the participants. Ethical approval will be obtained from the study sites. Strauss and Corbin's thematic analysis will be used to analyze the data. Conclusion: Considering that nurses are the frontline workers, they have a significant role in dealing with this COVID-19. It is a great challenge for the nurses working in an acute care setting. Thus, this study will bring out significant findings that will impact the nursing practice.

Keywords: acute care, COVID-19, experiences, muslim nurses

Procedia PDF Downloads 196

Authors: Sameh El Mahdy

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Recording and documenting archaeological collections, especially photographic documentation, is considered one of the very important matters that museums care about and give great priority, as photographic documentation is of great importance. We monitor some of them for example, Photographs of collectibles are considered evidence and an archival record that proves the condition of the collectibles at various stages. A photo of the possessions is placed on the paper record of the possessions registration. These photos are used in inventorying archaeological collections. These pictures are viewed by researchers and scholars interested in studying these collections. These images are used in advertising campaigns for museum displays of archaeological collections. The Grand Egyptian Museum is considered one of the museums that is a unique model in terms of establishing a specific system that is used when photographing archaeological collections. The Grand Egyptian Museum sets standards for the photos that are taken inside the Grand Egyptian Museum. We mention some of them for example, Pictures must be of high quality. It is necessary to set a color scale for the drawing in order to clarify the dimensions of the collectibles in the picture and also in order to clarify the natural colors of the collectibles without any additions. Putting the numbers of the collectibles in the pictures, especially the number of the Grand Egyptian Museum. To take a good photo of the artifacts in the Grand Egyptian Museum, there are many steps: (1) Create a good location, (2) How to handle the Artifacts. (3) Choose the best position for the artifact, (4) Make the light to create a good photo without shadows to make the photo represent all the artifact details. (5) Be sure of the camera settings, and their quality. All of these steps and other ones are the best criteria for taking the best photo, which helps us in the database to represent the details of the artifact in our interface.

Keywords: grand egyptian museum, photographing, museum collections, registration and documentation

Procedia PDF Downloads 43

Authors: Chao Yi, Cunyue Lu, Lingwei Quan

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Piezoelectric linear motors have the characteristics of great electromagnetic compatibility, high positioning accuracy, compact structure and no deceleration mechanism, which make it promising to applicate in micro-miniature precision drive systems. However, most piezoelectric motors are employed by flexible clamping, which has insufficient rigidity and is difficult to use in rapid positioning. Another problem is that this clamping method seriously affects the vibration efficiency of the vibrating unit. In order to solve these problems, this paper proposes a piezoelectric stack linear motor based on double-end rigid clamping. First, a piezoelectric linear motor with a length of only 35.5 mm is designed. This motor is mainly composed of a motor stator, a driving foot, a ceramic friction strip, a linear guide, a pre-tightening mechanism and a base. This structure is much simpler and smaller than most similar motors, and it is easy to assemble as well as to realize precise control. In addition, the properties of piezoelectric stack are reviewed and in order to obtain the elliptic motion trajectory of the driving head, a driving scheme of the longitudinal-shear composite stack is innovatively proposed. Finally, impedance analysis and speed performance testing were performed on the piezoelectric linear motor prototype. The motor can measure speed up to 25.5 mm/s under the excitation of signal voltage of 120 V and frequency of 390 Hz. The result shows that the proposed piezoelectric stacked linear motor obtains great performance. It can run smoothly in a large speed range, which is suitable for various precision control in medical images, aerospace, precision machinery and many other fields.

Keywords: piezoelectric stack, linear motor, rigid clamping, elliptical trajectory

Procedia PDF Downloads 153

Authors: Esra Ipekci, Murad Aydin Sanda

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The flora of Bozdağ (Konya) and its surroundings were investigated between 2003 and 2005 years; 700 herbarium specimens belonging to 482 taxa, 257 genera and 62 families were collected and identified from the area. The families which have the most taxa in research area are Asteraceae 67 (14.0%), Fabaceae 60 (12.6%), Lamiaceae 57 (11.9%), Brassicaceae 34 (7.1%), Poaceae 30 (6.3%), Rosaceae 24 (5.0%), Caryophyllaceae 23 (4.8%), Liliaceae 19 (4.0%), Boraginaceae 17 (3.6%), Apiaceae 13 (2.7%). The research area is in the district of Konya and is in the B4 square according to the Grid System. The phytogeographic elements are represented in the study area as follows; Mediterranean 72 (14.9%), Irano-Turanian 91 (18.9%), Euro-Siberian 21 (4.3%). The phytogeographic regions of 273 (56.6%) taxa are either multi regional or unknown. The number of endemic taxa is 79 (16.3%).

Keywords: Sizma, Bozdağ, Flora, Konya, Turkey

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Authors: Jin Chuhao

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Sustainable design is the key for the human to realize the harmonious development. However, sustainable design requires localization that combines their own regional culture’s characteristics, then forms the most common cultural identity. As a result, the concept of sustainable design integrates into social behavior and promotes the harmonious development. Chinese Confucian doctrine is one of the important thoughts of human culture, which is accepted by more and more people. This paper summarizes the sustainable concept from the Chinese traditional culture and local design, discusses how they change the life of human being and produces enlightenment and significance to China and world.

Keywords: sustainable design, Chinese traditional culture, harmonious development, Confucianism

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Authors: Rubina Waseem

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The research focuses on the major crises and major effects, largely unforeseen, to counter international security concerns. At the close of 2019, the Covid-19 pandemic broke out in the city of Wuhan in Hubei province, China. The coronavirus was initially seen as an inchoate danger, aimed at striking people randomly. Owing to the extraordinary transmissibility of the virus and the highly knitted nature of the international political world, the Covid-19 soon became a formidable global challenge. The once hustling and bustling avenues, city centers, and market places became deserted. Lockdown, self-isolation, hygiene and safety, social-distancing, and job losses became a new norm. The national economies gradually plunged into crisis. The pandemic has so far caused over 33 million cases and one million deaths. The virus continues to devastate social life, as there is yet no therapeutic available. While the world was preoccupied addressing the human and social toll, the pandemic has exacerbated despair, mistrust, and friction in international relations, diplomacy, and strategy. The research will discuss how the coronavirus has accelerated the trends of transition in the postwar security order constructed by the United States. China, Russia, European Union, and other lesser regional players are now increasingly changing their security orientations to undermine the United States standing and authority in world politics. The systemic level analyses will be adopted as a methodology to broaden the lens of the study, and the research will analyze the prevalent global power distribution, whether vulnerable or exposed. The trends of parochial nationalism and isolationism are increasingly replacing multilateralism and collectivism. Yet worse, military posturing is assuming a greater role in international interactions. Taken together, the pandemic has worsened the prospects of international peace and stability by mounting equal pressure across the channels of international relations, diplomacy, and strategy. It is yet unclear which country or collectivity will face the real brunt. Despite this jaded and pessimistic view, the lingering pandemic has the potential to reinforce cooperation, multilateralism, and collectivism in the realm of international politics. There is a renewed momentum for global efforts against the pandemic. States and societies are coming closer to act as a whole. Equally important, the world leaders are feeling tempted to revisit the traditional conception of national security. In this regard, they are exploring the possibility of according preference to non-traditional security issues. In essence, the research concludes that Covid-19 has put the international political system under a great trial.

Keywords: covid-19, global challenges, international politics, international security

Procedia PDF Downloads 164

Authors: Syed A. Alam, Arifa Bilal

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A propagated wave of barbaric and injustice Muslims has been popularized by the International powers in the recent past to divert the winning force of Muslims in the Afghan war against Russia. It is a tactic to demolish the power of Jihaad and the religious image of Islam. The propaganda picturized that Muslims were not peaceful or trustworthy people by displaying some brutal actions of a little number of funded people. The word ‘Islam’ is titled as ‘complete codes of life’ because of the peacefulness and trustworthiness of these codes for whole lives. These codes help the whole of humanity beyond the boundaries of any religion, sect, creed, color, geography, or race to lead their lives peacefully and trustfully. The human beings who act upon these codes of life, Islam, can be called Muslims. Those people are not Muslims who do not act upon these codes of life. History is evident that the Muslims proved themselves, collectively, that they are acting upon these codes of life. In this article, an analytical study was conducted regarding popular treaties signed between Muslims and non-Muslim communities in different times and regions on different matters. The study included the treaties of Hudabiyah Treaty, Mithaq-e-Madinah, Lucknow Pact, Indus Water Pact, Air Space Violation Treaty, Gallipoli Treaty, Amity Treaty, US-Russia Peace Treaty, and Wadi Arab Peace Treaty. After critical analysis of these treaties, it can be clearly concluded that Muslims fulfilled these treatises, but non-Muslim stakeholders of these treaties broke these treaties in one aspect or many and in the start or later. It can be concluded that the history of treaties between Muslim and non-Muslim communities declared that Muslims had fulfilled these treaties and pacts, so they are more trustworthy and peaceful people.

Keywords: fulfilled treaties, Muslim and non-muslim pacts, Islam and peacefulness, Islam and treaties

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Authors: Abdulrahman Abdulrahman

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A side weir is a hydraulic structure set into the side of a channel. This structure is used for water level control in channels, to divert flow from a main channel into a side channel when the water level in the main channel exceeds a specific limit and as storm overflows from urban sewerage system. Computation of water surface over the side weirs is essential to determine the flow rate of the side weir. Analytical solutions for water surface profile along rectangular side weir are available only for the special cases of rectangular and trapezoidal channels considering constant specific energy. In this paper, a rectangular side weir located in a combined (trapezoidal with exponential) channel was considered. Expanding binominal series of integer and fraction powers and the using of reduction formula of cosine function integrals, a general analytical formula was obtained for water surface profile along a side weir in a combined (trapezoidal with exponential) channel. Since triangular, rectangular, trapezoidal and parabolic cross-sections are special cases of the combined cross section, the derived formula, is applicable to triangular, rectangular, trapezoidal cross-sections as analytical solution and semi-analytical solution to parabolic cross-section with maximum relative error smaller than 0.76%. The proposed solution should be a useful engineering tool for the evaluation and design of side weirs in open channel.

Keywords: analytical solution, combined channel, exponential channel, side weirs, trapezoidal channel, water surface profile

Procedia PDF Downloads 237

Authors: Majority Oji

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The print media played a major role in the agitation for self-rule in Nigeria in the 1950s. It remains as a bastion of hope in the dark days of military rule in the country. But in the troubled waters of Nigeria’s politics, accusing fingers are pointed in the direction of the print media as problematic to the political development of the nation. Thus, Nigeria as a nation is torn between the paralyzing forces of political instability and the building powers of political stability. The press assigned a constitutional role to hold everyone, especially government officials accountable to the public, appears to be at the center of these forays. The paper takes a look at the strength and weakness of the print media as a stabilizing or destabilizing agent to the political development of Nigeria. Engaging in this study is essential and the findings fundamental to the sustainability of Nigeria’s nascent democracy. The study draws on the content analysis method. News items from major newspapers across the country were content analyzed to test the validity of the claims that the press serve as agent of political stability or political instability, and whether to accept or reject such claims. The study found that the press has published more stories that unite the people politically as found in the tested hypothesis which shows that P>0.05 implying that media publications are not significant to political instability of the nation regardless of the number of published news stories. The study recommends that all issues relating to professional and ethical standards that affect the practice of journalism in the print media should be addressed by regulatory bodies to starve of chances of information that could lead to intolerance being peddled in the print media.

Keywords: Nigeria, political instability, political stability, print media

Procedia PDF Downloads 254

Authors: Hanadi Mohamed Shawgi Gamal, Ashraf Mohamed Ahmed Abdalla

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Sudan is endowed by a great diversity of tree species; nevertheless, the utilization of wood resources has traditionally concentrated on a few number of species. With the great variation in the climatic zones of Sudan, great variations are expected in the anatomical properties between and within species. This variation needs to be fully explored in order to suggest the best uses for the species. Modern research on wood has substantiated that the climatic condition where the species grow has significant effect on wood properties. Understanding the extent of variability of wood is important because the uses for each kind of wood are related to its characteristics; furthermore, the suitability or quality of wood for a particular purpose is determined by the variability of one or more of these characteristics. The present study demonstrates the effect of rainfall zones in some anatomical properties of Acacia seyal var. seyal growing in Sudan. For this purpose, twenty healthy trees were collected randomly from two zones (ten trees per zone). One zone with relatively low rainfall (273mm annually) which represented by North Kordofan state and White Nile state and the second with relatively high rainfall (701 mm annually) represented by Blue Nile state and South Kordofan state. From each sampled tree, a stem disc (3 cm thick) was cut at 10% from stem height. One radius was obtained in central stem dices. Two representative samples were taken from each disc, one at 10% distance from pith to bark, the second at 90% in order to represent the juvenile and mature wood. The investigated anatomical properties were fibers length, fibers and vessels diameter, lumen diameter, and wall thickness as well as cell proportions. The result of the current study reveals significant differences between zones in mature wood vessels diameter and wall thickness, as well as juvenile wood vessels, wall thickness. The higher values were detected in the drier zone. Significant differences were also observed in juvenile wood fiber length, diameter as well as wall thickness. Contrary to vessels diameter and wall thickness, the fiber length, diameter as well as wall thickness were decreased in the drier zone. No significant differences have been detected in cell proportions of juvenile and mature wood. The significant differences in some fiber and vessels dimension lead to expect significant differences in wood density. From these results, Acacia seyal var. seyal seems to be well adapted with the change in rainfall and may survive in any rainfall zone.

Keywords: Acacia seyal var. seyal, anatomical properties, rainfall zones, variation

Procedia PDF Downloads 149

Authors: Adel Ben Mohamed

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The widespread use of the English language around the world has pushed many countries to consider such a language as a top priority in their educational system. One of these countries is the Sultanate of Oman. In this frame, the Omani government has allocated huge budgets as well as resources in order to implement the English language in its education system. The importance of English is prevalent in Oman. This is clearly noticeable through remarkable signs. For instance, most of the official documents in Oman are in both Arabic (the mother tongue) or English. In addition to that, there is a mushroom of English language institutes all over the country. In 2020, there are over fourteen English language institutes and centers in Oman (esl base, 2020). Moreover, these days most of the Omani parents are sending their children for tuition to learn the English language. Hence, it is apparent that the Sultanate of Oman is giving a great value to the importance of English in attaining various goals. However, in the world of work, what is more, important today is fluency rather than accuracy. Therefore, many people go for communication English rather than technical English. For example, Oman Daily Observer newspaper published a job advertisement of a sale assistant on 23rd of November 2020, recommended that speaking very well English is a must to be hired for the position (Oman Observer, 2020). In line with this and because of the great importance of the English language in Oman, the ministry of higher education has placed much emphasis on this official foreign language. Therefore, in the Omani educational system, all post -secondary students must sit for one year in one of the higher education institutions as a General Foundation Programmes (GFP) prior to moving to their respective majors in diploma level. Accordingly, the implementation of any teaching approach is determined by different factors: some are directly linked to teachers while others are related to organizational variables.

Keywords: teaching approaches, communicative, ability, investigating

Procedia PDF Downloads 93

Authors: Seemabahen Dave, Maria Varua, Basant Maheshwari, Roger Packham

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The declining groundwater levels and quality are acknowledged to be affecting the well-being of farmers especially those located in the semi-arid regions where groundwater is the only source of water for domestic and agricultural use. Further, previous studies have identified the need to examine the quality of life of farmers beyond economic parameters and for a shift in setting rural development policy goals to the perspective of beneficiaries. To address these gaps, this paper attempts to ascertain the subjective wellbeing of farmers from two semi-arid regions of India. The study employs the integrated conceptual framework for the assessment of individual and regional subjective wellbeing developed by Larson in 2009 at Australia. The method integrates three domains i.e. society, natural environment and economic services consisting of 37 wellbeing factors. The original set of 27 revised wellbeing factors identified by John Ward is further revised in current study to make it more region specific. Generally, researchers in past studies select factors of wellbeing based on literature and assign the weights arbitrary. In contrast, the present methodology employs a unique approach by asking respondents to identify the factors most important to their wellbeing and assign weights of importance based on their responses. This method minimises the selection bias and assesses the wellbeing from farmers’ perspectives. The primary objectives of this study are to identify key wellbeing attributes and to assess the influence of groundwater on subjective wellbeing of farmers. Findings from 507 farmers from 11 villages of two watershed areas of Rajasthan and Gujarat, India chosen randomly and were surveyed using a structured face-to-face questionnaire are presented in this paper. The results indicate that significant differences exist in the ranking of wellbeing factors at individual, village and regional levels. The top five most important factors in the study areas include electricity, irrigation infrastructure, housing, land ownership, and income. However, respondents are also most dissatisfied with these factors and correspondingly perceive a high influence of groundwater on them. The results thus indicate that intervention related to improvement of groundwater availability and quality will greatly improve the satisfaction level of well-being factors identified by the farmers.

Keywords: groundwater, farmers, semi-arid regions, subjective wellbeing

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Authors: Ayyoub Jamali

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At the first glance, it seems that the African Court on Human and People’s Rights has achieved a tremendous development in the protection of human rights in Africa. Since its first judgement in 2009, the court has taken a robust approach/ assertive stance, showing its strength by finding states to be in violation of the Africana Charter and other human rights treaties. This paper seeks to discuss various challenges and resistance that the Court has faced since the adoption of the Founding Protocol to the Establishment of the African Court on Human and People’s Rights. The outcome of the paper casts shadow on the legitimacy and effectiveness of the African Court as the guarantor of human rights within the African continent.

Keywords: African Court on Human and People’s Rights, African Union, African regional human rights system, compliance

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Authors: M. Walmsley, S. Elmatarri, S. Mannion

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Introduction: Self-inflicted injury is a recognised cause of major trauma in adults and is an independent indicator of a reduced functional outcome compared to non-intentional major trauma. There is little literature available on the inpatient mental health (MH) management of this vulnerable group. A retrospective review was conducted of inpatient MH management of major trauma patients admitted to a UK regional Major Trauma Centre (MTC). Their outcomes were compared to all major trauma patients. This group of patients required multiple MH interventions whilst on the Major Trauma Ward (MTW) and a had worse functional outcome compared to non-intentional trauma. Method: The national TARN (Trauma Audit and Research Network) database was used to identify patients admitted to a regional MTC over a 2-year period from June 2018 to July 2020. Patients with an ISS (Injury Severity Score) of greater than 15 with a mechanism of either self-harm or high-risk behavior were included for further analysis. Inpatient medical notes were reviewed for MH interventions on the MTW. Further outcomes, including mortality, length of stay (LOS) and Glasgow Outcome Score (GOS) were compared with all major trauma patients for the same time period. Results: A total of 60 patients were identified in the time period and of those, 27 spent time on the MTW. A total of 23 (85%) had a prior MH diagnosis, with 11 (41%) under the care of secondary MH services. Adequate inpatient records for review were available for 24 patients. During their inpatient stay, 8 (33%) were reviewed on the ward by the inpatient MH team. There were 10 interventions required for 6 (25%) patients on the MTW including, sections under the Mental Health Act, transfer to specialist MH facility, pharmacological sedation and security being called to the MTW. When compared to all major trauma patients, those admitted due to self-harm or high-risk behavior had a statistically significantly higher ISS (31.43 vs 24.22, p=0.0001) and LOS (23.51d vs 16.06d, p=0.002). Functional outcomes using the GOS were reduced in this group of patients, GOS 5 (low disability) (51.66% vs. 61.01%) and they additionally had a higher level of mortality, GOS 1 (15.00% vs 11.67%). Discussion: Intentional self-harm is a recognised cause of major trauma in adults and this patient group sustains more severe injuries, requiring a longer hospital stay with worse outcomes compared to all major trauma patients. Inpatient MH interventions are required for a significant proportion of these patients and therefore, there needs to be a close relationship with MH services. There is limited available evidence for how this patient group is best managed as an inpatient to aid their recovery and further work is needed on how outcomes in this vulnerable group can be improved.

Keywords: adult major trauma, attempted suicide, self-inflicted major trauma, inpatient management

Procedia PDF Downloads 183

Authors: Adel Ahmadi Hosseini, Fatemeh Tavanaei, Alessandro Navarra, Ferri Hassani

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Mining engineering, as a part of geoscience, must address modern concerns. Traditional mining methods incorporate drill and blast technologies, which are followed by different issues, including excessive noise, vibration, air pollution, and safety hazards. Over the past two decades, mining engineers have sought alternative solutions to move from drill and blast to continuous methods to prevent such issues and improve sustainability in mining. Among the suggested methods, microwave treatment has shown promising results by creating micro/macro cracks in the rock structure prior to the operations. This research utilizes an energy-based analysis methodology to evaluate the efficiency of the microwave treatment in improving mining operations. The data analysis shows that increasing the input microwave energy dosage intensifies the rock damage. However, this approach can decrease the energy efficiency of the method by more than 50% in some cases. In this study, rock samples were treated with three power levels (3 kW, 7 kW, and 12 kW) and two energy dosages (20 kWh/t and 50 kWh/t), resulting in six conditions. To evaluate the impact of microwave treatment on the geomechanical behavior of the rocks, Unconfined Compressive Strength (UCS) tests were conducted on the microwave-treated samples, yielding stress-strain curves. Using the stress-strain curves, the effect of the different powers and energy dosages of microwaves are discussed. This research shows the potential of using microwave treatment to lead the industry to more sustainable mining.

Keywords: microwave treatment, microwave energy dosage, sustainable mining, rock fragmentation

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Authors: Fongang Robert Tichuck

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This paper reports the findings of a study undertaken to assess the socio-economic and environmental impacts of mining in Bertoua Eastern Region of Cameroon. In addition to sampling community perceptions of mining activities, the study prescribes interventions that can assist in mitigating the negative impacts of mining. Marked environmental and interrelated socio-economic improvements can be achieved within regional artisanal gold mines if the government provides technical support to local operators, regulations are improved, and illegal mining activity is reduced.

Keywords: gold mining, socio-economic, mining activities, local people

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Authors: Bryan Jenkins

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Introduction: The expansion of irrigation in the Canterbury region has led to the sustainability limits being reached for water availability and the cumulative effects of land use intensification. The institutional framework under New Zealand’s Resource Management Act was found to be an inadequate basis for managing water at sustainability limits. An alternative paradigm for water management was developed based on collaborative governance and nested adaptive systems. This led to the formulation and implementation of the Canterbury Water Management Strategy. Methods: The nested adaptive system approach was adopted. Sustainability issues were identified at multiple spatial and time scales and defined potential failure pathways for the water resource system. These included biophysical and socio-economic issues such as water availability, cumulative effects on water quality due to land use intensification, projected changes in climate, public health, institutional arrangements, economic outcomes and externalities, and, social effects of changing technology. This led to the derivation of sustainability strategies to address these failure pathways. The collaborative governance approach involved stakeholder participation and community engagement to decide on a regional strategy; regional and zone committees of community and rūnanga (Māori groups) members to develop implementation programmes for the strategy; and, farmer collectives for operational management. Findings: The strategy identified improvements in the efficiency of use of water already allocated was more effective in improving water availability than a reliance on increased storage alone. New forms of storage with less adverse impacts were introduced, such as managed aquifer recharge and off-river storage. Reductions of nutrients from land use intensification by improving management practices has been a priority. Solutions packages for addressing the degradation of vulnerable lakes and rivers have been prepared. Biodiversity enhancement projects have been initiated. Greater involvement of Māori has led to the incorporation of kaitiakitanga (resource stewardship) into implementation programmes. Emerging issues are the need for improved integration of surface water and groundwater interactions, increased use of modelling of water and financial outcomes to guide decision making, and, equity in allocation among existing users as well as between existing and future users. Conclusions: However, sustainability analysis indicates that the proposed levels of management interventions are not sufficient to achieve community targets for water management. There is a need for more proactive recovery and rehabilitation measures. Managing to environmental limits is not sufficient, rather managing adaptive cycles is needed. Better measurement and management of water use efficiency is required. Proposed implementation packages are not sufficient to deliver desired water quality outcomes. Greater attention to targets important to environmental and recreational interests is needed to maintain trust in the collaborative process. Implementation programmes don’t adequately address climate change adaptations and greenhouse gas mitigation. Affordability is a constraint on adaptive capacity of farmers and communities. More funding mechanisms are required to implement proactive measures. The legislative and institutional framework needs to be changed to incorporate water framework legislation, regional sustainability strategies and water infrastructure coordination.

Keywords: collaborative governance, irrigation management, nested adaptive systems, sustainable water management

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Authors: Ephraim Daka, Maxim Kotsemir

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The National system Innovation (NSI) have recently proliferated as a vehicle for addressing poverty and national competitiveness in the developing countries. While several governments in Sub-Saharan Africa have adopted the developed countries’ models of innovation to local conditions, the Zambian case is rather unique. This study highlights conceptual and socioeconomic challenges directed to the performances of the NSI. The paper analyses science and technology strategies with the inclusion of “innovation” and its effect towards improving socioeconomic elements. The authors reviewed STI policy and national strategy documents, followed by interviews compared to economical regional and national data sets. The NSI and its related to inter-linkages and support mechanism to socioeconomic development were explored.

Keywords: national system of innovation, socioeconomics, development, Zambia

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Authors: Sofie Dewayani, Pratiwi Retnaningdyah

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Literacy practice is situated within the identity enactment in a particular time and space. The literacy practices in public places, ranging from city parks, urban slums to city roads are meeting places of discursive practices produced by dynamic interactions, and sometimes contestations, of social powers and capitals. The present paper examines the ways the literacy activists construct their sense of space in attempts to develop possibilities for literacy programs as they are sent to work with marginalized communities far away from their hometowns in Indonesia. In particular, this paper analyzes the activists’ reflections of identity enactment - othering, familiarity, and sense of comfort - as they are trying to make meaning of the communities’ literacy capitals and practices in the process of adapting with the communities. Data collected for this paper were travel diaries - serving as literacy narratives - obtained from a literacy residency program sponsored by the Indonesian Ministry of Education and Culture. The residency program itself involved 30 youths (18 to 30 years old) to work with marginalized communities in literacy activism programs. This paper analyzes the written narratives of four focal participants using Bakhtin’s chronotopes - the configurations of time and space - that figure into the youth’s meaning-making of literacy as well as their exercise of power and identity. Follow-up interviews were added to enrich the analysis. The analysis considers the youth’s ‘moment of departure’ a critical point in their reconstructions of self and space. This paper expands the discussions of literacy discourse and spatiality while lending its supports to literacy activism in highly diverse multicultural settings.

Keywords: chronotopes, discourse, identity, literacy activism

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Authors: Samuel Capintero, Ole H. Petersen

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This paper examines the utilization of public-private partnerships for the building and operation of wastewater treatment plants. Our research focuses on risk allocation in this kind of projects. Our analysis builds on more than hundred wastewater treatment plants built and operated through PPP projects in Aragon (Spain). The paper illustrates the consequences of an inadequate management of construction risk and an unsuitable transfer of demand risk in wastewater treatment plants. It also shows that the involvement of many public bodies at local, regional and national level further increases the complexity of this kind of projects and make time delays more likely.

Keywords: wastewater, treatment plants, PPP, construction

Procedia PDF Downloads 652

Authors: Bismark Agbemble

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This paper talks about how project-based learning (PBL) is being infused or implemented in the educational sphere of Africa. The paper navigates through the liminal aspects of PBL as a pedagogical approach to bridge the divide between theoretical knowledge and its application within school curriculums. Given that contextualized learning can be embodied, the abstract vehemently discusses that PBL creates an opportunity for students to work on projects that are of academic relevance in their local settings. It presents PBL’s growth of critical thinking, problem-solving, cooperation, and communications, which is vital in getting young citizens to prepare for the 21st-century revolution. In addition, the abstract stresses the possibility that PBL could become a stimulus to creativity and innovation wherein learning becomes motivated from within by intrinsic motivations. The paper advocates for a holistic approach that is based on teacher’s professional development with the provision of adequate infrastructural facilities and resource allocation, thus ensuring the success and sustainability of PBLs in African education systems. In the end, the paper positions this as a transformative educational methodology that has great potential in helping to shape an African generation that is prepared for a great future.

Keywords: student centered pedagogy, constructivist learning theory, self-directed learning, active exploration, real world challenges, STEM, 21st century skills, curriculum design, classroom management, project base learning curriculum, global intelligence, social and communication skills, transferable skills, critical thinking, investigatable learning, life skills

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Authors: Martha Lilia Del Rio Duque, Michelle Bonatti, Katharina Loehr, Marcos Lana, Tatiana Rodriguez, Stefan Sieber

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Nowadays, most agricultural practices can reduce the ability of ecosystems to provide goods and services. To enhance environmentally friendly food production and to maximize social and economic benefits, sustainable land use systems (SLUS) are one of the most critical strategies increasingly/strongly promoted by donors organizations, international agencies, and policymakers. This process involves the question of how SLUS can be scaled out also large-scale landscapes and not merely isolated experiments. As SLUS are context-specific strategies, diffusion and replication of successful SLUS in Colombia required the identification of main factors that facilitate this scaling out process. We applied a case study approach to investigate the scaling out process of SLUS in cocoa and livestock sector within peacebuilding territories in Colombia, specifically, in Cesar and Caqueta region. These two regions are contrasting, but both have a current trend of increasing land degradation. Presently in Colombia, Caqueta is one of the most deforested departments, and Cesar has some most degraded soils. Following a qualitative research approach, 19 semi-structured interviews and 2 focus groups were conducted with agroforestry experts in both regions to analyze (1) what does it mean a sustainable land use system in Cocoa/Livestock, specifically in Caqueta or Cesar and (2) to identify the key elements at the level of the following dimensions: biophysical, economic and profitability, market, social, policy and institutions that can explain how and why SLUS are replicated and spread among more producers. The Interviews were coded and analyzed using MAXQDA to identify, analyze and report patterns (themes) within data. As the results show, key themes, among which: premium market, solid regional markets and price stability, water availability and management, generational renewal, land use knowledge and diversification, producer organization and certifications are crucial to understand how the SLUS can have an impact across large-scale landscapes and how the scaling out process can be set up best in order to be successful across different contexts. The analysis further reveals which key factors might affect SLUS efficiency.

Keywords: agroforestry, cocoa sector, Colombia, livestock sector, sustainable land use system

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Authors: Claire Biasco, Thaier Hayajneh

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A smart city is the integration of digital technologies in urban environments to enhance the quality of life. Smart cities capture real-time information from devices, sensors, and network data to analyze and improve city functions such as traffic analysis, public safety, and environmental impacts. Current smart cities face controversy due to their reliance on real-time data tracking and surveillance. Internet of Things (IoT) devices and blockchain technology are converging to reshape smart city infrastructure away from its centralized model. Connecting IoT data to blockchain applications would create a peer-to-peer, decentralized model. Furthermore, blockchain technology powers the ability for IoT device data to shift from the ownership and control of centralized entities to individuals or communities with Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs). In the context of smart cities, DAOs can govern cyber-physical systems to have a greater influence over how urban services are being provided. This paper will explore how the core components of a smart city now apply to DAOs. We will also analyze different definitions of DAOs to determine their most important aspects in relation to smart cities. Both categorizations will provide a solid foundation to conduct a cybersecurity assessment of DAOs in smart cities. It will identify the benefits and risks of adopting DAOs as they currently operate. The paper will then provide several mitigation methods to combat cybersecurity risks of DAO integrations. Finally, we will give several insights into what challenges will be faced by DAO and blockchain spaces in the coming years before achieving a higher level of maturity.

Keywords: blockchain, IoT, smart city, DAO

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Authors: Diep Thanh Tung

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This study aims to measure technical efficiency and examine productivity performance of livestock production in regions of Vietnam based on a panel data of 2008–2012. After four years, although there are improvements in efficiency of some regions, low technical efficiency, poor performance of productivity and its compositions are dominant features in almost regions. Households which much depend on livestock income in agricultural income or agricultural income in total income are more vulnerable than the others in term of livestock production.

Keywords: data envelopment analysis, meta-frontier, Malmquist, technical efficiency, livestock production

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Authors: Serges Mendomo Meye, Li Guowei, Shen Zhenzhong, Gan Lei, Xu Liqun

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Due to the characteristics of high-heap and large-volume, the complex layers of waste and the high-water level of leachate, environmental pollution, and slope instability are easily produced. It is therefore of great significance to research the heterogeneous seepage field and stability of landfills. This paper focuses on the heterogeneous characteristics of the landfill piles and analyzes the seepage field and slope stability of the landfill using statistical and numerical analysis methods. The calculated results are compared with the field measurement and literature research data to verify the reliability of the model, which may provide the basis for the design, safe, and eco-friendly operation of the landfill. The main innovations are as follows: (1) The saturated-unsaturated seepage equation of heterogeneous soil is derived theoretically. The heterogeneous landfill is regarded as composed of infinite layers of homogeneous waste, and a method for establishing the heterogeneous seepage model is proposed. Then the formation law of the stagnant water level of heterogeneous landfills is studied. It is found that the maximum stagnant water level of landfills is higher when considering the heterogeneous seepage characteristics, which harms the stability of landfills. (2) Considering the heterogeneity weight and strength characteristics of waste, a method of establishing a heterogeneous stability model is proposed, and it is extended to the three-dimensional stability study. It is found that the distribution of heterogeneous characteristics has a great influence on the stability of landfill slope. During the operation and management of the landfill, the reservoir bank should also be considered while considering the capacity of the landfill.

Keywords: heterogeneous characteristics, leachate levels, saturated-unsaturated seepage, seepage field, slope stability

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Authors: Layla Mujahed

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Amman, the capital of Jordan, is the main political, economic, social and cultural center of Jordan and beyond. The city faces multitude demographic challenges related to the unstable political situation in the surrounded countries. It has regional and local migrants who left their homes to find better life in the capital. This resulted with random and unequaled population distribution. Some districts have high population and pressure on the infrastructure and services more than other districts.Government works to resolve this challenge in compliance with 100 Cities Resilience Framework (CRF). Amman participated in this framework as a member in December 2014 to work in achieving the four goals: health and welfare, infrastructure and utilities, economy and education as well as administration and government.  Previous research studies lack in studying Amman resilient work in neighborhood scale and the population growth as resilient challenge. For that, this study focuses on Al-Thahabiah neighborhood in Shafa Badran district in Amman. This paper studies the reasons and drivers behind this population growth during the selected period in this area then provide strategies to improve the resilient work in neighborhood scale. The methodology comprises of primary and secondary data. The primary data consist of interviews with chief officer in the executive part in Great Amman Municipality and resilient officer. The secondary data consist of papers, journals, newspaper, articles and book’s reading. The other part of data consists of maps and statistical data which describe the infrastructural and social situation in the neighborhood and district level during the studying period. Based upon those data, more detailed information will be found, e.g., the centralizing position of population and the provided infrastructure for them. This will help to provide these services and infrastructure to other neighborhoods and enhance population distribution. This study develops an analytical framework to assess urban demographical time series in accordance with the criteria of CRF to make accurate detailed projections on the requirements for the future development in the neighborhood scale and organize the human requirements for affordable quality housing, employment, transportation, health and education in this neighborhood to improve the social relations between its inhabitants and the community. This study highlights on the localization of resilient work in neighborhood scale and spread the resilient knowledge related to the shortage of its research in Jordan. Studying the resilient work from population growth challenge perspective helps improve the facilities provide to the inhabitants and improve their quality of life.

Keywords: city resilience framework, demography, population growth, stakeholders, urban resilience

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Authors: Haitham Sarhan

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The experience of Mahmoud Darwish’s poetry represents one of the leading Arabic creative experiences because of its cultural specificity which is linked to the question of Palestine and its people. The poet Mahmoud Darwish does not stop there, but also reaches out to the whole of the cosmic and openness of the universal human experience. His poetry is rooted in a creative period, and was able to surpass its time. Mahmoud Darwish’s poetry contains diverse metaphors and worlds of genres, which overextends from direct romance to the lattice resistance and further stretches to the imaginary world and to the grand narratives. The poem "Identity Card" was published in his collections "Olive Leaves" and was issued in 1963. This collection highlighted the poems which included a revolutionary position, and formed a 'manifesto' and the statement of the Palestinian resistance, which represented the league of poets of Palestine. This poem has contributed along with other poems in creating a flame of resistance and increased it in the hearts of the Palestinian people. It also exercised considerable influence in the Arab world through what has been wrought from emotional responses and revolutionary impact which still remains. Moreover, this poem has succeeded with other resistance poems and postmodern poets like Nizar Qabbani in bringing modern poetry and culturally transmitted it among the Arab peoples and the masses. In spite of the fact that the poet Mahmoud Darwish exceeded this poem creatively through his other great works, "Identity Card" still has a great effect on peoples past memory’s and present. This need to hear this poem in Mahmoud Darwish’s poetic readings reflects peoples frustration and anger. It is safe to say that it is enticing people to this present day. This revolutionary poem had and still has a magical effect on Arab world.

Keywords: Arab contemporary poetry, identity, memory, argumentation

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Authors: Leyi Wang

Abstract:

The effect of religion on conflicts is usually over-focused. Religion is not the root cause of conflicts. There are always social, political or economic factors pushing the acceleration of conflicts. Meanwhile, the charisma of religion on calling for adherents is often utilized by political leaders as a tool of providing legitimacy to the initiating of violence and mobilizing the public during conflicts. What people identify from the connections between religion and conflicts is fake. There are some strategies used by politicians to upgrade the conflicts into violence. Consequently, there are some assumptions of which try to limit the religion’s effects on accelerating conflicts. This essay aims to discuss the roles of religion in international relations and argues that the religion difference is not the real source of conflicts in the globe, by reviewing the relevant literature for understanding the research background and gap of this topic. Also, this essay will suggest some implementations on dealing with the regional conflicts.

Keywords: religion, conflicts, criticism, international relations

Procedia PDF Downloads 186