Search results for: public sector organization

Authors: Luc Beal

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Introduction. Among the stakeholders involved in the tourist decision-making process, the accommodation provider has the potential to play a crucial role in raising awareness, disseminating information, and thus influencing the tourists’ choice of transportation. Since the early days of tourism, the accommodation provider has consistently served as the primary point of contact with the destination, and consequently, as the primary source of information for visitors. By offering accommodation and hospitality, the accommodation provider has evolved into a trusted third party, functioning as an 'ambassador' capable of recommending the finest attractions and activities available at the destination. In contemporary times, when tourists plan their trips, they make a series of consecutive decisions, with the most important decision being to lock-in the accommodation reservation for the earliest days, so as to secure a safe arrival. Consequently, tourists place their trust in the accommodation provider not only for lodging but also for recommendations regarding restaurants, activities, and more. Thus, the latter has the opportunity to inform and influence tourists well in advance of their arrival, particularly during the booking phase, namely when it comes to selecting their mode of transportation. The pressing need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions within the tourism sector presents an opportunity to underscore the influence that accommodation providers have historically exerted on tourist decision-making . Methodology A participatory research, currently ongoing in south-western France, in collaboration with a nationwide hotel group and several destination management organizations, aims at examining the factors that determine the ability of accommodation providers to influence tourist transportation choices. Additionally, the research seeks to identify the conditions that motivate accommodation providers to assume a proactive role, such as fostering customer loyalty, reduced distribution costs, and financial compensation mechanisms. A panel of hotels participated in a series of focus group sessions with tourists, with the objective of modeling the decision-making process of tourists regarding their choice of transportation mode and to identify and quantify the types and levels of incentives liable to encourage environmentally responsible choices. Individual interviews were also conducted with hotel staff, including receptionists and guest relations officers, to develop a framework for interactions with tourists during crucial decision-making moments related to transportation choices. The primary finding of this research indicates that financial incentives significantly outweigh symbolic incentives in motivating tourists to opt for eco-friendly modes of transportation. Another noteworthy result underscores the crucial impact of organizational conditions governing interactions with tourists both before and during their stay. These conditions greatly influence the ability to raise awareness at key decision-making moments and the possibility of gathering data about the chosen transportation mode during the stay. In conclusion, this research has led to the formulation of practical recommendations for accommodation providers and Destination Marketing Organizations (DMOs). These recommendations pertain to communication protocols with tourists, the collection of evidences confirming chosen transportation modes, and the implementation of necessary incentives. Through these measures, accommodation provider can assume a central role in guiding tourists towards making responsible choices in terms of transportation.

Keywords: accommodation provider, trusted third party, environmentally-friendly transportation, green house gas, tourist decision-making process

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Authors: Yoseph Halala Handiso, Zewdi Gebregziabher

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Background: Malnutrition in hospitalized patients remains a major public health problem in both developed and developing countries. Despite the fact that malnourished patients are more prone to stay longer in hospital, there is limited data regarding the magnitude of malnutrition and its effect on length of stay among surgical patients in Ethiopia, while nutritional assessment is also often a neglected component of the health service practice. Objective: This study aimed to assess the prevalence of malnutrition at admission and its effect on the length of hospital stay among adult surgical patients in Wolaita Sodo University Comprehensive Specialized Hospital, South Ethiopia, 2022. Methods: A facility-based prospective cohort study was conducted among 398 adult surgical patients admitted to the hospital. Participants in the study were chosen using a convenient sampling technique. Subjective global assessment was used to determine the nutritional status of patients with a minimum stay of 24 hours within 48 hours after admission (SGA). Data were collected using the open data kit (ODK) version 2022.3.3 software, while Stata version 14.1 software was employed for statistical analysis. The Cox regression model was used to determine the effect of malnutrition on the length of hospital stay (LOS) after adjusting for several potential confounders taken at admission. Adjusted hazard ratio (HR) with a 95% confidence interval was used to show the effect of malnutrition. Results: The prevalence of hospital malnutrition at admission was 64.32% (95% CI: 59%-69%) according to the SGA classification. Adult surgical patients who were malnourished at admission had higher median LOS (12 days: 95% CI: 11-13) as compared to well-nourished patients (8 days: 95% CI: 8-9), means adult surgical patients who were malnourished at admission were at higher risk of reduced chance of discharge with improvement (prolonged LOS) (AHR: 0.37, 95% CI: 0.29-0.47) as compared to well-nourished patients. Presence of comorbidity (AHR: 0.68, 95% CI: 0.50-90), poly medication (AHR: 0.69, 95% CI: 0.55-0.86), and history of admission (AHR: 0.70, 95% CI: 0.55-0.87) within the previous five years were found to be the significant covariates of the length of hospital stay (LOS). Conclusion: The magnitude of hospital malnutrition at admission was found to be high. Malnourished patients at admission had a higher risk of prolonged length of hospital stay as compared to well-nourished patients. The presence of comorbidity, polymedication, and history of admission were found to be the significant covariates of LOS. All stakeholders should give attention to reducing the magnitude of malnutrition and its covariates to improve the burden of LOS.

Keywords: effect of malnutrition, length of hospital stay, surgical patients, Ethiopia

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Authors: Meng-Ying Chiu, Yu-Fang Huang, Pei-Wei Wang, Yi-Ru Wang, Yi-Shuan Shao, Mei-Lien Chen

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Background: Organophosphate pesticides (OPs) are the most heavily used pesticides in agriculture in Taiwan. Therefore, they are commonly detected in general public including pregnant women and children. These compounds are proven endocrine disrupters that may affect the neural development in humans. The aim of this study is to assess the OPs exposure of children in 2 years of age and to examine the association between the exposure concentrations and neurodevelopmental effects in children. Methods: In a prospective cohort of 280 mother-child pairs, urine samples of prenatal and postnatal were collected from each participant and analyzed for metabolites of OPs by using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Six analytes were measured including dimethylphosphate (DMP), dimethylthiophosphate (DMTP), dimethyldithiophosphate (DMDTP), diethylphosphate (DEP), diethylthiophosphate (DETP), and diethyldithiophosphate (DEDTP). This study created a combined concentration measure for dimethyl compounds (DMs) consisting of the three dimethyl metabolites (DMP, DMTP, and DMDTP), for diethyl compounds (DEs) consisting of the three diethyl metabolites (DEP, DETP, and DEDTP) and six dialkyl phosphate (DAPs). The Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development (Bayley-III) was used to assess children's cognitive behavior at 2 years old. The association between OPs exposure and Bayley-III scale score was determined by using the Mann-Whitney U test. Results: The measurements of urine samples are still on-going. This preliminary data are the report of 56 children aged 2 from the cohort. The detection rates for DMP, DMTP, DMDTP, DEP, DETP, and DEDTP are 80.4%, 69.6%, 64.3%, 64.3%, 62.5%, and 75%, respectively. After adjusting the creatinine concentrations of urine, the median (nmol/g creatinine) of urinary DMP, DMTP, DMDTP, DEP, DETP, DEDTP, DMs, DEs, and DAPs are 153.14, 53.32, 52.13, 19.24, 141.65, 192.17, 308.8, 311.6, and 702.11, respectively. The concentrations of urine are considerably higher than that in other countries. Children’s cognitive behavior was used three scales for Bayley-III, including cognitive, language and motor. In Mann-Whitney U test, the higher levels of DEs had significantly lower motor score (p=0.037), but no significant association was found between the OPs exposure levels and the score of either cognitive or language. Conclusion: The limited sample size suggests that Taipei children are commonly exposed to OPs and OPs exposure might affect the cognitive behavior of young children. This report will present more data to verify the results. The predictors of OPs concentrations, such as dietary pattern will also be included.

Keywords: biomonitoring, children, neurodevelopment, organophosphate pesticides exposure

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Authors: Ashutosh Biswas, Poonam Coushic, Kalpana Baruah, Paras Singla, A. C. Dhariwal, Pawana Murthy

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Burden of Dengue in Northern India Ashutosh Biswas, Poonam Coushic, Kalpana Baruah, Paras Singla, AC Dhariwal, Pawana Murthy. All India Institute of Medical Sciences, NVBDCP,WHO New Delhi, India Aim: This study was conducted to estimate the burden of dengue in capital region of India. Methodology:Seropositivity of Dengue for IgM Ab, NS1 Ag and IgG Ab were performed among the blood donors’ samples from blood bank, those who were coming to donate blood for the requirement of blood for the admitted patients in hospital. Blood samplles were collected through out the year to estimate seroprevalance of dengue with or without outbreak season. All the subjects were asymptomatic at the time of blood donation. Results: A total of 1558 donors were screened for the study. On the basis of inclusion/ exclusion criteria, we enrolled 1531subjects for the study.Twenty seven donors were excluded from the study, out of which 6 were detected HIV +ve, 11 were positive for HBsAg and 10 were found positive for HCV.Mean age was 30.51 ± 7.75 years.Of 1531subjects, 18 (1.18%) had a past history of typhoid fever, 28 (1.83%) had chikungunya fever, 9 (0.59%) had malaria and 43 subjects (2.81%) had a past history of symptomatic dengue infection.About 2.22% (34) of subjects were found to have sero-positive for NS1 Ag with a peak point prevalence of 7.14% in the month of October and sero-positive of IgM Ab was observed about 5.49% (84)with a peak point prevalence of 14.29% in the month of October. Sero-prevalnce of IgGwas detected in about 64.21% (983) of subjects. Conclusion: Acute asymptomatic dengue (NS1 Ag+ve) was observed in 7.14%, as the subjects were having no symptoms at the time of sampling. This group of subjects poses a potential public health threat for transmitting dengue infection through blood transfusion (TTI) in the community as evident by presence of active viral infection due to NS1Ag +VE. Therefore a policy may be implemented in the blood bank for testing NS1 Ag to look for active dengue infection for preventing dengue transmission through blood transfusion (TTI). Acute or Subacute dengue infection ( IgM Ab+ve) was observed from 5.49% to 14.29% which is a peak point prevalence in the month of October. About 64.21% of the population were immunized by natural dengue infection ( IgG Ab+ve) in theNorthern province of India. This might be helpful for implementing the dengue vaccine in a region. Blood samples in blood banks should be tested for dengue before transfusion to any other person to prevent transfusion transmitted dengue infection as we estimated upto 7.14% positivity of NS1 Ag in our study which indicates presence of dengue virus in blood donors’ samples.

Keywords: Dengue Burden, Seroprevalance, Asymptomatic dengue, Dengue transmission through blood transfusion

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Authors: A. Bayat, R. Bello-Mendoza, D. G. Wareham

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Two major categories of green waste are fruit and vegetable (FV) waste and garden and yard (GY) waste. Although, anaerobic digestions (AD) is able to manage FV waste; there is less confidence in the conditions for AD to handle GY wastes (grass, leaves, trees and bush trimmings); mainly because GY contains lignin and other recalcitrant organics. GY in the dry state (TS ≥ 15 %) can be digested at mesophilic temperatures; however, little methane data has been reported under thermophilic conditions, where conceivably better methane yields could be achieved. In addition, it is suspected that at lower solids concentrations, the methane yield could be increased. As such, the aim of this research is to find the temperature and solids concentration conditions that produce the most methane; under two different temperature regimes (mesophilic, thermophilic) and three solids states (i.e. 'dry', 'semi-dry' and 'wet'). Twenty liters of GY waste was collected from a public park located in the northern district in Tehran. The clippings consisted of freshly cut grass as well as dry branches and leaves. The GY waste was chopped before being fed into a mechanical blender that reduced it to a paste-like consistency. An initial TS concentration of approximately 38 % was achieved. Four hundred mL of anaerobic inoculum (average total solids (TS) concentration of 2.03 ± 0.131 % of which 73.4% were volatile solid (VS), soluble chemical oxygen demand (sCOD) of 4.59 ± 0.3 g/L) was mixed with the GY waste substrate paste (along with distilled water) to achieve a TS content of approximately 20 %. For comparative purposes, approximately 20 liters of FV waste was ground in the same manner as the GY waste. Since FV waste has a much higher natural water content than GY, it was dewatered to obtain a starting TS concentration in the dry solid-state range (TS ≥ 15 %). Three samples were dewatered to an average starting TS concentration of 32.71 %. The inoculum was added (along with distilled water) to dilute the initial FV TS concentrations down to semi-dry conditions (10-15 %) and wet conditions (below 10 %). Twelve 1-L batch bioreactors were loaded simultaneously with either GY or FV waste at TS solid concentrations ranging from 3.85 ± 1.22 % to 20.11 ± 1.23 %. The reactors were sealed and were operated for 30 days while being immersed in water baths to maintain a constant temperature of 37 ± 0.5 °C (mesophilic) or 55 ± 0.5 °C (thermophilic). A maximum methane yield of 115.42 (L methane/ kg VS added) was obtained for the GY thermophilic-wet AD combination. Methane yield was enhanced by 240 % compared to the GY waste mesophilic-dry condition. The results confirm that high temperature regimes and small solids concentrations are conditions that enhance methane yield from GY waste. A similar trend was observed for the anaerobic digestion of FV waste. Furthermore, a maximum value of VS (53 %) and sCOD (84 %) reduction was achieved during the AD of GY waste under the thermophilic-wet condition.

Keywords: anaerobic digestion, thermophilic, mesophilic, total solids concentration

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Authors: Shakila N. Senarath, Dinesh Asanka, Janaka Wijayanayake

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The necessity of cosmetic products is arising to fulfill consumer needs of personality appearance and hygiene. A cosmetic product consists of various chemical ingredients which may help to keep the skin healthy or may lead to damages. Every chemical ingredient in a cosmetic product does not perform on every human. The most appropriate way to select a healthy cosmetic product is to identify the texture of the body first and select the most suitable product with safe ingredients. Therefore, the selection process of cosmetic products is complicated. Consumer surveys have shown most of the time, the selection process of cosmetic products is done in an improper way by consumers. From this study, a content-based system is suggested that recommends cosmetic products for the human factors. To such an extent, the skin type, gender and price range will be considered as human factors. The proposed system will be implemented by using Machine Learning. Consumer skin type, gender and price range will be taken as inputs to the system. The skin type of consumer will be derived by using the Baumann Skin Type Questionnaire, which is a value-based approach that includes several numbers of questions to derive the user’s skin type to one of the 16 skin types according to the Bauman Skin Type indicator (BSTI). Two datasets are collected for further research proceedings. The user data set was collected using a questionnaire given to the public. Those are the user dataset and the cosmetic dataset. Product details are included in the cosmetic dataset, which belongs to 5 different kinds of product categories (Moisturizer, Cleanser, Sun protector, Face Mask, Eye Cream). An alternate approach of TF-IDF (Term Frequency – Inverse Document Frequency) is applied to vectorize cosmetic ingredients in the generic cosmetic products dataset and user-preferred dataset. Using the IF-IPF vectors, each user-preferred products dataset and generic cosmetic products dataset can be represented as sparse vectors. The similarity between each user-preferred product and generic cosmetic product will be calculated using the cosine similarity method. For the recommendation process, a similarity matrix can be used. Higher the similarity, higher the match for consumer. Sorting a user column from similarity matrix in a descending order, the recommended products can be retrieved in ascending order. Even though results return a list of similar products, and since the user information has been gathered, such as gender and the price ranges for product purchasing, further optimization can be done by considering and giving weights for those parameters once after a set of recommended products for a user has been retrieved.

Keywords: content-based filtering, cosmetics, machine learning, recommendation system

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Authors: E Tambo, O. O. Olalubi, E. C. Ugwu, J. Y. Ngogang

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Despite the World Health Organization (WHO) declaration of international health emergency concern, the status quo of responses and efforts to stem the worst-recorded Ebola epidemic Ebola outbreak is still precariously inadequate in most of the affected in West. Mining natural resources have been shown to play a key role in both motivating and fuelling ethnic, civil and armed conflicts that have plagued a number of African countries over the last decade. Revenues from the exploitation of natural resources are not only used in sustaining the national economy but also armies, personal enrichment and building political support. Little is documented on the mining and ecological impact on the emergence and geographical distribution of Ebola in Africa over time and space. We aimed to provide a better understanding of the interconnectedness among issues of mining natural, resource management, mining conflict and post-conflict on Ebola outbreak and how wealth generated from abundant natural resources could be better managed in promoting research and development towards strengthening environmental, socioeconomic and health systems sustainability on Ebola outbreak and other emerging diseases surveillance and responses systems prevention and control, early warning alert, durable peace and sustainable development rather than to fuel conflicts, resurgence and emerging diseases epidemics in the perspective of community and national/regional approach. Our results showed the first assessment of systematic impact of all major minerals conflict events diffusion over space and time and mining activities on nine Ebola genesis and geo-distribution in affected countries across Africa. We demonstrate how, where and when mining activities in Africa increase ecological degradation, conflicts at the local level and then spreads violence across territory and time by enhancing the financial capacities of fighting groups/ethnics and diseases onset. In addition, led process of developing minimum standards for natural resource governance; improving governmental and civil society capacity for natural resource management, including the strengthening of monitoring and enforcement mechanisms; understanding the post-mining and conflicts community or national reconstruction and rehabilitation programmes in strengthening or developing community health systems and regulatory mechanisms. In addition the quest for the control over these resources and illegal mining across the landscape forest incursion provided increase environmental and ecological instability and displacement and disequilibrium, therefore affecting the intensity and duration of mining and conflict/wars and episode of Ebola outbreaks over time and space. We highlight the key findings and lessons learnt in promoting country or community-led process in transforming natural resource wealth from a peace liability to a peace asset. The imperative necessity for advocacy and through facilitating intergovernmental deliberations on critical issues and challenges affecting Africa community transforming exploitation of natural resources from a peace liability to outbreak prevention and control. The vital role of mining in increasing government revenues and expenditures, equitable distribution of wealth and health to all stakeholders, in particular local communities requires coordination, cooperative leadership and partnership in fostering sustainable developmental initiatives from mining context to outbreak and other infectious diseases surveillance responses systems in prevention and control, and judicious resource management.

Keywords: mining, mining conflicts, mines, ecological, Ebola, outbreak, mining companies, miners, impact

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Authors: Olatawura O. Ladipo-Ajayi

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The concept of gender equality is not new, nor are the efforts and movements toward achieving this concept. The idea of gender equality originates from the early feminist movements of the 1880s and its subsequent waves, all fighting to promote gender rights and equality focused on varying aspects and groups. Nonetheless, the progress and achievement of gender equality are not progressing at similar rates across the world and groups. This uneven progress is often due to varying social, cultural, political, and economic factors- some of which underpin intersectional identities and influence the perceptions of gender and associated gender roles that create gender inequality. In assessing perceptions of gender and assigned roles or expectations that cause inequalities, intersectionality provides a framework to interrogate how these perceptions are molded and reinforced to create marginalization. Intersectionality is increasingly becoming a lens and approach to understanding better inequalities and oppression, gender rights and equality, the challenges towards its achievement, and how best to move forward in the fight for gender rights, inclusion, and equality. In light of this, this paper looks at intersectional representations of gender in the media within cultural/social contexts -particularly entertainment media- and how this influences perceptions of gender and impacts progress toward achieving gender equality and advocacy. Furthermore, the paper explores how various identities and, to an extent, personal experiences play a role in the perceptions of and representations of gender, as well as influence the development of policies that promote gender equality in general. Finally, the paper applies qualitative and auto-ethnographic research methods building on intersectional and social construction frameworks to analyze gender representation in media using a literature review of scholarly works, news items, and cultural/social sources like Nigerian movies. It concludes that media influences ideas and perceptions of gender, gender equality, and rights; there isn’t enough being done in the media in the global south in general to challenge the hegemonic patriarchal and binary concepts of gender. As such, the growth of feminism and the attainment of gender equality is slow, and the concepts are often misunderstood. There is a need to leverage media outlets to influence perceptions and start informed conversations on gender equality and feminism; build collective consciousness locally to improve advocacy for equal gender rights. Changing the gender narrative in everyday media, including entertainment media, is one way to influence public perceptions of gender, promote the concept of gender equality, and advocate for policies that support equality.

Keywords: gender equality, gender roles/socialization, intersectionality, representation of gender in media

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Authors: Riikka Elina Kallio

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“The walls have ears” phrase is defining the era of dictatorship in Portugal (1926–1974) and political unrest decades in Finland (1917–1948). The phrase is referring to the policing of the political, secret police, PIDE (Policia Internacional e de Defesa do Estado 1933–1969) in Portugal and VALPO (Valtiollinen Poliisi 1939–1948) in Finland. Free speech at any public space and even in private events could be fatal. The members of the PIDE/VALPO or informers/collaborators could be listening. Strict censorship under the Salazar´s regime was controlling media for example newspapers, music, and the film industry. Similarly, the politically affected censorship influenced the media in Finland in those unrest decades. This article examines the similarities and the differences in the images of the political police in Finland and Portugal, by analyzing Finnish and Portuguese films from the nineteen-thirties to nineteensixties. The text addresses two main research questions: what are the common and different features in the representations of the Finnish and Portuguese political police in films between the 1930s and 1960s, and how did the national censorship affect these representations? This study approach is interdisciplinary, and it combines film studies and criminology. Close reading is a practical qualitative method for analyzing films and in this study, close reading emphasizes the features of the police officer. Criminology provides the methodological tools for analysis of the police universal features and European common policies. The characterization of the police in this study is based on Robert Reiner´s 1980s and Timo Korander´s 2010s definitions of the police officer. The research material consisted of the Portuguese films from online film archives and Finnish films from Movie Making Finland -project´s metadata which offered suitable material by data mining the keywords such as poliisi, poliisipäällikkö and konstaapeli (police, police chief, police constable). The findings of this study suggest that even though there are common features of the images of the political police in Finland and Portugal, there are still national and cultural differences in the representations of the political police and policing.

Keywords: censorship, film studies, images, PIDE, political police, VALPO

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Authors: Peizhu Liu

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Dual language education, also known as immersion education, differs from traditional language programs that teach a second or foreign language as a subject. Instead, dual language programs adopt a content-based approach, using both a majority language (e.g., English, in the case of the United States) and a minority language (e.g., Spanish or Chinese) as a medium of instruction to teach math, science, and social studies. By granting each language of instruction equal status, dual language education seeks to educate not only meaningfully but equitably and to foster tolerance and appreciation of diversity, making it essential for immigrants, refugees, indigenous peoples, and other marginalized students. Despite the cognitive and academic benefits of dual language education, recent literature has revealed that English is disproportionately privileged across dual language programs. Scholars have expressed concerns about the unbalanced status of majority and minority languages in dual language education, as favoring English in this context may inadvertently reaffirm its dominance and moreover fail to serve the needs of children whose primary language is not English. Through a year-long study of a Chinese-English dual language program, the extensively disproportionate use of English has also been observed by the researcher. However, despite the fact that Chinese-English dual language programs are the second-most popular program type after Spanish in the United States, this issue remains underexplored in the existing literature on Chinese-English dual language education. In fact, the number of Chinese-English dual language programs being offered in the U.S. has grown rapidly, from 8 in 1988 to 331 as of 2023. Using Norton and Darvin's investment model theory, the current study investigates teachers' language use and investment in teaching Chinese and English in a Chinese-English dual language program at an urban public school in New York City. The program caters to a significant number of minority children from working-class families. Adopting an ethnographic and discourse analytic approach, this study seeks to understand language use dynamics in the program and how micro- and macro-factors, such as students' identity construction, parents' and teachers' language ideologies, and the capital associated with each language, influence teachers' investment in teaching Chinese and English. The research will help educators and policymakers understand the obstacles that stand in the way of the goal of dual language education—that is, the creation of a more inclusive classroom, which is achieved by regarding both languages of instruction as equally valuable resources. The implications for how to balance the use of the majority and minority languages will also be discussed.

Keywords: dual language education, bilingual education, language immersion education, content-based language teaching

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Authors: Volker Landersheim, Daria Manushyna, Thinh Pham, Dai-Duong Tran, Thomas Geury, Omar Hegazy, Steven Wilkins

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Air pollution is one of the emerging problems in our society. Targets of reduction of CO₂ emissions address low-carbon and resource-efficient transport. (Plug-in) hybrid electric propulsion concepts offer the possibility to reduce total cost of ownership (TCO) and emissions for public transport vehicles (e.g., bus application). In this context, typically, diesel engines are used to form the hybrid propulsion system of the vehicle. Though the technological development of diesel engines experience major advantages, some challenges such as the high amount of particle emissions remain relevant. Gaseous fuels (i.e., compressed natural gases (CNGs) or liquefied petroleum gases (LPGs) represent an attractive alternative to diesel because of their composition. In the framework of the research project 'Optimised Real-world Cost-Competitive Modular Hybrid Architecture' (ORCA), which was funded by the EU, two different hybrid-electric propulsion concepts have been investigated: one using a diesel engine as internal combustion engine and one using CNG as fuel. The aim of the current study is to analyze specific benefits for the aforementioned hybrid propulsion systems for predefined driving scenarios with regard to emissions and total cost of ownership in bus application. Engine models based on experimental data for diesel and CNG were developed. For the purpose of designing optimal energy management strategies for each propulsion system, maps-driven or quasi-static models for specific engine types are used in the simulation framework. An analogous modelling approach has been chosen to represent emissions. This paper compares the two concepts regarding their CO₂ and NOx emissions. This comparison is performed for relevant bus missions (urban, suburban, with and without zero-emission zone) and with different energy management strategies. In addition to the emissions, also the downsizing potential of the combustion engine has been analysed to minimize the powertrain TCO (pTCO) for plug-in hybrid electric buses. The results of the performed analyses show that the hybrid vehicle concept using the CNG engine shows advantages both with respect to emissions as well as to pTCO. The pTCO is 10% lower, CO₂ emissions are 13% lower, and the NOx emissions are more than 50% lower than with the diesel combustion engine. These results are consistent across all usage profiles under investigation.

Keywords: bus transport, emissions, hybrid propulsion, pTCO, CNG

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Authors: Protyoy Sen

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Heritage conservation often holds different meanings and values for different people. To a cultural or architectural body it might be about protecting relics of the past, while for an government body or corporate it might be the value of the real estate which generates profits in terms of hospitality, tourism or some form of trade. But often, a significant proportion of the built fabric in our cities comprises of what usually does not come under the common lenses of collective heritage or conservation i.e. private houses. Standing ode to a bygone era of different communities, trades and practices that once inhabited the city, old private houses of certain architectural or historic character face the gravest challenges of heritage conservation. These – despite being significant to the heritage fabric of a city – neither get the social attention nor the financial aid for repair and periodic maintenance, that many monuments and public buildings do. The situation in India is no different. Private residences belonging to affluent families of an earlier time, today lie in varying degrees of neglect and dilapidation. With the growth of nuclear families, drastic change in people’s and expensive repairs of historic material fabric (amongst other reasons), houses of heritage value often become liabilities, and metaphorical to a white elephant in a poor man’s backyard. In a capitalistic setup that values time and money over everything, it is not reasonable that one justifies the conservation of individual / family assets solely through architectural, historical or cultural values. It is quite logical them, that the houseowner – in most cases, a layperson – must be made to understand of both tangible and intangible values in order to (1) take the trouble of the effort, resources and aid (if possible) to repair and maintain a house of heritage character and, (2) choose to invest into a building that today might’ve lost its practical relevance, over demolishing and building new. The question that still remains is – Why? If heritage conservation is to be seen as an economically viable and realistic building activity, it must shed its image of being an ‘elitist, cultural pursuit’ in the eyes of the common person. Through contextual studies of historic areas in Ahmedabad and Calcutta, reading of theoretical pieces on the subject and conversations with multiple stakeholders, this study intended to justify the act of heritage conservation to the common person – one who is assumed to have no particular sensitivity towards architectural or cultural value, and rather questions what these buildings tangibly bring to the table. The theoretical frameworks (taken from literature) are then tested through actual case studies in Indian cities, followed by an elaborate inference on the subject.

Keywords: heritage values, heritage houses, private ownership, unprotected heritage

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Authors: Gulcin Satir, Ahmet Yildirim

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Globally, including Turkey, health problems associated with malnutrition and nutrient deficiencies in childhood will remain major public health problems in future. Nutrition is a major environmental influence on physical and mental growth and development in early life. Many studies support the fact that nutritional knowledge makes contribution to wellbeing of children and their school performance. The purpose of this study was to examine nutritional knowledge and eating habits of primary school children and to investigate differences in these variables by socioeconomic status. A quasi-experimental one group pretest/posttest design study was conducted in five primary schools totaling 200 children aging 9-10 years in grade 4 to determine the effect of nutritional awareness programme on eating habits of primary school children. The schools were chosen according to parents’ social and demographic characteristics. The implemented nutritional awareness education programme focused on healthy lifestyle such as beneficial foods, eating habits, personal hygiene, physical activity and the programme consisted of eight lessons. The teaching approaches used included interactive teaching, role-playing, demonstration, small group discussions, questioning, and feedback. The lessons were given twice a week for four weeks totaling eight lessons. All lessons lasted 45-60 minutes and first 5 minutes of this was pre-assessment and last 5 minutes post assessment evaluation. The obtained data were analyzed for normality, and the distribution of the variables was tested by the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test. Paired t-test was used to evaluate the effectiveness of education programme and to compare the above-mentioned variables in each school separately before and after the lessons. The result of the paired t-test conducted separately for each school showed that on average after eight lessons, there was a 25-32% increase in nutritional knowledge of students regardless of the school they attend to and this rate was significant (P < 0.01). This shows that increase in nutritional awareness in these five schools having different socio-economic status was similar to each other. This study suggests that having children involved directly in lessons help to achieve nutritional awareness leading to healthy eating habits. It is concluded that nutritional awareness is a valuable tool to change eating habits. Study findings will provide information for developing nutrition education programmes for the healthy life and obesity prevention in children.

Keywords: children, nutritional awareness, obesity, socioeconomic status

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Authors: Teresa Wills, Geraldine Mccarthy, Nicola Cornally

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Background: Obesity is an emerging healthcare epidemic affecting virtually all age and socio-economic groups and is one of the most serious and prevalent diseases of the 21st century. It is a public health challenge because of its prevalence, associated costs and health effects. The increasing prevalence of obesity has created a social perception that overweight body sizes are healthy and normal. This normalization of obesity within our society and the acceptance of higher body weights have led to individuals being unaware of the reality of their weight status and gravity of this situation thus impeding recognition of obesity. Given the escalating global health problem of obesity and its co-morbidities, the need to re-appraise its management is more compelling than ever. It is widely accepted that the causes of obesity are complex and multi-factorial. Engagement of individuals in weight management programmes is difficult if they do not perceive they have a problem with their weight. Recognition of the problem is a key component of obesity management and identifying the main predictors of behaviour is key to designing health behaviour interventions. Aim: The aim of the research was to determine factors relating to motivation to change behaviours in individuals who perceive themselves to be overweight. Method: The research design was quantitative, correlational and cross-sectional. The design was guided by the Health Belief Model. Data were collected online using a multi-section and multi-item questionnaire, developed from a review of the theoretical and empirical research. A sample of 202 men and women who perceived themselves to be overweight participated in the research. Descriptive and inferential statistical analyses were employed to describe relationships between variables. Findings: Following multivariate regression analysis, perceived barriers to weight loss and perceived benefits of weight loss were significant predictors of motivation to change behaviour. The perceived barriers to weight loss which were significant were psychological barriers to weight loss (p = < 0.019) and environmental barriers to physical activity (p= < 0.032).The greatest predictor of motivation to change behaviour was the perceived benefits of weight loss (p < 0.001). Perceived susceptibility to obesity and perceived severity of obesity did not emerge as significant predictors in this model. Total variance explained by the model was 33.5%. Conclusion: Perceived barriers to weight loss and perceived benefits of weight loss are important determinants of motivation to change behaviour. These findings have important implications for health professionals to help inform their practice and for the development of intervention programmes to prevent and control obesity.

Keywords: motivation to change behaviours, obesity, predictors of behavior, interventions, overweight

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Authors: Domenica Bona

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Colin Chant and David Goodman argue that historians of Chinese pre-industrial cities tend to underestimate revolutions and overestimate cyclic patterns: periods of peace and prosperity in the earl part of each d nast , followed b peasants’ rebellions and upheavals. Boyd described these cyclic patterns as part of the background of Chinese town planning and architecture. Thus old ideals of city planning-square plan, southward orientation and a palace along the central axis - are revived again and again in the ascendant phases of several d nastic c cles (e.g. Chang’an, Kaifen, and Beijing). Along this line of thought, m paper questions the relationship between the “magic square rule” and modern Chinese urban- planning. As a matter of fact, the classical theme of “cosmic Taoist urbanism” is still a reference for planning cities and new urban developments, whenever there is the intention to express nationalist ideals and “cultural straightforwardness.” Besides, some case studies can be related to “modern d nasties”: the first Republic under the Kuo Min Tang, the red People’s Republic and the post-Maoist open country of Deng Xiao Ping. Considering the project for the new capital of Nanjing in the Thirties, Beijing’s Tianan Men area in the ifties, and Shenzhen’s utian CBD in late 20th century, I argue that cyclic patterns are still in place, though with deformations related to westernization, private interests and lack of spirituality. How far new Chinese cities are - or simply seem to be - westernized? Symbolism, invisible frameworks, repeating features and behavioural patterns make urban China just “superficiall” western. This can be well noticed in cities previousl occupied b foreigners, like Hong Kong, or in newly founded ones, like Shenzhen, where both Asians and non-Asian people can feel the gender-shift from New-York-like landscapes to something else. Current planning in main metropolitan areas shows a blurred relationship between public policies and private investments: two levels of decisions and actions, one addressing the larger scale and infrastructures, the other concerning the micro scale and development of single plots. While zoning is instrumental in this process, master plans are often laid out over a very poor cartography, so much that any relation between the formal characters of new cities and the centuries-old structure of the related territory gets lost.

Keywords: China, contemporary cities, cultural heritage, shenzhen, urban planning

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Authors: Amira Mabrouk

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This paper deals with the acceptability of urban toll in Tunisia. The price-based regulation, i.e. urban toll, is the outcome of a political process hampered by three-fold objectives: effectiveness, equity and social acceptability. This produces both economic interest groups and functions that are of incongruent preferences. The plausibility of this speculation goes hand in hand with the fact that these economic interest groups are also taxpayers who undeniably perceive urban toll as an additional charge. This wariness is coupled with an inquiry about the conditions of usage, the redistribution of the collected tax revenue and the idea of the leviathan state completes the picture. In a nutshell, if researches related to road congestion proliferate, no de facto legitimacy can be pleaded. Nonetheless, the theory on urban tolls engenders economists’ questioning of ways to reduce negative external effects linked to it. Only then does the urban toll appear to bear an answer to these issues. Undeniably, the urban toll suggests inherent conflicts due to the apparent no-payment principal of a public asset as well as to the social perception of the new measure as a mere additional charge. However, when the main concern is effectiveness is its broad sense and the social well-being, the main factors that determine the acceptability of such a tariff measure along with the type of incentives should be the object of a thorough, in-depth analysis. Before adopting this economic role, one has to recognize the factors that intervene in the acceptability of a congestion toll which brought about a copious number of articles and reports that lacked mostly solid theoretical content. It is noticeable that nowadays uncertainties float over the exact nature of the acceptability process. Accepting a congestion tariff could differ from one era to another, from one region to another and from one population to another, etc. Notably, this article, within a convenient time frame, attempts at bringing into focus a link between the social acceptability of the urban congestion toll and the value of time through a survey method barely employed in Tunisia, that of stated preference method. How can the urban toll, as a tax, be defined, justified and made acceptable? How can an equitable and effective tariff of congestion toll be reached? How can the costs of this urban toll be covered? In what way can we make the redistribution of the urban toll revenue visible and economically equitable? How can the redistribution of the revenue of urban toll compensate the disadvantaged while introducing such a tariff measure? This paper will offer answers to these research questions and it follows the line of contribution of JULES DUPUIT in 1844.

Keywords: congestion charge, social perception, acceptability, stated preferences

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Authors: Ran Vir Singh, Anuj Chauhan, Subhodh Kumar, Rajesh Rathore, Satish Kumar, B Gopi, Sushil Kumar, Tarun Kumar, Ramji Yadav, Donna Phangchopi, Shoor Vir Singh

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Paratuberculosis caused by Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis (MAP) is a chronic granulomatous enteritis affecting ruminants. It is responsible for significant economic losses in livestock industry worldwide. This organism is also of public health concern due to an unconfirmed link to Crohn’s disease. Susceptibility to paratuberculosis has been suggested to have genetic component with low to moderate heritability. Number of SNPs in various candidates genes have been observed to be affecting the susceptibility toward paratuberculosis. The objective of this study was to explore the association of various SNPs in the candidate genes and QTL region with MAP. A total of 117 SNPs from SLC11A1, IFNG, CARD15, TLR2, TLR4, CLEC7A, CD209, SP110, ANKARA2, PGLYRP1 and one QTL were selected for study. A total of 1222 cattle from various organized herds, gauhsalas and farmer herds were screened for MAP infection by Johnin intradermal skin test, AGID, serum ELISA, fecal microscopy, fecal culture and IS900 blood PCR. Based on the results of these tests, a case and control population of 200 and 183 respectively was established for study. A total of 117 SNPs from 10 candidate genes and one QTL were selected and validated/tested in our case and control population by PCR-RFLP technique. Data was analyzed using SAS 9.3 software. Statistical analysis revealed that, 107 out of 117 SNPs were not significantly associated with occurrence of MAP. Only SNP rs55617172 of TLR2, rs8193046 and rs8193060 of TLR4, rs110353594 and rs41654445 of CLEC7A, rs208814257of CD209, rs41933863 of ANKRA2, two loci {SLC11A1(53C/G)} and {IFNG (185 G/r) } and SNP rs41945014 in QTL region was significantly associated with MAP. Six SNP from 10 significant SNPs viz., rs110353594 and rs41654445 from CLEC7A, rs8193046 and rs8193060 from TLR4, rs109453173 from SLC11A1 rs208814257 from CD209 were validated in new case and control population. Out of these only one SNP rs8193046 of TLR4 gene was found significantly associated with occurrence of MAP in cattle. ODD ratio indicates that animals with AG genotype were more susceptible to MAP and this finding is in accordance with the earlier report. Hence it reaffirms that AG genotype can serve as a reliable genetic marker for indentifying more susceptible cattle in future selection against MAP infection in cattle.

Keywords: SNP, candidate genes, paratuberculosis, cattle

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Authors: Hailemeleak Regassa

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Traditional medicines use medicinal plants as a source of ingredients, and many modern medications are indirectly derived from plants. Consumers in affluent nations are growing disenchanted with contemporary healthcare and looking for alternatives. Oxidative stress is the primary cause of multiple diseases, and exogenous antioxidant supplementation or strengthening the body's endogenous antioxidant defenses are potential ways to counteract the negative effects of oxidative damage. Plants can biosynthesize non-enzymatic antioxidants that can reduce ROS-induced oxidative damage. Aging often aids the propagation and development of carcinogenesis, and older animals and older people exhibit increased vulnerability to tumor promoters. Cancer is a major public health issue, with several anti-cancer medications in clinical use. Potential drugs such as flavopiridol, roscovitine, combretastatin A-4, betulinic acid, and silvestrol are in the clinical or preclinical stages of research. Methodology: Microbial Growth media, Dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO), methanol, ethyl acetate, and n-hexane were obtained from Himedia Labs, Mumbai, India. plant were collected from the Herbal Garden of Shoolini University campus, Solan, India (Latitude - 30.8644° N and longitude - 77.1184° E). The identity was confirmed by Dr. Y.S. Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Nauni, Solan (H.P.), India, and documented in Voucher specimens - UHF- Herbarium no. 13784; vide book no. 3818 Receipt No. 086. The plant materials were washed with tap water, and 0.1% mercury chloride for 2 minutes, rinsed with distilled water, air dried, and kept in a hot air oven at 40ºc on blotting paper until all the water evaporated and became well dried for grinding. After drying, the plant materials were grounded using a mixer grinder into fine powder transferred into airtight containers with proper labeling, and stored at 4ºc for future use (Horablaga et al., 2023). The extraction process was done according to Altemimi et al., 2017. The 5g powder was mixed with 15 ml of the respective solvents (n-hexane, ethyl acetate, and methanol), and kept for 4-5 days on the platform shaker. The solvents used are based on their increasing polarity index. Then the extract was centrifuged at 10,000rpm for 5 minutes and filtered using No.1 Whatman filter paper.

Keywords: cancer, phytomedicine, medicinal plants, oncology

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Authors: Mariana Calderón, Rocío Murad, Natalia Acevedo, Laura León, Juliana Fonseca, Maria de los Angeles Balaguera Villa

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Recently, different countries and international organizations have put on their agenda the elimination of violence against people with disabilities. This research aims to evaluate the social dimensions of sexual violence against people with disabilities, particularly those with psychosocial and cognitive, in Colombia. Results reveal that 55% of people with disabilities that are survivors of sexual violence are younger than 29 years and 20,4 are people with cognitive and psychosocial disabilities. Colombian regions with better social positions presented more cases of sexual violence against people with disabilities. There were found access barriers for health, education and employment among this population, and there was also found poor data quality. Despite Colombia having an important normative framework aimed at preventing and attending to gender-based violence, it does not take into account people with disabilities specific needs. Additionally, it was found an insufficient implementation and appropriation of these norms, negative attitudes, and in general, a lack of service adaptation according to the needs, identities and circumstances of people with disabilities. Furthermore, among the factors that are exposing people with disabilities to sexual violence, it was found that family members tend to be the main aggressors, there are deep gaps in the sex education received by people with disabilities, imaginaries and perceptions about their sexuality are both hypersexualizing and presenting them as asexual. On the other hand, among protective factors, there were found body self-knowledge and conscience, acknowledgment of their sexuality and their sexual and reproductive rights and access to sex ed. Although during the last few years, there has occurred a positive change toward social inclusion of people with disabilities, specifically through their role in the political agenda and the recognition of their rights. More work is needed in order to guarantee their sexual and reproductive rights, particularly for persons with psychosocial and cognitive disabilities. This research results showed the importance of transforming persisting negative imaginaries about their sexuality and also enforcing and promoting their autonomy. In this sense, it is important to acknowledge gaps and barriers faced by them and create strategies to encourage their social inclusion through education, employment, and skill development. Nevertheless, it is necessary to keep contributing new evidence of the social determinants of health that are influencing the occurrence of sexual violence. This research understands sexual violence against people with disabilities in a multidimensional manner and offers the following recommendations: 1- To foment public sensitization and understanding of disabilities. 2- To increase parents, caregivers and officers’ commitment to the prevention and reduction of sexual violence. 3- To focus on the needs, identities and circumstances of people with disabilities.

Keywords: disabilities, sexual and reproductive rights, sexual violence, prevention

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Authors: Deepika Joshi

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Operations in automotive industry rely greatly on information shared between Supply Chain (SC) partners. This leads to efficient and effective management of SC activity. Automotive sector in India is growing at 14.2 percent per annum and has huge economic importance. We find that no study has been carried out on the role of information sharing in SC management of Indian automotive manufacturers. Considering this research gap, the present study is planned to establish the significance of information sharing in Indian auto-component supply chain activity. An empirical research was conducted for large scale auto component manufacturers from India. Twenty four Supply Chain Performance Indicators (SCPIs) were collected from existing literature. These elements belong to eight diverse but internally related areas of SC management viz., demand management, cost, technology, delivery, quality, flexibility, buyer-supplier relationship, and operational factors. A pair-wise comparison and an open ended questionnaire were designed using these twenty four SCPIs. The questionnaire was then administered among managerial level employees of twenty-five auto-component manufacturing firms. Analytic Network Process (ANP) technique was used to analyze the response of pair-wise questionnaire. Finally, twenty-five priority indexes are developed, one for each respondent. These were averaged to generate an industry specific priority index. The open-ended questions depicted strategies related to information sharing between buyers and suppliers and their influence on supply chain performance. Results show that the impact of information sharing on certain performance indicators is relatively greater than their corresponding variables. For example, flexibility, delivery, demand and cost related elements have massive impact on information sharing. Technology is relatively less influenced by information sharing but it immensely influence the quality of information shared. Responses obtained from managers reveal that timely and accurate information sharing lowers the cost, increases flexibility and on-time delivery of auto parts, therefore, enhancing the competitiveness of Indian automotive industry. Any flaw in dissemination of information can disturb the cycle time of both the parties and thus increases the opportunity cost. Due to supplier’s involvement in decisions related to design of auto parts, quality conformance is found to improve, leading to reduction in rejection rate. Similarly, mutual commitment to share right information at right time between all levels of SC enhances trust level. SC partners share information to perform comprehensive quality planning to ingrain total quality management. This study contributes to operations management literature which faces scarcity of empirical examination on this subject. It views information sharing as a building block which firms can promote and evolve to leverage the operational capability of all SC members. It will provide insights for Indian managers and researchers as every market is unique and suppliers and buyers are driven by local laws, industry status and future vision. While major emphasis in this paper is given to SC operations happening between domestic partners, placing more focus on international SC can bring in distinguished results.

Keywords: Indian auto component industry, information sharing, operations management, supply chain performance indicators

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Authors: Yaara Shilo

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Early childhood education and care (ECEC)in Israel has undergone extensive reform and now requires daycare centers to meet internationally recognized professional standards. Since 1948, one of the aims of childcare facilities was to enable women’s participation in the workforce.A 1965 law grouped daycare centers for young children with facilities for the elderly and for disabled persons under the same authority. In the 1970’s, ECEC leaders sought to change childcare from proprietary to educational facilities. From 1976 deliberations in the Knesset regarding appropriate attribution of ECEC frameworks resulted in their being moved to various authorities that supported women’s employment: Ministries of Finance, Industry, and Commerce, as well as the Welfare Department. Prior to 2018, 75% of infants and toddlers in institutional care were in unlicensed and unsupervised settings. Legislative processes accompanied the conceptual change to an eventual appropriate attribution of ECEC frameworks. Position papers over the past two decades resulted in recommendations for standards conforming to OECD regulations. Simultaneous incidents of child abuse, some resulting in death, riveted public attention to the need for adequate government supervision, accelerating the legislative process. Appropriate care for very young children must center on quality interactions with caregivers, thus requiring adequate staff training. Finally, in 2018 a law was passed stipulating standards for staff training, proper facilities, child-adult ratios, and safety measures. The Ariav commission expanded training to caregivers for ages 0-3. Transfer of the ECEC to the Ministry of Education ensured establishment of basic training. Groundwork created by new legislation initiated professional development of EC educators for ages 0-3. This process should raise salaries and bolster the system’s ability to attract quality employees. In 2022 responsibility for ECEC ages 0-3 was transferred from the Ministry of Finance to the Ministry of Education, shifting emphasis from proprietary care to professional considerations focusing on wellbeing and early childhood education. The recent revolutionary changes in ECEC point to a new age in the care and education of Israel’s youngest citizens. Implementation of international standards, adequate training, and professionalization of the workforce focus on the child’s needs.

Keywords: policy, early childhood, care and education, daycare, development

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Authors: Veronica Onyemauwa

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This research work examines the socio-ethical issues embedded in resource management and wealth creation in Nigeria, using Akwa Ibom State as a case study. The work is poised to proffer answers to the problematic questions raised, “why is the wealth of Akwa Ibom State not prudently managed, and wastages curbed in order to cater for the satisfaction of the indigent citizens, as Jesus Christ did in the feeding of five thousand people (John 6:12) ? Could ethical and responsible resource management not solve the paradox of poverty stricken people of Akwa Ibom in a rich economy? What ought to be done to better the lot of Akwa Ibomites? The research adopts phenomenological and sociological research methodology with primary and secondary sources of information to explore the socio-ethical issues embedded in resource management and wealth creation in Akwa Ibom State. Findings revealed that, reckless exploitation and mismanagement of the rich natural and human resources of Akwa Ibom State have spelt doom to the economic progress and survival of Akwa Ibomites in particular and Nigerians in general. Hence, hunger and poverty remain adversaries to majority of the people. Again, the culture of diversion of funds and squandermania institutionalized within the confine of Akwa Ibom State government, deter investment in economic enterprises, job and wealth creation that would have yielded economic dividends for Akwa Ibomites. These and many other unwholesome practices are responsible for the present deplorable condition of Akwa Ibom State in particular and Nigerian society in general. As a way out of this economic quagmire, it is imperative that, every unwholesome practice within the State be tackled more proactively and innovatively in the interest of the masses through responsible resource management and wealth creation. It is believed that, an effective leadership, a statesman with vision and commitment would transform the abundant resources to achieve meaningful development, create wealth and reduce poverty. Ethical leadership is required in all the tiers of government and public organizations to transform resources into more wealth. Thus, this paper advocates for ethics of virtue: a paradigm shift from exploitative leadership style to productive leadership style; change from atomistic human relation to corporative human relation; change from being subsistence to abundant in other to maximize the available resources in the State. To do otherwise is unethical and lack moral justification.

Keywords: corrective, mismanagement, resources, virtue ethics

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Authors: Leonardo Parra, Daniel Martínez, Jorge Pizarro, Fernando Ortega, Manuel Chacón-Fuentes, Andrés Quiroz

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Control of Dalaca pallens or blackworms, one of the most important hypogeous pest in grassland in southern Chile, is based on the use of broad-spectrum insecticides such as organophosphates and pyrethroids. However, the rapid development of insecticide resistance in field populations of this insect and public concern over the environmental impact of these insecticides has resulted in the search for other control methods. Specifically, the use of endophyte fungi for controlling pest has emerged as an interesting and promising strategy. Endophytes from ryegrass (Lolium perenne), establish a biotrophic relationship with the host, defined as mutualistic symbiosis. The plant-fungi association produces alkaloids where peramine is the main toxic substance against Listronotus bonariensis, the most important epigean pest of ryegrass. Nevertheless, the effect of peramina on others pest insects, such as D. pallens, to our knowledge has not been studied, and also its possible metabolization in the body of the larvae. Therefore, we addressed the following research question: Do larvae of D. pallens store peramine after consumption of ryegrass endophyte infected (E+)? For this, specimens of blackworms were fed with ryegrass plant of seven experimental lines and one commercial cultivar endophyte free (E-) sown at the Instituto de Investigaciones Agropecuarias Carillanca (Vilcún, Chile). Once the feeding period was over, ten larvae of each treatment were examined. Individuals were dissected, and their gut was removed to exclude any influence of remaining material. The rest of the larva's body was dried at 60°C by 24-48 h and ground into a fine powder using a mortar. 25 mg of dry powder was transferred to a microcentrifuge tube and extracted in 1 mL of a mixture of methanol:water:formic acid. Then, the samples were centrifuged at 16,000 rpm for 3 min, and the supernatant was colected and injected in the liquid chromatography of high resolution (HPLC). The results confirmed the presence of peramine in the larva's body of D. pallens. The insects that fed the experimental lines LQE-2 and LQE-6 were those where peramine was present in high proportion (0.205 and 0.199 ppm, respectively); while LQE-7 and LQE-3 obtained the lowest concentrations of the alkaloid (0.047 and 0.053 ppm, respectively). Peramine was not detected in the insects when the control cultivar Jumbo (E-) was tested. These results evidenced the storage and metabolism of peramine during consumption of the larvae. However, the effect of this alkaloid present in 'future ryegrass cultivars' (LQE-2 and LQE-6) on the performance and survival of blackworms must be studied and confirmed experimentally.

Keywords: blackworms, HPLC, alkaloid, pest

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Authors: Sunil Gaikwad

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Gender discrimination is a very prevalent and much used word in the legal parlance. , The more socially, culturally, economically and educationally backward the community, the more gender discrimination is seen there. Gender discrimination is a worldwide Phenomena. In India it was more prevalent, due to illiteracy, bad social and religious customs. in Indian family system male child is considered as inheritor of the family clan, support for parents in their old age and girls as the property of others and unnecessary load on parents and on property as the dowry has to be give at her marriage as also some festivals like Raksha Bandhan and Bhau Teej during Deepawali (wherein having brother is compulsory)insist on having a male child in the family, hence most couples try to give birth only to male child at the cost of female child, hence the female feticide was going on a large scale due to which, sex ratio had considerably decreased creating problem for geeting groom for bride groom thereby putting question mark on family system. To redo the damage done to the society due to the female feticide Government of India has enacted various Laws and introduced various welfare schemes for the upliftment of girl child and also launched countrywide awareness campaign to create awareness among people about the importance of girl child and punitive laws for infanticide which is now bearing fruits but still cases of female feticide are coming fore. There is an urgent need to go to the roots of the problem and to find practicable and effective legal and social measures to overcome this issue, and the purpose of this research paper is the same. The research paper discusses in detail the reasons and superstitions that are responsible for the gender discriminations and comes out with effective measures including necessary and effective changes in the existing Laws, effective awareness campaign against religious superstitions for gender equality. For this research paper doctrinal research methodology is used to drive the research to its logical conclusion, for which various primary and secondary sources literature has been perused and studied. It is worth noting that while working on the paper suggestions and recommendations and conclusions have been drawn where it is suggested and concluded that there is an urgent need to re think about the festivals which encourages gender discriminations, to sensitize and create ample of awareness among people by effectively utilizing Radio, Television, Social Media folk arts, public shows and to make existing laws more effective and strict implementation for the purpose and zero tolerance for female feticide.

Keywords: awareness, effective laws, female foeticide, festivals, superstitions

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Authors: F. Pedro, S. Dias, A. Tadeu, J. António, Ó. López, A. Coelho

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Railway transportation is considered the most economical and sustainable way to travel. However, future mobility brings important challenges to railway operators. The main target is to develop solutions that stimulate sustainable mobility. The research and innovation goals for this domain are efficient solutions, ensuring an increased level of safety and reliability, improved resource efficiency, high availability of the means (train), and satisfied passengers with the travel comfort level. These requirements are in line with the European Strategic Agenda for the 2020 rail sector, promoted by the European Rail Research Advisory Council (ERRAC). All these aspects involve redesigning current equipment and, in particular, the interior of the carriages. Recent studies have shown that two of the most important requirements for passengers are reasonable ticket prices and comfortable interiors. Passengers tend to use their travel time to rest or to work, so train interiors and their systems need to incorporate features that meet these requirements. Among the various systems that integrate train interiors, the flooring system is one of the systems with the greatest impact on passenger safety and comfort. It is also one of the systems that takes more time to install on the train, and which contributes seriously to the weight (mass) of all interior systems. Additionally, it presents a strong impact on manufacturing costs. The design of railway floor, in the development phase, is usually made relying on a design software that allows to draw and calculate several solutions in a short period of time. After obtaining the best solution, considering the goals previously defined, experimental data is always necessary and required. This experimental phase has such great significance, that its outcome can provoke the revision of the designed solution. This paper presents the methodology and some of the results of an experimental characterisation of composite panels for railway application. The mechanical tests were made for unaged specimens and for specimens that suffered some type of aging, i.e. heat, cold and humidity cycles or freezing/thawing cycles. These conditionings aim to simulate not only the time effect, but also the impact of severe environmental conditions. Both full solutions and separated components/materials were tested. For the full solution, (panel) these were: four-point bending tests, tensile shear strength, tensile strength perpendicular to the plane, determination of the spreading of water, and impact tests. For individual characterisation of the components, more specifically for the covering, the following tests were made: determination of the tensile stress-strain properties, determination of flexibility, determination of tear strength, peel test, tensile shear strength test, adhesion resistance test and dimensional stability. The main conclusions were that experimental characterisation brings a huge contribution to understand the behaviour of the materials both individually and assembled. This knowledge contributes to the increase the quality and improvements of premium solutions. This research work was framed within the POCI-01-0247-FEDER-003474 (coMMUTe) Project funded by Portugal 2020 through the COMPETE 2020.

Keywords: durability, experimental characterization, mechanical tests, railway flooring system

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Authors: Juliet Sorensen, Anna Maitland

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Introduction: Characterized by lack of water and sanitation, food insecurity, and low access to hospitals and clinics, informal urban settlements in Lagos, Nigeria have very poor health outcomes. With little education and a general inability to demand basic rights, these communities are often disempowered and isolated from understanding, claiming, or owning their health needs. Utilizing community-based participatory research characterized by interdisciplinary, cross-cultural partnerships, evidence-based assessments, and both primary and secondary source research, a holistic health education and advocacy program was developed in Lagos to address health barriers for targeted communities. This includes a first of its kind guide formulated to teach community-based health educators how to transmit health information to low-literacy Nigerian audiences while supporting behavior change models and social support mechanisms. This paper discusses the interdisciplinary contributions to developing a health education program while also looking at the need for greater beneficiary ownership and implementation of health justice and access. Methods: In March 2016, an interdisciplinary group of medical, legal, and business graduate students and faculty from Northwestern University conduced a Health Needs Assessment (HNA) in Lagos with a partner and a local non-governmental organization. The HNA revealed that members of informal urban communities in Lagos were lacking basic health literacy, but desired to remedy this lacuna. Further, the HNA revealed that even where the government mandates specific services, many vulnerable populations are unable to access these services. The HNA concluded that a program focused on education, advocacy, and organizing around anatomy, maternal and sexual health, infectious disease and malaria, HIV/AIDS, emergency care, and water and sanitation would respond to stated needs while also building capacity in communities to address health barriers. Results: Based on the HNA, including both primary and secondary source research on integrated health education approaches and behavior change models and responsive, adaptive material development, a holistic program was developed for the Lagos partners and first implemented in November 2016. This program trained community-nominated health educators in adult, low-literacy, knowledge exchange approaches, utilizing information identified by communities as a priority. After a second training in March 2017, these educators will teach community-based groups and will support and facilitate behavior change models and peer-support methods around basic issues like hand washing and disease transmission. They will be supported by community paralegals who will help ensure that newly trained community groups can act on education around access, such as receiving free vaccinations, maternal health care, and HIV/AIDS medicines. Materials will continue to be updated as needs and issues arise, with a focus on identifying best practices around health improvements that can be shared across these partner communities. Conclusion: These materials are the first of their kind, and address a void of health information and understanding pervasive in informal-urban Lagos communities. Initial feedback indicates high levels of commitment and interest, as well as investment by communities in these materials, largely because they are responsive, targeted, and build community capacity. This methodology is an important step in dignity-based health justice solutions, albeit in the process of refinement.

Keywords: community health educators, interdisciplinary and cross cultural partnerships, health justice and access, Nigeria

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Authors: Shreyas Kumar, Mili Shangari

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Integrating artificial intelligence (AI) in the cyber insurance sector represents a significant advancement, offering the potential to revolutionize risk assessment, fraud detection, and claims processing. However, this integration introduces a range of regulatory and economic challenges that must be addressed to ensure responsible and effective deployment of AI technologies. This paper examines the multifaceted regulatory landscape governing AI in cyber insurance and explores the economic implications of compliance, innovation, and market dynamics. AI's capabilities in processing vast amounts of data and identifying patterns make it an invaluable tool for insurers in managing cyber risks. Yet, the application of AI in this domain is subject to stringent regulatory scrutiny aimed at safeguarding data privacy, ensuring algorithmic transparency, and preventing biases. Regulatory bodies, such as the European Union with its General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), mandate strict compliance requirements that can significantly impact the deployment of AI systems. These regulations necessitate robust data protection measures, ethical AI practices, and clear accountability frameworks, all of which entail substantial compliance costs for insurers. The economic implications of these regulatory requirements are profound. Insurers must invest heavily in upgrading their IT infrastructure, implementing robust data governance frameworks, and training personnel to handle AI systems ethically and effectively. These investments, while essential for regulatory compliance, can strain financial resources, particularly for smaller insurers, potentially leading to market consolidation. Furthermore, the cost of regulatory compliance can translate into higher premiums for policyholders, affecting the overall affordability and accessibility of cyber insurance. Despite these challenges, the potential economic benefits of AI integration in cyber insurance are significant. AI-enhanced risk assessment models can provide more accurate pricing, reduce the incidence of fraudulent claims, and expedite claims processing, leading to overall cost savings and increased efficiency. These efficiencies can improve the competitiveness of insurers and drive innovation in product offerings. However, balancing these benefits with regulatory compliance is crucial to avoid legal penalties and reputational damage. The paper also explores the potential risks associated with AI integration, such as algorithmic biases that could lead to unfair discrimination in policy underwriting and claims adjudication. Regulatory frameworks need to evolve to address these issues, promoting fairness and transparency in AI applications. Policymakers play a critical role in creating a balanced regulatory environment that fosters innovation while protecting consumer rights and ensuring market stability. In conclusion, the integration of AI in cyber insurance presents both regulatory and economic challenges that require a coordinated approach involving regulators, insurers, and other stakeholders. By navigating these challenges effectively, the industry can harness the transformative potential of AI, driving advancements in risk management and enhancing the resilience of the cyber insurance market. This paper provides insights and recommendations for policymakers and industry leaders to achieve a balanced and sustainable integration of AI technologies in cyber insurance.

Keywords: artificial intelligence (AI), cyber insurance, regulatory compliance, economic impact, risk assessment, fraud detection, cyber liability insurance, risk management, ransomware

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Authors: Margo O'Sullivan, Xuefeng Chen, Qi Zhao, J. Jiang, Ning Fu

Abstract:

Early childhood development, or ECD, is about the 'whole child' – the physical, social and emotional, cognitive thinking and language progression of each young individual. Overwhelming evidence is now available to support investment in Early Childhood Development internationally, attendance at ECD leads to: improved learning outcomes; improved completion and reduced less dropout rates; and most notably, Professor Heckman, Nobel Laureate’s, findings that for every dollar invested, there is an economic return of up to 17%. Notably, ECD has been included in the 2015-2030 Sustainable Development Goals. The Government of China (GOC) has embraced this research and in 2010, State Council, announced focus on ECD setting a target to provide access to ECD for 85% of 3-6 year olds by 2020; to date, the target has surpassed expectations and reached 70.4%. GoC is also increasingly focusing on the even more critical 0-3 age group, when the plasticity of the brain is at its peak and neurons form connections as fast as 1,000 per second. Key to ECD are parents and caregivers of young children, with parental education critical to fully exploiting the significant potential of the early years of children. In China, with such vast numbers, one in seven pre-school age children in the world live in China, the Ministry of Education (MoE) and the National Centre for Education Technology, explored how to best provide parental education and provide key child developmental related knowledge to parents and caregivers. In response, MoE and UNICEF created a resource for parenting information that began with a computer website in 2012, followed by piloting a kiosk service in 2013 for parents in remote areas without access to the internet, and then a mobile phone application in 2014. The resource includes 269 ECD messages and 200 micro-videos covering critical issues of early childhood development from birth to age 6 years: daily care, nutrition and feeding, disease prevention, immunization, development and education, and safety and protection. To date, there have been 397,599 unique views on the website, and data for the mobile app currently being analysed (Links: http://yuer.cbern.gov.cn/; App: https://appsto.re/cn/OiKPZ.i). This paper will explore the development of this resource, its use by parents and the public, efforts to assess the effectiveness in improving parenting and child development, and future plans to roll an updated version in 2016 to all parents.

Keywords: early childhood development, mobile apps for education, parental education, China

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Authors: Lillian Musila, Valerie Oundo, Daniel Erwin, Willie Sang

Abstract:

Staphylococcus aureus infections are a major cause of nosocomial infections in Kenya. Methicillin resistant S. aureus (MRSA) infections are a significant burden to public health and are associated with considerable morbidity and mortality. At a hospital in Western Kenya two clusters of MRSA cases emerged within short periods of time. In this study we explored whether these clusters represented a nosocomial outbreak by characterizing the isolates using phenotypic and molecular assays and examining epidemiological data to identify possible transmission patterns. Specimens from the site of infection of the subjects were collected, cultured and S. aureus isolates identified phenotypically and confirmed by APIStaph™. MRSA were identified by cefoxitin disk screening per CLSI guidelines. MRSA were further characterized based on their antibiotic susceptibility patterns and spa gene typing. Characteristics of cases with MRSA isolates were compared with those with MSSA isolated around the same time period. Two cases of MRSA infection were identified in the two week period between 21 April and 4 May 2015. A further 2 MRSA isolates were identified on the same day on 7 September 2015. The antibiotic resistance patterns of the two MRSA isolates in the 1st cluster of cases were different suggesting that these were distinct isolates. One isolate had spa type t2029 and the other had a novel spa type. The 2 isolates were obtained from urine and an open skin wound. In the 2nd cluster of MRSA isolates, the antibiotic susceptibility patterns were similar but isolates had different spa types: one was t037 and the other a novel spa type different from the novel MRSA spa type in the first cluster. Both cases in the second cluster were admitted into the hospital but one infection was community- and the other hospital-acquired. Only one of the four MRSA cases was classified as an HAI from an infection acquired post-operatively. When compared to other S. aureus strains isolated within the same time period from the same hospital only one spa type t2029 was found in both MRSA and non-MRSA strains. None of the cases infected with MRSA in the two clusters shared any common epidemiological characteristic such as age, sex or known risk factors for MRSA such as prolonged hospitalization or institutionalization. These data suggest that the observed MRSA clusters were multi strain clusters and not an outbreak of a single strain. There was no clear relationship between the isolates by spa type suggesting that no transmission was occurring within the hospital between these cluster cases but rather that the majority of the MRSA strains were circulating in the community. There was high diversity of spa types among the MRSA strains with none of the isolates sharing spa types. Identification of disease clusters in space and time is critical for immediate infection control action and patient management. Spa gene typing is a rapid way of confirming or ruling out MRSA outbreaks so that costly interventions are applied only when necessary.

Keywords: cluster, Kenya, MRSA, spa typing

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Authors: Abidemi C. Adegboye, Nosakhare Ikponmwosa, Rogers A. Akinsokeji

Abstract:

For many resource-rich developing countries, fiscal policy has become a key tool used for short-run fiscal management since it is considered as playing a critical role in injecting part of resource rents into the economies. However, given its instability, reliance on revenue from commodity exports renders fiscal management, budgetary planning and the efficient use of public resources difficult. In this study, the linkage between commodity prices and fiscal operations among a sample of commodity-exporting countries in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is investigated. The main question is whether commodity price fluctuations affects the effectiveness of fiscal policy as a macroeconomic stabilization tool in these countries. Fiscal management effectiveness is considered as the ability of fiscal policy to react countercyclically to output gaps in the economy. Fiscal policy is measured as the ratio of fiscal deficit to GDP and the ratio of government spending to GDP, output gap is measured as a Hodrick-Prescott filter of output growth for each country, while commodity prices are associated with each country based on its main export commodity. Given the dynamic nature of fiscal policy effects on the economy overtime, a dynamic framework is devised for the empirical analysis. The panel cointegration and error correction methodology is used to explain the relationships. In particular, the study employs the panel ECM technique to trace short-term effects of commodity prices on fiscal management and also uses the fully modified OLS (FMOLS) technique to determine the long run relationships. These procedures provide sufficient estimation of the dynamic effects of commodity prices on fiscal policy. Data used cover the period 1992 to 2016 for 11 SSA countries. The study finds that the elasticity of the fiscal policy measures with respect to the output gap is significant and positive, suggesting that fiscal policy is actually procyclical among the countries in the sample. This implies that fiscal management for these countries follows the trend of economic performance. Moreover, it is found that fiscal policy has not performed well in delivering macroeconomic stabilization for these countries. The difficulty in applying fiscal stabilization measures is attributable to the unstable revenue inflows due to the highly volatile nature of commodity prices in the international market. For commodity-exporting countries in SSA to improve fiscal management, therefore, fiscal planning should be largely decoupled from commodity revenues, domestic revenue bases must be improved, and longer period perspectives in fiscal policy management are the critical suggestions in this study.

Keywords: commodity prices, ECM, fiscal policy, fiscal procyclicality, fully modified OLS, sub-saharan africa

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