Search results for: rural demographic change

Authors: Radouane Elbahjaoui, Hamid El Qarnia

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Melting of Paraffin Wax (P116) dispersed with Al₂O₃ nanoparticles in a rectangular latent heat storage unit (LHSU) is numerically investigated. The storage unit consists of a number of vertical and identical plates of nano-enhanced phase change material (NEPCM) separated by rectangular channels in which heat transfer fluid flows (HTF: Water). A two dimensional mathematical model is considered to investigate numerically the heat and flow characteristics of the LHSU. The melting problem was formulated using the enthalpy porosity method. The finite volume approach was used for solving equations. The effects of nanoparticles’ volumetric fraction and the Reynolds number on the thermal performance of the storage unit were investigated.

Keywords: nano-enhanced phase change material (NEPCM), phase change material (PCM), nanoparticles, latent heat storage unit (LHSU), melting.

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Authors: Sathiya Susuman Appunni

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Background: This article reviews the self-reported pregnancies among teenage girls currently attending secondary school in South Africa. The study aim is to examine the demographic and socio-economic factors associated with self-reported pregnancies among teenage girls currently attending secondary school in the study area. Data and Methods: Secondary data drawn from the General Household Surveys 2016 and Community Survey 2016 as well as 10 % sample data from the 2011 South African census were used. Bivariate, and Multivariate analyses were carried in order to meet the aims of the study. Results: The independent variable identified was the number of economically active people in the household, which indicated 3.3% in 2011 and 3.6% in 2016 for the household with no economically active member. Among the provinces, Limpopo has been leading by 5.2% of self-reported pregnancies among the girls currently attending secondary school in South Africa. Conclusion: It is recommended that the needs to be special health policies and strategies in place to address this epidemic and such policies need to be targeted to the different needs of teenagers in the different demarcations of the country.

Keywords: pregnancy prevalence, demographic, household, teenage girls, socio-economic

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Authors: J. Niemisto, A. Nissinen, S. Soimakallio

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Aviation causes carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and other climate forcers which increase the contribution of aviation on climate change. Aviation industry and number of air travellers are constantly increasing. Aviation industry has an ambitious goal to strongly cut net CO2 emissions. Modern fleet, alternative jet fuels technologies and route optimisation are important technological tools in the emission reduction. Faster approaches are needed as well. Emission trade systems, voluntary carbon offset compensation schemes and taxation are already in operation. Global scenarios of aviation industry and its greenhouse gas emissions and other climate forcers are discussed in this review study based on literature and other published data. The focus is on the aviation in Nordic countries, but also European and global situation are considered. Different emission reduction technologies and compensation modes are examined. In addition, the role of aviation in a single passenger’s (a Finnish consumer) annual carbon footprint is analysed and a comparison of available emission calculators and carbon offset systems is performed. Long-haul fights have a significant role in a single consumer´s and company´s carbon footprint, but remarkable change in global emission level would need a huge change in attitudes towards flying.

Keywords: aviation, climate change, emissions, environment

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Authors: Rushva Parihar, Anushka Barua

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The negative repercussions of a warming planet are already visible, with biodiversity loss, water scarcity, and extreme weather events becoming ever so frequent. The agriculture sector is perhaps the most impacted, and modern agriculture has failed to defend farmers from the effects of climate change. This, coupled with the added pressure of higher demands for food production caused due to population growth, has only compounded the impact. Traditional agricultural practices that are routed in indigenous knowledge have long safeguarded the delicate balance of the ecosystem through sustainable production techniques. This paper uses secondary data to explore these traditional processes (like Beejamrita, Jeevamrita, sheep penning, earthen bunding, and others) from around the world that have been developed over centuries and focuses on how they can be used to tackle contemporary issues arising from climate change (such as nutrient and water loss, soil degradation, increased incidences of pests). Finally, the resulting framework has been applied to the context of Indian agriculture as a means to combat climate change and improve food security, all while encouraging documentation and transfer of local knowledge as a shared resource among farmers.

Keywords: sustainable food systems, traditional agricultural practices, climate smart agriculture, climate change, indigenous knowledge

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Authors: Nassibeh Hosseini-Vasoukolaei, Amir Ahmad Akhavan, Mahmood Jeddi-Tehrani, Ali Khamesipour, Mohammad Reza Yaghoobi Ershadi, Kamhawi Shaden, Valenzuela Jesus, Hossein Mirhendi, Mohammad Hossein Arandian

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Zoonotic cutaneous leishmaniasis (ZCL) is an endemic disease in many rural areas of Iran. Sand flies were collected from rural areas of Esfahan province and were identified using valid identification keys. DNA was extracted from sand flies and Nested PCRs were done using specific primers. In this study, 44 out of 152 (28.9 %) sand flies were infected with L. majoralone. Eight sand flies showed mixed infection: four sand flies (2.6 %) were infected with L. major, L. turanicaand L. gerbili, one sand fly (0.7 %) was infected with L. major and L. turanica and three sand flies (2 %) were infected with L. turanicaand L. gerbili. Our results demonstrate the natural infection of P. papatasi sand fly with three species of L. major, L. turanica and L. gerbili which are circulating among R. opimusreservoir host and P. papatasi sand fly vector in central Iran.

Keywords: Phlebotomus papatasi, Leishmania major, Leishmania turanica, Leishmania gerbili, mixed infection, Iran

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Authors: Mazyar Ahrari, Ramin Khajavi, Mehdi Kamali Dolatabadi, Tayebeh Toliyat, Abosaeed Rashidi

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Fabric as the first and most common layer that is in permanent contact with human skin is a very good interface to provide coverage, as well as heat and cold insulation. Phase change materials (PCMs) are organic and inorganic compounds which have the capability of absorbing and releasing noticeable amounts of latent heat during phase transitions between solid and liquid phases at a low temperature range. PCMs come across phase changes (liquid-solid and solid-liquid transitions) during absorbing and releasing thermal heat; so, in order to use them for a long time, they should have been encapsulated in polymeric shells, so-called microcapsules. Microencapsulation and nanoencapsulation methods have been developed in order to reduce the reactivity of a PCM with outside environment, promoting the ease of handling, decreasing the diffusion and evaporation rates. Methods of incorporation of PCMs in textiles such as electrospinning and determining thermal properties had been summarized. Paraffin waxes catch a lot of attention due to their high thermal storage density, repeatability of phase change, thermal stability, small volume change during phase transition, chemical stability, non-toxicity, non-flammability, non-corrosive and low cost and they seem to play a key role in confronting with climate change and global warming. In this article, we aimed to review the researches concentrating on the characteristics of PCMs and new materials and methods of microencapsulation.

Keywords: thermoregulation, microencapsulation, phase change materials, thermal energy storage, nanoencapsulation

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Authors: A. Bayaga

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This research provides a technical account of estimating Transition Probability using Time-homogeneous Markov Jump Process applying by South African HIV/AIDS data from the Statistics South Africa. It employs Maximum Likelihood Estimator (MLE) model to explore the possible influence of Transition Probability of mortality cases in which case the data was based on actual Statistics South Africa. This was conducted via an integrated demographic and epidemiological model of South African HIV/AIDS epidemic. The model was fitted to age-specific HIV prevalence data and recorded death data using MLE model. Though the previous model results suggest HIV in South Africa has declined and AIDS mortality rates have declined since 2002 – 2013, in contrast, our results differ evidently with the generally accepted HIV models (Spectrum/EPP and ASSA2008) in South Africa. However, there is the need for supplementary research to be conducted to enhance the demographic parameters in the model and as well apply it to each of the nine (9) provinces of South Africa.

Keywords: AIDS mortality rates, epidemiological model, time-homogeneous markov jump process, transition probability, statistics South Africa

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Authors: Gargi S. Kumar, Mrinmoyi Kulkarni

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Food choice behavior is complex and determined by biological, psychological, socio-cultural, and economic factors. The past two decades, have seen dramatic changes in food consumption patterns among urban Indian consumers. The objective of the current study was to evaluate perceptions about changes with respect to food choice behavior. Ten participants [urban men and women] ranging in age from 40 to 65 were selected and in-depth interviews were conducted with a set of open ended questions. The recorded interviews were transcribed and thematically analyzed using inductive, open and axial coding. The results identified themes that act as drivers and consequences of change in food choice behavior. Drivers such as globalization [sub themes of urbanization, education, income, and work environment], media and advertising, changing gender roles, women in the workforce, and change in family structure have influenced food choice, both at an individual and national level. The consequences of changes in food choice were health implications, processed food consumption, food decisions driven by children and eating out among others. The study reveals that, over time, food choices change and evolve. However it is interesting to note how market forces and culture interact to influence individual behavior and the overall food environment which subsequently affects food choice and the health of the people.

Keywords: change, consequences, drivers, food choice, globalization

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Authors: Neil Fourati

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Collaboration between public and private stakeholders for agricultural development are today lacking in Tunisia. The last dictatorship witnessed by the country has deteriorated the necessary trust between the state and small farmers for the realization of development projects, in particular in the interior, disadvantaged regions of the country. These regions, where the youth unemployment rate is above 30%, have been the heart of the uprising that preceded the revolution. The transitional period that the country is going through since 2011 is an opportunity for the emergence of new governance systems in the context of the decentralization. The latter is recognized in the 2nd Tunisian Republic constitution as the basis of regional management. Civil society participation to the decision-making process is considered as a mean to identify measures that are more coherent with local populations’ needs. The development of agriculture and food value chains in rural areas is relevant within the framework of the implementation of new decisions systems that require public-private collaborations. These new systems can lead to actions in favor of improving living conditions of rural populations. The diverisification of activities around agriculture can be a solution for job creation and local value creation. The project for the promotion of sustainable agriculture and rural development in Tunisia has designed and implemented a multi-stakeholder dialogue process for the development of local value chains platforms in disadvantaged areas of the country. The platforms gather public and private organizations ; as well civil society organizations ; that intervene in a locality in relation to the production transformation or product’s commercialization. The role of these platforms is to formulate realize and evaluate collaborative actions or projects for the promotion of the concerned product and territory. The dialogue process steps allow to create the necessary collaboration conditions in order to promote viable collectivities, dynamic economies and healthy environments. Effectively, the dialogue process steps allow to identify the local leaders. These leaders recognize the development constraints and opportunities. They deal with key and gathering subjects around the collaborative projects or actions. They take common decisions in order to create effective coalitions for the implementation of common actions. The plateforms realize quick success so as to build trust. The project has supported the formulation of 22 collaborative projects. Seven priority collaborative projects have been realized. Each collaborative project includes 3 parts : the signature of the collaboration conventions between public and private organizations, investment in the relevant material in order to increase productivity and the quality of local and products and finally management and technical training in favour of producers’ organizations for the promotion of local products. The implementation of this process has enabled to enhance the capacities of collaboration between local actors : producers, traders, processors and support structures from public sector and civil society. It also allowed to improve the efficiency and relevance of actions and measures for agriculture and rural development programs. Thus, the process for the development of local value chain platform is a basis for sustainable development of agriculture.

Keywords: governance, public private collaboration, rural development, value chains

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Authors: Julia Wimmers Klick

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Interprofessional Education (IPE) is widely recognized as a valuable approach in healthcare education, despite the challenges it presents. This study explores IP surface anatomy lab sessions, with a focus on fostering trust and collaboration among healthcare students. The research is conducted within the context of rural healthcare settings in British Columbia (BC), where a medical school and a physical therapy (PT) program operate under the Faculty of Medicine at the University of British Columbia (UBC). While IPE sessions addressing soft skills have been implemented, the integration of hard skills, such as Anatomy, remains limited. To address this gap, a pilot feasibility study was conducted with a positive outcome, a follow-up study involved these IPE sessions aimed at exploring the influence of bonding and trust between medical and PT students. Data were collected through focus groups comprising participating students and faculty members, and a structured SWOC (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Challenges) analysis was conducted. The IPE sessions, 3 in total, consisted of a 2.5-hour lab on surface anatomy, where PT students took on the teaching role, and medical students were newly exposed to surface anatomy. The focus of the study was on the relationship-building process and trust development between the two student groups, rather than assessing the acquisition of surface anatomy skills. Results indicated that the surface anatomy lab served as a suitable tool for the application and learning of soft skills. Faculty members observed positive outcomes, including productive interaction between students, reversed hierarchy with PT students teaching medical students, practicing active listening skills, and using a mutual language of anatomy. Notably, there was no grade assessment or external pressure to perform. The students also reported an overall positive experience; however, the specific impact on the development of soft skill competencies could not be definitively determined. Participants expressed a sense of feeling respected, welcomed, and included, all of which contributed to feeling safe. Within the small group environment, students experienced becoming a part of a community of healthcare providers that bonded over a shared interest in health professions education. They enjoyed sharing diverse experiences related to learning across their varied contexts, without fear of judgment and reprisal that were often intimidating in single professional contexts. During a joint Christmas party for both cohorts, faculty members observed students mingling, laughing, and forming bonds. This emphasized the importance of early bonding and trust development among healthcare colleagues, particularly in rural settings. In conclusion, the findings emphasize the potential of IPE sessions to enhance trust and collaboration among healthcare students, with implications for their future professional lives in rural settings. Early bonding and trust development are crucial in rural settings, where healthcare professionals often rely on each other. Future research should continue to explore the impact of content-concentrated IPE on the development of soft skill competencies.

Keywords: interprofessional education, rural healthcare settings, trust, surface anatomy

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Authors: Razan Salem

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This study aims to investigate the investment behavior of Arab women (in regards to their herding behavior, risk tolerance, confidence and investment literacy levels). This study aims to investigate the relationship between three demographic factors (age, income, education) and the investment behavior of Arab women. On average, women in the Arab region face several obstacles that limit them from fully participating in stocks investments. In the context, this study focuses on extending the existing literature to include Arab women individuals and their investment behaviors. To achieve the study’s objective, the researcher distributed 600 close-ended online questionnaires to a sample of Arab male and female individual investors in both Saudi Arabia and Jordan. The researcher used quantitative statistical methods (frequency distribution along with the Kruskal-Wallis H Test and the Mann-Whitney U Test) to analyze the 550 questionnaire respondents. The findings indicated that only age, educational level, and annual income level are associated with the investment behavior of Arab women, where age is only negatively associated with their financial risk tolerance levels. Additionally, income level is positively associated with Arab women‘s confidence and investment literacy levels, while educational level is only associated positively with their investment confidence levels. According to annual income, Arab women with lower incomes have lower confidence and investment literacy levels. The limited income level might prevent the sample Arab women from investing in the financial information and advisors that may help in improving their investment literacy levels. Furthermore, Arab women with lower educational levels have lower investment literacy levels and thus, this may limit their stock investments. Overall, the study contributes to the existing literature by focusing directly on examining the investment behavior of Arab women and its association with age, annual income, and education. Generally, there are scarce existing studies that investigate the association of demographic factors with the investment behavior of women only in regards to their herding behavior, risk tolerance, investment confidence, and investment literacy levels (combined), especially Arab women investors.

Keywords: Arab region, demographic factors, investment behavior, women investors

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Authors: Ali Ashraf Hamedi Oghul Beyk

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The main objective of the study is to determine the factors which influence the acceptance or rejection of rural livestock insurance in Garmsar. The research method is descriptive one. There are two groups of research populations: 1467 cases in acceptance group and 7000 cases in rejection group. The sample population is 320 cases among 8467 ones. Data collection instrument is questionnaire. The validity of the questionnaire was measured by faculty members and other agriculture experts and also reliability of it determined through Cronbach alpha which was %83. Correlation between acceptance and rejection of investigated population. According to the findings of the research, between educational level, basic income from farm-related communication channels, contacts of experts and acceptance and rejection of livestock insurance at %5 & the mortality rate, loan awareness of the objectives of the livestock insurance benefits %1 there is a meaningful relationship. Mann-Whitney test shows the different educational levels, different awareness and interest to livestock insurance between the two groups. Besides, the T-test shows the livestock losses rate in two groups.

Keywords: insurance, livestock, Garmsar, Semnan

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Authors: Marziyeh Khavari

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In recent decades, climate change, global warming, and the growing population worldwide face some challenges, such as increasing food consumption and shortage of resources. Assessing how climate change could disturb crops, especially hazelnut production, seems crucial for sustainable agriculture production. For hazelnut cultivation in the mid-warm condition, such as in Iran, here we present an investigation of climate parameters and how much they are effective on fertility and nut production of hazelnut trees. Therefore, the climate change of the northern zones in Iran has investigated (1960-2017) and was reached an uptrend in temperature. Furthermore, the descriptive analysis performed on six cultivars during seven years shows how this small-scale survey could demonstrate the effects of climate change on hazelnut production and stability. Results showed that some climate parameters are more significant on nut production, such as solar radiation, soil temperature, relative humidity, and precipitation. Moreover, some cultivars have produced more stable production, for instance, Negret and Segorbe, while the Mervill de Boliver recorded the most variation during the study. Another aspect that needs to be met is training and predicting an actual model to simulate nut production through a neural network and linear regression simulation. The study developed and estimated the ANN model's generalization capability with different criteria such as RMSE, SSE, and accuracy factors for dependent and independent variables (environmental and yield traits). The models were trained and tested while the accuracy of the model is proper to predict hazelnut production under fluctuations in weather parameters.

Keywords: climate change, neural network, hazelnut, global warming

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Authors: Shyamli Singh, Ishupinder Kaur, Vinod K. Sharma

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Climate Change refers to the change in climate for extended period of time. Climate is changing from the past history of earth but anthropogenic activities accelerate this rate of change and which is now being a global issue. Increase in greenhouse gas emissions is causing global warming and climate change related issues at an alarming rate. Increasing temperature results in climate variability across the globe. Changes in rainfall patterns, intensity and extreme events are some of the impacts of climate change. Rainfall variability refers to the degree to which rainfall patterns varies over a region (spatial) or through time period (temporal). Temporal rainfall variability can be directly or indirectly linked to climate change. Such variability in rainfall increases the vulnerability of communities towards climate change. Increasing urbanization and unplanned developmental activities, the air quality is deteriorating. This paper mainly focuses on the rainfall variability due to increasing level of greenhouse gases. Rainfall data of 65 years (1951-2015) of Safdarjung station of Delhi was collected from Indian Meteorological Department and analyzed using Mann-Kendall test for time-series data analysis. Mann-Kendall test is a statistical tool helps in analysis of trend in the given data sets. The slope of the trend can be measured through Sen’s slope estimator. Data was analyzed monthly, seasonally and yearly across the period of 65 years. The monthly rainfall data for the said period do not follow any increasing or decreasing trend. Monsoon season shows no increasing trend but here was an increasing trend in the pre-monsoon season. Hence, the actual rainfall differs from the normal trend of the rainfall. Through this analysis, it can be projected that there will be an increase in pre-monsoon rainfall than the actual monsoon season. Pre-monsoon rainfall causes cooling effect and results in drier monsoon season. This will increase the vulnerability of communities towards climate change and also effect related developmental activities.

Keywords: greenhouse gases, Mann-Kendall test, rainfall variability, Sen's slope

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Authors: Dimitris Kokkinos, Panagiotis Prinos

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In the last three decades, climate change has been studied extensively from scientific community, and its consequences are more than clear all around the world. Most countries have carried out a great effort to reduce global warming rates with the ratification and implementation of several international treaties. Moreover, many of them have already adopted national plans in order to adapt to climate change effects and mitigate human and economic losses. Coastal environments, with their inherent physical sensitivity, will face important challenges as a result of projected changes in climate conditions and hundreds of millions of people will be affected. Coastal zones are of high social and economic value and this research focuses on the Mediterranean basin, which is a densely populated and highly urbanized area. With 40% of its land used for human activity and the inevitability of the impacts of the climate change, it is obvious that some form of adaptation measures will be necessary. In this regard, the EU tools, policies and legislation concerning adaptation to climate change are presented. Additionally, the National Adaptation Strategies of State members of the Mediterranean basin are compared and analyzed concerning the coastal areas, along with an overview of projects and programs results focused on coastal issues at different spatial scales. The purpose of this research is to stress the differences between Mediterranean State members at methodologies implemented, to highlight the possible gaps in co-ordination and to emphasize on research initiatives that EU can build upon moving towards an integrated adaptation planning on a region-wide basis.

Keywords: coastal adaptation, Mediterranean Basin, climate change, coastal environments

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Authors: Golnaz Shahtahmassebi, Jose Maria Sarabia

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In this talk, we introduce a new class of conjugate prior distributions obtained from conditional specification methodology. We illustrate the application of such distribution in Bayesian change point detection in Poisson processes. We obtain the posterior distribution of model parameters using a general bivariate distribution with gamma conditionals. Simulation from the posterior is readily implemented using a Gibbs sampling algorithm. The Gibbs sampling is implemented even when using conditional densities that are incompatible or only compatible with an improper joint density. The application of such methods will be demonstrated using examples of simulated and real data.

Keywords: change point, bayesian inference, Gibbs sampler, conditional specification, gamma conditional distributions

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Authors: Liana Melissa E. de la Rosa, Jayson P. Ada

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This exploratory study was conducted to determine the sociology of the Facebook. Specifically, it aimed to know the socio-demographic profile of the respondents in terms of age, sex, year level and monthly allowance; find out the common usage of Facebook to the respondents; identify the features of Facebook that are commonly used by the respondents; understand the benefits and risks of using the Facebook; determine how frequent the respondents use the Facebook; and find out if there is a significant relationship between socio-demographic profile of the respondents and their Facebook usage. This study used the exploratory research design and correlational design employing research survey questionnaire as its main data gathering instrument. Students of the University of Eastern Philippines were selected as the respondents of this study through quota sampling. Ten (10) students were randomly selected from each college of the university. Based on the findings of this study, the following conclusion were drawn: The majority of the respondents are aged 18 and 21 old, female, are third year students, and have monthly allowance of P 2,000 above. On the respondents’ usage of Facebook, the majority of use the Facebook on a daily basis for one to two (1-2) hours everyday. And most users used Facebook by renting a computer in an internet cafe. On the use of Facebook, most users have created their profiles mainly to connect with people and gain new friends. The most commonly used features of Facebook, are: photos application, like button, wall, notification, friend, chat, network, groups and “like” pages status updates, messages and inbox and events. While the other Facebook features that are seldom used by the respondents are games, news feed, user name, video sharing and notes. And the least used Facebook features are questions, poke feature, credits and the market place. The respondents stated that the major benefit that the Facebook has given to its users is its ability to keep in touch with family members or friends while the main risk identified is that the users can become addicted to the Internet. On the tests of relationships between the respondents’ use of Facebook and the four (4) socio-demographic profile variables: age, sex, year level, and month allowance, were found to be not significantly related to the respondents’ use of the Facebook. While the variable found to be significantly related was gender.

Keywords: Facebook, sociology, social networking, exploratory study

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Authors: Gabriel Jinga, Madalina Dumitru

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The objective of this paper is to present the process of change in management accounting in Romania, a former communist country from Eastern Europe. In order to explain this process, we used the contingency and institutional theories. We focused on the following directions: the presentation of the scientific context and motivation of this research and the case study. We presented the state of the art in the process of change in the management accounting from the international and national perspective. We also described the evolution of management accounting in Romania in the context of economic and political changes. An important moment was the fall of communism in 1989. This represents a starting point for a new economic environment and for new management accounting. Accordingly, we developed a case study which presented this evolution. The conclusion of our research was that the changes in the management accounting system of the company analysed occurred in the same time with the institutionalization of some elements (e.g. degree of competition, training and competencies in management accounting). The management accounting system was modeled by the contingencies specific to this company (e.g. environment, industry, strategy).

Keywords: management accounting, change, Romania, contingency, institutional theory

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Authors: Banazzouz Halima

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Throughout the ages, language has been viewed not only as a simple code of communicating information but rather as the most powerful and versatile medium of maintaining relationships with other people. While,by the end of the 18th century, such matters of scientific investigation concerning the study of human language began to occur under the scope of “Linguistics” generally defined as the scientific study of language. Linguistics, thus, provides a growing body of scientific knowledge about language which can guide the activity of the language teacher and student as well. Moreover,as times passed, the linguistic development engaged language in a broadly practiced academic discipline having relationship with other sciences such as: psychology, sociology, anthropology etc. Therefore, “Sociolinguistics” was given birth during the 1960’s. In fact, the given abstract is mainly linguistic, inserted under the scope of “Sociolinguistics” and by far it highlights on the process of linguistic variation and language change to show that all languages change through time and linguistic systems may vary from one speech community to another providing there is a sense of vitality where people of different parts of the globe may mutually and intelligibly communicate and comprehend each other.

Keywords: language change-sociolinguistics, social context-speech community, vitality of language, linguistic variation, urban dialectology, urban dialectology

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Authors: V. Jafari, M. Jafari

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When long-term changes in normal weather patterns happen in a certain area, it generally could be identified as climate change. Concentration of principal's greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, methane, ozone, and water vapor will cause climate change and perhaps climate variability. Main climate factors are temperature, precipitation, air pressure, and humidity. Extreme events may be the result of the changing of carbon dioxide concentration levels in the atmosphere which cause a change in temperature. Extreme events in some ways will affect the productivity of crop and dairy livestock. In this research, the correlation of milk production and temperature as the main climate factor in ChaharMahal and Bakhtiari province in Iran has been considered. The methodology employed for this study consists, collect reports and published national and provincial data, available recorded data on climate factors and analyzing collected data using statistical software. Milk production in ChaharMahal and Bakhtiari province is in the same pattern as national milk production in Iran. According to the current study results, there is a significant negative correlation between milk production in ChaharMahal and Bakhtiari provinces and temperature as the main climate change factor.

Keywords: Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari, climate change, impacts, Iran, milk production

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Authors: Shivi Agarwal, Trilok Mathur

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This paper proposes the method to measure the total factor productivity (TFP) change by credibility theory for fuzzy input and output variables. Total factor productivity change has been widely studied with crisp input and output variables, however, in some cases, input and output data of decision-making units (DMUs) can be measured with uncertainty. These data can be represented as linguistic variable characterized by fuzzy numbers. Malmquist productivity index (MPI) is widely used to estimate the TFP change by calculating the total factor productivity of a DMU for different time periods using data envelopment analysis (DEA). The fuzzy DEA (FDEA) model is solved using the credibility theory. The results of FDEA is used to measure the TFP change for fuzzy input and output variables. Finally, numerical examples are presented to illustrate the proposed method to measure the TFP change input and output variables. The suggested methodology can be utilized for performance evaluation of DMUs and help to assess the level of integration. The methodology can also apply to rank the DMUs and can find out the DMUs that are lagging behind and make recommendations as to how they can improve their performance to bring them at par with other DMUs.

Keywords: chance-constrained programming, credibility theory, data envelopment analysis, fuzzy data, Malmquist productivity index

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Authors: Nemanja Kidzin, Danka Puric

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Recently, the field of personality change has received an increasing amount of attention. Previously under-researched variables, such as the intention to change or taking on new social roles (in a working environment, education, family, etc.), have been shown to be relevant for personality change. Following this line of research, our study aimed to determine whether the process of acting can bring about personality changes in students of acting and, if yes, in which way. We hypothesized that there will be a significant difference between self-reported personality traits of students acting at the beginning and the end of preparing for a role. Additionally, as potential moderator variables, we measured the reported personality traits of the roles the students were acting, as well as empathy, disintegration, and years of formal education. The sample (N = 47) was composed of students of acting from the Faculty of Dramatic Arts (first- to fourth-year) and the Faculty of Modern Arts (first-year students only). Participants' mean age was 20.2 (SD = 1.47), and there were 64% of females. The procedure included two waves of testing (T1 at the beginning and T2 at the end of the semester), and students’ acting exercises and character immersion comprised the pseudo-experimental procedure. Students’ personality traits (HEXACO-60, self-report version), empathy (Questionnaire of Cognitive and Affective Empathy, QCAE), and disintegration (DELTA9, 10-item version) were measured at both T1 and T2, while the personality of the role (HEXACO-60 observer version) was measured at T2. Responses to all instruments were given on a 5-point Likert scale. A series of repeated-measures T-tests showed significant differences in emotionality (t(46) = 2.56, p = 0.014) and conscientiousness (t(46) = -2.39, p = 0.021) between T1 and T2. Moreover, an index of absolute personality change was significantly different from 0 for all traits (range .53 to .34, t(46) = 4.20, p < .001 for the lowest index. The average test-retest correlation for HEXACO traits was 0.57, which is lower than proposed by other similar researches. As for moderator variables, neither the personality of the role nor empathy or disintegration explained the change in students’ personality traits. The magnitude of personality change was the highest in fourth-year students, with no significant differences between the remaining three years of studying. Overall, our results seem to indicate some personality changes in students of acting. However, these changes cannot be unequivocally related to the process of preparing for a role. Further and methodologically stricter research is needed to unravel the role of acting in personality change.

Keywords: theater, personality change, acting, HEXACO

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Authors: Indu Gupta

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Climate change and global warming is most burning issue for “our common future”. For this common global interest. Countries organize conferences of government and nongovernment type. Human being destroying the non-renewable resources and polluting the renewable resources of planet for economic growth. Air pollution is mainly responsible for global warming and climate change .Due to global warming ice glaciers are shrinking and melting. Forests are shrinking, deserts expanding and soil eroding. The depletion of stratospheric ozone layer is depleting and hole in ozone layer that protect us from harmful ultra violet radiation. Extreme high temperature in summer and extreme low temperature and smog in winters, floods in rainy season. These all are indication of climate change. The level of carbon dioxide and other heat trapping gases in the atmosphere is increasing at high speed. Nation’s are worried about environmental degradation.

Keywords: environmental degradation, global warming, soil eroding, ultra-Violate radiation

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Authors: Aarif Rasheed, Joseph Bulbulia

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Western democracies exhibit signs of distinctive anti-Muslim prejudice, but little is known about its causes and effects on Muslim minorities. Here, drawing on nine years of responses from a nationally representative longitudinal sample of New Zealanders (New Zealand Attitudes and Values Study, N > 31,000), we systematically investigate the demographic and ideological predictors of factors that predict both positive and negative change in Muslim attitudes. First, we find that that education, moderate and liberal political ideology, and positive views about religion predict greater Muslim acceptance. Second, we find a there though there is a general trend for increasing acceptance over nine years, we find evidence of increasing extremism at the margins. Third, focusing on the Muslim sub-sample and comparing it to other religious sub-groups, we find substantially higher reports of perceived anti-religious prejudice. Collectively, these results point to serious challenges to the health of New Zealand as a democracy where people can worship freely without discrimination. Finally, we find consistency in our responses with the reported experiences of victims of the Christchurch attacks, in terms of harassment, assault, slurs, and other hostile behaviour both before and after the attacks.

Keywords: democracy, longitudinal, Muslim, panel data, prejudice

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Authors: Gabriel Jinga, Madalina Dumitru

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The objective of this paper is to present the process of change in management accounting in Romania, a former communist country from Eastern Europe. In order to explain this process, we used the contingency and institutional theories. We focused on the following directions: the presentation of the scientific context and motivation of this research and the case study. We presented the state of the art in the process of change in the management accounting from the international and national perspective. We also described the evolution of management accounting in Romania in the context of economic and political changes. An important moment was the fall of communism in 1989. This represents a starting point for a new economic environment and for new management accounting. Accordingly, we developed a case study which presented this evolution. The conclusion of our research was that the changes in the management accounting system of the company analysed occurred in the same time with the institutionalisation of some elements (e.g. degree of competition, training and competencies in management accounting). The management accounting system was modelled by the contingencies specific to this company (e.g. environment, industry, strategy).

Keywords: management accounting, change, Romania, contingency and institutional theory

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Authors: Sabahat Zahra

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The purpose of this research is to present the changing global environment and its potential impacts on sustainable food and energy production at global level, particularly in Pakistan. The food and energy related-economic sector has been subjected to negative consequences due to recent extreme changes in weather conditions, particularly in developing countries. Besides continuous modifications in weather, population is also increasing by time, therefore it is necessary to take special steps and start effective initiatives to cope with the challenges of food and energy security to fight hunger and for economic stability of country. Severe increase in temperature and heat waves has also negative impacts on food production as well as energy sustainability. Energy (in terms of electricity) consumption has grown up than the production potential of the country as a consequence of increasing warm weather. Ultimately prices gone up when there is more consumption than production. Therefore, all these aspects of climate change are interrelated with socio-economic issues. There is a need to develop long-term policies on regional and national levels for maintainable economic growth. This research presents a framework-plan and recommendations for implementation needed to mitigate the potential threats due to global climate change sustainable food and energy production under climate change in the country.

Keywords: climate changes, energy security, food security, global climate change

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Authors: Asra Yousuf, Ajaykumar Tannirkulum

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Inferring rural-urban migration trends can help design effective policies that promote better urban planning and rural development. In this paper, we describe how machine learning algorithms can be applied to predict internal migration decisions of people. We consider data collected from household surveys in Tamil Nadu to train our model. To measure the performance of the model, we use data on past migration from National Sample Survey Organisation of India. The factors for training the model include socioeconomic characteristic of each individual like age, gender, place of residence, outstanding loans, strength of the household, etc. and his past migration history. We perform a comparative analysis of the performance of a number of machine learning algorithm to determine their prediction accuracy. Our results show that machine learning algorithms provide a stronger prediction accuracy as compared to statistical models. Our goal through this research is to propose the use of data science techniques in understanding human decisions and behaviour in developing countries.

Keywords: development, migration, internal migration, machine learning, prediction

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Authors: Wenwen Liu, Robert Burton, Simon McKeown

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Climate change is seriously threatening human security and development, leading to global warming and economic, political, and social chaos. Many artists have created visual responses that challenge perceptions on climate change, actively guiding people to think about the climate issues and potential crises after urban industrialization and explore positive solutions. This project is an interdisciplinary and intertextual study where art practice is informed by culture, philosophy, psychology, ecology, and science. By correlating theory and artistic practice, it studies how art practice creates a new way of understanding climate issues and uses art as a way of exploring speculative futures. In the context of practical-based research, arts-based practice as research and creative practice as interdisciplinary research are applied alternately to seek the original solution and new knowledge. Through creative art practice, this project has established new visual ways of looking at climate change and has developed it into a new model to generate more possibilities, an alternative social imagination. It not only encourages people to think and find a sustainable speculative future conducive to all species but also proves that people have the ability to realize positive futures.

Keywords: climate change, creative practice as interdisciplinary research, arts-based practice as research, creative art practice, speculative future

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Authors: Pshtiwan Shafiq Ahmed

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The invasion of Iraq was a turning point in Iraq, destroying the economic infrastructure of several important strategic and historic cities, including Mosul, Anbar and Diyala, which will take decades to rebuild It left 18,805 people dead and 37,000 injured, destroying hundreds of villages and cities, displacing 2.3 million people, and increasing the number of orphans The increase in the number of windows and the destruction of society and the structure of the population so that the number of children, women and the elderly has increased. Religious clashes have increased and religious cleansing has begun, trying to eradicate Christianity, Yazidis and Kakais from the whole of Iraq, causing the largest number of Christians, Yazidis and Kakais to leave Iraq and many of them went missing.

Keywords: ISIS, population change, geographical change, Iraq

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Authors: Ayodeji Adebayo, Tolulope Soyannwo, Oluwakemi A. Sigbeku

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Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) is a significant public health problem with adverse health consequences. There is increasing evidence of association of IPV with mental health problems. Understanding the association between IPV and mental health status of women of reproductive aged group in the rural communities in Nigeria can provide information to improve maternal health status. Therefore, this study was conducted to examine the relationship between experience of IPV and mental health status of women of reproductive aged group in a rural community in Southwest Nigeria. A community based cross-sectional survey was conducted using a cluster sampling technique to select 283 non-pregnant women of reproductive age group (15-49 years Mental health was assessed based on respondents’ experience of any symptoms of depression, anxiety and/or low self-esteem. IPV was assessed over a period of 12 months and the forms of IPV assessed were emotional, physical and sexual. An interviewer administered questionnaire was used to collect information on experience of IPV, reproductive history and factors influencing mental health. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics, Chi-square and multivariate logistic regression at 5% level of significance. The mean age of respondents was 26.1± 7.8 with 57.1% aged 15-24years. More than half (58.0%) were married. Overall, 60.7% of respondents had mental health problems while 84.8% experienced all categories of violence. The pattern of IPV includes physical violence (10.7%), emotional violence (82.7%) and sexual violence (20.8%). Women who experienced sexual violence by a partner are most likely to suffer from all mental issues. Also, gynaecological morbidities are associated with increasing risk of mental health problems. The research demonstrates an urgent need for mental health policies to recognize the relationship between intimate partner violence, gynaecological morbidities and mental health problems in women in Nigeria.

Keywords: intimate partner violence, mental health, reproductive age group, women

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