Search results for: waste management strategies

Authors: Priscila A. M. Rodrigues

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In Brazil, higher education is usually offered in three parts of the day: in the morning, afternoon and evening. Students have to decide what part of the day they are going to study in the application process. Most of the admitted students who choose to study in the evening also work during the day, because of their financial conditions. Brazilian higher education courses in the evening were initially created to meet the demand for teacher training. These teacher-training courses are socially discredited and considered easily accessible in the country, mostly due to the fact that students who enroll for those courses come from very poor basic education. The research has analyzed the differences between the social profiles and studying conditions of students of teacher education, especially the training intended for would-be elementary education teachers. An investigation has been conducted with these undergraduate students, who were divided into a group of those who study both in the morning and in the afternoon (group 1) and a group of those who study in the evening (group 2). The hypothesis predicted that students in group 1 would perform better than students in group 2. The analysis of training and studying conditions departed from the point of view of students and their teachers. The hypothesis predicted that students in group 1 would perform better than students in group 2. The analysis of training and studying conditions departed from the point of view of students and their teachers. Data was collected from survey, qualitative interviews, field observation and reports from students. Sociological concepts of habitus, cultural capital, trajectories and strategies are essential for this study as well as the literature on quality of higher education. The research revealed that there are differences of studying conditions between group 1 and group 2, precisely when it comes to the university atmosphere, that is to say, academic support resources and enrichment activities which promote educational, cultural and social opportunities, for example conferences, events, scholarships of different types, etc. In order to counteract the effects of their poor educational performance, students who generally come from popular strata require conditions of greater dedication and investment in higher education, which most of them do not have. Despite the considerable difficulties that students in group 2 encounter in their academic experience, the university experience per se brings a gain for the lives of these students, which translates into the expansion of their capital structure – i.e. symbolic, cultural and educational capital – with repercussions on their social trajectory, especially in professional conditions.

Keywords: higher education, higher education students’ performance, quality of higher education, teacher’s education

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Authors: Shashwat, Sandra G. L. Persiani, Yew Wah Wong, Pramod S. Kamath, Avinash H. Anantharam, Hui Ling Aw, Yann Grynberg

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Achieving zero-energy targets in existing buildings is known to be a difficult task, hence targets are addressed at new buildings almost exclusively. Although these ultra-efficient case-studies remain essential to develop future technologies and drive the concepts of Zero-energy, the immediate need to cut the consumption of the existing building stock remains unaddressed. This work aims to present a reliable and straightforward methodology for assessing the potential of energy-efficient upgrading in existing buildings. Public Singaporean school buildings, characterized by low energy use intensity and large roof areas, were identified as potential objects for conversion to highly-efficient buildings with a positive energy balance. A first study phase included the development of a detailed energy model for two case studies (a primary and a secondary school), based on the architectural drawings provided, site-visits and calibrated using measured end-use power consumption of different spaces. The energy model was used to demonstrate compliances or predict energy consumption of proposed changes in the two buildings. As complete energy monitoring is difficult and substantially time-consuming, short-term energy data was collected in the schools by taking spot measurements of power, voltage, and current for all the blocks of school. The figures revealed that the bulk of the consumption is attributed in decreasing order of magnitude to air-conditioning, plug loads, and lighting. In a second study-phase, a number of energy-efficient technologies and strategies were evaluated through energy-modeling to identify the alternatives giving the highest energy saving potential, achieving a reduction in energy use intensity down to 19.71 kWh/m²/y and 28.46 kWh/m²/y for the primary and the secondary schools respectively. This exercise of field evaluation and computer simulation of energy saving potential aims at a preliminary assessment of the positive-energy feasibility enabling future implementation of the technologies on the buildings studied, in anticipation of a broader and more widespread adoption in Singaporean schools.

Keywords: energy simulation, school building, tropical climate, zero energy buildings, positive energy

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Authors: Karthiyayini J., Arpita Chowdary Vantipalli, Darshana Sailu Tanti, Malvika Ravi Kudari, Krtin Kannan

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This paper is propelled from the generally existing undertaking of the smart water quality management, which addresses an IoT (Internet of things) based brilliant water quality observing (SWQM) framework which we call it AquaSwach that guides in the ceaseless estimation of water conditions dependent on five actual boundaries i.e., temperature, pH, electric conductivity and turbidity properties and water virtue estimation each time you drink water. Six sensors relate to Arduino-Mega in a discrete way to detect the water parameters. Extracted data from the sensors are transmitted to a desktop application developed in the NET platform and compared with the WHO (World Health Organization) standard values.

Keywords: AquaSwach, IoT, WHO, water quality

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Authors: RAJ KUMAR G.C.

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There are tremendous opportunities to maximize smallholder farmers’ income from small-scale water resource development through micro irrigation and multiple-use water systems (MUS). MUS are an improved water management approach, developed and tested successfully by iDE that pipes water to a community both for domestic use and for agriculture using efficient micro irrigation. Different MUS models address different landscape constraints, water demand, and users’ preferences. MUS are complemented by micro irrigation kits, which were developed by iDE to enable farmers to grow high-value crops year-round and to use limited water resources efficiently. Over the last 15 years, iDE’s promotion of the MUS approach has encouraged government and other key stakeholders to invest in MUS for better planning of scarce water resources. Currently, about 60% of the cost of MUS construction is covered by the government and community. Based on iDE’s experience, a gravity-fed MUS costs approximately $125 USD per household to construct, and it can increase household income by $300 USD per year. A key element of the MUS approach is keeping farmers well linked to input supply systems and local produce collection centers, which helps to ensure that the farmers can produce a sufficient quantity of high-quality produce that earns a fair price. This process in turn creates an enabling environment for smallholders to invest in MUS and micro irrigation. Therefore, MUS should be seen as an integrated package of interventions –the end users, water sources, technologies, and the marketplace– that together enhance technical, financial, and institutional sustainability. Communities are trained to participate in sustainable water resource management as a part of the MUS planning and construction process. The MUS approach is cost-effective, improves community governance of scarce water resources, helps smallholder farmers to improve rural health and livelihoods, and promotes gender equity. MUS systems are simple to maintain and communities are trained to ensure that they can undertake minor maintenance procedures themselves. All in all, the iDE Nepal MUS offers multiple benefits and represents a practical and sustainable model of the MUS approach. Moreover, there is a growing national consensus that rural water supply systems should be designed for multiple uses, acknowledging that substantial work remains in developing national-level and local capacity and policies for scale-up.

Keywords: multiple-use water systems , small scale water resources, rural livelihoods, practical and sustainable model

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Authors: Prasansha Kumari

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Financial Literacy is the possession of knowledge and understanding of financial matters. Financial Literacy often entails the knowledge of properly making decisions pertaining to certain personal financial areas like real estate, insurance investing, and savings. This paper intends to identify and analyze the financial knowledge among university undergraduates by using 200 undergraduates in four faculties of University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka. Collected data will be analyzed by descriptive research method using SPSS package. Expected outcomes are considerable percentage of undergraduates have basic knowledge on financial matters while it has a law percentage for advanced financial literacy among undergraduates. Students from faculty of Commerce and Management and Science have good understanding about financial matters than undergraduates in other two faculties

Keywords: advanced finance, undergraduates, financial literacy, savings

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Authors: Sofia Baldelli, Aman More

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Milk curd obstruction is commonly reported as being misdiagnosed for NEC, and they predominantly mimic each other in clinical presentation, including abdominal distension, vomiting, constipation, feeding intolerance and frank or occult blood PR. Using the case of a pre-term neonate misdiagnosed with necrotising enterocolitis when in fact, they had milk curd obstruction, we compare the two diagnoses and why they are hard to differentiate, the risk factors for clinicians to consider and the different management options. The main diagnostic tool for these conditions remains the plain radiograph and here we present the original radiograph of the neonate and discuss the classical radiological features of both diagnoses. We conclude that further imaging techniques such as ultrasound might be used to improve diagnosis when X-ray is inconclusive.

Keywords: milk curd obstruction, Necrotising Enterocolitis, radiology, pediatric surgery

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Authors: Shima Nabinejad, Holger Schüttrumpf

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Farmers who are living in flood-prone areas such as coasts are exposed to storm surges increased due to climate change. Crop cultivation is the most important economic activity of farmers, and in the time of flooding, agricultural lands are subject to inundation. Additionally, overflow saline water causes more severe damage outcomes than riverine flooding. Agricultural crops are more vulnerable to salinity than other land uses for which the economic damages may continue for a number of years even after flooding and affect farmers’ decision-making for the following year. Therefore, it is essential to assess what extent the agricultural areas are flooded and how much the associated flood damage to each individual farmer is. To address these questions, we integrated farmers’ decision-making at farm-scale with flood risk management. The integrated model includes identification of hazard scenarios, failure analysis of structural measures, derivation of hydraulic parameters for the inundated areas and analysis of the economic damages experienced by each farmer. The present study has two aims; firstly, it attempts to investigate the flooded cropland and potential crop damages for the whole area. Secondly, it compares them among farmers’ field for three flood scenarios, which differ in breach locations of the flood protection structure. To achieve its goal, the spatial distribution of fields and cultivated crops of farmers were fed into the flood risk model, and a 100-year storm surge hydrograph was selected as the flood event. The study area was Pellworm Island that is located in the German Wadden Sea National Park and surrounded by North Sea. Due to high salt content in seawater of North Sea, crops cultivated in the agricultural areas of Pellworm Island are 100% destroyed by storm surges which were taken into account in developing of depth-damage curve for analysis of consequences. As a result, inundated croplands and economic damages to crops were estimated in the whole Island which was further compared for six selected farmers under three flood scenarios. The results demonstrate the significance and the flexibility of the proposed model in flood risk assessment of flood-prone areas by integrating flood risk management and decision-making.

Keywords: crop damages, flood risk analysis, individual farmer, inundated cropland, Pellworm Island, storm surges

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Authors: Mohamed Thani Ibouroi, Ali Cheha, Claudine Montgelard, Veronique Arnal, Dawiyat Massoudi, Guillelme Astruc, Said Ali Ousseni Dhurham, Aurelien Besnard

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The Livingstone's flying fox (Pteropus livingstonii) and the Comorian fruit bat (P.seychellensis comorensis) are two endemic fruit bat species among the mostly threatened animals of the Comoros archipelagos. Despite their role as important ecosystem service providers like all flying fox species as pollinators and seed dispersers, little is known about their ecologies, population genetics and structures making difficult the development of evidence-based conservation strategies. In this study, we assess spatial distribution and ecological niche of both species using Species Distribution Modeling (SDM) based on the recent Ensemble of Small Models (ESMs) approach using presence-only data. Population structure and genetic diversity of the two species were assessed using both mitochondrial and microsatellite markers based on non-invasive genetic samples. Our ESMs highlight a clear niche partitioning of the two sympatric species. Livingstone’s flying fox has a very limited distribution, restricted on steep slope of natural forests at high elevation. On the contrary, the Comorian fruit bat has a relatively large geographic range spread over low elevations in farmlands and villages. Our genetic analysis shows a low genetic diversity for both fruit bats species. They also show that the Livingstone’s flying fox population of the two islands were genetically isolated while no evidence of genetic differentiation was detected for the Comorian fruit bats between islands. Our results support the idea that natural habitat loss, especially the natural forest loss and fragmentation are the important factors impacting the distribution of the Livingstone’s flying fox by limiting its foraging area and reducing its potential roosting sites. On the contrary, the Comorian fruit bats seem to be favored by human activities probably because its diets are less specialized. By this study, we concluded that the Livingstone’s flying fox species and its habitat are of high priority in term of conservation at the Comoros archipelagos scale.

Keywords: Comoros islands, ecological niche, habitat loss, population genetics, fruit bats, conservation biology

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Authors: N. Kashif, M. K. Naseer

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This is an undeniable fact that parents are the very first role model for their children and children are the silent observers and followers of their parents. The environment they would be provided will leave either positive or negative lasting impact on their physical and mental behavior and abilities to grow, progress and conquer. This paper focuses on the observation particularly in South Asian countries where females have been facing problems in accessing education and getting financially independent or stable. This paper emphasizes on a survey conducted in rural areas of Punjab State in Pakistan. It explains how the parents’ educational background, financial status, conservative and interdependent accommodation style influence a prominent inequality of giving their female child right to study and get empowered. The forces behind this gender discrimination are not limited to parents’ life style impact but also include some major social problems like distant schools, gender-based harassment, and threat, insecurities, employment opportunities, so on. As a grass root level solution, it is proposed to develop an institution which collects data regarding child birth in their region and can contact the parent when their child is ready to start school. Building up trust based relationship with parents is the most crucial and significant factor. Secondly, celebrities and public figures can play an extraordinary role in running a campaign to advocate and encourage people living in rural areas, villages and small towns. All possible solutions can never be implemented without the support of the state government. Therefore, this paper invites more thoughtful actions, properly planned strategies, initiators to take the lead and make a platform for those who are underprivileged and deprived of their basic rights. Any country, where female constitute 49% of its entire population can never progress without promoting female empowerment and their right to compulsory education, and it is never late or impossible to admit the facts and practically start a flexible solution- oriented approach.

Keywords: employment opportunities, female empowerment, gender based harassment, gender discrimination, inequality, parents' life style impact

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Authors: Gerald Abdesaken, Thomas O. Miller

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This paper analyzes the performance of gold as a safe-haven investment. Assuming high market volatility as an impetus to seek a safe haven in gold, the return of gold relative to the stock market, as measured by the S&P 500, is tracked. Using the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) volatility index (VIX) as a measure of stock market volatility, various criteria are established for when an investor would seek a safe haven to avoid high levels of risk. The results show that in a vast majority of cases, the S&P 500 outperforms gold during these periods of high volatility and suggests investors who seek safe haven are underperforming the market.

Keywords: gold, portfolio management, safe haven, VIX

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Authors: K. Rajarajeswaran, Krishna Prasad

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Introduction: Refractory shock is a typical consequence of sepsis that does not improve with standard vasopressor therapy. A possible adjuvant therapeutic option for treating refractory shock in sepsis is methylene blue. This study looked at the effects of intravenous methylene blue plus norepinephrine given as a single bolus infusion on mortality and hemodynamic improvement in patients suffering from refractory shock. Methodology: This six-month observational prospective study was carried out at an intensive care unit, teaching hospital, and medical college. It involved 112 patients who had been diagnosed with refractory septic shock and needed vasopressor medication. Group B received injection norepinephrine 0.01 µg/kg/min infusion alone, while Group A received injection methylene blue 2 mg/kg iv single bolus (fixed dose) in addition to injection norepinephrine 0.01 µg/kg/min infusion. Both groups' noradrenaline doses were titrated to reach the desired MAP of 60–75 mm Hg. The amount of norepinephrine needed to sustain a MAP of more than 60 mm Hg was the data gathered. Serum lactate, procalcitonin level, C-reactive protein, length of stay in the intensive care unit (ICU), sequential organ failure assessment (SOFA) score, and duration of mechanical ventilation, incidence of acute kidney injury (AKI), and mortality were compared. Results: A total of 112 patients with refractory shock were included in the study. With the use of IV methylene blue, 36 (59.3%) patients showed significant improvement in MAP within 2 hours (77.12 ± 8.90 vs 74.28 ± 21.84, p = 0.005). Responders were 4.009 times more likely to have vasopressor-free time within 24 hours (19.5% vs 6.1%, p = 0.022, odds ratio 5.017, 95% confidence interval, 1.110–14.283). The serum lactate was lower, and urine output was higher in group I than in group II (p <0.05). Group I had a significantly greater reduction in SOFA score in 12 hours than group II. However, there was no significant difference in terms of mortality, length of ICU stay, ventilator free days, and incidence of AKI. In the responder group, there was a significant increase in the MAP and decrease in vasopressor requirement pre- and post-infusion of methylene blue (p < 0.05). Responder had shorter vasopressor-free days as compared with non-responder (5.44 vs 6.99, p = 0.007). Conclusion: When administered as adjuvant therapy, a single-dose bolus infusion of Methylene Blue plus Norepinephrine may aid in meeting early resuscitation goals for the management of patients with septic shock. But the patients' death rate, ICU stay duration, ventilator-free days, or incidence of AKI were unchanged.

Keywords: norepinephrine, methylene blue, shock, vasopressor

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Authors: Wissam Saliba, Mandy Nicholson

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Secretory carcinoma (SC) is a rare type of salivary gland cancer. It was first realized as a distinct type of malignancy in 2010and wasinitially termed “mammary analogue secretory carcinoma” because of similarities with secretory breast cancer. The name was later changed to SC. Most SCs originate in parotid glands, and most harbour a rare gene mutation: ETV6-NTRK3. This mutation is rare in common cancers and common in rare cancers; it is present in most secretory carcinomas. Disease outcomes for SC are usually described as favourable as many cases of SC are lowgrade (LG), and cancer growth is slow. In early stages, localized therapy is usually indicated (surgery and/or radiation). Despitea favourable prognosis, a sub-set of casescan be much more aggressive.These cases tend to be of high-grade(HG).HG casesare associated with a poorer prognosis.Management of such cases can be challenging due to limited evidence for effective systemic therapy options. This case report describes the clinical management of a 46-year-oldmale patient with a unique case of SC. He was initially diagnosed with a low/intermediate grade carcinoma of the left parotid gland in 2009; he was treated with surgery and adjuvant radiation. Surgical pathology favoured primary salivary adenocarcinoma, and 2 lymph nodes were positive for malignancy. SC was not yet realized as a distinct type of cancerat the time of diagnosis, and the pathology reportvalidated this gap by stating that the specimen lacked features of the defined types of salivary carcinoma.Slow-growing pulmonary nodules were identified in 2017. In 2020, approximately 11 years after the initial diagnosis, the patient presented with malignant pleural effusion. Pathology from a pleural biopsy was consistent with metastatic poorly differentiated cancer of likely parotid origin, likely mammary analogue secretory carcinoma. The specimen was sent for Next Generation Sequencing (NGS); ETV6-NTRK3 gene fusion was confirmed, and systemic therapy was initiated.One cycle ofcarboplatin/paclitaxel was given in June 2020. He was switched to Larotrectinib (NTRK inhibitor (NTRKi)) later that month. Larotrectinib continued for approximately 9 months, with discontinuation in March 2021 due to disease progression. A second-generation NTRKi (Selitrectinib) was accessed and prescribedthrough a single patient study. Selitrectinib was well tolerated. The patient experienced a complete radiological response within~4 months. Disease progression occurred once again in October 2021. Progression was slow, and Selitrectinib continuedwhile the medical team performed a thorough search for additional treatment options. In January 2022, a liver lesion biopsy was performed, and NGS showed an NTRKG623R solvent-front resistance mutation. Various treatment pathways were considered. The patient pursuedanother investigational NTRKi through a clinical trial, and Selitrectinib was discontinued in July 2022. Excellent performance status was maintained throughout the entire course of treatment.It can be concluded that NTRK inhibitors provided satisfactory treatment efficacy and tolerance for this patient with high-grade transformation and NTRK gene fusion cancer. In the future, more clinical research is needed on systemic treatment options for high-grade transformations in NTRK gene fusion SCs.

Keywords: secretory carcinoma, high-grade transformations, NTRK gene fusion, NTRK inhibitor

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Authors: M. Shopska, D. Paneva, G. Kadinov, Z. Cherkezova-Zheleva, I. Mitov

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The iron containing materials are used as catalysts in different processes. The chemical methods of their synthesis use toxic and expensive chemicals; sophisticated devices; energy consumption processes that raise their cost. Besides, dangerous waste products are formed. At present time such syntheses are out of date and wasteless technologies are indispensable. The bioinspired technologies are consistent with the ecological requirements. Different microorganisms participate in the biomineralization of the iron and some phytochemicals are involved, too. The methods for biogenic production of iron containing materials are clean, simple, nontoxic, realized at ambient temperature and pressure, cheaper. The biogenic iron materials embrace different iron compounds. Due to their origin these substances are nanosized, amorphous or poorly crystalline, porous and have number of useful properties like SPM, high magnetism, low toxicity, biocompatibility, absorption of microwaves, high surface area/volume ratio, active sites on the surface with unusual coordination that distinguish them from the bulk materials. The biogenic iron materials are applied in the heterogeneous catalysis in different roles - precursor, active component, support, immobilizer. The application of biogenic iron oxide materials gives rise to increased catalytic activity in comparison with those of abiotic origin. In our study we investigated the catalytic behavior of biomasses obtained by cultivation of Leptothrix bacteria in three nutrition media – Adler, Fedorov, and Lieske. The biomass composition was studied by Moessbauer spectroscopy and transmission IRS. Catalytic experiments on CO oxidation were carried out using in situ DRIFTS. Our results showed that: i) the used biomasses contain α-FeOOH, γ-FeOOH, γ-Fe2O3 in different ratios; ii) the biomass formed in Adler medium contains γ-FeOOH as main phase. The CO conversion was about 50% as evaluated by decreased integrated band intensity in the gas mixture spectra during the reaction. The main phase in the spent sample is γ-Fe2O3; iii) the biomass formed in Lieske medium contains α-FeOOH. The CO conversion was about 20%. The main phase in the spent sample is α-Fe2O3; iv) the biomass formed in Fedorov medium contains γ-Fe2O3 as main phase. CO conversion in the test reaction was about 19%. The results showed that the catalytic activity up to 200°C resulted predominantly from α-FeOOH and γ-FeOOH. The catalytic activity at temperatures higher than 200°C was due to the formation of γ-Fe2O3. The oxyhydroxides, which are the principal compounds in the biomass, have low catalytic activity in the used reaction; the maghemite has relatively good catalytic activity; the hematite has activity commensurate with that of the oxyhydroxides. Moreover it can be affirmed that catalytic activity is inherent in maghemite, which is obtained by transformation of the biogenic lepidocrocite, i.e. it has biogenic precursor.

Keywords: nanosized biogenic iron compounds, catalytic behavior in reaction of CO oxidation, in situ DRIFTS, Moessbauer spectroscopy

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Authors: Daniel Muwooya

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This paper analyses economic factors that have affected the competitiveness of petroleum refinery and petrochemical projects in sub-Saharan Africa in the past and continue to plague greenfield projects today. Traditional factors like plant sizing and complexity, low-capacity utilization, changing regulatory environment, and tighter product specifications have been important in the past. Additional factors include the development of excess refinery capacity in Asia and the growth of renewable sources of energy – especially for transportation. These factors create both challenges and opportunities for the development of greenfield refineries and petrochemical projects in areas of increased demand growth and new low-cost crude oil production – like sub-Saharan Africa. This paper evaluates the strategies available to project developers and host countries to address contemporary issues of energy transition and the apparent reduction of funds available for greenfield oil and gas projects. The paper also evaluates the structuring of greenfield refinery and petrochemical projects for limited recourse project finance bankability. The methodology of this paper includes analysis of current industry data, conference proceedings, academic papers, and academic books on the subjects of petroleum refinery economics, refinery financing, refinery operations, and project finance generally and specifically in the oil and gas industry; evaluation of expert opinions from journal articles; working papers from international bodies like the World Bank and the International Energy Agency; and experience from playing an active role in the development and financing of US$ 10 Billion greenfield oil development project in Uganda. The paper also applies the discounted cash flow modelling to illustrate the circumstances of an inland greenfield refinery project in Uganda. Greenfield refinery and petrochemical projects are still necessary in sub-Saharan Africa to, among other aspirations, support the transition from traditional sources of energy like biomass to such modern forms as liquefied petroleum gas. Project developers and host governments will be required to structure projects that support global climate change goals without occasioning undue delays to project execution.

Keywords: financing, refinery and petrochemical economics, Africa, project finance

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Authors: Vani Tanggamani, Azlan Amran

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The issues of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) have been extended from developmental economics to corporate and business in recent years. Research in issues related to CSR is deemed to make higher impacts as CSR encourages long-term economy and business success without neglecting social, environmental risks, obligations and opportunities. Therefore, CSR is a key matter for any organisation aiming for long term sustainability since business incorporates principles of social responsibility into each of its business decisions. Thus, this paper presents a theoretical proposition based on stakeholder theory from the organisational perspective as a foundation for better CSR practices. The primary subject of this paper is to explore how looping concept can be effectively embedded into corporate CSR strategy to foster sustainable long term growth. In general, the concept of a loop is a structure or process, the end of which is connected to the beginning, whereas the narrow view of a loop in business field means plan, do, check, and improve. In this sense, looping concept is a blend of balance and agility with the awareness to know when to which. Organisations can introduce similar pull mechanisms by formulating CSR strategies in order to perform the best plan of actions in real time, then a chance to change those actions, pushing them toward well-organized planning and successful performance. Through the analysis of an exploratory study, this paper demonstrates that approaching looping concept in the context of corporate CSR strategy is an important source of new idea to propel CSR practices by deepening basic understanding through the looping concept which is increasingly necessary to attract and retain business stakeholders include people such as employees, customers, suppliers and other communities for long-term business survival. This paper contributes to the literature by providing a fundamental explanation of how the organisations will experience less financial and reputation risk if looping concept logic is integrated into core business CSR strategy.The value of the paper rests in the treatment of looping concept as a corporate CSR strategy which demonstrates "looping concept implementation framework for CSR" that could further foster business sustainability, and help organisations move along the path from laggards to leaders.

Keywords: corporate social responsibility, looping concept, stakeholder theory, sustainable growth

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Authors: Asem M. Othman

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The expansion of the hospitality industry is unmistakable. Services, by nature, are intangible. Hence, service quality, in general, is a complicated process to be measured and evaluated. Hotels, as a service sector and part of the hospitality industry, are growing rapidly. This research paper was carried out to identify the quality determinants that may affect hotel guests’ service quality perception. In this research paper, each quality determinant will be discussed, illustrated, and justified thoroughly via a systematic literature review. The purpose of this paper is to set the stage to measure the significant influence of the service quality determinants on guest satisfaction. The knowledge produced from this study will assist practitioners and/or hotel service providers to imply into their policies.

Keywords: service quality, hotel service, quality management, quality determinants

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Authors: Mokgadi Julia Ngoepe-Ntsoane

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The article aims to make a case for a legislative framework for the fire sector in South Africa. Robust legislative framework is essential for empowering those with obligatory mandate within the sector. This article contributes to the body of knowledge in the field of policy reviews particularly with regards to the legal framework. It has been observed overtime that the scholarly contributions in this field are limited. Document analysis was the methodology selected for the investigation of the various legal frameworks existing in the country. It has been established that indeed the national legislation on the fire industry does not exist in South Africa. From the documents analysed, it was revealed that the sector is dominated by cartels who are exploiting the new entrants to the market particularly SMEs. It is evident that these cartels are monopolising the system as they have long been operating in the system turning it into self- owned entities. Commitment to addressing the challenges faced by fire services and creating a framework for the evolving role that fire brigade services are expected to execute in building safer and sustainable communities is vital. Legislation for the fire sector ought to be concluded with immediate effect. The outdated national fire legislation has necessitated the monopolisation and manipulation of the system by dominating organisations which cause a painful discrimination and exploitation of smaller service providers to enter the market for trading in that occupation. The barrier to entry bears long term negative effects on national priority areas such as employment creation, poverty, and others. This monopolisation and marginalisation practices by cartels in the sector calls for urgent attention by government because if left attended, it will leave a lot of people particularly women and youth being disadvantaged and frustrated. The downcast syndrome exercised within the fire sector has wreaked havoc and is devastating. This is caused by cartels that have been within the sector for some time, who know the strengths and weaknesses of processes, shortcuts, advantages and consequences of various actions. These people take advantage of new entrants to the sector who in turn find it difficult to manoeuvre, find the market dissonant and end up giving up their good ideas and intentions. There are many pieces of legislation which are industry specific such as housing, forestry, agriculture, health, security, environmental which are used to regulate systems within the institutions involved. Other regulations exist as bi-laws for guiding the management within the municipalities.

Keywords: sustainable job creation, growth and development, transformation, risk management

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Authors: Elisa Bertagna

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The aim of the research is to study diversity issues and gender equality in the Finnish and Italian oil and gas companies. Particular attention is given to the effects on the organization’s and employees’ interactions resulting from intersecting social categories. The study is aimed to be settled in companies where social inequalities and diversity management problematics are present. Consequently, ten semi-structured interviews with key managers from the companies and four focus groups composed of culturally diverse employees aim to depict and analyze the situation from both points of view. Social discourse and intersectionality are employed as the analysis methods. Trainings, workshops, and suggestions are to be offered in the required situations.

Keywords: diversity, gender, intersectionality, oil and gas companies, social constructionism

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Authors: Tonya P. Bowers

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Background: The community/patient-focused quality improvement (QI) project has resolved a clinical problem using a quantitative design evaluating behavior change practices in a convenience sample from a multi-cultural congregation in a faith-based setting. AD is a legal document that speaks for the patient when they are unable to speak for themselves. The AD provides detailed information regarding critical medical decisions on behalf of the patient if they’re unable to make decisions themselves. The goal of an AD is to improve EOL care renderings that align with the patient’s desires. The AD diminishes anxiety and stress associated with making difficult EOL care decisions for patients and their families. Method: The project has two intervention strategies: pre-intervention and post-intervention formative surveys and a final summative survey. Most of the data collection takes place during implementation. The Let’s Talk About It Program utilized an online meeting platform for presentation. Participants were asked to complete informed consent and surveys via an online portal. Education included slide presentation, Advance Directive demonstration, video clips, discussions and 1:1 assistance with AD completion with a project manager. Results: Considering the overwhelming likelihood responses where 87.5% identified they “definitely would” hold an End-Of-Life conversation with their healthcare provider or family, and 81.25% indicated their likelihood that they “definitely would” complete an advance directive. In addition, the final summative post-intervention survey (n-14) also demonstrated an overwhelming 93% positive response. Which undoubtedly demonstrates favorable outcomes for the project. Conclusion: the Let’s Talk About It Program demonstrated effectiveness in improving participants' attitudes and acceptance towards Advance Directives and expanding End-of-Life care discussions. Emphasis on program sustainment within the church is imperative in fostering continued awareness and improved health outcomes for the local community with low health literacy.

Keywords: advance directive, end of life, advance care planning, palliative care, low health literacy, faith-based

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Authors: Payton Small

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In response to increasing demographic diversity, many U.S. organizations have implemented diversity initiatives to increase the representation of women and ethnic minorities. While these initiatives aim to promote more fair and positive outcomes for underrepresented minorities (URMs) widespread backlash against these policies can negatively impact the groups of individuals that are supposed to be supported by them. A recent theory-based analysis of best practices for instituting diversity policies proposes an "inclusion for all" approach that negotiates the oft-divergent goals and motivations of both marginalized and dominant group members in these contexts. Empirical work finds that "inclusion for all" strategies decrease White's tendency to implicitly associate diversity with exclusion and increased their personal endorsement of diversity initiatives. Similarly, Whites report higher belongingness when considering an inclusion for all approach to diversity versus a colorblind approach. While inclusion-for-all approaches may effectively increase Whites' responsiveness to diversity efforts, the downstream consequences of implementing these policies on URM's have yet to be explored. The current research investigated how inclusion-for-all diversity framing influences Whites' sensitivity to detecting discrimination against URM's as well as perceptions of reverse discrimination against Whites. Lastly, the current research looked at how URM's respond to inclusion-for-all diversity approaches. Three studies investigated the impact of inclusion-for-all diversity framing on perceptions of discrimination against Whites and URM's in a company setting. Two separate mechanisms by which exposure to an inclusion-for-all diversity statement might differentially influence perceptions of discrimination for URMs and Whites were also tested. In Studies 1 and 2, exposure to an inclusion-for-all diversity approach reduced Whites' concerns about reverse discrimination and heightened sensitivity to detecting discrimination against URM's. These effects were mediated by decreased concerns about zero-sum outcomes at the company. Study 3 found that racial minorities are concerned about increased discrimination at a company with an inclusion-for-all diversity statement and that this effect is mediated by decreased feelings of belonging at the company. In sum, companies that adopt an inclusion-for-all approach to diversity implementation reduce Whites' backlash and the negative downstream consequences associated with such backlash; however, racial minorities feel excluded and expect heightened experiences of discrimination at these same companies.

Keywords: diversity, intergroup relations, organizational social psychology, zero-sum

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Authors: Anuruddhi Edirisinghe, Anusha Edirisinghe, Maithree Wicramasinghe, Sagarika Kannangara, Annista Wijayanayake

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SGBV which refer to acts of inflicting physical, mental or sexual harm or sufferings that deprive a person’s liberty based on one’s gender or sexuality is known to occur in various forms. Ragging in educational institutions can often be one such form of SGBV. Ragging related SGBV is a growing problem despite various legal, policy and programme initiatives introduced over the years. While the punishment of perpetrators through the criminal justice system is expected to bring a deterrent effect, other strategies such as awareness-raising, attitudinal changes, and the empowerment of students to say no to ragging and SGBV will lead to enlightened attitudes about the practice in universities. Thus, effective regular prevention programmes are the need of the hour. The objectives of the paper are to engage with the case of a female fresher subjected to verbal abuse, physical assault and sexual harassment due to events which started as a result of wearing a trouser to the university during the ragging season. The case came to the limelight since a complaint was made to the police and 10 students were arrested under the anti-ragging act. This led to dividend opinions among the student population and a backlash from the student union. Simultaneously, this resulted in the society demanding the stricter implementation of laws and the punishment of perpetrators. The university authority appointed a task force comprising of academics, non-academics, parents, community leaders, stakeholders and students to draw up an action plan to respond to the immediate situation as well as future prevention. The paper will also discuss the implementation of task force plan. The paper is based on interviews with those involved with the issue and the experiences of the task force members and is expected to provide an in-depth understanding of the intricacies and complications associated with dealing with a contentious problem such as ragging. Given the political and ethical issues involved with insider research as well as the sensationalism of the topic, maximum care will be taken to safeguard the interests of those concerned.

Keywords: fresher, sexual and gender based violence (SGBV), sexual harassment, ragging

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Authors: Maciej Zaręba, Sławomir Lasota

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Knowing the degree of dependencies between the sets of input signals and selected sets of indicators that measure a production system's effectiveness is of great importance in the industry. This paper introduces the SELM method that enables the selection of sets of input signals, which affects the most the selected subset of indicators that measures the effectiveness of a production system. For defined set of output indicators, the method quantifies the impact of input signals that are gathered in the continuous monitoring production system.

Keywords: manufacturing operation management, signal relationship, continuous monitoring, production systems

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Authors: Mehran Dizbadi, Daniyal Safarzadeh, Behrooz Arastoo, Ansgar Brunn

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Rapid and uncontrolled expansion of cities has led to unplanned aerial development. In this way, modeling and predicting the urban growth of a city helps decision-makers. In this study, the aspect of sustainable urban development has been studied for the city of Mashhad. In general, the prediction of urban aerial development is one of the most important topics of modern town management. In this research, using the Cellular Automaton (CA) model developed for geo data of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and presenting a simple and powerful model, a simulation of complex urban processes has been done.

Keywords: urban modeling, sustainable development, fuzzy cellular automaton, geo-information system

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Authors: Tamphasana Wairokpam

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Inflammatory myopathies (IMs) have long been recognised as a heterogenous family of myopathies with acute, subacute, and sometimes chronic presentation and are potentially treatable. Necrotizing autoimmune myopathies (NAM) are a relatively new subset of myopathies. Patients generally present with subacute onset of proximal myopathy and significantly elevated creatinine kinase (CK) levels. It is being increasingly recognised that there are limitations to the independent diagnostic utility of muscle biopsy. Immunohistochemistry tests may reveal important information in these cases. The traditional classification of IMs failed to recognise NAM as a separate entity and did not adequately emphasize the diversity of IMs. This review and case report on NAM aims to highlight the heterogeneity of this entity and focus on the distinct clinical presentation, biopsy findings, specific auto-antibodies implicated, and available treatment options with prognosis. This article is a meta-analysis of literatures on NAM and a case report illustrating the clinical course, investigation and biopsy findings, antibodies implicated, and management of a patient with NAM. The main databases used for the search were Pubmed, Google Scholar, and Cochrane Library. Altogether, 67 publications have been taken as references. Two biomarkers, anti-signal recognition protein (SRP) and anti- hydroxyl methylglutaryl-coenzyme A reductase (HMGCR) Abs, have been found to have an association with NAM in about 2/3rd of cases. Interestingly, anti-SRP associated NAM appears to be more aggressive in its clinical course when compared to its anti-HMGCR associated counterpart. Biopsy shows muscle fibre necrosis without inflammation. There are reports of statin-induced NAM where progression of myopathy has been seen even after discontinuation of statins, pointing towards an underlying immune mechanism. Diagnosisng NAM is essential as it requires more aggressive immunotherapy than other types of IMs. Most cases are refractory to corticosteroid monotherapy. Immunosuppressive therapy with other immunotherapeutic agents such as IVIg, rituximab, mycophenolate mofetil, azathioprine has been explored and found to have a role in the treatment of NAM. In conclusion,given the heterogeneity of NAM, it appears that NAM is not just a single entity but consists of many different forms, despite the similarities in presentation and its classification remains an evolving field. A thorough understanding of underlying mechanism and the clinical correlation with antibodies associated with NAM is essential for efficacious management and disease prognostication.

Keywords: inflammatory myopathies, necrotising autoimmune myopathies, anti-SRP antibody, anti-HMGCR antibody, statin induced myopathy

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Authors: Denise Levy, Anna Lucia C. H. Villavicencio

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In a rapid-changing world, science teachers face considerable challenges. In addition to the basic curriculum, there must be included several transversal themes, which demand creative and innovative strategies to be arranged and integrated to traditional disciplines. In Brazil, nuclear science is still a controversial theme, and teachers themselves seem to be unaware of the issue, most often perpetuating prejudice, errors and misconceptions. This article presents the authors’ experience in the development of an interdisciplinary pedagogical proposal to include nuclear science in the basic curriculum, in a transversal and integrating way. The methodology applied was based on the analysis of several normative documents that define the requirements of essential learning, competences and skills of basic education for all schools in Brazil. The didactic materials and resources were developed according to the best practices to improve learning processes privileging constructivist educational techniques, with emphasis on active learning process, collaborative learning and learning through research. The material consists of an illustrated book for students, a book for teachers and a manual with activities that can articulate nuclear science to different disciplines: Portuguese, mathematics, science, art, English, history and geography. The content counts on high scientific rigor and articulate nuclear technology with topics of interest to society in the most diverse spheres, such as food supply, public health, food safety and foreign trade. Moreover, this pedagogical proposal takes advantage of the potential value of digital technologies, implementing QR codes that excite and challenge students of all ages, improving interaction and engagement. The expected results include the education of the educators for nuclear science communication in a transversal and integrating way, demystifying nuclear technology in a contextualized and significant approach. It is expected that the interdisciplinary pedagogical proposal contributes to improving attitudes towards knowledge construction, privileging reconstructive questioning, fostering a culture of systematic curiosity and encouraging critical thinking skills.

Keywords: science education, interdisciplinary learning, nuclear science, scientific literacy

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Authors: Gamze Safak, Umut Arslanoglu

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Cultural and tourism conservation and development zones and tourism centers are the boundaries declared for the purpose of protecting, using, and evaluating the sectoral development and planned development in areas where historical and cultural values are heavily involved and/or where tourism potential is high. The most rapidly changing regions in Turkey are tourism areas, especially the coastal areas. Planning these regions is not about only an economic gain but also a natural and physical environment and refers to a complex process. If the tourism sector is not well controlled, excessive use of natural resources and wrong location choices may cause damage to natural areas, historical values, and socio-cultural structure. Since the strategic decisions taken in the environmental order and zoning plans, which are the means of guiding the physical environment of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, which have the authority to make plans in tourism centers, are transformed into plan decisions that find the spatial expression, comprehensive evaluation of all kinds of data, following the historical development and based on the correct and current data is required. In addition, the authority has a number of competences in tourism promotion as well as the authority to plan, leading to the necessity of taking part in the applications requiring complex analysis such as the management and integration of the country's economic, political, social and cultural resources. For this purpose, Tourism Inventory System (TES) project, which consists of a series of subsystems, has been developed in order to solve complex planning and method problems in the management of site-related information. The scope of the project is based on the integration of numerical and verbal data in the regions within the jurisdiction of the authority, and the monitoring of the historical development of urban planning studies, making the spatial data of the institution easily accessible, shared, questionable and traceable in international standards. A dynamic and continuous system design has been put into practice by utilizing the advantage of the use of Geographical Information Systems in the planning process to play a role in making the right decisions, revealing the tools of social, economic, cultural development, and preservation of natural and cultural values. This paper, which is prepared by the project team members in TES (Tourism Inventory System), will present a study regarding the applicability of GIS in cultural and natural heritage conservation.

Keywords: cultural conservation, GIS, geographic information system, tourism inventory system, urban planning

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Authors: Babak H. Tabrizi, Seyed Farid Ghaderi

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Concurrent planning of project scheduling and material ordering has been increasingly addressed within last decades as an approach to improve the project execution costs. Therefore, we have taken the problem into consideration in this paper, aiming to maximize schedules quality robustness, in addition to minimize the relevant costs. In this regard, a bi-objective mathematical model is developed to formulate the problem. Moreover, it is possible to utilize the all-unit discount for materials purchasing. The problem is then solved by the constraint method, and the Pareto front is obtained for a variety of robustness values. The applicability and efficiency of the proposed model is tested by different numerical instances, finally.

Keywords: e-constraint method, material ordering, project management, project scheduling

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Authors: Pavel Damborsky, Martina Zamorova, Jaroslav Katrlik

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Prostate cancer is annually the most common newly diagnosed cancer among men. An extensive number of evidence suggests that traditional serum Prostate-specific antigen (PSA) assay still suffers from a lack of sufficient specificity and sensitivity resulting in vast over-diagnosis and overtreatment. Thus, the early-stage detection of prostate cancer (PCa) plays undisputedly a critical role for successful treatment and improved quality of life. Over the last decade, particular altered glycans have been described that are associated with a range of chronic diseases, including cancer and inflammation. These glycans differences enable a distinction to be made between physiological and pathological state and suggest a valuable biosensing tool for diagnosis and follow-up purposes. Aberrant glycosylation is one of the major characteristics of disease progression. Consequently, the aim of this study was to develop a more reliable tool for early-stage PCa diagnosis employing lectins as glyco-recognition elements. Biosensor and biochip technology putting to use lectin-based glyco-profiling is one of the most promising strategies aimed at providing fast and efficient analysis of glycoproteins. The proof-of-concept experiments based on sandwich assay employing anti-PSA antibody and an aptamer as a capture molecules followed by lectin glycoprofiling were performed. We present a lectin-based biosensing assay for glycoprofiling of serum biomarker PSA using different biosensor and biochip platforms such as label-free surface plasmon resonance (SPR) and microarray with fluorescent label. The results suggest significant differences in interaction of particular lectins with PSA. The antibody-based assay is frequently associated with the sensitivity, reproducibility, and cross-reactivity issues. Aptamers provide remarkable advantages over antibodies due to the nucleic acid origin, stability and no glycosylation. All these data are further step for construction of highly selective, sensitive and reliable sensors for early-stage diagnosis. The experimental set-up also holds promise for the development of comparable assays with other glycosylated disease biomarkers.

Keywords: biomarker, glycosylation, lectin, prostate cancer

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Authors: Mohammad Afkhami, Ali Hassanpour, Michael Fairweather

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The work described in this paper was undertaken to gain insight into fundamental aspects of turbulent gas-particle flows with relevance to processes employed in a wide range of applications, such as oil and gas flow assurance in pipes, powder dispersion from dry powder inhalers, and particle resuspension in nuclear waste ponds, to name but a few. In particular, the influence of particle interaction and fluid phase behavior in turbulent flow on particle dispersion in a horizontal channel is investigated. The mathematical modeling technique used is based on the large eddy simulation (LES) methodology embodied in the commercial CFD code FLUENT, with flow solutions provided by this approach coupled to a second commercial code, EDEM, based on the discrete element method (DEM) which is used for the prediction of particle motion and interaction. The results generated by LES for the fluid phase have been validated against direct numerical simulations (DNS) for three different channel flows with shear Reynolds numbers, Reτ = 150, 300 and 590. Overall, the LES shows good agreement, with mean velocities and normal and shear stresses matching those of the DNS in both magnitude and position. The research work has focused on the prediction of those conditions favoring particle aggregation and deposition within turbulent flows. Simulations have been carried out to investigate the effects of particle size, density and concentration on particle agglomeration. Furthermore, particles with different surface properties have been simulated in three channel flows with different levels of flow turbulence, achieved by increasing the Reynolds number of the flow. The simulations mimic the conditions of two-phase, fluid-solid flows frequently encountered in domestic, commercial and industrial applications, for example, air conditioning and refrigeration units, heat exchangers, oil and gas suction and pressure lines. The particle size, density, surface energy and volume fractions selected are 45.6, 102 and 150 µm, 250, 1000 and 2159 kg m-3, 50, 500, and 5000 mJ m-2 and 7.84 × 10-6, 2.8 × 10-5, and 1 × 10-4, respectively; such particle properties are associated with particles found in soil, as well as metals and oxides prevalent in turbulent bounded fluid-solid flows due to erosion and corrosion of inner pipe walls. It has been found that the turbulence structure of the flow dominates the motion of the particles, creating particle-particle interactions, with most of these interactions taking place at locations close to the channel walls and in regions of high turbulence where their agglomeration is aided both by the high levels of turbulence and the high concentration of particles. A positive relationship between particle surface energy, concentration, size and density, and agglomeration was observed. Moreover, the results derived for the three Reynolds numbers considered show that the rate of agglomeration is strongly influenced for high surface energy particles by, and increases with, the intensity of the flow turbulence. In contrast, for lower surface energy particles, the rate of agglomeration diminishes with an increase in flow turbulence intensity.

Keywords: agglomeration, channel flow, DEM, LES, turbulence

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Authors: Rajeshwari Balasubramanian, Margit Van Wessel, Nandini Deo

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The participation of women in local bodies witnessed a rise after the implementation of 73rd and 74th Amendments to the Indian Constitution which created quotas for women representatives. However, even when participation increased, it did not translate into meaningful contributions by women in local bodies. This led some civil society organisations (CSOs) to begin working with women panchayat representatives in various states to build their capacity for political participation. The focus of this paper is to study capacity building training by CSOs in Jharkhand. The paper maps how the training helps women elected representatives to negotiate their autonomy at multiple levels. The paper describes the capacity building program conducted by an international feminist organisation along with its seven local partners in Jharkhand. The central question that the study asks is: How does capacity building training by CSOs in Jharkhand impact the autonomy of elected women representatives? It uses a qualitative research methodology based on empirical data gathered through field visits in four districts of Jharkhand (Chatra, Hazaribagh, East Singhbum and Ranchi) where the program was implemented for three years. The study found that women elected representatives had to develop strategies to negotiate their choice to move out of their homes and attend the training conducted by CSOs. The ability to participate in the training programs itself was a significant achievement of personal autonomy for many women. The training provided them a platform to voice their opinion and appreciate their own value as panchayat leaders. This realization allowed them to negotiate their presence and a space for themselves in Gram panchayats. A Foucauldian approach to analyze capacity building workshops might lead us to see them as systems in which CSOs impose a form of governmentality on rural elected representatives. Instead, what we see here is a much more complex negotiation of agency in which the CSO creates spaces and practices that allow women to achieve their own forms of autonomy. The study concludes that the impact of the training on the autonomy of these women is based on their everyday negotiations of time, space and mobility. Autonomy for these elected women representatives is also contextual and relative, as they seem to realize it during the training process. The training allows the women to not only negotiate their participation in panchayats but also challenge everyday practices that are rooted in patriarchy.

Keywords: autonomy, feminist organization, local bodies, political participation

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