Search results for: public ownership

Authors: Saksit Saengboon

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The study of English in Thailand receives comparatively little attention in the world of Englishes scholarship despite a complex and dynamic linguistic landscape. Like many countries in the region, English is used in predictable contexts, such as schools and at work. However, English is being increasingly used as a contact language among Thais and non-Thais, requiring much needed empirical attention. This study aims to address this neglected issue by examining how Thais perceive and use English in contemporary Thai society. This study explored the ways in which English has been used in public signage, mass media, especially about Thai food, and perceptions of Thais (N = 80) regarding English. Findings indicate that English in Thailand is used in a complicated manner portraying both standard and non-standard English. Thais still hold a static or traditional view of English, making it impractical, if not impossible, to have Thai English as an established variety.

Keywords: Thai english, thainess in english, public signage, mass media, thai food, thai linguistic landscape

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Authors: Jiaxin Shi, Kaifeng Hao, Qingfan An, Zeng Peng

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Due to a lack of data sources and data processing techniques, it has always been difficult to quantify public space quality, which includes urban construction quality and how it is perceived by people, especially in large urban areas. This study proposes a quantitative research method based on the consideration of emotional health and physical health of the built environment. It highlights the low quality of public areas in Tianjin, China, where there are many negative elements. Deep learning technology is then used to measure how effectively people perceive urban areas. First, this work suggests a deep learning model that might simulate how people can perceive the quality of urban construction. Second, we perform semantic segmentation on street images to identify visual elements influencing scene perception. Finally, this study correlated the scene perception score with the proportion of visual elements to determine the surrounding environmental elements that influence scene perception. Using a small-scale labeled Tianjin street view data set based on transfer learning, this study trains five negative spatial discriminant models in order to explore the negative space distribution and quality improvement of urban streets. Then it uses all Tianjin street-level imagery to make predictions and calculate the proportion of negative space. Visualizing the spatial distribution of negative space along the Tianjin Inner Ring Road reveals that the negative elements are mainly found close to the five key districts. The map of Tianjin was combined with the experimental data to perform the visual analysis. Based on the emotional assessment, the distribution of negative materials, and the direction of street guidelines, we suggest guidance content and design strategy points of the negative phenomena in Tianjin street space in the two dimensions of perception and substance. This work demonstrates the utilization of deep learning techniques to understand how people appreciate high-quality urban construction, and it complements both theory and practice in urban planning. It illustrates the connection between human perception and the actual physical public space environment, allowing researchers to make urban interventions.

Keywords: human perception, public space quality, deep learning, negative elements, street images

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Authors: Selin Tosun

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The improvements in technology have started to transform the way we live, work, play, and commute in our cities. The emerging smart city understanding has been paving the way for more efficient, more useful, and more profitable cities. Smart sensors, smart lighting, smart waste, water and electricity management, smart transportation and communication systems are introduced to cities at a rapid pace. In today's world, innovation is often correlated with start-up companies and technological pioneers seeking broader economic objectives such as production and competitiveness. The government's position is primarily that of an enabler, with creativity mostly coming from the private sector. The paper argues that to achieve sustainable development, the ways in which smart and sustainable city approaches are being applied to cities need to be redefined. The research aims to address common discussions in the discourse of smart and sustainable cities criticizing the priority of lifestyle sterilization over human-centered sustainable interventions and social innovation strategies. The dichotomy between the fact that smart cities are mostly motivated by the competitive global market and the fact that the delocalization is, in fact, their biggest problem in the way of becoming authentic, sustainable cities is the main challenge that we face today. In other words, the key actors in smart cities have different and somewhat conflicting interests and demands. By reviewing the roles of the public and private actors in smart city making, the paper aspires to reconceptualize the understanding of “smartness” in achieving sustainable development in which the “smartness” is understood as a multi-layered complex phenomenon that can be channeled through different dynamics. The case cities around the world are explored and compared in terms of their technological innovations, governance and policy innovations, public-private stakeholder relationships, and the understanding of the public realm. The study aims to understand the current trends and general dynamics in the field, key issues that are being addressed, the scale that is preferred to reflect upon and the projects that are designed for the particular issues.

Keywords: smart city, sustainable development, technological innovation, social innovation

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Authors: Fouzia Khanam, Tridib Chowdhury, Belal Hossain, Sajedur Rahman, Mahfuzar Rahman

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Introduction: Over the last decades, the world has achieved a noticeable success in preventing malaria. Nevertheless, malaria, a vector-borne infectious disease, remains a major public health burden globally as well as in Bangladesh. To achieve the goal of eliminating malaria, BRAC, a leading organization of Bangladesh in collaboration with government, is distributing free LLIN to the 13 endemic districts of the country. The study was conducted with the aim of assessing the gap between coverage, access, and utilization of LLIN among the people of the 13 malaria endemic districts of Bangladesh. Methods: This baseline study employed a community cross-sectional design triangulated with qualitative methods to measure households’ ownership, access and use of 13 endemic districts. A multistage cluster random sampling was employed for the quantitative part and for qualitative part a purposive sampling strategy was done. Thus present analysis included 2640 households encompassing a total of 14475 populations. Data were collected using a pre-tested structured questionnaire through one on one face-to-face interview with respondents. All analyses were performed using STATA (Version 13.0). For the qualitative part participant observation, in-depth interview, focus group discussion, key informant interview and informal interview was done to gather the contextual data. Findings: According to our study, 99.8% of households possessed at least one-bed net in both study areas. 77.4% households possessed at least two LLIN and 43.2% households had access to LLIN for all the members. So the gap between coverage and access is 34%. 91.8% people in the 13 districts and 95.1% in Chittagong Hill Tracts areas reported having had slept under a bed net the night before interviewed. And despite the relatively low access, in 77.8% of households, all the members were used the LLIN the previous night. This higher utilization compared to access might be due to the increased awareness among the community people regarding LLIN uses. However, among those people with sufficient access to LLIN, 6% of them still did not use the LLIN which reflects the behavioral failure that needs to be addressed. The major reasons for not using LLIN, identified by both qualitative and quantitative findings, were insufficient access, sleeping or living outside the home, migration, perceived low efficacy of LLIN, fear of physical side effects or feeling uncomfortable. Conclusion: Given that LLIN access and use was a bit short of the targets, it conveys important messages to the malaria control program. Targeting specific population segments and groups for achieving expected LLIN coverage is very crucial. And also, addressing behavior failure by well-designed behavioral change interventions is mandatory.

Keywords: long lasting insecticide net, malaria, malaria control programme, World Health Organisation

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Authors: E. O. Fakoya, B. G. Abiona, J. O. Soetan

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The study determined Perception of Agricultural Extension Agents of Private Sector Participation in Extension Services in Ogun State, Nigeria. Data were collected from 80 respondents with a well-structured questionnaire. The result of the findings showed that there is need for private sector participation in extension services (=4.313), private extension services has facilities than public extension services (=4.97). Private sector participated in extension services by: giving of loans and credits to farmers (=4.50). Major constraints identified by the respondents were: Transportation problem (=2.88) and lack of fund (=2.77) A significant relationship (P<0.05) exists between factors affecting public extension services(r = 0.641, p = 0.00) and private sector participation in extension services. It was concluded from the study that there is need for private sector to participate in extension service in order to improve productivity of the farmers.

Keywords: agricultural extension, extension agent, private sector, perception

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Authors: Cristobal Miralles Insa

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The network of chairs of the "Valencian Public System of Social Services" (VPSSS) is sponsored by the Valencian Institute of Training, Research, and Quality in Social Services and aims to promote research, dissemination, and evaluation of the needs that arise in the field of the public system of social services. It also seeks to transfer knowledge to foster the development of public policies in this field. Given that it is an Interuniversity Chair among the five public universities in Valencia, there is coordination of complementary themes and roles for this objective, with Universitat Politènica de València focusing primarily on promoting innovation and social entrepreneurship to address multiple social challenges through its platform INSSPIRA. This approach is aimed at the entire university community and its various interest groups, carrying out research, teaching, and dissemination activities that promote social inclusion, personal development, and autonomy for groups in situations of vulnerability, lack of protection, dependence, or social urgency. Although it focuses on the Valencian context, both the issues in this context and the tools in process to address them, often have a universal and scalable character and has been inspiring for the innovation system of UPV. This entrepreneurial incubator goes along from early stages of students on the campus until the so-called “StartUPV” system, where students are challenged with social problems that require creative solutions. Therefore, the Chair is conceived with a holistic spirit and an inspiring vocation that engages the whole university community. In this communication, it is described the entities and individuals participating in this UPV Chair of VPSSS, followed by the presentation of different work lines and objectives for the chair. Subsequently, a description of various activities undertaken to promote innovation in social services are described, where support to teaching and extracurricular activities in this field are exposed. It must be noted that some awareness and dissemination of activities are carried out in a transversal mode as they contribute to different objectives simultaneously; with special focus on Learning-Service approaches that achieved very good results which are also summarized.

Keywords: social innovation, entrepeneurship, university, vulnerable sectors

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Authors: Md Tasbirul Islam, Pablo Dias, Nazmul Huda

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E-waste/Waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) is one of the fastest growing waste streams across the globe. This paper aims to compare the e-waste management system in Switzerland and Australia in terms of four features - legislative initiatives, disposal practice, collection and financial mechanisms. The qualitative content analysis is employed as a research method in the study. Data were collected from various published academic research papers, industry reports, and web sources. In addition, a questionnaire survey is conducted in Australia to understand the public awareness and opinions on the features. The results of the study provide valuable insights to policymakers in Australia developing better e-waste management system in conjunction with the public consensus, and the state-of-the-art operational strategies currently being practiced in Switzerland.

Keywords: E-waste management, WEEE, awareness, pro-environmental behavior, Australia, Switzerland

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Authors: M. Bruzza, M. Tupia, F. Rodríguez

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As part of the regulatory compliance process and the streamlining of public administration, the Peruvian government has implemented the National E-Government Plan in all state institutions with the aim of providing citizens with solid services based on the use of Information and Communications Technologies (ICT). As part of the regulations, the requisites to be met by public institutions have been submitted. However, the lack of an implementation model was detected, one that can serve as a guide to such institutions in order to materialize the organizational and technological structures needed, which allow them to provide the required digital services. This paper develops an implementation model of electronic government (e-government) for Peru’s state institutions, in compliance with current regulations based on a COBIT 5.0 framework. Furthermore, the paper introduces phase 1 of this model: business and IT goals, the goals cascade and the future model of processes.

Keywords: e-government, u-government, COBIT, implementation model

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Authors: N. N. Pilau, M. S. Abubakar, A. Danmaigoro, P. C. Mshelia, Y. Sani

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A severely debilitated 4months old Caucasian male dog presented dehydration, emaciation, vomiting, icteric ocular and oral mucous membranes, generalized lymphadenopathy, hematuria, anorexia and prolonged recumbency. Clinical workup was done in established protocols for diagnosis based on history, clinical signs and selected laboratory tests. Treatment course were administered over 48hours during which the patient died of overwhelming hepatopathy, nephropathy and pneumonia. Postmortem findings supported by ante mortem laboratory test results tentatively diagnosed leptospirosis, a disease endemic and presenting potentially fatal epidemics and zoonoses in some countries amongst the developing regions of the world. This disease is reviewed and a call for attention on the public health significance of the disease is hereby presented through this case report.

Keywords: canine, endemic, leptospirosis, prevalence

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Authors: Mustafa Tekke, Nurullah Kurt

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This study examined the level of career maturity of undergraduate foreign students in a public university in Malaysia by examining on cultural aspect by using the Career Maturity Inventory. Two hundred and twenty nine (Male = 106, Female = 123) foreign students studying in various majors completed the Career Maturity Inventory and the scores of the foreign students on the CMI suggested that they had slightly higher levels than the mean level of maturity in career. Result was also supported by testing the feeling about major, consideration of changing major and planning after graduation, which indicated that foreign students had their own career decision making. However, this result should be viewed with caution within ethnic difference.

Keywords: career maturity, foreign students, career decision making, feeling about major, knowledge about major

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Authors: Xue Wang, Li-Wei Fan

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The technology innovation has become the driving force of social and economic development and transformation. The guidance and support of public policies is an important condition to promote the realization of technology innovation goals. Policy effectiveness evaluation is instructive in policy learning and adjustment. This paper reviews existing studies and systematically evaluates the effectiveness of policy-driven technological innovation. We used 167 articles from WOS and CNKI databases as samples to clarify the measurement of technological innovation indicators and analyze the classification and application of policy evaluation methods. In general, technology innovation input and technological output are the two main aspects of technological innovation index design, among which technological patents are the focus of research, the number of patents reflects the scale of technological innovation, and the quality of patents reflects the value of innovation from multiple aspects. As for policy evaluation methods, statistical analysis methods are applied to the formulation, selection and evaluation of the after-effect of policies to analyze the effect of policy implementation qualitatively and quantitatively. The bibliometric methods are mainly based on the public policy texts, discriminating the inter-government relationship and the multi-dimensional value of the policy. Decision analysis focuses on the establishment and measurement of the comprehensive evaluation index system of public policy. The economic analysis methods focus on the performance and output of technological innovation to test the policy effect. Finally, this paper puts forward the prospect of the future research direction.

Keywords: technology innovation, index, policy effectiveness, evaluation of policy, bibliometric analysis

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Authors: Prince Amartey

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Water is critical to public health, quality of life, environmental preservation, economic activity, and long-term growth. In this environment, it is critical to ensure the ongoing improvement of all processes and practices that contribute to the quality and safety of water. Water safety plans (WSPs) developed by water companies are an essential public policy instrument for achieving these objectives. This manuscript examines international evidence of water safety planning adoption and implementation and reports on the current situation in Portugal as part of the necessary adaptation of the national legal framework to the publication of the Directive on water quality for human consumption. The goal is to take lessons from various successful WSP projects throughout the world while writing new legislation in Ghana and elsewhere. According to the findings, four crucial aspects and key factors of success in establishing and implementing WSPs exist commitment from leadership, technical proficiency, administration, and cooperation among agencies.

Keywords: safe drinking, risk, policy, implementation

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Authors: K. Hardy, A. Maurushat

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Policy makers are increasingly looking to make evidence-based decisions. Evidence-based decisions have historically used rigorous methodologies of empirical studies by research institutes, as well as less reliable immediate survey/polls often with limited sample sizes. As we move into the era of Big Data analytics, policy makers are looking to different methodologies to deliver reliable empirics in real-time. The question is not why did these people do this for the last 10 years, but why are these people doing this now, and if the this is undesirable, and how can we have an impact to promote change immediately. Big data analytics rely heavily on government data that has been released in to the public domain. The open data movement promises greater productivity and more efficient delivery of services; however, Australian government agencies remain reluctant to release their data to the general public. This paper considers the barriers to releasing government data as open data, and how these barriers might be overcome.

Keywords: big data, open data, productivity, data governance

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Authors: Andrew Ka Pok Tam

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Kierkegaard has been misinterpreted as an anti-social philosopher for a long time until in recent years when there are more discussions on his concept of community in Journals and Papers inspired by Karl Bayer. Community which is based upon an individual's relations to others is different from the crowd or the public where the numerical or the majority make decisions. As a result, authenticity is only possible in the community. But Kierkegaard did not explain how we can preserve the individual's authenticity by establishing a community instead of a public in the reality. Kierkegaard was against the democratic reform in 1848 Denmark because he thought all elections mean the majority wins and the authenticity of a single individual would be suppressed. However, Kierkegaard himself does not suggest an alternative political system that may preserve the authenticity of individual. This paper aims to evaluate the possibility for us to establish a Kierkegaadian community in practice so as to preserve every individual's authenticity. This paper argues that the practicality of Kierekegaadian community is limited. In order to have effective communications and relations among individuals, a Kierkegaardian community must be small and inefficient as every individual's must remain authentic in all political decision for the whole community.

Keywords: authenticity, community, individual, kierkegaard

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Authors: Mohammad Akbar Paiman, Yasmin Nadeem Parpio, Naureen Akbarali, Khwaja Mir Islam Saeed, Murad Moosa Khan

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Background: Gender-based violence (GBV) is widely considered a significant public health problem that is associated with acute morbidity and mortality. GBV is commonly understood as a physical, sexual, and mental assault from intimate partners, sexual violence by non-partners, sexual assault of girls, and acts like trafficking women for sex. Objective: This study aimed to determine the factors associated with injuries and trauma among victims of GBV in Afghanistan. Method: We conducted a record-based analysis of the data collected by the Gender Department of the Family Protection Centre nationally between November 2013 and October 2019. Cross-tabulation between different variables such as age, sex, marital status, and type of violence and associations between different types of violence, age, gender, and geographical location was determined using the logistic regression model. Results: During the study period, there were a total of 58,160 GBV in Afghanistan. Most of the victims were women 98% with over three-quarters being adults 78%. Most of the victims were married 76%, followed by single 14%, widowed 5%, and engaged 5%. Over three-quarters of the violence, 73% was observed in the victim’s house while nearly one-quarter of the violence 24 % occurred in the perpetrator’s house. Conclusions: GBV is a significant public health problem in Afghanistan that needs to be addressed at multiple levels including policy, state, and community as well as by raising public awareness and education and a strong code of conduct against GBV by all stakeholders.

Keywords: gender-based violence, physical and psychological violence, injuries, Afghanistan

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Authors: Abdelsalam Omran Gebril

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Pollution and solid waste are the most important environmental problems plaguing the city of Benghazi as well as other cities and towns in Libya. These problems are caused by the lack of environmental planning and sound environmental management. Environmental planning is very important at present for the development of projects that preserve the environment, therefore, the planning process should be prioritized over the management process. Pollution caused by poor planning and environmental management exists not only in Benghazi but also in all other Libyan cities. This study was conducted through various field visits to several neighborhoods and areas within Benghazi as well as its neighboring regions. Follow-ups in these areas were conducted from March 2013 to October 2013 and documented by photographs. The existing methods of waste collection and means of transportation were investigated. Interviews were conducted with relevant authorities, including the Environment Public Authority in Benghazi and the Public Service Company of Benghazi. The objective of this study is to determine the causes of solid waste pollution in Benghazi City and its surrounding areas. Results show that solid waste pollution in Benghazi and its surrounding areas is the result of poor planning and environmental management, population growth, and the lack of hardware and equipment for the collection and transport of waste from the city to the landfill site. One of the most important recommendations in this study is the development of a complete and comprehensive plan that includes environmental planning and environmental management to reduce solid waste pollution.

Keywords: solid waste, pollution, environmental planning, management, Benghazi, Libya

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Authors: B. Mack, K. Tampe-Mai, E. Diesch

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Findings of an ongoing discrete choice study of future transport mode choice will be presented. Many urban centers face the triple challenge of having to cope with ever increasing traffic congestion, environmental pollution, and greenhouse gas emission brought about by private car use. In principle, private car use may be diminished by extending public transport systems like bus lines, trams, tubes, and trains. However, there are limits to increasing the (perceived) spatial and temporal flexibility and reducing peak-time crowding of classical public transport systems. An emerging new type of system, publicly or privately operated on-demand shuttle bus services, seem suitable to ameliorate the situation. A fleet of on-demand shuttle busses operates without fixed stops and schedules. It may be deployed efficiently in that each bus picks up passengers whose itineraries may be combined into an optimized route. Crowding may be minimized by limiting the number of seats and the inter-seat distance for each bus. The study is conducted as a discrete choice experiment. The choice between private car, public transport, and shuttle service is registered as a function of several push and pull factors (financial costs, travel time, walking distances, mobility tax/congestion charge, and waiting time/parking space search time). After the completion of the discrete choice items, the study participant is asked to rate the three modes of transport with regard to the pull factors of comfort, safety, privacy, and opportunity to engage in activities like reading or surfing the internet. These ratings are entered as additional predictors into the discrete choice experiment regression model. The study is conducted in the region of Stuttgart in southern Germany. N=1000 participants are being recruited. Participants are between 18 and 69 years of age, hold a driver’s license, and live in the city or the surrounding region of Stuttgart. In the discrete choice experiment, participants are asked to assume they lived within the Stuttgart region, but outside of the city, and were planning the journey from their apartment to their place of work, training, or education during the peak traffic time in the morning. Then, for each item of the discrete choice experiment, they are asked to choose between the transport modes of private car, public transport, and on-demand shuttle in the light of particular values of the push and pull factors studied. The study will provide valuable information on the potential of switching from private car use to the use of on-demand shuttles, but also on the less desirable potential of switching from public transport to on-demand shuttle services. Furthermore, information will be provided on the modulation of these switching potentials by pull and push factors.

Keywords: determinants of travel mode choice, on-demand shuttle services, private car use, public transport

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Authors: Eric Berry White

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The paper examines the causality between solid waste pollution and lockdown. Particularly in 2020, the world experiences the takeover of the Corona virus pandemic, and most countries decided to adopt lockdown measure as the best solution to curtail the spread of the virus. On March 20, 2020, the Government of Liberia implemented a curfew that starts from 3:00PM to 6:00AM. This means that no unauthorized person is allowed to be in the streets during this time. In most developing countries, the issue of public waste and environmental hazard pollution tend to have a high effect among the slum communities where there are markets. This research covers 6 slums communities around the two biggest market hubs within Monrovia, and the result shows that the lockdown measure significantly reduced public waste pollution by reducing the movement of marketers in slum communities , where limited educational and sensitization for young people is reflected on their job market exclusion, jobless circle, and youth workforce concentration in informal work market. The study discovered that with public awareness and sensitization with females, solid waste could be reduced by 13 percentage point. But there is no evidence that awareness among male conduce pollution. within affected communities, Despite the impact of the lockdown on food consumption, these results emphasized that with the right monitoring of waste and aware, pollution could be reduce. By understanding these results and implementing the best policy, the paper recommends that dump sites be close at certain hours.

Keywords: lockdown, environmental, pollution, waste

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Authors: Tran Tran

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Mental health issues are prevalent among Vietnamese undergraduate students, and they are greatly exacerbated during the COVID-19 pandemic for this population. While there is empirical evidence supporting the effectiveness and efficiency of therapy on mental health issues among college students, the rates of Vietnamese college students seeking professional mental health services were alarmingly low. Multiple factors can prevent those in need from finding support. The Internalized Stigma Model posits that public stigma directly affects intentions to seek psychological help via self-stigma and attitudes toward seeking help. However, little research has focused on what factors can predict public stigma toward seeking professional psychological support, especially among this population. A potential predictor is academic majors since academic majors can influence undergraduate students' perceptions, attitudes, and intentions. A study suggested that students who have completed two or more psychology courses have a more positive attitude toward seeking care for mental health issues and reduced stigma, which might be attributed to increased mental health literacy. In addition, research has shown that women are more likely to utilize mental health services and have lower stigma than men. Finally, studies have also suggested that experience of mental health services can increase endorsement of perceived need and lower stigma. Thus, it is expected that perceived helpfulness from past service uses can reduce stigma. This study aims to address this gap in the literature and investigate which factors can predict public stigma, specifically academic major, gender, and perceived helpfulness, potentially suggesting an avenue of prevention and ultimately improving the well-being of Vietnamese college students. The sample includes 408 undergraduate students (Mage = 20.44; 80.88% female) Hanoi city, Vietnam. Participants completed a pen-and-paper questionnaire. Students completed the Stigma Scale for Receiving Psychological Help, which yielded a mean public stigma score. Participants also completed a measurement assessing their perceived helpfulness of their university’s counseling center, which included eight subscales: future self-development, learning issues, career counseling, medical and health issues, mental health issues, conflicts between teachers and students, conflicts between parents and students, and interpersonal relationships. Items were summed to create a composite perceived helpfulness score. Finally, participants provided demographic information. This included gender, which was dichotomized between female and other. Additionally, it included academic major, which was also similarly dichotomized between psychology and other (e.g., natural science, social science, and pedagogy & social work). Linear relationships between public stigma and gender, academic major, and perceived helpfulness were analyzed individually with a regression model. Findings suggested that academic major, gender, and perceived counseling center's helpfulness predicted stigma against seeking professional psychological help. Specifically, being a psychology major predicted lower levels of public stigma (β = -.25, p < .001). Additionally, gender female predicted lower levels of public stigma (β = -.11, p < .05). Lastly, higher levels of perceived helpfulness of the counseling center also predicted lower levels of public stigma (β = -.16, p < .01). The study’s results offer potential intervention avenues to help reduce stigma and increase well-being for Vietnamese college students.

Keywords: stigma, vietnamese college students, counseling services, help-seeking

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Authors: Shah Awan, Fahad Sultan, Shahid Jan Kakakhel

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Higher education in the 21st century has been faced with game-changing developments impacting teaching and learning and also strengthening the academia and industry relationship. The academia and industry relationship plays a key role in economic development in developed, developing and emerging economies. The partnership not only explores innovation but also provide a real time experience of the theoretical knowledge. For this purpose, the paper assessing the role of HEC in the Pakistan and discusses the way in academia and industry contribute their role in improving Pakistani economy. Successive studies have reported the importance of innovation and technology , research development initiatives in public sector universities, and the significance of role of higher education commission in strengthening the academia and industrial relationship to improve performance and minimize failure. The paper presents the results of interviews conducted, using semi-structured interviews amongst 26 staff members of two public sector universities, higher education commission and managers from corporate sector.The study shows public sector universities face the several barriers in developing economy like Pakistan, to establish the successful collaboration between universities and industry. Of the participants interviewed, HEC provides an insufficient road map to improve organisational capabilities in facilitating and enhance the performance. The results of this study have demonstrated that HEC has to embrace and internalize support to industry and public sector universities to compete in the era of globalization. Publication of this research paper will help higher education sector to further strengthen research sector through industry and university collaboration. The research findings corroborate the findings of Dooley and Kirk who highlights the features of university-industry collaboration. Enhanced communication has implications for the quality of the product and human resource. Crucial for developing economies, feasible organisational design and framework is essential for the university-industry relationship.

Keywords: higher education commission, role, academia and industry relationship, Pakistan

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Authors: Zareen Shahid

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Rapid increase in population has resulted in uncontrolled and unplanned growth of metropolitan cities in Pakistan. Pakistan is facing unprecedented challenges of acute housing shortages, unhealthy living conditions and a non-existent or dilapidated infrastructure across the country. The government of Pakistan has also failed to devise a comprehensive and long-term strategy to cope with the problem of housing and better infrastructure development and management that has resulted in congestion, overcrowding and deterioration of environment in cities. On the other hand public has developed intense faith upon Defence Housing Authority (DHA) Lahore. This research paper is about to observe the difference in residential estate development and services provided by DHA Lahore. This paper attempts to identify the factors which are contributing towards the success of DHA and recommend measures for improvement in public sector for betterment.

Keywords: residential estate, development and management, defence housing authority

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Authors: S. Vanaja, P. Panneerselvam, S. Santhanakarthikeyan

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Cloud Computing is a latest trend in Libraries. Entering in to cloud services, Librarians can suit the present information handling and they are able to satisfy needs of the knowledge society. Libraries are now in the platform of universalizing all its information to users and they focus towards clouds which gives easiest access to data and application. Cloud computing is a highly scalable platform promising quick access to hardware and software over the internet, in addition to easy management and access by non-expert users. In this paper, we discuss the cloud’s features and its potential applications in the library and information centers, how cloud computing actually works is illustrated in this communication and how it will be implemented. It discuss about what are the needs to move to cloud, process of migration to cloud. In addition to that this paper assessed the practical problems during migration in libraries, advantages of migration process and what are the measures that Libraries should follow during migration in to cloud. This paper highlights the benefits and some concerns regarding data ownership and data security on the cloud computing.

Keywords: cloud computing, cloud-service, cloud based-ILS, cloud-providers, discovery service, IaaS, PaaS, SaaS, virtualization, Web scale access

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Authors: Shillah Memusi

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Underrepresentation of women in governance structures is a global phenomenon, with patriarchal considerations being among the main, if not the top, reason for this in Sub Saharan Africa. This paper demonstrates that gender norms and informal rules have perpetuated a culture of stereotypical gender roles that have limited women’s public participation and leadership in society. To achieve this, the paper explores barriers to women’s political engagement, and how these are navigated in the face of gender equality laws. Situated in Kenya’s Maasai community, the paper investigates the influence of set laws on the increased involvement of women from the patriarchal community in the political economy. It gives special attention to the intersectionality of formal and informal laws and the subsequent interpretation and implementation of gender equality. The paper then concludes by demonstrating the benefits of exploring alternative gender equality pathways, as informed by contextual realities of settings such as patriarchal communities.

Keywords: equality, Kenya, patriarchy, public participation, women

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Authors: Laura Lee Prather

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A functioning democracy is defined by various characteristics, including freedom of speech, equality, human rights, rule of law and many more. Lawsuits brought to intimidate speakers, drain the resources of community members, and silence journalists and others who speak out in support of matters of public concern are an abuse of the legal system and an encroachment of human rights. The impact can have a broad chilling effect, deterring others from speaking out against abuse. This article aims to suggest ways to address this form of judicial harassment. In 1988, University of Denver professors George Pring and Penelope Canan coined the term “SLAPP” when they brought to light a troubling trend of people getting sued for speaking out about matters of public concern. Their research demonstrated that thousands of people engaging in public debate and citizen involvement in government have been and will be the targets of multi-million-dollar lawsuits for the purpose of silencing them and dissuading others from speaking out in the future. SLAPP actions chill information and harm the public at large. Professors Pring and Canan catalogued a tsunami of SLAPP suits filed by public officials, real estate developers and businessmen against environmentalists, consumers, women’s rights advocates and more. SLAPPs are now seen in every region of the world as a means to intimidate people into silence and are viewed as a global affront to human rights. Anti-SLAPP laws are the antidote to SLAPP suits and while commonplace in the United States are only recently being considered in the EU and the UK. This researcher studied more than thirty years of Anti-SLAPP legislative policy in the U.S., the call for evidence and resultant EU Commission’s Anti-SLAPP Directive and Member States Recommendations, the call for evidence by the UK Ministry of Justice, response and Model Anti-SLAPP law presented to UK Parliament, as well as, conducted dozens of interviews with NGO’s throughout the EU, UK, and US to identify varying approaches to SLAPP lawsuits, public policy, and support for SLAPP victims. This paper identifies best practices taken from the US, EU and UK that can be implemented globally to help combat SLAPPs by: (1) raising awareness about SLAPPs, how to identify them, and recognizing habitual abusers of the court system; (2) engaging governments in the policy discussion in combatting SLAPPs and supporting SLAPP victims; (3) educating judges in recognizing SLAPPs an general training on encroachment of human rights; (4) and holding lawyers accountable for ravaging the rule of law.

Keywords: Anti-SLAPP Laws and Policy, Comparative media law and policy, EU Anti-SLAPP Directive and Member Recommendations, International Human Rights of Freedom of Expression

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Authors: Tomoya Oshiro, Hiroko Ono

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Japan's aging population is increasing due to the decrease in birthrate. It causes various problems like the decrease in the gross domestic product of the country. The reason is why the local government of Japan has been on the way to a sustainable city recently. Then it is essential to get control of an urban structure to make the compact city successful. There are many kinds of paper about the compact city; however, the paper about a compact city of the island-type city is less. The purpose of this study is to clarify difference of urban structure between an island-type and a general city type. The method which has conducted in this research has two steps. First of all, by using evaluation indexes in the handbook, we evaluated the urban structures among each same -population-class cities from 50,000 to 100,000 people. Next, to clear the difference about the urban structure and feature between island-type and general-type cities compare the radar chart which is composed with each evaluation indexes of urban structure. Moreover, in order to clarify the relationship between evaluation indexes and the place of residence by using GIS software to show up population density on the map. As a result of this research, the management of local government and the local economy in evaluation indexes are indicated to be negative point in comparison of island-type cities with general cities. However, evaluation indexes of safety/security and low-carbon/energy are proved to be positive point. The research to find the difference features of the island-type of urban structure proves that the management of local government or the local economy is negative point in these island-type cities. In addition, the public transportation coverage in Miyako Island, Sado Island, and Amakusa Island show low value compare with other islands and average value. Relationship between evaluation indexes of an urban structure and the place of residence prove that the place of residence is related to public transportation coverage. If the place of residence is spread out, the public transportation coverage will be decreased. The results of this research reveal that the finances in island-type cities are negative point compare to general cities. This problem is caused by declining population. In addition, the place of residence is related to the public transportation coverage. Even though, it needs a much money to increase the public transportation coverage. It is possibly to cause other problems furthermore the aspect of finance is influenced by that as well. The conclusion in this research suggests that it is important for creating the compact city in island-type cities that we first need to address solving the problems about the management of local government and the local economy.

Keywords: sustainable city, comparative analysis, geographic information system, urban structure

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Authors: Karen Fang

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Investigative genetic genealogy has attracted much interest in both the field of ethics and the public eye due to its global application in criminal cases. Arguments have been made regarding privacy and informed consent, especially with law enforcement using consumer genetic testing results to convict individuals. In the case of public interest, DNA databases have the strong potential to significantly reduce crime, which in turn leads to safer communities and better futures. With the advancement of genetic technologies, the integration of a universal forensic DNA database in violent crimes, crimes against children, and missing person cases is expected to deter crime while protecting one’s privacy. Rather than collecting whole genomes from the whole population, STR profiles can be used to identify unrelated individuals without compromising personal information such as physical appearance, disease risk, and geographical origin, and additionally, reduce cost and storage space. STR DNA profiling is already used in the forensic science field and going a step further benefits several areas, including the reduction in recidivism, improved criminal court case turnaround time, and just punishment. Furthermore, adding individuals to the database as early as possible prevents young offenders and first-time offenders from participating in criminal activity. It is important to highlight that DNA databases should be inclusive and tightly governed, and the misconception on the use of DNA based on crime television series and other media sources should be addressed. Nonetheless, deterrent effects have been observed in countries like the US and Denmark with DNA databases that consist of serious violent offenders. Fewer crimes were reported, and fewer people were convicted of those crimes- a favorable outcome, not even the death penalty could provide. Currently, there is no better alternative than a universal forensic DNA database made up of STR profiles. It can open doors for investigative genetic genealogy and fostering better communities. Expanding the appropriate use of DNA databases is ethically acceptable and positively impacts the public.

Keywords: bioethics, deterrent effects, DNA database, investigative genetic genealogy, privacy, public interest

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Authors: Silvia Carla Da Silva André, Angela Maria Magosso Takayanagui

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Introduction: The Medical Waste (MW) are responsible per 2% of total waste generated for a city and has merited attention due the risks that offers to the public health and environment, representing an important aspect in waste management. In Brazil, the Resolution 306/04 of the National Health Surveillance Agency classifies the MW into 5 groups as follows: Group A (GA) biological, Group B (GB) chemical, Group C (GC) radioactive waste, Group D (GD) common, and Group E (GE) sharps. Objective: This study aimed to determine the amount of waste generated in hospitals of Ribeirão Preto, São Paulo, Brazil. Material and Methods: This is a field research, exploratory, using quantitative variables. The survey was conducted in 11 hospitals in Ribeirão Preto, located in the State of São Paulo, Brazil. It is noted that the study sample included general hospitals, skilled, university, maternity, and psychiatric; public, private, and philanthropic; and large, medium, and small. To quantify the MW, the weighing of the waste was held for six days, following methodology adapted from PAHO. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, determining the average global generation of MW and for each group. This research was carried out after approval by the Ethics in Research of the University of São Paulo. Thus, in order to comply with the ethical principles of research, to present the results hospitals were numbered from 1 to 11. Results: The data revealed a greater generation of biological waste among teaching hospitals, which can be justified by the use of materials for the realization of techniques.

Keywords: environmental health, management of medical waste, medical waste, public health

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Authors: Norazharuddin Shah Abdullah, Harshita Aini Haroon, Norazian Mohmad Azman, Erlane K. Ghani, Ismie Roha Mohamed Jais, Kamaruzzaman Muhammad, Azleen Ilias

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This study examines the factors that influence academics' decisions to accept or decline leadership roles in Malaysian universities. A questionnaire survey was distributed to a total of 1771 academics from public and private institutions in Malaysia. This study shows that the majority of academics in universities, regardless of whether they are public or private, have a reluctance to take on administrative roles. In particular, this study shows that female academics in public universities have no ambition for administrative roles, while female academics in private universities show a strong enthusiasm for taking up administrative positions. In terms of age, academics of all age groups made comparable choices, but academics who are under 30 years old have a greater propensity to aspire to an administrative position. Associate professors at private universities also opt for an administrative position. The factors that influence academics' decisions to accept or decline an administrative position are categorised into five categories: career development, skills and experience, preferences, perceptions, and organization. The findings of this study suggest that the increasing number of academics not seeking institutional leadership positions is a concern, as universities need a sufficient pool of potential successors to effectively fulfil the purpose and vision of the university. This study suggests the implementation of awareness and training initiatives to inspire academics, especially young academics, to take up leadership roles within the institutions.

Keywords: academics, institutional leadership, leadership, universities, Malaysia

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Authors: O. Akinola, R. Mustapha

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Obesity is the most serious long-term health problem currently facing adolescents and its prevalence increasing worldwide including developing countries. A cross-sectional study was carried out among age 11-19 years in both public and private school in the urban area of the state. The data was collected using pretest self-administered questionnaire; Anthropometric measurement was also used to examine their nutritional status. Obesity status were determined using BMI cut off point, the overweight was found to be 3.06% among female and 0.6% among male whereas the prevalence of obesity was 0.46% in female and non among male. 62.6% snack daily, fruit consumption pattern was low 0.6%, and 43.7% spend between 4-5 hours watching television daily after school. A positive association exists between the lifestyle and nutritional status of the respondents. Education effort to improve nutrition knowledge can be incorporated into course curriculum and focus on various components within the system when implementing preventive measure on obesity.

Keywords: adolescent, obesity, overweight, prevalence

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Authors: Mathilde Kirkegaard

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The paper will focus on management of heritage that integrates the local community, and argue towards an obligation to integrate this social aspect in heritage management. By broadening the understanding of heritage, a sustainable heritage management takes its departure in more than a continual conservation of the physicality of heritage. The social aspect, or the local community, is in many govern heritage management situations being overlooked and it is not managed through community based urban planning methods, e.g.: citizen-inclusion, a transparent process, informative and inviting initiatives, etc. Historical sites are often being described by embracing terms such as “ours” and “us”: “our history” and “a history that is part of us”. Heritage is not something static, it is a link between the life that has been lived in the historical frames, and the life that is defining it today. This view on heritage is rooted in the strive to ensure that heritage sites, besides securing the national historical interest, have a value for those people who are affected by it: living in it or visiting it. Antigua Guatemala is a UNESCO-defined heritage site and this site is being ‘threatened’ by tourism, habitation and recreation. In other words: ‘the use’ of the site is considered a threat of the preservation of the heritage. Contradictory the same types of use (tourism and habitation) can also be considered development ability, and perhaps even a sustainable management solution. ‘The use’ of heritage is interlinked with the perspective that heritage sites ought to have a value for people today. In other words, the heritage sites should be comprised of a contemporary substance. Heritage is entwined in its context of physical structures and the social layer. A synergy between the use of heritage and the knowledge about the heritage can generate a sustainable preservation solution. The paper will exemplify this symbiosis with different examples of a heritage management that is centred around a local community inclusion. The inclusive method is not new in architectural planning and it refers to a top-down and bottom-up balance in decision making. It can be endeavoured through designs of an inclusive nature. Catalyst architecture is a planning method that strives to move the process of design solutions into the public space. Through process-orientated designs, or catalyst designs, the community can gain an insight into the process or be invited to participate in the process. A balance between bottom-up and top-down in the development process of a heritage site can, in relation to management measures, be understood to generate a socially sustainable solution. The ownership and engagement that can be created among the local community, along with the use that ultimately can gain an economic benefit, can delegate the maintenance and preservation. Informative, inclusive and transparent planning methods can generate a heritage management that is long-term due to the collective understanding and effort. This method handles sustainable management on two levels: the current preservation necessities and the long-term management, while ensuring a value for people today.

Keywords: community, intangible, inclusion, planning

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