Search results for: rural economy

Authors: Federico Pittino, Thomas Arnold

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The shredding of waste materials is a key step in the recycling process towards the circular economy. Industrial shredders for waste processing operate in very harsh operating conditions, leading to the need for frequent maintenance of critical components. Maintenance optimization is particularly important also to increase the machine’s efficiency, thereby reducing the operational costs. In this work, a monitoring system has been developed and deployed on an industrial shredder located at a waste recycling plant in Austria. The machine has been monitored for one year, and methods for predictive maintenance have been developed for two key components: the cutting knives and the drive belt. The large amount of collected data is leveraged by statistical machine learning techniques, thereby not requiring very detailed knowledge of the machine or its live operating conditions. The results show that, despite the wide range of operating conditions, a reliable estimate of the optimal time for maintenance can be derived. Moreover, the trade-off between the cost of maintenance and the increase in power consumption due to the wear state of the monitored components of the machine is investigated. This work proves the benefits of real-time monitoring system for the efficient operation of industrial shredders.

Keywords: predictive maintenance, circular economy, industrial shredder, cost optimization, statistical machine learning

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Authors: Abdulsalami M. Deji

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Prolonged military incursion in Nigeria politics which favored the oligarchy brought agitation for democratic rule it exacerbated ethnicity integration of minority for fear of domination. The advent of democracy ushered in new breath of life to Nigerians from the shackle of military oppression to democratic governance. Democratic rule became a mirage as a result of prevalent insecurity in Nigeria; effort to bring lasting peace to all sections of the country had not yielded positive result till date. In the process of struggling for democracy among ethnic groups in Nigeria, they had instituted various militia groups defending the interest of their identity due to unequal distribution of wealth by military junta. When democracy came on board, these various militia groups became demons hunting democratic institutions. Quest by the successful government to find lasting solution has proved abortive. The security of politics which guaranteed stability is not visible in Nigeria, what we have now is politics of security. The unrest in Nigeria today has cripple socio-political and economy of the nation; the growth of economy favored elites without meaningful impact on the common man. This paper focus on the effects of democracy on Nigerians and, how security under democratic rule has hindered dividends of democracy since 1999-till date and way forward. The source is strictly base on secondary source from textbook, newspapers, internet, and journals.

Keywords: democracy, interest, militia, security

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Authors: Fameli Kyriaki-Maria, Assimakopoulos D. Vasiliki, Kotroni Vassiliki

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The Greater Athens Area (GAA) faces photochemical and particulate pollution episodes as a result of the combined effects of local pollutant emissions, regional pollution transport, synoptic circulation and topographic characteristics. The area has undergone significant changes since the Athens 2004 Olympic Games because of large scale infrastructure works that lead to the shift of population to areas previously characterized as rural, the increase of the traffic fleet and the operation of highways. However, no recent modelling studies have been performed due to the lack of an accurate, updated emission inventory. The photochemical modelling system MM5/CAMx was applied in order to study the photochemical and particulate pollution characteristics above the GAA for two distinct ten-day periods in the summer of 2006 and 2010, where air pollution episodes occurred. A new updated emission inventory was used based on official data. Comparison of modeled results with measurements revealed the importance and accuracy of the new Athens emission inventory as compared to previous modeling studies. The model managed to reproduce the local meteorological conditions, the daily ozone and particulates fluctuations at different locations across the GAA. Higher ozone levels were found at suburban and rural areas as well as over the sea at the south of the basin. Concerning PM10, high concentrations were computed at the city centre and the southeastern suburbs in agreement with measured data. Source apportionment analysis showed that different sources contribute to the ozone levels, the local sources (traffic, port activities) affecting its formation.

Keywords: photochemical modelling, urban pollution, greater Athens area, MM5/CAMx

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Authors: Z. Zaman Asam, M. Ajmal, R. Saeed, H. Miraj, M. Muhammad Ahtisham, B. Hameed, A. -Sattar Nizami

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In Pakistan, environmental degradation and consequent human health deterioration has rapidly accelerated in the past decade due to solid waste mismanagement. As the situation worsens with time, establishment of proper waste management practices is urgently needed especially in semi urban and rural areas of Pakistan. This study uses a concept of Waste Bank, which involves a transfer station for collection of sorted waste fractions and its delivery to the targeted market such as recycling industries, biogas plants, composting facilities etc. The management efficiency and effectiveness of Waste Bank depend strongly on the proficient sorting and collection of solid waste fractions at household level. However, the social attitude towards such a solution in semi urban/rural areas of Pakistan demands certain prerequisites to make it workable. Considering these factors the objectives of this study are to: [A] Obtain reliable data about quantity and characteristics of generated waste to define feasibility of business and design factors, such as required storage area, retention time, transportation frequency of the system etc. [B] Analyze the effects of various social factors on waste generation to foresee future projections. [C] Quantify the improvement in waste sorting efficiency after awareness campaign. We selected Gujrat city of Central Punjab province of Pakistan as it is semi urban adjoined by rural areas. A total of 60 houses (20 from each of the three selected colonies), belonging to different social status were selected. Awareness sessions about waste segregation were given through brochures and individual lectures in each selected household. Sampling of waste, that households had attempted to sort, was then carried out in the three colored bags that were provided as part of the awareness campaign. Finally, refined waste sorting, weighing of various fractions and measurement of dry mass was performed in environmental laboratory using standard methods. It was calculated that sorting efficiency of waste improved from 0 to 52% as a result of the awareness campaign. The generation of waste (dry mass basis) on average from one household was 460 kg/year whereas per capita generation was 68 kg/year. Extrapolating these values for Gujrat Tehsil, the total waste generation per year is calculated to be 101921 tons dry mass (DM). Characteristics found in waste were (i) organic decomposable (29.2%, 29710 tons/year DM), (ii) recyclables (37.0%, 37726 tons/year DM) that included plastic, paper, metal and glass, and (iii) trash (33.8%, 34485 tons/year DM) that mainly comprised of polythene bags, medicine packaging, pampers and wrappers. Waste generation was more in colonies with comparatively higher income and better living standards. In future, data collection for all four seasons and improvements due to expansion of awareness campaign to educational institutes will be quantified. This waste management system can potentially fulfill vital sustainable development goals (e.g. clean water and sanitation), reduce the need to harvest fresh resources from the ecosystem, create business and job opportunities and consequently solve one of the most pressing environmental issues of the country.

Keywords: integrated solid waste management, waste segregation, waste bank, community development

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Authors: Fabian Flintoff

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The nature of the workforce has changed radically over the last 50 years in terms of a wide range of factors, including its education levels, gender composition, and the status of workers. Despite extensive changes to the structure of the workforce, lawmakers and judges have shown a reluctance to reshape employment law. In particular, employment laws have not kept pace with the extensive use of flexible forms of employment, whether part-time, casual or agency employees. This paper focuses on recent attempts at legislative change in the state/provincial and federal jurisdictions in both Australia and Canada. Australian and Canadian employment laws share a common heritage and many similarities. However, there are significant differences in the way in which employment-based disputes are resolved. The Australian component of the paper considers the changes made by the Federal conservative Coalition government in 2021. The paper also reviews the proposals for change to regulating the gig economy made by the Canadian Federal government in the 2021 budget and the idea of a rebuttable presumption in favor of an employment relationship over a contract for services. The paper suggests that there are considerable institutional impediments to achieving pragmatic law reform that balances the interests of workers and employers. It concludes that there are strong interests in the legal and labor law community for continuing the status quo, despite the fact that it may negatively impact the most marginalized members of the workforce in Australia, Canada, and other jurisdictions.

Keywords: employment law, flexible employment, labor law, legislative reform

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Authors: Shafiqul Islam, Cordia Chu

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Bangladesh is one of the most vulnerable countries to climate related disasters such as flood and cyclone. Exploring from the semi-structured in-depth interviews of 38 stakeholders and literature review, this study examined the public spending distribution process in DRR. This paper demonstrates how the processes of political economy-enclosure, exclusion, encroachment, and entrenchment hinder the Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) efforts of Department of Disaster Management (DDM) such as distribution of flood centres, cyclone centres and 40 days employment generation programs. Enclosure refers to when DRR projects allocated to less vulnerable areas or expand the roles of influencing actors into the public sphere. Exclusion refers to when DRR projects limit affected people’s access to resources or marginalize particular stakeholders in decision-making activities. Encroachment refers to when allocation of DRR projects and selection of location and issues degrade the environmental affect or contribute to other forms of disaster risk. Entrenchment refers to when DRR projects aggravate the disempowerment of common people worsen the concentrations of wealth and income inequality within a community. In line with United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Hyogo and Sendai Frameworks, in the case of Bangladesh, DRR policies implemented under the country’s national five-year plan, disaster-related acts and rules. These policies and practices have somehow enabled influential-elites to mobilize and distribute resources through bureaucracies. Exclusionary forms of fund distribution of DRR exist at both the national and local scales. DRR related allocations have encroached through the low land areas development project without consulting local needs. Most severely, DRR related unequal allocations have entrenched social class trapping the backward communities vulnerable to climate related disasters. Planners and practitioners of DRR need to take necessary steps to eliminate the potential risks from the processes of enclosure, exclusion, encroachment, and entrenchment happens in project fund allocations.

Keywords: Bangladesh, disaster risk reduction, fund distribution, political economy

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Authors: Shantanu Majumder

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This paper attempts to explain the factors contribute in attracting and engaging rural women in Bangladesh toward political Islam that in many cases manifests itself in the form of violent extremism (VE). Bangladesh, the fourth largest Muslim majority country in the world, has been confronting the problem of VE in the name of Islam since a long. The political Islamists, explaining the events like military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, anti-Muslim politics in neighboring India and Myanmar, Islamophobia in the West, and several other issues in their own way, have become to a vast extent successful in creating a high level of emotion, anger and a feeling of being oppressed worldwide among the ordinary Muslims masses. Half-hearted role of public intellectuals and political expediency of liberal political forces in explaining these events in a secular democratic way also facilitate the extremists to earn political dividend. VE was perceived as an all-male activism of the political Islamists’ in the past in Bangladesh. However, evidence in the recent times shows that there are sympathizers, recruiters, and perpetrators as well among the womenfolk in favor of VE-based political Islam. The first section in this paper sheds light on the way the political Islamists build rapport with and win over the heart of target women in countryside under the camouflage of preaching authentic Islam. This section also describes the role of family in involvement of women in VE. The second section discusses wide-ranging use of websites, facebook, laptop, mobile phones and several other means in the way to motivate and radicalize women. How the involvement with political Islamists brings changes in thinking process, lifestyle and family life of motivated women has been focused in the third section. The final section deals briefly with the way out relying on the argument that law and order forces alone cannot tackle this problem.

Keywords: Bangladesh, political Islam, violent extremism, women

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Authors: Veronica Barragan, Ligia Luna, Maria Patricia Zambrano, Carlos Bulnes, Eduardo Diaz, Talima Pearson

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Leptospirosis impacts animal production and is responsible for important economic losses in the pig industry. Infection is associated with reproductive failures that lead to abortions, stillbirth, and perinatal mortality. The leptospira serogroups that have been traditionally linked to disease in pigs are Pomona, Australis, and Tarassovi. Unfortunately, knowledge about pig leptospirosis is biased towards infection in large-scale commercial farms from developed countries, where exposure is usually limited to host-specific serotypes. The aim of our study is to describe leptospirosis in pigs from rural communities located in the coast of Ecuador-South America, where leptospirosis is endemic. A particularity of these pigs is that, because they are usually raised in the backyard of their owner’s houses, exposure to other leptospira excreted by other animals is likely to occur. Therefore, we collected 420 kidney samples from pigs sacrificed at a local slaughterhouse, and Leptospira positivity was tested in all samples by amplifying the Lipl32 gen. Our results show pathogenic Leptospira positivity in 19.3% (81/420) of pigs. Microaglutination test was performed in 60 PCR positive samples with titers >1:100 in 17 pigs, titers of 1:50 in 28 pigs, and no MAT titers in 15 pigs even though Leptospira DNA was found in their kidneys. Interestingly, reacting serovars were very diverse, with 18.3% of pig sera reacting with two or more serovars. Additionally, serovar Canicola was found in 16.7% of pigs followed by Tarassovi (10%), Australis (6.7%), Pyogenes (5%), Icterohaemorrhageae (1.7%), and Grippotyphosa (1.7%). It is also important to highlight that most of the analyzed animals came from small-scale farms where pigs may be exposed to the pathogen by exposure to other domestic and peridomestic animals such as rats, dogs, horses, donkeys, and even wildlife. This would explain the finding of non-pig adapted Leptospira serovars such as Canicola, which is commonly reported in dogs.

Keywords: Leptospira, Lipl32, peridomestic, pig, serovar

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Authors: Parisa Göker, Hilal Kahveci, Özlem Candan Hergül

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Humans are generating culture while being in touch with nature. Along with skills, local knowledge based on experience, and many other subjects developed within this process, 'culture' offers humans a chance to survive. For this reason, culture forms the equipment for humans, which facilitates their survival in all ecosystems. Together with technology, quick consumption of natural sources and overuse culture of humans have brought up the eco-village concept. Ecovillages are ecologically, economically, socio-culturally, and spiritually sustainable settlement models. It is known that the eco-village approach is applying a proper methodology on behalf of integrative and versatile solution generation. Today, the eco-village approach, introducing a radical criticism to the understanding of civilization and consumption culture and deeming urban solutions inadequate as a spatial reflection to civilization and consumption culture, while making a difference about integrative solution offering with multidimensional features, along with the goal of creating self-sufficient communities, is creating solutions on the subject of both reducing the ecological footprint of humans and to provide social order and also to solve the injustice seen in terms of income and life standards. In this study, environmental issues, sustainable development, and environmental sustainability topics are examined within the context of eco-tourism and eco-village. Alongside this, the natural and cultural landscape values of Kurşunlu village which are located in Bilecik province’s Gölpazarı county, and a contextual frame is created for the facilitation of sustainability in the event of dynamizing the Kurşunlu village in terms of tourism-oriented activities.

Keywords: eco village, sustainability, rural landscape, cultural landscape

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Authors: Onyinyechi Joy Kingdom

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Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) have been proposed as a mechanism through which, problems associated with inefficiency or poor performance in financial institution could be addressed. The aim of this study is to examine the proposition that recapitalization of banks, which encouraged Mergers and Acquisitions in Nigeria banking system, would strengthen the domestic banks, improve financial deepening and the confidence of depositors. Hence, this study examines the impact of the 2005 M&A in the Nigerian-banking sector on financial deepening using mixed method (quantitative and qualitative approach). The quantitative process of this study utilised annual time series for financial deepening indicator for the period of 1997 to 2012. While, the qualitative aspect adopted semi-structured interview to collate data from three merged banks and three stand-alone banks to explore, understand and complement the quantitative results. Furthermore, a framework thematic analysis is employed to analyse the themes developed using NVivo 11 software. Using the quantitative approach, findings from the equality of mean test (EMT) used suggests that M&A have significant impact on financial deepening. However, this method is not robust enough given its weak validity as it does not control for other potential factors that may determine financial deepening. Thus, to control for other factors that may affect the level of financial deepening, a Multiple Regression Model (MRM) and Interrupted Times Series Analysis (ITSA) were applied. The coefficient for M&A dummy turned negative and insignificant using MRM. In addition, the estimated linear trend of the post intervention when ITSA was applied suggests that after M&A, the level of financial deepening decreased annually; however, this was statistically insignificant. Similarly, using the qualitative approach, the results from the interview supported the quantitative results from ITSA and MRM. The result suggests that interest rate should fall when capital base is increased to improve financial deepening. Hence, this study contributes to the existing literature the importance of other factors that may affect financial deepening and the economy when policies that will enhance bank performance and the economy are made. In addition, this study will enable the use of valuable policy instruments relevant to monetary authorities when formulating policies that will strengthen the Nigerian banking sector and the economy.

Keywords: mergers and acquisitions, recapitalization, financial deepening, efficiency, financial crisis

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Authors: Anaelle Gabet, Helene Metivier, Christine De Brauer, Gilles Mailhot, Marcello Brigante

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The presence of micropollutants in surface waters has been widely reported around the world, particularly downstream from wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). Rural WWTPs constitute more than 90 % of the total WWTPs in France. Like conventional ones, they are not able to fully remove micropollutants. Estrogens are excreted by human beings every day and several studies have highlighted their endocrine disruption properties on river wildlife. They are mainly estrone (E1), 17β-estradiol (E2) and 17α-ethinylestradiol (EE2). Rural WWTPs require cheap and robust tertiary processes. UVC activation of H₂O₂ for HO· generation, a very reactive molecule, has demonstrated its effectiveness. However, UVC rays are dangerous to manipulate and energy-consuming. This is why the ability of UVA rays was investigated in this study. Moreover, the use of S₂O₈²⁻ for SO₄·- generation as an alternative to HO· has emerged in the last few years. Such processes have been widely studied on a lab scale. However, pilot-scale works constitute fewer studies. This study was carried out on a 20-L pilot composed of a 1.12-L UV reactor equipped with a polychromatic UVA lamp or a monochromatic (254 nm) UVC lamp fed in recirculation. Degradation rates of a mixture of spiked E1, E2 and EE2 (5 µM each) were followed by HPLC-UV. Results are expressed in UV dose (mJ.cm-2) received by the compounds of interest to compare UVC and UVA. In every system, estrogen degradation rates followed pseudo-first-order rates. First, experiments were carried out in tap water. All estrogens underwent photolysis under UVC rays, although E1 photolysis is higher. However, only very weak photolysis was observed under UVA rays. Preliminary studies on both oxidants have shown that S₂O₈²⁻ photolysis constants are higher than H₂O₂ under both UVA and UVC rays. Therefore, estrogen degradation rates are about ten times higher in the presence of 1 mM of S₂O₈²⁻ than with one mM of H₂O₂ under both radiations. In the same conditions, the mixture of interest required about 40 times higher UV dose when using UVA rays compared to UVC. However, the UVA/S₂O₈²⁻ system only requires four times more UV dose than the conventional UVC/H₂O₂ system. Further studies were carried out in WWTP effluent with the UVC lamp. When comparing these results to the tap water ones, estrogen degradation rates were more inhibited in the S₂O₈²⁻ system than with H₂O₂. It seems that SO₄·- undergo higher quenching by a real effluent than HO·. Preliminary experiments have shown that natural organic matter is mainly responsible for the radical quenching and that HO and SO₄ both had similar second-order reaction rate constants with dissolved organic matter. However, E1, E2 and EE2 second-order reaction rate constants are about ten times lower with SO₄ than with HO. In conclusion, the UVA/S₂O₈²⁻ system showed encouraging results for the use of UVA rays but further studies in WWTP effluent have to be carried out to confirm this interest. The efficiency of other pollutants in the real matrix also needs to be investigated.

Keywords: AOPs, decontamination, estrogens, radicals, wastewater

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Authors: Ying Ge

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Wetlands are one of the essential types of ecosystems in the world. They are of great value to human society thanks to their special ecosystem functions and services, such as protecting biodiversity, adjusting hydrology and climate, providing essential habitats and, products and tourism resources. However, wetlands worldwide are degrading severely due to climate change, accelerated urbanization, and rapid economic development. Both nature and human factors drive wetland change, and the influences are variable from wetland types. Thus, the objectives of this study were to (1) to compare the changes in China’s wetland area during the three decades rapid growth period (1978-2008); (2) to analyze the effects of social economy and environmental factors on wetlands change (area loss and change of wetland types) in China during the high-speed economic development. The socio-economic influencing factors include population, income, education, development of agriculture, industry, infrastructure, wastewater amount, etc. Several statistical methods (canonical correlation analysis, principal component analysis, and regression analysis) were employed to analyze the relationship between socio-economic indicators and wetland area change. This study will determine the relevant driving socio-economic factors on wetland changes, which is of great significance for wetland protection and management.

Keywords: socioeconomic effects, China, wetland change, wetland type

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Authors: Titus Amodu Umoru

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The global economy today is full of sophistication. All over the world, business and marketing practices are undergoing an unprecedented transformation. In realization of this fact, the federal government of Nigeria has put in place a robust transformation agenda in order to put Nigeria in a better position to be a competitive player and in the process transform all sectors of its economy. New technologies, especially the internet, are the driving force behind this transformation. However, technology has inadvertently affected the way businesses are done thus necessitating the acquisition of new skills. In developing countries like Nigeria, citizens are still battling with effective application of those technologies. Obviously, students of business education need to acquire relevant business knowledge to be able to transit into the world of work on graduation from school and compete favourably in the labour market. Therefore, effective utilization of social media by both teachers and students can help extensively in empowering students with the needed skills. Social media which is described as a group of internet-based applications that build on the ideological foundations of Web 2.0, and which allow the creation and exchange of user-generated content, if incorporated into the classroom experience may be the needed answer to unemployment and poverty in Nigeria as beneficiaries can easily connect with existing and potential enterprises and customers, engage with them and reinforce mutual business benefits. Challenges and benefits of social media use in education in Nigeria universities were revealed in this study.

Keywords: business education, challenges, opportunities, utilization, social media

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Authors: Rahmat Hajimineh, Ebrahim Rezaei Rad

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The war between Russia and Ukraine is considered a very important event in international relations, especially after the end of the Cold War, a war that has had wide dimensions since its beginning. Dimensions that, in addition to political issues, have especially affected the world economy and especially the two countries. The most important issue in the field of the economy that was affected by the war between Russia and Ukraine was the issue of energy. Russia is one of the largest producers and suppliers of natural gas for European countries, and 40% of European gas is supplied by Russia. For this reason, it is natural that European countries have problems in this regard. On the other hand, Ukraine is considered the gateway to Europe for Russia regarding the export of natural gas. The war in Ukraine has had severe effects on gas and energy in Europe. From this point of view, European countries are looking to diversify their energy path by switching to renewable energies, and they are also looking at other energy-producing countries like Qatar to meet their energy needs. In this article, we are trying to investigate the impact of the war between Russia and Ukraine on Qatar's policies in the field of fossil and renewable energy. The descriptive-analytical method and the theoretical framework of energy security have been used to review this article. Based on this, the article examines the situation of fossil and renewable energies in Qatar and, on the other hand, the effects of the war in Ukraine on both energies in Qatar. The findings of this article also indicate that Qatar has made changes in its energy policies after the war in Ukraine, which seems to be possible due to its high potential, especially in the field of renewable and fossil energy. There is an export of surplus production of this country to other countries, especially European countries.

Keywords: Ukraine War, fossil fuels, renewable energy, energy security, Qatar

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Authors: Minakshi Jain, I. P. Singh

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The mountain system makes the one fifth of the world’s landscape and is the home to the 600 million people. Though hills and mountains contain about 10 percent of the total population of the country, yet almost half of the country’s population living in or adjacent to the mountain areas depend directly or indirectly on the resources of the hills. Mountain environments are essential to the survival of the global ecosystems, as they sustain the economy of India through its perennial river system and precious forest wealth. Hill areas, with distinct climate, diverse vegetation and valuable flora & fauna are distinguished primarily by unique eco-system, rich both in bio-diversity and visual resources. These areas have special significance in terms of environment and economy. Still the irony is that these mountain ecosystems are fragile and highly susceptible to disturbance, with a low ability to rebound and heal after damage. Hills are home to endangered species, biological diversity and an essential part of the ecosystem. They are extremely sensitive to any human related development. Natural systems are the most ignored in the hills. The way the cities and towns have encroached them today has the serious repercussions on the climate. Amidst immense resources and constraints of nature, the town had a fantastic diversity of cultural and ethnic characteristics nurtured through ages along river basin and valley strung across the length and breadth of this Himalayan setting.

Keywords: eco-system, bio-diversity, urban sprawl, vernacular landscape

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Authors: Hashem Dadashpoor, Sadegh Saeidi Shirvan

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While with the evolution of the economy towards a knowledge-based economy, innovation is a requirement for metropolitan regions, the adoption of an open innovation strategy is an option and a requirement for many industrial firms in these regions. Studies show that investing in research and development units cannot alone increase innovation. Within the framework of the theory of learning regions, this gap, which scholars call it the ‘innovation gap’, is filled with regional features of firms. This paper attempts to investigate the factors affecting the open innovation of firms in metropolitan regions, and it searches for these in territorial innovation models and, in particular, the theory of learning regions. In the next step, the effect of identified factors which is considered as regional learning factors in this research is analyzed on the innovation of sample firms by SPSS software using multiple linear regression. The case study of this research is constituted of industrial enterprises from two groups of food industry and auto parts in Toos industrial town in Mashhad metropolitan region. For data gathering of this research, interviews were conducted with managers of industrial firms using structured questionnaires. Based on this study, the effect of factors such as size of firms, inter-firm competition, the use of local labor force and institutional infrastructures were significant in the innovation of the firms studied, and 44% of the changes in the firms’ innovation occurred as a result of the change in these factors.

Keywords: regional knowledge networks, learning regions, interactive learning, innovation

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Authors: Jie Liu, Wei Wei, Chun-Ping Chang

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Using a sample of 110 countries over the period 1984-2013, this paper examines the impacts of country risks on choosing a specific exchange rate regime (first by utilizing the Levy-Yeyati and Sturzenegger de facto classification and then robusting it by the IMF de jure measurement) relative to other regimes via the panel multinomial logit approach. Empirical findings are as follows. First, in the full samples case we provide evidence that government is more likely to implement a flexible regime, but less likely to adopt a fixed regime, under a low level of composite and financial risk. Second, we find that Eurozone countries are more likely to choose a fixed exchange rate regime with a decrease in the level of country risk and favor a flexible regime in response to a shock from an increase of risk, which is opposite to non-Eurozone countries. Third, we note that high-risk countries are more likely to choose a fixed regime with a low level of composite and political risk in the government, but do not adjust the exchange rate regime as a shock absorber when facing economic and financial risks. It is interesting to see that those countries with relatively low risk display almost opposite results versus high-risk economies. Overall, we believe that it is critically important to account for political economy variables in a government’s exchange rate policy decisions, especially for country risks. All results are robust to the panel ordered probit model.

Keywords: country risk, political economy, exchange rate regimes, shock absorber

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Authors: Veronique Troch, Wouter Van der Borght, Véronique De Bleeker, Bram Marynissen, Nathan Van der Eecken, Gijs Du Laing

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Among the challenges associated with increased urban food production are health risks from food contamination, due to the higher pollution loads in urban areas, compared to rural sites. Therefore, the risks posed by industrial or traffic pollution of locally grown food, was defined as one of five high-priority issues of urban agriculture requiring further investigation. The impact of air pollution on urban horticulture is the subject of this study. More particular, this study focuses on the atmospheric deposition of trace metals on leaf vegetables cultivated in the city of Ghent, Belgium. Ghent is a particularly interesting study site as it actively promotes urban agriculture. Plants accumulate heavy metals by absorption from contaminated soils and through deposition on parts exposed to polluted air. Accumulation of trace metals in vegetation grown near roads has been shown to be significantly higher than those grown in rural areas due to traffic-related contaminants in the air. Studies of vegetables demonstrated, that the uptake and accumulation of trace metals differed among crop type, species, and among plant parts. Studies on vegetables and fruit trees in Berlin, Germany, revealed significant differences in trace metal concentrations depending on local traffic, crop species, planting style and parameters related to barriers between sampling site and neighboring roads. This study aims to supplement this scarce research on heavy metal accumulation in urban horticulture. Samples from leaf vegetables were collected from different sites, including allotment gardens, in Ghent. Trace metal contents on these leaf vegetables were analyzed by ICP-MS (inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry). In addition, precipitation on each sampling site was collected by NILU-type bulk collectors and similarly analyzed for trace metals. On one sampling site, different parameters which might influence trace metal content in leaf vegetables were analyzed in detail. These parameters are distance of planting site to the nearest road, barriers between planting site and nearest road, and type of leaf vegetable. For comparison, a rural site, located farther from city traffic and industrial pollution, was included in this study. Preliminary results show that there is a high correlation between trace metal content in the atmospheric deposition and trace metal content in leaf vegetables. Moreover, a significant higher Pb, Cu and Fe concentration was found on spinach collected from Ghent, compared to spinach collected from a rural site. The distance of planting site to the nearest road significantly affected the accumulation of Pb, Cu, Mo and Fe on spinach. Concentrations of those elements on spinach increased with decreasing distance between planting site and the nearest road. Preliminary results did not show a significant effect of barriers between planting site and the nearest road on accumulation of trace metals on leaf vegetables. The overall goal of this study is to complete and refine existing guidelines for urban gardening to exclude potential health risks from food contamination. Accordingly, this information can help city governments and civil society in the professionalization and sustainable development of urban agriculture.

Keywords: atmospheric deposition, leaf vegetables, trace metals, traffic pollution, urban agriculture

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Authors: William Kerua

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The PNG University of Technology (Unitech) has mandatory access to teaching, research and extension education. Given such function, the Agriculture Department has established the ‘South Pacific Institute of Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development (SPISARD)’ in 2004. SPISARD is established as a vehicle to improve farming systems practiced in selected villages by undertaking pluralistic extension method through ‘Educational Institutional Approach’. Unlike other models, SPISARD’s educational institutional approach stresses on improving the whole farming systems practiced in a holistic manner and has a two-fold focus. The first is to understand the farming communities and improve the productivity of the farming systems in a sustainable way to increase income, improve nutrition and food security as well as livelihood enhancement trainings. The second is to enrich the Department’s curriculum through teaching, research, extension and getting inputs from farming community. SPISARD has established number of model villages in various provinces in Papua New Guinea (PNG) and with many positive outcome and success stories. Adaption of ‘educational institutional approach’ thus binds research, extension and training into one package with the use of students and academic staff through model village establishment in delivering development and extension to communities. This centre (SPISARD) coordinates the activities of the model village programs and linkages. The key to the development of the farming systems is establishing and coordinating linkages, collaboration, and developing partnerships both within and external institutions, organizations and agencies. SPISARD has a six-point step strategy for the development of sustainable agriculture and rural development. These steps are (i) establish contact and identify model villages, (ii) development of model village resource centres for research and trainings, (iii) conduct baseline surveys to identify problems/needs of model villages, (iv) development of solution strategies, (v) implementation and (vi) evaluation of impact of solution programs. SPISARD envisages that the farming systems practiced being improved if the villages can be made the centre of SPISARD activities. Therefore, SPISARD has developed a model village approach to channel rural development. The model village when established become the conduit points where teaching, training, research, and technology transfer takes place. This approach is again different and unique to the existing ones, in that, the development process take place in the farmers’ environment with immediate ‘real time’ feedback mechanisms based on the farmers’ perspective and satisfaction. So far, we have developed 14 model villages and have conducted 75 trainings in 21 different areas/topics in 8 provinces to a total of 2,832 participants of both sex. The aim of these trainings is to directly participate with farmers in the pursuit to improving their farming systems to increase productivity, income and to secure food security and nutrition, thus to improve their livelihood.

Keywords: development, educational institutional approach, livelihood improvement, sustainable agriculture

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Authors: Jubril Olatunbosun Akinde

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Unplanned population growth are mostly attributed to a lack of infrastructural facilities and poor economic condition in the rural dwellings and the incidence of rural-urban migration, which has resulted in severe housing deficiency in the urban centre, with a resultant pressure on housing delivery in the cities. Affordable housing does not only encompass environmental factors that make living acceptable and comfortable, which include good access routes, ventilation, sanitation and access to other basic human needs, which include water and safety. The research assessed the housing affordability and safety measures in the varied residential area of lagos by examining the demographic and socioeconomic attributes of residents; examining the existing residential safety measures; by examining the residential quality in terms of safety; the researcher therefore examined if relationship between housing affordability and safety in the varied residential areas. The research adopted the bartlett, kotrlik and higgins (2001) method of t-test to determine the sample size which specifies different populations at different levels of significance (α). The researcher adopted primary data which was sourced from a field survey where the sample population was simply randomly selected to give a member of the population an equal chance of being selected, therefore, the sample size for the field survey was two hundred (200) respondents, and subjected to necessary testing. The research come to conclusion that housing safety and security is the responsibility of every resident, the landlords/landladies possess a better sense of security in their neighbourhood than renters in the community, therefore they need to be aware of their responsibility of ensuring the safety of lives and property.

Keywords: housing, housing affordability, housing security, residential, residential quality

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Authors: Hong Beom Hur

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Politics in America is polarized. The best illustration of this is the 2016 presidential election result map. States with megacities like California, New York, Illinois, Virginia, and others are marked blue to signify the color of the Democratic party. States located in inland and south like Texas, Florida, Tennesse, Kansas and others are marked red to signify the color of the Republican party. Such a stark difference between two colors, red and blue, combined with geolocations of each state with their borderline remarks one central message; America is divided into two colors between urban Democrats and rural Republicans. This paper seeks to defy the visualization by pointing out its limitations and search for alternative ways to visualize the 2016 election result. One such limitation is that geolocations of each state and state borderlines limit the visualization of population density. As a result, the election result map does not convey the fact that Clinton won the popular vote and only accentuates the voting patterns of urban and rural states. The paper seeks whether an alternative narrative can be observed by factoring in the population number into the size of each state and manipulating the state borderline according to the normalization. Yet another alternative narrative may be reached by factoring the size of each state by the number of the electoral college of each state by voting and visualize the number. Other alternatives will be discussed but are not implemented in visualization. Such methods include dividing the land of America into about 120 million cubes each representing a voter or by the number of whole population 300 million cubes. By exploring these alternative methods to visualize the politics of the 2016 election map, the public may be able to question whether it is possible to be free from the narrative of the divide-conquer when interpreting the election map and to look at both parties as a story of the United States of America.

Keywords: 2016 U.S. presidential election, data visualization, population scale, geo-political

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Authors: Maria Evnevich

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In modern conditions, in most markets, price competition is becoming less effective. On the one hand, there is a gradual decrease in the level of marginality in main traditional sectors of the economy, so further price reduction becomes too ‘expensive’ for the company. On the other hand, the effect of price reduction is leveled, and the reason for this phenomenon is likely to be informational. As a result, it turns out that even if the company reduces prices, making its products more accessible to the buyer, there is a high probability that this will not lead to increase in sales unless additional large-scale advertising and information campaigns are conducted. Similarly, a large-scale information and advertising campaign have a much greater effect itself than price reductions. At the same time, the cost of mass informing is growing every year, especially when using the main information channels. The article presents generalization, systematization and development of theoretical approaches and best practices in the field of customer focus approach to business management and in the field of relationship marketing in the modern digital economy. The research methodology is based on the synthesis and content-analysis of sociological and marketing research and on the study of the systems of working with consumer appeals and loyalty programs in the 50 largest client-oriented companies in Russia. Also, the analysis of internal documentation on customers’ purchases in one of the largest retail companies in Russia allowed to identify if buyers prefer to buy goods for complex purchases in one retail store with the best price image for them. The cost of attracting a new client is now quite high and continues to grow, so it becomes more important to keep him and increase the involvement through marketing tools. A huge role is played by modern digital technologies used both in advertising (e-mailing, SEO, contextual advertising, banner advertising, SMM, etc.) and in service. To implement the above-described client-oriented omnichannel service, it is necessary to identify the client and work with personal data provided when filling in the loyalty program application form. The analysis of loyalty programs of 50 companies identified the following types of cards: discount cards, bonus cards, mixed cards, coalition loyalty cards, bank loyalty programs, aviation loyalty programs, hybrid loyalty cards, situational loyalty cards. The use of loyalty cards allows not only to stimulate the customer to purchase ‘untargeted’, but also to provide individualized offers, as well as to produce more targeted information. The development of digital technologies and modern means of communication has significantly changed not only the sphere of marketing and promotion, but also the economic landscape as a whole. Factors of competitiveness are the digital opportunities of companies in the field of customer orientation: personalization of service, customization of advertising offers, optimization of marketing activity and improvement of logistics.

Keywords: customer focus, digital economy, loyalty program, relationship marketing

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Authors: Bhaskar Chakravorti, Christopher Tunnard, Ravi Shankar Chaturvedi

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This report introduces the Digital Evolution Index (DEI) as a way to gauge the transformation of economies in the advanced and developing world from traditional brick-and-mortar to digitally enabled. The DEI measures the digital trajectories of 50 countries to provide actionable, data-informed insights for businesses, investors and policymakers. Created by The Fletcher School, in collaboration with MasterCard Worldwide and DataCash, the DEI analyzes the key underlying drivers and barriers that govern a country’s evolution into a digital economy: Demand, Supply, Institutional Environment and Innovation. A longitudinal analysis of these four drivers during the years 2008 to 2013 reveals both the current state of a country’s digital economy, as well as changes over time. Combining these two measures allows us to assign each country to one of four Trajectory Zones: • Stand Out countries have shown high levels of digital development in the past and continue to remain on an upward trajectory. • Stall Out countries have achieved a high level of evolution in the past but are losing momentum and risk falling behind. • Break Out countries have the potential to develop strong digital economies. Though their overall score is still low, they are moving upward and are poised to become Stand Out countries in the future. • Watch Out countries face significant opportunities and challenges, with low scores on both current level and upward motion of their DEI. Some may be able to overcome limitations with clever innovations and stopgap measures, while others seem to be stuck.

Keywords: e-commerce, digital evolution, digital commerce ecosystems, e-consumer

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Authors: Urvi Shah, Anmol Jain

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The talks of a New Global Order have been doing rounds since the advent of 21st century. Similar change in global scenario was witnessed when the Bretton Woods System came up post the World War II. The changing world order has been analyzed by using the Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) and Nominal Gross Domestic Product (GDP) estimates. The PPP and Nominal GDP methods show the purchasing power and financial background of the countries respectively, which helps in knowing both real and nominal financial strength of the country. Today, the rising powers of BRICS are posing new challenges to the world order shaped by the West. BRICS, i.e. Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, countries have at various instances represented the interests of developing countries at world forums. The pooled population of these nations accounts for 41.6% of the total world population which gives a very resilient idea of the workforce or human resources which is mobilized by them. They have a combined GDP (PPP) of around 30.57% of the total world GDP (PPP). The paper tries to analyze the prospects and impact of the New Development Bank (NDB) formerly known as the BRICS Bank, on world economy, which has the potential to act as a rival to West dominated IMF and World Bank. The paper studies the paradigm shift in the global order, impact of the NDB on third world nations and the developed nations. The study concluded that the relative positions of BRICS countries in the world economy are changing, irrespective of the measurement methodology being US$ or the PPP model.

Keywords: BRICS, New Development Bank, Nominal GDP, purchasing power parity

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Authors: Shantam Gupta

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The objective of this study is to address the critical need for automation in the domestic food processing sector and study its impact. Food is the one of the most basic physiological needs essential for the survival of a living being. Some of them have the capacity to prepare their own food (like most plants) and henceforth are designated as primary food producers; those who depend on these primary food producers for food form the primary consumers’ class (herbivores). Some of the organisms relying on the primary food are the secondary food consumers (carnivores). There is a third class of consumers called tertiary food consumers/apex food consumers that feed on both the primary and secondary food consumers. Humans form an essential part of the apex predators and are generally at the top of the food chain. But still further disintegration of the food habits of the modern human i.e. Homo sapiens, reveals that humans depend on other individuals for preparing their own food. The old notion of eating raw/brute food is long gone and food processing has become very trenchant in lives of modern human. This has led to an increase in dependence on other individuals for ‘processing’ the food before it can be actually consumed by the modern human. This has led to a further shift of humans in the classification of food chain of consumers. The effects of the shifts shall be systematically investigated in this paper. The processing of food has a direct impact on the economy of the individual (consumer). Also most individuals depend on other processing individuals for the preparation of food. This dependency leads to establishment of a vital link of dependency in the food web which when altered can adversely affect the food web and can have dire consequences on the health of the individual. This study investigates the challenges arising out due to this dependency and the impact of food processing on the economy of the individual. A comparison of Industrial food processing and processing at domestic platforms (households and restaurants) has been made to provide an idea about the present scenario of automation in the food processing sector. A lot of time and energy is also consumed while processing food at home for consumption. The high frequency of consumption of meals (greater than 2 times a day) makes it even more laborious. Through the medium of this study a pressing need for development of an automatic cooking machine is proposed with a mission to reduce the inter-dependency & human effort of individuals required for the preparation of food (by automation of the food preparation process) and make them more self-reliant The impact of development of this product has also further been profoundly discussed. Assumption used: The individuals those who process food also consume the food that they produce. (They are also termed as ‘independent’ or ‘self-reliant’ modern human beings.)

Keywords: automation, food processing, impact on economy, processing individual

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Authors: Usama Bin Zubair, Syed Azhar Ali

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Introduction: Depression is emerging as a major public health problem in all parts of the world. Developing countries have a unique socioeconomic structure that affects the lives of its inhabitants in several ways. Going abroad for employment is one of the common social problems which have been faced by young males in developing countries. This included both highly qualified individuals as well as the labor class. Objective: To determine the difference in the presence of depressive symptoms among pregnant women with husbands living abroad and those with husbands living with them in Azad Jammu and Kashmir. Methods: The sample population comprised of pregnant women reporting for an antenatal checkup at Amna hospital Rawalakot. Cases constituted the pregnant women with husbands living abroad while controls were the pregnant women with husbands living with them. Patient health questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) was used to record the presence and severity of depressive symptoms. Age, gestation, parity, rural or urban origin, education, level of family income, daily contact hours on the telephone or what’s app, previous pregnancy loss or complications, number of years abroad and visits to home per year were associated with the presence of depressive symptoms. Findings: The mean age of the study participants was 29.73 ±5.395 years. Sixty-six had significant depression in the case group, while 14 had in the control group (p-value<0.001). Education and rural background had a significant difference between the case and the control group. Less number of visits per year of the husband was strongly linked with the presence of depressive symptoms among the cases. Conclusion: Pregnant women with husbands abroad were found more prone to develop depressive symptoms as compared to those with husbands living with them. Special attention should be paid to the women whose husband had a lesser number of visits to the country.

Keywords: depression, pregnancy, lack of support, war zone

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Authors: Mayuresh Thombre, Prajyot Borkar, Mangirish Bhobe

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New advancement of technology and never satisfying demands of the civilization are putting huge pressure on the natural fuel resources and these resources are at a constant threat to its sustainability. To get the best out of the automobile, the optimum balance between performance and fuel economy is important. In the present state of art, either of the above two aspects are taken into mind while designing and development process which puts the other in the loss as increase in fuel economy leads to decrement in performance and vice-versa. In-depth observation of the vehicle dynamics apparently shows that large amount of energy is lost during braking and likewise large amount of fuel is consumed to reclaim the initial state, this leads to lower fuel efficiency to gain the same performance. Current use of Kinetic Energy Recovery System is only limited to sports vehicles only because of the higher cost of this system. They are also temporary in nature as power can be squeezed only during a small time duration and use of superior parts leads to high cost, which results on concentration on performance only and neglecting the fuel economy. In this paper Kinetic Energy Recovery System for storing the power and then using the same while accelerating has been discussed. The major storing element in this system is a Flat Spiral Spring that will store energy by compression and torsion. The use of spring ensure the permanent storage of energy until used by the driver unlike present mechanical regeneration system in which the energy stored decreases with time and is eventually lost. A combination of internal gears and spur gears will be used in order to make the energy release uniform which will lead to safe usage. The system can be used to improve the fuel efficiency by assisting in overcoming the vehicle’s inertia after braking or to provide instant acceleration whenever required by the driver. The performance characteristics of the system including response time, mechanical efficiency and overall increase in efficiency are demonstrated. This technology makes the KERS (Kinetic Energy Recovery System) more flexible and economical allowing specific application while at the same time increasing the time frame and ease of usage.

Keywords: electric control unit, energy, mechanical KERS, planetary gear system, power, smart braking, spiral spring

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Authors: Ossai Paulinus Edwin

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Cash Management is a broad area having to do with the collection, concentration and disbursement of cash including measuring the level of liquidity and managing the cash balance and Short-Term Investments. Cash Management involves the efficient collection and disbursement of cash and cash equivalents. It also includes management of marketable securities because, in modern Terminology, money comprises marketable securities and actual cash in hand or in a bank. This cash management is concerned with management of cash inflow and cash outflow of a business especially as it concerns a developing nation like Nigeria. The paper throws light on the impact of cashless policy in Nigeria as it was introduced by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in December 2011 and was kick started in Lagos in January 2012. Survey research was adopted with the questionnaires as data collection instrument. Responses show that cashless policy if adopted generally shall increase employment opportunities, reduce cash related robbery thereby reducing risk of carrying cash; it shall also reduce cash related corruption and attract more foreign investors to the country. It is expected that the introduction of cashless policy in Nigeria is a step in the right direction as it shall bring about modernization of Nigeria payment system, reduction in the cost of banking services, reduction in high security and safety risk and also curb banking related corruptions.

Keywords: cashless economy, cash management, cashless policy, e-banking, Nigeria

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Authors: N. E Okoligwe, Okezie A. Ihugba

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Few scholars disagrees that electricity consumption is an important supporting factor for economy growth. However, the relationship between electricity consumption and economy growth has different manifestation in different countries according to previous studies. This paper examines the causal relationship between electricity consumption and economic growth for Nigeria. In an attempt to do this, the paper tests the validity of the modernization or depending hypothesis by employing various econometric tools such as Augmented Dickey Fuller (ADF) and Johansen Co-integration test, the Error Correction Mechanism (ECM) and Granger Causality test on time series data from 1971-2012. The Granger causality is found not to run from electricity consumption to real GDP and from GDP to electricity consumption during the year of study. The null hypothesis is accepted at the 5 per cent level of significance where the probability value (0.2251 and 0.8251) is greater than five per cent level of significance because both of them are probably determined by some other factors like; increase in urban population, unemployment rate and the number of Nigerians that benefit from the increase in GDP and increase in electricity demand is not determined by the increase in GDP (income) over the period of study because electricity demand has always been greater than consumption. Consequently; the policy makers in Nigeria should place priority in early stages of reconstruction on building capacity additions and infrastructure development of the electric power sector as this would force the sustainable economic growth in Nigeria.

Keywords: economic growth, electricity consumption, error correction mechanism, granger causality test

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Authors: Dolores Sucozhañay, Gustavo Pacheco, Paul Vanegas

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In the context of sustainable development and the transition towards a sustainable circular economy (CE), evaluating the social dimension remains a challenge. Therefore, developing a respective methodology is highly important. First, the change of the economic model may cause significant social effects, which today remain unaddressed. Second, following the current level of globalization, CE implementation requires targeting global material cycles and causes social impacts on potentially vulnerable social groups. A promising methodology is the Social Life Cycle Assessment (SLCA), which embraces the philosophy of life cycle thinking and provides complementary information to environmental and economic assessments. In this context, the present work uses the updated Social Life Cycle Assessment (SLCA) Guidelines 2020 to assess the social performance of the recycling system of Cuenca, Ecuador, to exemplify a social assessment method. Like many other developing countries, Ecuador heavily depends on the work of informal waste pickers (recyclers), who, even contributing to a CE, face harsh socio-economic circumstances, including inappropriate working conditions, social exclusion, exploitation, etc. Under a Reference Scale approach (Type 1), 12 impact subcategories were assessed through 73 site-specific inventory indicators, using an ascending reference scale ranging from -2 to +2. Findings reveal a social performance below compliance levels with local and international laws, basic societal expectations, and practices in the recycling sector; only eight and five indicators present a positive score. In addition, a social hotspot analysis depicts collection as the most time-consuming lifecycle stage and the one with the most hotspots, mainly related to working hours and health and safety aspects. This study provides an integrated view of the recyclers’ contributions, challenges, and opportunities within the recycling system while highlighting the relevance of assessing the social dimension of CE practices. It also fosters an understanding of the social impact of CE operations in developing countries, highlights the need for a close north-south relationship in CE, and enables the connection among the environmental, economic, and social dimensions.

Keywords: SLCA, circular economy, recycling, social impact assessment

Procedia PDF Downloads 142