Search results for: early childhood and care education

Authors: Magdalena Suárez-Ortega, M. Fe. Sánchez-García

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This paper focuses on the analysis of the motivations that lead people to undertake and consolidate their business. It is addressed from the framework of planned behavior theory, which recognizes the importance of the social environment and cultural values, both in the decision to undertake business and in business consolidation. Similarly, it is also based on theories of career development, which emphasize the importance of career management competencies and their connections to other vital aspects of people, including their roles within their families and other personal activities. This connects directly with the impact of entrepreneurship on the career and the professional-personal project of each individual. This study is part of the project titled Career Design and Talent Management (Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness of Spain, State Plan 2013-2016 Excellence Ref. EDU2013-45704-P). The aim of the study is to identify and describe entrepreneurial competencies and motivational profiles in a sample of 248 Spanish entrepreneurs, considering the consolidated profile and the profile in transition (n = 248).In order to obtain the information, the Questionnaire of Motivation and conditioners of the entrepreneurial career (MCEC) has been applied. This consists of 67 items and includes four scales (E1-Conflicts in conciliation, E2-Satisfaction in the career path, E3-Motivations to undertake, E4-Guidance Needs). Cluster analysis (mixed method, combining k-means clustering with a hierarchical method) was carried out, characterizing the groups profiles according to the categorical variables (chi square, p = 0.05), and the quantitative variables (ANOVA). The results have allowed us to characterize three motivational profiles relevant to the motivation, the degree of conciliation between personal and professional life, and the degree of conflict in conciliation, levels of career satisfaction and orientation needs (in the entrepreneurial project and life-career). The first profile is formed by extrinsically motivated entrepreneurs, professionally satisfied and without conflict of vital roles. The second profile acts with intrinsic motivation and also associated with family models, and although it shows satisfaction with their professional career, it finds a high conflict in their family and professional life. The third is composed of entrepreneurs with high extrinsic motivation, professional dissatisfaction and at the same time, feel the conflict in their professional life by the effect of personal roles. Ultimately, the analysis has allowed us to line the kinds of entrepreneurs to different levels of motivation, satisfaction, needs and articulation in professional and personal life, showing characterizations associated with the use of time for leisure, and the care of the family. Associations related to gender, age, activity sector, environment (rural, urban, virtual), and the use of time for domestic tasks are not identified. The model obtained and its implications for the design of training actions and orientation to entrepreneurs is also discussed.

Keywords: motivation, entrepreneurial career, guidance needs, life-work balance, job satisfaction, assessment

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Authors: Shittu Bisi Agnes

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Studies on households’ willingness to pay for environmental and general health safety in the advent of Ebola virus Diseases in Nigeria was carried out. This is aimed at revealing the means by which the virus was eventually eradicated in Nigeria as widely claimed in the media. This study therefore attempted to determine the environmental and general health condition in the State Of Osun, how socio-economic characteristics of the people affected willingness to pay. And also provide platform for the reduction of environmental and general health problems. Data were collected with the aid of well-structured questionnaire and administer 150 randomly selected people of study area, and oral interview was also utilized. Data collected were analyzed using both descriptive tools and inferential statistics vis-a-viz regression analysis. Findings showed 92.5% of respondents was aware of ebola virus diseases outbreak in Nigeria, 8.5% was unaware of any disease outbreak. And 65.7% of respondents was strongly willing to pay for environmental and general health safety 27.1% was fairly willing, 5.7% was indifferent and 1.7% was unwilling to pay. 5% rated the level of environmental and general health condition in the area has been good, 53.6% rated theirs has been fair, 33.6% as been poor. The average willingness to pay per household per month were #500.00, #250.00, #150.00 and #100.00 respectively for the four categories. It was recommended that policy instruments to increase peoples' income will accelerate eradication of environmental and general health problems, environmental health education in form of talk shop, workshop, lectures and seminars could be organized at the political ward levels, churches, mosque, and at schools. Environmental and general health safety related information could be disseminated through mass media, market women, and functional unions.

Keywords: ebola virus diseases (EVD), socio-economic, safety, pay, Osun

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Authors: Arnesh Vijay

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Ever since its early introduction in the late 1980s, the mobile industry has been rapidly evolving with each passing year. The development witnessed is not just in its ability to support diverse applications, but also its extension into diverse technological means to access and offer various services to users. Amongst the various technologies present, radio systems have clearly emerged as a strong contender, due to its fine attributes of accessibility, reachability, interactiveness, and cost efficiency. These advancements have no doubt guaranteed unprecedented ease, utility and sophistication to the cell phone users, but caused uncertainty due to the interdependence of various systems, making it extremely complicated to exactly map concepts on to 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project) standards. Although the close interrelation and interdependence of intellectual property rights and mobile standard specifications have been widely acknowledged by the technical and legal community; there, however, is a requirement for clear distinction between the scope and future-proof of inventions to influence standards and its market place adoptability. For this, collaborative work is required between intellectual property professionals, researchers, standardization specialists and country specific legal experts. With the evolution into next generation mobile technology, i.e., to 5G systems, there is a need for further work to be done in this field, which has been felt now more than ever before. Based on these lines, this poster will briefly describe the importance of intellectual property rights in the European market. More specifically, will analyse the role played by intellectual property in various standardization institutes, such as 3GPP (3rd generation partnership project) and ITU (International Telecommunications Union). The main intention: to ensure the scope and purpose is well defined, and concerned parties on all four sides are well informed on the clear significance of good proposals which not only bring economic revenue to the company but those that are capable of improving the technology and offer better services to mankind. The poster will comprise different sections. The first segment begins with a background on the rapidly evolving mobile technology, with a brief insight on the industrial impact of standards and its relation to intellectual property rights. Next, section two will succinctly outline the interplay between patents and standards; explicitly discussing the ever changing and rapidly evolving relationship between the two sectors. Then the remaining sections will examine ITU and its role played in international standards development, touching upon the various standardization process and the common patent policies and related guidelines. Finally, it proposes ways to improve the collaboration amongst various sectors for a more evolved and sophisticated next generation mobile telecommunication system. The sole purpose here is to discuss methods to reduce the gap and enhance the exchange of information between the two sectors to offer advanced technologies and services to mankind.

Keywords: mobile technology, mobile standards, intellectual property rights, 3GPP

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Authors: Shian-Ling Keng, Onn Siong Yim, Poh San Lai, Soo Chong Chew, Anne Chong, Richard Ebstein

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Research has demonstrated a positive association between mindfulness meditation and physical health. Little work, however, has examined the association between trait mindfulness and leukocyte telomere length (LTL), an emerging marker of cellular aging. The present study aimed to examine whether facets of trait mindfulness are correlated with longer LTL in a Singaporean Han Chinese sample and whether these facets may mediate the association between psychological symptoms and LTL. 158 adults (mean age = 27.24 years) completed measures assessing trait mindfulness and psychological symptoms (i.e., depression and stress) and provided blood samples for analyses of LTL using qPCR. Multiple regression analyses were conducted to assess the association between facets of trait mindfulness and LTL. Bootstrapping-based mediational analyses were run to examine the role of trait mindfulness as a mediator of the association between psychological symptoms and LTL. Of five facets of trait mindfulness (describe, act with awareness, observe, nonreactivity, and nonjudging), nonreactivity was significantly associated with LTL, after controlling for the effects of age, gender, and education, β = .21, p = .006. Further, there was a trend for overall trait mindfulness, β = .15, p = .06, and nonjudging, β = .13, p = .095, to each predict longer LTL. Nonreactivity significantly mediated the association between depression and LTL, BCa 95% CI [-.004, -.0004], p=.03, as well as the association between stress and LTL, BCa 95% CI [-.004, -.0004], p=.04. The results provide preliminary evidence for a positive association between selected facets of trait mindfulness and slower cellular aging, indexed by LTL. The findings suggest that individuals who are high on equanimity may experience slower aging at the cellular level, presumably through engaging in more effective coping mechanisms and modulation of stress. The findings also highlight the role of nonreactivity as a potential mechanism that underlies the association between LTL and psychological symptoms.

Keywords: depression, mindfulness, stress, telomere length

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Authors: Caterina Muzzi, Sergio Albertini, Davide Giacomini

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The research is aimed to investigate the role of young entrepreneurs’ personality traits and their contextual background on the success of entrepreneurial initiatives. In the literature, the debate is still open about the main drivers in predicting entrepreneurial success. Classical theories are focused on looking at specific personality traits that could lead to successful start-ups initiatives, while emerging approaches are more interested in young entrepreneurs’ contextual background (such as the family of origin, the previous experience and their professional network). An online survey was submitted to the participants of an entrepreneurial training initiative organised by the Italian Young Entrepreneurs Association (Confindustria) in Brescia headquarter (AIB). At the time the authors started data collection for this research, the third edition of the initiative was just concluded and involved a total amount of 37 young future entrepreneurs. In the literature General self-efficacy (GSE) and, more specifically, entrepreneurial self-efficacy (ESE) have often been associated to positive performances, as they allow future entrepreneurs to effectively cope with entrepreneurial activities, both at an early stage and in new venture management. In a counter-intuitive manner, optimism is not always associated with entrepreneurial positive results. Too optimistic people risk taking hazardous risks and some authors suggest that moderately optimistic entrepreneurs achieve more positive results than over-optimistic ones. Indeed highly optimistic individuals often hold unrealistic expectations, discount negative information, and mentally reconstruct experiences so as to avoid contradictions The importance of context has been increasingly considered in entrepreneurship literature and its role strongly emerges starting from the earliest entrepreneurial stage and it is crucial to transform the “intention of entrepreneurship” into the actual start-up. Furthermore, coherently with the “network approach to entrepreneurship”, context embeddedness allow future entrepreneurs to leverage relationships built through previous experiences and/or thanks to the fact of belonging to families of entrepreneurs. For the purpose of this research, entrepreneurial success was measured by the fact of having or not founded a new venture after the training initiative. In this research, the authors measured GSE, ESE and optimism using already tested items that showed to be reliable also in this case. They collected 36 completed questionnaires. The t-test for independent samples run to measure significant differences in means between those that already funded the new venture and those that did not. No significant differences emerged with respect to all the tested personality traits, but a logistic regression analysis, run with contextual variables as independent ones, showed that personal and professional networking, made both before and during the master, is the most relevant variable in determining new venture success. These findings shed more light on the process of new venture foundation and could encourage national and local policy makers to invest on networking as one of the main drivers that could support the creation of new ventures.

Keywords: entrepreneurship, networking, new ventures, personality traits

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Authors: Chien-Ho Lin, Ho-Ching Yang, Barbara Knowlton, Shin-Leh Huang, Ming-Chang Chiang

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Practicing motor tasks arranged in an interleaved order (interleaved practice, or IP) generally leads to better learning than practicing tasks in a repetitive order (repetitive practice, or RP), an example of how desirable difficulty during practice benefits learning. Greater difficulty during practice, e.g. IP, is associated with greater brain activity measured by higher blood-oxygen-level dependent (BOLD) signal in functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in the sensorimotor areas of the brain. In this study resting-state fMRI was applied to investigate whether increase in resting-state brain connectivity immediately after practice predicts the benefit of desirable difficulty to motor learning. 26 healthy adults (11M/15F, age = 23.3±1.3 years) practiced two sets of three sequences arranged in a repetitive or an interleaved order over 2 days, followed by a retention test on Day 5 to evaluate learning. On each practice day, fMRI data were acquired in a resting state after practice. The resting-state fMRI data was decomposed using a group-level spatial independent component analysis (ICA), yielding 9 independent components (IC) matched to the precuneus network, primary visual networks (two ICs, denoted by I and II respectively), sensorimotor networks (two ICs, denoted by I and II respectively), the right and the left frontoparietal networks, occipito-temporal network, and the frontal network. A weighted resting-state functional connectivity (wRSFC) was then defined to incorporate information from within- and between-network brain connectivity. The within-network functional connectivity between a voxel and an IC was gauged by a z-score derived from the Fisher transformation of the IC map. The between-network connectivity was derived from the cross-correlation of time courses across all possible pairs of ICs, leading to a symmetric nc x nc matrix of cross-correlation coefficients, denoted by C = (pᵢⱼ). Here pᵢⱼ is the extremum of cross-correlation between ICs i and j; nc = 9 is the number of ICs. This component-wise cross-correlation matrix C was then projected to the voxel space, with the weights for each voxel set to the z-score that represents the above within-network functional connectivity. The wRSFC map incorporates the global characteristics of brain networks measured by the between-network connectivity, and the spatial information contained in the IC maps measured by the within-network connectivity. Pearson correlation analysis revealed that greater IP-minus-RP difference in wRSFC was positively correlated with the RP-minus-IP difference in the response time on Day 5, particularly in brain regions crucial for motor learning, such as the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), and the right premotor and supplementary motor cortices. This indicates that enhanced resting brain connectivity during the early phase of memory consolidation is associated with enhanced learning following interleaved practice, and as such wRSFC could be applied as a biomarker that measures the beneficial effects of desirable difficulty on motor sequence learning.

Keywords: desirable difficulty, functional magnetic resonance imaging, independent component analysis, resting-state networks

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Authors: Fatih Eren

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This research aims to find an answer to the question of which knowledge and skills do the Turkish urban planners need in their business practice. Understanding change in cities, making a prediction, making an urban decision and putting it into practice, working together with actors from different organizations from various academic disciplines, persuading people to accept something and developing good personal and professional relationships have become very complex and difficult in today’s world. The truth is that urban planners work in many institutions under various positions which are not similar to each other by field of activity and all planners are forced to develop some knowledge and skills for success in their business in Turkey. This study targets to explore what urban planners do in the global information age. The study is the product of a comprehensive nation-wide research. In-depth interviews were conducted with 174 experienced urban planners, who work in different public institutions and private companies under varied positions in the Turkish Planning System, to find out knowledge and skills needed by next-generation urban planners. The main characteristics of next-generation urban planners are defined; skills that planners needed today are explored in this paper. Findings show that the positivist (traditional) planning approach has given place to anti-positivist planning approaches in the Turkish Planning System so next-generation urban planners who seek success and want to carve out a niche for themselves in business life have to equip themselves with innovative skills. The result section also includes useful and instructive findings for planners about what is the meaning of being an urban planner and what is the ideal content and context of planning education at universities in the global age.

Keywords: global information age, Turkish Planning System, the institutional approach, urban planners, roles, skills, values

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Authors: Al Muneef Maha, Al Tamimi Dana

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Introduction: Child maltreatment was proven to negatively impact children’s and adolescent’s academic performances; showing less academic achievements, problems completing homework assignments, and was marginally associated with being frequently absent from school (1). Objectives: To identify the impact of child maltreatment on school performance among adolescents in National Guard Schools. Materials and Methods: The study was conducted at National Guard schools in Riyadh. Students aged 12-19 years were invited to participate. Participants (N=674) completed the survey instrument which included demographics, exposure to different types of abuse, and overall level of academic performance. Results: Participants’ mean age was 15.6±1.6 years and males (53%). Ninety-five percent lived with both parents, 2% with single parent, and 3% with step parents. Four percent lived with alcoholic parents or guardians, and 7% have lived with a family member who has been arrested or imprisoned. Poor performance (failure in exam) were more likely among the students who lived with alcoholics vs. non-alcoholics (33% vs. 11%, p<0.01), imprisoned family member vs. non-imprisoned (26% vs. 11%, p<0.01), psychologically abused vs. not abused (21% vs. 10%, p<0.01), physically abused vs. not abused (19% vs. 9%, p<0.01). Predisposing factors to poor performance in school included living with alcoholic parents or guardians (OR=2.8, CI=1.1-6.7), psychologically abused (OR=1.7, CI=1.0-3.0), and physically abused (OR=1.7, CI=1.0-2.8). Conclusions: The results suggest that child maltreatment may adversely impact school performance. These findings highlight the importance of increasing the awareness about the impact of child maltreatment on school performance among families, schools, and the community. Recommend to the Ministry of Education to consider counseling of students with poor performance due to adverse child experiences or maltreatment.

Keywords: child abuse, child maltreatment, school performance, Saudi Arabia

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Authors: Ginevra Addis

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The possibility of reproducing physical artifacts in a digital format is one of the opportunities offered by the technological advancements in information and communication most frequently promoted by museums. Indeed, the study and conservation of our cultural heritage have seen significant advancement due to the three-dimensional acquisition and modeling technology. A variety of laser scanning systems has been developed, based either on optical triangulation or on time-of-flight measurement, capable of producing digital 3D images of complex structures with high resolution and accuracy. It is necessary, however, to explore the challenges and opportunities that this practice brings within museums. The purpose of this paper is to understand what change is introduced by digital techniques in those museums that are hosting digital masterpieces. The methodology used will investigate three distinguished Italian exhibitions, related to the territory of Milan, trying to analyze the following issues about museum practices: 1) how digitizing art masterpieces increases the number of visitors; 2) what the need that calls for the digitization of artworks; 3) which techniques are most used; 4) what the setting is; 5) the consequences of a non-publication of hard copies of catalogues; 6) envision of these practices in the future. Findings will show how interconnection plays an important role in rebuilding a collection spread all over the world. Secondly how digital artwork duplication and extension of reality entail new forms of accessibility. Thirdly, that collection and preservation through digitization of images have both a social and educational mission. Fourthly, that convergence of the properties of different media (such as web, radio) is key to encourage people to get actively involved in digital exhibitions. The present analysis will suggest further research that should create museum models and interaction spaces that act as catalysts for innovation.

Keywords: digital masterpieces, education, interconnection, Italian museums, preservation

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Authors: Kadri-Ann Kertsmik, Martin Talvik, Kimmo Lylykangas, Simo Ilomets, Targo Kalamees

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This study compares the building carbon footprint (CF) values for a case study of a private house located in a cold climate, using the Level(s) methodology. It provides a framework for measuring the environmental performance of buildings throughout their life cycle, taking into account various factors. The study presents the results of the three scenarios, comparing their carbon emissions and highlighting the benefits of circular material usage. The construction process was thoroughly documented, and all materials and components (including minuscule mechanical fasteners, each meter of cable, a kilogram of mortar, and the component of HVAC systems, among other things) delivered to the construction site were noted. Transportation distances of each delivery, the fuel consumption of construction machines, and electricity consumption for temporary heating and electrical tools were also monitored. Using the detailed data on material and energy resources, the CF was calculated for two scenarios: one where circular material usage was applied and another where virgin materials were used instead of reused ones. The results were compared with the CF calculated based on the building permit design model using the Level(s) methodology. To study the range of possible results in the early stage of CF assessment, the same building permit design was given to several experts. Results showed that embodied carbon values for a built scenario were significantly lower than the values predicted by the building permit stage as a result of more precise material quantities, as the calculation methodology is designed to overestimate the CF. Moreover, designers made an effort to reduce the building's CF by reusing certain materials such as ceramic tiles, lightweight concrete blocks, and timber during the construction process. However, in a cold climate context where operational energy (B6) continues to dominate, the total building CF value changes between the three scenarios were less significant. The calculation for the building permit project was performed by several experts, and CF results were in the same range. It alludes that, for the first estimation of preliminary building CF, using average values proves to be an appropriate method for the Estonian national carbon footprint estimation phase during building permit application. The study also identified several opportunities for reducing the carbon footprint of the building, such as reusing materials from other construction sites, preferring local material producers, and reducing wastage on site. The findings suggest that using circular materials can significantly reduce the carbon footprint of buildings. Overall, the study highlights the importance of using a comprehensive approach to measure the environmental performance of buildings, taking into account both the project and the actually built house. It also emphasises the need for ongoing monitoring for designing the building and construction site waste. The study also gives some examples of how to enable future circularity of building components and materials, e.g., building in layers, using wood as untreated, etc.

Keywords: carbon footprint, circular economy, sustainable construction, level(s) methodology

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Authors: Shaista Suhail

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As cancer populations is increasing sharply, the incidence of oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) has also been expected to increase. Oral carcinogenesis is a highly complex, multistep process which involves accumulation of genetic alterations that lead to the induction of proteins promoting cell growth (encoded by oncogenes), increased enzymatic (telomerase) activity promoting cancer cell proliferation. The global increase in frequency and mortality, as well as the poor prognosis of oral squamous cell carcinoma, has intensified current research efforts in the field of prevention and early detection of this disease. The advances in the understanding of the molecular basis of oral cancer should help in the identification of new markers. The study of the carcinogenic process of the oral cancer, including continued analysis of new genetic alterations, along with their temporal sequencing during initiation, promotion and progression, will allow us to identify new diagnostic and prognostic factors, which will provide a promising basis for the application of more rational and efficient treatments. Telomerase activity has been readily found in most cancer biopsies, in premalignant lesions or germ cells. Activity of telomerase is generally absent in normal tissues. It is known to be induced upon immortalization or malignant transformation of human cells such as in oral cancer cells. Maintenance of telomeres plays an essential role during transformation of precancer to malignant stage. Mammalian telomeres, a specialized nucleoprotein structures are composed of large conctamers of the guanine-rich sequence 5_-TTAGGG-3_. The roles of telomeres in regulating both stability of genome and replicative immortality seem to contribute in essential ways in cancer initiation and progression. It is concluded that activity of telomerase can be used as a biomarker for diagnosis of malignant oral cancer and a target for inactivation in chemotherapy or gene therapy. Its expression will also prove to be an important diagnostic tool as well as a novel target for cancer therapy. The activation of telomerase may be an important step in tumorgenesis which can be controlled by inactivating its activity during chemotherapy. The expression and activity of telomerase are indispensable for cancer development. There are no drugs which can effect extremely to treat oral cancers. There is a general call for new emerging drugs or methods that are highly effective towards cancer treatment, possess low toxicity, and have a minor environment impact. Some novel natural products also offer opportunities for innovation in drug discovery. Natural compounds isolated from medicinal plants, as rich sources of novel anticancer drugs, have been of increasing interest with some enzyme (telomerase) blockage property. The alarming reports of cancer cases increase the awareness amongst the clinicians and researchers pertaining to investigate newer drug with low toxicity.

Keywords: oral carcinoma, telomere, telomerase, blockage

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Authors: R. Lekaviciene, D. Antiniene

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Attempts to split the construct of emotional intelligence (EI) into separate components – ability to understand own and others’ emotions and ability to control own and others’ emotions may be meaningful more theoretically than practically. In real life, a personality encounters various emotional situations that require exhibition of complex EI to solve them. Emotional situation solution tests enable measurement of such undivided EI. The object of the present study is to determine sociodemographic and other factors that are important for emotional situation solutions. The study involved 1,430 participants from various regions of Lithuania. The age of participants varied from 17 years to 27 years. Emotional social and interpersonal situation scale EI-DARL-V2 was used. Each situation had two mandatory answering formats: The first format contained assignments associated with hypothetical theoretical knowledge of how the situation should be solved, while the second format included the question of how the participant would personally resolve the given situation in reality. A questionnaire that contained various sociodemographic data of subjects was also presented. Factors, statistically significant for emotional situation solution, have been determined: gender, family structure, the subject’s relation with his or her mother, mother’s occupation, subjectively assessed financial situation of the family, level of education of the subjects and his or her parents, academic achievement, etc. The best solvers of emotional situations are women with high academic achievements. According to their chosen study profile/acquired profession, they are related to the fields in social sciences and humanities. The worst solvers of emotional situations are men raised in foster homes. They are/were bad students and mostly choose blue-collar professions.

Keywords: emotional intelligence, emotional situations, solution of situation, young people

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Authors: Iris Vural Gursel, Andrea Ramirez

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Effective utilization of lignin is an important mean for developing economically profitable biorefineries. Current literature suggests that large amounts of lignin will become available in second generation biorefineries. New conversion technologies will, therefore, be needed to carry lignin transformation well beyond combustion to produce energy, but towards high-value products such as chemicals and transportation fuels. In recent years, significant progress on catalysis has been made to improve transformation of lignin, and new catalytic processes are emerging. In this work, a techno-economic assessment of two of these novel conversion routes and comparison with more established lignin pyrolysis route were made. The aim is to provide insights into the potential performance and potential hotspots in order to guide the experimental research and ease the commercialization by early identifying cost drivers, strengths, and challenges. The lignin conversion routes selected for detailed assessment were: (non-catalytic) lignin pyrolysis as the benchmark, direct hydrodeoxygenation (HDO) of lignin and hydrothermal lignin depolymerisation. Products generated were mixed oxygenated aromatic monomers (MOAMON), light organics, heavy organics, and char. For the technical assessment, a basis design followed by process modelling in Aspen was done using experimental yields. A design capacity of 200 kt/year lignin feed was chosen that is equivalent to a 1 Mt/y scale lignocellulosic biorefinery. The downstream equipment was modelled to achieve the separation of the product streams defined. For determining external utility requirement, heat integration was considered and when possible gasses were combusted to cover heating demand. The models made were used in generating necessary data on material and energy flows. Next, an economic assessment was carried out by estimating operating and capital costs. Return on investment (ROI) and payback period (PBP) were used as indicators. The results of the process modelling indicate that series of separation steps are required. The downstream processing was found especially demanding in the hydrothermal upgrading process due to the presence of significant amount of unconverted lignin (34%) and water. Also, external utility requirements were found to be high. Due to the complex separations, hydrothermal upgrading process showed the highest capital cost (50 M€ more than benchmark). Whereas operating costs were found the highest for the direct HDO process (20 M€/year more than benchmark) due to the use of hydrogen. Because of high yields to valuable heavy organics (32%) and MOAMON (24%), direct HDO process showed the highest ROI (12%) and the shortest PBP (5 years). This process is found feasible with a positive net present value. However, it is very sensitive to the prices used in the calculation. The assessments at this stage are associated with large uncertainties. Nevertheless, they are useful for comparing alternatives and identifying whether a certain process should be given further consideration. Among the three processes investigated here, the direct HDO process was seen to be the most promising.

Keywords: biorefinery, economic assessment, lignin conversion, process design

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Authors: Stacia E. H. Sitohang, S.Mn., Socrates Rudy Sirait

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The first movie theater in Indonesia was established in December 1900. The movie industry started with international movie penetration. After a while, local movie producers started to rise and created local Indonesian movies. The industry is growing through ups and downs in Indonesia. In 2008, Visinema was founded in Jakarta, Indonesia, by AnggaDwimasSasongko, one of the most respected movie director in Indonesia. After getting achievements and recognition, Visinema chose to grow the company horizontally as opposed to only grow vertically and gain another similar achievement. Visinemachose to build the ecosystem that enables them to obtain many more opportunities and generatebusiness sustainability. The company proceed as an agile company. They created several business subsidiaries to support the company’s Intellectual Property (IP) development. This research was done through interview with the key persons in the company and questionnaire to get market insights regarding Visinema. The is able to transform their IP that initially started from movies to different kinds of business model. Interestingly, Angga chose to use the start up approach to create Visinema. In 2019, the company successfully gained Series A funding from Intudo Ventures and got other various investment schemes to support the business. In early 2020, Covid-19 pandemic negatively impacted many industries in Indonesia, especially the entertainment and leisure businesses. Fortunately, Visinema did not face any significant problem regarding survival during the pandemic, there were nolay-offs nor work hour reductions. Instead, they were thinking of much bigger opportunities and problems. While other companies suffer during the pandemic, Visinema created the first focused Transactional Video On Demand (TVOD) in Indonesia named Bioskop Online. The platform was created to keep the company innovating and adapting with the new online market as the result of the Covid-19 pandemic. Other than a digital platform, Visinemainvested heavily in animation to target kids and family business. They believed that penetrating the technology and animation market is going to be the biggest opportunity in Visinema’s road map. Besides huge opportunities, Visinema is also facing problems. The first is company brand positioning. Angga, as the founder, felt the need to detach his name from the brand image of Visinema to create system sustainability and scalability. Second, the company has to create a strategy to refocus in a particular business area to maintain and improve the competitive advantages. The third problem, IP piracy is a huge structural problem in Indonesia, the company considers IP thieves as their biggest competitors as opposed to other production company. As the recommendation, we suggest a set of branding and management strategy to detach the founder’s name from Visinema’s brand and improve the competitive advantages. We also suggest Visinema invest in system building to prevent IP piracy in the entertainment industry, which later can be another business subsidiary of Visinema.

Keywords: business ecosystem, agile, sustainability, scalability, start Up, intellectual property, digital platform

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Authors: Odey Moses Ogah, Felix Terhemba Ikyereve

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The study was carried out to analyzed risks in financing agriculture by agricultural cooperatives in Benue State, Nigeria. The study made use of research questionnaires for data collection. A multistage sampling technique was used to select a sample of 210 respondents from 21 agricultural cooperatives. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were employed in data analysis. Loan defaulting (66.7%) and reduction in savings by members (51.4%) were the major causes of risks faced by agricultural cooperatives in financing agriculture in the study area. Other causes include adverse changes in commodity prices (48.6%), disaster (45.7%), among others. It was found that risks adversely influence the profitability and competition of agricultural cooperatives (82.9%). Multiple regression analysis results showed that the coefficient of multiple determinations was 0.67, implying that the explanatory variables included in the model accounted for 67% of the variation in the level of profitability of agricultural cooperatives. The number of loans, average amount of loan and the interest rate were significant and important determinants of profitability of the cooperatives. The majority of the respondents (88.6%) made use of loan guarantors as a strategy of managing loan default/no repayment. It was found that the majority (70%) of the respondents were faced with the challenge of lack of insurance cover. The study recommends that agricultural cooperative officials should be encouraged to undergo formal training and education to easily acquire administrative skills in the management of agricultural loans; Farmer's loan size should be increased and released on time to enable them to use it effectively. Policies that enhance insuring farm activities should be put in place to discourage farmers from risk aversion.

Keywords: agriculture, analysis, cooperative, finance, risks

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Authors: Borja Ruiz de Arbulo Alonso

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This paper analyzes the impact of flipped instruction in adult learners of Spanish as a second language in a face-to-face course at Boston University. Given the limited amount of contact hours devoted to studying world languages in the American higher education system, implementing strategies to free up classroom time for communicative language practice is key to ensure student success in their learning process. In an effort to improve the way adult learners acquire a second language, this paper examines the role that regular pre-class and web-based exposure to Spanish grammar plays in student performance at the end of the academic term. It outlines different types of web-based pre-class activities and compares this approach to more traditional classroom practice. To do so, this study works for three months with two similar groups of adult learners in an intermediate-level Spanish class. Both groups use the same course program and have the same previous language experience, but one receives an additional set of instructor-made online materials containing a variety of grammar explanations and online activities that need to be reviewed before attending class. Since the online activities cover material and concepts that have not yet been studied in class, students' oral and written production in both groups is measured by means of a writing activity and an audio recording at the end of the three-month period. These assessments will ascertain the effects of exposing the control group to the grammar of the target language prior to each lecture throughout and demonstrate where flipped instruction helps adult learners of Spanish achieve higher performance, but also identify potential problems.

Keywords: educational technology, flipped classroom, second language acquisition, student success

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Authors: Ahlam Alnatour

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Background: To our knowledge, there is lack of studies that describe the experience of studying health promotion courses using an interactive approach, and compare students’ and teachers perceptions about this method of teaching. The purpose of this study is to provide a comparison between student and teacher experiences and perspectives in learning health promotion course using interactive learning. Design: A descriptive qualitative design was used to provide an in-depth description and understanding of students’ and teachers experiences and perceptions of learning health promotion courses using an interactive learning. Study Participants: About 14 fourteen students (seven male, seven female) and eight teachers at governmental university in northern Jordan participated in this study. Data Analysis: Conventional content analysis approach was used for participants’ scripts to gain an in-depth description for both students' and teacher’s experiences. Results: The main themes emerged from the data analysis describing the students’ and teachers perceptions of the interactive health promotion class: teachers’ and students positive experience in adopting interactive learning, advantages and benefits of interactive teaching, barriers to interactive teaching, and suggestions for improvement. Conclusion: Both teachers and students reflected positive attitudes toward interactive learning. Interactive learning helped to engage in learning process physically and cognitively. Interactive learning enhanced learning process, promote student attention, enhanced final performance, and satisfied teachers and students accordingly. Interactive learning approach should be adopted in teaching graduate and undergraduate courses using updated and contemporary strategies. Nursing scholars and educators should be motivated to integrate interactive learning in teaching different nursing courses.

Keywords: interactive learning, nursing, health promotion, qualitative study

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Authors: Ali Christian Chinedu, Asogwa Vincent Chidindu, Ejiofor Toochukwu Eleazar, Okadi Ashagwu Ojang

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The increasing rate of Boko Haram insurgency, farmer-herder clashes, and kidnapping in Nigeria has resulted in food shortages and high cost of protein sources like beef and fish. This challenge could be curbed with the production of edible insects, which contain several nutritional benefits like calories, protein, fat, vitamins, and minerals, depending on their species, metamorphic stage, and diet. Unfortunately, the benefits and competencies in producing, preserving, and marketing edible insects are still unknown to the public, including prospective farmers in Nigeria. Hence, this study determined teachers’ perception of integrating edible insects into the Animal Husbandry Curriculum in Senior Secondary Schools in Nigeria to equip the future generation with the relevant competencies for alternative sustainable protein supply. The study was carried out in Enugu State, Nigeria. The participants for the study comprised 162 agricultural science teachers. A questionnaire titled: Edible Insects Integration in Animal Husbandry Curriculum Questionnaire (EIIAHCQ) was used to collect data using a descriptive survey research design. We conducted data collection with the help of six research assistants. The study identified 11 objectives, 11 contents, 10 teaching methods, and 9 evaluation methods that could be integrated into the existing curriculum of animal husbandry in Nigeria. Among others, the Ministry of Education should integrate the finding of this study into the curriculum of Animal Husbandry in Nigeria to enhance the protein supply and curb food insecurity now and in the future.

Keywords: animal husbandry curriculum, edible insects, entomophagy, integration, secondary school, Nigeria

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Authors: Hamzeh Awad

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Disability is considered to be a worldwide complex phenomenon which rising at a phenomenal rate and caused by many different factors. Chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease and diabetes can lead to mobility disability in particular and disability in general. The ICF is an integrative bio-psycho-social model of functioning and disability and considered by the World Health Organization (WHO) to be a reference for disability classification using its categories and core set to classify disorder’s functional limitations. Specialist programs at Sultan Bin Abdul Aziz Humanitarian City (SBAHC) are providing both inpatient and outpatient services have started to implement the ICF and use it as a problem solving tool in Rehab. Diabetes is leading contributing factor for disability and considered epidemic in several Gulf countries including the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), where its prevalence continues to increase dramatically. Metabolic disorders, mainly diabetes are not well covered in Rehab field. The purpose of this study is present to research and clinical rehabilitation field of DREAM and ICF as a framework in clinical and research setting in Rehab service. Also, shed the light on using the ICF as problem solving tool at SBAHC. There are synergies between disability causes and wider public health priorities in relation to both chronic disease and disability prevention. Therefore, there is a need for strong advocacy and understanding of the role of ICF as a reference in Rehab settings in Middle East if we wish to seize the opportunity to reverse current trends of acquired disability in the region.

Keywords: international classification of functioning, disability and health (ICF), prototype, rehabilitation and diabetes

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Authors: C. Salis, D. Zedda, M. F. Wilson

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The IDEA project was conceived for teachers who are interested in enhancing their capacity to effectively implement the use of specific technologies in their teaching practice. Participating teachers are coached and supported as they explore technologies applied to the educational context. They access tools such as the technological platform developed by our team. Among the platform functionalities, teachers access an instructional systems design (ISD) tool (learning designer) that was adapted to the needs of our project. The tool is accessible from computers or mobile devices and used in association with other technologies to create new, meaningful learning environments. The objective of an instructional systems design is to guarantee the quality and effectiveness of education and to enhance learning. This goal involves both teachers who want to become more efficient in transferring knowledge or skills and students as the final recipient of their teaching. The use of Blooms’s taxonomy enables teachers to classify the learning objectives into levels of complexity and specificity, thus making it possible to highlight the kind of knowledge teachers would like their students to reach. The fact that the instructional design features can be visualized through the IDEA platform is a guarantee for those who are looking for specific educational materials to be used in their lessons. Despite the benefits offered, a number of teachers are reluctant to use ISD because the preparatory work of having to thoroughly analyze the teaching/learning objectives, the planning of learning material, assessment activities, etc., is long and felt to be time-consuming. This drawback is minimized using a learning designer, as the tool facilitates to reuse of the didactic contents having a clear view of the processes of analysis, planning, and production of educational or testing materials uploaded on our platform. In this paper, we shall present the feedback of the teachers who used our tool in their didactic.

Keywords: educational benefits, educational quality, educational technology, ISD tool

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Authors: Marija Zulić, Vanda Hájková, Nina Brkić–Jovanović, Srećko Potić, Sanja Tomić

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The name cerebral palsy comes from the word cerebrum, which means the brain and the word palsy, which means seizure, and essentially refers to the movement disorder. In the clinical picture of cerebral palsy, basic neuromotor disorders are associated with other various disorders: behavioural, intellectual, speech, sensory, epileptic seizures, and bone and joint deformities. Motor speech disorders are among the most common difficulties present in people with cerebral palsy. Social participation represents an interaction between an individual and their social environment. Quality of social participation of the students with cerebral palsy at school is an important indicator of their successful participation in adulthood. One of the most important skills for the undisturbed social participation is ability of good communication. The aim of the study was to determine relation between social participation of students with cerebral palsy and presence of their speech impairment in primary schools in the Czech Republic. The study was performed in the Czech Republic in mainstream schools and schools established for the pupils with special education needs. We analysed 75 children with cerebral palsy aged between six and twelve years attending up to sixth grade by using the first and the third part of the school function assessment questionnaire as the main instrument. The other instrument we used in the research is the Gross motor function classification system–five–level classification system, which measures degree of motor functions of children and youth with cerebral palsy. Funding for this study was provided by the Grant Agency of Charles University in Prague.

Keywords: cerebral palsy, social participation, speech disorders, The Czech Republic, the school function assessment

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Authors: Faiz Bakhsh, Tahira Yasmeen

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The Afghan refugee children in Pakistan are considered as the most vulnerable persons in danger of being abused and treated badly as compared to the minimum criteria of the protection of refugee children under 1951 refugee convention. This paper explores the impact of the 1951 refugee convention on the protection of refugee children, affected by the armed conflict in Afghanistan, residing in refugee camps in Pakistan. Despite, protection available under Refugee Convention, there exist millions of refugees in the world, including a huge portion of women and children, that remain unprotected, and their protection remains a challenging task for the world community. This study investigates the status and number of refugees in Pakistan, especially children; protection and assistance of refugees under Refugee Convention; protection of the rights of refugee children in Pakistan; and implementation of the rules of Refugee Convention relating refugee children in Pakistan and measures for the protection of refugee children in Pakistan. This socio-legal study utilizes a qualitative research approach and applies mixed methods of data collection. The primary data is collected through the interpretation of the legal framework available for the protection of refugees as well as domestic laws of Pakistan. The secondary data is collected through previous studies available on the same topic. The result of this study indicates that lack of proper implementation of the rules, of the Refugee Convention, relating protection of refugee children cause sufferings to refugee children including the provision of basic health, nutrition, family life, education and protection from child abuse. Pakistan needs a comprehensive domestic legal framework for the protection of refugees, especially refugee children. Moreover, the government of Pakistan with the help of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) must prioritize the protection of Afghan refugee children as per standard criteria provided by the refugee convention 1951.

Keywords: refugee children, refugee convention, armed conflict, Pakistan

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Authors: Angelika Dorawa, Lena Kreppel

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Writing in the disciplines plays a major role at Universities. On the one hand, lectures look at the substance of assignments and on the other hand, they expect students to meet professional standards of layout and proofreading. However, the integration of writing concepts into the range of subjects is new to German Universities of Applied Sciences, which are focused on technical and scientific contexts. The Westphalian University of Applied Sciences (WH) established a successful program Talente_schreiben (Writing_Talents) that was funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research to improve written language skills for first-semester students at the WH. Besides having the main focus on basic language skills on all language levels, we also concentrate on subject-specific programs such as writing in the disciplines and are pioneers in this field in Germany. Since 2013, we started to include learning-to-write programs since first-semester students of Business Law studies must complete a writing assignment in the form and writing style of a legal opinion in order to fulfill their undergraduate degree requirements. To support our students at its best, our course for business lawyers focuses not only on the writing skills per se, but also on teaching both, the content and the particular discourse of the discipline. Hence, a specialist in German studies and a faculty tutor share the experience of processing, producing and reflecting a text. Whereas the German studies specialist refers to the rhetorical context such as orthography, grammar etc., the tutor acts as a guide on the side referring to the course content itself. In our presentation, we want to give an insight of the practice of a business law discipline, the combination of rhetoric and composition and discuss the methodological and didactic approaches.

Keywords: German for business lawyers, talent development, pioneer program, Germany

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Authors: George-Anokwuru Chioma Chidinma Bernadette

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This paper investigated the effect of trade liberalization on domestic private investment in Nigeria from 1981 to 2020. To achieve this objective, secondary data on domestic private investment, trade openness, exchange rate and interest rate were sourced from the statistical bulletin of Nigeria’s apex bank. The Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) technique was used as the main analytical tool. The ARDL Bounds test revealed the existence of long run association among the variables. The results revealed that trade openness and exchange rate have positive and insignificant relationship with domestic private investment both in the long and short runs. At the same time, interest rate has negative relationship with domestic private investment both in the long and short runs. Therefore, it was concluded that there is no significant relationship between trade openness, exchange rate, interest rate and domestic private investment in Nigeria during the period of study. Based on the findings, the study recommended that government should formulate trade policies that will encourage the growth of domestic private investment in Nigeria. To achieve this, government should ensure consistency in trade policies and at the same time strengthen the existing policies to build investors’ confidence. Also, government should make available an investment-friendly environment, as well as monitor real sector operators to ensure that foreign exchange allocations are not diverted. Government should increase capital investment in education, housing, transportation, agriculture, health, power, road construction, national defense, among others that will help the various sectors of the economy to function very well thereby making the business environment friendly thereby enhancing the growth and development of the country.

Keywords: trade openness, domestic private investment, ARDL, exchange rate

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Authors: Dony Adriansyah Nazaruddin, Mohammad Muqtada Ali Khan

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This paper aims to present some imaginative geomorphological sites in Malaysia. This study comprises desk study and field study. Desk study was conducted by reviewing some literatures related to the topic and some geomorphosites in Malaysia. Field study was organized in 2013 and 2014 to investigate the recent situation of these sites and to take some measurements, photographs and rock samples. Some examples of imaginative geomorphosites all over Malaysia have been identified for this purpose. In Peninsular Malaysia, some geomorphosites in Langkawi Islands (the state of Kedah) have imaginative features such as a “turtle” atop the limestone hill of Setul Formation at the Kilim Geoforest Park, a “shoe” at the Kasut island of the Kilim Geoforest Park, a “lying pregnant lady” at the Dayang Bunting island of the Dayang Bunting Marble Geoforest Park, and a “ship” of the Singa Kecil island. Meanwhile, some other examples are from the state of Kelantan, such as a mogote hill with a “human face looking upward” at Gunung Reng, Jeli District and a “boat rock” at Mount Chamah, Gua Musang District. In East Malaysia, there is only one example can be identified, it is the “Abraham Lincoln’s face” at the Deer Cave, Gunung Mulu National Park, Sarawak. Karst landforms dominate the imaginative geomorphosites in Malaysia. The formations of these features are affected by some endogenic and exogenic processes, such as tectonic uplift, weathering (including solution), erosion, and so on. This study will recommend that these imaginative features should be conserved and developed for some purposes, such as research, education, and geotourism development in Malaysia.

Keywords: geomorphosite, geotourism, earth processes, karst landforms, Malaysia

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Authors: Esther Van Andel, Stefanie C. Lange, Maarten M. J. Smulders, Han Zuilhof

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False outcomes of diagnostic tests are a major concern in medical health care. To improve the reliability of surface-based diagnostic tests, it is of crucial importance to diminish background signals that arise from the non-specific binding of biomolecules, a process called fouling. The aim is to create surfaces that repel all biomolecules except the molecule of interest. This can be achieved by incorporating antifouling protein repellent coatings in between the sensor surface and it’s recognition elements (e.g. antibodies, sugars, aptamers). Zwitterionic polymer brushes are considered excellent antifouling materials, however, to be able to bind the molecule of interest, the polymer brushes have to be functionalized and so far this was only achieved at the expense of either antifouling or binding capacity. To overcome this limitation, we combined both features into one single monomer: a zwitterionic sulfobetaine, ensuring antifouling capabilities, equipped with a clickable azide moiety which allows for further functionalization. By copolymerizing this monomer together with a standard sulfobetaine, the number of azides (and with that the number of recognition elements) can be tuned depending on the application. First, the clickable azido-monomer was synthesized and characterized, followed by copolymerizing this monomer to yield functionalizable antifouling brushes. The brushes were fully characterized using surface characterization techniques like XPS, contact angle measurements, G-ATR-FTIR and XRR. As a proof of principle, the brushes were subsequently functionalized with biotin via strain-promoted alkyne azide click reactions, which yielded a fully zwitterionic biotin-containing 3D-functionalized coating. The sensing capacity was evaluated by reflectometry using avidin and fibrinogen containing protein solutions. The surfaces showed excellent antifouling properties as illustrated by the complete absence of non-specific fibrinogen binding, while at the same time clear responses were seen for the specific binding of avidin. A great increase in signal-to-noise ratio was observed, even when the amount of functional groups was lowered to 1%, compared to traditional modification of sulfobetaine brushes that rely on a 2D-approach in which only the top-layer can be functionalized. This study was performed on stoichiometric silicon nitride surfaces for future microring resonator based assays, however, this methodology can be transferred to other biosensor platforms which are currently being investigated. The approach presented herein enables a highly efficient strategy for selective binding with retained antifouling properties for improved signal-to-noise ratios in binding assays. The number of recognition units can be adjusted to a specific need, e.g. depending on the size of the analyte to be bound, widening the scope of these functionalizable surface coatings.

Keywords: antifouling, signal-to-noise ratio, surface functionalization, zwitterionic polymer brushes

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Authors: Sipho Mbatha, Anne Mastament-Mason

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The Multi-Fibre Arrangement (MFA) which regulated all trade in the Apparel Manufacturing Industries (AMI) for four decades was dissolved in 2005. Since 2005, the Apparel Manufacturing Industry of South Africa (AMISA) has been battling to adjust to an environment of liberalised trade, mainly due to strategic, infrastructural and skills factors. In developing competitive advantage strategy for the AMISA, the study aimed to do the following (1) to apply Porter’s diamond model’s determinant “Factor Condition” as framework to develop competitive advantage strategies. (2) Examine the effectiveness of government policy Industrial Policy Action Plan (IPAP 2007) in supporting AMISA. (3) Examine chance events that could be used as bases for competitive advantage strategies for the AMISA. This study found that the lack of advanced skills and poor infrastructure are affecting the competitive advantage of AMISA. The then Clothing, Textiles, Leather and Footwear Sector Education and Training Authority (CTLF-SETA) has also fallen short of addressing the skills gap within the apparel manufacturing industries. The only time that AMISA have shown signs of competitive advantage was when they made use of government grants and incentives available to only compliant AMISA. The findings have shown that the apparel retail groups have shown support for the AMISA by shouldering raw material costs, making it easier to manufacture the required apparel at acceptable lead times. AMISA can compete in low end apparel, provided quick response is intensified, the development of local textiles and raw materials is expedited.

Keywords: compliance rule, apparel manufacturing idustry, factor conditions, advance skills, industrial policy action plan of South Africa

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Authors: Paul Saah, Charles Mbohwa, Nelson Sizwe Madonsela

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In the context of developing countries, this study explores a crucial component of economic development by examining the reasons behind the failure of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). SMEs are acknowledged as essential drivers of economic expansion, job creation, and poverty alleviation in emerging countries. This research uses South Africa as a case study to evaluate the reasons why SMEs fail in developing nations. This study explores a quantitative research methodology to investigate the complex causes of SME failures using statistical tools and reliability tests. To ensure the viability of data collection, a sample size of 400 small business owners was chosen using a non-probability selection technique. A closed-ended questionnaire was the primary technique used to obtain detailed information from the participants. Data was analysed and interpreted using computer software packages such as the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS). According to the findings, the main reasons why SMEs fail in developing nations are a lack of strategic business planning, a lack of funding, poor management, a lack of innovation, a lack of business research and a low level of education and training. The results of this study show that SMEs can be sustainable and successful as long as they comprehend and use the suggested small business success determining variables into their daily operations. This implies that the more SMEs in developing countries implement the proposed determinant factors of small business success in their business operations the more the businesses are likely to succeed and vice versa.

Keywords: failure, developing countries, SMEs, economic development, South Africa

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Authors: Vincent A. Adzika, Franklin N. Glozah, Collins S. K. Ahorlu

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Background: Sickle Cell Disease (SCD) is of major public-health concern globally, with majority of patients living in Africa. Despite its relevance, there is a dearth of research to determine the socio-demographic distribution and psychosocial impact of SCD in Africa. The objective of this study therefore was to examine the socio-demographic distribution and psychosocial consequences of SCD among patients in Ghana and to assess their quality of life and coping mechanisms. Methods: A cross-sectional research design was used, involving the completion of questionnaires on socio-demographic characteristics, quality of life of individuals, anxiety and depression. Participants were 387 male and female patients attending a sickle cell clinic in a public hospital. Results: Results showed no gender and marital status differences in anxiety and depression. However, there were age and level of education variances in depression but not in anxiety. In terms of quality of life, patients were more satisfied by the presence of love, friends, relatives as well as home, community and neighbourhood environment. While pains of varied nature and severity were the major reasons for attending hospital in SCD condition, going to the hospital as well as having Faith in God was the frequently reported mechanisms for coping with an unbearable SCD attacks. Multiple regression analysis showed that some socio-demographic and quality of life indicators had strong associations with anxiety and/or depression. Conclusion: It is recommended that a multi-dimensional intervention strategy incorporating psychosocial dimensions should be considered in the treatment and management of SCD.

Keywords: anxiety, depression, sickle cell disease, socio-demographic quality of life, characteristics, Ghana

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Authors: Khadijah Saeed Khan

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One of the major current societal issues of Swedish society is to integrate newcomer refugees well into the host society. The cultural integration issue is one of the under debated topic in the literature, and this study intends to meet this gap from the Swedish perspective. The purpose of this study is to explore the role and types of cultural landscapes of refugee women in Sweden and how these landscapes help or hinder the settlement process. The cultural landscapes are referred to as a set of multiple cultural activities or practices which refugees perform in a specific context and circumstances (i.e., being in a new country) to seek, share or use relevant information for their settlement. Information plays a vital role in various aspects of newcomers' lives in a new country. This article has an intention to highlight the importance of multiple cultural landscapes as a source of information (regarding employment, language learning, finding accommodation, immigration matters, health concerns, school and education, family matters, and other everyday matters) for refugees to settle down in Sweden. Some relevant theories, such as information landscapes and socio-cultural theories, are considered in this study. A qualitative research design is employed, including semi-structured deep interviews and participatory observation with 20 participants. The initial findings show that the refugee women encounter many information-related and integration-related challenges in Sweden and have built a network of cultural landscapes in which they practice various co-ethnic cultural and religious activities at different times of the year. These landscapes help them to build a sense of belonging with people from their own or similar land and assist them to seek and share relevant information in everyday life in Sweden.

Keywords: cultural integration, cultural landscapes, information, women refugees

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