Search results for: social value of public healthcare

Authors: Aline Giardin

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Introduction: This review addresses the relationship between physical education and mental health and its main objective is to discuss the meanings that circulate in Psychiatric Hospitalization Units and Psychosocial Care Centers (CAPS) about the presence of physical education teachers and the practices developed by Them within these services. Material and methods: It is based on the theoretical contribution of the Psychiatric Reform and is methodologically inspired by the Bibliographic Review. Objectives: The objective of this review was to identify the main scientific evidence on the effects of physical activity on the main psychological aspects associated with mental health during the hospitalization process. Results: It was observed that physical activity has beneficial effects in the psychological, social and cognitive aspects, being thus a fundamental aspect of the lifestyle in promoting a healthy and successful treatment. In studies evaluating the effects of physical activity on mental health, the most frequently evaluated outcomes include anxiety, depression, and health-related quality of life (eg, self-esteem and self-efficacy). Evidence from epistemological studies indicates that the level of physical activity is positively associated with good mental health, when mental health is defined as good mood, general well-being and decreased symptoms. Conclusion: It is necessary to intervene and a greater interest of the professionals of physical education in the treatment with the people with mental disorders so that the negative symptoms are modified, through the aid of the physical activity, by better quality of life, physical condition, nutritional state and A healthy emotional appearance.

Keywords: health mental, physical activity, benefits, treatment

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Authors: Priya Narayanan

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Despite several studies having been conducted on the highly subjective concept of place attachment in the last 60 years, there is a lack of consensus among researchers about how it can be measured empirically. Further, there is no available literature that discusses how a place can be manipulated via design and/or policy to allow people to feel/get attached to it, an aspect that seems to be the need of the hour in a world where a substantial population is living in shelter homes as war/climate/social refugees. Consequently, this paper draws from studies on place, affordance and attachment to conceptualize an objectively measurable entity in place attachment affordance by asking ‘whether and to what degree a place allows one to form attachment bonds with it’ rather than the generally asked ‘whether and to what degree one is/feels attached to a place’. Towards this, the place attachment affordance scale (PAAS) has been developed to not only quantitatively measure place attachment affordance but also act as a point of entry into a more in-depth analysis of both place policy and place properties. To illustrate the validity of the scale, the study uses PAAS to compare shelter homes for women in crisis with the homes they once lived in to glean the degree to which both places afford the formation of place attachment bonds to the residents. PAAS has also been used to compare shelter homes as places of short-/long-term residence for the residents and as places of work for the staff. Based on the results, it is suggested that place attachment and built environment researchers employ the PAAS as an objective measurement tool to better understand not only the presence or absence of attachment bonds with place but also the attributes of place that encourage or discourage the same. The study also briefly discusses the universality of the PAAS, although further fieldwork might be required to substantiate the same.

Keywords: place attachment, affordance, shelter homes, home, scale, environmental psychology

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Authors: Sonia Bernardo Correia

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This paper is part of ongoing research that aims to understand the role of gender in the composition of the Portuguese contemporary art world and the possibilities and limits to the success of the professional paths of women and men artists. The field of visual arts is gender-sensitive as it differentiates the positions occupied by artists in terms of visibility and recognition. Women artists occupy a peripheral space, which may hinder the progression of their professional careers. Based on the collection of data on the participation of artists in Portuguese exhibitions, art fairs, auctions, and art awards between 2012 and 2019, the goal of this study is to portray female artists’ participation as a condition of professional, social, and cultural visibility. From the analysis of a significant sample of institutions from the artistic field, it was possible to observe that the works of female authors are under exhibited, never exceeding one-third of the total of exhibitions. Male artists also enjoy a comfortable majority as gallery artists (around 70%) and as part of institutional collections (around 80%). However, when analysing the younger age cohorts of artists by gender, it appears that there is representation parity, which may be a good sign of change. The data shows that there are persistent gender inequalities in accessing the artist profession. Women are not yet occupying positions of exposure, recognition, and legitimation in the market similar to those of their male counterparts, suggesting that they may face greater obstacles in experiencing successful professional trajectories.

Keywords: inequalities, invisibility of the woman artist, gender, visual arts

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Authors: Sarthak Mishra, Astha Sinha

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There’s no doubt about the convenience of making commercial and business transactions over the Internet under the new business model known as the e-Commerce. The term 'Electronic commerce' or e-Commerce refers to the use of an electronic medium to carry out commercial transactions. E-Commerce is one of the parts of Information Science framework and its uses are gradually becoming popular. Thus, the threat of security issues in Information Science has now become an important subject of discussion amongst the concerned users. These two issues i.e. security and privacy are required to be looked into through social, organizational, technical and economic perspectives. The current paper analyses the effect of these two issues in the arena of e-commerce. Here, no specification has been discussed rather an attempt has been made to provide a general overview. Further, attempts have been made to discuss the security and privacy issues in relation to the E-Commerce financial transactions. We shall also discuss in particular different steps required to be taken before online shopping and also shall discuss the purpose of security and privacy in E-Commerce and why it has currently become the need of the present hour. Lastly, an attempt has been made to discuss the plausible future course of development of this practice and its impact upon the global economy and if any changes should be bought about to ensure a smooth evolution of the practice. This paper has adopted a descriptive methodology to undertake its major area of study, wherein the major source of information has been via the secondary resources. Also, the study is of a comparative nature wherein the position of the various national regimes have compared with regards to the research question.

Keywords: business-business transaction (B2B), business-consumer transaction (B2C), e-commerce, online transaction, privacy and security threats

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Authors: Meseret Mulugeta, Alemmebrat Kiflu, Belaynehchikle

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The purpose of the present study was to examine the preferred leadership style and motivation of premier league volleyball players. The sample encompassed 46 female premier league volleyball players whose ages ranged between 15 and 35 years. The data were collected using standardized questionnaires. The questionnaires were distributed to 46 female players from five volleyball clubs in the Premier League. To evaluate the motivational level of the players, the Sports Motivation Scale (SMS-6) was used. The leadership scale for sport was used to evaluate leadership. Descriptive statistics and the person correlation coefficient (P <0.05) were used to validate the relationship between leadership style and motivation. The result showed that there is a meaningful and significant relationship between leadership style and motivation. Concerning preferred coaching styles, the most preferred style was training and instruction, with a mean score of 4.10, and the least preferred style was autocratic, with a mean score of 3.37. The result of the Pearson correlation coefficient showed that the correlation between motivation types and leadership styles showed that motivation was significantly and positively correlated with all independent variables except autocratic leadership style, which is negatively correlated with motivation. This study’s nobility is to provide evidence for the most effective coaching to practice the training and instruction behaviour and social support behaviour leadership styles and refrain from using the autocratic leadership style.

Keywords: autocratic, training and instruction, motivation, leadership style

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Authors: Xinlan Zhang, Dandong Ge, Bingying Liu, Haoyang Liang

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With the rapid development of technology and urbanization, innovation has become an important driving force for urban development. Since the late 20th Century, a number of cities and regions have emerged in the world with innovation as the main driving force, and many of them are still the most important innovation centers in the world. Based on the perspective of innovation ecosystem theory, this paper compares Silicon Valley in the United States, Cambridge in the United Kingdom, Tsukuba in Japan and Zhongguancun in China to explore the reasons for the success of innovative regions and their respective characteristics, hoping to provide a reference for the development of other innovative cities. The main conclusions of this study are the following; firstly, different countries have different social backgrounds. The development model of innovative regions is closely related to the regional backgrounds. Secondly, the market force and the government power have important significance for the development of the innovation regions. The influence of the government power in the early stage of development is great, and in the latter stage, development is dominated by the market force. In addition, the self-organizing ability of the region has a great impact on the innovation ability of the region. Strong self-organizing ability is conducive to the development of innovation economy.

Keywords: contrastive study, development model, innovation ecosystem, innovative regions

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Authors: Izabela P. Vatanabe, Rafaela Peron, Patricia Manzine, Marcia R. Cominetti

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Introduction: Considering the increase in life expectancy of world population, there is an emerging concern in health services to allocate better care and care to elderly, through promotion, prevention and treatment of health. It has been observed that frailty syndrome is prevalent in elderly people worldwide and this complex and heterogeneous clinical syndrome consist of the presence of physical frailty associated with cognitive dysfunction, though in absence of dementia. This can be characterized by exhaustion, unintentional weight loss, decreased walking speed, weakness and low level of physical activity, in addition, each of these symptoms may be a predictor of adverse outcomes such as hospitalization, falls, functional decline, institutionalization, and death. Cognitive frailty is a recent concept in literature, which is defined as the presence of physical frailty associated with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) however in absence of dementia. This new concept has been considered as a subtype of frailty, which along with aging process and its interaction with physical frailty, accelerates functional declines and can result in poor quality of life of the elderly. MCI represents a risk factor for Alzheimer's disease (AD) in view of high conversion rate for this disease. Comorbidities and physical frailty are frequently found in AD patients and are closely related to heterogeneity and clinical manifestations of the disease. The decreased platelets ADAM10 levels in AD patients, compared to cognitively healthy subjects, matched by sex, age and education. Objective: Based on these previous results, this study aims to evaluate whether ADAM10 platelet levels of could act as a biomarker of cognitive frailty. Methods: The study was approved by Ethics Committee of Federal University of São Carlos (UFSCar) and conducted in the municipality of São Carlos, headquarters of Federal University of São Carlos (UFSCar). Biological samples of subjects were collected, analyzed and then stored in a biorepository. ADAM10 platelet levels were analyzed by western blotting technique in subjects with MCI and compared to subjects without cognitive impairment, both with and without presence of frailty. Statistical tests of association, regression and diagnostic accuracy were performed. Results: The results have shown that ADAM10/β-actin ratio is decreased in elderly individuals with cognitive frailty compared to non-frail and cognitively healthy controls. Previous studies performed by this research group, already mentioned above, demonstrated that this reduction is still higher in AD patients. Therefore, the ADAM10/β-actin ratio appears to be a potential biomarker for cognitive frailty. The results bring important contributions to an accurate diagnosis of cognitive frailty from the perspective of ADAM10 as a biomarker for this condition, however, more experiments are being conducted, using a high number of subjects, and will help to understand the role of ADAM10 as biomarker of cognitive frailty and contribute to the implementation of tools that work in the diagnosis of cognitive frailty. Such tools can be used in public policies for the diagnosis of cognitive frailty in the elderly, resulting in a more adequate planning for health teams and better quality of life for the elderly.

Keywords: ADAM10, biomarkers, cognitive frailty, elderly

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Authors: Basak Ozkendirci

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The discovery of chemical dyes, the development of regenerated fibers, and warp knitting technology have enormous effects on the fashion world. The trends created by the information obtained in the context of various studies today shape the fashion world. Trend analysts must follow scientific developments as well as sociological events, political developments and artwork to obtain healthy data on trends. Digital printing technologies have changed the dynamics of textile printing production and also the style of printed designs. Fashion designers already have started design 3D printed accessories and garments. The research fields like the internet of things, artificial intelligence, hologram technologies, mechatronics, energy storage systems, nanotechnology are seen as the technologies that will change the social life and economy of the future. It is clear that research carried out in these areas will affect the textiles of the future and whereat the trends of fashion. The article aims to create a future vision for trend researchers and designers by giving clues about the changes to be experienced in the fashion world. In the first part of the article, information about the scientific studies that are thought to shape the future is given, and the forecasting about how the inventions that can be obtained from these studies can be adapted at the textile are presented. In the second part of the article, examples of how the new generation of innovative textiles will affect the daily life experience of the user are given.

Keywords: biotextiles, fashion trends, nanotextiles, new materials, smart textiles, techno textiles

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Authors: Mabel Y. C. Yau, Roy C. F. Lai, Hugo Y. H. Or

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This study is a pilot surveillance of hygiene compliance and food microbial safety of both licensed and mobile vendors selling Chinese ready–to-eat snack foods in Hong Kong. The study reflects similar situations in running mobile food vending business on trucks. Hong Kong is about to launch the Food Truck Pilot Scheme by the end of 2016 or early 2017. Technically, selling food on the vehicle is no different from hawking food on the street or vending food on the street. Each type of business bears similar food safety issues and cast the same impact on public health. Present findings demonstrate exemplarily situations that also apply to food trucks. 9 types of Cantonese style snacks of 32 samples in total were selected for microbial screening. A total of 16 vending sites including supermarkets, street markets, and snack stores were visited. The study finally focused on a traditional snack, the steamed rice cake with red beans called Put Chai Ko (PCK). PCK is a type of classical Cantonese pastry sold on push carts on the street. It used to be sold at room temperature and served with bamboo sticks in the old days. Some shops would have them sold steam fresh. Microbial examinations on aerobic counts, yeast, and mould, coliform, salmonella as well as Staphylococcus aureus detections were carried out. Salmonella was not detected in all samples. Since PCK does not contain ingredients of beef, poultry, eggs or dairy products, the risk of the presence of Salmonella in PCK was relatively lower although other source of contamination might be possible. Coagulase positive Staphylococcus aureus was found in 6 of the 14 samples sold at room temperature. Among these 6 samples, 3 were PCK. One of the samples was in an unacceptable range of total colony forming units higher than 105. The rest were only satisfactory. Observational evaluations were made with checklists on personal hygiene, premises hygiene, food safety control, food storage, cleaning and sanitization as well as waste disposals. The maximum score was 25 if total compliance were obtained. The highest score among vendors was 20. Three stores were below average, and two of these stores were selling PCK. Most of the non-compliances were on food processing facilities, sanitization conditions and waste disposal. In conclusion, although no food poisoning outbreaks happened during the time of the investigation, the risk of food hazard existed in these stores, especially among street vendors. Attention is needed in the traditional practice of food selling, and that food handlers might not have sufficient knowledge to properly handle food products. Variations in food qualities existed among supply chains or franchise eateries or shops. It was commonly observed that packaging and storage conditions are not properly enforced in the retails. The same situation could be reflected across the food business. It did indicate need of food safety training in the industry and loopholes in quality control among business.

Keywords: cantonese snacks, food safety, microbial, hygiene, street food

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Authors: Lal Hussain, Wajid Aziz, Sajjad Ahmed Nadeem, Saeed Arif Shah, Abdul Majid

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Brain electrical activity as reflected in Electroencephalography (EEG) have been analyzed and diagnosed using various techniques. Among them, complexity measure, nonlinearity, disorder, and unpredictability play vital role due to the nonlinear interconnection between functional and anatomical subsystem emerged in brain in healthy state and during various diseases. There are many social and economical issues of alcoholic abuse as memory weakness, decision making, impairments, and concentrations etc. Alcoholism not only defect the brains but also associated with emotional, behavior, and cognitive impairments damaging the white and gray brain matters. A recently developed signal analysis method i.e. Multiscale Permutation Entropy (MPE) is proposed to estimate the complexity of long-range temporal correlation time series EEG of Alcoholic and Control subjects acquired from University of California Machine Learning repository and results are compared with MSE. Using MPE, coarsed grained series is first generated and the PE is computed for each coarsed grained time series against the electrodes O1, O2, C3, C4, F2, F3, F4, F7, F8, Fp1, Fp2, P3, P4, T7, and T8. The results computed against each electrode using MPE gives higher significant values as compared to MSE as well as mean rank differences accordingly. Likewise, ROC and Area under the ROC also gives higher separation against each electrode using MPE in comparison to MSE.

Keywords: electroencephalogram (EEG), multiscale permutation entropy (MPE), multiscale sample entropy (MSE), permutation entropy (PE), mann whitney test (MMT), receiver operator curve (ROC), complexity measure

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Authors: Diana Bardhi

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Road safety is an essential part of the economic and social development of any industrialized country. Decisions to maintain and improve the reliability, functionality of infrastructure structures can only be achieved through integrated road life cycle planning and management. There has always been a tendency to review road maintenance strategies, but there is still no serious and reliable administration due to not only insufficient funds but also problems in the proper reorganization of this system. The safety and performance of the road system depend on the ongoing activity of road maintenance management. For it to be effective, it is necessary to intervene before the degradation has caused irreparable damage or damage with a high economic cost of repairs. Investments in road infrastructure during 2006-2014 show that the life of these projects presents problems related to the maintenance and management of life cycle performance in a wide range of constituent elements. Maintenance planning includes various problems that depend on the degree of degradation of asphalt layers, the degree of damage to road structures (bridges, tunnels, culverts, and the economic planning of resources for their repair). The purpose of this study is first to provide a brief overview of the problems in the field of maintenance and life cycle management of road infrastructure investments, proposing ways to reorganize the sector of administration and maintenance of ongoing roads and secondly testing and evaluating the work and nature of standards of different types of road infrastructure projects, through a methodology consisting of a) development, b) data collection, and c) analysis.

Keywords: infrastructure, maintenance, depreciation, efficiency

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Authors: Carly Nesvat, Dominic Jarrett, Colin Thomson, Wilma Coltart, Thelma Bowers, Jan Thomson

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Introduction: Within Scotland, the Same As You strategy committed to moving people with learning disabilities out of long-stay hospital accommodation into homes in the community. Much of the focus of this movement was on the placement of people within individual homes. In order to achieve this, potentially excessive supports were put in place which created dependence, and carried significant ongoing cost primarily for local authorities. The greater focus on empowerment and community participation which has been evident in more recent learning disability strategy, along with the financial pressures being experienced across the public sector, created an imperative to re-examine that provision, particularly in relation to the use of expensive sleepover supports to individuals, and the potential for this to be appropriately scaled back through the use of telecare. Method: As part of a broader programme of redesigning overnight supports within North Ayrshire, a cluster of individuals living in close proximity were identified, who were in receipt of overnight supports, but who were identified as having the capacity to potentially benefit from their removal. In their place, a responder service was established (an individual staying overnight in a nearby service user’s home), and a variety of telecare solutions were placed within individual’s homes. Active and passive technology was connected to an Alarm Receiving Centre, which would alert the local responder service when necessary. Individuals and their families were prepared for the change, and continued to be informed about progress with the pilot. Results: 4 individuals, 2 of whom shared a tenancy, had their sleepover supports removed as part of the pilot. Extensive data collection in relation to alarm activation was combined with feedback from the 4 individuals, their families, and staff involved in their support. Varying perspectives emerged within the feedback. 3 of the individuals were clearly described as benefitting from the change, and the greater sense of independence it brought, while more concerns were evident in relation to the fourth. Some family members expressed a need for greater preparation in relation to the change and ongoing information provision. Some support staff also expressed a need for more information, to help them understand the new support arrangements for an individual, as well as noting concerns in relation to the outcomes for one participant. Conclusion: Developing a telecare response in relation to a cluster of individuals was facilitated by them all being supported by the same care provider. The number of similar clusters of individuals being identified within North Ayrshire is limited. Developing other solutions such as a response service for redesign will potentially require greater collaboration between different providers of home support, as well as continuing to explore the full range of telecare, including digital options. The pilot has highlighted the need for effective preparatory and ongoing engagement with staff and families, as well as the challenges which can accompany making changes to long-standing packages of support.

Keywords: challenges, change, engagement, telecare

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Authors: S. M. Amin Hosseini, Ana Blanco, Albert De La Fuente, Sergio Cavalaro

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In emergency situations, it is fundamental to provide with a safe shelter to the population affected. However, the lack of resources and short time often represent a barrier difficult to overcome. A sustainable, rapid and low-cost construction technique is earthbag construction. This technique has spread as an alternative to the construction of emergency shelter, social housing, and even ecovillages. The earthbag construction consists of introducing soil in degradable bags that are stacked to form adobe structures. The present study aims to assess characteristics of the earthbag construction technique based on sustainability requirements and features of other methods used for temporary housing. In this case, after defining the sustainability criteria and emergency situation necessities, this study compares earthbag construction with other types of prefabricated temporary housing. Finally, the most suitable conditions for applying this technique based on the particular local properties and second life scenarios of superadobe temporary housing. The results of the study contribute to promote the earthbag and superadobe techniques as sustainable alternatives for temporary housing. However, the sustainability index of this technology highly depends on affected local conditions and characteristics. Consequently, in order to achieve a high sustainability index, emergency managers need to decide about this technology based on the highlighted results of this study, attention to the importance of specific local conditions and next functions of temporary housing.

Keywords: temporary housing, temporary shelter, earthbag, superadobe, sustainability, emergency

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Authors: Isaac Kwaku Adu, Jacob Doku Tetteh, John Joseph Puthenkalam, Kwabena Effah Antwi

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The continuous increase in population implies increase in food demand. There is, therefore, the need to increase agricultural production and other forest products to ensure food security and economic development. This paper employs the three-level intensity analysis to assess the total change of land-use in two-time intervals (1986-2002 and 2002-2017), the net change and swap as well as gross gains and losses in the two intervals. The results revealed that the overall change in the 31-year period was greater in the second period (2002-2017). Agriculture and forest categories lost in the first period while the other land class gained. However, in the second period agriculture and built-up increased greatly while forest, water bodies and thick bushes/shrubland experienced loss. An assessment revealed a reduction of forest in both periods but was greater in the second period and expansion of agricultural land was recorded as population increases. The pixels gaining built-up targeted agricultural land in both intervals, it also targeted thick bushes/shrubland and waterbody in the second period only. Built-up avoided forest in both intervals as well as waterbody and thick bushes/shrubland. To help in developing the best land-use strategies/policies, a further validation of the social factors is necessary.

Keywords: agricultural land, forest, Ghana, land-use, intensity analysis, remote sensing

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Authors: Fouzia Khanam, Belal Hossain, Kaosar Afsana, Mahfuzar Rahman

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Aim: Although cardiovascular diseases (CVD) has already been recognized as a major cause of death in developed countries, its prevalence is rising in developing countries as well, and engendering a challenge for the health sector. Bangladesh has experienced an epidemiological transition from communicable to non-communicable diseases over the last few decades. So, the rising prevalence of CVD and its risk factors are imposing a major problem for the country. We aimed to examine the prevalence of CVDs and socioeconomic and lifestyle factors related to it from a population-based survey. Methods: The data used for this study were collected as a part of a large-scale cross-sectional study conducted to explore the overall health status of children, mothers and senior citizens of Bangladesh. Multistage cluster random sampling procedure was applied by considering unions as clusters and households as the primary sampling unit to select a total of 11,428 households for the base survey. Present analysis encompassed 12338 respondents of ≥ 35 years, selected from both rural areas and urban slums of the country. Socio-economic, demographic and lifestyle information were obtained through individual by a face-to-face interview which was noted in ODK platform. And height, weight, blood pressure and glycosuria were measured using standardized methods. Chi-square test, Univariate modified Poisson regression model, and multivariate modified Poisson regression model were done using STATA software (version 13.0) for analysis. Results: Overall, the prevalence of CVD was 4.51%, of which 1.78% had stroke and 3.17% suffered from heart diseases. Male had higher prevalence of stroke (2.20%) than their counterparts (1.37%). Notably, thirty percent of respondents had high blood pressure and 5% population had diabetes and more than half of the population was pre-hypertensive. Additionally, 20% were overweight, 77% were smoker or consumed smokeless tobacco and 28% of respondents were physically inactive. Eighty-two percent of respondents took extra salt while eating and 29% of respondents had deprived sleep. Furthermore, the prevalence of risk factor of CVD varied according to gender. Women had a higher prevalence of overweight, obesity and diabetes. Women were also less physically active compared to men and took more extra salt. Smoking was lower in women compared to men. Moreover, women slept less compared to their counterpart. After adjusting confounders in modified Poisson regression model, age, gender, occupation, wealth quintile, BMI, extra salt intake, daily sleep, tiredness, diabetes, and hypertension remained as risk factors for CVD. Conclusion: The prevalence of CVD is significant in Bangladesh, and there is an evidence of rising trend for its risk factors such as hypertension, diabetes especially in older population, women and high-income groups. Therefore, in this current epidemiological transition, immediate public health intervention is warranted to address the overwhelming CVD risk.

Keywords: cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, hypertension, stroke

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Authors: Yuan Fang, Wang-Ming Li, Yi-Chen Ruan

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Rural healthy old-age care for urban elderly who go to surrounding villages on vacation is a new mode of old-age care in developed coastal areas of China. Such villages that receive urban elderly can be called old-caring villages. Due to the popularity of healthy old-age care in rural areas, more and more urban elderly people participate in the ranks of rural old-age care, resulting in excessive number of tourists in some old-caring villages, exceeding the carrying capacity of the village. Excessive passenger flow may damage the ecological environment, social environment, and facilities environment of the village, and even affect the development potential of the village pension industry. On the basis of on-site investigation and questionnaire survey, this paper summarizes the willingness and behavioral characteristics of the urban elderly population and finds that it will have a certain impact on the old-caring villages in the process of pension vacation in the aspects of ecology, construction, society, and economy. According to the influence of tourists, the paper constructs a system of capacity restriction factors of the old-caring villages, which includes four types: ecological environment capacity, policy environment capacity, perceived congestion capacity, and village service capacity, and fourteen specific indicators. It will provide a theoretical basis for reasonable control of the development scale of the old-caring villages.

Keywords: old-caring villages, restriction factors system, tourists' influence, environmental capacity

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Authors: Kalluru Maheswaramma, Putta Padma

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This study makes an attempt to demonstrate the wondrous world of the upwardly middle black community in Gloria Naylor’s Linden Hills. Gloria Naylor’s first novel The Women of Brewster Place is about the working class and Linden Hills about middle-class Black America. Naylor believes their serenity that is lost in the middle or working class black people as they move into the upper patriarchal society. Naylor challenges the different forms of superiority, homophobia, and chauvinism, interracial bias, and the like, which plague a community so significantly trying to be acceptable in the larger white community. In an ironic twist, Naylor creates characters that recognize their desire for a solid black community but who in reality ignore blackness and negate any emergent sign of its development. Linden Hills is an expose of the wealthy and spiritually dissolute upper class. Linden Hills is an examination of an upper-middle-class African American community in which women are largely exploited or invisible and in which men have, in the course of upward mobility, sacrificed their racial identity and their essence. Linden Hills is a social world, which includes firm stratification, false values, and an immobilizing impact on its residents. Touching a brief note upon the origin and development of African American Literature as well a note on the chosen writer and her works, the paper proceeds to depict the middle-class black community of Linden Hills.

Keywords: gloria naylor, linden hills, African American community, the middle black community

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Authors: Athira Babu, M. Nazeer

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Concrete is the most common and versatile construction material used in any type of civil engineering structure. The durability and strength characteristics of concrete make it more desirable among any other construction materials. The manufacture and use of concrete produces wide range of environmental and social consequences. The major component in concrete, cement accounts for roughly 5 % of global CO2 emissions. In order to improve the environmental friendliness of concrete, suitable substitutes are added to concrete. The present study deals with GGBS and silica fume as supplementary cementitious materials. The strength and durability studies were conducted in this ternary blended concrete. Several mixes were adopted with varying percentages of Silica Fume i.e., 5%, 10% and 15%. Binary mix with 50% GGBS was also prepared. GGBS content has been kept constant for the rest of mixes. There is an improvement in compressive strength with addition of Silica Fume.Maximum workability, split tensile strength, modulus of elasticity, flexural strength and impact resistance are obtained for GGBS binary blend. For durability studies, maximum sulphate resistance,carbonation resistance andresistance to chloride ion penetration are obtained for ternary blended concrete. Partial replacement of GGBS and Silica Fume reduces the environmental effects, produces economical and eco-friendly concrete. The study showed that for strength characteristics, binary blended concrete showed better performance while for durability study ternary blend performed better.

Keywords: concrete, GGBS, silica fume, ternary blend

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Authors: Imran Ullah Imran

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Language contact is a familiar concept in the present global world. Across the globe, languages get mixed up at different levels. Borrowing, code-switching are some of the means through which languages interact. This study examines Pashto-English contact at word and syllable levels. By recording the speech of 30 Pashto native speakers, selected via 'social network' sampling, the study located a number of Pashto-English compound words, which is a unique contact of its kind. In data analysis, tokens were categorized on the basis of their pattern and morphological structure. The study shows that Pashto-English Bilingual Compound words (BCWs) are very prevalent in the Pashto language. The study also found that the BCWs in Pashto are completely productive and have their own meanings. It also shows that the dominant pattern of hybrid words in Pashto is the conjugation of an independent English root word followed by a Pashto inflectional morpheme, which contributes to the core semantic content of the construction. The BCWs construction shows that how both the languages are closer to each other. Pashto-English contact results into bilingual compound and hybrid words, which forms a considerable number of tokens in the present-day spoken Pashto. On the basis of these findings, the study assumes that the same phenomenon may increase with the passage of time that would, in turn, result in the formation of more bilingual compound or hybrid words.

Keywords: code-mixing, bilingual compound words, pashto-english contact, hybrid words, inflectional lexical morpheme

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Authors: Emmanuel Anim

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Ghana has been touted as an oasis of peace in Africa following her relatively peaceful democratic elections, proliferated number of the media, and freedom of speech. Besides, the former Gold Coast country is yet to experience any major incidence of terrorism. Nevertheless, the somewhat occasional simmering violence and conflicts arising from political, religious and chieftaincy skirmishes, largely at its northern part portrays that it is not immune to the political violence of terrorism. The predominantly-based qualitative research reveals that current conditions of socio-politico-economic, and religious issues in Ghana places the West African country on the possible sidelines of the phenomenon of terrorism, when its status quo is juxtaposed with the factors enumerated to have culminated in the rise of Boko Haram, and its accompanying insurgency in Nigeria. Arguing from the perspective of the theory of Social Movement, the analyses and discussions note that the current state of affairs in Ghana could foster domestic terrorism in the country. What is more, the research shows that Ghana faces threats from transnational terrorism given the tendency for elements in Ghana to sympathize and subscribe to the ideological dictates and appeals from Boko Haram and other terrorist organizations. As a consequence, the study recommends that adverse conditions of poverty, poor governance, unemployment, and rising levels of (Islamic) religious radicalization should be remedied by economic improvements, good governance, job creation, and de-radicalization programs by government officials to aid mitigate the incidence of terrorism in the country.

Keywords: Boko Haram, Ghana, Nigeria, terrorism

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Authors: Mohammad Mirzaei

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The term "modernism" is at the heart of debates about 20th-century literature and critical theory. Astradur Eysteinsson argues here that the notion of modernity does not emerge directly from the literature it encompasses but is actually a product of critical practices related to non-traditional literature. By intervening in and relating them to modernist works and contemporary literary theories, Esteinsson takes a comprehensive look at the idea of modernity. Eysteinsson critically examines various expressions of modernism in the rich spectrum of American, British, and European literature, criticism, and theory. He first explored a number of modernist paradigms and found a conflict between modernism's potential for cultural subversion and its relatively conservative status as a formalist project. In turn, he sees these paradigms as interpretations and inventions of literary history. Seen in this way, modernism presents both a historical change in the literary scene and the context of this change. Imbued with the connotations of tradition and modernity, modernity fulfills its primary function. Highlights and defines the complex relationship between history and post-realist literature. Eysteinsson focuses on how concepts of modernism guide our understanding of literature and literary history and how they influence the evaluation of experimental and 3post realist works in literature and art. He discusses in detail the relationship between modernism and the key terms postmodernism, avant-garde, and realism. In staging a crisis of subject and reference, modernity is not a form of discourse but its subversion, the "other" that may reveal important aspects of our social and linguistic experience in Western culture.

Keywords: literature, modernism, western cultures, postmodernism

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Authors: Fahimeh Khatami, Elham Sanagar Darbani, Behnosh Khir Khah, R.Khatami

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Rural and ruralism is one of the residential forms that form in special natural areas, and the Interaction between their internal and external forces cause developments and changes that are different in time and space. Over time, historical developments, social and economic changes in the political system cause developments and rapid growth of the rural to urban settlements. However, criteria for recognizing rural settlements to the city are different in every land. One of the problems in modern plan is inattention to indicators and criteria of changing these settlements to the city. The method of this research is a type of applied and compilation research and library and field methods are used in it. And also qualitative and quantitative indicators have been provided while collecting documents and studies from rural districts like Dehnow, Virani, Abardeh, Zoshk, Nowchah, Jaqarq in tourism area of Mashhad. In this research, the used tool is questionnaire and for analyzing quantitative variables by Morris and Mac Granahan examination, the importance of each factor and the development settlements are evaluated, and the rural that can convert to the city was defined. In result, according to Askalvgram curve obtained from analysis, it was found that among the mentioned villages, Virani and Nowchah rural districts have this ability to convert to the city; Zoshk rural district will be converting to the city in future and Dehnow, Abardeh and Jaqarq rural districts won’t be converting.

Keywords: rural settlements, city, indicators, Torqabe and Shandiz rural districts

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Authors: Md. Shafiullah

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This study delves into the evolving landscape of urban childcare in Bangladesh, focusing on the experiences and challenges faced by parents in Dhaka city. This paper argues that the traditional childcare arrangement of city families is inadequate to meet the development needs of children. The study aims to explore the childcare challenges faced by urban parents as they transition from traditional family-based childcare networks to alternative caregiving arrangements amidst urbanization, economic shifts, and social transformations. Utilizing a mixed-method research approach, combining quantitative surveys (n = 200) and four qualitative interviews, the research examines the parental viewpoints on childcare practices and the role of societal norms and values. The study finds childcare crises in both the family and daycare settings. In family care, caregiving suffers from the less availability of grandparents, a lack of skills of caregivers, and a lack of child interaction. As for the daycare, it is affected by the absence of appropriate policies, a lack of quality, health and safety concerns, affordability issues, and cultural concerns. Additionally, the study highlights inadequacies in childcare policies and regulatory frameworks, calling for comprehensive reforms to address the childcare vacuum in urban areas. By shifting the focus from developed to developing countries, this study contributes to the literature and suggests policy implications for Bangladesh and beyond.

Keywords: childcare, child development, childcare policy, daycare, Bangladesh

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Authors: Vilasinee Jintalikhitdee, Saowapa Phaithayawat

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The research on “The Way of Life of the Civil Servant Community under the Bureau of the Royal Household” aims to study 1) the way of life of the people who live in the civil servant community in Tha Wasukri, and 2) the model of community administration of civil servants under the Bureau of the Royal Household. This research is conducted qualitatively and quantitatively by collecting data from interviews, focus group discussion, participant and non-participant observation along with the data from the questionnaire based on age groups which include elder group, working age group and youth group. The result of the research shows that the origin of this community is related to the history during the Rama V’s reign. It has been a harbor for the king to boat in any royal ceremonies; this custom is still maintained until today. The status or position of person who serves the king in terms of working is often inherited from the bureau of the Royal Household based on his/her consanguinity and, hence, further receives the rights to live in the Tha Wasukri area. Therefore, this community has some special characteristics demonstrating the way of living influenced by the regulation of the Bureau of the Royal Household such as respecting elders and interdependence in which there is internal social organization with the practice of bureaucracy in going in and out the community. The person who has rights to live here must be friendly to everybody so that this community will be a safe place for lives and property. The administration based on the model of Bangkok for local administration was used as an external structure only, but the way of living still follows the practice of the Bureau of the Royal Household.

Keywords: way of life, community, Tha Wasukri, Bureau of the Royal Household

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Authors: Vijayabhaskar Reddy Kandula, Peter Provost Taillac, Balasubramanya M. A., Ram Krishnan Nair, Gokul Toshnival, Vibhu Dhawan, Vijaya Karanam, Buffy Cramer

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Introduction: The lack of Emergency Care Services (ECS) is a cause of extensive and serious public health problems in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC), Many LMIC countries have ambulance services that allow timely transfer of ill patients but due to poor care during the ‘Golden Hour’ many deaths occur which are otherwise preventable. Lack of adequate training as evidenced by a study in India is a major reason for poor care during the ‘Golden Hour’. Adapting developed country models which includes staffing specialty-trained doctors in emergency care, is neither feasible nor guarantees cost-effective ECS. Methods: Based on our assessment and felt needs by first-line doctors providing emergency care in 2014, Rajiv Gandhi Health Sciences University’s JeevaRaksha Trust in partnership with the University of Utah, USA, designed, piloted and successfully implemented a 4-day Comprehensive-Emergency Care and Life Support course (C-ECLS) for allopathic doctors. 1730 doctors completed the 4-day course between June 2014 and December- 2020. Subsequently, we conducted a survey to investigate the utilization rates and usefulness of the training. 1662 were contacted but only 309 completed the survey. The respondents had the following designations: Senior faculty (33%), junior faculty (25), Resident (16%), Private-Practitioners (8%), Medical-Officer (16%) and not-working (11%). 51% were generalists (51%) and the rest were specialists (>30 specialties). Results: 97% (271/280) felt they are better doctors because of C-ECLS. 79% (244/309) reported that training helped to save life- specialists more likely than generalists (91% v/s 68%. P<0.05). 64% agreed that they were confident of managing COVID-19 symptomatic patients better because of C-ECLS. 27% (77) were neutral; 9% (24) disagreed. 66% agreed that training helps to be confident in managing COVID-19 critically ill patients. 26% (72) were neutral; 8% (23) disagreed. Frequency of use of C-ECLS skills: Hemorrhage-control (70%), Airway (67%), circulation skills (62%), Safe-transport and communication (60%), managing critically ill patients (58%), cardiac arrest (51%), Trauma (49%), poisoning/animal bites/stings (44%), neonatal-resuscitation (39%), breathing (36%), post-partum-hemorrhage and eclampsia (35%). Among those who used the skills, the majority (ranging from (88%-94%) reported that they were able to apply the skill more effectively because of ECLS training. Conclusion: JeevaRaksha’s C-ECLS is the world’s first comprehensive training. It improves the confidence of front-line doctors and enables them to provide quality care during the ‘Golden Hour’ of emergency. It also prepares doctors to manage unknown emergencies (e.g., COVID-19). C-ECLS was piloted in Morocco, and Uzbekistan and implemented countrywide in Bhutan. C-ECLS is relevant to most settings and offers a replicable model across LMIC.

Keywords: comprehensive emergency care and life support, training, capacity building, low- and middle-income countries, developing countries

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Authors: Elkington Sibusiso Mnguni

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In South Africa, mining has been a key economic sector since the discovery of gold in 1886 in the Witwatersrand region, where the city of Johannesburg is located. However, some mines have since been decommissioned, and the continuous pumping of acid mine drainage (AMD) also stopped causing the AMD to rise towards the ground surface. This posed a serious environmental risk to the groundwater resources and river systems in the region. This paper documents the development and extent of the environmental damage as well as the measures implemented by the government to alleviate such damage. The study will add to the body of knowledge on the subject of AMD treatment to prevent environmental degradation. The method used to gather and collate relevant data and information was the desktop study. The key findings include the social and environmental impact of the AMD, which include the pollution of water sources for domestic use leading to skin and other health problems and the loss of biodiversity in some areas. It was also found that the technical intervention of constructing a plant to pump and treat the AMD using the high-density sludge technology was the most effective short-term solution available while a long-term solution was being explored. Some successes and challenges experienced during the implementation of the project are also highlighted. The study will be a useful record of the current status of the AMD treatment interventions in the region.

Keywords: acid mine drainage, groundwater resources, pollution, river systems, technical intervention, high density sludge

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Authors: Sylvia Graczka

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Waste related environmental problems are not only exploding but are also spotlighted for capacity shortages in recycling, as China announced its ban on waste imports. According to the waste hierarchy, prevention is the primary solution for waste, and also the cheapest. Waste related environmental pollution as externality puts an ever-growing burden on communities bearing the social costs. Economic policies often claim to be pro-environment, this often appears only theoretically, or at the level of principles. There are few concrete occurrences of tools in economic policies, such as green taxes, that are truly effective in stimulating the shift towards waste reduction. The paper presents theoretical economic policy tools based on literature review, and case studies on applied economic policy tools by analyzing policy papers, strategies in force, in line with ‘polluter pays’ and ‘extended producer responsibility’ principles. The study also emphasizes the differences between the broader notion of waste reduction and that of waste minimization, parallel to the difference between resource efficiency and resource savings. It also puts the issue in the context of neoclassical environmental economics and ecological economics, to present alternatives in approach. The research concludes in identifying effective economic policy tools that support the reduction of material use, and the prevention of waste. Consumer and producer awareness of waste problems and consciousness related to their choices are inevitable to make economic policy tools work effectively.

Keywords: economic policy, producer responsibility, resource efficiency, waste prevention

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Authors: Emiljan Karma

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One of the major problems of the present is young people who are not concerned with employment, education, or training (NEETs). Unfortunately, this group of people in Albania is a considerable part of working-age people, and despite the measures taken, they remain a major problem. NEETs in Albania are very heterogeneous. This is since youth unemployment and inactivity rate are at a very high level (Albania has the highest NEET rate among EU candidates/potential candidates’ countries and EU countries); the high level of NEET rate in Albania means that government agencies responsible for labour market regulation and other social actors interested in the phenomenon (representatives of employees, representatives of employers, non-governmental organizations, etc.) did not effectively materialize the policies in the field of youth employment promotion. The National Agency for Employment and Skills (NAES) delivers measures specifically designed to target unemployed youth, being the key stakeholder in the implementation of employment policies and skills development in Albania. In the context of identifying and assisting NEETs, this role becomes even stronger. The experience of different EU countries (e.g., Youth Guarantee) indicates that there are different policy-making structures and various outreach mechanisms for constraining the youth NEET phenomenon. The purpose of this research is to highlight: (1) The identification of NEETs feature in Albania; (2) The identification of tailored and efficient outreach mechanisms to assist vulnerable NEETs; (3) The fundamental importance of stakeholders’ partnership at central and regional level.

Keywords: labor market, NEETs, non-registered NEETs, unemployment

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Authors: Solomon Ojo

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The study set out to investigate the role of perceived leadership style on achievement motivation of selected bank employees. The study was a cross-sectional survey. A total of 585 bank workers took part in the study; 283 (48.4%) were males while 302% (51.6%) were females. Mean age of 31.8 yrs (SD = 7.8 yrs) was reported for the participants for the study. Questionnaires were used for data collection. Data was analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistic. The t- test for independent measures was used to test all the hypotheses, using the statistical package for social sciences version 21.0. The results in the study revealed that bank employees who perceived their leaders as high on consideration style of leadership reported more job satisfaction than bank employees who perceived their leaders as low on consideration style of leadership [t(583) = 16.43, p<.001]; bank employees who perceived their leaders as high in initiating structure style reported more job satisfaction than bank employees who perceived their leaders as low in initiating structure style [t(583)=12.06, p<.01]. The results showed further the influence of perceived leadership styles on all measures of job satisfaction. First, the result showed that bank employees who perceived their leaders as high on consideration style reported more satisfaction with hours worked each day than bank employees who perceived their leaders as low on consideration style [t(583) = 9.23, p<.01]. Second, the results revealed that bank employees who perceived their leaders as high on consideration style reported more satisfaction with flexibility in scheduling than bank employees who perceived their leaders as low on consideration style [t(583) = 8.80, p<.01]. Third, it was shown that bank employees who perceived their leaders as high on consideration style reported more satisfaction with location of work than bank employees who perceived their leaders as low on consideration style [t(583) = 14.17, p<.01] e.t.c. The results were extensively discussed in relation to relevant body of literature.

Keywords: leadership styles, job satisfaction, bank employees, perceived

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Authors: Vijay Marisetty, Poonam Singh

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Research on the effect of director's network connections on investor welfare is inconclusive. Some studies suggest that directors' connections are beneficial, in terms of, improving earnings information, firms valuation for new investors. On the other hand, adverse effects of directorial networks are also reported, in terms of higher earnings management, options back dating fraud, reduction in firm performance, lower board monitoring. From regulatory perspective, the role of directorial networks on corporate welfare is crucial. Cognizant of the possible ill effects associated with directorial networks, large investors, for better representation on the boards, are building their own database of prospective directors who are highly qualified, however, sourced from outside the highly connected directorial labor market. For instance, following Dodd-Frank Reform Act, California Public Employees' Retirement Systems (CalPERs) has initiated a database for registering aspiring and highly qualified directors to nominate them for board seats (proxy access). Our paper stems from this background and tries to explore the chances of outside directors getting directorships who lack established network connections. The paper is able to identify such aspiring directors' information by accessing a unique Indian data sourced from an online portal that aims to match the supply of registered aspirants with the growing demand for outside directors in India. The online portal's tie-up with stock exchanges ensures firms to access the new pool of directors. Such direct access to the background details of aspiring directors over a period of 10 years, allows us to examine the chances of aspiring directors without corporate network, to enter directorial network. Using this resume data of 16105 aspiring corporate directors in India, who have no prior board experience in the directorial labor market, the paper analyses the entry dynamics in corporate directors' labor market. The database also allows us to investigate the value of corporate network by comparing non-network new entrants with incumbent networked directors. The study develops measures of network centrality and network degree based on merit, i.e. network of individuals belonging to elite educational institutions, like Indian Institute of Management (IIM) or Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) and based on job or company, i.e. network of individuals serving in the same company. The paper then measures the impact of these networks on the appointment of first time directors and subsequent appointment of directors. The paper reports the following main results: 1. The likelihood of becoming a corporate director, without corporate network strength, is only 1 out 100 aspirants. This is inspite of comparable educational background and similar duration of corporate experience; 2. Aspiring non-network directors' elite educational ties help them to secure directorships. However, for post-board appointments, their newly acquired corporate network strength overtakes as their main determinant for subsequent board appointments and compensation. The results thus highlight the limitations in increasing board diversity.

Keywords: aspiring corporate directors, board diversity, director labor market, director networks

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