Search results for: health justice and access

Authors: Mohsen Shahbakhti

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The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between self-esteem, social support and mental health in a sample of government high school students in Eshtehard city in Alborz Province in Iran. Three hundred and eleven students (boys) were included in this study. All participants completed the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ 12), Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS -12), and Self-Esteem Scale (SS-10). The results revealed that self-esteem was positively associated with social support. Self-esteem and social support negatively associated with psychological distress. Self-esteem and social support to influence on mental health.

Keywords: self-esteem, social support, mental health, high school students

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Authors: Ceren Akyüz, Ingo Froboese

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Health literacy has gained importance with the further spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) worldwide and has been associated with health status in various chronic diseases. Many studies indicate that mental health can be improved by low- or moderate-intensity activity, and several studies have been proposed to explain the relationship between physical activity and mental health. The aim of the present study is to investigate the levels of physical activity, health literacy, and depression in first- and- second generation Turkish people in Germany. The research consists of 434 participants (255 females, 179 males; age 38.09 ± 13.73). 40.8 % of participants are married, and 59.2 % of participants are single. Education levels are mostly at university level (54.8 %), and graduate level is 18.9 %. While 24.9 % of the participants are second generation, 75.1 % of participants are first generation. All analyses were stratified on gender, marital status, education, generation and income status, and five age categories: 18–30, 31–40, 41–50, 51–60, and 61–79, which were defined to account for age-specific trends while maintaining sufficient cell size for statistical analysis. A correlation of depression with physical activity and health literacy levels between first- and- second generation Turks in Germany was evaluated in order to find out whether there are significant differences between the two populations and demographic variables (gender, marital status, education, generation, income status) with carrying out questionnaires which are European Health Literacy Survey Questionnaire (HLS-EU-Q47), International Physical Activity Questionnaire ( IPAQ) and the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9).

Keywords: health literacy, turks in germany, migrants, depression, physical activity

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Authors: S. Roman

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This qualitative study used semi-structured interviews with three Canadian educators to examine peace-based pedagogies used in varied teaching contexts and the degree to which the teaching strategies implemented were aligned with goals of peace-keeping, peace-making or peace-building in the classroom. In this research, the teachers’ peace-oriented pedagogy was influenced by various strands of peace education theory, and as such shaped their conceptualization of ‘peace’. The study’s result shows that when educators implemented government-mandated curriculum, they worked around it and/or added content that increased opportunities for democratic peacebuilding. In addition, all three teachers also strengthened their peace-oriented practice by incorporating conflict resolution skills in and outside the classroom to augment a common social-justice oriented goal for peace-making and peace-keeping and made various distinctions around the conditions necessary for peace-building.

Keywords: citizenship, peace-building education, peace-building curriculum, pedagogy

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Authors: Sharifah Sumayyah Engku Alwi, Masrah Azrifah Azmi Murad

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The development of the information technology and Internet has been transforming the healthcare industry. The internet is continuously accessed to seek for health information and there are variety of sources, including search engines, health websites, and social networking sites. Providing more and better information on health may empower individuals, however, ensuring a high quality and trusted health information could pose a challenge. Moreover, there is an ever-increasing amount of information available, but they are not necessarily accurate and up to date. Thus, this paper aims to provide an insight of the models and frameworks related to online health information seeking of consumers. It begins by exploring the definition of information behavior and information seeking to provide a better understanding of the concept of information seeking. In this study, critical factors such as performance expectancy, effort expectancy, and social influence will be studied in relation to the value of seeking health information. It also aims to analyze the effect of age, gender, and health status as the moderator on the factors that influence online health information seeking, i.e. trust and information quality. A preliminary survey will be carried out among the health professionals to clarify the research problems which exist in the real world, at the same time producing a conceptual framework. A final survey will be distributed to five states of Malaysia, to solicit the feedback on the framework. Data will be analyzed using SPSS and SmartPLS 3.0 analysis tools. It is hoped that at the end of this study, a novel framework that can improve online health information seeking is developed. Finally, this paper concludes with some suggestions on the models and frameworks that could improve online health information seeking.

Keywords: information behavior, information seeking, online health information, technology acceptance model, the theory of planned behavior, UTAUT

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Authors: Brajesh

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Introduction: It is generally believed that women's lack power to making decision may restrict their use of modern contraceptives practices. However, few studies have examined the different dimensions of women's empowerment and contraceptive use in Asian content. Pervasive gendered inequities and norms regarding the subordination of women give Asian men disproportionately more power than women, particularly in relation to the sex. We hypothesize that lack of sexual empowerment may pose an important barrier to reproductive health and adoption of family planning methods. Using the Demographic Health Survey, we examine the association between women’s sexual empowerment and contraceptive use in Nepal, Bangladesh and Pakistan. Objectives: To understand the trend and pattern of contraceptive choices and use among women due to sexual empowerment in selected south Asian countries. To examine the association between women’s sexual empowerment and contraceptive practices among non-pregnant married and partnered women in Nepal, Bangladesh and Pakistan. Methods: Data came from the latest round of Demographic and Health Surveys conducted between 2010-12 in and during deacde1990 -92 in Nepal, Bangladesh and Pakistan. Responses from married or cohabiting women aged 15-49 years were analyzed for six dimensions of empowerment and the current use of female-only methods or couple of methods. Bi-variate and multivariate multinomial regressions were used to identify associations between the empowerment dimensions and method use. Results: Positive associations were found between the overall empowerment score and method use in all countries (relative risk ratios, 1.1-1.3). In multivariate analysis, household economic decision-making was associated with the use of either female-only or couple methods (relative risk ratios -1. 1 for all), as was agreement on fertility preferences (RRR-1.3-1.6) and the ability to negotiate sexual activity (RRR -1. 1-1.2). In Bangladesh, women's negative attitudes toward domestic violence were correlated with the use of couple of methods (RRR -1. 1). Increasing levels of sexual empowerment were found to be associated with use of contraceptives, even after adjusting for demographic predictors of contraceptive use. This association is moderated by the wealth. Formal education, increasing wealth, and being in an unmarried partnership are associated with contraceptive use, whereas women who identify as being Muslim are less likely to use contraceptives than those who identify as being Hindus or other. These findings suggest that to achieve universal access to reproductive health services, gendered disparities in sexual empowerment, particularly among economically disadvantaged women, need to be better addressed. Conclusions: Intervention programs aimed at increasing contraceptive use may need to involve different approaches, including promoting couples' discussion of fertility preferences and family planning, improving women's self-efficacy in negotiating sexual activity and increasing their economic independence. Policies are needed to encourage the rural families to give their girls a chance of attending higher level education and professional course so that can get a better job opportunity and can economically support their family as son are expected to do.

Keywords: reproductive and child health (RCH), relative risk ratios (RRR), demographic and health survey (DHS), women’s sexual empowerment (WSE)

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Authors: Jeremiah Madzimure

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In order to stay competitive in business and improve performance, Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) need to make use of business networking and logistics integration. Strategic networking and logistics integration in business companies have become critical as they allow supplier partnering, exchange of vital information/ access to valuable resources allowing innovation, gaining access to additional resources, sharing risks and costs which is required for enhancing company performance. The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of strategic networks and logistics integration on company performance: the case of small and medium enterprises in South Africa. A quantitative research design was adopted in this study, and 137 SMEs owners and managers completed and returned the survey questionnaire. Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) was conducted using the Analysis of Moment Structures (AMOS), version 24.0 to assess psychometric properties of the measurement scales. Path modelling techniques were used to test the proposed hypothesis. Three research hypotheses were postulated. The results indicate that strategic networks had a positive and significant influence on logistics integration and company performance. As well logistics integration had a strong positive and significant influence on company performance. This study provides a useful model for analysing the relationship between strategic networks and logistics integration on company performance. Moreover, the findings of the study provide useful insights into how SMEs should benefit from business networking and logistics integration so as to improve their performance. The implications of the study are discussed, and finally, limitations and recommendations are indicated.

Keywords: strategic networking, logistics integration, company performance, SMEs

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Authors: Thossaporn Thossansin

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This paper presents the developing of a mobile application for students who are studying in a Faculty of Information Technology, Rangsit University (RSU), Thailand. RSU enhanced the enrollment process by leveraging its information systems, which allows students to download RSU APP. This helps students to access RSU’s information that is important for them. The reason to have a mobile application is to give support students’ ability to access the system at anytime, anywhere and anywhere. The objective of this paper was to develop an application on iOS platform for students who are studying in Faculty of Information Technology, Rangsit University, Thailand. Studies and learns student’s perception for a new mobile app. This paper has targeted a group of students who is studied in year 1-4 in the faculty of information technology, Rangsit University. This new application has been developed by the department of information technology, Rangsit University and it has generally called as RSU APP. This is a new mobile application development for RSU, which has useful features and functionalities in giving support to students. The core module has consisted of RSU’s announcement, calendar, event, activities, and ebook. The mobile app has developed on iOS platform that is related to RSU’s policies in giving free Tablets for the first year students. The user satisfaction is analyzed from interview data that has 81 interviews and Google application such as google form is taken into account for 122 interviews. Generally, users were satisfied to-use application with the most satisfaction at the level of 4.67. SD is 0.52, which found the most satisfaction in that users can learn and use quickly. The most satisfying is 4.82 and SD is 0.71 and the lowest satisfaction rating in its modern form, apps lists. The satisfaction is 4.01, and SD is 0.45.

Keywords: mobile application, development of mobile application, framework of mobile development, software development for mobile devices

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Authors: Gebrehiwot H., Giorgis Bahita

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Firms in Africa experience less financial market in comparison to other emerging and developed countries, thus lagging behind the rest of the world in terms of innovation and growth. Though there are different factors to be considered, underdeveloped financial systems take the lion's share in hindering firm innovation and growth in Africa. Insufficient capacity to innovate is one of the problems facing African businesses. Moreover, a critical challenge faced by firms in Africa is access to finance and the inability of financially constrained firms to grow. Only little is known about how different sources of finance affect firm innovation and growth in Africa, specifically the formal and informal finance effect on firm innovation and growth. This study's aim is to address this gap by using formal and informal finance for working capital and fixed capital and its role in firm innovation and firm growth using firm-level data from the World Bank enterprise survey 2006-2019 with a total of 5661 sample firms from 14 countries based on available data on the selected variables. Additionally, this study examines factors for accessing credit from a formal financial institution. The logit model is used to examine the effect of finance on a firm’s innovation and factors to access formal finance, while the Ordinary List Square (OLS) regression mode is used to investigate the effect of finance on firm growth. 2SLS instrumental variables are used to address the possible endogeneity problem in firm growth and finance-innovation relationships. A result from the logistic regression indicates that both formal and informal finance used for working capital and investment in fixed capital was found to have a significant positive association with product and process innovation. In the case of finance and growth, finding show that positive association of both formal and informal financing to working capital and new investment in fixed capital though the informal has positive relations to firm growth as measured by sale growth but no significant association as measured by employment growth. Formal finance shows more magnitude of effect on innovation and growth when firms use formal finance to finance investment in fixed capital, while informal finance show less compared to formal finance and this confirms previous studies as informal is mainly used for working capital in underdeveloped economies like Africa. The factors that determine credit access: Age, firm size, managerial experience, exporting, gender, and foreign ownership are found to have significant determinant factors in accessing credit from formal and informal sources among the selected sample countries.

Keywords: formal finance, informal finance, innovation, growth

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Authors: Dini Dewi Heniarti

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This One of criminal sanctions that are often imposed by the judge is imprisonment. The issue on the imposition of imprisonment has been subject of contentious debate and criticism among various groups for a long time. In practice, the problematics of imprisonment lead to complicated problems. The impact of the reckless imposition of the imprisonment includes among others overcapacity of the correctional institution and increasing crimes within the correctional facilities. Therefore, there is a need for renewal of the existing condemnation paradigm, considering the developing phenomena associated with the penal imposition. Imprisonment as one element of the Indonesian penal system is an important and integral part of the other elements. The philosophy of the current penal system, which still refers to the Criminal Code, still carries the values of retaliation and fault-finding toward the offender. Therefore, it is important to reconstruct a new thought in order to realize a penal system that is represented in the formulation of a more humanistic criminal sanction

Keywords: criminal code, criminal sanction, Indonesian legal system, reconstruction of thought

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Authors: Ramesh Nagarajappa, Upasana Mohapatra

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Considered a modern phobia, Nomophobia (NO MObile PHOne PhoBIA) is a term that describes the irrational fear or anxiety of being unable to access one’s own mobile phone. Objectives: To develop and validate the nomophobia questionnaire, administering it to a sample of adolescents representing undergraduate dental students. To assess the prevalence of Nomophobia, determine the usage pattern of mobile phones, and evaluate the impact due to lack of access to mobile phones among undergraduate dental students. Methodology: A cross-sectional study was conducted on 302 undergraduate students at Bhubaneswar through a self-administered questionnaire via Google Forms consisting of 19 items evaluating the pattern and anxiety related to usage of mobile phones. Responses were recorded on a 5-point Likert scale. Kruskal Wallis, Mann-Whitney U, and Chi-square tests were used for statistical analysis. Results: Test-Retest reliability showed kappa of k=0.86 and Internal consistency Chronbach’s-Alpha to be α=0.82. Prevalence of nomophobia (score ≥ 58) was 32.1%, and students at risk of being nomophobic (score 39-57) was 61.9%. It was highest in males (32.6%) and amongst the interns (41.9%) and lowest (25.5%) amongst the second-year students. Participants felt nervous/insecure if their phones were away from them because of the fear that somebody might have accessed their data (3.07±1.93) and or tried to contact them (3.09±1.13), which were not statistically significant (p>0.05). Conclusions: Effect of mobile phone on dental students and the fear of not having their phones with them is increasing elaborately, that needs to be controlled, which if not achieved, would negatively hamper their academic performance and their being in the society.

Keywords: addiction, dental students, mobile phone, nomophobia

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Authors: Inemesit Akpan Umoren, Aniekan James Akpan

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Media practitioners and information managers have often erroneously operated on the premise that media messages are received as disseminated to the extent that audiences of whatever background assimilate the content uniformly. This does not subsist since media audiences are often segmented in terms of educational level, social category, place of residence, gender, among others. While those who are highly educated, live in urban areas and are of highest standing are more likely to have direct access to the media, those in the rural areas and of low education and standing, may not have direct or easy access. These, therefore, informed the study to establish the consumption patterns of mass media products by residents of rural communities in south-south, Nigeria. The study, which was anchored on the multi-step flow and social categories theories, adopted a survey research design and a sample of 383 using Mayer’s 1979 guide drawn from nine rural communities in the south-south, Nigeria states of Akwa Ibom, Rivers and Edo. Findings among others showed that while a negligible percentage is highly exposed to media messages of all types, a greater member depend on opinion leaders, social groups, drinking joints, among other such for filtered content. It was concluded that since rural or community media organizations are very vital in ensuring media content get to all audience without necessarily being passing through intermediaries. Among the recommendations was that information managers and media organizations should always have in mind the ruralites while packaging their contents even in the mainstream media.

Keywords: consumption, media, media product, pattern

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Authors: Audie Daniel Wood

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In the spring of 2020, the country and the economy came to a halt due to an outbreak of the novel coronavirus, SARS-2, virus known as COVID-19. One of the hardest hit sectors of the economy was the gig-sector, which includes Lyft, Uber, Door-Dash, and other services. In this study, we examined the effects of the independent contractor status of laborers in this field to see how a near-complete economic shut-down affected the lives of laborers who are denied access to health-care and unemployment benefits due to their status as independent contractors. What the study found was there was no 'life-altering' change to the lives of the workers who used gig-work as supplementary income during the economic shut-down, but those who relied on Lyft and Uber, etc. as their sole source of income were more heavily impacted by the economic shut-down than part-time workers. The second significant finding of the study was that across all genders and races, the idea of having to seek unemployment or help was something that none of the workers wanted. They all felt as if unemployment and social-insurance were for those who could not work. While the findings are not generalizable due to this being a small qualitative study consisting of 27 participants, the findings suggest that the economic and social impact of COVID-19 on those that work in the gig-industry warrants further discussion and research.

Keywords: gig-work, Covid-19, independent contractor, Uber

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Authors: Gabriela R. Silveira, Claudia S. Rocha, Lais S. Vitti, Jeane L. Borges, Helen B. Durgante

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Emerging adulthood occurs after adolescence in a period that maybe be marked by experimentation, identity reconfigurations, labor life demands, and insertion in the work environment, which tends to generate stress and emotional instability. Health promotion programs for the development of strengths and virtues, based on Positive Psychology, for emerging adults are sparse in Brazil. The aim of this study was to evaluate the preliminary effects of an online multi-component Positive Psychology program for the health promotion of emerging adults based on Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and Positive Psychology. The program included six online (synchronous) weekly group sessions of approximately two hours each and homework (asynchronous) activities. The themes worked were Values and self-care/Prudence, Optimism, Empathy, Gratitude, Forgiveness, and Meaning of life and work. This study presents data from a longitudinal, pre-experimental design with pre (T1) and post-test (T2) evaluation in the intervention group. 47 individuals aged between 19-30 years old participated, mean age of 24.53 years (SD=3.13), 37 females (78.7%). 42 (89.4%) self-defined as heterosexual, four (8.5%) as homosexual, and one (2.5%) as bisexual. 33 (70.2%) had incomplete higher education, four (8.5%) completed higher education, and seven (14.9%) had a graduate level of education. 27 participants worked (57.4%), out of which 25 were health workers (53.2%). 14 (29.8%) were caregivers, 27 (57.4%) had a spiritual belief, 36 (76.6%) had access to leisure, and 38 (80.9%) had perceived social support. The instruments used were a sociodemographic questionnaire, the 10-item Perceived Stress Scale, and the 12-item General Health Questionnaire. The program was advertised on social networks and interested participants filled out the Consent Form and the evaluation protocol at T1 and T2 via Google Docs form. The main research was approved (CEP n.1,899,368; 4,143,219; CAAE: 61997516.5.0000.5334) and complied with sanitary and Ethics criteria in research with human beings. Wilcoxon statistics revealed significant improvements in indicators of perceived stress between T1 (X=22.21, SD=6.79) and T2 (X=15.10, SD=5.82); (Z=-4.353; p=0.001) as well as depression and anxiety symptoms (T1:X=26.72, SD=8.84; T2: X=19.23, SD=4.68); (Z=-3.945, p=0.001) of the emerging adults after their participation in the programme. The programme has an innovative character not only for presenting an online Positive Psychology approach but also for being based on an intervention developed, evaluated, and manualized in Brazil. By focusing on emerging adults, this study contributes to advancing research on a relatively new field in developmental studies. As a limitation, this is a pre-experimental and pilot study, requiring an increase in sample size for greater statistical robustness, also qualitative data analysis is crucial for methodological complementarity. The importance of investing efforts to accompany this age group and provide advances in longitudinal research in the area of health promotion and disease prevention is highlighted.

Keywords: emerging adults, disease prevention, health promotion, online program

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Authors: Teresa Smith, Farrah Jacquez

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Health-risk behaviors (e.g., smoking, poor diet) directly increase the risk for chronic disease and morbidity. There is substantial evidence of a negative association between socioeconomic status (SES) and engagement in health-risk behaviors. However, due to the complexity of SES, researchers have suggested looking beyond this factor to fully understand the mechanisms that underlie engagement in health-risk behaviors. Stress is one plausible mechanism through which SES impacts health-risk behaviors. Currently, it remains unclear how stress occurring across the life course might impact health behaviors and explain the association between SES and these behaviors. To address the gaps in the literature, 172 adults between the ages of 18-49 were surveyed about their lifetime stress exposure, sociodemographic variables, and health-risk behaviors via an online recruitment portal, Prolific. Five major findings emerged from the current study. First, SES was negatively associated with engagement in health-risk behaviors and lifetime stress above and beyond current stress and other relevant demographics. Second, lifetime stress was significantly associated with health-risk behaviors above and beyond current stress and relevant demographic variables. Third, lifetime stress fully mediated the association between SES and health-risk behaviors above and beyond current stress and other demographics. Fourth, the severity of stress experienced emerged as the most significant lifetime stress variable that explains the relation between SES and health-risk behaviors. Fifth and finally, lower SES and experiencing financial and legal/crime stressors increased the likelihood of engaging in health-risk behaviors. The current study results align with previous research and suggest that stress occurring over the lifespan impacts the relation between SES and health-risk behaviors, which are in turn known to impact health outcomes. However, our findings move the current literature forward by providing a more nuanced understanding of the specific aspects of stress that influence this association. Specifically, the severity of stress experienced across the entire lifespan was the most important aspect of stress when examining the association between SES and health-risk behaviors. Further, individuals most at risk for engaging in health-risk behaviors are those of the lowest SES and experience financial and legal/crime stressors. These findings have the potential to inform interventions and policies aimed at addressing health-risk behaviors by providing a more sophisticated understanding of the impact of stress.

Keywords: stress, health behaviors, socioeconomic status, health

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Authors: Judith Margaret Tymon

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As cities struggle to incorporate informal settlements into the fabric of urban areas, the focus has often been on the provision of housing. This study explores the underlying structure of street networks, with the goal of understanding the morphogenesis of informal settlements through the lens of the access network. As the stages of development progress from infill to consolidation and eventually, to a planned in-situ settlement, the access networks retain the form of the core segments; however, a majority of street patterns are adapted to a grid design to support infrastructure in the final upgraded phase. A case study is presented to examine the street network in the informal settlement of Gobabis Namibia as it progresses from its initial stages to a planned, in-situ, and permanently upgraded development. The Informal Development Stages framework of foundation, infill, and consolidation, as developed by Dr. Jota Samper, is utilized to examine the evolution of street networks. Data is gathered from historical Google Earth satellite images for the time period between 2003 and 2022. The results demonstrate that during the foundation through infill stages, incremental changes follow similar patterns, with pathways extended, lengthened, and densified as housing is created and the settlement grows. In the final stage of consolidation, the resulting street layout is transformed to support the installation of infrastructure; however, some elements of the original street patterns remain. The core pathways remain intact to accommodate the installation of infrastructure and the creation of housing plots, defining the shape of the settlement and providing the basis of the urban form. The adaptations, growth, and consolidation of the street network are critical to the eventual formation of the spatial layout of the settlement. This study will include a comparative analysis of findings with those of recent research performed by Kamalipour, Dovey, and others regarding incremental urbanism within informal settlements. Further comparisons will also include studies of street networks of well-established urban centers that have shown links between the morphogenesis of access networks and the eventual spatial layout of the city. The findings of the study can be used to guide and inform strategies for in-situ upgrading and can contribute to the sustainable development of informal settlements.

Keywords: Gobabis Namibia, incremental urbanism, informal development stages, informal settlements, street networks

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Authors: Cassi Henderson, Lucia Corsini, Shiv Kapila, Egle Augustaityte, Tsemaye Uwejamomere Zinzan Gurney, Aleyna Yildirim

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Plastic pollution is a major threat to human and planetary health. In Low- and Middle-Income Countries, plastic waste poses a major problem for marginalized populations who lack access to formal waste management systems. This study explores the potential for converting waste plastic into construction blocks. It is the first study to analyze the use of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) as a binder in plastic-sand bricks. Unlike previous studies of plastic sand-bricks, this research tests the properties of bricks that were made using a low-cost kiln technology that was co-designed with a rural, coastal community in Kenya.  The mechanical strength, resistance to fire and water absorption properties of the bricks are tested in this study. The findings show that the bricks meet structural standards for mechanical performance, fire resistance and water absorption. It was found that 30:70 PET to sand demonstrated the best overall performance.

Keywords: recycling, PET, plastic, sustainable construction, sustainable development

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Authors: Chantouch Wannathanom

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Research The study of elders’ needs in Bangkok metropolis for the options of health tourism. The objective is to study of elders’ needs in Bangkok Metropolis for the options of health tourism. The research her collected data using a questionnaire. The samples used in this research is elderly people living in the Dusit area. Of 400 people found the majority were female than male. Accounted for18 percent aged between 50-55 years, mostly undergraduate degree. Moreover, most seniors do not have underlying disease. The study found that 1. Elders’ needs in Bangkok Metropolis for the options of health tourism; 2. Tourism activity patterns that fit elderly was divided into 5 categories, including massage, massage, and herbal sauna. Practicing meditation and ascetic. The results showed that selection of elderly tourist activities by choosing healthy eating are the first. The hypothesis testing period: Elders’ needs in Bangkok Metropolis for the options of health tourism is different. The level of statistical significance .05 level.

Keywords: needs, elder, health tourism, Bangkok

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Authors: Lee Kar Heng

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Activists are people who use strong actions such as public protests or social media accusations in support of or opposition to controversial issues. While activism is the act of using such vigorous campaigns and actions to achieve political or social changes by the activists, today, the pressure and stresses from activism do not only grow in terms of civil rights but also in racial justice, labour reforms, and environmental change, to name a few. Some activism acts are constructive, but many are destructive, and they affect businesses as activists direct their sights on corporations, business entities, and organizations to achieve their supporting objectives beyond reasonable means. The paper attempts to share experiences of businesses being attacked by activists and how the attacks are mitigated. In sharing, this paper will discuss the effectiveness of the activist action and ways to react to them. The positive and negative impacts caused by activists' support action against corporations are also discussed.

Keywords: activism, conflicts, business, social responsibility

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Authors: Leonard Tiong, Sonit Singh, Kevin Ho Shon, Sarah Lewis

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Investigation into the use of artificial intelligence in radiology continues to develop at a rapid rate. During the coronavirus pandemic, the combination of an exponential increase in chest x-rays and unpredictable staff shortages resulted in a huge strain on the department's workload. There is a World Health Organisation estimate that two-thirds of the global population does not have access to diagnostic radiology. Therefore, there could be demand for a program that could detect acute changes in imaging compatible with infection to assist with screening. We generated a conventional neural network and tested its efficacy in recognizing changes compatible with coronavirus infection. Following ethics approval, a deidentified set of 77 normal and 77 abnormal chest x-rays in patients with confirmed coronavirus infection were used to generate an algorithm that could train, validate and then test itself. DICOM and PNG image formats were selected due to their lossless file format. The model was trained with 100 images (50 positive, 50 negative), validated against 28 samples (14 positive, 14 negative), and tested against 26 samples (13 positive, 13 negative). The initial training of the model involved training a conventional neural network in what constituted a normal study and changes on the x-rays compatible with coronavirus infection. The weightings were then modified, and the model was executed again. The training samples were in batch sizes of 8 and underwent 25 epochs of training. The results trended towards an 85.71% true positive/true negative detection rate and an area under the curve trending towards 0.95, indicating approximately 95% accuracy in detecting changes on chest X-rays compatible with coronavirus infection. Study limitations include access to only a small dataset and no specificity in the diagnosis. Following a discussion with our programmer, there are areas where modifications in the weighting of the algorithm can be made in order to improve the detection rates. Given the high detection rate of the program, and the potential ease of implementation, this would be effective in assisting staff that is not trained in radiology in detecting otherwise subtle changes that might not be appreciated on imaging. Limitations include the lack of a differential diagnosis and application of the appropriate clinical history, although this may be less of a problem in day-to-day clinical practice. It is nonetheless our belief that implementing this program and widening its scope to detecting multiple pathologies such as lung masses will greatly assist both the radiology department and our colleagues in increasing workflow and detection rate.

Keywords: artificial intelligence, COVID, neural network, machine learning

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Authors: Fawzia Mohammed Idris

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Zakat is an Islamic procedure for wealth distribution as a social protection mechanism for needy people. This study aimed to assess the possibility to expand the share of fund for national health insurance fund from zakat funds allocated for poor people by measuring the reduction of poverty that result from the investing on direct payment to the needy or by covering them in social health insurance. This study used stata regression as a statistical analysis tool and the finding clarified that there is no significant relationship between the poverty rate as the main indicator and, the number of poor people covered by national health insurance on one hand and the number of benefits poor people from the distribution of zakat fund. This study experienced many difficulties regarding the quality and the consistency of the data. The study suggested that a joint mission between national health insurance fund and zakat chamber to conduct study to assess the efficient use of zakat fund allocated to poor people.

Keywords: health finance, poverty, social health insurance, zakat

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Authors: Dona Ghosh, Zakir Husain

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In India, the increase in share of aged has generated many social and economic issues, of which health concerns is a major challenge that society must confront in coming years. Self-reported health (SRH) is a popular health measure in this regard but has been questioned in recent years due to its heavy dependence on the socioeconomic status. So, the validity of SRH, as a measure of health status during old age, is needed to be verified. This paper emphasizes on the self-reported health and related inconsistent responses among elderly in India. The objective of the study is bifurcated into two parts: firstly, to identify the socioeconomic determinants of subjective health status and its change over time; and secondly, to analyse the role of the socioeconomic components in providing inconsistent responses regarding the health status of elderly. Inconsistency in response can rise in two ways: positive response bias (if an individual has a health problem but reports his/her health as good) and negative response bias (if bad health is reported even if there is no health problem). However, in the present study, we focus only on the negative response bias of elderly individuals. To measure the inconsistencies in responses, self-reported health is compared with two types of physical health conditions – existence of chronicle ailment and physical immobility. Using NSS dataset of 60th and 71st rounds, the study found that subjective health has worsened over time in both rural and urban areas. Findings suggest that inconsistency in responses, related to chronic ailment, vary across social classes, living environments, geographical regions, age groups and education levels. On the contrary, variation in inconsistent responses regarding physical mobility is quite rare and difficult to explain by socioeconomic characteristics because most of the indicators are found to be insignificant in this regard. The findings indicate that in case of chronicle ailment, inconsistency between objective and subjective health status largely depends on socioeconomic conditions but the importance of such factors disappears for physical immobility.

Keywords: India, aging, self-reported health, inconsistent responses

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Authors: Chang Li-Yu

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Aims: This study investigates the impact of psychological capital on the mental health of economically disadvantaged youth and examines whether family cohesion acts as a mediating variable between psychological capital and mental health. Methods: The sample for the study was drawn from the "Taiwan Poverty Children's Database: Survey on the Living Trends of Disadvantaged Children and Youth." The data analysis methods included descriptive statistics, confirmatory factor analysis, and structural equation modeling. Results: The results indicated that both psychological capital and family cohesion can significantly negatively predict mental health, with psychological capital significantly positively predicting family cohesion. The mediation effect analysis revealed that family cohesion fully mediates the relationship between psychological capital and mental health, meaning that psychological capital influences mental health through family cohesion. Recommendations: Based on these findings, the study concretely discusses the significance of psychological capital and family cohesion for the mental health of economically disadvantaged youth and offers suggestions for psychological counseling, therapy, and future research.

Keywords: psychological capital, mental health, economically disadvantaged youth, family cohesion

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Authors: Yan Ding, Fei Yan, Ji Liang, Hong Jiang, Xiaoguang Yang, Xu Qian

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The health status of GonjiKolela District, Amhara Region, Ethiopia is below its national average, and a sub-project of China UK Global Health Support Programme (GHSP) is expected to increase the uptake of a suite of reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health (RMNCH) interventions there. To explore what is on the ground and what could be helpful for the uptake of RMNCH services in GonjiKolela, a qualitative study was performed as part of the baseline assessment before the implementation of the project. Nine key informants from GonjiKolela were interviewed with self-designed interview guides and they were from the district Health Office, health centers, health posts, women health development army (community volunteer groups), mothers of newborns, and also a gynecologist from the maternal and child health center which is the referral center for pregnant women for this project. The interview were transcribed into words and sorted with qualitative analysis software MAXqda. Content analysis was mainly used to analyze the data. The district health office, the health centers and the health posts all had focal persons taking care of the management and provision of RMNCH services, and RMNCH related indicators were recorded and reported at each level routinely. In addition, district government and administration at community/administrative village level kept a close eye on the reduction of maternal, neonatal and child mortality. Women Health Development Amy at household level supported health workers at community/administrative village level (called health extension workers) in tracing, recording and reporting pregnant women, newborn and under-five children,organizing events for health education, demonstrating and leading health promotion activities, and stimulating the utilization of RMNCH.

Keywords: Reproductive Maternal Newborn and Child Health, Health Care Utilization, Qualitative Study, Ethiopia

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Authors: Irene Ludji

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This article discusses the relevance of the sanctuary movement in relation to the idea of solidarity understood through the lens of ethics. There are three parts of this article. First is the investigation on the background of sanctuary movements in the U.S., the UK, and Canada. The repeated theme behind sanctuary movements includes practicing religious traditions, protecting vulnerable life, and challenging the unjust law. Second is the examination of the ethics of solidarity using Thomas D. Williams, who claims it as the extension of responsible love based on respect towards human dignity, and Rebecca Todd Peters, who claims the ethics of solidarity as the transformative ethic rooted in social justice. Third is the analysis of the connection between the central theme of sanctuary movements and the ethics of solidarity. This article concludes that sanctuary movement is indeed a solidarity movement that remains relevant in our world today because the acknowledgment of human dignity, as the basis for solidarity, is vital in transforming an unjust social system that creates the need for a sanctuary in the first place.

Keywords: sanctuary movement, solidarity, ethics, U.S., UK, canada

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Authors: Mbadugha Esther Ifeoma

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Soybeans, like other legumes are rich in nutrients. However, the nutrient profile of soybeans differs in some important ways from most other legumes. Among other nutrients, soy is high in protein, carbohydrates, and fibers, is rich in vitamins, minerals and unsaturated fatty acids and is low in saturated fatty acids. Because of its high nutritional value, it has been rated to be equivalent to meats, eggs and milk. Soy has many health benefits including prevention of coronary heart disease, prevention of cancer growth, improvement of cognitive function, promotion of bone health, prevention of obesity, prevention of type II diabetes and promotion of growth of normal floras in the colon. Soybean consumption is also associated with some side effects which include allergy, flatulence and abdominal discomfort. Nurses/health care providers should therefore, educate clients on the precautionary measures to be taken in preparing soy food products in order to reduce to the barest minimum the side effects, while encouraging them to include soy as part of their daily meals for optimal health and vitality.

Keywords: health benefit, health education, nutritional benefit, soybeans

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Authors: Umar D. M., Aminu A. M., Izaddeen K. Y.

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Deployments of mini macrocell base stations also referred to as femtocells, improve the quality of service of indoor and outdoor users. Nevertheless, mobility management remains a key issue with regards to their deployment. This paper is leaned towards this issue, with an in-depth focus on the most important aspect of mobility management -handover. In handover management, making a handover decision in the LTE two-tier macrocell femtocell network is a crucial research area. Decision algorithms in this research are classified and comparatively analyzed according to received signal strength, user equipment speed, cost function, and interference. However, it was observed that most of the discussed decision algorithms fail to consider cell selection with hybrid access policy in a single macrocell multiple femtocell scenario, another observation was a majority of these algorithms lack the incorporation of user equipment residence parameter. Not including this parameter boosts the number of unnecessary handover occurrence. To deal with these issues, a sophisticated handover decision algorithm is proposed. The proposed algorithm considers the user’s velocity, received signal strength, residence time, as well as the femtocell base station’s access policy. Simulation results have shown that the proposed algorithm reduces the number of unnecessary handovers when compared to conventional received signal strength-based handover decision algorithm.

Keywords: user-equipment, radio signal service, long term evolution, mobility management, handoff

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Authors: Abdullah Alotaiq, David Wallom, Malcolm McCulloch

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This study presents an archetype-based approach to designing effective strategies for low-carbon transitions in the power sector. To achieve global energy transition goals, a renewable energy transition is critical, and understanding diverse energy landscapes across different countries is essential to design effective renewable energy policies and strategies. Using a clustering approach, this study identifies 12 energy archetypes based on the electricity mix, socio-economic indicators, and renewable energy contribution potential of 187 UN countries. Each archetype is characterized by distinct challenges and opportunities, ranging from high dependence on fossil fuels to low electricity access, low economic growth, and insufficient contribution potential of renewables. Archetype A, for instance, consists of countries with low electricity access, high poverty rates, and limited power infrastructure, while Archetype J comprises developed countries with high electricity demand and installed renewables. The study findings have significant implications for renewable energy policymaking and investment decisions, with policymakers and investors able to use the archetype approach to identify suitable renewable energy policies and measures and assess renewable energy potential and risks. Overall, the archetype approach provides a comprehensive framework for understanding diverse energy landscapes and accelerating decarbonisation of the power sector.

Keywords: fossil fuels, power plants, energy transition, renewable energy, archetypes

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Authors: N. Rambabu, H. Gururaj, Reynold Washington, Oommen George

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Motivation: Under the USAID Strengthening Health Outcomes through Private Sector (SHOPS-TB) initiative, Karnataka Health Promotion Trust (KHPT) with technical support of Abt associates is implementing a TB prevention and care model in Karnataka State, South India. KHPT is the interface agency between the public and private sectors, and providers and the target community facilitating early TB case detection and enhancing treatment compliance through private health care providers (pHCP) engagement in RNTCP. The project coverage is 0.84 million urban poor from 663 slums in 12 districts of Karnataka. Problem Statement: India with the highest burden of global TB (26%) and two million cases annually, accounts for approximately one fifth of the global incidence. WHO estimates 300,000 people die from TB annually in India. India expanded the coverage of Directly Observed Treatment, Short-course chemotherapy (DOTS) to the entire country as early as 2006. However, the performance of RNTCP has not been uniform across states. While the national annual new smear-positive (NSP) case notification rate is 53, it is much lower at 47 in Karnataka. A third of TB patients in India reside in urban slums. Approach: Under SHOPS, KHPT actively engages with communities through key opinion leaders and community structures. Interpersonal communication, by Outreach workers through house-to-house visits and at aggregation points, is the primary method used for communication about TB and its management and to increase demand for sputum examination and DOTS. pHCP are mapped, trained and mentored by KHPT. ORWs also provide patient and family counseling on TB treatment, side effects and adherence, screen close contacts of index patients especially children under 6 years of age and screen co-morbidities including HIV, diabetes and malnutrition and risk factors including alcoholism, tobacco use, occupational hazards making appropriate accompanied or documented referrals. A treatment ‘buddy’ system for the patients involving close friends or family members, ICT-based support, DOTS Prerana (inspiration) groups of TB patients, family members and community, DOTS Mitra (friend) helpline services are also used for care and support services. Results: The intervention educated 39988 slum dwellers, referred 1731 chest symptomatics, tested 1061 patients and initiated 248 patients on anti-TB treatment within three months of intervention through continuous community engagement. Conclusions: The intervention’s potential to increase access to preferred health care providers, reduce patient and health system delays in diagnosis and initiation of treatment, improve health seeking behaviour and enhance compliance of pHCPs to standard treatment protocols is being monitored. Initial results are promising.

Keywords: DOTS, KHPT, health outcomes, public and private sector

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Authors: García López

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The Government Departments of Health have the task of informing and educating citizens about public health issues. For this, they use channels like Twitter, key in the search for health information and the propagation of content. The tweets, important in the virality of the content, may contain emotions that influence the contagion and exchange of knowledge. The goal of this study is to perform an analysis of the emotional projection of health information shared on Twitter by official American accounts: the disease control account CDCgov, National Institutes of Health, NIH, the government agency HHSGov, and the professional organization PublicHealth. For this, we used Tone Analyzer, an International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) tool specialized in emotion detection in text, corresponding to the categorical model of emotion representation. For 15 days, all tweets from these accounts were analyzed with the emotional analysis tool in text. The results showed that their tweets contain an important emotional load, a determining factor in the success of their communications. This exposes that official accounts also use subjective language and contain emotions. The predominance of emotion joy over sadness and the strong presence of emotions in their tweets stimulate the virality of content, a key in the work of informing that government health departments have.

Keywords: emotions in tweets, emotion detection in the text, health information on Twitter, American health official accounts, emotions on Twitter, emotions and content

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Authors: Md Abu Saieed

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Crafting and implementing public policy is one of the indispensable works in any form of state and government. But the policy objectives, methods of formulation and tools of implementation might be different based on the ideological nature, historical legacy, structure and capacity of administration and management and other push and factors. Public policy in Islamic economic system needs to be based on the key guidelines of divine scriptures along with other sources of sharia’h. As a representative of Allah (SWT), the governor and other apparatus of the state will formulate and implement public policies which will enable to establish a true welfare state based on justice, equity and equality. The whole life of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) and his policy in operating state of affairs in Madina is the practical guidelines for the policy actors and professionals in Islamic system of economics. Moreover, policy makers need to be more meticulous in formulating Islamic public policy which meets the needs and demands of contemporary worlds as well.

Keywords: formulation, Islam, public policy, policy factors, Sharia’h

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