Search results for: project goals alignment

Authors: Rashmi Shahu

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Flexibility is becoming a more widely accepted aspect of project management. Although contingency theory in project management states that the unknowns are controllable, complexity theory believes that the best way to handle the unknowns would be to have a flexible approach rather than rigidity. Designing a flexible system is a method of managing uncertainty. The present research work aims to evaluate flexibility in the initial design phase of projects taking examples of construction projects. Flexibility in the initial design phase is modeled in order to know the advantage in future. The comparison between the extra cost of flexibility in the initial design phase and the discount that can be achieved in future due to this premium will help the developers in making strategic decisions. This research uses a methodology for valuing flexibility by developing a mathematical formula for predicting future saving of cost. Two case studies were considered in this research to validate the mathematical formula. This research explains three case studies of an educational institution 28 years old for explaining the concept and giving benefits of flexible design for modification/renovation work of building.

Keywords: flexibility, future saving, flexibility cost, construction projects

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Authors: Nida Iftikhar, Jamaluddin Thaheem, Bilal Iftikhar

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In the construction industry, adequate and effective decision-making can mean the difference between success and failure. Bidding is the most important element of the construction business since it is a mean by which contractors obtain work. This is probably the only option for any contractor firm to sustain in the market and achieve its objective of earning the profits by winning tenders. The capability to select most appropriate ventures not only defines the success and wellbeing of contractor firms but also their survival and sustainability in the industry. The construction practitioners are usually on their own when it comes to deciding on bidding for a project or not. Usually, experience-based solutions are offered where a lot of subjectivity is involved. This research has been opted considering the local construction industry of Pakistan in order to examine the critical success factors from contractors’ perspective while making bidding decisions, listing and evaluating critical factors in order of their importance, categorization of these factors into decision support & decision oppose groups and to develop a framework to help contractors in the decision-making process. Literature review, questionnaires, and structured interviews are used for identification and quantification of factors affecting bid/no bid decision-making. Statistical methods of ranking analysis and analytical hierarchy process of multi-criteria decision-making method are used for analysis. It is found that profitability, need for work and financial health of client are the most decisive factors in bid/no bid decision-making while project size, project type, fulfilling the tender conditions imposed by the client and relationship, identity & reputation of the client are least impact factors in bid/no bid decision-making. Further, to verify the developed framework, case studies have been conducted to evaluate the bid/no bid decision-making in building procurement. This is the first of its nature study in the context of the local construction industry and recommends using a holistic decision-making framework for such business-critical deliberations.

Keywords: bidding, bid decision-making, construction procurement, contractor

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Authors: Karla Lebedoff, Susan Walsh, Michelle Bain

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Eczema is a chronic atopy condition requiring long-term daily management in children. Written action plans for other chronic atopic conditions, such as asthma and food allergies, are widely recommended and distributed to pediatric patients' parents and caregivers, seeking to improve clinical outcomes and become empowered to manage the patient's ever-changing symptoms. Written action plans for eczema, referred to as "asthma of the skin," are not routinely used in practice. Parents of children suffering from eczema rarely receive a written action plan to follow, and commendations supporting eczema action plans are inconsistent. Pediatric patients between birth and 18 years old who were followed for eczema at an urban Midwest community hospital were eligible to participate in this quality improvement project. At the initial visit, parents received instructions on individualized eczema action plans for their child and completed two validated surveys: Health Confidence Score (HCS) and Patient-Oriented Eczema Measure (POEM). Pre- and post-survey responses were collected, and clinical symptom presentation at follow-up were outcome determinants. Project implementation was guided by Institute for Healthcare Improvement's Step-up Framework and the Plan-Do-Study-Act cycle. This project measured clinical outcomes and parent confidence in self-management of their child's eczema symptoms with the responses from 26 participant surveys. Pre-survey responses were collected from 36 participants, though ten were lost to follow-up. Average POEM scores improved by 53%, while average HCS scores remained unchanged. Of seven completed in-person follow-up visits, six clinical progress notes documented improvement. Individualized eczema action plans can be seamlessly incorporated into primary and specialty care visits for pediatric patients suffering from eczema. Following a patient-specific eczema action plan may lessen the daily physical and mental burdens of uncontrolled eczema for children and parents, managing symptoms that chronically flare and recede. Furthermore, incorporating eczema action plans into practice potentially reduces the likely underestimated $5.3 billion economic disease burden of eczema on the U.S. healthcare system.

Keywords: atopic dermatitis, eczema action plan, eczema symptom management, pediatric eczema

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Authors: Jean Marie Tshimula, Atsushi Togashi

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We develop a data-science approach for providing an interactive visualization and predictive models to find insights into the projects' historical data in order for stakeholders understand some unseen opportunities in the African market that might escape them behind the online project portfolio of the African Development Bank. This machine learning-based web application identifies the market trend of the fastest growing economies across the continent as well skyrocketing sectors which have a significant impact on the future of business in Africa. Owing to this, the approach is tailored to predict where the investment needs are the most required. Moreover, we create a corpus that includes the descriptions of over more than 1,200 projects that approximately cover 14 sectors designed for some of 53 African countries. Then, we sift out this large amount of semi-structured data for extracting tiny details susceptible to contain some directions to follow. In the light of the foregoing, we have applied the combination of Latent Dirichlet Allocation and Random Forests at the level of the analysis module of our methodology to highlight the most relevant topics that investors may focus on for investing in Africa.

Keywords: machine learning, topic modeling, natural language processing, big data

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Authors: Hyeon Sop Baek

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This paper will investigate the Korean concept of han and suggest that the feeling of han is essentially inseparable from the central project of the Korean neo-Confucian philosophical tradition. Han is a complex sentiment, but one may characterize it as an internally directed complex of sentiments of frustration, sadness, and anger. In particular, this paper aims to demonstrate that the Korean neo-Confucian project's ultimate objective was to build a pluralistic world – where different people can coexist together in harmony and participate in building the ideal world. Nevertheless, the confrontation between the neo-Confucian idea – that every person has the intrinsic potential to be moral – and the bleakness of reality that made their objective virtually impossible to achieve led to the formation and development of the feeling of han. The paper will first examine the concept of han and what it entails and then investigate the core elements of Korean neo-Confucianism, examining the works of Korean neo-Confucians, including Toegye, Yulgok, and Jeong Dojeon. Furthermore, the concept of plurality will be drawn from the political theory of Hannah Arendt. While the Arendtian and Korean neo-Confucian philosophies are ultimately different, this paper will contend that the two philosophies' broader aims share many resonating points. Specifically, within both philosophies, the human plurality – that all humans are equal but not the same – underlies the foundation of an ideal political realm. From there, an argument that the difficulty faced by the neo-Confucians in Korea in constructing a polity based on the ideal of respect and human moral capacity ultimately contributed to the emergence of the sentiment han will be presented. In conclusion, this paper will demonstrate that the ultimate objectives of Korean Confucianism lie in closing the gap between the ideal and reality in moral cultivation as well as its political project of building an ideal, pluralistic world, and han emerges from the realization of the difficulty of achieving that goal. Finally, this paper will contest that han needs not be perceived negatively, and han can be a driving force for political participation in the contemporary democratic, pluralistic society.

Keywords: Korea, Confucianism, neo-Confucianism, philosophy, han, Korean philosophy

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Authors: Omneya Messallam

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Technology has been developed dramatically in most of the educational disciplines. For instance, digital rendering subject, which is being taught in both Interior and Architecture fields, is witnessing almost annually updated software versions. A lot of students and educators argued that there will be no need for manual rendering techniques to be learned. Therefore, the Interior Design Visual Presentation 1 course (ID133) has been chosen from the first level of the Interior Design (ID) undergraduate program, as it has been taught for six years continually. This time frame will facilitate sound observation and critical analysis of the use of appropriate teaching methodologies. Furthermore, the researcher believes in the high value of the manual rendering techniques. The course objectives are: to define the basic visual rendering principles, to recall theories and uses of various types of colours and hatches, to raise the learners’ awareness of the value of studying manual render techniques, and to prepare them to present their work professionally. The students are female Arab learners aged between 17 and 20. At the outset of the course, the majority of them demonstrated negative attitude, lacking both motivation and confidence in manual rendering skills. This paper is a reflective appraisal of deploying two student-centred teaching pedagogies which are: Project-based learning (PBL) and Outcome-based education (OBE) on ID133 students. This research aims of developing some teaching strategies to enhance the quality of teaching in this given course over an academic semester. The outcome of this research emphasized the positive influence of applying such educational methods on improving the quality of students’ manual rendering skills in terms of: materials, textiles, textures, lighting, and shade and shadow. Furthermore, it greatly motivated the students and raised the awareness of the importance of learning the manual rendering techniques.

Keywords: project-based learning, outcome-based education, visual presentation, manual render, personal competences

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Authors: Alexandra O. Savinkina

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We proposed to assess the cohesion of a football team by its subject-goal and subject-value unity according to the A.V. Petrovsky theory. Goal unity was measured by the degree of compliance of the priority targets for various players in the team. Values were estimated by the coincidence of the ideas about a perfect football player. On the basis of the provisional diagnosis of the six teams, we had made the lists of goals and values. The tests were piloted on 35 football teams. The results allowed not only to compare quantitatively the cohesion of the different teams, but also to identify subgroups within the team.

Keywords: cohesion, football, psychodiagnostic, soccer, sports team, value-orientation unity

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Authors: Gurbir Singh Khaira, Anmoldeep Singh Kang

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Exposures to environmental pollution remain a major source of health risk throughout the world, though risks are generally higher in developing countries, where poverty, lack of investment in modern technology and weak environmental legislation combine to cause high pollution levels. This paper will tell us about the environment is threatened severely by so many problems, some of which are caused by the activities of Construction Projects. The research reveals major environmental impacts of building construction projects to include environmental pollution, resource depletion and habitat destruction causing Destruction of ecosystem, Desertification, Soil Erosion and increasing Material Wastage. Construction is considered as one of the main sources of environmental pollution in the world, the level of knowledge and awareness of project participants, especially project managers, with regards to environmental impacts of construction processes needs to be enhanced. It was found that ‘Transportation Resource’, ‘Noise Pollution’, and ‘Dust Generation with Construction Machinery’ are the greatest environmental impacts in INDIA respectively. The results of this study are useful for construction managers and other participants in construction sites to become aware of construction processes impacts on the environment.

Keywords: construction projects, environmental impacts, material waste age, awareness

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Authors: Medya Fathi

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When public transportation projects were delivered through design-bid-build and later design-build, governments found a serious issue: inadequate funding. With population growth, governments began to develop new arrangements in which the private sectors were involved to cut the financial burden. This arrangement, known as Public-Private Partnership (PPP), has its own risks; however, performance outputs can motivate or discourage its use. On top of such output's list are time and budget, which can be affected by the type of project delivery methods. Project completion within or ahead of schedule as well as within or under budget is among any owner’s objectives. With a higher application of PPP in the highway industry in the US and insufficient PPP research, the current study addresses the schedule and cost performance of PPP highway projects and determines which one outperforms the other. To meet this objective, after collecting performance data of all PPP projects, schedule growth and cost growth are calculated, and finally, statistical analysis is conducted to evaluate the PPP performance. The results and conclusions will be provided. This study can assist practitioners in applying PPP for transportation projects by showing its ability to save time and/or cost.

Keywords: cost, delivery method, highway, public-private partnership, schedule, transportation

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Authors: Anum Obaid, Iman Fatima, Wanisha Feroz, Haleema Imran, Hammad Tariq

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In Pakistan, the health of unmarried women over thirty is an emerging public health concern due to its increasing prevalence. Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) requires addressing nutrition and public health issues. This research investigates these goals through the lens of nutrition and public health, specifically examining the challenges faced by unmarried women over thirty in Faisalabad, Pakistan. According to a recent United Nations report, there are 10 million unmarried women over the age of 35 in Pakistan. The United Nations defines health as "a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity." Being unmarried and under constant societal pressure profoundly influences the dietary behaviors and nutritional status of these women, affecting their overall health, including physical, mental, and social well-being. A qualitative research approach was employed, involving interviews with both unmarried and married women over thirty. This research examines how marital status influences dietary practices, nutritional status, mental and social health, and their subsequent impacts. Factors such as physical health, mental and emotional status, societal pressure, social health, economic independence, and decision-making power were analyzed to understand the effect of singleness on overall wellness. Findings indicated that marital status significantly affects the dietary patterns and nutritional practices among women in Faisalabad. It was also revealed that unmarried women experienced more stress and had a less optimistic mindset compared to married women, due to loneliness or the absence of a spouse in their lives. Nutritional knowledge varied across marital status, impacting the overall health triangle, including physical, mental, and social health. Understanding these dynamics is crucial for developing targeted interventions to improve nutritional outcomes and overall health among unmarried women in Faisalabad. This study highlights the importance of fostering supportive environments and raising awareness about the health needs of unmarried women over thirty to enhance their overall well-being.

Keywords: health triangle, unmarried woman over thirty, socio-cultural barriers, women’s health

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Authors: Dong-Ho Kim, Zheng-Xun Jin, Yong-Woon Cha, Su-Sang Lim, Sang-Won Han, Chang-Taek Hyun

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As construction is a labor-intensive industry, it is important to identify and manage labor quantities for accurate progress management of the construction project. However, the progress management that focuses on construction cost calculated based on materials rather than labor quantities has led to a difference in the implementation of cost and progress of the actual construction. In addition, since it is not easy to predict accurate labor quantities in the estimation of labor quantity-based progress rate, there have been limited researches into the progress rate estimation based on labor quantity. Accordingly, this study proposed a process for labor quantity-based progress rate estimation using a standard of estimate to predict accurate progress rate of the construction project in Republic Korea. It is expected that the utilization of the proposed process will help to identify the progress rate closer to that of the actual site management and adjust the workforce in each construction type, thereby contributing to improving construction efficiency.

Keywords: labor based, labor cost, progress management, progress rate, progress payment

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Authors: Alhulw H. Alshammari, Ahmed Iraqi, S. A. Saad, T. A. Taha

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In this work, we present for the first time the study of Raman spectra and dielectric relaxation of polyester polymer-CoFe₂O₄ (5.0, 10.0, 15.0, and 20.0 wt%) nanocomposites. Raman spectroscopy was applied as a sensitive structural identification technique to characterize the polyester-CoFe₂O₄ nanocomposites. The images of AFM confirmed the uniform distribution of CoFe₂O₄ inside the polymer matrix. Dielectric relaxation was employed as an important analytical technique to obtain information about the ability of the polymer nanocomposites to store and filter electrical signals. The dielectric relaxation analyses were carried out on the polyester-CoFe₂O₄ nanocomposites at different temperatures. An increase in dielectric constant ε₁ was observed for all samples with increasing temperatures due to the alignment of the electric dipoles with the applied electric field. In contrast, ε₁ decreased with increasing frequency. This is attributed to the difficulty for the electric dipoles to follow the electric field. The α relaxation peak that appeared at a high frequency shifted to higher frequencies when increasing the temperature. The activation energies for Maxwell-Wagner Sillar (MWS) changed from 0.84 to 1.01 eV, while the activation energies for α relaxations were 0.54 – 0.94 eV. The conduction mechanism for the polyester- CoFe₂O₄ nanocomposites followed the correlated barrier hopping (CBH) model.

Keywords: AC conductivity, activation energy, dielectric permittivity, polyester nanocomposites

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Authors: Atiqa Marium

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In 2015, all 193 UN Member countries adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which is an ambitious 15- year plan to address some of the most pressing issues the world faces. Goal 4 is about Quality Education which highlights the importance of inclusive and quality education for sustainable development. Sustainable Development Goal 10 focuses on reducing inequalities within and among countries. In June 2019, Federal Government in Canada released “Towards Canada’s 2030 Agenda National Strategy”, which was an important step to move the 2030 Agenda forward. In April 2019, the Ontario government announced the performance-based funding model for publically assisted colleges and universities in Ontario, which is now part of the universities’ budget 2024-2025. The literature review has shown that the funding model has been implemented by different governments to achieve objectives. However, this model has also resulted in conflicting consequences like reducing university autonomy, education quality/ academic standards, and increased equity concerns. The primary focus of this paper will be to analyze the tensions and coherence between the proposed funding model for education for sustainable development goals and targets set by Canada’s 2030 Agenda National Strategy. Considering that the literature review has provided evidence that the performance-based funding model has resulted in reducing quality of education and increased equity issues in other countries, it will be interesting to see how this proposed funding will align with the SDGs of “Quality Education” and “Reduced Inequalities”. This paper will be well-suited for Volume 4, with the theme of re-visioning institutional impact and sustainability. This paper will underscore the importance of policy coherence between federal and provincial policies for higher education institutions in Ontario for better institutional impact and helping universities in the attainment of goals set in 2030 Agenda towards education for sustainable development.

Keywords: performance-based funding model, education for sustainable development, policy coherence, sustainable development gaols

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Authors: Sanjeev Gupta, Ankit Prabhakar, K. Rajkumar Singh

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Sunni Dam Hydroelectric Project (382 MW) is a run of river type development with an underground powerhouse, proposed to harness the hydel potential of river Satluj in Himachal Pradesh, India. The project is located in the inner lesser Himalaya between Dhauladhar Range in the south and the higher Himalaya in the north. The project comprises two large underground caverns, a Powerhouse cavern (171m long, 22.5m wide and 51.2m high) and another transformer hall cavern (175m long, 18.7m wide and 27m high) and the rock pillar between the two caverns is 50m. The highly jointed, fractured, anisotropic rock mass is a key challenge in Himalayan geology for an underground structure. The concern for the stability of rock mass increases when weak/shear zones are encountered in the underground structure. In the Sunni Dam project, 1.7m to 2m thick weak/shear zone comprising of deformed, weak material with gauge has been encountered in powerhouse cavern at 70m having dip direction 325 degree and dip amount 38 degree which also intersects transformer hall at initial reach. The rock encountered in the powerhouse area is moderate to highly jointed, pink quartz arenite belonging to the Khaira Formation, a transition zone comprising of alternate grey, pink & white quartz arenite and shale sequence and dolomite at higher reaches. The rock mass is intersected by mainly 3 joint sets excluding bedding joints and a few random joints. The rock class in powerhouse mainly varies from poor class (class IV) to lower order fair class (class III) and in some reaches, very poor rock mass has also been encountered. To study the stability of the underground structure in weak/shear rock mass, a 3D numerical model analysis has been carried out using RS3 software. Field studies have been interpreted and analysed to derive Bieniawski’s RMR, Barton’s “Q” class and Geological Strength Index (GSI). The various material parameters, in-situ characteristics have been determined based on tests conducted by Central Soil and Materials Research Station, New Delhi. The behaviour of the cavern has been studied by assessing the displacement contours, major and minor principal stresses and plastic zones for different stage excavation sequences. For optimisation of the support system, the stability of the powerhouse cavern with different powerhouse orientations has also been studied. The numerical modeling results indicate that cavern will not likely face stress governed by structural instability with the support system to be applied to the crown and side walls.

Keywords: 3D analysis, Himalayan geology, shear zone, underground power house

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Authors: Jacqueline A. G. Sachett, Cláudia S. Nogueira, Diana C. P. Lima, Jessica T. S. Oliveira, Guilherme K. M. Salazar, Lílian K. Aguiar

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The Polo Amazon Telehealth offers several tools for professionals working in Primary Health Care as a second formative opinion, teleconsulting and training between the different areas, whether medicine, dentistry, nursing, physiotherapy, among others. These activities have a monthly schedule of free access to the municipalities of Amazonas registered. With this premise, and in partnership with the University of the State of Amazonas (UEA), is promoting the practice of the triad; teaching-research-extension in order to collaborate with the enrichment and acquisition of knowledge through educational practices carried out through teleconferences. Therefore, nursing is to join efforts and inserts as a collaborator of this project running, contributing to the education and training of these professionals who are part of the health system in full Amazon. The aim of this study is to report the experience of academic of Amazonas State University nursing course, about the experience in the extension project underway in Polo Telemedicine Amazon. This was a descriptive study, the experience report type, about the experience of nursing academic UEA, by extension 'Telenursing: teleconsulting and second formative opinion for FHS professionals in the state of Amazonas' project, held in Polo Telemedicine Amazon, through an agreement with the UEA and funded by the Foundation of Amazonas Research from July / 2012 to July / 2016. Initially developed active search of members of the Family Health Strategy professionals, in order to provide training and training teams to use the virtual clinic, as well as the virtual environment is the focus of this tool design. The election period was an aggravating factor for the implementation of teleconsulting proposal, due to change of managers in each municipality, requiring the stoppage until they assume their positions. From this definition, we established the need for new training. The first video conference took place on 03.14.2013 for learning and training in the use of Virtual Learning Environment and Virtual Clinic, with the participation of municipalities of Novo Aripuanã, São Paulo de Olivença and Manacapuru. During the whole project was carried out literature about what is being done and produced at the national level about the subject. By the time the telenursing project has received twenty-five (25) consultancy requests. The consultants sent by nursing professionals, all have been answered to date. Faced with the lived experience, particularly in video conferencing, face to cause difficulties issues, such as the fluctuation in the number of participants in activities, difficulty of participants to reconcile the opening hours of the units with the schedule of video conferencing, transmission difficulties and changes schedule. It was concluded that the establishment of connection between the Telehealth points is one of the main factors for the implementation of Telenursing and that this feature is still new for nursing. However, effective training and updating, may provide to these professional category subsidies to quality health care in the Amazon.

Keywords: Amazon, teleconsulting, telehealth, telenursing

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Authors: Oluwaseun Adeleke, Samuel O. Ikani, Fidelis Edet, Anthony Nwala, Mopelola Raji, Simeon Christian Chukwu

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Background: The Delivering Innovations in Selfcare (DISC) project aims to increase access to self-care options for women of reproductive age, starting with self-inject subcutaneous depot medroxyprogesterone acetate (DMPA-SC) contraception services. However, the project has faced challenges in ensuring the continuous availability of the commodity in health facilities. Although most states in the country rely on the federal ministry of Health for supplies, some are gradually funding the procurement of Family Planning (FP) commodities. This attempt is, however, often accompanied by procurement delays and purchases inadequate to meet demand. This dilemma was further exacerbated by the commencement of demand generation activities by the project in supported states which geometrically increased commodity utilization rates and resulted in receding stock and occasional service disruptions. Strategies: The project deployed various strategies were implemented to ensure the continuous availability of commodities. These include facilitating inter-facility transfer, monthly tracking of commodity utilization, and alerting relevant authorities when stock levels reach a minimum. And supporting state-level procurement of DMPA-SC commodities through catalytic interventions. Results: Effective monitoring of commodity inventory at the facility level and strategic engagement with federal and state-level logistics units have proven successful in mitigating stock-out of commodities. It has helped secure up to 13,000 units of DMPA-SC commodities from federal logistics units and enabled state units to prioritize supported sites. This has ensured the continuity of DMPA-SC services and an increasing trend in the practice of self-injection. Conclusion: A functional supply chain is crucial to achieving commodity security, and without it, health programs cannot succeed. Stakeholder engagement, stock management and catalytic interventions have provided both short- and long-term measures to mitigate stock-outs and ensured a consistent supply of commodities to clients.

Keywords: family planning, contraception, DMPA-SC, self-care, self-injection, commodities, stock-out

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Authors: Timothy Onyenobi

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Accidental fires and its dynamic as it relates to building compartmentation and the impact of the compartment morphology, is still an on-going area of study; especially with the use of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modeling methods. With better knowledge on this subject come better solution recommendations by fire engineers. Interviews were carried out for this study where it was identified that the response perspectives to accidental fire were different with the fire engineer providing qualitative data which is based on “what is expected in real fires” and the fire fighters provided information on “what actually obtains in real fires”. This further led to a study and analysis of two real and comprehensively instrumented fire experiments: the Open Plan Office Project by National Institute of Standard and Technology (NIST) USA (to study time to flashover) and the TF2000 project by the Building Research Establishment (BRE) UK (to test for conformity with Building Regulation requirements). The findings from the analysis of the experiments revealed the relative yet critical weakness of fire prediction using a CFD model (usually used by fire engineers) as well as explained the differences in response perspectives of the fire engineers and firefighters from the interview analysis.

Keywords: CFD, compartment fire, experiment, fire fighters, fire engineers

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Authors: Rajendra Kumar Pandey

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Forest genetic resources not only represent regional biodiversity but also have immense value as the wealth for securing livelihood of poor people. These are vulnerable to ecological due to depletion/deforestation and /or impact of climate change. These resources of various plant categories are vulnerable on the floor of natural tropical forests, and leading to the threat on the growth and development of future forests. More than 170 species, including NTFPs, are in critical condition for their survival in natural tropical forests of Central India. Forest degradation, commensurate with biodiversity loss, is now pervasive, disproportionately affecting the rural poor who directly depend on forests for their subsistence. Looking ahead the interaction between forest and water, soil, precipitation, climate change, etc. and its impact on biodiversity of tropical forests, it is inevitable to develop co-operation policies and programmes to address new emerging realities. Forests ecosystem also known as the 'wealth of poor' providing goods and ecosystem services on a sustainable basis, are now recognized as a stepping stone to move poor people beyond subsistence. Poverty alleviation is the prime objective of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). However, environmental sustainability including other MDGs, is essential to ensure successful elimination of poverty and well being of human society. Loss and degradation of ecosystem are the most serious threats to achieving development goals worldwide. Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MEA, 2005) was an attempt to identify provisioning and regulating cultural and supporting ecosystem services to provide livelihood security of human beings. Climate change may have a substantial impact on ecological structure and function of forests, provisioning, regulations and management of resources which can affect sustainable flow of ecosystem services. To overcome these limitations, policy guidelines with respect to planning and consistent research strategy need to be framed for conservation and sustainable development of forest genetic resources.

Keywords: climate change, forest ecosystem services, sustainable forest management, biodiversity conservation

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Authors: Aditaya Narayan Mishra

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Unequal distribution of environmental resources as a possible cause of conflict has been the topic of substantial research, and these connections have ruled the post-Cold War attention in the discourse of environmental security. In this category, considerable concentration has been given to water resources, on account of their important standing for human existence. Thus, water is considered to be one of the most important non-conventional security issues. As per this consideration, the case of India-Bangladesh is one of the most critical examples of disputes over transboundary water sharing. The concern regarding sharing of trans-boundary rivers has been the main focus of Bangladesh and India‘s relationship for the last forty-five years. Both countries share fifty-four rivers, most of which have originated in the Himalayan range. The main causes for problems in the sharing of the waters of trans-boundary rivers between India and Bangladesh include the: Farakka Barrage, Teesta river sharing issue, River linking project and Tipaimukh Dam. The construction of Farakka barrage across the Ganga River was the beginning of water dispute. Attempts at unilateral exploitation of the trans-boundary water resources led to inter-state conflicts that spilled over into other areas of bilateral disputes between India and Bangladesh. Apart from Farakka, Barrage, the disputes over Teesta River sharing, River linking project and Tipaimukh Dam are also vital contents for the both countries bilateral diplomacy. Till date, India and Bangladesh have signed five treaties regarding water sharing. However, all these treaties have been rendered worthless due to mistrust and political upheaval in both countries. The current paper would address all these water sharing disputes between India and Bangladesh with focus on the various policy responses (both bilateral and multilateral initiatives) to deal with these water sharing disputes. It will try to analyze the previous agreements and their drawbacks and loopholes. In addition, it will mention the reasons for water sharing cooperation between India and Bangladesh.

Keywords: India and Bangladesh relations, water disputes, Teesta, river linking project, Tipaimukh Dam, Farakka, policy responses

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Authors: Pheiroijam Pooja, P. Chinnamuthu

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A novel vertical 1D In2O3/TiO2 nanocolumn (NC) axial heterostructure has been successfully synthesized using Glancing Angle Deposition (GLAD) technique inside E-Beam Evaporator chamber. Field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM) has been used to evaluate the morphology of the structure grown. The estimated length of In2O3/TiO2 NC is ~250 nm and ~300nm for In2O3 and TiO2 respectively with diameter ~60-90 nm. The surface of the heterostructure is porous in nature which can affect the interfacial wettability properties. The grown structure has been further characterized using X-ray Diffraction (XRD) and UV-Visible absorption measurement. The polycrystalline nature of the sample has been examined using XRD with prominent peaks obtained with phase (101) for anatase TiO2 and (211) for In2O3. Here, 1D axial heterostructure NC thus favors efficient segregation of photo-excited carriers due to their type II band alignment between the constituent materials. Moreover, the 1D nanostructure is known for their large surface area and excellent ionic charge transport property. On exposure to UV light illumination, the surface properties of In2O3/TiO2 NC changes whereby the hydrophobic nature of the heterostructure changes to hydrophilic. As a result, the reversible surface wettability of heterostructure on interaction with UV light can give potential applications as antifogging and self-cleaning surfaces.

Keywords: GLAD, heterostructure, In2O3/TiO2 NC, surface wettability

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Authors: Muhammad Safder Shafi, Uzma Javed, Tooba Qasim

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The purpose of this paper is to find out the relationship between training and turnover intention in the presence of mediating variables promotion opportunities and job satisfaction among IT professionals in project based industry. It investigates the relationship directly between 1 independent variable training and dependent variable turnover intention. It also investigates the relationship between independent variable to the mediating variables and mediating variables to the turnover intention. Promotion opportunities and job satisfaction act as a mediator. The study sample comprised of 186 IT professionals from Pakistan, who work on different IT projects. Linear regression and Baron and Kenny approach were used to test the direct and mediated relationship between variables. The survey results demonstrated that job satisfaction fully mediate the relationship between promotion opportunities and turnover intention. Promotion opportunities fully mediate the relationship between employee training and job satisfaction. Promotion opportunities and job satisfaction mediates the relationship between training and turnover intention. The findings from the collected data may help top management to improve organizational strategies to cope up with improving different HR practices like training, pay structure and promotions in order to retain their workforce.

Keywords: HCT, SET, career growth opportunities, job satisfaction, training, turnover intention

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Authors: Aikaterini Tavoulari, Mike Richardson

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Objective: This abstract presents a multisensory participatory design project, inspired by a deafblind PhD student's ambition to climb Mount Everest. The project aims to explore accessible routes for filmmaking and video content creation, catering to the needs of individuals with hearing and sight loss. By engaging participants from the Southwest area of England, recruited through multiple networks, the project seeks to gather qualitative data and insights to inform the development of inclusive media practices. Design: It will be a community-based participatory research design. The workshop will feature various stations that stimulate different senses, such as scent, touch, sight, hearing as well as movement. Participants will have the opportunity to engage with these multisensory experiences, providing valuable feedback on their effectiveness and potential for enhancing accessibility in filmmaking and video content. Methods: Brief semi-structured interviews will be conducted to collect qualitative data, allowing participants to share their perspectives, challenges, and suggestions for improvement. The participatory design approach emphasizes the importance of involving the target audience in the creative process. By actively engaging individuals with hearing and sight loss, the project aims to ensure that their needs and preferences are central to the development of accessible filmmaking techniques and video content. This collaborative effort seeks to bridge the gap between content creators and diverse audiences, fostering a more inclusive media landscape. Results: The findings from this study will contribute to the growing body of research on accessible filmmaking and video content creation. Via inductive thematic analysis of the qualitative data collected through interviews and observations, the researchers aim to identify key themes, challenges, and opportunities for creating engaging and inclusive media experiences for deafblind audiences. The insights will inform the development of best practices and guidelines for accessible filmmaking, empowering content creators to produce more inclusive and immersive video content. Conclusion: The abstract targets the hybrid International Conference for Disability and Diversity in Canada (January 2025), as this platform provides an excellent opportunity to share the outcomes of the project with a global audience of researchers, practitioners, and advocates working towards inclusivity and accessibility in various disability domains. By presenting this research at the conference in person, the authors aim to contribute to the ongoing discourse on disability and diversity, highlighting the importance of multisensory experiences and participatory design in creating accessible media content for the deafblind community and the community with sensory impairments more broadly.

Keywords: vision impairment, hearing impairment, deafblindness, accessibility, filmmaking

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Authors: Juan-Pedro Rica-Peromingo

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The important change taking place with respect to the media and the audiovisual world in Europe needs to benefit all populations, in particular those with special needs, such as the deaf and hard-of-hearing population (SDH) and blind and partially-sighted population (AD). This recent interest in the field of audiovisual translation (AVT) can be observed in the teaching and learning of the different modes of AVT in the degree and post-degree courses at Spanish universities, which expand the interest and practice of AVT linguistic accessibility. We present a research project led at the UCM which consists of the compilation of AVT activities for teaching purposes and tries to analyze the creation and reception of SDH and AD: the AVLA Project (Audiovisual Learning Archive), which includes audiovisual materials carried out by the university students on different AVT modes and evaluations from the blind and deaf informants. In this study, we present the materials created by the students. A group of the deaf and blind population has been in charge of testing the student's SDH and AD corpus of audiovisual materials through some questionnaires used to evaluate the students’ production. These questionnaires include information about the reception of the subtitles and the audio descriptions from linguistic and technical points of view. With all the materials compiled in the research project, a corpus with both the students’ production and the recipients’ evaluations is being compiled: the CALING (Corpus de Accesibilidad Lingüística) corpus. Preliminary results will be presented with respect to those aspects, difficulties, and deficiencies in the SDH and AD included in the corpus, specifically with respect to the length of subtitles, the position of the contextual information on the screen, and the text included in the audio descriptions and tone of voice used. These results may suggest some changes and improvements in the quality of the SDH and AD analyzed. In the end, demand for the teaching and learning of AVT and linguistic accessibility at a university level and some important changes in the norms which regulate SDH and AD nationally and internationally will be suggested.

Keywords: audiovisual translation, corpus linguistics, linguistic accessibility, teaching

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Authors: Atousa Khodadadyan, Gabe Mythen, Hirbod Assa, Beverley Bishop

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Risk assessment and the knowledge provided through this process is a crucial part of any decision-making process in the management of risks and uncertainties. Failure in assessment of risks can cause inadequacy in the entire process of risk management, which in turn can lead to failure in achieving organisational objectives as well as having significant damaging consequences on populations affected by the potential risks being assessed. The choice of tools and techniques in risk assessment can influence the degree and scope of decision-making and subsequently the risk response strategy. There are various available qualitative and quantitative tools and techniques that are deployed within the broad process of risk assessment. The sheer diversity of tools and techniques available to practitioners makes it difficult for organisations to consistently employ the most appropriate methods. This tools and techniques adaptation is rendered more difficult in public risk regulation organisations due to the sensitive and complex nature of their activities. This is particularly the case in areas relating to the environment, food, and human health and safety, when organisational goals are tied up with societal, political and individuals’ goals at national and international levels. Hence, recognising, analysing and evaluating different decision support tools and techniques employed in assessing risks in public risk management organisations was considered. This research is part of a mixed method study which aimed to examine the perception of risk assessment and the extent to which organisations practise risk assessment’ tools and techniques. The study adopted a semi-structured questionnaire with qualitative and quantitative data analysis to include a range of public risk regulation organisations from the UK, Germany, France, Belgium and the Netherlands. The results indicated the public risk management organisations mainly use diverse tools and techniques in the risk assessment process. The primary hazard analysis; brainstorming; hazard analysis and critical control points were described as the most practiced risk identification techniques. Within qualitative and quantitative risk analysis, the participants named the expert judgement, risk probability and impact assessment, sensitivity analysis and data gathering and representation as the most practised techniques.

Keywords: decision-making, public risk management organisations, risk assessment, tools and techniques

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Authors: Frie Ayalew, Seada Hussen

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Ethio-telecom holds a variety of telecom devices that needs a consistent power source to be operational. The company got this power mainly from the national grid and used this power source alone or with a generator and/or batteries as a backup. In addition, for off-grid or remote areas, the company commonly uses generators and batteries. But unstable diesel prices, huge expenses of fuel and transportation, and high carbon emissions are the main problems associated with fuel energy. So, the design of solar power with battery backup is a highly recommended and advantageous source for the next coming years. This project designs the AC and DC standalone photovoltaic supply to Ethio-telecom access layer devices for the case of multi-service access gateway in Adama. The design is done by using Homer software for both AC and DC loads. The project shows that the design of a solar based microgrid is the best option for the designed area.

Keywords: solar power, battery, inverter, Ethio-telecom, solar radiation

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Authors: Muhammad Babar Suleman

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Transgressing the boundaries of the real and the virtual, the temporal and the spatial and the personal and the political, Four Broken Hearts is a hybrid storyworld encompassing film, live performance, location-based experiences and social media. The project is scheduled for launch early next year and is currently a work-in-progress undergoing initial user testing. The story of Four Broken Hearts is being told by taking each of the classic elements of fiction- character, setting, exposition, climax and denouement - and bringing them ‘to life’ in the medium that conveys them to the highest degree of mimesis: Characters are built and explored through social media, Setting is experienced through location-based storytelling, the Backstory is fleshed out using film and the Climax is performed as an immersive drama. By taking advantage of what each medium does best while complementing the other mediums, Four Broken Hearts is presented in the form of a rich transmedia experience that allows audiences to explore the story world across many different platforms while still tying it all together within a cohesive narrative. This article presents an investigation of the project’s narrative outputs produced so far.

Keywords: narratology, storyworld, transmedia, narrative, storytelling

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Authors: Shailendra Natraj, Kristin Paetzold, B. R. Katzy

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The significant role of technology in strategic business decisions has created the need for executives who understand technology and recognize profitable applications to products, services and processes. The role of CTO’s is very complex within technology-based firms, which stretches from the technology aspects to the strategic goal and vision of the firm. Often the roles of CTOs scales from as functional leaders, strategic leaders or supera- functional leaders. In most of the companies the roles are unclear and fuzzy. We in our research are trying to explore each of the orientation and link between leadership types (functional, strategic and super functional) of CTOs, responsibilities, credibility and strategic and conceptual responsibilities. Approach: We conducted a comprehensive literature review with the available databank sources. Results: From the conducted literature review we could identify that most of the research work conducted so far were mainly distributed between roles and responsibilities of CTOs. The available sources pointed were limited to roles of CTOs as functional leaders. Contribution: In our findings based on the literature review, we could identify that apart from the conducted research what so far has not been focused yet are (a) The leadership types (mainly) strategic and super-functional leaders) of CTOs, (b) the responsibilities and credibility of CTOs and (c) the strategic and conceptual responsibilities of CTOs.

Keywords: CTO, chief technology officer, strategy, technology leaders

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Authors: Mbuso Siwela

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Background: The Sub-Saharan Africa region has the greatest number of people eligible to receive antiretroviral treatment (ART). Multi-month Drug dispensing (MMD) of antiretroviral treatment (ART) aims to reduce patient-related barriers to access long-term treatment and improve health system efficiency. In Eswatini, however, few children and adolescents are on MMD. Young Heroes is implementing an HIV program that aims to avert new HIV infections in children and youth and improve treatment outcomes for children and adolescents living with HIV (C/ALHIV: 0-19 Years) and OVC caregivers with HIV prevention and impact mitigation interventions that prevent new HIV infections and reduce vulnerability. Aim of the study: The study aimed to ascertain factors that are associated with the assignment of the MMD model on C/ALHIVs. Methodology: The project provides treatment adherence support through well-trained community cadres (Home Visitors - HVs) at both community and health facility levels. During door-to-door visits, HVs track all C/ALHIV enrolled in the project monthly and refer any who might have stopped or interrupted treatment. C/ALHIV with unsuppressed viral load is supported through case conferencing and teen clubs. A quantitative cross-sectional analysis was conducted using STATA for children and adolescents living with HIV enrolled in the project. Bivariate analysis was conducted, and the Logistic Regression model was used to ascertain the effects of duration on ART on the choice of MMD model. Results: Data for 544 C/ALHIV (0-19 Years) was analyzed in STATA. Results show a strong association between (duration on ART, Age, being in teen club) and enrolment in an MMD model. Duration on ART is a major predictor for the choice of MMD model at (95% CI: 0.0012905 – 0.0039812; P = <0.0001). C/ALHIV who have been on ART for less than a year are less likely to be on MMD. C/ALHIVs who are 1 or more years on ART are more likely to be in 3 months dispensing, while those who are 5 years or more are most likely to be in 6 months model.

Keywords: C/ALHIV, OVC, HIV, treatment

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Authors: Sang Hee Shin

Abstract:

The technical improving project is for using the domestic construction technology in the weak soil condition. The improved technology is applied directly under local construction site at OOO, OOO. Existing anchor technology was developed for the case of soft ground as N value 10 or less. In case of soft ground and heavy load, the attachment site per one strand is shortened due to the distributed interval so that the installation site is increased relatively and being economically infeasible. In addition, in case of high tensile load, adhesion phenomenon between wedge and block occurs. To solve these problems, it strengthens the function of the attached strands to treat a ‘bulbing’ on the strands. In the solution for minimizing the internal damage and strengthening the removal function, it induces lubricating action using the film and the attached film, and it makes the buffer structure using wedge lubricating structure and the spring. The technology is performed such as in-house testing and the field testing. The project can improve the reliability of the standardized quality technique. As a result, it intended to give the technical competitiveness.

Keywords: anchor, improving technology, removal anchor, soil reinforcement, weak soil

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Authors: Chuanbo Xu, Xinying Li, Gejirifu De, Yunna Wu

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Energy Internet (EI) is a new form that deeply integrates the Internet and the entire energy process from production to consumption. The assessment of energy efficient performance is of vital importance for the long-term sustainable development of EI project. Although the newly proposed fuzzy integrated cloud evaluation algorithm considers the randomness of uncertainty, it relies too much on the experience and knowledge of experts. Fortunately, the enrichment of EI data has enabled the utilization of data-driven methods. Therefore, the main purpose of this work is to assess the energy efficient of park-level EI by using a combination of a data-driven method with the fuzzy integrated cloud evaluation algorithm. Firstly, the indicators for the energy efficient are identified through literature review. Secondly, the artificial neural network (ANN)-based data-driven method is employed to cluster the values of indicators. Thirdly, the energy efficient of EI project is calculated through the fuzzy integrated cloud evaluation algorithm. Finally, the applicability of the proposed method is demonstrated by a case study.

Keywords: energy efficient, energy internet, data-driven, fuzzy integrated evaluation, cloud model

Procedia PDF Downloads 202