Search results for: health professions council of South Africa

Authors: Oulad Naoui Noureddine, Cherif ELAmine, Djehiche Abdelkader

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Water resources management includes several disciplines; the modeling of rainfall-runoff relationship is the most important discipline to prevent natural risks. There are several models to study rainfall-runoff relationship in watersheds. However, the majority of these models are not applicable in all basins of the world.  In this study, a new stochastic method called The Only Corresponding Competitor method (OCC) was used for the hydrological modeling of M’ZAB   Watershed (South East of Algeria) to adapt a few empirical models for any hydrological regime.  The results obtained allow to authorize a certain number of visions, in which it would be interesting to experiment with hydrological models that improve collectively or separately the data of a catchment by the OCC method.

Keywords: modelling, optimization, rainfall-runoff relationship, empirical model, OCC

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Authors: Habib Noorbhai

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This study primarily aimed to investigate the batting backlift technique (BBT) among semi-professional, professional and current international cricket players. A key question was to investigate if the lateral batting backlift technique (LBBT) is more common at the highest levels of the game. The participants in this study sample (n = 130) were South African semi-professional players (SP) (n = 69) and professional players (P) (n = 49) and South African international professional players (SAI) (n = 12). Biomechanical and video analysis were performed on all participant groups. Classifiers were utilised to identify the batting backlift technique type (BBTT) employed by all batsmen. All statistics and wagon wheels (scoring areas of the batsmen on a cricket field) were sourced online. This study found that a LBBT is more common at the highest levels of cricket batsmanship with batsmen at the various levels of cricket having percentages of the LBBT as follows: SP = 37.7%; P = 38.8%; SAI = 75%; p = 0.001. This study also found that SAI batsmen who used the LBBT were more proficient at scoring runs in various areas around the cricket field (according to the wagon wheel analysis). This study found that a LBBT is more common at the highest levels of cricket batsmanship. Cricket coaches should also pay attention to the direction of the backlift with players, especially when correlating the backlift to various scoring areas on the cricket field. Further in-depth research is required to fully investigate the change in batting backlift techniques among cricket players over a long-term period.

Keywords: cricket batting, biomechanical analysis, backlift, performance

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Authors: H. Cha, J. Kim, D. Kim, J. Shin, K. Lee

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Since 1980's, the rapid economic growth resulted in so many aged apartment buildings in South Korea. Nevertheless, there is insufficient maintenance practice of buildings. In this study, to facilitate the building maintenance the authors classified the building defects into three levels according to their level of performance and developed a mobile application tool based on each level's appropriate feedback. The feedback structure consisted of 'Maintenance manual phase', 'Online feedback phase', 'Repair work phase of the specialty contractors'. In order to implement each phase the authors devised the necessary database for each phase and created a prototype system that can develop on its own. The authors expect that the building users can easily maintain their buildings by using this application.

Keywords: building defect, maintenance practice, mobile application, system algorithm

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Authors: E. S. Martens, E. E. Onwuliri

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Over the past three decades, Nigeria’s film industry has become a global powerhouse, releasing hundreds of films annually and even monthly. Nollywood, a portmanteau of Nigeria and Hollywood as well as Bollywood that was coined by New York Times journalist Norimitsu Onishi in 2002, came to mark the plenitude of filmmaking happening in Lagos from the early 1990s onwards. Following the success of the 1992 straight-to-VHS film Living in Bondage, the Nigerian film industry experienced a popular home video boom that gained a huge following in Nigeria, across Africa, and among the global African diaspora. In fact, with an estimated worth of $6.4 billion as of 2021, Nollywood is nowadays considered the world’s second-largest film industry and even the largest in terms of output and popularity. Producing about 2,500 films annually and reaching an estimated audience of over 200 million people worldwide, Nollywood has not only seemingly surpassed Hollywood but also Bollywood with regard to production and consumption size. Due to its commercial success and cultural impact from the early 2010s, Nollywood has often been heralded as a potential driver of Africa’s tourism industry. In its 2012 Global Trends Report, the World Travel Market forecasted an increase in GDP in Africa due to tourism in Nollywood filming locations. Additionally, it was expected that the rising popularity of Nollywood would significantly contribute to growth in the leisure sector, drawing both film enthusiasts and business travelers intrigued by the expanding significance of the Nigerian film industry. Still, despite much talk about the potential impact of Nollywood on Nigerian tourism in the past 10 years or so, relatively little is known about Nollywood’s association with film tourism and the existing connections between Nigeria’s film and tourism industries more generally. Already well over a decade ago, it was observed that there is still a lack of research examining the extent to which film tourism related to Nollywood in Africa has been generated – and to date, this is still largely the case. This paper, then, seeks to discuss the reported connections between Nollywood and tourism and to review the efforts and opportunities related to Nollywood film tourism as suggested in Nigeria’s public domain. Based on a content analysis of over 50 newspaper articles and other online available materials, such as websites, blogs and forums, this paper explores the practices and discourses surrounding Nollywood connections with tourism in Nigeria and across Africa over the past ten years. The analysis shows that, despite these high expectations, film tourism related to Nollywood has remained limited. Despite growing government attention and support to Nollywood and its potential for tourism, most state initiatives in this direction have not (yet) materialize – and it very much remains to be seen to what extent ‘Destination Nollywood’ is really able to come to fruition as long as the structural issues underlying the development of Nigerian film (and) tourism are not sufficiently addressed.

Keywords: film tourism, Nigerian cinema, Nollywood, tourist destination

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Authors: Adel H.El-Afandy, Abd Alrahman Embaby, Mona A. El Harairey

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Abu Marw area is located in the southeastern part of the Eastern Desert, about 150km south east of Aswan. Abu Marw area is mainly covered by late Proterozoic igneous and metamorphic rocks. These basement rocks are nonconformably overlain by late Cretaceous Nubian sandstones in the western and northern parts of the areas. Abu Marw granitoid batholiths comprises a co-magmatic calc alkaline I type peraluminous suite of rocks ranging in composition from tonalite, granodiorite, monzogranite, syenogranite to alkali feldspar granite. The studied tonalite and granodiorite samples have ΣREE lower than the average REE values (250ppm) of granitic rocks, while the monzogranite, syenogranite and alkali feldspar granite samples have ΣREE above the average REE values of granitic rocks. Chondrite-normalized REE patterns of the considered granites display a gull-wing shape, characterized by large to moderately fractionated patterns and high LREE relative to the MREE and HREE contents. Furthermore, the studied rocks have a steadily decreasing Eu/Eu* values from the tonalite to the alkali feldspar granite with simultaneous increase in the ΣREE contents. The average U contents in different granitic rocks.

Keywords: granite, rare earth element, radioactivity, Abu Marw, south eastern desert

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Authors: Azeez Balogun

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Inexperienced building score practices are continually evolving and vary across areas. Yet, a few middle ideas stay steady, such as website selection, design, energy efficiency, water and material conservation, indoor environmental great, operational optimization, and waste discount. The essence of green building lies inside the optimization of 1 or more of those standards. This paper conducts a comparative analysis of 7 extensively recognized sustainable score structures—BREEAM, CASBEE, green GLOBES, inexperienced superstar, HK-BEAM, IGBC green homes, and LEED—based totally on the perceptions and opinions of stakeholders in Nigeria certified in green constructing rating systems. The purpose is to pick out and adopt an appropriate green building rating device for Nigeria. Numerous components of those systems had been tested to determine the high-quality health of the Nigerian built environment. The findings imply that LEED, the important machine within the USA and Canada, is the most suitable for Nigeria due to its sturdy basis, extensive funding, and confirmed blessings. LEED obtained the highest rating of eighty out of one hundred points on this assessment.

Keywords: structure, built surroundings, inexperienced building score gadget, Nigeria Inexperienced Constructing Council, sustainability

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Authors: Jacques Wels

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Japan has one of the highest average retirement ages within the OCDE and is paving the way to raise the retirement age to 70. However, the Japanese labour market is facing two main issues that can have detrimental effects on health: non-standard employment forms are widespread among the ageing workforce, and poor working conditions can contribute to explain poor health in late career. To assess such a relationship, the study uses data from JSTAR. Using mediation analysis, it particularly looks at the association between job dissatisfaction, employment status, self-perceived health (SPH), and use of health care services. Results show that work quality and employment status are associated with SPH. Contract work has a particularly negative impact and therefore contributes to explain the use of health care services but is not significantly associated with lower job satisfaction levels. SPH is a good predictor of the use of health care services.

Keywords: self-reported health, occupational health, employment, older workers, mediation

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Authors: Shailender Kumar

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Current health policy pronouncements in India advocate for insurance-based financing mechanism to achieve universal health coverage (UHC), while undermine the role of comprehensive healthcare provision system. UHC is achieved when all people receive the health services they need without suffering financial hardship. This study, using 68th & 71st NSS rounds data, examines their relative and combined strength in achieving the above objective. Health-insurance has been unsuccessful in reducing prevalence and catastrophic effects of out-of-pocket payment and even dismantle the effectiveness of traditional way of health financing system. Healthcare provision is the best way forward to enhance health and well-being of households in condition if India removes existing inadequacies and inequalities in service provision across districts/states and ensure free/low cost medicines/diagnostics to the citizens.

Keywords: health policy, demand-side financing, supply-side financing, incidence of health payment

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Authors: Malik Takreem Ahmad, Pablo Lamata, Rasi Mizori

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Background: In recent years, mobile health apps have grown in popularity as a means for people to track and manage their health. While there is increasing worry that these applications may potentially contribute to the emergence of health anxiety, they can also help to encourage healthy behaviours and provide access to health information. Objective: The objective of this literature review is to look at available mhealth apps and critically evaluate the compromise between reassurance and anxiety. Methodology: A literature review was carried out to analyse the effects of mhealth apps on the creation of health anxiety within the general population. PubMed and SCOPUS were used to search for relevant articles, and abstracts were screened using inclusion criteria of the terms: mhealth apps; e-Health; healthcare apps; cyberchondria; Health anxiety; illness anxiety disorder. A total of 27 studies were included in the review. Results and discussion: The findings suggest a direct relationship between mobile health app use and health anxiety. The impact of mobile health apps on health anxiety may depend on how they are used - individuals receiving a constant stream of health-related information may trigger unnecessary concern about one's health. The need for more regulation and oversight is identified, which can lead to app quality and safety consistency. There are also concerns about data security and privacy and the resulting "digital gap" for individuals without mobiles or internet access. Conclusion: While health apps can be valuable tools for managing and tracking health, individuals need to use them in a balanced and informed way to avoid increased anxiety.

Keywords: mobile health, mhealth apps, cyberchondria, health anxiety

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Authors: Ejovi Eghwubare Augustine

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This study delved into the traditional mechanisms of conflict resolution in Africa, a pathway to sustainable peace in Nigeria. It deployed the quantitative and qualitative methods of data collection and content analysis. The work adopted the Peace Process theory propounded by John Darby and Roger Macunity. It ascertained that disputes or disagreements are unarguably and necessarily an inevitable part of human existence, flowing directly from communication, interaction, and relationships which can occur at individual and national levels, even at international levels in view of the current trend of globalization. The alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) mechanism is a basket of procedures outside the traditional process of litigation or strict determination of legal rights. It may also be elucidated as a range of procedures that serve as generally involve the intercession and assistance of a neutral and impartial third party. The traditional mechanisms of conflict resolution in Africa are alien to the Western world; this paper is of utmost importance to the Western world and also enriched their pool of literature. Nigeria is a country that is dominated by various ethnic groups anchored on diverse cultures, customs, and traditions. It is, therefore, not surprising to see conflicts arise, and despite the various attempts at resolving these conflicts through litigation, they still remained unabated. The paper investigated the lessons learned from Traditional Mechanisms of Conflict resolution; it also interrogated its impact and the way forward. In light of the lessons that were learned and the impact of the traditional mechanisms of conflict resolution, suggestions on how to attain a sustainable, peaceful society were proffered. In conclusion, the study crystallized reforms on the alternative dispute resolution introduced through the traditional mechanism, which includes, amongst others, that constitutional recognition should be given to traditional institutions of conflict resolution to enable quick dispensation of matters.

Keywords: traditional, conflict, peace, resolution

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Authors: Ezzat Mohamed El-Amin

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Mapping the earthquake-size distribution in various tectonic regimes on a local to regional scale reveals statistically significant variations in the range of at least 0.4 to 2.0 for the b-value in the frequency-magnitude distribution. We map the earthquake frequency–magnitude distribution (b value) as a function of depth in the Reservoir Triggered Seismicity (RTS) region in Kalabsha region, in south Egypt. About 1680 well-located events recorded during 1981–2014 in the Kalabsha region are selected for the analysis. The earthquake data sets are separated in 5 km zones from 0 to 25 km depth. The result shows a systematic decrease in b value up to 12 km followed by an increase. The increase in b value is interpreted to be caused by the presence of fluids. We also investigate the spatial distribution of b value with depth. Significant variations in the b value are detected, with b ranging from b 0.7 to 1.19. Low b value areas at 5 km depth indicate localized high stresses which are favorable for future rupture.

Keywords: seismicity, frequency-magnitude, b-value, earthquake

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Authors: Michael Rudolph, Evans Muchesa, Katiya Yassim, Venkatesha Prasad

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Input-intensive production systems characterise industrial agriculture as an unsustainable means to address food and nutrition security and sustainable livelihoods. There is extensive empirical evidence that supports the diversification and reorientation of industrial agriculture and that incorporates ecological practices viewed as essential for achieving balanced and productive farming systems. An agroecological farming system is a viable alternative approach that can improve food production, especially for the most vulnerable communities and households. Furthermore, substantial proof and supporting evidence show that such a system holds the key to increasing dietary diversity at the local level and reducing the multiple health and environmental risks stemming from industrial agriculture. This paper, therefore, aims to demonstrate the benefits of the agroecology food system through an evidenced-based approach that shows how the broader agricultural network structures can play a meaningful role, particularly for impoverished households in today’s reality. The methodology is centered on a structured literature review that analyses urban agriculture, agroecology, and food insecurity. Notably, ground-truthing, practical experiences, and field observation of agroecological farming were deployed. This paper places particular emphasis on the practical application of the agroecological approach in urban and peri-urban settings. Several evaluation reports on local and provincial initiatives clearly show that very few households engage in food gardens and urban agriculture. These households do not make use of their backyards or nearby open spaces for a number of reasons, such as stringent city by-laws, restricted access to land, little or no knowledge of innovative or alternative farming practices, and a general lack of interest. Furthermore, limited resources such as water and energy and lack of capacity building and training implementation are additional constraints that are hampering small scale food gardens and farms in other settings. The Agroecology systems approach is viewed as one of the key solutions to tackling these problems.

Keywords: agroecology, water-energy-food nexus, sutainable development goals, social, environmental and economc impact

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Authors: Hlabishi Peter Ntloana

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This paper aims to present the effectiveness of the Spatial Planning and Land Use Management Act, 2013, in addressing key spatial challenges in Fetakgomo Tubatse Local Municipality, mainly focusing on Apel nodal point. Spatial Planning and Land Use Management Act, 2013, popularly known as SPLUMA, aimed at addressing emerging and existing spatial planning and land use management challenges in South Africa. There are critical key spatial challenges that are continuously encountered in Apel Nodal Point, which include dispersed rural settlement mainly in a communal settlement. The spatial patterns and rural settlements development patterns are a challenge, and such results in uncoordinated human settlements. The objective of this research paper is to analyze the spatial planning of Apel nodal points and determine the effectiveness of the SPLUMA policy. Key Informant interviews were conducted with 20 participants, and also the municipal Spatial Development Framework was considered to explore more challenges and proposed recommendations. The results divulged that there is a huge gap in addressing spatial planning, mainly in rural areas, and correlation with the findings of the Municipal Spatial Development framework. In conclusion, spatial planning remains a critical dilemma in most rural settlements, and there must be programmes and strategies to balance the effectiveness of spatial planning in urban and rural settlements.

Keywords: land use management, rural settlement, spatial development framework, spatial planning

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Authors: Maressa Aires de Proenca

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The inclusion of a gender perspective in peace operations is based on a series of conventions, treaties, and resolutions designed to protect and include women addressing gender mainstreaming. The UN Security Council recognizes that women's participation and gender equality within peace operations are indispensable for achieving sustainable development and peace. However, the participation of women in the field of peace and security is still embryonic. There are gaps when we think about female participation in conflict resolution and peace promotion spaces, and it does not seem clear how women are present in these spaces. This absence may correspond to silence about representation and the guarantee of the female perspective within the context of peace promotion. Thus, the present research aimed to describe the panorama of the participation of women who are currently active in the 14 active UN peace operations, which are: 1) MINUJUSTH, Haiti, 2) MINURSO, Western Sahara, 3) MINUSCA, Central African Republic, 4) MINUSMA, Mali, 5) MONUSCO, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, 6) UNAMID, Darfur, 7) UNDOF, Golan, 8) UNFICYP, Cyprus, 9) UNIFIL, Lebanon, 10) UNISFA, Abyei, 11) UNMIK, Kosovo, 12) UNMISS, South Sudan, 13) UNMOGIP, India, and Pakistan, and 14) UNTSO, Middle East. A database was constructed that reported: (1) position held by the woman in the peace operation, (2) her profession, (3) educational level, (4) marital status, (5) religion, (6) nationality, (8) number of years working with peace operations, (9) whether the operation in which it operates has provided training on gender issues. For the construction of this database, official reports and statistics accessed through the UN Peacekeeping Resource Hub were used; The United Nations Statistical Commission, Peacekeeping Master Open Datasets, The Armed Conflict Database (ACD), The International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) database; Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED) database; from the Evidence and Data for Gender Equality (EDGE) database. In addition to access to databases, peacekeeping operations will be contacted directly, and data requested individually. The database showed that the presence of women in these peace operations is still incipient, but growing. There are few women in command positions, and most of them occupy administrative or human-care positions.

Keywords: women, peace and security, peacekeeping operations, peace studies

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Authors: Chiung-Ju Huang

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This study utilizes a frequency domain approach over the period of 1996 to 2013 to examine the causal relationship between governance and economic growth in ten Asian countries, which have different levels of democracy; classified as “Free”, “Partly Free”, and “Not Free” countries. The empirical results show that there is no Granger causality running from governance to economic growth in “Not Free” countries and “Partly Free” countries with the exception of Singapore. As for “Free” countries such as South Korea and Taiwan, there is a one-way causality running from governance to economic growth. The findings of this study indicate that policy makers in South Korea, Taiwan, and Singapore could use governance index to improve their predictions of the future economic growth.

Keywords: economic growth, frequency domain, governance, granger causality

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Authors: Nadia Fatima Zahra Malki

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Quality is one of the most important modern management patterns that organizations seek to achieve in all areas and sectors in order to meet the needs and desires of customers and to remain and continuity, as they constitute a competitive advantage for the organization. and among the most prominent organizations that must be available on the quality factor are health organizations as they relate to the most valuable component of production. It is a person, and his health, and any error in it threatens his life and may lead to death, so she must provide health services of high quality to achieve the highest degree of satisfaction for the patient. This research aims to study the quality of health services and the extent of their impact on patient satisfaction, and this is through an applied study that relied on measuring the level of quality of health services in the university hospital center of Algeria and the extent of their impact on patient satisfaction according to the dimensions of the quality of health services, and we reached a conclusion that the determinants of the quality of health services It affects patient satisfaction, which necessitates developing health services according to patients' requirements and improving their quality to obtain patient satisfaction.

Keywords: health service, health quality, quality determinants, patient satisfaction

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Authors: Alina Murtishcheva

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The development of an effective system of administrative supervision is a prerequisite for the functioning of local self-government on the basis of the rule of law. Administrative supervision of local self-government is of particular importance in the EU countries due to the influence of integration processes. The central authorities act on the international level; however, subnational authorities also have to implement European legislation in order to strengthen integration. Therefore, the central authority, being the connecting link between supranational and subnational authorities, should bear responsibility, including financial responsibility, for possible mistakes of subnational authorities. Consequently, the state should have sufficient mechanisms of control over local and regional authorities in order to correct their mistakes. At the same time, the control mechanisms do not deny the autonomy of local self-government. The paper analyses models of administrative supervision of local self-government in Ukraine, Poland, Lithuania, Belgium, Great Britain, Italy, and France. The research methods used in this paper are theoretical methods of analysis of scientific literature, constitutions, legal acts, Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe reports, and constitutional court decisions, as well as comparative and logical analysis. The legislative basis of administrative supervision was scrutinized, and the models of administrative supervision were classified, including a priori control and ex-post control or their combination. The advantages and disadvantages of these models of administrative supervision are analysed. Compliance with Article 8 of the European Charter of Local Self-Government is of great importance for countries achieving common goals and sharing common values. However, countries under study have problems and, in some cases, demonstrate non-compliance with provisions of Article 8. Such non-conformity as the endorsement of a mayor by the Flemish Government in Belgium, supervision with a view to expediency in Great Britain, and the tendency to overuse supervisory power in Poland are analysed. On the basis of research, the tendencies of administrative supervision of local authorities’ activities in selected European countries are described. Several recommendations for Ukraine as a country that had been granted EU candidate status are formulated. Having emphasised its willingness to become a member of the European community, Ukraine should not only follow the best European practices but also avoid the mistakes of countries that have long-term experience in developing the local self-government institution. This project has received funding from the Research Council of Lithuania (LMTLT), agreement № S-PD-22-65.

Keywords: administrative supervision, decentralisation, legality, local authorities, local self-government

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Authors: K. Y. S. Putri, Heri Fathurahman, Yuki Surisita, Widi Sagita, Kiki Dwi Arviani

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Society needs the assistance of academics in understanding and being skilled in health communication literacy. Information technology runs very fast while health communication literacy skills in getting health communication information during the pandemic are not as fast as the development of information technology. The research question is whether there is an influence of health communication on information technology in health information during the pandemic in Indonesia. The purpose of the study is to find out the influence of health communication on information technology in health information during the pandemic in Indonesia. The concepts of health communication literacy and information technology are used this study. Previous research is in support of this study. Quantitative research methods by disseminating questionnaires in this study. The validity and reliability test of this study is positive, so it can proceed to the next statistical analysis. Descriptive results of variable health communication literacy are of positive value in all dimensions. All dimensions of information technology are of positive value. Statistical tests of the influence of health communication literacy on information technology are of great value. Discussion of both variables in the influence of health communication literacy and high-value information technology because health communication literacy has a high effect in information technology. Respondents to this study have high information technology skills. So that health communication literacy in obtaining health information during the 2019-2022 pandemic is needed. Research advice is that academics are still very much needed by the community in the development of society during the pandemic.

Keywords: health information, health information needs, literacy health communication, information technology

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Authors: Joy Olayemi Gbala, Fatai Olatokunbo, Philip Cloud

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Catastrophic dictatorship has been discovered to be the major leadership challenge that orchestrates stagnated and contrasted economy with dysfunctional democracy in Africa through willful misappropriation of resources and egregious subversion of the rule of law. Almost invariably, most African leaders inexplicably often become power drunk and addicted which usually leads to abuse of state power, abdication of constitutional duties, unjustly withdrawal of business license of operation, human right violation, election malpractices, financial corruption, disruptions of policies of democratic government transition, annulment of free and fair election, and disruptions of legal electoral procedures and unachievable dividends of democracy and many more. Owing to this, most African nations have gone and still go through political unrest and insurgencies leading to loss of lives and property, violent protests, detention of detractors and political activists and massive human displacement. This research work is concerned with, and investigates the causes, menace, consequences and impacts of subverting the rule of law in Africa on the economy and the development of the continent with a suggested practical solution to the plights.

Keywords: corruption, law, leadership, violation

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Authors: Milind Bharambe, Chander Shekhar

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India is a vast country with its 1.21 billion population at the dawn of new decade, which accounts for one sixth of the global human capital in the world today. It is well known that health expenditure in India is dominated by private spending. This is an unfortunate consequence of India’s development because of large positive externality associated with health spending, which make health a merit good. This paper has used data from NSSO and Indian Government’s spending on health as reported by Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. Understanding of the dynamism of age-structure of the population would greatly optimize the expenditure on health care services. A country with good public health indicators is bound to possess good human capital which is an asset to the economic growth and indicator of development status of country. The paper tries to present the linkages between the health expenditure incurred by different states at various levels of demographic transition levels and the efficiency in utilization of health expenditure. It also looks into the way in which allocative efficiency health services can be improved. Paper tries to explore the per capita spending on health and how the demographic transition taking place in different states of India affect the required quantity and quality of health services.

Keywords: age structure, demographic transition, health expenditure, morbidity

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Authors: Rudzani Manafe, Ezekiel Green

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Brucella, has many different virulence factors that act as a causative agent of brucellosis, depending on the environment and other factors, some factors may play a role more than others during infection and as a result, play a role in becoming a causative agent for pathogenesis. Brucella melitensis and Brucella abortus are considered to be pathogenic to humans. The genetic regularity of nine potential causes of virulence of two Brucella species in Eastern Cape livestock have been examined. A hundred and twenty isolates obtained from Molecular Pathogenesis and Molecular Epidemiology Research Group (MPMERG) were used for this study. All isolates were grown on Brucella agar medium. Nine primer pairs were used for the detection of virB2, virB5, vceC, btpA, btpB, prpA, betB, bpe275, and bspB virulence factors using Polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Approximately 100% was observed for genes BecC and BetB from B. arbotus. While the lowest gene observed was PrpA at 4.6% from B. arbotus. BetB was detected in 34.7%, while virB2 and prpA (0%) were not detected in B. melitensis. The results from this research suggest that most isolates of Brucella have virulence-related genes associated with disease pathogenesis. Finally, our findings showed that Brucella strains in the Eastern Cape Province are extremely virulent as virulence characteristics exist in most strains investigated.

Keywords: putative virulence genes, brucella, polymerase chain reaction, milk

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Authors: Hayet El Kolli, Hocine Laouer

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Bunium in the world comprises about 50 to 100 species, mostly distributed in: Algeria, Italy, Pakistan, Iran, and South Africa. Bunium species have several uses like: Bunium persicum which is commonly used as antispasmodic, carminative, anti-obesity and lactogage. This plant have been widely used as an additive in food stuff such as in bread cooking, rice and yoghurt for its carminative, anti-dyspepsia and antispasmodic effect. The B. paucifolium oil has a wide spectrum of action against moulds, yeast and bacteria. The chemical compositions of Bunium incrassatum and Bunium alpinum essential oils were carry out by GC and GC/MS. Therefore, antibacterial activity of two oils was investigated by disk diffusion method against Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC 27853, Escherichia coli ATCC 25922, Salmonella typhimurium ATCC 1331, Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 25923, Klebsiella pneumoniae ATCC 700603, Bacillus cereus ATCC 10876, Enterococcus faecalis ATCC 49452, Lysteria monocytogenes ATCC 15313, Citrobacter freundii ATCC 8090, Proteus mirabilis ATCC 35659. A moderate antibacterial activity was found. In conclusion, it is found that essential oils of the two species are rich in sesquiterpens and other oxygenated compounds. These compounds have been reported to show bactericidal activity and the presence of phenolic compounds makes them useful antioxidants so that results confirm some ethnopharmacologique applications of these two oils of Bunium.

Keywords: Bunium alpinum, Bunium incrassatum, apiaceae, essential oil, sesquiterpens, phenols, antibacterial, antioxidant activities

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Authors: Artur Krukowski, Emmanouela Vogiatzaki

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The article presents an ongoing work in research projects such as SCAN4RECO or ARCH, both funded by the European Commission under Horizon 2020 program. The former one concerns multimodal and multispectral scanning of Cultural Heritage assets for their digitization and conservation via spatiotemporal reconstruction and 3D printing, while the latter one aims to better preserve areas of cultural heritage from hazards and risks. It co-creates tools that would help pilot cities to save cultural heritage from the effects of climate change. It develops a disaster risk management framework for assessing and improving the resilience of historic areas to climate change and natural hazards. Tools and methodologies are designed for local authorities and practitioners, urban population, as well as national and international expert communities, aiding authorities in knowledge-aware decision making. In this article we focus on 3D modelling of object geometry using primarily photogrammetric methods to achieve very high model accuracy using consumer types of devices, attractive both to professions and hobbyists alike.

Keywords: 3D modelling, UAS, cultural heritage, preservation

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Authors: Namrata Mishra

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Health of a person plays a vital role in the collective health of his community and hence the well-being of the society as a whole. But, in today’s fast paced technology driven world, health issues are increasingly being associated with human behaviors – their lifestyle. Social networks have tremendous impact on the health behavior of individuals. Many researchers have used social network analysis to understand human behavior that implicates their social and economic environments. It would be interesting to use a similar analysis to understand human behaviors that have health implications. This paper focuses on concepts of those behavioural analyses that have health implications using social networks analysis and provides possible algorithmic approaches. The results of these approaches can be used by the governing authorities for rolling out health plans, benefits and take preventive measures, while the pharmaceutical companies can target specific markets, helping health insurance companies to better model their insurance plans.

Keywords: breadth first search, directed graph, health behaviors, social network analysis

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Authors: Nutthawadee Jampanil, Kattareeya Kumthip, Niwat Maneekarn, Pattara Khamrin

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Rotavirus A is one of the leading causes of acute gastroenteritis in children younger than five years of age, especially in low-income countries in Africa and South Asia. Two live-attenuated oral rotavirus vaccines, Rotarix and RotaTeq, have been introduced into routine immunization programs in many countries and have proven highly effective in reducing the burden of rotavirus-associated morbidity and mortality. In Thailand, Rotarix and RotaTeq vaccines have been included in the national childhood immunization program since 2020. The objectives of this research are to conduct a molecular epidemiological study and to characterize rotavirus genotypes circulating in pediatric patients with acute diarrhea in Chiang Mai, Thailand, from 2020-2022 after the implementation of rotavirus vaccines. Out of 858 stool specimens, 26 (3.0%) were positive for rotavirus A. G3P[8] (23.0%) was detected as the most predominant genotype, followed by G1P[8] (19.2%), G8P[8] (19.2%), G9P[8] (15.3%), G2P[4] (7.7%), G1P[6] (3.9%), G9P[4] (3.9%), and G8P[X] (3.9%). In addition, the uncommon rotavirus strain G3P[23] (3.9%) was also detected in this study, and this G3P[23] strain displayed a genetic background similar to the porcine rotavirus. In conclusion, there was a dramatic change in the prevalence of rotavirus A infection and the diversity of rotavirus A genotypes in pediatric patients in Chiang Mai, Northern Thailand, in the rotavirus post-vaccination period. The finding obtained from this research contributes to a better understanding of rotavirus epidemiology after rotavirus vaccine introduction. Furthermore, the identification of unusual G and P genotype combination strains provides significant evidence for the potential interspecies transmission between human and animal rotaviruses.

Keywords: rotavirus, infectious disease, gastroenteritis, Thailand

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Authors: N. K. Gupta, R. C. Bhattacharjee

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In the aftermath of the tsunami in 2004 and terrible humanitarian disaster affecting thousands of kilometers of coastal south, the immediate priority is to begin the process of reconstruction of livelihoods including basic services. It is likely that many coastal wetlands would have been affected by the large inflow of salt-water and littoral sediments during the tsunami, with longer-term effects including changes in their hydrogeology caused by changes to coastlines and damage to sea-defenses. The reconstruction process is likely to provide opportunities to better integrate environmental protection and management with economic development in the region, including the opportunity to conserve and restore coastal habitats. Presented herein is a study pertaining to salinity problems encountered in coastal south during tsunami in 2004 and the consequent loss of fertility of agricultural land including remedial measures to revitalize economic growth in the region.

Keywords: tsunami, salinity, costal area, reconstruction

Procedia PDF Downloads 375

Authors: Smiso Buthelezi, Petros Dlamini, Dennis Ocholla

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The study assesses the University of Zululand's practices for documenting, sharing, and accessing indigenous knowledge. Two research objectives guided it: to determine how indigenous knowledge (IK) is developed at the University of Zululand and how indigenous knowledge (IK) is documented at the University of Zululand. The study adopted both interpretive and positivist research paradigms. Ultimately, qualitative and quantitative research methods were used. The qualitative research approach collected data from academic and non-academic staff members. Interviews were conducted with 18 academic staff members and 5 with support staff members. The quantitative research approach was used to collect data from indigenous knowledge (IK) theses and dissertations from the University of Zululand Institutional Repository between 2009-2019. The study results revealed that many departments across the University of Zululand were involved in creating indigenous knowledge (IK)-related content. The department of African Languages was noted to be more involved in creating IK-related content. Moreover, the documentation of the content related to indigenous knowledge (IK) at the University of Zululand is done frequently but is not readily known. It was found that the creation and documentation of indigenous knowledge by different departments faced several challenges. The common challenges are a lack of interest among indigenous knowledge (IK) owners in sharing their knowledge, the local language as a barrier, and a shortage of proper tools for recording and capturing indigenous knowledge (IK). One of the study recommendations is the need for an indigenous knowledge systems (IKS) policy to be in place at the University of Zululand.

Keywords: knowledge creation, SECI model, information and communication technology., indigenous knowledge

Procedia PDF Downloads 113

Authors: Elizabeth Snyman-Van Deventer

Abstract:

Numerous corporate scandals, which included investment scams, corporate malfeasance, unethical conduct and conflicts of interest, contributed to the collapse of WorldCom, Global Crossing, Xerox, Tyco, Enron, Sprint, AbbVie and Imclone and led to alarmed investors abandoning public securities markets and the tumbling of U.S stock markets. These companies suffered significant financial losses due to substantial and fraudulent misstatements and other illegal, corrupt or unethical practices. Executives were convicted of fraud and sentenced to prison. The corporate financial scandals, governance failures, and the ensuing public outcries led to mandatory legislation, e.g. the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in the USA. In European corporate scandals such as Parmalat, Royal Dutch Ahold, Vivendi, Adecco and Elan, the boards missed financial misrepresentations. In South Africa, Steinhoff is the most well-known example of corporate collapse, but now we can also add Tongaat Hulett. It seems as if fraud and corruption may be the major sources of these corporate collapses. In most instances, there is either the active involvement of the directors and managers in these fraudulent or corrupt practices, or there is a negligent or even intentional failure to act by directors to prevent these activities. However, besides directors and managers, auditors and lawyers failed in most of these companies to fulfil their professional duties. In most of these major collapses, the ethics of especially auditors and directors could be questioned. This paper will first provide a brief overview of corporate collapses. Secondly, the reasons for these collapses, with a focus on unethical conduct, will be discussed.

Keywords: professional duties, corporate collapses, ethical conduct, legal ethics, directors, auditors

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Authors: Pillay J. D., D. De Wit, J. F. Ducray

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Field hockey is a popular international sport which is played in more than 100 countries across the world. Due to the nature of hockey, players repeatedly perform a combination of forward flexion and rotational movements of the spine in order to strike the ball. These movements have been shown to increase the risk of pain and injury to the lumbar spine. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence and incidence of low back pain (LBP) in male adolescent field hockey players and the characteristics of LBP in terms of location, chronicity, disability, and treatment sought, as well as its association with selected risk factors. A survey was conducted on 112 male adolescent field hockey players in the eThekwini Municipality of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. The questionnaire contained sections on the demographics of participants, general characteristics of participants, health and lifestyle characteristics, low back pain patterns, treatment of low back pain, and the level of disability associated with LBP. The data were statistically analysed using IBM SPSS version 25 with statistical significance set at p-value <0.05. Descriptive statistics such as mean and standard deviation were used to summarise responses to continuous variables as appropriate. Categorical variables were described using frequency tables. Associations between risk factors and low back pain were tested using Pearson’s chi-square test and t-tests as appropriate. A total of 68 questionnaires were completed for analysis (67% participation rate); the period prevalence of LBP was 63.2% (35.0%:beginning of the season, 32.4%:mid-season, 22.1%: end of season). Incidence was 38.2%. The most common location for LBP was the middle low back region (39.5%), and the most common duration of pain was a few hours (32.6%). Most participants (79.1%) did not classify their pain as a disability, and only 44.2% of participants received medical treatment for their LBP. An interesting finding was the association between hydration and LBP (p = 0.050), i.e., those individuals who did not hydrate frequently during matches and training were significantly more likely to experience LBP. The results of this study, although limited to a select group of adolescents, showed a higher prevalence of LBP than that of previous studies. More importantly, even though most participants did not experience LBP classified as a disability, LBP still had a large impact on participants, as nearly half of the participants consulted with a medical professional for treatment. Need for the application of further strategies in the prevention and management of LBP in field hockey, such as adequate warm-up and cool-down, stretching exercises, rest between sessions, etc., are recommended as simple strategies to reduce LBP prevalence.

Keywords: adolescents, field hockey players, incidence, low back pain, prevalence, risk factors

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Authors: Hye-Won Lim, Tom Cassidy, Tracy Cassidy

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Infant and children’s body shapes are changing constantly while they are growing up into adults and are also distinctive physically between countries. For this reason, optimum size charts which can represent body sizes and shapes of infants and children are required. In this study, investigations of current size charts in South Korea and UK (n=50 each) were conducted for understanding and figuring out the sizing perspectives of the clothing manufacturers. The size charts of the two countries were collected randomly from online shopping websites and those size charts’ average measurements were compared with both national sizing surveys (SizeKorea and Shape GB). The size charts were also classified by age, gender, clothing type, fitting, and other factors. In addition, the key measurement body parts of size charts of each country were determined and those will be suggested for new size charts and sizing system development.

Keywords: infant clothing, children’s clothing, body shapes, size charts

Procedia PDF Downloads 317