Search results for: rural economic growth

Authors: Egboja Simon, Agi Sunday

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One of the most important key to success of a nation is to ensure steady development and national economic self - sufficiency and independence. There have been challenges in food security related issues in many developing nations. The problems may be as a result of rise in food price across the globe diminishing global food reserve and erratic weather patterns among other factors. In Nigeria several Agricultural politics have been formulated to curtail food security challenges. Unfortunately, these policies have not yielded the deserved results of increase food production. This paper is designed to identify the various challenges confronting food security in Nigeria with a view of highlighting the reasons that accounting for these problems. This paper also suggests ways of addressing these challenges and concludes by saying that subsidization of the process of farm inputs like fertilizer, improved seed and agro chemicals education of the farmers on modern methods of farming through extension services, improvisation of villages based food storage mechanism and provision of infrastructural facilities in rural areas to facilitate the preservation and easy evacuation of farm produce should be encouraged.

Keywords: governance, security, food, development, conflict, hunger, society, sustainability

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Authors: A. Camões, M. Ferreira Dias, M. Amorim

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In recent years, the social economy is increasingly seen as a viable means to address social problems. Social enterprises, as well as public projects and initiatives targeted to meet social purposes, offer organizational models that assume heterogeneity, flexibility and adaptability to the ‘real world and real problems’. Despite the growing popularity of social initiatives, decision makers still face a paucity in what concerns the available models and tools to adequately assess its sustainability, and its impacts, notably the nature of its contribution to economic growth. This study was carried out at the local level, by analyzing the social impact initiatives and projects promoted by the Municipality of Albergaria-a-Velha (Câmara Municipal de Albergaria-a-Velha -CMA), a municipality of 25,000 inhabitants in the central region of Portugal. This work focuses on the challenges related to the qualifications and employability of citizens, which stands out as one of the key concerns in the Portuguese economy, particularly expressive in the context of small-scale cities and inland territories. The study offers a characterization of the Municipality, its socio-economic structure and challenges, followed by an exploratory analysis of multiple sourced data, collected from the CMA's documental sources as well as from privileged informants. The purpose is to conduct detailed analysis of the CMA's social projects, aimed at characterizing its potential impact for the model of qualifications and employability of the citizens of the Municipality. The study encompasses a discussion of the socio-economic profile of the municipality, notably its asymmetries, the analysis of the social projects and initiatives, as well as of data derived from inquiry actors involved in the implementation of the social projects and its beneficiaries. Finally, the results obtained with the Better Life Index will be included. This study makes it possible to ascertain if what is implicit in the literature goes to the encounter of what one experiences in reality.

Keywords: measurement, municipalities, social economy, social impact

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Authors: Umang Varshney, Amit Karamchandani, Rohit Kapoor

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Practitioners and researchers have realized that Blockchain is not limited to currency. Blockchain as a distributed ledger can ensure a transparent and traceable supply chain. Due to Blockchain-enabled IoTs, a firm’s information management system can now take inputs from other supply chain partners in real-time. This study aims to provide empirical evidence of dimensions responsible for blockchain implemented firm’s growth and highlight how sector (manufacturing or service), state's regulatory environment, and choice of blockchain network affect the blockchain's usefulness. This post-adoption study seeks to validate the findings of pre-adoption studies done on the blockchain. Data will be collected through a survey of managers working in blockchain implemented firms and analyzed through PLS-SEM.

Keywords: blockchain, information management system, PLS-SEM, firm's growth

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Authors: Gaosheng Ju

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Our empirical evidence supports a model of consumption planning behaviors with the following two characteristics. First, households formulate a rational consumption target based on their desired target, displaying a diminishing sensitivity to the discrepancy between them. Second, the established target is a reference point for their planned consumption. The diminishing sensitivity leads to opposite reactions in higher and lower quantiles of both consumption targets and consumption growth to changes in economic conditions. This phenomenon accounts for the perplexingly low correlation between consumption and other macroeconomic variables. Furthermore, the opposing movements of consumption targets offer new insights into consumption-based asset pricing.

Keywords: consumption planning, reference point, diminishing sensitivity, quantile regression, asset pricing puzzles

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Authors: Maria Manzoor, Iram Gul, Muhammad Arshad

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Bacterial strains were isolated from contaminated soil collected from Rawalpindi and Islamabad. The strains were investigated for lead resistance and their effect on Pb solubility and PGPR activity. Incubation experiments were carried for inoculated and unoculated soil containing different levels of Pb. Results revealed that few stains (BTM-4, BTM-11, BTM-14) were able to tolerate Pb up to 600 mg L-1, whereas five strains (BTM-3, BTM-6, BTM-10, BTM-21 and BTM-24) showed significant increase in solubility of Pb when compared to all other strains and control. The CaCl2 extractable Pb was increased by 13.6, 6.8, 4.4 and 2.4 folds compared to un-inoculated control soil at increased soil Pb concentration (500, 1000, 1500 and 200 mg kg-1, respectively). The selected bacterial strains (11) were further investigated for plant growth promotion activity through PGPR assays including. Germination and root elongation assays were also conducted under elevated metal concentration in controlled conditions to elucidate the effects of microbial strains upon plant growth and development. The results showed that all the strains tested in this study, produced significantly varying concentrations of IAA, siderophores and gibberellic acid along with ability to phosphorus solubilization index (PSI). The results of germination and root elongation assay further confirmed the beneficial role of the microbial strains in elevating metal stress through PGPR activity. Among all tested strains, BTM-10 significantly improved plant growth. 1.3 and 2.7 folds increase in root and shoot length was observed when compared to control. Which may be attributed to presence of important plant growth promoting enzymes (IAA 74.6 μg/ml; GA 19.23 μg/ml; Sidrophore units 49% and PSI 1.3 cm). The outcome of this study indicates that these Pb tolerant and solubilizing strains may have the potential for plant growth promotion under metal stress and can be used as mediator when coupled with heavy metal hyperaccumulator plants for phytoremediation of Pb contaminated soil.

Keywords: Pb resistant bacteria, Pb mobilizing bacteria, Phytoextraction of Pb, PGPR activity of bacteria

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Authors: RAJ KUMAR G.C.

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There are tremendous opportunities to maximize smallholder farmers’ income from small-scale water resource development through micro irrigation and multiple-use water systems (MUS). MUS are an improved water management approach, developed and tested successfully by iDE that pipes water to a community both for domestic use and for agriculture using efficient micro irrigation. Different MUS models address different landscape constraints, water demand, and users’ preferences. MUS are complemented by micro irrigation kits, which were developed by iDE to enable farmers to grow high-value crops year-round and to use limited water resources efficiently. Over the last 15 years, iDE’s promotion of the MUS approach has encouraged government and other key stakeholders to invest in MUS for better planning of scarce water resources. Currently, about 60% of the cost of MUS construction is covered by the government and community. Based on iDE’s experience, a gravity-fed MUS costs approximately $125 USD per household to construct, and it can increase household income by $300 USD per year. A key element of the MUS approach is keeping farmers well linked to input supply systems and local produce collection centers, which helps to ensure that the farmers can produce a sufficient quantity of high-quality produce that earns a fair price. This process in turn creates an enabling environment for smallholders to invest in MUS and micro irrigation. Therefore, MUS should be seen as an integrated package of interventions –the end users, water sources, technologies, and the marketplace– that together enhance technical, financial, and institutional sustainability. Communities are trained to participate in sustainable water resource management as a part of the MUS planning and construction process. The MUS approach is cost-effective, improves community governance of scarce water resources, helps smallholder farmers to improve rural health and livelihoods, and promotes gender equity. MUS systems are simple to maintain and communities are trained to ensure that they can undertake minor maintenance procedures themselves. All in all, the iDE Nepal MUS offers multiple benefits and represents a practical and sustainable model of the MUS approach. Moreover, there is a growing national consensus that rural water supply systems should be designed for multiple uses, acknowledging that substantial work remains in developing national-level and local capacity and policies for scale-up.

Keywords: multiple-use water systems , small scale water resources, rural livelihoods, practical and sustainable model

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Authors: Chiu-Yin Leung

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This research investigates a complex assemblage among indigenous identities, socio-political organization and national apparatus in the border landscape of post-colonial Hong Kong. This former British colony had designated a transient mode of governance in its New Territories and particularly the northernmost borderland in 1951-2012. With a discriminated system of land provisions for the indigenous villagers, the place has been inherited with distinctive village-based culture, historic monuments and agrarian practices until its sovereignty return into the People’s Republic of China. In its latest development imperatives by the national strategic planning, the frontier area of Hong Kong has been identified as a strategy site for regional economic integration in South China, with cross-border projects of innovation and technology zones, mega-transport infrastructure and inter-jurisdictional arrangement. Contemporary literature theorizes borders as the material and discursive production of territoriality, which manifest in state apparatus and the daily lives of its citizens and condense in the contested articulations of power, security and citizenship. Drawing on the concept of assemblage, this paper attempts to tract how the border regime and infrastructure in Hong Kong as a city are deeply ingrained in the everyday lived spaces of the local communities but also the changing urban and regional strategies across different longitudinal moments. Through an intensive ethnographic fieldwork among the borderland villages since 2008 and the extensive analysis of colonial archives, new development plans and spatial planning frameworks, the author navigates the genealogy of the border landscape in Ta Kwu Ling frontier area and its implications as the milieu for new state space, covering heterogeneous fields particularly in indigenous rights, heritage preservation, rural sustainability and regional economy. Empirical evidence suggests an apparent bias towards indigenous power and colonial representation in classifying landscape values and conserving historical monuments. Squatter and farm tenants are often deprived of property rights, statutory participation and livelihood option in the planning process. The postcolonial bureaucracies have great difficulties in mobilizing resources to catch up with the swift, political-first approach of the mainland counterparts. Meanwhile, the cultural heritage, lineage network and memory landscape are not protected altogether with any holistic view or collaborative effort across the border. The enactment of land resumption and compensation scheme is furthermore disturbed by lineage-based customary law, technocratic bureaucracy, intra-community conflicts and multi-scalar political mobilization. As many traces of colonial misfortune and tyranny have been whitewashed without proper management, the author argues that postcolonial justice is yet reconciled in this fragmented border landscape. The assemblage of border in mainstream representation has tended to oversimplify local struggles as a collective mist and setup a wider production of schizophrenia experiences in the discussion of further economic integration among Hong Kong and other mainland cities in the Pearl River Delta Region. The research is expected to shed new light on the theorizing of border regions and postcolonialism beyond Eurocentric perspectives. In reassembling the borderland experiences with other arrays in state governance, village organization and indigenous identities, the author also suggests an alternative epistemology in reconciling socio-spatial differences and opening up imaginaries for positive interventions.

Keywords: heritage conservation, indigenous communities, post-colonial borderland, regional development, rural sustainability

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Authors: Juan Sepúlveda

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Energy is a fundamental component in sustainability, the access and use of this resource is related with economic growth, social improvements, and environmental impacts. In this sense, energy efficiency has been studied as a factor that enhances the positive impacts of energy in communities; however, the implementation of efficiency requires strong policy and strategies that usually rely on individual measures focused in independent dimensions. In this paper, the problem of energy efficiency as a multi-objective problem is studied, using scientometric analysis to discover trends and patterns that allow to identify the main variables and study approximations related with a further development of models to integrate energy efficiency and MCA into policy making for small communities.

Keywords: energy efficiency, MCA, scientometric, trends

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Authors: V. C. Igwemezie, A. N. Mehmanparast

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The primary focus of this work is to understand how variations in the microstructure and cyclic waveform affect the corrosion fatigue crack growth (CFCG) in steel, especially in the Paris region of the da/dN vs. ΔK curve. This work is important because it provides fundamental information on the modelling, design, selection, and use of steels for various engineering applications in the marine environment. The corrosion fatigue tests data on normalized and thermomechanical control process (TMCP) ferritic-pearlitic steels by the authors were compared with several studies on different microstructures in the literature. The microstructures of these steels are radically different and general comparative fatigue crack growth resistance performance study on the effect of microstructure in these materials are very scarce and where available are limited to few studies. The results, for purposes of engineering application, in this study show less dependency of fatigue crack growth rate (FCGR) on yield strength, tensile strength, ductility, frequency and stress ratio in the range 0.1 – 0.7. The nature of the steel microstructure appears to be a major factor in determining the rate at which fatigue cracks propagate in the entire da/dN vs. ΔK sigmoidal curve. The study also shows that the sine wave shape is the most damaging fatigue waveform for ferritic-pearlitic steels. This tends to suggest that the test under sine waveform would be a conservative approach, regardless of the waveform for design of engineering structures.

Keywords: BS7910, corrosion-fatigue crack growth rate, cyclic waveform, microstructure, steel

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Authors: Anthony Halog

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In the coming decades the world that we know today will be drastically transformed. Population and economic growth, particularly in developing countries, are radically changing the demand for food and natural resources. Due to the transformations caused by these megatrends, especially economic growth which is rapidly expanding the middle class and changing consumption patterns worldwide, it is expected that this will result to an increase of approximately 40 percent in the demand for food, water, energy and other resources in the next decades. To fulfill this demand in a sustainable and efficient manner while avoiding food and water scarcity as well as environmental catastrophes in the near future, some industries, particularly the ones involved in food and energy production, have to drastically change its current production systems towards circular and green economy. In Australia, the agri-food industry has played a very important role in the scenario described above. It is one of the major food exporters in the world, supplying fast growing international markets in Asia and the Middle East. Though the Australian food supply chains are economically and technologically developed, it has been facing enduring challenges about its international competitiveness and environmental burdens caused by its production processes. An integrated framework for sustainability assessment is needed to precisely identify inefficiencies and environmental impacts created during food production processes. This research proposes a combination of industrial ecology and systems science based methods and tools intending to develop a novel and useful methodological framework for life cycle sustainability analysis of the agri-food industry. The presentation highlights circular economy paradigm aiming to implement sustainable industrial processes to transform the current industrial model of agri-food supply chains. The results are expected to support government policy makers, business decision makers and other stakeholders involved in agri-food-energy production system in pursuit of green and circular economy. The framework will assist future life cycle and integrated sustainability analysis and eco-redesign of food and other industrial systems.

Keywords: circular economy, eco-efficiency, agri-food systems, green economy, life cycle sustainability assessment

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Authors: Benabdelaziz Soufyane

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The process of developing the activity of small and medium-sized enterprises(SME), and increasing the entrepreneurial sense, is becoming at the current period as one of the main bets, where many countries around the world try to give it the great importance because of their positive role in improving the economic development indicators in these countries. As a result of the sequential changes that international economic environment lives, the biggest global economic entities has become threatened because of different secretions financial crises and economic disorders. For this lots of countries tended to search for a mechanism to help it for creating new jobs and to spur the economy in order to face the foreign competition, fot this, we find the process of creating innovative entrepreneurial activity comes at the forefront of solutions for the purpose of achieving that. For the purpose of highlighting the role of this process and its future in the economy, this study seeks to consolidate the innovation’s concept and innovative entrepreneurship, then the success’s conditions of these entrepreneurships, to conclude with recommendations , solutions and important results.

Keywords: entrepreneurship, innovation, performance, vigilance, modernity, technology, business incubators

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Authors: Yiea Funk Te, Daniel Mueller, Irena Pletikosa Cvijikj

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Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) play an important role in the economy of many countries. When the overall world economy is considered, SMEs represent 95% of all businesses in the world, accounting for 66% of the total employment. Existing studies show that the current business environment is characterized as highly turbulent and strongly influenced by modern information and communication technologies, thus forcing SMEs to experience more severe challenges in maintaining their existence and expanding their business. To support SMEs at improving their competitiveness, researchers recently turned their focus on applying data mining techniques to build risk and growth prediction models. However, data used to assess risk and growth indicators is primarily obtained via questionnaires, which is very laborious and time-consuming, or is provided by financial institutes, thus highly sensitive to privacy issues. Recently, web mining (WM) has emerged as a new approach towards obtaining valuable insights in the business world. WM enables automatic and large scale collection and analysis of potentially valuable data from various online platforms, including companies’ websites. While WM methods have been frequently studied to anticipate growth of sales volume for e-commerce platforms, their application for assessment of SME risk and growth indicators is still scarce. Considering that a vast proportion of SMEs own a website, WM bears a great potential in revealing valuable information hidden in SME websites, which can further be used to understand SME risk and growth indicators, as well as to enhance current SME risk and growth prediction models. This study aims at developing an automated system to collect business-relevant data from the Web and predict future growth trends of SMEs by means of WM and data mining techniques. The envisioned system should serve as an 'early recognition system' for future growth opportunities. In an initial step, we examine how structured and semi-structured Web data in governmental or SME websites can be used to explain the success of SMEs. WM methods are applied to extract Web data in a form of additional input features for the growth prediction model. The data on SMEs provided by a large Swiss insurance company is used as ground truth data (i.e. growth-labeled data) to train the growth prediction model. Different machine learning classification algorithms such as the Support Vector Machine, Random Forest and Artificial Neural Network are applied and compared, with the goal to optimize the prediction performance. The results are compared to those from previous studies, in order to assess the contribution of growth indicators retrieved from the Web for increasing the predictive power of the model.

Keywords: data mining, SME growth, success factors, web mining

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Authors: Wei-Chia Huang, Jane Wang

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Damage to nerves is considered one of the most irreversible injuries. The regeneration of nerves has always been an important topic in regenerative medicine. In general, damage to human tissue will naturally repair overtime. However, when the nerves are damaged, healed flesh wound cannot guarantee full restoration to its original function, as truncated nerves are often irreversible. Therefore, the development of treatment methods to successfully guide and accelerate the regeneration of nerves has been highly sought after. In order to induce nerve tissue growth, nerve conduits are commonly used to help reconnect broken nerve bundles to provide protection to the location of the fracture while guiding the growth of the nerve bundles. To prevent the protected tissue from becoming necrotic and to ensure the growth rate, the conduits used are often modified with microstructures or blended with neuron growth factors that may facilitate nerve regeneration. Electrical stimulation is another attempted treatment for medical rehabilitation. With appropriate range of voltages and stimulation frequencies, it has been demonstrated to promote cell proliferation and migration. Biodegradability are critical for medical devices like nerve conduits, while conductive polymers pose great potential toward the differentiation and growth of nerve cells. In this work, biodegradability and conductivity were combined into a novel biodegradable, photocurable, conductive polymer composite materials by embedding conductive nanoparticles in poly(glycerol sebacate) acrylate (PGSA) and 3D-printed into nerve conduits. Rat pheochromocytoma cells and rat neuronal Schwann cells were chosen for the in vitro tests of the conduits and had demonstrate selective growth upon culture in the conductive conduits with built-in microchannels and electrical stimulation.

Keywords: biodegradable polymer, 3d printing, neural regeneration, electrical stimulation

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Authors: Ivan Gunass Govender, Andrea Giampiccoli

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A developmental state should use community engagement to facilitate socio-economic development for disadvantaged groups and individual members of society through empowerment, social justice, sustainability, and self-reliance. In this regard, community-based tourism (CBT) as a growing market should be an indigenous effort aided by external facilitation. Since this form of tourism presents its own preconditions, characteristics, and challenges, it could be guided by higher education institutions engagement. In particular, the facilitation should not only serve to assist the community members to reach their own goals; but rather also focus on learning through knowledge creation and sharing with the engagement of higher education institutions. While the increased relevance of CBT has produced various CBT manuals (or handbooks/guidelines) documents aimed to ‘teach’ and assist various entities in CBT development, this research aims to analyse the current monitoring & evaluation (M&E) manuals and thereafter, propose an M&E model for CBT. It is important to mention that all too often effective monitoring is seldom carried out thus risking the long-term sustainability and improvement of the CBT ventures. Therefore, the proposed model will also consider some inputs external to the tourism field, but in relation to local economic development (LED) matters from the previously proposed development monitoring and evaluation system framework. M&E should be seen as fundamental components of any CBT initiative, and the whole CBT intervention should be evaluated. In this context, M&E in CBT should go beyond strict ‘numerical’ economic matters and should be understood in a holistic development. In addition, M&E in CBT should not consider issues in various ‘compartments’ such as tourists, tourism attractions, CBT owners/participants, and stakeholder engagement but as interdependent components of a macro-ecosystem. Finally, the external facilitation process should be structured in a way to promote community self-reliance in both the intervention and the M&E process. The research will attempt to propose an M&E model for CBT so as to enhance the CBT possibilities of long-term growth and success through effective collaborations with key stakeholders.

Keywords: community-based tourism, community-engagement, monitoring and evaluation, stakeholders

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Authors: Hector Carcel Luis Alberiko Gil-Alana

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This paper examines the time series behavior of three variables (GDP, Price level of Consumption and Population) in the eight countries that belong to the West African Economic and Monetary Union (WAEMU), which are Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo. The reason for carrying out this study lies in the considerable heterogeneity that can be perceived in the data from these countries. We conduct a long memory and fractional integration modeling framework and we also identify potential breaks in the data. The aim of the study is to perceive up to which degree the eight West African countries that belong to the same monetary union follow the same economic patterns of stability. Testing for mean reversion, we only found strong evidence of it in the case of Senegal for the Price level of Consumption, and in the cases of Benin, Burkina Faso and Senegal for GDP.

Keywords: West Africa, Monetary Union, fractional integration, economic patterns

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Authors: Felsy J. Sandi

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There is a potential of growth in the spa industry due to the influx of domestic and international tourist coming to Sabah, Malaysia. It is a good opportunity to venture into this industry for the country’s economic future growth, and therefore, it is essential for this area to be researched. Being one of the fastest growing industries in the world, has led to enormous challenges, which need to be addressed. Malaysia is also riding with this phenomenon. The President of the Malaysian Association of Wellness and Spa stated that the misconception about the Spa industry’s image, especially amongst the elderly is the biggest challenge faced by the industry, as they perceived the spa industry is equivalent to a prostitution center. Therefore, the objective of this study is to explore the issue by analyzing whether image can be added in the theory of planned behavior to better understand the consumer’s intention to visit, in the spa context. The Theory of Planned Behavior by Ajzen, a theory or model in predicting intention, has three constructs; such as Attitude as the first construct, the second construct is Subjective Norm and the third construct is Perceived Behavioral Control. Qualitative research is used as this is an exploratory research. The site of study will be at Jari Jari Spa, located in Kota Kinabalu, the only spa in Sabah that was awarded as the Center of Excellence (CoE) by the Ministry of Tourism and Culture in Malaysia. The findings propose to provide useful information to the relevant stakeholders on ways to approach local customers to convince them to visit the spa and for spa marketers to help them develop and design effective marketing strategies. Future investigation should consider more on the perception and loyalty of the local customers.

Keywords: consumer's perception, image, local customer, spa, visit intention

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Authors: N. A. Bamidele, S. O. Obasa, I. O. Taiwo, I. Abdulraheem, O. C. Odebiyi, A. A. Adeoye, O. E. Babalola, O. V. Uzamere

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A feeding trial was conducted to investigate the effect of fermented unripe plantain peel meal (FUP) on growth performance, nutrients digestibility and economic indices of production of Nile tilapia, Oreochromis niloticus fingerlings. Fingerlings (150) of Nile tilapia (1.70±0.1g) were stocked at 10 per plastic tank. Five iso-nitrogenous diets containing 40% crude protein in which maize meal was replaced by fermented unripe plantain peel meal at 0% (FUP0), 25% (FUP25), 50% (FUP50), 75% (FUP75) and 100% (FUP100) were formulated and prepared. The fingerlings were fed at 5% body weight per day for 56 days. There was no significant difference (p > 0.05) in all the growth parameters among the treatments. Feed conversion ratio of 1.35 in fish fed diet FUP25 was not significantly different (P > 0.05) from 1.42 of fish fed diet FUP0. Apparent protein digestibility of 86.94% in fish fed diet FUP100 was significantly higher (p < 0.05) than 70.37% in fish fed diet FUP0 while apparent carbohydrate of 88.34% in fish fed diet FUP0 was significantly different (p < 0.05) from 70.29% of FUP100. Red blood cell (4.30 ml/mm3) of fish fed diet FUP100 was not significantly different from 4.13 ml/mm3 of fish fed diet FUP50. The highest percentage profit of 88.85% in fish fed diet FUP100 was significantly higher than 66.68% in fish fed diet FUP0 while the profit index of 1.89 in fish fed diet FUP100 was significantly different from 1.67 in fish fed diet FUP0. Therefore, fermented unripe plantain peel meal can completely replace maize in the diet of O. niloticus fingerlings.

Keywords: fermentation, fish diets, plantain peel, tilapia

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Authors: Odinah Cuartero-Enteria, Kyla Rita Mercado, Jason Salamanes, Aian Pecasales, Sherwin Sabado

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The northern part of Mindanao Island, Philippines has sizable reserve of mineral resources. Years ago, mining activities have been flourishing which resulted to both local economic gain but with environmental concerns. This study investigates the prevalent diseases by mining activities in these areas. The study was done using the secondary data gathered from the Rural Health Units (RHU) of the selected areas. The study further determined the prevalent diseases that existed in the three areas from years 2005, 2010 and 2015 indicating before the mining activities and when mining activities are present. The results show that areas which are far from mining activities have fewer cases of patients suffering from air-borne diseases. The top ten most common diseases such as pneumonia, tuberculosis, influenza, upper respiratory tract infection (URTI) and skin diseases were caused by air-borne due to air pollution. Hence, the places where mining activities are present contribute to the prevalent diseases. Thus, addressing the air pollution caused by mining activities is very important.

Keywords: Philippines, Mindanao Island, mining activities, pollution, prevalent diseases

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Authors: S. Krustev, V. Angelova, K. Ivanov, P. Zaprjanova

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Approximately a dozen trace elements are vital for the development of all plants and some other elements are significant for some species. Heavy metals do not belong to this group of elements that are essential to plants, but some of them such as copper and zinc, have a dual effect on their growth. Concentration levels of these elements in the different regions of the world vary considerably. Their high concentrations in some parts of Central and Eastern Europe cause concern for human health and degrade the quality of agricultural produce from these areas. This study aims to compare the prevalence and levels of the major trace elements in some rural areas of Central and Eastern Europe. Soil samples from different regions of the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Austria, Hungary, Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria and Greece far from large industrial centers have been studied. The main methods for their determination are the atomic spectral techniques – atomic absorption and plasma atomic emission. As a result of this study, data on microelements levels in soils of 17 points from the main grain-producing regions of Central and Eastern Europe are presented and systematized. The content of trace elements was in the range of 5.0-84.1 mg.kg⁻¹ for Cu, 0.3-1.4 mg.kg⁻¹ for Cd, 26.1-225.5 mg.kg⁻¹ for Zn, 235.5-788.6 mg.kg⁻¹ for Mn and 4.1-25.8 mg.kg⁻¹ for Pb.

Keywords: trace elements, heavy metals, agricultural soils, Central and Eastern Europe

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Authors: Mahmoud M. S. Albattah

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Urbanization results in the expansion of administrative boundaries, mainly at the periphery, ultimately leading to changes in landcover. Agricultural land, naturally vegetated land, and other land types are converted into residential areas with a high density of constructs, such as transportation systems and housing. In urban regions of rapid growth and change, urban planners need regular information on up to date ground change. Amman (the capital of Jordan) is growing at unprecedented rates, creating extensive urban landscapes. Planners interact with these changes without having a global view of their impact. The use of aerial photographs and satellite images data combined with topographic information and field survey could provide effective information to develop urban change and growth inventory which could be explored towards producing a very important signature for the built-up area changes.

Keywords: highway design, satellite technologies, remote sensing, GIS, image segmentation, classification

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Authors: A. O Amosu, A. M Hammed, G. W. Maneveldt, D. V. Robertson-Andersson

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In aquaculture, feed utilization is an important factor affecting growth of the target species, and thus the success of the aquaculture operation. Growth of C. gariepinus fingerlings (weight 1.60 ± 0.05 g; length 4.50 ± 0.07cm) was monitored in a closed door hatchery for a period of 21 days in an experiment consisting of 4 treatments stocked at 20 fish/10 litre tanks, fed in triplicate twice daily (08:30, 17:30) at 4% body weight with weight changes recorded every 3 days. Treatments were: 1) FeedX; 2) 35% crude protein diet + non enriched Ulva spp (11.18% crude protein) (CD + NEU); 3) 35% crude protein diet + enriched Ulva spp (11.98% crude protein)(CD +EU) and 4) control diet of 35% crude protein (CD). The production of Ulva spp. biomass was cultivated for a period of 3 months. The result shows that the fish fed macroalgal enriched diet had good growth, though no significant difference (p > 0.05) was recorded amongst the weight gain, %weight gain, specific growth rates and nitrogen metabolism of diets CD + NEU, CD + EU and CD. Significant differences (p < 0.05), were, however, found in the food conversion ratio (FCR) and gross food conversion ratio (gFCR) among the fingerlings across all the different experimental diets. The best FCRs were recorded for control diet (0.79 ± 2.39) and the Ulva enriched (1.75 ± 1.34) diets. The results suggest that the fingerlings were able to utilize Ulva supplemented with control diet better than the FeedX. We have shown that Ulva supplemented diets are good substitutes for formulated and commercial feeds, with potential to be successful fish feed in aquaculture systems.

Keywords: aquaculture, clarias gariepinus, growth, macroalgae, nutrient, ulva

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Authors: Trevor Malambo Simbayi, Diane Hildebrandt, Tonderayi Matambo

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The rapid growth of population in recent decades has resulted in an increased need for energy to meet human activities. As energy demands increase, the need for other sources of energy other than fossil fuels, increases in turn. Furthermore, environmental concerns such as global warming due to the use of fossil fuels, depleting fossil fuel reserves and the rising cost of oil have contributed to an increased interest in renewables sources of energy. Biogas is a renewable source of energy produced through the process of anaerobic digestion (AD) and it offers a two-fold solution; it provides an environmentally friendly source of energy and its production helps to reduce the amount of organic waste taken to landfills. This research seeks to address the waste management problem caused by an aquatic weed called water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) at the Hartbeespoort (Harties) Dam in the North West Province of South Africa, through biogas production of the weed. Water hyacinth is a category 1 invasive species and it is deemed to be the most problematic aquatic weed. This weed is said to double its size in the space of five days. Eutrophication in the Hartbeespoort Dam has manifested itself through the excessive algae bloom and water hyacinth infestation. A large amount of biomass from water hyacinth and algae are generated per annum from the two hundred hectare surface area of the dam exposed to the sun. This biomass creates a waste management problem. Water hyacinth when in full bloom can cover nearly half of the surface of Hartbeespoort Dam. The presence of water hyacinth in the dam has caused economic and environmental problems. Economic activities such as fishing, boating, and recreation, are hampered by the water hyacinth’s prolific growth. This research proposes the use of water hyacinth as a feedstock or substrate for biogas production in order to find an economic and environmentally friendly means of waste management for the communities living around the Hartbeespoort Dam. In order to achieve this objective, water hyacinth will be collected from the dam and it will be mechanically pretreated before anaerobic digestion. Pretreatment is required for lignocellulosic materials like water hyacinth because such materials are called recalcitrant solid materials. Cow manure will be employed as a source of microorganisms needed for biogas production to occur. Once the water hyacinth and the cow dung are mixed, they will be placed in laboratory anaerobic reactors. Biogas production will be monitored daily through the downward displacement of water. Characterization of the substrates (cow manure and water hyacinth) to determine the nitrogen, sulfur, carbon and hydrogen, total solids (TS) and volatile solids (VS). Liquid samples from the anaerobic digesters will be collected and analyzed for volatile fatty acids (VFAs) composition by means of a liquid gas chromatography machine.

Keywords: anaerobic digestion, biogas, waste management, water hyacinth

Procedia PDF Downloads 190

Authors: Narendra Kumar

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This study uses data from the ‘National Family Health Survey (NFHS-3) 2005-06’ to investigate the predictors of infant and child mortality among low economic households in East and Northeast region. The cross tabulation, life table survival estimates and Cox proportional hazard model techniques have been used to estimate the predictors of infant and child mortality. The life table survival estimates for infant and child mortality shows that infant mortality in female child is lower in comparison to male child but with child mortality, the rates are higher for female in comparison to male child and the Cox proportional hazard model also give highly significant in female in comparison to male child. The infant and child mortality rates among poor households highest in the Central region followed by North and Northeast region and the lowest in South region in comparison to all regions of India. Education of respondent has been found a significant characteristics in both analyzes, further birth interval, respondent occupation, caste/tribe and place of delivery has substantial impact on infant and child mortality among low economic households in East and Northeast region. Finally these findings specified that an increase in parents’ education, improve health care services and improve socioeconomic conditions of low economic households which should in turn raise infant and child survival and should decrease child mortality among low economic households in India.

Keywords: infant, child, mortality, socio-economic, India

Procedia PDF Downloads 304

Authors: Zakariya B. H., Idris M. I., Jungudo M. A.

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High energy consumptions of urban settlements in Nigeria are escalating due to strong population growth and migration as a result of crises. The demand for lighting, heating, ventilation and air conditioning (LHVAC) is becoming higher. Conversely, there is a poor electricity supply to both rural and urban settlement in Nigeria. Generators were mostly used in Nigeria as a source of energy for LHVAC. Energy efficiency can be defined as any measure taken to reduce the amount of energy consumed for heating ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC), and house hold appliances like computers, stoves, refrigerators, televisions etc. The aim of the study was to minimize energy consumption in building through the integration of energy efficiency and renewable energy in building sector. Some of the energy efficient buildings within the study area were identified, the study covers there major cities of Nigeria namely, Abuja, Kaduna and Lagos city. The cost of investment on the energy efficiency and renewable energy was determined and compared with other fossil energy source for conventional building. Findings revealed that the low energy and energy efficient buildings in Nigeria are cheaper than the conventional ones. Based on the finding of the research, construction stake holders are strongly encouraged to abandon the conventional buildings and consider energy efficiency and renewable energy in buildings.

Keywords: energy, efficiency, LHVAC, sustainable development

Procedia PDF Downloads 575

Authors: Han-Wei Shih, Yao-Nan Wang, Ko-Tung Chang, Lung-Ming Fu

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A multi-channel cell growth real-time monitor and evaluation system using charge-coupled device (CCD) sensors with 40X lens integrating a NI LabVIEW image processing program is proposed and demonstrated. The LED light source control of monitor system is utilizing 8051 microprocessor integrated with NI LabVIEW software. In this study, the same concentration RAW264.7 cells growth rate and morphology in four different culture conditions (DMEM, LPS, G1, G2) were demonstrated. The real-time cells growth image was captured and analyzed by NI Vision Assistant every 10 minutes in the incubator. The image binarization technique was applied for calculating cell doubling time and cell division index. The cells doubling time and cells division index of four group with DMEM, LPS, LPS+G1, LPS+G2 are 12.3 hr,10.8 hr,14.0 hr,15.2 hr and 74.20%, 78.63%, 69.53%, 66.49%. The image magnification of multi-channel CCDs cell real-time monitoring system is about 100X~200X which compares with the traditional microscope.

Keywords: charge-coupled device (CCD), RAW264.7, doubling time, division index

Procedia PDF Downloads 356

Authors: Jesugnon E. A. Kpodo, Aurlus D. Ouindeyama, Jan H. Sommer, Fifanou G. Vodouhe, Kolo Yeo

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Local communities are recognized as key actors for sustainable land use and to some extent actors driving land use land cover (LULC) change around protected areas. Understanding drivers responsible for these changes are very crucial for better policy decisions making. This study analyzed perception of 425 local people in 28 villages towards land cover change around Pendjari Biosphere Reserve using semi-structured questionnaire. 72.9% of local communities perceive land cover as degrading while 24.5% as improving and only 2.6% as stable during the five last years. Women perceived more land cover degradation than men do (84.1 vs. 67.1%). Local communities identified cultivated land expansion, logging, firewood collection, charcoal production, population growth, and poverty as the key drivers of declined LULC in the study area. Education has emerged as a significant factor influencing respondents’ perceptions of these drivers of LULC changes. Appropriate management measures and government policies should be implemented around Pendjari Biosphere Reserve to control drivers of LULC change.

Keywords: local perceptions, LULC drivers, LULC dynamics, Pendjari Biosphere Reserve, rural livelihoods, sustainable resource management

Procedia PDF Downloads 115

Authors: Vishal Jaunky, Jonas Grafström

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The development of the European Union’s (EU) single economic market and rapid technological change has resulted in major structural changes in EU’s member states economies. The general liberalization process that the countries has undergone together has convinced the governments of the member states of need to upgrade their economic and training systems in order to be able to face the economic globalization. Several signs of economic convergence have been found but less is known about the knowledge production. This paper addresses the convergence pattern of technological innovation in 13 European Union (EU) states over the time period 1990-2011 by means of parametric and non-parametric techniques. Parametric approaches revolve around the neoclassical convergence theories. This paper reveals divergence of both the β and σ types. Further, we found evidence of stochastic divergence and non-parametric convergence approach such as distribution dynamics shows a tendency towards divergence. This result is supported with the occurrence of γ-divergence. The policies of the EU to reduce technological gap among its member states seem to be missing its target, something that can have negative long run consequences for the market.

Keywords: convergence, patents, panel data, European union

Procedia PDF Downloads 281

Authors: Xenia I. Loizidou, Anthi Gavriel, Demetra Petsa

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The tourism industry is a significant contributor to Cyprus's Gross Domestic Product. However, as the main tourism product is 'sun and sea', the industry is significantly unsustainable, with the majority of tourists (approx. 90%) concentrated in coastal areas over a short period of time, causing negative environmental, social, and economic impacts. The newly established Cypriot Deputy Ministry of Tourism aims to diversify the Cypriot tourism industry by focusing on the development of niche tourism products that will elongate the touristic season and divert visitors to inland mountainous and rural areas. In this respect, conference and event tourism is an ideal product for development. The current paper presents the results of fieldwork carried out between January and March 2020 in Cyprus, with key stakeholders within the conference and event tourism sector. The work consisted of a survey and semi-structured interviews to determine the current level of sustainability within the conference tourism sector, the main barriers to the sector's development, as well as key stakeholder insights and suggestions for measures to improve the sector's sustainability. The results suggest that there is a general lack of understanding of the negative economic, environmental and social impacts associated with the organization of conventional conferences and events, compared to the positive impacts of sustainable conferences/events. There also seems to be a lack of awareness of actions that can be taken to make the conference and event sector more sustainable. Incentives, marketing, branding, and training are identified as some of the effective means to improve the sustainability of the Cypriot conference and event sector, as is the development of country-wide sustainability policy and a review and enforcement of national waste management legislation. The research outputs will be utilized for the development of targeted toolkits, training, and awareness-raising activities that will drive Cyprus towards becoming an international sustainable tourism destination.

Keywords: conference, event, sustainability, tourism

Procedia PDF Downloads 126

Authors: Tingting Chen, Shouliang Zhao

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Compared with other regions, the construction for villages and towns in regions inhabited by minority nationality shall be deeply rooted in natural and cultural endowment in locality, and more importance shall be attached to building of characteristics. In this kind of area, landscape design is very important for its character and tradition. By empirical study in Shennongjia Area, some findings could be summarized as below. There are unique natural and cultural resources in Shennongjia Forestry District; during transformation on style and features of Tujia Village, Xiaguping, special style and features have been successfully shaped through 4 strategies: (1) highlighting Tujia Culture and architectural style in west region of Hubei Province; (2) merging with local natural environment; (3) introducing system of rural coordination architect; and (4) making great efforts to design and construct environmental embellishments with village and town symbols.

Keywords: rural coordination architect, special style and features, characteristic landscape, villages and towns in regions inhabited by minority nationality

Procedia PDF Downloads 267

Authors: Khodijah Ismail, Elfindri

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Tourism development have many environmental, economically and sociocultural benefits. Small islands have a lot of potential for marine tourism development. But, stereotype gender issues still dominate the social and cultural life of rural communities that have an impact on the gap in benefits of local development. The purpose of this study is to found development strategy concept of marine tourism in small islands gender-based. This study found in the marine tourism development of small islands not involved women, from planning to monitor marine tourism development in small islands. It's affects to the low of socio-economic of women in the coastal village and small islands. This condition is not advantage for sustainable development of marine tourism in small islands. Therefore, strengthening of livelihood assets by gender based through the marine tourism development in small islands is very important to attention, that women can contributed to household welfare, bargaining positioned in social culture was better and increase broad access to local government development policies. To realize it requires the full support of the government and relevant stakeholders through gender empowerment and strengthening of accessibility, connectivity, regulation, and design institution.

Keywords: gender inequality, marine tourism, development, tourism management

Procedia PDF Downloads 480