Search results for: public transport accessibility

Authors: Satish Kumar, Spandan Sahu, Sarjati Sahoo, K. K. Khatua

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An experimental investigation has been carried out in a tilting flume of 2 m wide, 13 m long, and 0.3 m deep to study the effect of flow on the formation of braided channel pattern. Sediment flow is recirculated through the flume, which passes from the headgate to the sediment/water collecting tank through the tailgate. Further, without altering the geometry of the sand bed channel, the discharge is varied to study the effect of the formation of the braided pattern with time. Then the flow rate is varied to study the effect of flow on the formation of the braided pattern. Sediment transport rate is highly variable and was found to be a nonlinear function of flow rate, aspect ratio, longitudinal slope, and time. Total braided intensity (BIT) for each discharge case is found to be more than the active braided intensity (BIA). Both the parameters first increase and then decrease as the time progresses following a similar pattern for all the observed discharge cases. When the flow is increased, the movement of sediment also increases since the active braided intensity is found to adjust quickly. The measurement of velocity and boundary shear helps to study the erosion and sedimentation processes in the channel and formation of small meandering channels and then the braided channel for different discharge conditions of a sediment river. Due to regime properties of rivers, both total braided Intensity and active braided intensity become stable for a given channel and flow conditions. In the present case, the trend of the ratio of BIA to BIT is found to be asymptotic against the time with a value of 0.4. After the particular time elapses off the flow, new small channels are also found to be formed with changes in the sinuosity of the active channels, thus forming the braided network. This is due to the continuous erosion and sedimentation processes occurring for the flow process for the flow and sediment conditions.

Keywords: active braided intensity, bed load, sediment transport, shear stress, total braided intensity

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Authors: Navdeep Kaur

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Corporate Social Responsibility is the process through which the organizations execute their philanthropic visions for social welfare. This paper considers the data of one Public Sector Bank–State Bank of India (SBI) and one Private Sector Bank-Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation of India (ICICI) from the year 2008 to 2016. The study is based on descriptive research design, and secondary data collected from the annual report of respective bank from website and different literature are reviewed. Least Square Method is used for estimating CSR spending for the financial year 2017-18. The analysis shows that these banks are making efforts for the implementation of CSR, but are not spending their 2% share of profits on CSR. There is a need for better CSR activities by the banks, which is possible by concentrating more on the prevailing social issues. The finding reveals that the percentage of profit after tax spends for CSR by SBI is more compare to ICICI. The estimated Spending for CSR for 2017-18 is also more in SBI as compared to ICICI.

Keywords: banking sector, corporate social responsibility in India, financial institution, public sector banks, SBI, ICICI

Procedia PDF Downloads 177

Authors: Waqas Abrar

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Background: Pakistan is confronted with a formidable challenge to increase uptake of modern contraceptive methods. USAID, through its flagship Maternal and Child Survival Program (MCSP), in Pakistan is determined to support provincial Departments of Health and Population Welfare to increase the country's contraceptive prevalence rates (CPR) in Sindh, Punjab and Balochistan to achieve FP2020 goals. To inform program design and planning, a Rapid Situation Assessment (RSA) of family planning was carried out in Rawalpindi and Lahore districts in Punjab and Karachi district in Sindh. Methodology: The methodology consisted of comprehensive desk review of available literature and used a qualitative approach comprising of in-depth interviews (IDIs) and focus group discussions (FGDs). FGDs were conducted with community women, men, and mothers-in-law whereas IDIs were conducted with health facility in-charges/chiefs, healthcare providers, and community health workers. Results: Some of the oft-quoted reasons captured during desk review included poor quality of care at public sector facilities, affordability and accessibility in rural communities and providers' technical incompetence. Moreover, providers had inadequate knowledge of contraceptive methods and lacked counseling techniques; thereby, leading to dissatisfied clients and hence, discontinuation of contraceptive methods. These dissatisfied clients spread the myths and misconceptions about contraceptives in their respective communities which seriously damages community-level family planning efforts. Private providers were found reluctant to insert Intrauterine Contraceptive Devices (IUCDs) due to inadequate knowledge vis-à-vis post insertion issues/side effects. FGDs and IDIs unveiled multi-faceted reasons for poor contraceptives uptake. It was found that low education and socio-economic levels lead to low contraceptives uptake and mostly uneducated women rely on condoms provided by Lady Health Workers (LHWs). Providers had little or no knowledge about postpartum family planning or lactational amenorrhea. At community level family planning counseling sessions organized by LHWs and Male Mobilizers do not sensitize community men on permissibility of contraception in Islam. Many women attributed their physical ailments to the use of contraceptives. Lack of in-service training, job-aids and Information, Education and Communications (IEC) materials at facilities seriously comprise the quality of care in effective family planning service delivery. This is further compounded by frequent stock-outs of contraceptives at public healthcare facilities, poor data quality, false reporting, lack of data verification systems and follow-up. Conclusions: Some key conclusions from this assessment included capacity building of healthcare providers on long acting reversible contraceptives (LARCs) which give women contraception for a longer period. Secondly, capacity building of healthcare providers on postpartum family planning is an enormous challenge that can be best addressed through institutionalization. Thirdly, Providers should be equipped with counseling skills and techniques including inculcation of pros and cons of all contraceptive methods. Fourthly, printed materials such as job-aids and Information, Education and Communications (IEC) materials should be disseminated among healthcare providers and clients. These concluding statements helped MCSP to make informed decisions with regard to setting broad objectives of project and were duly approved by USAID.

Keywords: capacity building, contraceptive prevalence rate, family planning, Institutionalization, Pakistan, postpartum care, postpartum family planning services

Procedia PDF Downloads 129

Authors: S. Thongchai

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Result of the study on knowledge management systems in businesses was shown that the most of these businesses provide internet accessibility for their employees in order to study new knowledge via internet, corporate website, electronic mail, and electronic learning system. These business organizations use information technology application for knowledge management because of convenience, time saving, ease of use, accuracy of information and knowledge usefulness. The result indicated prominent improvements for corporate knowledge management systems as the following; 1) administrations must support corporate knowledge management system 2) the goal of corporate knowledge management must be clear 3) corporate culture should facilitate the exchange and sharing of knowledge within the organization 4) cooperation of personnel of all levels must be obtained 5) information technology infrastructure must be provided 6) they must develop the system regularly and constantly.

Keywords: business organizations, information technology application, knowledge management systems, prominent improvements

Procedia PDF Downloads 374

Authors: Aileen Editha

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The legal recognition of property rights over human genes is a divisive topic to which there is no resolution. As a frequently discussed topic, scholars and practitioners often highlight the inadequacies of a proprietary regime. However, little has been said in regard to the nature of human genetic materials (HGMs). This paper proposes approaching the issue of property over HGMs from an alternative perspective that looks at the personal and social value and valuation of HGMs. This paper will highlight how the unique and unresolved status of HGMs is incompatible with the main tenets of property and, consequently, contributes to legal ambiguity and uncertainty in the regulation of property rights over human genes. HGMs are perceived as part of nature and a free-for-all while also being within an individual’s private sphere. Additionally, it is also considered to occupy a unique “not-private-nor-public” status. This limbo-like position clashes with property’s fundamental characteristic that relies heavily on a clear public/private dichotomy. Moreover, as property is intrinsically linked to the legal recognition of one’s personhood, this irresolution benefits some while disadvantages others. In particular, it demands the publicization of once-private genes for the “common good” but subsequently encourages privatization (through labor) of these now-public genes. This results in the gain of some (already privileged) individuals while enabling the disenfranchisement of members of minority groups, such as Indigenous communities. This paper will discuss real and intellectual property rights over human genes, such as the right to income or patent rights, in Canada and the US. This paper advocates for a sui generis approach to governing rights and interests over human genes that would not rely on having a strict public/private dichotomy. Not only would this improve legal certainty and clarity, but it would also alleviate—or, at the very least, minimize—the role that the current law plays in further entrenching existing systemic inequalities. Despite the specificity of this topic, this paper argues that there are broader lessons to be learned. This issue is an insightful case study on the interconnection of various principles in law, society, and property, and what must be done when discordance between one or more of those principles has detrimental societal outcomes. Ultimately, it must be remembered that property is an adaptable and malleable instrument that can be developed to ensure it contributes to equity and flourishing.

Keywords: property rights, human genetic materials, critical legal scholarship, systemic inequalities

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Authors: Chenyi Ma

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Background: The second costliest hurricane in U.S. history, Sandy landed in southern New Jersey on October 29, 2012, and struck the entire state with high winds and torrential rains. The disaster killed more than 100 people, left more than 8.5 million households without power, and damaged or destroyed more than 200,000 homes across the state. Immediately after the disaster, public policy support was provided in nine coastal counties that constituted 98% of the major and severely damaged housing units in NJ overall. The programs include Individuals and Households Assistance Program, Small Business Loan Program, National Flood Insurance Program, and the Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA) Public Assistance Grant Program. In the most severely affected counties, additional funding was provided through Community Development Block Grant: Reconstruction, Rehabilitation, Elevation, and Mitigation Program, and Homeowner Resettlement Program. How these policies individually and as a whole impacted housing recovery across communities with different socioeconomic and demographic profiles has not yet been studied, particularly in relation to damage levels. The concept of community social vulnerability has been widely used to explain many aspects of natural disasters. Nevertheless, how communities are vulnerable has been less fully examined. Community resilience has been conceptualized as a protective factor against negative impacts from disasters, however, how community resilience buffers the effects of vulnerability is not yet known. Because housing recovery is a dynamic social and economic process that varies according to context, this study examined the path from community vulnerability and resilience to housing recovery looking at both community characteristics and policy interventions. Sample/Methods: This retrospective longitudinal case study compared a literature-identified set of pre-disaster community characteristics, the effects of multiple public policy programs, and a set of time-variant community resilience indicators to changes in housing stock (operationally defined by percent of building permits to total occupied housing units/households) between 2010 and 2014, two years before and after Hurricane Sandy. The sample consisted of 51 municipalities in the nine counties in which between 4% and 58% of housing units suffered either major or severe damage. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to determine the path from vulnerability to the housing recovery, via multiple public programs, separately and as a whole, and via the community resilience indicators. The spatial analytical tool ArcGIS 10.2 was used to show the spatial relations between housing recovery patterns and community vulnerability and resilience. Findings: Holding damage levels constant, communities with higher proportions of Hispanic households had significantly lower levels of housing recovery while communities with households with an adult >age 65 had significantly higher levels of the housing recovery. The contrast was partly due to the different levels of total public support the two types of the community received. Further, while the public policy programs individually mediated the negative associations between African American and female-headed households and housing recovery, communities with larger proportions of African American, female-headed and Hispanic households were “vulnerable” to lower levels of housing recovery because they lacked sufficient public program support. Even so, higher employment rates and incomes buffered vulnerability to lower housing recovery. Because housing is the "wobbly pillar" of the welfare state, the housing needs of these particular groups should be more fully addressed by disaster policy.

Keywords: community social vulnerability, community resilience, hurricane, public policy

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Authors: Katharina Ninaus, Ralf Terlutter, Sandra Diehl

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Information and communication technologies (ICT) have become pervasive in all areas of modern life, both in work and leisure. Technological developments and particularly the ubiquity of smartphones have made it possible for ICT consumers to be constantly connected to work, fostering an always-on mentality and increasing the pressure to be accessible at all times. However, performing work tasks outside of working hours using ICT results in a lack of mental detachment and recovery from work. It is, therefore, necessary to develop effective behavioral interventions to increase risk awareness of a constant connection to the workplace in the employed population. Drawing on regulatory focus theory, this study aims to investigate the persuasiveness of tailoring messages to individuals’ chronic regulatory focus in order to encourage ICT consumers to set boundaries by defining fixed times for professional accessibility outside of working hours in order to contribute to the well-being of ICT consumers with high ICT involvement in their work life. The experimental study examines the interaction effect between consumers’ chronic regulatory focus (i.e. promotion focus versus prevention focus) and positive or negative message framing (i.e. gain frame versus loss frame) on consumers’ intention to perform the advocated behavior. Based on the assumption that congruent messages create regulatory fit and increase message effectiveness, it is hypothesized that behavioral intention will be higher in the condition of regulatory fit compared to regulatory non-fit. It is further hypothesized that ad believability and attitude toward the ad will mediate the effect of regulatory fit on behavioral intention given that ad believability and ad attitude both determine consumer behavioral responses. Results confirm that the interaction between regulatory focus and message frame emerged as a predictor of behavioral intention such as that consumers’ intentions to set boundaries by defining fixed times for professional accessibility outside of working hours increased as congruency with their regulatory focus increased. The loss-framed ad was more effective for consumers with a predominant prevention focus, while the gain-framed ad was more effective for consumers with a predominant promotion focus. Ad believability and attitude toward the ad both emerged as predictors of behavioral intention. Mediation analysis revealed that the direct effect of the interaction between regulatory focus and message frame on behavioral intention was no longer significant when including ad believability and ad attitude as mediators in the model, indicating full mediation. However, while the indirect effect through ad believability was significant, the indirect effect through attitude toward the ad was not significant. Hence, regulatory fit increased ad believability, which then increased behavioral intention. Ad believability appears to have a superior effect indicating that behavioral intention does not depend on attitude toward the ad, but it depends on whether or not the ad is perceived as believable. The study shows that the principle of regulatory fit holds true in the context of ICT consumption and responds to calls for more research on mediators of health message framing effects.

Keywords: always-on mentality, Information and communication technologies (ICT) consumption, message framing, regulatory focus

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Authors: Mahsa Ghafouri, Guita Farivarsadri

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In urban open spaces, furniture plays a crucial role in meeting various needs of the users over time. Furniture consists of elements that not only can facilitate physical needs individually but also fulfill social, psychological, and cultural demands on an urban scale. Creating adjustable urban spaces and using flexible furniture can provide the possibility of using urban spaces for a wide range of uses and activities and allow the engagement of users with distinct abilities and limitations in these activities. Flexibility in urban furniture can be seen as designing a number of modular components that are movable, expandable, adjustable, and changeable to accommodate various functions. Although there is a great amount of research related to flexibility and its distinct insights into achieving spaces that can cope with changing demands, this fundamental issue is often neglected in the design of urban furniture. However, in the long term, to address changing public needs over time, it can be logical to bring this quality into the design process to make spaces that can be sustained for a long time. This study aims to first introduce diverse kinds of flexible furniture that can be designed for urban public spaces and then to realize how this flexible furniture can improve the quality of public open spaces and social interaction and make them more adaptable over time and, as a result, achieve social sustainability. This research is descriptive and is mainly based on an extensive literature review and the analysis and classification of existing examples around the world. This research tends to illustrate various kinds of approaches that can help designers create flexible furniture to enhance the sustainability and quality of urban open spaces and, in this way, act as a guide for urban designers in this respect.

Keywords: flexible furniture, flexible design, urban open spaces, adaptability, moveability, social sustainability

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Authors: Dyah Adi Sriwahyuni

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Institutional work has become a prominent and contemporary institutional theory perspective in organization studies. A wealth of studies in organizations have explored actor activities in creating, maintaining, and disrupting institutions at the field level. However, the exploration of the work of actors in creating new management practices at the organizational level has been somewhat limited. The current institutional work literature mostly describes the work of actors at the field level and ignores organizational actors who work to realize management practices. Organizational actors here are defined as actors in organizations who work to institutionalize a particular management practice within the organizations. The extant literature has also generalized the types of management practices, which meant overlooking the unique characteristics of each management fashion as well as a management practice. To fill these gaps, this study aims to provide empirical evidence so as to contribute theoretically to institutional work through a comparative case study on organizational actors’ creation of knowledge management (KM) practice in two public sector organizations in Indonesia. KM is a contemporary management practice employed to manage individual and organizational knowledge in order to improve organizational performance. This practice presents a suitable practical setting with which to provide a rich understanding of the organizational actors’ institutional work and their connection with technology. Drawing on and extending the work of Perkmann and Spicer (2008), this study explores the forms of institutional work performed by organizational actors, including their motivation, skills, challenges, and opportunities. The primary data collection is semi-structured interviews with knowledgeable actors and document analysis for validity and triangulation. Following Eisenhardt's cross-case patterns, the researcher analyzed the collected data focusing on within-group similarities and intergroup differences. The researcher coded interview data using NVivo and used documents to corroborate the findings. The study’s findings add to the wealth of institutional theory literature in organization studies, particularly institutional work related to management practices. This study builds a theory about the work of organizational actors in creating knowledge management practices. Using the perspective of institutional work, research can show the roles of the various actors involved, their practices, and their relationship to technology (materiality), not only focusing on actors with a power which has been the theorizing of institutional entrepreneurship. The development of knowledge management practices in the Indonesian public sector is also a significant additional contribution, given that the current KM literature is dominated by conceptualizing the KM framework and the impact of KM on organizations. The public sector, which is the research setting, also provides important lessons on how actors in a highly institutionalized context are creating an institution, in this case, a knowledge management practice.

Keywords: institutional work, knowledge management, case study, public sector organizations

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Authors: Dan Han, Yukun Zhang, Jie Zheng, Rui Zhang

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Making full use of space along transportation infrastructure to develop renewable energy sources, especially solar energy resources, has become a research focus in relevant fields. In recent years, relevant international researches can be classified into three stages of theoretical and technical exploration, exploratory practice as well as planning implementation. Compared with traditional solar energy development mode, the development of solar energy resources in places along the transportation infrastructure has special advantages, which can also bring forth new opportunities for the development of green transportation. 'Road Integrated Photovoltaic', a development model of combining transport and new energy, has been actively studied and applied in developed countries, but it was still in its infancy in China. 'New Silk Road Economic Belt' has great advantage to carry out the 'Road Integrated Photovoltaic' because of the rich solar energy resources in its path, the shortages of renewable energy, the constraints of agricultural land and other reasons. Especially the massive amount of construction of transportation infrastructure brought by Silk Road Economic Belt, large area of developable land along the transportation line will be generated. Abundant solar energy recourses along the Silk Road will provide extremely superb practical opportunities to the land development along transportation infrastructure. We take PVsyst, GIS and Google map software for simulation of its potential by taking Lan-Xin Railway as an example, so potential electrical energy generation can be quantified and further analyzed. Research of 'New Silk Road Economic Belt' combined with 'Road Integrated Photovoltaic' is a creative development for the along transport and energy infrastructure. It not only can make full use of solar radiation and land in its path, but also bring more long-term advantages and benefits.

Keywords: land use, silk road economic belt, solar energy, transportation infrastructure

Procedia PDF Downloads 220

Authors: Felicia Orah Rein Moshe

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Soil erosion has become a priority global concern, impairing water quality and degrading ecosystem services. In Mediterranean climates, following a long dry period, the onset of rain occurs when agricultural soils are often bare and most vulnerable to erosion. Early storms transport sediments and sediment-bound pollutants into streams, along with dissolved chemicals. This results in loss of valuable topsoil, water quality degradation, and potentially expensive dredged-material disposal costs. Information on the provenance of fine sediment and priority sources of adsorbed pollutants represents a critical need for developing effective control strategies aimed at source reduction. Modifying sediment traps designed for marine systems, this study tested a cost-effective method to collect suspended sediments on a catchment scale to characterize stream water quality during first-flush storm events in a flashy Eastern Mediterranean coastal perennial stream. This study investigated the Kishon Basin, deploying sediment traps in 23 locations, including 4 in the mainstream and one downstream in each of 19 tributaries, enabling the characterization of sediment as a vehicle for transporting chemicals. Further, it enabled direct comparison of sediment-bound pollutants transported during the first-flush winter storms of 2020 from each of 19 tributaries, allowing subsequent ecotoxicity ranking. Sediment samples were successfully captured in 22 locations. Pesticides, pharmaceuticals, nutrients, and metal concentrations were quantified, identifying a total of 50 pesticides, 15 pharmaceuticals, and 22 metals, with 16 pesticides and 3 pharmaceuticals found in all 23 locations, demonstrating the importance of this transport pathway. Heavy metals were detected in only one tributary, identifying an important watershed pollution source with immediate potential influence on long-term dredging costs. Simultaneous sediment sampling at first flush storms enabled clear identification of priority tributaries and their chemical contributions, advancing a new national watershed monitoring approach, facilitating strategic plan development based on source reduction, and advancing the goal of improving the farm-stream interface, conserving soil resources, and protecting water quality.

Keywords: adsorbed pollution, dredged material, heavy metals, suspended sediment, water quality monitoring

Procedia PDF Downloads 93

Authors: Fawad Hussain, Saleh Abdullah Saleh, Mohammad Basir B Saud, Mohd Azwardi Md. Isa

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It is very important for a developing nation to develop their infrastursture on the prime priority because their infrastursture particularly their roads and transporation functions as a blood in the system. Almost 1.1 billion populations share the travel and transportation industry in India. On the other hand, the Pakistan transportation industry is also extensive and elevating about 170 million users of transportation. Indian and Pakistani specifically within bus industry have good interconnectivity within and between the urban and rural areas as well as connectivity between the two countries, which is dramatically helping the economic alleviation of both countries. Due to high economic instability, unemployment and poverty rate are among the reasons why both the governments are very committed and seriously taken further action to help boost their economy. They believe that any form of transportation development would play a vital role in the development of land, infrastructure which could indirectly support many other industries’ development, such as tourism, freighting and shipping businesses, just to mention a few. However, it seems that their previous transportation planning in the due course has failed to meet the fast growing demand. As with the spin of time, both the countries are looking forward for a reasonable, safe and economical long term solutions, which is from time to time keep appreciating and reacting according to other key economic drivers. Content analysis method and case study approach is used in this paper and secondary data from the bureau of statistic is used for case analysis. The paper centered on the mobility concerns of the lower and middle income people in India and Pakistan. The paper is aimed to highlight the weaknesses, opportunities and limitations resulting from low priority industry for government, which is making the either country's public suffer. The paper has concluded that the main issue is identified as the slow, inappropriate and unfavorable decisions which are not in favor of long term country’s economic development and public welfare as well as interest. The paper also recommends to future market sense public and private transportation, which has failed to meet the public expectations.

Keywords: bus transportation industries, transportation demand, government parallel initiatives, road and traffic congestions

Procedia PDF Downloads 259

Authors: Xueqing Ivy Chen, Christo De Coning

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It is clear from practice that a gap exists between Result-Based Monitoring and Evaluation (RBME) as a discipline, and Knowledge Management (KM) on the other hand. Whereas various government departments have institutionalised these functions, KM and M&E has functioned in isolation from each other in a practical sense in the public sector. It’s therefore necessary to explore the relationship between KM and M&E and the necessity for integration, so that a convergence of these disciplines can be established. An integration of KM and M&E will lead to integration and improvement of evidence-based information and policy decision-making. M&E and KM process models are available but the complementarity between specific process steps of these process models are not exploited. A need exists to clarify the relationships between these functions in order to ensure evidence based information and policy decision-making. This paper will depart from the well-known policy process models, such as the generic model and consider recent on the interface between policy, M&E and KM.

Keywords: result-based monitoring and evaluation, RBME, knowledge management, KM, evident based decision making, public policy, information systems, institutional arrangement

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Authors: Abubakar Abdulkareem, Nasir Haruna Soba

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This study investigates the non-utilization of AI tools for research and academic writing among academic staff in Nigerian universities using the perceived attribute of innovation theory by Rogers as a theoretical framework to guide the investigation. This study was framed in an interpretative research paradigm. A qualitative methodology and case study research design was adopted. Interviews were conducted with 20 academic staff. The study used a thematic analysis process to identify 115 narratives. The narratives are organized into five major categories and further collapsed into five theoretical constructs explaining the non-use of AI tools for research and academic writing. Findings from this study revealed some of the reasons for the non-utilization of AI tools for research and academic writing as lack of Awareness, perceived Complexity, trust and Reliability Concerns, cost and accessibility, ethical and Privacy concerns and, cultural and institutional factors, etc.

Keywords: non-utilization, AI tools, research and academic writing, academic staff

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Authors: Venkatesan Annadurai, Kannan Ethirajalu, Anu Roshini Ramakrishnan

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Copper oxide (CuO) and zinc oxide (ZnO) based coaxial (CuO-ZnO nanorods) heterojunction has been the interest of various research communities for solar cells, light emitting diodes (LEDs) and photodetectors applications. Copper oxide (CuO) is a p-type material with the band gap of 1.5 eV and it is considered to be an attractive absorber material in solar cells applications due to its high absorption coefficient and long minority carrier diffusion length. Similarly, n-type ZnO nanorods possess many attractive advantages over thin films such as, the light trapping ability and photosensitivity owing to the presence of oxygen related hole-traps at the surface. Moreover, the abundant availability, non-toxicity, and inexpensiveness of these materials make them suitable for potentially cheap, large area, and stable photovoltaic applications. However, the efficiency of the CuO-ZnO nanorods heterojunction based devices is greatly affected by interface defects which generally lead to the poor performance. In spite of having much potential, not much work has been carried out to understand the interface quality and transport mechanism involved across the CuO-ZnO nanorods heterojunction. Therefore, a detailed investigation of CuO-ZnO heterojunction is needed to understand the interface which affects its photovoltaic performance. Herein, we have fabricated the CuO-ZnO nanorods based heterojunction by simple hydrothermal and electrodeposition technique and investigated its interface quality by carrying out temperature (300 –10 K) dependent current-voltage (I-V) measurements under dark and illumination of visible light. Activation energies extracted from the temperature dependent I-V characteristics reveals that recombination and tunneling mechanism across the interfacial barrier plays a significant role in the current flow.

Keywords: heterojunction, electrical transport, nanorods, solar cells

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Authors: Arlinda Memetaj

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A sound system of administrative justice represents a vital element of democratic governance. The proper control of public administration consists not only of a sound civil service framework and legislative oversight, but empowerment of the public and courts to hold public officials accountable for their decision-making through the application of fair administrative procedural rules and the use of appropriate administrative appeals processes and judicial review. The establishment of both effective public administration and administrative justice system has been for a long period of time among the most ‘important and urgent’ final strategic objectives of almost any country in the Balkans region, including Macedonia, Albania and Kosovo. Closely related to this is their common strategic goal to enter the membership in the European Union, which requires fulfilling of many criteria and standards as incorporated in EU acquis communautaire. The latter is presently done with the framework of the Stabilization and Association Agreement which each of these countries has concluded with the EU accordingly. To above aims, each of the three countries has so far adopted a huge series of legislative and strategic documents related to any aspects of their individual administrative justice system. ‘Changes and reforms’ in this field have been thus the most frequent terms being used in any of these countries. The three countries have already established their own national administrative judiciary, while permanently amending their laws on the general administrative procedure introducing thereby considerable innovations concerned. National administrative courts are expected to have crucial important role within the broader judiciary systems-related reforms of these countries; they are designed to check the legality of decisions of the state administration with the aim to guarantee an effective protection of human rights and legitimate interests of private persons through a regular, conform, fast and reasonable judicial administrative process. Further improvements in this field are presently an integral crucial part of all the relevant national strategic documents including the ones on judiciary reform and public administration reform, as adopted by each of the three countries; those strategic documents are designed among others to provide effective protection of their citizens` rights` of administrative justice. On the basis of the later, the paper finally is aimed at highlighting selective common challenges and problems of the three countries on their European road, while claiming (among others) that the current status quo situation in each of them may be overcome only if there is a proper implementation of the administrative courts decisions and a far stricter international monitoring process thereof. A new approach and strong political commitment from the highest political leadership is thus absolutely needed to ensure the principles of transparency, accountability and merit in public administration. The main methods used in this paper include the analytical and comparative ones due to the very character of the paper itself.

Keywords: administrative courts , administrative justice, administrative procedure, benefit, effective administrative justice, human rights, implementation, monitoring, reform

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Authors: Y. Cochet, A. Achim, Tom Flatman, J-C. Domec, J. Ogée, L. Wingate, Ram Oren

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It is accepted that atmospheric CO2 concentration will increase in the future. For the past 30 years, researchers have used FACE (Free-Air Carbon Dioxide Enrichment) facilities to study the development of terrestrial ecosystems under elevated CO2 (eCO2). Forest responses to eCO2 are likely to impact timber industries with potential feedbacks towards the atmosphere. The main objectives of this study were to examine whether eCO2 alone or in combination with N-fertilization alter wood properties and to identify changes in wood anatomy related to water transport. Wood disks were sampled at breast height from mature loblolly pine trees (Pinus taeda L.) harvested at the Duke FACE site (NC, USA). By measuring ring width and intra-ring changes in density (X-ray densitometry) and tracheid size (lumen and cell wall thickness) from pith to bark, the following hypotheses were tested: 1) eCO2 and N-fertilization interact positively to increase significantly above-ground primary productivity; 2) eCO2 and N-fertilization lead to a decrease in density; 3) eCO2 and N-fertilization increase lumen diameter and decrease cell wall thickness, thus affecting water transport capacity. Our results revealed a boost in earlywood tracheid production induced by eCO2 lasting a few years. The following decrease seemed to be buffered by N-fertilization. X-ray profiles did not show a marked decrease in wood density under eCO2 or N-fertilization, although there were changes in cell anatomical properties such as a reduction in cell-wall thickness and an increase in lumen diameter. If such effects of eCO2 are confirmed, forest management strategies for example N-fertilization should be redesigned.

Keywords: wood density, Duke FACE (free-air carbon dioxide enrichment), N fertilization, tree ring

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Authors: Berna Yaylalı, Isin Can Traunmüller

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This paper explores the emergent bottom-up practices in the fields of architecture and urban design within comparative perspectives of two cities. As a temporary, easily affordable intervention that gives the possibility of transforming neglected spaces into vibrant public spaces, tactical urbanism, together with creative place-making strategies, presents alternative ways of creating sustainable developments in derelict and underused areas. This study examines the potential of social and physical developments through a reading of case studies of two creative spatial practices: a pop-up garden transformed from an unused derelict space in Favoriten, Vienna, and an urban community garden in Kuzguncuk, Istanbul. Two cities are chosen according to their multicultural population and diversity. Istanbul was selected as a design city by UNESCO Creative Cities Network in 2017, and Vienna was declared an open and livable city by its local government. This research will use media archives and reports, interviews with locals and local governments, site observations, and visual recordings as methods to provide a critical reading on creative public spaces from the view of local users in these neighborhoods. Reflecting on these emergent ways, this study aims at discussing the production process of tactile urbanism with the practices of locals and the decision-making process with cases from İstanbul and Vienna. The comparison between their place-making strategies in tactical urbanism will give important insights for future developments.

Keywords: creative city, tactical urbanism, neglected area, public space

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Authors: Vakhtang Nozadze, Luiza Arutinova, Khatuna Martskvishvili

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The social empowerment of most needed individuals is a challenging issue, especially for developing countries. The current study explores the effects of visual impairment on individuals’ satisfaction with different aspects of life (i.e. education, job, income, family) and coping strategies. Furthermore, the difference between groups according to health status is revealed. Other demographic variables (education, employment, and marital status) is also considered. The cross-sectional design and self-reported questionnaires were adopted. Seventy-two visually impaired males and females (age range 13-66) and seventy healthy individuals participated in the study. The results reveal the importance of health status on the accessibility of social amenities, individuals’ satisfaction with life, and a diversity of coping strategies, irrespective of the age. The research has an important implication for social integration research and policy.

Keywords: coping strategies, life satisfaction, social integration, visual impairment

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Authors: K. R. Roopesh Bharatwaj, Avinash Maharana, Favour Tobi Aborisade, Roger Young

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Presently, there are few cases of complete automation of drones and its allied intelligence capabilities. In essence, the potential of the drone has not yet been fully utilized. This paper presents feasible methods to build an intelligent drone with smart capabilities such as self-driving, and obstacle avoidance. It does this through advanced Reinforcement Learning Techniques and performs object detection using latest advanced algorithms, which are capable of processing light weight models with fast training in real time instances. For the scope of this paper, after researching on the various algorithms and comparing them, we finally implemented the Deep-Q-Networks (DQN) algorithm in the AirSim Simulator. In future works, we plan to implement further advanced self-driving and object detection algorithms, we also plan to implement voice-based speech recognition for the entire drone operation which would provide an option of speech communication between users (People) and the drone in the time of unavoidable circumstances. Thus, making drones an interactive intelligent Robotic Voice Enabled Service Assistant. This proposed drone has a wide scope of usability and is applicable in scenarios such as Disaster management, Air Transport of essentials, Agriculture, Manufacturing, Monitoring people movements in public area, and Defense. Also discussed, is the entire drone communication based on the satellite broadband Internet technology for faster computation and seamless communication service for uninterrupted network during disasters and remote location operations. This paper will explain the feasible algorithms required to go about achieving this goal and is more of a reference paper for future researchers going down this path.

Keywords: convolution neural network, natural language processing, obstacle avoidance, satellite broadband technology, self-driving

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Authors: Xiaoshuang Jia, Huiling Feng, Li Niu, Wei Hai

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Led by Humanistic Beijing Studies Center in Renmin University of China, My Peking Memory Project(MPMP) is a long-time digital memory project under guarantee of public participation to enable the cultural and intellectual memory of Beijing to be collected, organized, preserved and promoted for discovery and research. Taking digital memory as a new way, MPMP is an important part of Peking Memory Project(PMP) which is aimed at using digital technologies to protect and (re)present the cultural heritage in Beijing. The key outcome of MPMP is the co-building of a total digital collection of knowledge assets about Beijing. Institutional memories are central to Beijing’s collection and consist of the official published documentary content of Beijing. These have already fall under the archival collection purview. The advances in information and communication technology and the knowledge form social memory theory have allowed us to collect more comprehensively beyond institutional collections. It is now possible to engage citizens on a large scale to collect private memories through crowdsourcing in digital formats. Private memories go beyond official published content to include personal narratives, some of which are just in people’s minds until they are captured by MPMP. One aim of MPMP is to engage individuals, communities, groups or institutions who have formed memories and content about Beijing, and would like to contribute them. The project hopes to build a culture of remembering and it believes ‘Every Memory Matters’. Digital memory contribution was achieved through the development of the MPMP. In reducing barriers to digital contribution and promoting high public Participation, MPMP has taken explored the harvesting of transcribe service for digital ingestion, mobile platform and some off-line activities like holding social forum. MPMP has also cooperated with the ‘Implementation Plan of Support Plan for Growth of Talents in Renmin University of China’ to get manpower and intellectual support. After six months of operation, now MPMP have more than 2000 memories added and 7 Special Memory Collections now online. The work of MPMP has ultimately helped to highlight the important role in safeguarding the documentary heritage and intellectual memory of Beijing.

Keywords: digital memory, public participation, MPMP, cultural heritage, collection

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Authors: Zsofia Nagy

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A sharp increase in the number of refugees crossing Hungary during 2015, coupled with the Hungarian government’s agenda-setting strategy led to a powerful anti-migrant campaign in public, framing asylum-seekers as external threats to the country. While this campaign was, by and large, unchallenged by the Hungarian parliamentary opposition, Two-Tailed Dog Party, a Hungarian mock-party launched a counter-billboard campaign attacking the governmental discourse. Taking the latter as a case of digitally supported civic action, the paper first discusses two theoretical problems related to contemporary social movements: the problem of voice and the problem of participation. Afterward the paper presents the case of the Hungarian anti-migrant billboard campaign led by the government and the counter-billboard campaign and examines their action repertoires. It argues that a number of strategic differences are noteworthy: contrasts between traditional and digital methods, the reliance on the ’spirals of silence’ on the one hand and the breaking of this very silence on the other, where people are holding a minority opinion were given a platform and visibility in public. On a deeper level, the counter-campaign challenged the hegemonic views about public discourse. It effectively contrasted the government’s one-to-many, top-bottom approach to political communication with a campaign that relied on many-to-many communication and a bottom-up approach. While it is true that through memetic engineering, the original governmental messages were altered and the outcomes were brought back to the streets of Hungary; the effects of the two campaigns nevertheless reinforced the original anti-migrant focus of the political agenda.

Keywords: counterpublics, migration, refugees, social movements

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Authors: Tessa Heeren

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The following proposal pertains to the complex process of successfully implementing health policies that are based on public health research. A systematic review was conducted by myself and faculty at the Cluj School of Public Health in Romania. The reviewed articles covered a wide range of topics, such as barriers and facilitators to multi-sector collaboration, differences in professional cultures, and systemic obstacles. The reviewed literature identified communication, collaboration, user-friendly dissemination, and documentation of processes in the execution of applied research as important themes for the promotion of evidence in the public health decision-making process. This proposal fits into the Academy Health National Health Policy conference because it identifies and examines differences between the worlds of research and politics. Implications and new insights for federal and/or state health policy: Recommendations made based on the findings of this research include using politically relevant levers to promote research (e.g. campaign donors, lobbies, established parties, etc.), modernizing dissemination practices, and reforms in which the involvement of external stakeholders is facilitated without relying on invitations from individual policy makers. Description of how evidence and/or data was or could be used: The reviewed articles illustrated shortcomings and areas for improvement in policy research processes and collaborative development. In general, the evidence base in the field of integrating research into policy lacks critical details of the actual process of developing evidence based policy. This shortcoming in logistical details creates a barrier for potential replication of collaborative efforts described in studies. Potential impact of the presentation for health policy: The reviewed articles focused on identifying barriers and facilitators that arise in cross sector collaboration, rather than the process and impact of integrating evidence into policy. In addition, the type of evidence used in policy was rarely specified, and widely varying interpretations of the definition of evidence complicated overall conclusions. Background: Using evidence to inform public health decision making processes has been proven effective; however, it is not clear how research is applied in practice. Aims: The objectives of the current study were to assess the extent to which evidence is used in public health decision-making process. Methods: To identify eligible studies, seven bibliographic databases, specifically, PubMed, Scopus, Cochrane Library, Science Direct, Web of Science, ClinicalKey, Health and Safety Science Abstract were screened (search dates: 1990 – September 2015); a general internet search was also conducted. Primary research and systematic reviews about the use of evidence in public health policy in Europe were included. The studies considered for inclusion were assessed by two reviewers, along with extracted data on objective, methods, population, and results. Data were synthetized as a narrative review. Results: Of 2564 articles initially identified, 2525 titles and abstracts were screened. Ultimately, 30 articles fit the research criteria by describing how or why evidence is used/not used in public health policy. The majority of included studies involved interviews and surveys (N=17). Study participants were policy makers, health care professionals, researchers, community members, service users, experts in public health.

Keywords: cross-sector, dissemination, health policy, policy implementation

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Authors: Yoshifumi Hino

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An infinitely repeated prisoner’s dilemma is a typical model that represents teamwork situation. If both players choose costly actions and contribute to the team, then both players are better off. However, each player has an incentive to choose a selfish action. We analyze the game under costly observation. Each player can observe the action of the opponent only when he pays an observation cost in that period. In reality, teamwork situations are often costly observation. Members of some teams sometimes work in distinct rooms, areas, or countries. In those cases, they have to spend their time and money to see other team members if they want to observe it. The costly observation assumption makes the cooperation difficult substantially because the equilibrium must satisfy the incentives not only on the action but also on the observational decision. Especially, it is the most difficult to cooperate each other when the stage-game is prisoner's dilemma because players have to communicate through only two actions. We examine whether or not players can cooperate each other in prisoner’s dilemma under costly observation. Specifically, we check whether symmetric Pareto efficient payoff vectors in repeated prisoner’s dilemma can be approximated by sequential equilibria or not (efficiency result). We show the efficiency result without any randomization device under certain circumstances. It means that players can cooperate with each other without any randomization device even if the observation is costly. Next, we assume that public randomization device is available, and then we show that any feasible and individual rational payoffs in prisoner’s dilemma can be approximated by sequential equilibria under a specific situation (folk theorem). It implies that players can achieve asymmetric teamwork like leadership situation when public randomization device is available.

Keywords: cost observation, efficiency, folk theorem, prisoner's dilemma, private monitoring, repeated games.

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Authors: Mitsuo Yoshida

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A significant mercury contamination of soil/sediment was unveiled by an environmental monitoring program in a wetland along La Plata River, west to Montevideo City, Uruguay. The mercury contamination was caused by industrial wastewater discharged from a chlor-alkali plant using a mercury-cell process. The contamination level is above 60 mg/kg in soil/sediment. Most of mercury (Hg) in the environment is inorganic, but some fractions are converted by bacteria to methylmercury (MeHg), a toxic organic compound. MeHg biologically accumulates through a food-chain and become serious public health risk. In order to clarify the contaminated part for countermeasure operation, an intervention value of mercury contamination of sediment/soil was defined as 15 mg/kg (total Hg) by the authority. According to the intervention value, mercury contaminated area in the La Plata site is approximately 48,280 m² and estimated total volume of contaminated sediments/soils was around 18,750 m³. The countermeasures to contaminated zone were proposed in two stages; (i) mitigation of risks for public health and (ii) site remediation. The first stage is an installation of fens and net around the contamination zone, for mitigating risks of exposure, inhalation, and intake. The food chain among wetland-river ecosystem was also interrupted by the installation of net and fens. The state of mercury contamination in La Plata site and plan of countermeasure was disclosed to local people and the public, and consensus on setting off-limit area was successfully achieved. Mass media also contribute to share the information on the contamination site. The cost for countermeasures was borne by the industry under the polluter-pay-principle.

Keywords: chlor-alkali plant, mercury contamination, polluter pay principle, Uruguay, wetland

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Authors: Edward Nartey

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Although the boundaries of sustainable performance and growth in the field of service supply chains (SCs) have been broadened by scholars in recent years, research on the impact and promises of Industry 4.0 Destructive Technologies (IDTs) on sustainability performance under disruptive events is still scarce. To mitigate disruptions in the SC and improve efficiency by identifying areas for cost savings, organizations have resorted to investments in digitalization, automation, and control mechanisms in recent years. However, little is known about the sustainability implications for IDT adoption and controls in service SCs, especially during disruptive events. To investigate this paradox, survey data were sought from 223 public health managers across Ghana and analyzed via covariance-based structural equations modelling. The results showed that both formal and informal control have a positive and significant relationship with IDT adoption. In addition, formal control has a significant and positive relationship with environmental and economic sustainability but an insignificant relationship with social sustainability. Furthermore, informal control positively impacts economic performance but has an insignificant relationship with social and environmental sustainability. While the findings highlight the prevalence of the IDTs being initiated by Ghanaian public health institutions (PHIs), this study concludes that the installed control systems in these organizations are inadequate for promoting sustainable SC behaviors under destructive events. Thus, in crisis situations, PHIs need to redesign their control systems to facilitate IDT integration towards sustainability issues in SCs.

Keywords: industry 4.0 destructive technologies, formal control, informal control, sustainable supply chain performance, public health organizations

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Authors: Majda El Moufarej

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Higher education plays a central role in socio-economic development. However, with the wave of change mainly due to the extensive use of technology in the workplace, the rate of unemployment among graduates rises because they lack the appropriate competencies and skills currently required in professional life. This situation has led higher education institutions worldwide to reconsider their missions, strategic planning, and curricula, among other elements to redress the image of the university as expected. When it comes to practice, there are many obstacles that hinder the achievement of the expected objectives, especially in public universities with free access, as in the case of Morocco. Nevertheless, huge efforts have been made by educational managers to improve the quality of education by focusing on the issue of pedagogical approaches, where university teachers assume more responsibility to save the situation. In this paper, the focus will be placed on the issue of pedagogical approaches to be adopted, depending on the nature of the subject, the size of the class, the available equipment, the students’ level and degree of motivation. Before elaborating on this idea, it may be more insightful to begin by addressing another variable, which concerns the new role of university teachers and their qualification in pedagogical competence. Then, the discussion will revolve around five pedagogical approaches currently adopted in western universities and the focus will be exclusively placed on the one which is called “the Systematic Approach to course Design”, due to its crucial relevance in the teaching of subjects in the schools of humanities, as it can guide the teacher in the development of an explicit program for purposeful teaching and learning. The study is based on a qualitative method, and the findings will be analyzed and followed by some recommendations about how to overcome difficulties in teaching large groups, while transmitting the relevant knowledge and skills on demand in the workplace.

Keywords: higher education, public universities, pedagogical approaches, pedagogical competence

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Authors: Saleh Komies, Mona Alharbi, Razan Alhayyani, Mozah Almulhim, Roseanne Khawaja, Ahmed Alradhi

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One of the proposed solutions that faces some challenges is encouraging sustainable energy consumption across Saudi Arabia through crowdfunding platforms. To address these challenges, we need to determine the level of awareness of crowdfunding and green projects, as well as the preferences and willingness of Saudis to utilize crowdfunding as an alternative funding source for green projects in Saudi Arabia. In this study, we aim to determine the influence of environmental awareness and concern on the propensity to crowdfund green projects. The survey is being conducted as part of environmental initiatives to assess public perceptions and opinions on crowdfunding green projects in Saudi Arabia. A total of 450 responses to an online questionnaire distributed via convenience and snowball sampling were utilized for data analysis. The survey reveals that Saudis have a low understanding of crowdfunding concepts and a relatively high understanding of implementing green projects. The public is interested in crowdfunding green projects if there is a return on investment.

Keywords: crowdfunding, green projects, awareness, Saudi Arabia, energy, solar, wind

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Authors: Deborah O. Okusanya, Chris Vanrooyen, Stefan de Jager

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Introduction: Homosexuality has been and continues to be a controversial subject across many disciplines; it has generated many debates around religious, academic institutions, political, socio-cultural as well as medical domains. The current study investigated students from a previously disadvantaged African university’s perception regarding homosexuality. Method: This qualitative study utilized two focus groups to collect data, which then was analyzed using thematic content analysis. Result: The study revealed that students’ level of awareness with regard to homosexuality is very high and their perceptions largely negative. Students predominantly found the practice unethical, and un-African. Discussion: Students tend to show a lot of stereotypical prejudicial responses and there seems to be a general lack of willingness to discuss this in a public discourse. In conclusion, there seems to be a tension between cultural values and the open environment such as academic institutions. Students’ perceptions go a long way in shaping public discourse and the larger population’s general attitude toward homosexuality.

Keywords: discourse, homosexuality, stereotypical, un-African

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Authors: Archen Sara Vincent

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Gambling is the practice or act of betting or wagering on uncertain events with the hope of winning money or any other valuable assets. Nowadays, the practice of gambling can be seen in almost all grounds of events, especially in sports. In sports, this is commonly known among people as sports betting. The history of gambling can be traced about 2,000 years back. It originated from Greeks, from Greeks to the Romans, then to England, where betting on horse races was much popular among the elites. The evolution of gambling in sports has made a greater impact in the modern era. In India, the legality of gambling in sports is regulated by The Public Gambling Act 1867, which prohibits gambling activities in public places. The major draw of this statute is that it does not have specific laws regarding online sports gambling. Section 30 of The Indian Contract Act 1872 considers wagering agreements void. However, there are certain exceptions for this section, that is, (1) state-owned lotteries and (2) wagering on horse races with a sum of Rupees 500 or upward. As per the Indian Constitution, the rules regarding sports gambling are within the powers of the state legislatures. Some of the states have enacted their own laws which explicitly permit or prohibit gambling within their jurisdiction. Recently in Tamilnadu, The Tamilnadu Gaming Act was amended in 2021 to completely ban online gambling and betting. Moreover, the Central Government has introduced the Online Gaming and Prevention of Fraud Bill, 2018, to legalize and regulate sports betting in India. However, this bill has not yet been passed as law. Now as the Indian legal system does not have a specific rule regarding online sports gambling, sports betting companies use this major drawback and attract people to use the gambling and betting apps by advertising with well-known sports players and other celebrities. This paper aims to critically evaluate gambling in sports and the laws relating to it in India.

Keywords: history of gambling, The Public Gambling Act 1862, state legislations, gambling in India

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