Search results for: Indigenous communities

Authors: Agnieszka Szczudlińska-Kanoś

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Nowadays the participation of citizens in public life increasingly effect on management at all levels of public authority. Today, however, democratic systems in many countries, also in Poland, based on the first - on the institutions of representative democracy, which is mainly on elections, party activity, on the other hand - on the basic instruments of direct democracy, which, in particular, we can include a referendum or initiative of citizenship - although these are often rather complementary. Other forms of participatory democracy, such as deliberative democracy, participatory budgeting, public consultation in practice in many countries are still rare. Appropriate use of the potential invested in participatory democracy can bring enormous and multilateral benefits. On the one hand, local and regional communities taking an active part in public life express their needs, point out problems and thus affect the decisions of public authorities. Authorities using knowledge acquired from the citizens also implement the policy tailored to their needs, thus obtaining support in the next election. The purpose of this study is to show how the Polish citizens affect to resolve issues of social policy pursued at different levels of government. This problem is very important because today the observed changes seen in virtually all fields of life create new social problems, which nowadays are no longer only the problems of the region, the country but they are international, global issues. From such this perspective we should talk about them, discuss, try to solve at all levels. Article will be useful not only theorists involved in the management of the public, local government, or social but also practitioners - local government acting as their functions at different levels of government. Conclusions drawn from the publication will also be useful to politicians and those directly affecting for: functioning social security systems, the scope and quality of public services and the overall shape of the contemporary social policy in different countries.

Keywords: social policy, local government, social participation, social services

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Authors: O. Nthoi-Molefe, V. Makwinja

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In the North West district of Botswana, Heritage tourism has the potential to offer tremendous economic and social opportunities for local communities in terms of supporting Tourism product development and entrepreneurship. This paper Identifies that Cultural Heritage Entrepreneur brings to the market goods and services, organizes and runs cultural heritage in a commercial or non-profit manner depending on characteristics of cultural resources identified. Data was collected through a series of focus group discussions that included sixteen village community members within the region. Data collected was transcribed and then further analyzed thematically to bring forward results to be analysed. Using Tsodilo Hills World Heritage Site as a case study, the researchers acknowledged that Cultural Heritage Entrepreneurs in that area should use a creative approach in order toidentify suitable solutions for financing different tourism activities starting with sponsored events, grant funds, donations, including the benefits of financial opportunities brough be foreign visitors and domestic tourists alike. The researchers also identified a need for specialized training for the identified entrepreneurs in order to maintain quality services of tourism products and sites (interpretation), information for tourists, visitation services, diversification, and upgrading of the heritage experience. The research reveals that the identified Cultural Heritage Entrepreneurs prefer economic motivation, exploitation over the cultural value of their resources, further calling for recommendations of the research that emphasize on the need for detailed training on how to valorize their cultural resources for the growth of Tourism in the area.

Keywords: education, community development, entrepreneurship, cultural tourism

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Authors: Ravi Teja Chitturi Suryaprakash, Chandrashekhar Unakal, Haytham Al-Bayaty, Duraisamy Saravanakumar

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Background and significance: Oral biofilm formation is a well-known causative factor for caries and periodontal diseases. Scientists over the years have been trying to find a solution against the formation of oral biofilms. Though several advances have been made to understand the microbial ecology and how the bio film survives, it is still an enigma to researchers to find a chemical product that not only can inhibit the formation of oral bio film but also not disturb the oral micro flora required for oral health and not to cause damage to the cells of the oral cavity. One such product that has never been investigated much are herbal preparations. Some of the microorganisms important in the formation of biofilm are Streptococcus mutans, Actinomyces naeslundi, Streptococuss oralis and Prevotella intermedia. The aim of this study was to study the antimicrobial property of some herbal extracts available in Trinidad and Tobago against these pathogens. The significance of this study is that identification of biologically effective plant extracts can result in indigenous development of mouth rinses and tooth pastes that the people can benefit from to not only develop effective but also a cheap solution. Methodology: The extracts from the leaves of Plectranthus ambonicus, Ocmium tenuiflorum, Azadirchata indica, Anacardium occidentale, Psidium guajava were prepared by dissolving them in water. The extracts from the roots of Curcuma longa were prepared similarly and the antimicrobial activity of these six plant extracts was determined by the agar well diffusion method using minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) against Streptococcus mutans, Actinomyces naeslundi, Streptococuss oralis and Prevotella intermedia and compared with chlorhexidine. Results: The six plant extracts showed variable effect on the oral micro-organisms. Ocmium tenuiflorum (16.66 ± 0.44, 14 ± 0.58, 13.33 ± 0.88, 12.83 ± 0.60), Azadirchata indica (17.5 ± 0.28, 14.83 ± 0.17, 15 ± 0.58, 12.83 ± 0.6) and Curcuma longa (16.16 ± 0.44, 13.66 ± 0.88, 12.33 ± 0.88, 11.33 ± 0.67) were found to have highest inhibitory activity against all the four pathogens (Streptococcus mutans, Streptococuss oralis, Actinomyces naeslundi, and Prevotella intermedia) respectively. Conclusion: Although the extracts were not pure compounds we obtained antimicrobial results which determine that they are potent antimicrobial agents. Further derivation of pure compounds from these extracts could be lucrative as it might lead to the development of a cost effective and biologically safe medicine to act against oral biofilms. Acknowledgement: The authors would like to acknowledge the Campus Research and Publication Fund Committee, The University of the West Indies for funding this study and would also like to acknowledge Dr. Leonette Cox, Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science and Technology, The University of the West Indies, St. Augustine Campus, Trinidad and Tobago for helping to prepare the plant extracts.

Keywords: agar well diffusion method, herbal extracts, minimum inhibitory concentration, oral biofilm forming microorganisms

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Authors: Krishna Gopal Lageju

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On 25th April 2015, a 7.6 magnitude earthquake struck Gorkha district of Nepal, which resulted over 8,790 deaths and 22,300 injuries. In addition, almost one-third of the country’s healthcare service has been disrupted. A total of 1,211 health facilities became non-operational, due to 446 completely and other 765 partially damaged. Nearly 84 percent (375 out of 446) of the completely damaged health facilities are in the 14 most affected districts. As a result, the ability of health facilities to respond to health care needs has been harshly affected. In addition, 18 health workers lost their lives and 75 are injured, which added further challenges in the delivery of health services. Thus, to address the immediate health needs in the most devastated areas, Nepal Red Cross Society (NRCS) in coordination with IFRC and Nepal Government, 8 Field hospitals established with surgical capacities, where around 492 international Emergency Response Units (ERUs) Members are mobilized for 3 months period. More than 54,000 patients have been treated in the Red Cross operated field hospitals. Trauma cases accounted 9,180 (17%) of the total patients off which 1,285 (14%) are major surgical cases. Most of the case loads 44,830 (83%) are outpatients and 9,180 patients got inpatients service. Similarly, 112 births have been performed in the field hospitals. Inpatient mortality rate remained 1.5% (21 deaths), many of them are presented with critical injuries or illnesses. No outbreak has been seen during the ERU operation. Deployment of ERUs together with national health workers are very important to address the immediate health needs of the affected communities. This will ease for transition and handover of emergency service and equipments to local provider. Likewise, capacity building of local staff as on the job training on various clinical teachings would be another important issue to look at before phasing out such services.

Keywords: trauma management, critical injuries, earthquake, health

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Authors: Louis Kusi Frimpong, Martin Oteng-Ababio

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The problem of crime and insecurity in urban environments are often complex, multilayered, multidimensional and sometimes interwoven. It is from this perspective that recent approaches and strategies aimed at responding to crime and insecurity have looked at the problem from a social, economic, spatial and institutional point of view. In Ghana, there is much understanding of how various elements of the social and spatial setting influence crime and safety concerns of residents in urban areas. However, little research attention has been given to the institutional dimension of the problem of crime and insecurity in urban Ghana. In particular, scholars and policymakers in the area of safety and security have scarcely interrogated the forms of collaboration that exist between the various formal and informal institutions and how gaps and lapses in this collaboration influence vulnerability to crime and feelings of insecurity. Using Sekondi-Takoradi as a case study and drawing on both primary and secondary data, this paper assesses the activities of various institutions both formal and informal in crime control and prevention in the Sekondi-Takoradi metropolis, the third largest city in Ghana. More importantly, the paper seeks to address gaps in the institutional arrangement and coordination between and among institutions at the forefront of crime prevention efforts in the metropolis and by extension Ghanaian cities. The study found that whiles there is some form of collaboration between the police and the community, little collaboration existed between planning authorities and the police on the one hand, and the community on the other hand. The paper concludes that in light of the complex nature of a crime, institutional coordination and an inclusive approach involving formal and informal will be critical in promoting safer cities in Ghana.

Keywords: crime prevention, coordination, Ghana, institutional arrangement

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Authors: Eke Balla Sophie Michelle

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Forest provides a wide range of environmental goods and services among which, biodiversity or consumption goods and constitute public goods. Despite the importance of non-timber forest products (NTFPs) in sustaining livelihood and poverty smoothening in rural communities, they are highly depleted and poorly conserved. Yokadouma is a town where NTFPs is a renewable resource in active exploitation. It has been found that such exploitation is done in the same conditions as other localities that have experienced a rapid depletion of their NTFPs in destination to cities across Cameroon, Central Africa, and overseas. Given these realities, it is necessary to access the consequences of this overexploitation through negative effects on both the population and the environment. Therefore, to enhance participatory conservation initiatives, this study determines the household’s willingness to pay in community forest (CF) of Morikouali-ye, eastern region of Cameroon, for sustainable exploitation of NTFPs using contingent valuation method (CVM) through two approaches, one parametric (Logit model) and the other non-parametric (estimator of the Turnbull lower bound). The results indicate that five species are the most collected in the study area: Irvingia gabonensis, the Ricinodendron heudelotii, Gnetum, the Jujube and bark, their sale contributes significantly to 41 % of total household income. The average willingness to pay through the Logit model and the Turnbull estimator is 6845.2861 FCFA and 4940 FCFA respectively per household per year with a social cost of degradation estimated at 3237820.3253 FCFA years. The probability to pay increases with income, gender, number of women in the household, age, the commercial activity of NTFPs and decreases with the concept of sustainable development.

Keywords: non timber forest product, contingent valuation method, willingness to pay, sustainable development

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Authors: Steven Arcidiacono, Robert Stote, Erin Anderson, Molly Richards

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There are numerous standard test methods for antimicrobial textiles that measure activity against specific microorganisms. However, many times these results do not translate to the performance of treated textiles when worn by individuals. Standard test methods apply a single target organism grown under optimal conditions to a textile, then recover the organism to quantitate and determine activity; this does not reflect the actual performance environment that consists of polymicrobial communities in less than optimal conditions or interaction of the textile with the skin substrate. Here we propose the development of in vitro skin model method to bridge the gap between lab testing and wear studies. The model will consist of a defined polymicrobial community of 5-7 commensal microbes simulating the skin microbiome, seeded onto a solid tissue platform to represent the skin. The protocol would entail adding a non-commensal test organism of interest to the defined community and applying a textile sample to the solid substrate. Following incubation, the textile would be removed and the organisms recovered, which would then be quantitated to determine antimicrobial activity. Important parameters to consider include identification and assembly of the defined polymicrobial community, growth conditions to allow the establishment of a stable community, and choice of skin surrogate. This model could answer the following questions: 1) is the treated textile effective against the target organism? 2) How is the defined community affected? And 3) does the textile cause unwanted effects toward the skin simulant? The proposed model would determine activity under conditions comparable to the intended application and provide expanded knowledge relative to current test methods.

Keywords: antimicrobial textiles, defined polymicrobial community, in vitro skin model, skin microbiome

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Authors: Eglė Bilevičiūtė, Vidmantas Egidijus Kurapka, Snieguolė Matulienė, Sigutė Stankevičiūtė

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The Council of European Union (EU Council) has stressed on several occasions the need for a concerted, comprehensive and effective solution to delinquency problems in EU communities. In the context of establishing a European Forensic Science Area and the development of forensic science infrastructure in Europe, EU Council believes that forensic science can significantly contribute to the efficiency of law enforcement, crime prevention and combating crimes. Lithuanian scientists have consolidated to implement a project named “Conception of the vision for European Forensic Science 2020 implementation in Lithuania” (the project is funded for the period of 1 March 2014 - 31 December 2016) with the objective to create a conception of implementation of the vision for European Forensic Science 2020 in Lithuania by 1) evaluating the current status of Lithuania’s forensic system and opportunities for its improvement; 2) analysing achievements and knowledge in investigation of crimes listed in conclusions of EU Council on the vision for European Forensic Science 2020 including creation of a European Forensic Science Area and the development of forensic science infrastructure in Europe: trafficking in human beings, organised crime and terrorism; 3) analysing conceptions of criminalistics, which differ in different EU member states due to the variety of forensic schools, and finding means for their harmonization. Apart from the conception of implementation of the vision for European Forensic Science 2020 in Lithuania, the project is expected to suggest provisions that will be relevant to other EU countries as well. Consequently, the presented conception of implementation of vision for European Forensic Science 2020 in Lithuania could initiate a project for a common vision of European Forensic Science and contribute to the development of the EU as an area of freedom, security and justice. The article presents main ideas of the project of the conception of the vision for European Forensic Science 2020 of EU Council and analyses its legal background, as well as prospects of and challenges for its implementation in Lithuania and the EU.

Keywords: EUROVIFOR, standardization, vision for European Forensic Science 2020, Lithuania

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Authors: Sofia Sehli, Zainab El Ouafi, Casey Eddington, Soumaya Jbara, Kasambula Arthur Shem, Islam El Jaddaoui, Ayorinde Afolayan, Olaitan I. Awe, Allissa Dillman, Hassan Ghazal

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The ability to promptly sequence whole genomes at a relatively low cost has revolutionized the way we study the microbiome. Microbiologists are no longer limited to studying what can be grown in a laboratory and instead are given the opportunity to rapidly identify the makeup of microbial communities in a wide variety of environments. Analyzing whole genome sequencing (WGS) data is a complex process that involves multiple moving parts and might be rather unintuitive for scientists that don’t typically work with this type of data. Thus, to help lower the barrier for less-computationally inclined individuals, TAXAPRO was developed at the first Omics Codeathon held virtually by the African Society for Bioinformatics and Computational Biology (ASBCB) in June 2021. TAXAPRO is an advanced metagenomics pipeline that accurately assembles organelle genomes from whole-genome sequencing data. TAXAPRO seamlessly combines WGS analysis tools to create a pipeline that automatically processes raw WGS data and presents organism abundance information in both a tabular and graphical format. TAXAPRO was evaluated using COVID-19 patient gut microbiome data. Analysis performed by TAXAPRO demonstrated a high abundance of Clostridia and Bacteroidia genera and a low abundance of Proteobacteria genera relative to others in the gut microbiome of patients hospitalized with COVID-19, consistent with the original findings derived using a different analysis methodology. This provides crucial evidence that the TAXAPRO workflow dispenses reliable organism abundance information overnight without the hassle of performing the analysis manually.

Keywords: metagenomics, shotgun metagenomic sequence analysis, COVID-19, pipeline, bioinformatics

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Authors: Sumaira Hafeez, Saira Akram

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Albeit the populace in metropolitan regions on the planet develops each year, the urban communities battling to adapt to the expanded metropolitan movement grow at different rates. Land Surface Temperature and other atmospheric parameters of the area of not really settled using Landsat pictures more than 10 years isolated. The LULC types were moreover arranged using managed gathering techniques. Quick urbanization is changing the current examples of Land Use Land Cover (LULC) all around the world, which is thusly expanding the Land Surface Temperature (LST) other atmospheric parameters in numerous districts. Present review was centered around assessing the current and recreating the future LULC and Land Surface Temperature patterns in the elevated climate of lower Himalayan district of Pakistan. Past examples of LULC and Land Surface Temperature were distinguished through the multi-unearthly Landsat satellite pictures during the 1995–2019 information period. The future forecasts were made for the year 2030 to work out LULC and LST changes separately, utilizing their previous examples. The review presumes that the reliably extending encroachment of the city's as of late advanced provincial regions over the totally open have went with an overall warming of the district's typical. Meteorological parameters over the earlier ten years and that permitting the land to lie void for a significant long time resulting to clearing the country fields for future metropolitan improvement is a preparation that has lamentable natural effects.

Keywords: surface urban heat island, land surface temperature, urban climate change, spatial analysis of meterological and atmospheric science

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Authors: Yi Gu

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The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu has been a bestseller Chinese Sci-Fi novel for years since 2008. The book was translated into English by Ken Liu in 2014 and won the prestigious 2015 science fiction and fantasy writing Hugo Award, drawing greater attention from wider international communities. The story exposes the horrors of the Chinese Cultural Revolution in the 1960s, in an intriguing narrative for readers at home and abroad. However, without the access to the source text, western readers may not be aware that the original Chinese version of the book is rich in gender-bias. Some Chinese scholars have applied feminist translation theories to their analysis on this book before, based on isolated selected, cherry-picking examples. Thus this paper aims to obtain a more thorough picture of how translators can cope with gender discrimination and reshape the gendered discourse from the source text, by systematically investigating the lexical and syntactic patterns in the translation of Liu’s entire book of 400 pages. The source text and the translation were downloaded into digital files, automatically aligned at paragraph level and then manually post-edited. They were then compiled into a parallel corpus of 114,629 English words and 204,145 Chinese characters using Sketch Engine. Gender-discrimination markers such as the overuse of ‘girl’ to describe an adult woman were searched in the source text, and the alignment made it possible to identify the strategies adopted by the translator to mitigate gender discrimination. The results provide a framework for translators to address gender bias. The study also shows how corpus methods can be used to further research in feminist translation and critical discourse analysis.

Keywords: corpus, discourse analysis, feminist translation, science fiction translation

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Authors: Nahid Parween Anwar, Sadia Muzaffar Bhutta, Takbir Ali

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Mentoring is a structured activity which is designed to facilitate engagement between mentor and mentee to enhance mentee’s professional capability as an effective teacher. Both mentor and mentee are important elements of the ‘mentoring equation’ and play important roles in nourishing this dynamic, collaborative and reciprocal relationship. Cluster-Based Mentoring Programme (CBMP) provides an indigenous example of a project which focused on development of primary school teachers in selected clusters with a particular focus on their classroom practice. A study was designed to examine the efficacy of CBMP as part of Strengthening Teacher Education in Pakistan (STEP) project. This paper presents results of one of the components of this study. As part of the larger study, a cross-sectional survey was employed to explore nature and patterns of mentoring process from mentees’ perspectives in the selected districts of Sindh and Balochistan. This paper focuses on the results of the study related to the question: What are mentees’ perceptions of their mentors’ support for enhancing their classroom practice during mentoring process? Data were collected from mentees (n=1148) using a 5-point scale -‘Mentoring for Effective Primary Teaching’ (MEPT). MEPT focuses on seven factors of mentoring: personal attributes, pedagogical knowledge, modelling, feedback, system requirement, development and use of material, and gender equality. Data were analysed using SPSS 20. Mentees perceptions of mentoring practice of their mentors were summarized using mean and standard deviation. Results showed that mean scale scores on mentees’ perceptions of their mentors’ practices fell between 3.58 (system requirement) and 4.55 (personal attributes). Mentees’ perceives personal attribute of the mentor as the most significant factor (M=4.55) towards streamlining mentoring process by building good relationship between mentor and mentees. Furthermore, mentees have shared positive views about their mentors efforts towards promoting gender impartiality (M=4.54) during workshop and follow up visit. Contrary to this, mentees felt that more could have been done by their mentors in sharing knowledge about system requirement (e.g. school policies, national curriculum). Furthermore, some of the aspects in high scoring factors were highlighted by the mentees as areas for further improvement (e.g. assistance in timetabling, written feedback, encouragement to develop learning corners). Mentees’ perceptions of their mentors’ practices may assist in determining mentoring needs. The results may prove useful for the professional development programme for the mentors and mentees for specific mentoring programme in order to enhance practices in primary classrooms in Pakistan. Results would contribute into the body of much-needed knowledge from developing context.

Keywords: cluster-based mentoring programme, mentoring for effective primary teaching (MEPT), professional development, survey

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Authors: Jacqui Robertson

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The sustainable governance of groundwater is of the utmost importance in an arid country like Australia. Groundwater has been relied on by our agricultural and pastoral communities since the State was settled by European colonialists. Nevertheless, the rapid establishment of a coal seam gas (CSG) industry in Queensland, Australia, has had extensive impacts on the pre-existing groundwater users. Managed aquifer recharge of important aquifers in Queensland, Australia, using treated coal seam gas produced water has been used to reduce the impacts of CSG development in Queensland Australia. However, the process has not been widely adopted. Negative environmental outcomes are now acknowledged as not only engineering, scientific or technical problems to be solved but also the result of governance failures. An analysis of the regulatory context for aquifer injection using treated CSG water in Queensland, Australia, using Ostrom’s Common Pool Resource (CPR) theory and a ‘heat map’ designed by the author, highlights the importance of governance arrangements. The analysis reveals the costs and benefits for relevant stakeholders of artificial recharge of groundwater resources in this context. The research also reveals missed opportunities to further active management of the aquifer and resolve existing conflicts between users. The research illustrates the importance of strategically and holistically evaluating innovations in technology that impact water resources to reveal incentives that impact resource user behaviors. The paper presents a proactive step that can be adapted to support integrated water resource management and sustainable groundwater development.

Keywords: managed aquifer recharge, groundwater regulation, common-pool resources, integrated water resource management, Australia

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Authors: Bhojan Dhakal, Naba Raj Devkota, Chet Raj Upreti, Maheshwar Sapkota

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A study was conducted to find out the production potential, nutrient composition, and the variability of the most commonly available fodder trees along with the varying altitude to help optimize the dry matter requirement during winter lean period. The study was carried out from March to June, 2012 in Lho and Prok Village Development Committee of Manaslu Conservation Area (MCA), located in Gorkha district of Nepal. The other objective of the research was to learn the impact of climate change on livestock production linking it with feed availability. The study was conducted in two parts: social and biological. Accordingly, a households (HHs) survey was conducted to collect primary data from 70 HHs, focusing on the perception of respondents on impacts of climatic variability on the feeding management. The next part consisted of understanding yield potential and nutrient composition of the four most commonly available fodder trees (M. azedirach, M. alba, F. roxburghii, F. nemoralis), within two altitudes range: (1500-2000 masl and 2000-2500 masl) by using a RCB design in 2*4 factorial combination of treatments, each replicated four times. Results revealed that majority of the farmers perceived the change in climatic phenomenon more severely within the past five years. Farmers were using different adaptation technologies such as collection of forage from jungle, reducing unproductive animals, fodder trees utilization, and crop by product feeding at feed scarcity period. Ranking of the different fodder trees on the basis of indigenous knowledge and experiences revealed that F. roxburghii was the best-preferred fodder tree species (index value 0.72) in terms overall preferability whereas M. azedirach had highest growth and productivity (index value 0.77), F. roxburghii had highest adoptability (index value 0.69) and palatability (index value 0.69) as well. Similarly, fresh yield and dry matter yield of the each fodder trees was significant (P < 0.01) between the altitude and within species. Fodder trees yield analysis revealed that the highest dry matter (DM) yield (28 kg/tree) was obtained for F. roxburghii but that remained statistically similar (P > 0.05) to the other treatment. On the other hand, most of the parameters: ether extract (EE), acid detergent lignin (ADL), acid detergent fibre (ADF), cell wall digestibility (CWD), relative digestibility (RD), digestible nutrient (TDN), and Calcium (Ca) among the treatments were highly significant (P < 0.01). This indicates the scope of introducing productive and nutritive fodder trees species even at the high altitude to help reduce fodder scarcity problem during winter. The finding also revealed the scope of promoting all available local fodder trees species as crude protein content of these species were similar.

Keywords: fodder trees, yield potential, climate change, nutrient composition

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Authors: A. F. Alves, L. Schmidt, J. Ferrao

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Portugal is one of the more vulnerable European countries to the impacts of climate change. These include: temperature increase; coastal sea level rise; desertification and drought in the countryside; and frequent and intense extreme weather events. Hence, adaptation strategies to climate change are of great importance. This is what was addressed by ClimAdaPT.Local. This policy-oriented project had the main goal of developing 26 Municipal Adaptation Strategies for Climate Change, through the identification of local specific present and future vulnerabilities, the training of municipal officials, and the engagement of local communities. It is intended to be replicated throughout the whole territory and to stimulate the creation of a national network of local adaptation in Portugal. Supported by methodologies and tools specifically developed for this project, our paper is based on the surveys, training and stakeholder engagement workshops implemented at municipal level. In an 'adaptation-as-learning' process, these tools functioned as a social-learning platform and an exercise in knowledge and policy co-production. The results allowed us to explore the nature of local vulnerabilities and the exposure of gaps in the context of reappraisal of both future climate change adaptation opportunities and possible dysfunctionalities in the governance arrangements of municipal Portugal. Development issues are highlighted when we address the sectors and social groups that are both more sensitive and more vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. We argue that a pluralistic dialogue and a common framing can be established between them, with great potential for transformational adaptation. Observed climate change, present-day climate variability and future expectations of change are great societal challenges which should be understood in the context of the sustainable development agenda.

Keywords: adaptation, ClimAdaPT.Local, climate change, Portugal, sustainable development

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Authors: Hedyeh Gamini, Hadi Abdus

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Tsunami, as a natural disaster, is composed of waves that are usually caused by severe movements at the sea floor. Although tsunami and its consequences cannot be prevented in any way, by examining past tsunamis and extracting key points on how to deal with this incident and learning from it, a positive step can be taken to reduce the vulnerability of human settlements and reduce the risk of this phenomenon in architecture and urbanism. The method is reviewing and has examined the documents written and valid internet sites related to managing and reducing the vulnerability of human settlements in face of tsunami. This paper has explored the tsunamis in Indonesia (2004), Sri Lanka (2004) and Japan (2011), and of the study objectives has been understanding how they dealt with tsunami and extracting key points, and the lessons from them in terms of reduction of vulnerability of human settlements in dealing with the tsunami. Finally, strategies to prevent and reduce the vulnerability of communities at risk of tsunamis have been offered in terms of architecture and urban planning. According to what is obtained from the study of the recent tsunamis, the authorities' quality of dealing with them, how to manage the crisis and the manner of their construction, it can be concluded that to reduce the vulnerability of human settlements against tsunami, there are generally four ways that are: 1-Construction of tall buildings with opening on the first floor so that water can flow easily under and the direction of the building should be in a way that water passes easily from the side. 2- The construction of multi-purpose centers, which could be used as vertical evacuation during accidents. 3- Constructing buildings in core forms with diagonal orientation of the coastline, 4- Building physical barriers (natural and synthetic) such as water dams, mounds of earth, sea walls and creating forests

Keywords: tsunami, architecture, reducing vulnerability, human settlements, urbanism

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Authors: Omogboyega Abe

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This paper examines the relationships between socio-economic inequalities of power, race, wealth engendered by corporate structure, and domination in postcolonial Africa. The paper further considers how land as an epitome of property and power for the locals paved the way for capitalist accumulation and control in the hands of transnational corporations. European colonization of Africa was contingent on settler colonialism, where properties, including land, were re-modified as extractive resources for primitive accumulation. In developing Africa's extractive resources, transnational corporations (TNCs) usurped states' structures and domination over native land. The usurpation/corporate capture that exists to date has led to remonstrations and arguably a counter-productive approach to development projects. In some communities, the mention of extractive companies triggers resentment. The paradigm of state capture and state autonomy is simply inadequate to either describe or resolve the play of forces or actors responsible for severe corporate-induced human rights violations in emerging markets. Moreover, even if the deadly working conditions are conceived as some regulatory failure, it is tough to tell whose failure. The analysis in this paper is that the complexity and ambiguity evidenced by the multiple regimes and political and economic forces shaping production, consumption, and distribution of socio-economic variables are not exceptional in emerging markets. Instead, the varied experience in developing countries provides a window for seeing what we face in understanding and theorizing the structure and operation of the global economic and regulatory order in general.

Keywords: colonial, emerging markets, business, human rights, corporation

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Authors: Liang Wang, Wei Zhang

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There have been some existing researches on design-based engineering learning (DBEL) and project-based or problem-based engineering learning (PBEL). Those findings have greatly promoted the reform of engineering education in China. However, the engineering with a big E means that more and more engineering activities are designed and operated by communities of practice (CoPs), namely community-based engineering learning. However, whether community-based engineering learning can promote students' innovation has not been verified in published articles. This study fills this gap by investigating the relationship between community-based learning approach and students’ creativity, using engineering identity as an intermediary variable. The goal of this study is to discover the core features of community-based engineering learning, and make the features more beneficial for students’ creativity. The study created and adapted open survey items from previously published studies and a scale on learning community, students’ creativity and engineering identity. Firstly, qualitative content analysis methods by MAXQDA were used to analyze 32 open-ended questionnaires. Then the authors collected data (n=322) from undergraduate students in engineering competition teams and engineering laboratories in Zhejiang University, and structural equation modelling (SEM) was used to understand the relationship between different factors. The study finds: (a) community-based engineering learning has four main elements like real-task context, self-inquiry learning, deeply-consulted cooperation and circularly-iterated design, (b) community-based engineering learning can significantly enhance the engineering undergraduate students’ creativity, and (c) engineering identity partially moderated the relationship between community-based engineering learning and undergraduate students' creativity. The findings further illustrate the value of community-based engineering learning for undergraduate students. In the future research, the authors should further clarify the core mechanism of community-based engineering learning, and pay attention to the cultivation of undergraduate students’ engineer identity in learning community.

Keywords: community-based engineering learning, students' creativity, engineering identity, moderate effect

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Authors: Maria Granados

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Information technology (IT) facilitates the management of knowledge in organisations through the effective leverage of collective experience and knowledge of employees. This supports information processing needs, as well as enables and facilitates sense-making activities of knowledge workers. The study of IT support for knowledge management (KM) has been carried out mainly in larger organisations where resources and competitive conditions can trigger the use of KM. However, there is still a lack of understanding on how IT can support the management of knowledge under different organisational settings influenced by: constant tensions between social and economic objectives, more focus on sustainability than competiveness, limited resources, and high levels of democratic participation and intrinsic motivations among employees. All these conditions are presented in Social Enterprises (SEs), which are normally micro and small businesses that trade to tackle social problems, improve communities, people’s life chances, and the environment. Thus, their importance to society and economies is increasing. However, there is still a need for more understanding of how these organisations operate, perform, innovate and scale-up. This knowledge is crucial to design and provide accurate strategies to enhance the sector and increase its impact and coverage. To obtain a conceptual and empirical understanding of how IT can facilitate KM in the particular organisational conditions of SEs, a quantitative study was conducted with 432 owners and senior members of SEs in UK, underpinned by 21 interviews. The findings demonstrated how IT was supporting more the recovery and storage of necessary information in SEs, and less the collaborative work and communication among enterprise members. However, it was established that SEs were using cloud solutions, web 2.0 tools, Skype and centralised shared servers to manage informally their knowledge. The possible impediments for SEs to support themselves more on IT solutions can be linked mainly to economic and human constraints. These findings elucidate new perspectives that can contribute not only to SEs and SE supporters, but also to other businesses.

Keywords: social enterprises, knowledge management, information technology, collaboration, small firms

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Authors: Isis Ribeiro Berger

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In view of recent war conflicts between Russia and Ukraine, the government of Paraná State, in Brazil, started a program to host Ukrainian scientists in state universities in 2022. The initiative aimed at integrating these scientists into the Brazilian academic community, strengthening the role of universities in producing science and innovation even in times of war, as well as fostering Higher Education internationalization. Paraná state was a pioneer in this initiative due to the fact it has been home to the largest contingent of immigrants and descendants of Ukrainians in Brazil because of migratory processes that began at the end of the 19th century. One of the universities receiving Ukrainian scientists is in Foz do Iguaçu, a city that borders Argentina and Paraguay. It is a multilingual environment, whose majority languages are Portuguese (the official language of Brazil), Spanish (the official language of both Argentina and Paraguay), as well as Guarani (the co-official indigenous language of Paraguay). It is in such a sociolinguistic environment that two Ukrainian professors began their activities within the scope of an Interdisciplinary Postgraduate Program (master’s and doctorate degree). This case study, whose theme is the management of multilingualism, was developed within the scope of Language Policy. It aimed at identifying the attitudes of both Ukrainian professors and postgraduate students towards multilingualism in this context, given the plural linguistic repertoire of the academic community, as well as identifying the language management strategies for the construction of knowledge implemented by the program and in the classroom by these participants. Therefore, the study was conducted under a qualitative approach, for which surveys and interviews were adopted as part of its methodological procedures. Data revealed the presence of different languages in the classroom (Portuguese, Spanish, English and Ukrainian), which made pedagogical practices challenging for both professors and students, whose levels of knowledge in the different languages varied significantly. The results indicate that multilingualism was the norm as the means of instruction adopted in this context, in which bilingual Portuguese-English-Ukrainian instruction was used by the professors in their lectures. Although English has been privileged for the internationalization of Higher Education in various contexts, it was not used as an exclusive means of instruction in this case, mostly because it is a predominantly Portuguese-Spanish-speaking environment. In addition, the professors counted on the mediation of an interpreter hired by the program since not every student had sufficient knowledge of English as part of their repertoires. The findings also suggest Portuguese is the language that most of the participants of this study prefer, both because it is the mother tongue of majority, and because it is the official language of the host country to the professors, who have sought to integrate to the local culture and community. This research is inserted in the Axis: Multilingualism and Education, of the UNESCO Chair on Language Policies for Multilingualism to which this study is related.

Keywords: attitudes, border region, multilingualism management, Ukrainian professors

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Authors: Harvey Sanchez-Restrepo, Jorge Louca

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Equity and education are major focus of government policies around the world due to its relevance for addressing the sustainable development goals launched by Unesco. In this research, we developed a primary analysis of a data set of more than one hundred educational and non-educational factors associated with learning, coming from a census-based large-scale assessment carried on in Ecuador for 1.038.328 students, their families, teachers, and school directors, throughout 2014-2018. Each participating student was assessed by a standardized computer-based test. Learning outcomes were calibrated through item response theory with two-parameters logistic model for getting raw scores that were re-scaled and synthetized by a learning index (LI). Our objective was to develop a network for modelling educational deprivation and analyze the structure of inequality gaps, as well as their relationship with socioeconomic status, school financing, and student's ethnicity. Results from the model show that 348 270 students did not develop the minimum skills (prevalence rate=0.215) and that Afro-Ecuadorian, Montuvios and Indigenous students exhibited the highest prevalence with 0.312, 0.278 and 0.226, respectively. Regarding the socioeconomic status of students (SES), modularity class shows clearly that the system is out of equilibrium: the first decile (the poorest) exhibits a prevalence rate of 0.386 while rate for decile ten (the richest) is 0.080, showing an intense negative relationship between learning and SES given by R= –0.58 (p < 0.001). Another interesting and unexpected result is the average-weighted degree (426.9) for both private and public schools attending Afro-Ecuadorian students, groups that got the highest PageRank (0.426) and pointing out that they suffer the highest educational deprivation due to discrimination, even belonging to the richest decile. The model also found the factors which explain deprivation through the highest PageRank and the greatest degree of connectivity for the first decile, they are: financial bonus for attending school, computer access, internet access, number of children, living with at least one parent, books access, read books, phone access, time for homework, teachers arriving late, paid work, positive expectations about schooling, and mother education. These results provide very accurate and clear knowledge about the variables affecting poorest students and the inequalities that it produces, from which it might be defined needs profiles, as well as actions on the factors in which it is possible to influence. Finally, these results confirm that network analysis is fundamental for educational policy, especially linking reliable microdata with social macro-parameters because it allows us to infer how gaps in educational achievements are driven by students’ context at the time of assigning resources.

Keywords: complex network, educational deprivation, evidence-based policy, large-scale assessments, policy informatics

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Authors: Makbule Oktay

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Home is a significant entity in people’s lives. It is a place that provides shelter to people and a place to which one feels a sense of attachment and belonging. It is an entity that people develop feelings and meaning to it. People – place bond, or in other words place attachment, and home perception might alter as a consequence of lifetime experiences. Thus, forced displacement appears as a dramatic experience for people who lose their homes, belongings and communities. It impacts people who involuntarily leave their homes and belongings behind, experience physical, social, cultural and economic disruption and are forced to settle in an unfamiliar environment. Place attachment and home perception of internally displaced people who involuntarily leave their homes might be different from those who haven’t experience forced displacement. Although place attachment, meaning of home and forced displacement are the subjects that have been broadly studied, there is a lack of studies which question the relation between the three subjects in general and on Turkish Cypriot case in particular. Considering this, it is the aim of this paper to investigate the impact of forced displacement to internally displaced people’s attachment to a particular place and home perception. To do so, the study focuses on internally displaced Turkish Cypriots who have been internally displaced as a result of conflict. Interview and questionnaire as two of the commonly used techniques in the place attachment and home perception studies have been used in this study too. The results of the study indicate that internal displacement has an apparent impact on place attachment of forcibly displaced people. As a consequence of longstanding displacement, forcibly displaced people developed multiple attachments. Compared to people who have not experienced displacement, forcibly displaced people have low attachments. Forced displacement does not strongly impact the home perception in terms of meaning of home in longstanding displacement situations even though displacement-related meanings of home exist.

Keywords: forcibly displaced people, home perception, internal displacement, place attachment, Turkish Cypriots

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Authors: Elena G. Diryugina, Maria A. Dovger, Maria V. Lunkina, Alexandra A. Ianchenko

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The personality development and well-being of children have become important focuses of school education and indicators of its quality. The studies show that academic success depends more on personality and motivation than on intelligence and giftedness. Those personality resources that help a person to maintain well-being both here and now and in the future constitute their personality potential. The development of schoolchildrens' personality potential can help them meet the challenges of the modern world and achieve new educational goals. At the same time, it is noted that the pedagogical factor is one of the most significant in relation to schoolchildrens' success and well-being. What is important for teachers to develop in order to make their students feel more competent and maintain well-being? As part of the Developmental Environment Programme of the Charitable Foundation ‘Investment in the Future’, a longitudinal study of the personality potential and well-being of educators and schoolchildren was conducted from 2018 to 2023. More than 2,500 teachers and over 4,000 students from Russia took part. It was found that behind a teacher's communication style, an important construct that influences the motivation of schoolchildren and the satisfaction of their basic psychological needs, is the personal potential of that teacher. Their personality potential correlates with the social-emotional development of schoolchildren in junior grades. A teacher's communication style with adolescents contributes to their academic motivation, self-esteem and satisfaction with life and learning. In addition, child well-being cannot be promoted in isolation from attention to the psychological well-being of teachers. Their social well-being and engagement are higher when they are included in professional learning communities. The results will be helpful for both positive education researchers and practitioners to identify an approach to child personality development and well-being that is achieved primarily through the personality development and well-being of school staff members and mostly teachers.

Keywords: Personality development, personality potential, schoolchildren, teaching style, well-being

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Authors: Raghad Abu Salma, Beatrice Szczepek Reed

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Politeness is one of the most researched areas in pragmatics as it is key to interpersonal interactional phenomena. Many studies, particularly in linguistics, have focused on developing politeness theories and exploring linguistic devices used in communication to construct and establish social norms. However, the question of what constitutes polite language remains a point of ongoing debate. Prior research primarily examined politeness in English and its native speaking communities, oversimplifying the notion of politeness and associating it with surface-level language use. There is also a dearth of literature on politeness in Arabic, particularly in the context of Jordanian Arabic. Prior research investigating politeness in Arabic make generalized claims about politeness in Arabic without taking the linguistic variations into account or providing empirical evidence. This proposed research aims to explore how Jordanian Arabic influences its first language users in making and responding to requests, exploring participants' perceptions of politeness and the linguistic choices they make in their interactions. The study focuses on Jordanian expats living in London, UK providing an intercultural perspective that prior research does not consider. This study employs a mixed-methods approach combining discourse completion tasks (DCTs) with semi-structured interviews. While DCTs provide insight into participants’ linguistic choices, semi-structured interviews glean insight into participants' perceptions of politeness and their linguistic choices impacted by cultural norms and diverse experiences. This paper discusses previous research on politeness in Arabic, identifies research gaps, and discusses different methods for data collection. This paper also presents preliminary findings from the ongoing study.

Keywords: politeness, pragmatics, jordanian arabic, intercultural politeness

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Authors: Trang Pham

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Approximately 70% of the Vietnamese population lives in rural areas where the main livelihood is farming. For many years, the Vietnamese Government has been working towards improving farmers’ quality of life. In 2008, the Government issued the decree 115/2008/ND-CP to subsidize farmers’ water fees. The subsidy covers operation and management costs of major water infrastructure. Water users have only to pay for the operation and management of minor or tertiary canal systems. But the “subsidized water fee” has become contentious; there are two opposing schools of thought. One view is that the subsidy lessens the burden on farmers in terms of reducing their production costs, at the same time generating a sufficient budget for Irrigation Management Companies (IMCs) and Water User Association (WUAs). The alternate point of view is that the subsidy negatively effects irrigation performance, especially in tertiary canals. The aim of this study was to gain clear awareness of the perceptions of farmers, WUA members, and IMC staffs in regard to irrigation performance and management since the introduction of subsidies and local water fees. In order to find out how the government intervention has affected local farming communities, a series of questionnaires and interviews were administered in 2013. Four case studies were chosen which represent four different agricultural areas and four different irrigation systems in Vietnam. Interviews were conducted with IMC staffs and WUA members and questionnaires were used to gather information from farmers. The study compares the difference in operation and management costs across the four case studies both before and after the implementation of the decree. The results disclose factors behind the subsidized water fee that either allow or hinder improved irrigation performance and better irrigation management.

Keywords: water fee, irrigation performance, local farming, tertiary canal systems

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Authors: Maxwell Ladogo Abilla

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As evidence from the 2007–2008 and 2010 global food and financial crises revealed that food systems were under stress, the idea of sustainable food systems rose to prominence in the discussion of food security. The idea suggests moving away from a conception of food security that emphasizes production in favor of one that is more socially and environmentally conscious and interested in tackling a wide range of issues that have rendered the food system dysfunctional. This study evaluates the efforts made by international development organizations to increase food security in the area, taking into account the persistence of poverty and food insecurity in northern Ghana, utilizing the idea of sustainable food systems as the evaluation criterion. The study used triangulation to address the research questions by combining qualitative interview data with documentary analysis. To better comprehend the concept of sustainability, a variety of discourses and concepts are used, which results in the development of eight doable objectives for attaining sustainable food systems. The study finds that the food system in northern Ghana is unsustainable because of three kinds of barriers, with the practical objectives of developing sustainable food systems serving as the assessment criteria (natural, cultural and economic, and institutional). According to an evaluation of the World Food Programme's development support in northern Ghana, regional challenges to attaining sustainable food systems continue to be unaddressed by global development initiatives. Due to institutional constraints, WFP's interventions fell short of their promise. By demonstrating the need for development partners to enhance institutional efficiency and coordination, enable marginalized communities to access their rights, and prioritize agricultural irrigation in the area, the study makes a contribution to development policy and practice in northern Ghana.

Keywords: sustainable, food security, development, institutional

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Authors: Bruce Wrightsman

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Construction and design are inexorably linked. Traditional building methodologies, including those using wood, comprise a series of material layers differentiated and separated from each other. This results in the separation of two agencies of building envelope (skin) separate from the structure. However, from a material performance position reliant on additional materials, this is not an efficient strategy for the building. The merits of traditional platform framing are well known. However, its enormous effectiveness within wood-framed construction has seldom led to serious questioning and challenges in defining what it means to build. There are several downsides of using this method, which is less widely discussed. The first and perhaps biggest downside is waste. Second, its reliance on wood assemblies forming walls, floors and roofs conventionally nailed together through simple plate surfaces is structurally inefficient. It requires additional material through plates, blocking, nailers, etc., for stability that only adds to the material waste. In contrast, when we look back at the history of wood construction in airplane and boat manufacturing industries, we will see a significant transformation in the relationship of structure with skin. The history of boat construction transformed from indigenous wood practices of birch bark canoes to copper sheathing over wood to improve performance in the late 18th century and the evolution of merged assemblies that drives the industry today. In 1911, Swiss engineer Emile Ruchonnet designed the first wood monocoque structure for an airplane called the Cigare. The wing and tail assemblies consisted of thin, lightweight, and often fabric skin stretched tightly over a wood frame. This stressed skin has evolved into semi-monocoque construction, in which the skin merges with structural fins that take additional forces. It provides even greater strength with less material. The monocoque, which translates to ‘mono or single shell,’ is a structural system that supports loads and transfers them through an external enclosure system. They have largely existed outside the domain of architecture. However, this uniting of divergent systems has been demonstrated to be lighter, utilizing less material than traditional wood building practices. This paper will examine the role monocoque systems have played in the history of wood construction through lineage of boat and airplane building industries and its design potential for wood building systems in architecture through a case-study examination of a unique wood construction approach. The innovative approach uses a wood monocoque system comprised of interlocking small wood members to create thin shell assemblies for the walls, roof and floor, increasing structural efficiency and wasting less than 2% of the wood. The goal of the analysis is to expand the work of practice and the academy in order to foster deeper, more honest discourse regarding the limitations and impact of traditional wood framing.

Keywords: wood building systems, material histories, monocoque systems, construction waste

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Authors: Thabiso Michael Mokotjomela, Jasper Knight

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Intensification of agricultural food production in sub-Saharan Africa is of paramount importance as a means of increasing the food security of communities that are already experiencing a range of environmental and socio-economic stresses. However, achieving this aim faces several challenges including ongoing climate change, increased resistance of diseases and pests, extreme environmental degradation partly due to biological invasions, land tenure and management practices, socio-economic developments of rural populations, and national population growth. In particular, non-native plant species tend to display greater adaptation capacity to environmental stress than native species that form important food resource base for human beings, thus suggesting a potential for usage to shift accordingly. Based on review of the historical benefits of non-native plant species in food production in sub-Saharan Africa, we propose that use of non-invasive, non-native plant species and/or the genetic modification of native species might be viable options for future agricultural sustainability in this region. Coupled with strategic foresight planning (e.g. use of biological control agents that suppress plant species’ invasions), the consumptive use of already-introduced non-native species might help in containment and control of possible negative environmental impacts of non-native species on native species, ecosystems and biodiversity, and soil fertility and hydrology. Use of non-native species in food production should be accompanied by low cost agroecology practices (e.g. conservation agriculture and agrobiodiversity) that may promote the gradual recovery of natural capital, ecosystem services, and promote conservation of the natural environment as well as enhance food security.

Keywords: food security, invasive species, agroecology, agrobiodiversity, socio-economic stresses

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Authors: Deepak L. Waikar

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Unprecedented natural as well as human made disasters have been responsible for loss of hundreds of thousands of lives, injury & displacement of millions of people and damages in billions of dollars in various parts of the world. Scientists, experts, associations and united nation have been warning about colossal disregard for human safety and environment in exploiting natural resources for insatiable greed for economic growth and rising lavish life style of the rich. Usual blame game is routinely played at international forums & summits by vested interests in developing and developed nations, while billions of people continue to suffer in abject energy poverty. Energy security, on the other hand, is becoming illusive with the dominance of few players in the market, poor energy governance mechanisms, volatile prices and geopolitical conflicts in supply chain. Conflicting scenarios have been cited as one of the major barriers for transformation to a low carbon economy. Policy makers, researchers, academics, businesses, industries and communities have been evaluating sustainable alternatives, albeit at snail’s pace. This presentation focuses on technologies, energy governance, policies & practices, economics and public concerns about safe, prudent & sustainable harnessing of energy resources. Current trends and potential research & development projects in power & energy sectors which students can undertake will be discussed. Speaker will highlight on how youths can be engaged in meaningful, safe, enriching, inspiring and value added self-development programmes in our quest for sustainability in the midst of conflict between climate and energy security.

Keywords: clean energy, energy policy, energy security, sustainable energy

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Authors: Asma Inge-Hanif, Ayyub Ansari Hanif

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The impact of conflicts, the subsequent refugee migration to America and their attempted use of societal resources implicate the lack of further humanitarian aid as a consequence of the abrupt decrease in services and policy changes stemming from new governmental mandates and Executive Orders. Statistical research data indicates a substantial decline in access to standardized health services by refugee women creating a significant alteration in the management of their maternal health care in America, previously shown to result in decreased mortality and morbidity. Studying nursing at Howard University in Washington, D.C., observed doctors were not always sensitive to the needs and modesty concerns of immigrant Muslim women - often unintentionally. Among health care professionals, the prevailing belief should be that every man, woman and child has the right to quality care in a dignified manner and the achievement of optimal health and well-being, regardless of race, creed, socio-economic level or status. In 1987 Muslimat Al Nisaa Health and Social Services Center was established to care for underserved and uninsured women and children. This Center, plus the subsequent shelter, provided direct access to those homeless, refugees, human trafficking and women victims of domestic violence was established and provides the data for this study. Understanding specific culture, social, economic and religious nuances respects their diversity and addressing their basic human needs that they achieve optimal success. The ultimate goal being to facilitate the rescue and housing of those whom escaped from a country/communities where girls are devalued, brought, sold and abused.

Keywords: women, refugee, domestic violence, health care

Procedia PDF Downloads 89