Search results for: mobility capital

Authors: Sandra Rigot, Samira Demaria, Frederic Lemaire

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The starting point of this research is the contemporary capitalist paradox: there is a real scarcity of long term investment despite the boom of potential long term investors. This gap represents a major challenge: there are important needs for long term financing in developed and emerging countries in strategic sectors such as energy, transport infrastructure, information and communication networks. Moreover, the recent financial and sovereign debt crises, which have respectively reduced the ability of financial banking intermediaries and governments to provide long term financing, questions the identity of the actors able to provide long term financing, their methods of financing and the most appropriate forms of intermediation. The issue of long term financing is deemed to be very important by the EU Commission, as it issued a 2013 Green Paper (GP) on long-term financing of the EU economy. Among other topics, the paper discusses the impact of the recent regulatory reforms on long-term investment, both in terms of accounting (in particular fair value) and prudential standards for banks. For banks, prudential and accounting standards are also crucial. Fair value is indeed well adapted to the trading book in a short term view, but this method hardly suits for a medium and long term portfolio. Banks’ ability to finance the economy and long term projects depends on their ability to distribute credit and the way credit is valued (fair value or amortised cost) leads to different banking strategies. Furthermore, in the banking industry, accounting standards are directly connected to the prudential standards, as the regulatory requirements of Basel III use accounting figures with prudential filter to define the needs for capital and to compute regulatory ratios. The objective of these regulatory requirements is to prevent insolvency and financial instability. In the same time, they can represent regulatory constraints to long term investing. The balance between financial stability and the need to stimulate long term financing is a key question raised by the EU GP. Does fair value accounting contributes to short-termism in the investment behaviour? Should prudential rules be “appropriately calibrated” and “progressively implemented” not to prevent banks from providing long-term financing? These issues raised by the EU GP lead us to question to what extent the main regulatory requirements incite or constrain banks to finance long term projects. To that purpose, we study the 292 responses received by the EU Commission during the public consultation. We analyze these contributions focusing on particular questions related to fair value accounting and prudential norms. We conduct a two stage content analysis of the responses. First, we proceed to a qualitative coding to identify arguments of respondents and subsequently we run a quantitative coding in order to conduct statistical analyses. This paper provides a better understanding of the position that a large panel of European stakeholders have on these issues. Moreover, it adds to the debate on fair value accounting and its effects on prudential requirements for banks. This analysis allows us to identify some short term bias in banking regulation.

Keywords: basel 3, fair value, securitization, long term investment, banks, insurers

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Authors: Kanchan Mondal, Adam Sims, Madhav Soti, Jitendra Gautam, David Carron

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Fischer-Tropsch (FT) synthesis is a complex series of heterogeneous reactions between CO and H2 molecules (present in the syngas) on the surface of an active catalyst (Co, Fe, Ru, Ni, etc.) to produce gaseous, liquid, and waxy hydrocarbons. This product is composed of paraffins, olefins, and oxygenated compounds. The key challenge in applying the Fischer-Tropsch process to produce transportation fuels is to make the capital and production costs economically feasible relative to the comparative cost of existing petroleum resources. To meet this challenge, it is imperative to enhance the CO conversion while maximizing carbon selectivity towards the desired liquid hydrocarbon ranges (i.e. reduction in CH4 and CO2 selectivities) at high throughputs. At the same time, it is equally essential to increase the catalyst robustness and longevity without sacrificing catalyst activity. This paper focuses on process development to achieve the above. The paper describes the influence of operating parameters on Fischer Tropsch synthesis (FTS) from coal derived syngas in supercritical carbon dioxide (ScCO2). In addition, the unreacted gas and solvent recycle was incorporated and the effect of unreacted feed recycle was evaluated. It was expected that with the recycle, the feed rate can be increased. The increase in conversion and liquid selectivity accompanied by the production of narrower carbon number distribution in the product suggest that higher flow rates can and should be used when incorporating exit gas recycle. It was observed that this process was capable of enhancing the hydrocarbon selectivity (nearly 98 % CO conversion), reducing improving the carbon efficiency from 17 % to 51 % in a once through process and further converting 16 % CO2 to liquid with integrated recycle of the product gas stream and increasing the life of the catalyst. Catalyst robustness enhancement has been attributed to the absorption of heat of reaction by the compressed CO2 which reduced the formation of hotspots and the dissolution of waxes by the CO2 solvent which reduced the blinding of active sites. In addition, the recycling the product gas stream reduced the reactor footprint to one-fourth of the once through size and product fractionation utilizing the solvent effects of supercritical CO2 were realized. In addition to the negative CO2 selectivities, methane production was also inhibited and was limited to less than 1.5%. The effect of the process conditions on the life of the catalysts will also be presented. Fe based catalysts are known to have a high proclivity for producing CO2 during FTS. The data of the product spectrum and selectivity on Co and Fe-Co based catalysts as well as those obtained from commercial sources will also be presented. The measurable decision criteria were the increase in CO conversion at H2:CO ratio of 1:1 (as commonly found in coal gasification product stream) in supercritical phase as compared to gas phase reaction, decrease in CO2 and CH4 selectivity, overall liquid product distribution, and finally an increase in the life of the catalysts.

Keywords: carbon efficiency, Fischer Tropsch synthesis, low GHG, pressure tunable fractionation

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Authors: Elieder P. Romanzini, Lutti M. Delevatti, Rhaony G. Leite, Ricardo A. Reis, Euclides B. Malheiros

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Brazilian beef cattle production systems are an important profitability source for the national gross domestic product. The main characteristic of these systems is forage utilization as the exclusive feed source. Forage utilization had been causing on owners the false feeling of low production costs. However, this low cost is followed to low profit causing a lot times worst animal index what can result in activities changes or until land sold. Aiming to evaluate economic impacts into Brazilian beef cattle systems were evaluated four nitrogen fertilizer (N) application levels (0, 90, 180 and 270 kg per hectare [kg.ha-1]). Research was developed during 2015 into Forage Crops and Grasslands section of São Paulo State University, “Júlio de Mesquita Filho” (Unesp) (Jaboticabal, São Paulo, Brazil). Pastures were seeded with Brachiaria brizantha Stapf. ‘Marandu’ (Palisade grass) handled using continuous grazing system, with variable stocking rate, sward height maintained at 25 cm. The economic evaluation was developed in rearing e finishing phases. We evaluated the cash flows inside each phase on different N levels. Economic valuations were considering: cost-effective operating (CEO), cost-total operating (CTO), gross revenue (GR), operating profit (OP) and net income (NI), every measured in US$. Complementary analyses were developed, profitability was calculated by [OP/GR]. Pay back (measured in years) was calculated considering average capital stocktaking pondered by area in use (ACS) divided by [GR-CEO]. And the internal rate of return (IRR) was calculated by 100/(pay back). Input prices were prices during 2015 and were obtained from Anuário Brasileiro da Pecuária, Centro de Estudos Avançados em Economia Aplicada and quotation in the same region of animal production (northeast São Paulo State) during the period above mentioned. Values were calculated in US$ according exchange rate US$1.00 equal R$3.34. The CEO, CTO, GR, OP and NI per hectare for each N level were respectively US$1,919.66; US$2,048.47; US$2,905.72; US$857.25 and US$986.06 to 0 kg.ha-1; US$2,403.20; US$2,551.80; US$3,530.19; US$978.39 and US$1,126.99 to 90 kg.ha-1; US$3,180.42; US$3,364.81; US$4,985.03; US$1,620.23 and US$1,804.62 to 180 kg.ha-1andUS$3,709.14; US$3,915.15; US$5,554.95; US$1,639.80 and US$1,845.81 to 270 kg.ha-1. Relationship to another economic indexes, profitability, pay back and IRR, the results were respectively 29.50%, 6.44 and 15.54% to 0 kg.ha-1; 27.72%, 6.88 and 14.54% to 90 kg.ha-1; 32.50%, 4.08 and 24.50% to 180 kg.ha-1 and 29.52%, 3.42 and 29.27% to 270 kg.ha-1. Values previously presented in this evaluation allowing to affirm that the best result was obtained to N level 270 kg.ha-1. These results among all N levels evaluated could be explained by improve occurred on stocking rate caused by increase on N level. However, a crucial information about high N level application into pastures is the efficiency of N utilization (associated to environmental impacts) that normally decrease with the increase on N level. Hence, considering all situations (efficiency of N utilization and economic results) into tropical pastures used to beef cattle production could be recommended N level equal to 180kg.ha-1, which had better profitability and cause lesser environmental impacts, proved by other studies developed in the same area.

Keywords: Brachiaria brizantha, cost-total operating, gross revenue, profitability

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Authors: Hale Kirer Silva Lecuna, Beyza Aydin

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Health is one of the main components of human capital and sustainable development, and it is very important for economic growth. Health economics, which is an indisputable part of the science of economics, has five stages in general. These are health and development, financing of health services, economic regulation in the health, allocation of resources and efficiency of health services. A well-developed and efficient health sector plays a major role by increasing the level of development of countries. The most crucial pillars of the health sector are the hospitals that are divided into public and private. The main purpose of the hospitals is to provide more efficient services. Therefore the aim is to meet patients’ satisfaction by increasing the service quality. Health-related studies in Turkey date back to the Ottoman and Seljuk Empires. In the near past, Turkey applied 'Health Sector Transformation Programs' under different titles between 2003 and 2010. Our aim in this paper is to measure how effective these transformation programs are for the health sector, to see how much they can increase the efficiency of hospitals over the years, to see the return of investments, to make comments and suggestions on the results, and to provide a new reference for the literature. Within this framework, the public and private hospitals in Balıkesir, Bilecik, Bursa, Çanakkale, Edirne, Istanbul, Kirklareli, Kocaeli, Sakarya, Tekirdağ, Yalova will be examined by using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) for the years between 2000 and 2019. DEA is a linear programming-based technique, which gives relatively good results in multivariate studies. DEA basically estimates an efficiency frontier and make a comparison. Constant returns to scale and variable returns to scale are two most commonly used DEA methods. Both models are divided into two as input and output-oriented. To analyze the data, the number of personnel, number of specialist physicians, number of practitioners, number of beds, number of examinations will be used as input variables; and the number of surgeries, in-patient ratio, and crude mortality rate as output variables. 11 hospitals belonging to the Marmara region were included in the study. It is seen that these hospitals worked effectively only in 7 provinces (Balıkesir, Bilecik, Bursa, Edirne, İstanbul, Kırklareli, Yalova) for the year 2001 when no transformation program was implemented. After the transformation program was implemented, for example, in 2014 and 2016, 10 hospitals (Balıkesir, Bilecik, Bursa, Çanakkale, Edirne, İstanbul, Kocaeli, Kırklareli, Tekirdağ, Yalova) were found to be effective. In 2015, ineffective results were observed for Sakarya, Tekirdağ and Yalova. However, since these values are closer to 1 after the transformation program, we can say that the transformation program has positive effects. For Sakarya alone, no effective results have been achieved in any year. When we look at the results in general, it shows that the transformation program has a positive effect on the effectiveness of hospitals.

Keywords: data envelopment analysis, efficiency, health sector, Marmara region

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Authors: Ching-Sung Lee, Wei-Chou Hsu, Han-Yin Liu, Hung-Hsi Huang, Si-Fu Chen, Yun-Jung Yang, Bo-Chun Chiang, Yu-Chuang Chen, Shen-Tin Yang

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AlGaN/GaN high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) have been intensively studied due to their intrinsic advantages of high breakdown electric field, high electron saturation velocity, and excellent chemical stability. They are also suitable for ultra-violet (UV) photodetection due to the corresponding wavelengths of GaN bandgap. To improve the optical responsivity by decreasing the dark current due to gate leakage problems and limited Schottky barrier heights in GaN-based HEMT devices, various metal-oxide-semiconductor HEMTs (MOS-HEMTs) have been devised by using atomic layer deposition (ALD), molecular beam epitaxy (MBE), metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD), liquid phase deposition (LPD), and RF sputtering. The gate dielectrics include MgO, HfO2, Al2O3, La2O3, and TiO2. In order to provide complementary circuit operation, enhancement-mode (E-mode) devices have been lately studied using techniques of fluorine treatment, p-type capper, piezoneutralization layer, and MOS-gate structure. This work reports an Al2O3-dielectric Al0.25Ga0.75N/GaN E-mode MOS-HEMT design by using a cost-effective ozone water oxidization technique. The present ozone oxidization method advantages of low cost processing facility, processing simplicity, compatibility to device fabrication, and room-temperature operation under atmospheric pressure. It can further reduce the gate-to-channel distance and improve the transocnductance (gm) gain for a specific oxide thickness, since the formation of the Al2O3 will consume part of the AlGaN barrier at the same time. The epitaxial structure of the studied devices was grown by using the MOCVD technique. On a Si substrate, the layer structures include a 3.9 m C-doped GaN buffer, a 300 nm GaN channel layer, and a 5 nm Al0.25Ga0.75N barrier layer. Mesa etching was performed to provide electrical isolation by using an inductively coupled-plasma reactive ion etcher (ICP-RIE). Ti/Al/Au were thermally evaporated and annealed to form the source and drain ohmic contacts. The device was immersed into the H2O2 solution pumped with ozone gas generated by using an OW-K2 ozone generator. Ni/Au were deposited as the gate electrode to complete device fabrication of MOS-HEMT. The formed Al2O3 oxide thickness 7 nm and the remained AlGaN barrier thickness is 2 nm. A reference HEMT device has also been fabricated in comparison on the same epitaxial structure. The gate dimensions are 1.2 × 100 µm 2 with a source-to-drain spacing of 5 μm for both devices. The dielectric constant (k) of Al2O3 was characterized to be 9.2 by using C-V measurement. Reduced interface state density after oxidization has been verified by the low-frequency noise spectra, Hooge coefficients, and pulse I-V measurement. Improved device characteristics at temperatures of 300 K-450 K have been achieved for the present MOS-HEMT design. Consequently, Al2O3-dielectric Al0.25Ga0.75N/GaN E-mode MOS-HEMTs by using the ozone water oxidization method are reported. In comparison with a conventional Schottky-gate HEMT, the MOS-HEMT design has demonstrated excellent enhancements of 138% (176%) in gm, max, 118% (139%) in IDS, max, 53% (62%) in BVGD, 3 (2)-order reduction in IG leakage at VGD = -60 V at 300 (450) K. This work is promising for millimeter-wave integrated circuit (MMIC) and three-terminal active UV photodetector applications.

Keywords: MOS-HEMT, enhancement mode, AlGaN/GaN, passivation, ozone water oxidation, gate leakage

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Authors: Kirsi Korkealehto

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The purpose of this research was to investigate how the peer evaluation concept was perceived by language teachers developing online language courses. The online language courses in question were developed in language teacher teams within a nationwide KiVAKO-project funded by the Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture. The participants of the project were 86 language teachers of 26 higher education institutions in Finland. The KiVAKO-project aims to strengthen the language capital at higher education institutions by building a nationwide online language course offering on a shared platform. All higher education students can study the courses regardless of their home institutions. The project covers the following languages: Chinese, Estonian, Finnish Sign Language, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish on the levels CEFR A1-C1. The courses were piloted in the autumn term of 2019, and an online peer evaluation session was organised for all project participating teachers in spring 2020. The peer evaluation utilised the quality criteria for online implementation, which was developed earlier within the eAMK-project. The eAMK-project was also funded by the Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture with the aim to improve higher education institution teachers’ digital and pedagogical competences. In the online peer evaluation session, the teachers were divided into Zoom breakout rooms, in each of which two pilot courses were presented by their teachers dialogically. The other language teachers provided feedback on the course on the basis of the quality criteria. Thereafter good practices and ideas were gathered to an online document. The breakout rooms were facilitated by one teacher who was instructed and provided a slide-set prior to the online session. After the online peer evaluation sessions, the language teachers were asked to respond to an online questionnaire for feedback. The questionnaire included three multiple-choice questions using the Likert-scale rating and two open-ended questions. The online questionnaire was answered after the sessions immediately, the questionnaire link and the QR-code to it was on the last slide of the session, and it was responded at the site. The data comprise online questionnaire responses of the peer evaluation session and the researcher’s observations during the sessions. The data were analysed with a qualitative content analysis method with the help of Atlas.ti programme, and the Likert scale answers provided results per se. The observations were used as complementary data to support the primary data. The findings indicate that the working in the breakout rooms was successful, and the workshops proceeded smoothly. The workshops were perceived as beneficial in terms of improving the piloted courses and developing the participants’ own work as teachers. Further, the language teachers stated that the collegial discussions and sharing the ideas were fruitful. The aspects to improve the workshops were to give more time for free discussions and the opportunity to familiarize oneself with the quality criteria and the presented language courses beforehand. The quality criteria were considered to provide a suitable frame for self- and peer evaluations.

Keywords: higher education, language learning, online learning, peer-evaluation

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Authors: Maha E. Ibrahim, Mona Abdel Aziz

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Background: Chronic low back pain (CLBP) in urban communities represents a challenge to healthcare systems worldwide. The traditional biomedical approach to back pain has been particularly inadequate. Failure of the biomedical model to explain the poor correlation between pain and disability on the one hand, and biological and physical factors that explain those symptoms on the other has led to the adoption of the biopsychosocial model, to recognize the reciprocal influence of physical, social and psychological factors implicated in CLBP, a condition that shows higher prevalence among women residing in urban areas. Urban design of the built community has been shown to exert a significant influence on physical and psychological health. However, little research has investigated the relationship between elements of the built environment, and the level of pain and disability of women with CLBP. As Egypt embarks on building a new capital city, and new settlements proliferate, better understanding of this relationship could greatly reduce the economic and human costs of this widespread medical problem for women. Methods: This study was designed as an exploratory mixed qualitative and quantitative study. Twenty-Six women with CLBP living in two neighborhoods in Cairo, different in their urban structure, but adjacent in their locations (Old Maadi and New Maadi) were interviewed using semi-structured interviews (8 from Old Maadi and 18 from New Maadi). Located in the South of Cairo, New Maadi is a neighborhood with the characteristic modern urban style (narrow streets and tall, adjacent buildings), while Old Maadi is known for being greener, quieter and more relaxed than the usual urban districts of Cairo. The interviews examined their perceptions of the built environment, including building shapes and colors and street light, as well as their sense of safety and comfort, and how it affects their physical and psychological health in general, and their back condition in particular. In addition, they were asked to rate their level of pain and to fill the Oswestry Disability Index (ODI), and the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12) to rate their level of disability and psychological status, respectively. Results: Women in both districts had moderate to severe pain and moderate disability with no significant differences between the two districts. However, those living in New Maadi had significantly worse scores on the GHQ-12 than those living in Old Maadi. Most women did not feel that specific elements of the built environment affected their back pain, however, they expressed distress of the elements that were ugly, distorted or damaged, especially where there were no ways of avoiding or fixing them. Furthermore, most women affirmed that the unsightly and uncomfortable elements of their neighborhoods affected their mood states and were a constant source of stress. Conclusion: This exploratory study concludes that elements of the urban built environment do not exert a direct effect on CLBP. However, the perception of women regarding these elements does affect their mood states, and their levels of stress, making them a possible indirect cause of increased suffering in these women.

Keywords: built environment, chronic back pain, disability, urban Cairo

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Authors: Zdravko Trivic, Kelvin E. Y. Low, Darko Radovic, Raymond Lucas

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Our understanding and experience of the built environment are primarily shaped by multi‐sensory, emotional and symbolic modes of exchange with spaces. Associated sensory and cognitive declines that come with ageing substantially affect the overall quality of life of the elderly citizens and the ways they perceive and use urban environment. Reduced mobility and increased risk of falls, problems with spatial orientation and communication, lower confidence and independence levels, decreased willingness to go out and social withdrawal are some of the major consequences of sensory declines that challenge almost all segments of the seniors’ everyday living. However, contemporary urban environments are often either sensory overwhelming or depleting, resulting in physical, mental and emotional stress. Moreover, the design and planning of housing neighbourhoods hardly go beyond the passive 'do-no-harm' and universal design principles, and the limited provision of often non-integrated eldercare and inter-generational facilities. This paper explores and discusses the largely neglected relationships between the 'hard' and 'soft' aspects of housing neighbourhoods and urban experience, focusing on seniors’ perception and multi-sensory experience as vehicles for design and planning of high-density housing neighbourhoods that are inclusive and empathetic yet build senior residents’ physical and mental abilities at different stages of ageing. The paper outlines methods and key findings from research conducted in two high-density housing neighbourhoods in Singapore with aims to capture and evaluate multi-sensorial qualities of two neighbourhoods from the perspective of senior residents. Research methods employed included: on-site sensory recordings of 'objective' quantitative sensory data (air temperature and humidity, sound level and luminance) using multi-function environment meter, spatial mapping of patterns of elderly users’ transient and stationary activity, socio-sensory perception surveys and sensorial journeys with local residents using eye-tracking glasses, and supplemented by walk-along or post-walk interviews. The paper develops a multi-sensory framework to synthetize, cross-reference, and visualise the activity and spatio-sensory rhythms and patterns and distill key issues pertinent to ageing-friendly and health-supportive neighbourhood design. Key findings show senior residents’ concerns with walkability, safety, and wayfinding, overall aesthetic qualities, cleanliness, smell, noise, and crowdedness in their neighbourhoods, as well as the lack of design support for all-day use in the context of Singaporean tropical climate and for inter-generational social interaction. The (ongoing) analysis of eye-tracking data reveals the spatial elements of senior residents’ look at and interact with the most frequently, with the visual range often directed towards the ground. With capacities to meaningfully combine quantitative and qualitative, measured and experienced sensory data, multi-sensory framework shows to be fruitful for distilling key design opportunities based on often ignored aspects of subjective and often taken-for-granted interactions with the familiar outdoor environment. It offers an alternative way of leveraging the potentials of housing neighbourhoods to take a more active role in enabling healthful living at all stages of ageing.

Keywords: ageing-friendly neighbourhoods, eye-tracking, high-density environment, multi-sensory approach, perception

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Authors: Jeremy Ritchey

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Undocumented immigrants in the U.S. face many challenges when looking to progress in society, especially when pursuing post-secondary education. The majority of research done on state-level policy adoption pertaining to undocumented higher-education pursuits, specifically in-state resident tuition and financial aid eligibility policies, have framed the discussion on the potential and actual impacts which implementation can and has achieved. What is missing is a model to view the social, political and demographic landscapes upon which such policies (in their various forms) find a route to legislative enactment. This research looks to address this gap in the field by investigating the correlations and significant state-level variables which can be operationalized to construct a framework for adoption of these specific policies. In the process, analysis will show that past unexamined conceptualizations of how such policies come to fruition may be limited or contradictory when compared to available data. Circling on the principles of Policy Innovation and Policy Diffusion theory, this study looks to use variables collected via Michigan State University’s Correlates of State Policy Project, a collectively and ongoing compiled database project centered around annual variables (1900-2016) collected from all 50 states relevant to policy research. Using established variable groupings (demographic, political, social capital measurements, and educational system measurements) from the time period of 2000 to 2014 (2001 being when such policies began), one can see how this data correlates with the adoption of policies related to undocumented students and in-state college tuition. After regression analysis, the results will illuminate which variables appears significant and to what effect, as to help formulate a model upon which to explain when adoption appears to occur and when it does not. Early results have shown that traditionally held conceptions on conservative and liberal identities of the state, as they relate to the likelihood of such policies being adopted, did not fall in line with the collected data. Democratic and liberally identified states were, overall, less likely to adopt pro-undocumented higher education policies than Republican and conservatively identified states and vis versa. While further analysis is needed as to improve the model’s explanatory power, preliminary findings are showing promise in widening our understanding of policy adoption factors in this realm of policies compared to the gap of such knowledge in the publications of the field as it currently exists. The model also looks to serve as an important tool for policymakers in framing such potential policies in a way that is congruent with the relevant state-level determining factors while being sensitive to the most apparent sources of potential friction. While additional variable groups and individual variables will ultimately need to be added and controlled for, this research has already begun to demonstrate how shallow or unexamined reasoning behind policy adoption in the realm of this topic needs to be addressed or else the risk is erroneous conceptions leaking into the foundation of this growing and ever important field.

Keywords: policy adoption, in-state tuition, higher education, undocumented immigrants

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Authors: Hyunjoo Park, Taehyun Kim, Taehyun Kim

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Human life, activity, and culture depend on the wider environment. Cities offer economic opportunities for goods and services, but cannot exist in environments without food, energy, and water supply. Technological innovation in energy supply and transport speeds up the expansion of urban areas and the physical separation from agricultural land. As a result, division of urban agricultural areas causes more energy demand for food and goods transport between the regions. As the energy resources are leaking all over the world, the impact on the environment crossing the boundaries of cities is also growing. While advances in energy and other technologies can reduce the environmental impact of consumption, there is still a gap between energy supply and demand by current technology, even in technically advanced countries. Therefore, reducing energy demand is more realistic than relying solely on the development of technology for sustainable development. The purpose of this study is to introduce the application of carbon footprint assessment in fields of urban planning and geography. In urban studies, carbon footprint has been assessed at different geographical scales, such as nation, city, region, household, and individual. Carbon footprint assessment for a nation and a city is available by using national or city level statistics of energy consumption categories. By means of carbon footprint calculation, it is possible to compare the ecological capacity and deficit among nations and cities. Carbon footprint also offers great insight on the geographical distribution of carbon intensity at a regional level in the agricultural field. The study shows the background of carbon footprint applications in urban planning and geography by case studies such as figuring out sustainable land-use measures in urban planning and geography. For micro level, footprint quiz or survey can be adapted to measure household and individual carbon footprint. For example, first case study collected carbon footprint data from the survey measuring home energy use and travel behavior of 2,064 households in eight cities in Gyeonggi-do, Korea. Second case study analyzed the effects of the net and gross population densities on carbon footprint of residents at an intra-urban scale in the capital city of Seoul, Korea. In this study, the individual carbon footprint of residents was calculated by converting the carbon intensities of home and travel fossil fuel use of respondents to the unit of metric ton of carbon dioxide (tCO₂) by multiplying the conversion factors equivalent to the carbon intensities of each energy source, such as electricity, natural gas, and gasoline. Carbon footprint is an important concept not only for reducing climate change but also for sustainable development. As seen in case studies carbon footprint may be measured and applied in various spatial units, including but not limited to countries and regions. These examples may provide new perspectives on carbon footprint application in planning and geography. In addition, additional concerns for consumption of food, goods, and services can be included in carbon footprint calculation in the area of urban planning and geography.

Keywords: carbon footprint, case study, geography, urban planning

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Authors: Jessica Peart, Sarim Al Zubaidy

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This paper examines the main dialogic and reformative aspects that have constituted the developing implementation of an English language module in a common pre-sessional program in Oman, the General Foundation Program (GFP), at the new Military Technological College (MTC), in Oman’s capital, muscat. The MTC is the first of its kind in the country to merge military with academic training and has been running programs since September 2013 over five trimesters to date, receiving external validation and accreditation from the University of Portsmouth (UoP), UK. From this starting point, We will provide context on the parameters that necessitated delivery of this common but specially tailored pre-sessional program at the MTC and outline in detail how the English module with integrated key study skills and personal tutoring support was initially conceived before operations commenced and cooperation between all stakeholders took practical shape. This enquiry traces how stakeholders from students to faculty, college boards and collaborative university partners have considered and redefined the in part static and dynamic boundaries of their larger and smaller scale stakes. With regard to the widely held recognition that pre-sessional students require training in transferable study skills in order to succeed at university, we will chart the subsequent and ongoing adjustments made to the generic, pastoral and integrated elements of that program. Driving this concerted effort has been at base the need for a GFP concerned with three criteria for incoming MTC students cadets, namely to develop candidate’s rounded capacity for intellectual, technical and physical skill as both students and cadets, to generate linguistic proficiency and discerning use of appropriate language registers and to allow personal and collective time for adjustment to a multilayered, brand new environment, while also working within a regulated timeline for academic progression to the MTC diploma or degree levels. The English Department teaching staff’s facilitation of the initial program’s methodologies and timeframe for the GFP English module has garnered a keen and diverse sense of the holistic student cadet experience, which a range of alterations to the program demonstrate. These include alterations to the class types and overall program duration as well as greater multiplicity of exposure within learning environments. In surveying the impact of these composite maneuvers and challenges within a proactive and evolving context of teaching and learning, it is finally demonstrated how student cadet levels of productivity and self-reliance on the one hand and retention issues on the other are being gainfully steered towards progression within a framework for inclusive reciprocal dialogue, gathering thereby civilian and military backgrounds toward uniquely united ends.

Keywords: English module transferable skills, faculty dialogue, governance structure, overarching regulatory agencies

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Authors: S. M. Islam, Wasi Uddin, Nazmun Nahar

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Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, faces two contrasting problems; excess of water during monsoon season and scarcity of water during dry season. The first problem occurs due to rapid urbanization and mismanagement of rainwater whereas the second problem is related to climate change and increasing urban population. Inadequate drainage system also worsens the overall water management scenario in Dhaka city. Dhaka has a population density of 115,000 people per square miles. This results in a 2.5 billion liter water demand every day, 87% of which is fulfilled by groundwater. Over dependency on groundwater has resulted in more than 200 feet drop in the last 50 years and continues to decline at a rate of 9 feet per year. Considering the gravity of the problem, it is high time that practitioners, academicians and policymakers consider different water management practices and look into their cumulative impacts at different scales. The present study assesses different rainwater management options for North South University of Bangladesh and recommends the most feasible and sustainable rainwater management measure. North South University currently accommodates over 20,000 students, faculty members, and administrative staffs. To fulfill the water demand, there are two deep tube wells, which bring up approximately 150,000 liter of water every hour. The annual water demand is approximately 103 million liters. Dhaka receives approximately 1800 mm of rainfall every year. For the current study, two academic buildings and one administrative building consist of 4924 square meters of rooftop area was selected as catchment area. Both rainwater harvesting and groundwater recharge options were analyzed separately. It was estimated that by rainwater harvesting, annually a total of 7.2 million liters of water can be reused which is approximately 7% of the total annual water usage. In the monsoon, rainwater harvesting fulfills 12.2% of the monthly water demand. The approximate cost of the rainwater harvesting system is estimated to be 940975 bdt (USD 11500). For direct groundwater recharge, a system comprises of one de-siltation tank, two recharge tanks and one siltation tank were designed that requires approximately 532788 bdt (USD 6500). The payback period is approximately 7 years and 4 months for the groundwater recharge system whereas the payback period for rainwater harvesting option is approximately 12 years and 4 months. Based on the cost-benefit analysis, the present study finds the groundwater recharge system to be most suitable for North South University. The present study also demonstrates that if only one institution like North South University can add up a substantial amount of water to the aquifer, bringing other institutions in the network has the potential to create significant cumulative impact on replenishing the declining groundwater level of Dhaka city. As an additional benefit, it also prevents large amount of water being discharged into the storm sewers which results in severe flooding in Dhaka city during monsoon.

Keywords: Dhaka, groundwater, harvesting, rainwater, recharge

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Authors: Bhakti Chitale

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Mumbai city, which is the business capital of India and one of the most crowded cities in the world, holds the biggest slum in Asia. The Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) occupies an area of 4035 sq.km. with a population of 22.8 million people. This population is mostly urban with 91% of this population living in areas of Municipal Corporations and Councils. Another 3% live in Census Towns. The region has 9 Municipal Corporations, 8 Municipal councils, and around 1000 villages. On the one hand MMR reflects the highest contribution to the Nations overall economy and on the other hand it shows the horrible and intolerable picture of about 2 million people, who are living in slums/without even slum with totally unhygienic conditions and with total loss of hope. The generations are about to get affected adversely if the solution is not worked out. This study is an attempt towards working out the solution. Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) is state government's authority, specially formed to govern the development of MMR. MMRDA is engaged in long term planning, promotion of new growth centres, implementation of strategic projects and financing infrastructure development. While preparing the master plan for MMR for next 20 years MMRDA conducted a detail study regarding Housing scenario in MMR and possible options for improvement. The author was the in charge officer for the said assignment. This paper puts light on the interesting outcomes of the research study, which ranges from the adverse effects of government policies, automatic responses of housing market, effects on planning processes, and overall changing needs of housing patterns in the world due to changes in the social mechanism. It alarms the urban planners who usually focus on smart infrastructure development, about allied future dangers. This housing study will explain the complexities, realities and needs of innovations in the housing policies all over the world. The paper will explain further few success stories and failure stories of government initiatives with reasons. It gives the clear idea about the differences in needs of housing for people from different economic groups and direct and indirect market pressures on low cost housing. Magical phenomenon came in front like a large percentage of vacant houses is present in spite of the huge need. Housing market gets affected by the developments or any other physical and financial changes taking place in the nearby areas or cities, also by changes in cities which are located far from the region and also by the international investments or policy changes. Instead of just depending on governments actions in case of generation of affordable housing, it becomes equally important to make the housing markets automatically generate such stock and still make them sustainable is the aim of all the movement. In summary, we may say that the paper will sequentially elaborate the complete dynamics of housing in one of the most crowded urban area in the world that is Mumbai Metropolitan Region, with a lot of data, analysis, case studies, and recommendations.

Keywords: Mumbai India, slum housing, region planning, market recommendations

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Authors: Lina Shinhwa Koo

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The Korean Empire, or Daehanjeguk, was proclaimed by King Gojong (1852–1919) in 1897 with the aim of promoting its sovereignty as a nation-state amid the political situation with threats from neighbouring countries, such as Japan and Russia. The Korean Empire period (1897–1910), which lasted until 1910, when Japan annexed Korea, is a pivotal time in the modern history of Korea. It was also during the period when many infrastructures for tourism, including transportation and lodging systems, were established. Throughout the Korean Empire period, tourists from Japan and Euro-American countries popularly visited Korea after it opened its doors relatively recently. The government of the Korean Empire also actively engaged with foreign officials and professionals. Train stations were built to connect Busan, where foreigners first arrived through the port of Jemulpo, with Seoul, the capital of Korea. In addition, hotels were built to accommodate the increasing number of tourists. Shedding new light on the modern architectural history of Korea, this paper discusses buildings that were made for tourism during the Korean Empire period to examine the historical background behind the tourism development in Korea and the concept of travelling related to architecture history. Foreigners came to Korea for varying reasons, from ethnographic research and diplomacy to business and missionary. They also played a key role in the transportation and hotel businesses. For instance, American entrepreneur James R. Morse received a concession to construct a railway between Busan and Seoul in 1896, which was later granted to a Japanese firm. Japanese entrepreneurs came to Korea and built hotels, such as Daebul Hotel in Incheon and Paseonggwan in Seoul. Sontag Hotel, Station Hotel and Hotel du Palais, all located in central areas of Seoul, were owned by German, British and French entrepreneurs, respectively. Each building showed distinctive architectural elements. For example, Sontag Hotel was built in Russian architectural style, whereas Paseonggwan was created with a combination of Japanese and European styles. Such various architectural designs indicated the multicultural urban scenes of the Korean Empire at the time. The existing scholarship has paid more attention to the royal buildings built during the Korean Empire period, such as Seokjojeon of the Duksu Palace. However, it is important to study the tourism-related architecture that reflected the societal situation of the Korean Empire when contrasting ideologies, landscapes, historical narratives and political tensions intertwined and co-existed. Examining both textual and visual resources, such as news articles and photographs, this paper surveys architectural styles and the trajectories of selective examples of hotels and train stations within the discussion of temporality and spatiality in the discipline of social science. In doing so, one can re-assess the history of the Korean Empire as the intersection of modern and traditional, intrinsic and extrinsic and national and international.

Keywords: Korean empire, modern Korean architecture, tourism, hotel, train station

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Authors: Mokhlisur Rahman

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Consumers have developed a sense of responsibility in the past decade, reflecting on their purchasing behavior after viewing an advertisement. Consumers tend to buy ideal products that enable them to be judged by their close network in the opinion world. In such value considerations, any information that feeds consumers' desire for social status helps, which becomes capital for educating consumers on the importance of purchasing green products for manufacturing companies. Companies' effort in manufacturing green products to get high conversion demands a good deal of promotion with quality information and engaging representation. Additionally, converting people from traditional to eco-friendly products requires innovative alternatives to replace the existing product. Considering consumers' understanding of products and their purchasing behavior, it becomes essential for the brands to know the extent to which consumers' level of awareness of the ecosystem is to make them more responsive to green products. Another is brand image plays a vital role in consumers' perception regarding the credibility of the claim regarding the product. Brand image is a significant positive influence on the younger generation, and younger generations tend to engage more in pro-environmental behavior, including purchasing sustainable products. For example, Adidas senses the necessity of satisfying consumers with something that brings more profits and serves the planet. Several of their eco-friendly products are already in the market, and one is UltraBOOST DNA parley, made from 3D-printed recycled ocean waste. As a big brand image, Adidas has leveraged an interest among the younger generation by incorporating sustainability into its advertising. Therefore, influential brands' effort in the sustainable revolution through engaging advertisement makes it more prominent by educating consumers about the reason behind launching the product. This study investigates younger consumers' attitudes toward sustainability, brand recognition, exposure to green advertising, willingness to receive more green advertising, purchasing green products, and motivation. The study conducts a market experiment by creating two video advertisements: a sustainable product video advertisement and a non-sustainable product video advertisement. Both the videos have similar content design and the same length of 2 minutes, but the messages are different based on the identical product type college bags. The first video advertisement promotes eco-friendly college bags made from biodegradable raw materials, and the second promotes non-sustainable college bags made from plastics. After viewing the videos, consumers make purchasing decisions and complete an online survey to collect their attitudes toward sustainable products. The study finds the importance of a sense of responsibility to the consumers for climate change issues. Also, it empowers people to take a step, even small, and increases environmental awareness. This study provides companies with the knowledge to participate in sustainable product launches by collecting consumers' perceptions and attitudes toward green products. Also, it shows how important it is to build a brand's image for the younger generation.

Keywords: brand-image, environment, green-advertising, sustainability, younger-consumer

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Authors: Mohamed Gazzeh, Bradley Null, Fethi Tlili, Hichem Besbes

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The burgeoning global ownership of personal vehicles has posed a significant strain on urban infrastructure, notably parking facilities, leading to traffic congestion and environmental concerns. Effective parking management systems (PMS) are indispensable for optimizing urban traffic flow and reducing emissions. The most commonly deployed systems nowadays rely on computer vision technology. This paper explores the integration of radar sensors and simulation in the context of smart parking management. We concentrate on radar sensors due to their versatility and utility in automotive applications, which extends to PMS. Additionally, radar sensors play a crucial role in driver assistance systems and autonomous vehicle development. However, the resource-intensive nature of radar data collection for algorithm development and testing necessitates innovative solutions. Simulation, particularly the monoDrive simulator, an internal development tool used by NI the Test and Measurement division of Emerson, offers a practical means to overcome this challenge. The primary objectives of this study encompass simulating radar sensors to generate a substantial dataset for algorithm development, testing, and, critically, assessing the transferability of models between simulated and real radar data. We focus on occupancy detection in parking as a practical use case, categorizing each parking space as vacant or occupied. The simulation approach using monoDrive enables algorithm validation and reliability assessment for virtual radar sensors. It meticulously designed various parking scenarios, involving manual measurements of parking spot coordinates, orientations, and the utilization of TI AWR1843 radar. To create a diverse dataset, we generated 4950 scenarios, comprising a total of 455,400 parking spots. This extensive dataset encompasses radar configuration details, ground truth occupancy information, radar detections, and associated object attributes such as range, azimuth, elevation, radar cross-section, and velocity data. The paper also addresses the intricacies and challenges of real-world radar data collection, highlighting the advantages of simulation in producing radar data for parking lot applications. We developed classification models based on Support Vector Machines (SVM) and Density-Based Spatial Clustering of Applications with Noise (DBSCAN), exclusively trained and evaluated on simulated data. Subsequently, we applied these models to real-world data, comparing their performance against the monoDrive dataset. The study demonstrates the feasibility of transferring models from a simulated environment to real-world applications, achieving an impressive accuracy score of 92% using only one radar sensor. This finding underscores the potential of radar sensors and simulation in the development of smart parking management systems, offering significant benefits for improving urban mobility and reducing environmental impact. The integration of radar sensors and simulation represents a promising avenue for enhancing smart parking management systems, addressing the challenges posed by the exponential growth in personal vehicle ownership. This research contributes valuable insights into the practicality of using simulated radar data in real-world applications and underscores the role of radar technology in advancing urban sustainability.

Keywords: autonomous vehicle simulator, FMCW radar sensors, occupancy detection, smart parking management, transferability of models

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Authors: Mireille Elhajj, Washington Ochieng, Deeph Chana

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The challenges of the rapid growth in the demand for transport has traditionally been seen within the context of the problems of congestion, air quality, climate change, safety, and affordability. However, there are increasing threats including those related to crime such as cyber-attacks that threaten the security of the transport of people and goods. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper presents for the first time, a comprehensive framework for the assessment of the current and future security issues of multi-modal transport systems. The approach or method proposed is based on a structured framework starting with a detailed specification of the transport asset map (transport system architecture), followed by the identification of vulnerabilities. The asset map and vulnerabilities are used to identify the various approaches for exploitation of the vulnerabilities, leading to the creation of a set of threat scenarios. The threat scenarios are then transformed into risks and their categories, and include insights for their mitigation. The consideration of the mitigation space is holistic and includes the formulation of appropriate policies and tactics and/or technical interventions. The quality of the framework is ensured through a structured and logical process that identifies the stakeholders, reviews the relevant documents including policies and identifies gaps, incorporates targeted surveys to augment the reviews, and uses subject matter experts for validation. The approach to categorising security risks is an extension of the current methods that are typically employed. Specifically, the partitioning of risks into either physical or cyber categories is too limited for developing mitigation policies and tactics/interventions for transport systems where an interplay between physical and cyber processes is very often the norm. This interplay is rapidly taking on increasing significance for security as the emergence of cyber-physical technologies, are shaping the future of all transport modes. Examples include: Connected Autonomous Vehicles (CAVs) in road transport; the European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS) in rail transport; Automatic Identification System (AIS) in maritime transport; advanced Communications, Navigation and Surveillance (CNS) technologies in air transport; and the Internet of Things (IoT). The framework adopts a risk categorisation scheme that considers risks as falling within the following threat→impact relationships: Physical→Physical, Cyber→Cyber, Cyber→Physical, and Physical→Cyber). Thus the framework enables a more complete risk picture to be developed for today’s transport systems and, more importantly, is readily extendable to account for emerging trends in the sector that will define future transport systems. The framework facilitates the audit and retro-fitting of mitigations in current transport operations and the analysis of security management options for the next generation of Transport enabling strategic aspirations such as systems with security-by-design and co-design of safety and security to be achieved. An initial application of the framework to transport systems has shown that intra-modal consideration of security measures is sub-optimal and that a holistic and multi-modal approach that also addresses the intersections/transition points of such networks is required as their vulnerability is high. This is in-line with traveler-centric transport service provision, widely accepted as the future of mobility services. In summary, a risk-based framework is proposed for use by the stakeholders to comprehensively and holistically assess the security of transport systems. It requires a detailed understanding of the transport architecture to enable a detailed vulnerabilities analysis to be undertaken, creates threat scenarios and transforms them into risks which form the basis for the formulation of interventions.

Keywords: mitigations, risk, transport, security, vulnerabilities

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Authors: Josephine R. Migalbin

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Halal is an Arabic word meaning "lawful" or "permitted". When it comes to food and consumables, Halal is the dietary standard of Muslims. The Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) has a comparative advantage when it comes to Halal Industry because it is the only Muslim region in the Philippines and the natural starting point for the establishment of a halal industry in the country. The region has identified goat production not only for domestic consumption but for export market. Goat production is one of its strengths due to cultural compatibility. There is a high demand for goats during Ramadhan and Eid ul-Adha. The study aimed to provide an overview of the ARMM Halal Goat Industry; to map out the specific supply chain of halal goat, and to analyze the performance of the halal goat supply chain in terms of efficiency, flexibility, and overall responsiveness. It also aimed to identify areas for improvement in the supply chain such as behavioural, institutional, and process to provide recommendations for improvement in the supply chain towards efficient and effective production and marketing of halal goats, subsequently improving the plight of the actors in the supply chain. Generally, the raising of goats is characterized by backyard production (92.02%). There are four interrelated factors affecting significantly the production of goats which are breeding prolificacy, prevalence of diseases, feed abundance and pre-weaning mortality rate. The institutional buyers are mostly traders, restaurants/eateries, supermarkets, and meat shops, among others. The municipalities of Midsayap and Pikit in another region and Parang are the major goat sources and the municipalities in ARMM among others. In addition to the major supply centers, Siquijor, an island province in the Visayas is becoming a key source of goats. Goats are usually gathered by traders/middlemen and brought to the public markets. Meat vendors purchase them directly from raisers, slaughtered and sold fresh in wet markets. It was observed that there is increased demand at 2%/year and that supply is not enough to meet the demand. Farm gate price is 2.04 USD to 2.11 USD/kg liveweight. Industry information is shared by three key participants - raisers, traders and buyers. All respondents reported that information is through personal built-upon past experiences and that there is no full disclosure of information among the key participants in the chain. The information flow in the industry is fragmented in nature such that no total industry picture exists. In the last five years, numerous local and foreign agencies had undertaken several initiatives for the development of the halal goat industry in ARMM. The major issues include productivity which is the greatest challenge, difficulties in accessing technical support channels and lack of market linkage and consolidation. To address the various issues and concerns of the various industry players, there is a need to intensify appropriate technology transfer through extension activities, improve marketing channels by grouping producers, strengthen veterinary services and provide capital windows to improve facilities and reduce logistics and transaction costs in the entire supply chain.

Keywords: autonomous region in Muslim Mindanao, halal, halal goat industry, supply chain improvement

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Authors: S. Gustafsson

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The aim of this paper is to explore the connection between gender, agency, and health on personal and social levels over time. The use of gender as an analytical tool for health research has been shown to be useful to explore thoughts and ideas that are taken for granted, which have relevance for health. The paper highlights the following three issues. There are multiple forms of femininity and masculinity. Agency and social structure are closely related and referred to in this paper as 'gender agency'. Gender is illuminated as a product of history but also treated as a social factor and a producer of history. As a prominent social factor in the process of shaping living conditions, gender is highlighted as being significant for understanding health. To make health explicit as a dynamic and complex concept and not merely the opposite of disease requires a broader alliance with feminist theory and a post-Bourdieusian framework. A personal story, included with other ethnographic material about women’s networking in rural Sweden, is used as an empirical illustration. Ethnographic material was chosen for its ability to illustrate historical, local, and cultural ways of doing gendered and capitalized health. New concepts characterize ethnography, exemplified in this study by 'processes of transformation'. The semi-structured interviews followed an interview guide drafted with reference to the background theory of gender. The interviews lasted about an hour and were recorded and transcribed verbatim. The transcribed interviews and the author’s field notes formed the basis for the writing up of this paper. Initially, the participants' interests in weaving, sewing, and various handicrafts became obvious foci for networking activities and seemed at first to shape compliance with patriarchy, which generally does the opposite of promoting health. However, a significant event disrupted the stability of this phenomenon. What was permissible for the women began to crack and new spaces opened up. By exploiting these new spaces, the participants found opportunities to try out alternatives to emphasized femininity. Over time, they began combining feminized activities with degrees of masculinity, as leadership became part of the activities. In response to this, masculine enactment was gradually transformed and became increasingly gender neutral. As the tasks became more gender neutral the activities assumed a more formal character and the women stretched the limits of their capacity by enacting gender agency, a process the participants referred to as 'personal growth' and described as health promotion. What was described in terms of 'personal growth' can be interpreted as the effects of a raised status. Participation in women’s networking strengthened the participants’ structural position. More specifically, it was the gender-neutral position that was rewarded. To clarify the connection between gender, agency, and health on personal and social levels over time the concept processes of transformation is used. This concept is suggested as a dynamic equivalent to habitus. Health is thus seen as resulting from situational access to social recognition, prestige, capital assets and not least, meanings of gender.

Keywords: a cross-gender bodily hexis, gender agency, gender as analytical tool, processes of transformation

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Authors: Gideon Nyuimbe Gasu

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Sub Saharan Africa is at a critical point, experiencing rapid population growth, particularly in urban areas and young growing force. At the same time, the growing risk of catastrophic global climate change threatens to weaken food production system, increase intensity and frequency of drought, flood, and fires and undermine gains on development and poverty reduction. Although the region has the lowest per capital greenhouse gas emission level in the world, it will need to join global efforts to address climate change, including action to avoid significant increases and to encourage a green economy. Thus, there is a need for the concept of 'greening the economy' as was prescribed at Rio Summit of 1992. Renewable energy is one of the criterions to achieve this laudable goal of maintaining a green economy. There is need to address climate change while facilitating continued economic growth and social progress as energy today is critical to economic growth. Fossil fuels remain the major contributor of greenhouse gas emission. Thus, cleaner technologies such as carbon capture storage, renewable energy have emerged to be commercially competitive. This paper sets out to examine how to achieve a low carbon economy with minimal emission of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases which is one of the outcomes of implementing a green economy. Also, the paper examines the different renewable energy sources such as nuclear, wind, hydro, biofuel, and solar voltaic as a panacea to the looming climate change menace. Finally, the paper assesses the different renewable energy and energy efficiency as a propeller to generating new sources of income and jobs and in turn reduces carbon emission. The research shall engage qualitative, evaluative and comparative methods. The research will employ both primary and secondary sources of information. The primary sources of information shall be drawn from the sub Saharan African region and the global environmental organizations, energy legislation, policies and related industries and the judicial processes. The secondary sources will be made up of some books, journal articles, commentaries, discussions, observations, explanations, expositions, suggestions, prescriptions and other material sourced from the internet on renewable energy as a panacea to climate change. All information obtained from these sources will be subject to content analysis. The research result will show that the entire planet is warming as a result of the activities of mankind which is clear evidence that the current development is fundamentally unsustainable. Equally, the study will reveal that a low carbon development pathway in the sub Saharan African region should be embraced to minimize emission of greenhouse gases such as using renewable energy rather than coal, oil, and gas. The study concludes that until adequate strategies are devised towards the use of renewable energy the region will continue to add and worsen the current climate change menace and other adverse environmental conditions.

Keywords: carbon dioxide, climate change, legislation/law, renewable energy

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Authors: Rebeca P Ramos-Bueno, Maria Jose Gonzalez-Fernandez, Rosa M. Moreno-Zamora, Antonia Barros Heras, Yolanda Serrano Alonso, Carolina Sanchez Barranco

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Insects are a new source of fatty acids (FA), so they are considered a sustainable and environmentally friendly alternative for both animal feed and the human diet, and furthermore, their harvesting/rearing require a low-tech and low capital investment. For that reason, lipids obtained by insect breeding open interesting possibilities with alimentary and industrial purposes, i.e., the production of biodiesel. Particularly, certain insect species, especially during the larval stage, contain high proportions of fat which is highly dependent on their feed and stage of development. Among them, Hermetia illucens larvae can be bred on food wastes to produce fat- and protein-rich raw materials for food by-product management. So, insects can act as excellent bioconverters of organic waste to nutrient-rich materials. In this regard, the aim of the study was to evaluate the effects of fruit byproducts on the FA compositions of Tenebrio molitor, Zophoba morio, and H. illucens larvae. Firstly, oil was extracted with the green solvent ethyl acetate, and FA methyl ester was obtained and analyzed by GC to show the FA profile. In addition, the triacylglycerol (TAG) profile was obtained by HPLC. Dehydrated watermelon, tomato, and papaya by-products, as well as wheat-based control feed, were assayed. High FA content was reached by Z. morio larvae fed with all fruits; however, no differences were shown in lipid profile with any change. It is worth highlighting that both Z. morio and H. illucens could be selected as the best candidates for biodiesel production due to their high content of saturated FA. On the other hand, T. molitor larvae showed a higher content of monounsaturated FA than control larvae, whereas the n-6 polyunsaturated FA content decreased in larvae fed with fruits. This result indicates that the improvement of the FA profile of Tenebrio can depend on both the type of feeding and the intended use. The lipid profile of H. illucens larvae fed with papaya and tomato showed a slight increase in the content of α-linoleic acid (ALA, 18:3n3). This FA is the precursor of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA, 22:6n3), which plays an important role as a component of structural lipids in cell membranes as well as in the synthesis of eicosanoids, protecting and resolving. Also, it was evaluated the TAG profile of Z. morio larvae due to their highest oil content. The results showed a high oleic acid (OA, 18:1n9) content, which displays modulatory effects in a wide range of physiological functions, having anti-inflammatory and anti-atherogenic properties. In conclusion, this study clearly shows that Z. morio and H. illucens larvae constitute an alternative source of OA- and ALA-rich oils, respectively, which can be devoted for food use, as well as for using in the food and pharmaceutical industries, with agronomic implications. Finally, although the profile of Z. morio was not improved with fruit feeding, this kind of feeding could be used due to its low environmental impact.

Keywords: fatty acids, fruit byproducts, Hermetia illucens, Zophoba morio, Tenebrio molitor, insect rearing

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Authors: Deniz Peksen

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This thesis aims to predict trend movement of closing price of stock and to maximize portfolio by utilizing the predictions. In this context, the study aims to define a stock portfolio strategy from models created by using Logistic Regression, Gradient Boosting and Random Forest. Recently, predicting the trend of stock price has gained a significance role in making buy and sell decisions and generating returns with investment strategies formed by machine learning basis decisions. There are plenty of studies in the literature on the prediction of stock prices in capital markets using machine learning methods but most of them focus on closing prices instead of the direction of price trend. Our study differs from literature in terms of target definition. Ours is a classification problem which is focusing on the market trend in next 20 trading days. To predict trend direction, fourteen years of data were used for training. Following three years were used for validation. Finally, last three years were used for testing. Training data are between 2002-06-18 and 2016-12-30 Validation data are between 2017-01-02 and 2019-12-31 Testing data are between 2020-01-02 and 2022-03-17 We determine Hold Stock Portfolio, Best Stock Portfolio and USD-TRY Exchange rate as benchmarks which we should outperform. We compared our machine learning basis portfolio return on test data with return of Hold Stock Portfolio, Best Stock Portfolio and USD-TRY Exchange rate. We assessed our model performance with the help of roc-auc score and lift charts. We use logistic regression, Gradient Boosting and Random Forest with grid search approach to fine-tune hyper-parameters. As a result of the empirical study, the existence of uptrend and downtrend of five stocks could not be predicted by the models. When we use these predictions to define buy and sell decisions in order to generate model-based-portfolio, model-based-portfolio fails in test dataset. It was found that Model-based buy and sell decisions generated a stock portfolio strategy whose returns can not outperform non-model portfolio strategies on test dataset. We found that any effort for predicting the trend which is formulated on stock price is a challenge. We found same results as Random Walk Theory claims which says that stock price or price changes are unpredictable. Our model iterations failed on test dataset. Although, we built up several good models on validation dataset, we failed on test dataset. We implemented Random Forest, Gradient Boosting and Logistic Regression. We discovered that complex models did not provide advantage or additional performance while comparing them with Logistic Regression. More complexity did not lead us to reach better performance. Using a complex model is not an answer to figure out the stock-related prediction problem. Our approach was to predict the trend instead of the price. This approach converted our problem into classification. However, this label approach does not lead us to solve the stock prediction problem and deny or refute the accuracy of the Random Walk Theory for the stock price.

Keywords: stock prediction, portfolio optimization, data science, machine learning

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Authors: M. Saard, A. Kolk, K. Sepp, L. Pertens, L. Reinart, C. Kööp

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Introduction: Social competence is often impaired in children with acquired brain injury (ABI), but evidence-based rehabilitation for social skills has remained undeveloped. Modern technology-based methods create effective and safe learning environments for pediatric social skills remediation. The aim of the study was to implement our structured model of neuro rehab for socio-cognitive deficit using multitouch-multiuser tabletop (MMT) computer-based platforms and virtual reality (VR) technology. Methods: 40 children aged 8-13 years (yrs) have participated in the pilot study: 30 with ABI -epilepsy, traumatic brain injury and/or tic disorder- and 10 healthy age-matched controls. From the patients, 12 have completed the training (M = 11.10 yrs, SD = 1.543) and 20 are still in training or in the waiting-list group (M = 10.69 yrs, SD = 1.704). All children performed the first individual and paired assessments. For patients, second evaluations were performed after the intervention period. Two interactive applications were implemented into rehabilitation design: Snowflake software on MMT tabletop and NoProblem on DiamondTouch Table (DTT), which allowed paired training (2 children at once). Also, in individual training sessions, HTC Vive VR device was used with VR metaphors of difficult social situations to treat social anxiety and train social skills. Results: At baseline (B) evaluations, patients had higher deficits in executive functions on the BRIEF parents’ questionnaire (M = 117, SD = 23.594) compared to healthy controls (M = 22, SD = 18.385). The most impaired components of social competence were emotion recognition, Theory of Mind skills (ToM), cooperation, verbal/non-verbal communication, and pragmatics (Friendship Observation Scale scores only 25-50% out of 100% for patients). In Sentence Completion Task and Spence Anxiety Scale, the patients reported a lack of friends, behavioral problems, bullying in school, and social anxiety. Outcome evaluations: Snowflake on MMT improved executive and cooperation skills and DTT developed communication skills, metacognitive skills, and coping. VR, video modelling and role-plays improved social attention, emotional attitude, gestural behaviors, and decreased social anxiety. NEPSY-II showed improvement in Affect Recognition [B = 7, SD = 5.01 vs outcome (O) = 10, SD = 5.85], Verbal ToM (B = 8, SD = 3.06 vs O = 10, SD = 4.08), Contextual ToM (B = 8, SD = 3.15 vs O = 11, SD = 2.87). ToM Stories test showed an improved understanding of Intentional Lying (B = 7, SD = 2.20 vs O = 10, SD = 0.50), and Sarcasm (B=6, SD = 2.20 vs O = 7, SD = 2.50). Conclusion: Neurorehabilitation based on the Structured Model of Neurorehab for Socio-Cognitive Deficit in children with ABI were effective in social skills remediation. The model helps to understand theoretical connections between components of social competence and modern interactive computerized platforms. We encourage therapists to implement these next-generation devices into the rehabilitation process as MMT and VR interfaces are motivating for children, thus ensuring good compliance. Improving children’s social skills is important for their and their families’ quality of life and social capital.

Keywords: acquired brain injury, children, social skills deficit, technology-based neurorehabilitation

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Authors: Yi Wang, Greg Hearn, Terry Flew

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In order to understand how cultural innovation occurs, this paper explores the interaction in Shenzhen of China between universities, creative industries, and government in creative economic using the Triple Helix framework. During the past two decades, Triple Helix has been recognized as a new theory of innovation to inform and guide policy-making in national and regional development. Universities and governments around the world, especially in developing countries, have taken actions to strengthen connections with creative industries to develop regional economies. To date research based on the Triple Helix model has focused primarily on Science and Technology collaborations, largely ignoring other fields. Hence, there is an opportunity for work to be done in seeking to better understand how the Triple Helix framework might apply in the field of creative industries and what knowledge might be gleaned from such an undertaking. Since the late 1990s, the concept of ‘creative industries’ has been introduced as policy and academic discourse. The development of creative industries policy by city agencies has improved city wealth creation and economic capital. It claims to generate a ‘new economy’ of enterprise dynamics and activities for urban renewal through the arts and digital media, via knowledge transfer in knowledge-based economies. Creative industries also involve commercial inputs to the creative economy, to dynamically reshape the city into an innovative culture. In particular, this paper will concentrate on creative spaces (incubators, digital tech parks, maker spaces, art hubs) where academic, industry and government interact. China has sought to enhance the brand of their manufacturing industry in cultural policy. It aims to transfer the image of ‘Made in China’ to ‘Created in China’ as well as to give Chinese brands more international competitiveness in a global economy. Shenzhen is a notable example in China as an international knowledge-based city following this path. In 2009, the Shenzhen Municipal Government proposed the city slogan ‘Build a Leading Cultural City”’ to show the ambition of government’s strong will to develop Shenzhen’s cultural capacity and creativity. The vision of Shenzhen is to become a cultural innovation center, a regional cultural center and an international cultural city. However, there has been a lack of attention to the triple helix interactions in the creative industries in China. In particular, there is limited knowledge about how interactions in creative spaces co-location within triple helix networks significantly influence city based innovation. That is, the roles of participating institutions need to be better understood. Thus, this paper discusses the interplay between university, creative industries and government in Shenzhen. Secondary analysis and documentary analysis will be used as methods in an effort to practically ground and illustrate this theoretical framework. Furthermore, this paper explores how are creative spaces being used to implement Triple Helix in creative industries. In particular, the new combination of resources generated from the synthesized consolidation and interactions through the institutions. This study will thus provide an innovative lens to understand the components, relationships and functions that exist within creative spaces by applying Triple Helix framework to the creative industries.

Keywords: cultural policy, creative industries, creative city, triple Helix

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Authors: Swati Vohra

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A genuine economic and social transformation requires equal contribution and participation from both men and women; however, achieving this gender parity is a global concern. In the patriarchal societies around the world, women have been silenced, oppressed, and subjugated. Girls and women comprise half of the world’s population. This, however, must not be the lone reason for recognizing and providing equal opportunities to them. Every individual has a right to develop through opportunities without the biases of gender, caste, race, or ethnicity. The world today is confronted by pressing issues of climate change, economic crisis, violence against women and children, escalating conflicts, to name a few. Achieving gender parity is thus an essential component in meeting this wide array of challenges in order to create just, robust and inclusive societies. In 2015, The United Nation enunciated achieving 17 Sustainable Development Goals by 2030, one of which is SGD#5- Gender Equality, that is not merely a stand-alone goal. It is central to the achievement of all 17 SDG’s. Without progress on gender equality, the global community will not only fail to achieve the SDG5, but it will also lose the impetus towards achieving the broad 2030 agenda. This research is based on a hypothesis that aims to connect the targets laid by the UN under SDG#5 - 5.4 (Recognize and value unpaid care and domestic work) and 5.5 (Ensure women participation for leadership at all levels of decision-making). The study evaluates the impact of unpaid household responsibilities on women’s leadership in India. In Indian society, women have experienced a low social status for centuries, which is reflected throughout the Indian history with preference of a male child and common occurrences of female infanticides that are still prevalent in many parts of the country. Insistence on the traditional gender roles builds patriarchal inequalities into the structure of Indian society. It is argued that a burden of unpaid labor on women is placed, which narrows the opportunities and life chances women are given and the choices they are able to make, thereby shutting them from shared participation in public and economic leadership. The study investigates theoretical framework of social construction of gender, unpaid labor, challenges to women leaders and peace theorist perspective as the core components. The methodology used is qualitative research of comprehensive literature, accompanied by the data collected through interviews of representatives of women leaders from various fields within Delhi-National Capital Region (NCR). The women leaders interviewed had the privilege of receiving good education and a conducive family support; however, post marriage and children it was not the case and the social obligations weighed heavy on them. The research concludes by recommending the importance of gender-neutral parenting and education along with government ratified paternal leaves for at least six months and childcare facilities available for both the parents at workplace.

Keywords: gender equality, gender roles, peace studies, sustainable development goals, social construction, unpaid labor, women’s leadership

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Authors: Sascha Kraus, Wolfgang Hora, Philipp Stieg, Thomas Niemand, Ferdinand Thies, Matthias Filser

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In most countries, small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) are the backbone of the economy due to their impact on job creation, innovation and wealth creation. Moreover, the ongoing globalization makes it inevitable – even for SME that traditionally focused on their domestic markets – to internationalize their business activities to realize further growth and survive in international markets. Thus, internationalization has become one of the most common growth strategies for SME and has received increasing scholarly attention over the last two decades. One the downside internationalization can be also regarded as the most complex strategy that a firm can undertake. Particularly for family firms, that are often characterized by limited financial capital, a risk-averse nature and limited growth aspirations, it could be argued that family firms are more likely to face greater challenges when taking the pathway to internationalization. Especially the triangulation of family, ownership, and management (so-called ‘familiness’) manifests in a unique behavior and decision-making process which is often characterized by the importance given to noneconomic goals and distinguishes a family firm from other businesses. Taking this into account, the concept of socio-emotional wealth (SEW) has been evolved to describe the behavior of family firms. In order to investigate how different internal and external firm characteristics shape internationalization success of family firms, we drew on a sample consisting of 297 small and medium-sized family firms from Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein. Thus, we include SEW as essential family firm characteristic and added the two major intra-organizational characteristics, entrepreneurial orientation (EO), absorptive capacity (AC) as well as collaboration intensity (CI) and relational knowledge (RK) as two major external network characteristics. Based on previous research we assume that these characteristics are important to explain internationalization success of family firm SME. Regarding the data analysis, we applied a Fuzzy Set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA), an approach that allows identifying configurations of firm characteristics, specifically used to study complex causal relationships where traditional regression techniques reach their limits. Results indicate that several combinations of these family firm characteristics can lead to international success, with no permanently required key characteristic. Instead, there are many roads to walk down for family firms to achieve internationalization success. Consequently, our data states that family owned SME are heterogeneous and internationalization is a complex and dynamic process. Results further show that network related characteristics occur in all sets, thus represent an essential element in the internationalization process of family owned SME. The contribution of our study is twofold, as we investigate different forms of international expansion for family firms and how to improve them. First, we are able to broaden the understanding of the intersection between family firm and SME internationalization with respect to major intra-organizational and network-related variables. Second, from a practical perspective, we offer family firm owners a basis for setting up internal capabilities to achieve international success.

Keywords: entrepreneurial orientation, family firm, fsQCA, internationalization, socio-emotional wealth

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Authors: Magda Milleyde de Sousa Lima, Letícia Lima Aguiar, Marina Guerra Martins, Erika Veríssimo Dias Sousa, Lizandra Sampaio de Oliveira, Lívia Moreira Barros, Joselany Áfio Caetano

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Patients with chronic kidney disease are vulnerable to episodes which make the safety of their health vulnerable, mainly due to the treatment process that exposes them to high rates of interventions during hemodialysis sessions. Some factors associated with health care contribute to the risk of death and complications. However, there are a small number of scientific studies evaluating the level of safety of hemodialysis clinics, and the sociodemographic characteristics of patients and professionals associated with this safety. Therefore, the present study aims to examine the level of patient safety in hemodialysis clinics in the Brazilian capital, to identify the sociodemographic and clinical factors of patients and nursing staff associated with the level of safety. This is an observational, descriptive and quantitative research conducted in three hemodialysis clinics placed in the city of Fortaleza-CE, Brazil, from September to November 2019. The sample was formed after a sample calculation for finite inhabitants of correlation with 200 chronic renal patients, 30 nursing technicians and seven nurses. Conventional sampling was used based on the inclusion criteria: being present at the hemodialysis session on the day the researcher performed the data collection and being 18 years of age or older. Participants who presented communication difficulties to listen to and/or answer the sociodemographic and clinical questionnaire were excluded. Two instruments were applied: sociodemographic and clinical characterization form and Chronic Renal Patient Safety Assessment Scale on Hemodialysis (EASPRCH). The data were analyzed using the Kruskal Walls Test for categorical variables and Spearman correlation coefficient for non-categorical variables, using the Statistical Package SPSS version 20.0. The present study respected the ethical and legal principles determined by resolution 466/2012 of the National Health Council, under the approval of the Ethics and Research Committee with an opinion number: 3,255,635. The results showed that a hemodialysis clinic presented unsafe care practices of 32 points in the EASPRCH (p=0.001). A statistical association was identified between the level of safety and the variables of the patients: level of education (p=0.018), family income (p=0.049), type of employment (p=0.012), venous access site (p=0.009), use of medication during the session (p=0.008) and time of hemodialysis (p=0.002). When evaluating the profile of nurses, a statistical association was evidenced between the level of safety with the variables: marital status (p=0.000), race (p=0.017), schooling (p= 0.000), income (p=0.013), age (p=0.000), clinic workload (p=0.000), time working with hemodialysis (p=0.000), time working in the clinic (p= 0.007) and clinic sizing (p=0.000). In order, the sociodemographic factors of nursing technicians associated with the level of patient safety were: race (p= 0.001) and weekly workload at (p=0.010). Therefore, it is concluded that there is a non-conformity in the level of patient safety in one of the clinics studied and, that sociodemographic and clinical factors of patients and health professionals corroborate the level of safety of the health unit.

Keywords: hemodialysis, nursing, patient safety, quality improvement

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Authors: M. Abu Hanif, Anika Tabassum, Fuad Hasan Ovi, Ishrat Islam

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Water is essential for life. Enormous quantities of water are cycled each year through hydrologic cycle but only a fraction of circulated water is available each year for human use. Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh is the 19th mega city in the world with a population of over 14 million (World City Information, 2011). As a result the growth of urban population is increasing rapidly; the city is not able to manage with altering situations due to resource limitations and management capacity. Water crisis has become an acute problem faced by the inhabitants of Dhaka city. It is found that total water demand in Dhaka city is 2,240 million liter per day (MLD) whereas supply is 2,150 (MLD). According to Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority about 87 percent of this supply comes from groundwater resources and rest 13 percent from surface water. According to Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage Authority it has been found that the current groundwater depletion rate is 3.52 meter per year. Such a fast depletion of the water table will result in intrusion of southern saline water into the groundwater reservoir, depriving this mega city of pure drinking water. This study mainly focus on the potential of Rainwater Harvesting System(RWHS) in Kazipara area of Dhaka city, determine the perception level of local people in installation of rainwater harvesting system in their building and identify the factors regarding willingness of owner in installing rainwater harvesting system. As most of the residential area of Dhaka city is unplanned with small plots, Kazipara area has been chosen as study area which depicts similar characteristics. In this study only roof top area is considered as catchment area and potential of rainwater harvesting has been calculated. From the calculation it is found that harvested rainwater can serve the 66% of demand of water for toilet flushing and cleaning purposes for the people of Kazipara. It is also observed that if only rooftop rainwater harvesting applied to all the structures of the study area then two third of surface runoff would be reduced than present surface runoff. In determining the perception of local people only owners of the buildings were. surveyed. From the questionnaire survey it is found that around 75% people have no idea about the rainwater harvesting system. About 83% people are not willing to install rainwater harvesting system in their dwelling. The reasons behind the unwillingness are high cost of installation, inadequate space, ignorance about the system, etc. Among 16% of the willing respondents who are interested in installing RWHS system, it was found that higher income, bigger size of buildings are important factors in willingness of installing rainwater harvesting system. Majority of the respondents demanded for both technical and economical support to install the system in their buildings. Government of Bangladesh has taken some initiatives to promote rainwater harvesting in urban areas. It is very much necessary to incorporate rainwater harvesting device and artificial recharge system in every building of Dhaka city to make Dhaka city self sufficient in water supply management and to solve water crisis problem of megacity like as Dhaka city.

Keywords: rainwater harvesting, water table, willingness, storm water

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Authors: Carly Madge, Melanie Zurba, Ryan Bullock

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The Boreal Forest has experienced some of the most drastic climate change-induced temperature rises in Canada, with average winter temperatures increasing by 3°C since 1948. One of the main concerns of the province of Saskatchewan, and particularly wildfire managers, is the increased risk of wildfires due to climate change. With these concerns in mind Sakaw Askiy Management Inc., a forestry corporation located in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan with operations in the Boreal Forest biome, is developing wildfire risk reduction strategies that are supported by the shareholders of the corporation as well as the stakeholders of the Prince Albert Forest Management Area (which includes citizens, hunters, trappers, cottage owners, and outfitters). In the past, wildfire management strategies implemented through harvesting have been received with skepticism by some community members of Prince Albert. Engagement of the stakeholders of the Prince Albert Management Area through the development of the wildfire risk reduction strategies aims to reduce this skepticism and rebuild some of the trust that has been lost between industry and community. This research project works with the framework of social learning, which is defined as the learning that occurs when individuals come together to form a group with the purpose of understanding environmental challenges and determining appropriate responses to them. The project evaluates the social learning processes that occur through the development of the risk reduction strategies and how the learning has allowed Sakaw to work towards implementing the strategies into their forest harvesting plans. The incorporation of wildfire risk reduction strategies works to increase the adaptive capacity of Sakaw, which in this case refers to the ability to adjust to climate change, moderate potential damages, take advantage of opportunities, and cope with consequences. Using semi-structured interviews and wildfire workshop meetings shareholders and stakeholders shared their knowledge of wildfire, their main wildfire concerns, and changes they would like to see made in the Prince Albert Forest Management Area. Interviews and topics discussed in the workshops were inductively coded for themes related to learning, adaptive capacity, areas of concern, and preferred methods of wildfire risk reduction strategies. Analysis determined that some of the learning that has occurred has resulted through social interactions and the development of networks oriented towards wildfire and wildfire risk reduction strategies. Participants have learned new knowledge and skills regarding wildfire risk reduction. The formation of wildfire networks increases access to information on wildfire and the social capital (trust and strengthened relations) of wildfire personnel. Both factors can be attributed to increases in adaptive capacity. Interview results were shared with the General Manager of Sakaw, where the areas of concern and preferred strategies of wildfire risk reduction will be considered and accounted for in the implementation of new harvesting plans. This research also augments the growing conceptual and empirical evidence of the important role of learning and networks in regional wildfire risk management efforts.

Keywords: adaptive capacity, community-engagement, social learning, wildfire risk reduction

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Authors: Mohsina Aktar, Bishawjit Mallick

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Bangladesh faces the multidimensional manifestations of climate change e.g. flood, cyclone, sea level rise, drainage congestion, salinity, etc. This study aimed at to find out the community’s perception of the perceived impact of climate change on their wetland resource based livelihood, to analyze their present livelihood scenario and to find out required institutional setup to strengthen present livelihood scenario. Therefore, this study required both quantitative analysis like quantification of wetland resources, occupation, etc. and also exploratory information like policy and institutional reform. For quantitative information 200 questionnaire survey and in some cases observation survey and for socially shareable qualitative and quantitative issues case study and focus group discussion were conducted. In-Depth interview was conducted for socially non-shareable qualitative issues. The overall findings of this study have been presented maintaining a sequence- perception about climate change effect, livelihood scenario and required institutional support of the wetland community. Flood has been ranked where cyclone effect is comparatively less disastrous in this area. Heavy rainfall comes after the cyclone. Female members responded almost same about the ranking and effects of frequently occurred and devastating effects of climate change. People are much more aware of the impact of climate change. Training of Care in RVCC project helps to increase their knowledge level. If the level of education can be increased, people can fight against calamity and poverty with more confidence. People seem to overcome the problems of water logging and thus besides involving in Hydroponics (33.3%) as prime occupation in monsoon; they are also engaged in other business related activities. January to May is the low-income season for the farmers. But some people don’t want to change their traditional occupation and their age is above 45. The young earning member wants to utilize their lean income period by alternative occupation. People who do not have own land and performing water transportation or other types of occupation are now interested about Hydroponics. People who give their land on rent are now thinking about renting their land in monsoon as through that they can earn a sound amount rather than get nothing. What they require is just seed, training, and capital. Present marketing system faces the problem of communication. So this sector needed to be developed. Involvement of women in income earning activity is very low (5.1%), and 100% women are housewives. They became inferior due to their educational level and dominance of their husband. Only one NGO named BCAS (Bangladesh Center for Advanced Studies) has been found engage training facilities and advocacy for this purpose. Upazilla agricultural extension office like other GO remains inactive to give support the community for extension and improvement of Hydroponics agriculture. If the community gets proper support and inspiration, they can fight against crisis of low-income and climate change, with the Hydroponics cultivation system successfully.

Keywords: wetland community, hydroponics, climate change adaptation, livelihood

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