Search results for: science of political economy

Authors: Nynne Nørup, Julie Helles Eriksen, Rikke M. Moalem, Else Skjold

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Despite a growing focus on the high environmental impact of textiles, textile waste is only recently considered as part of the waste field. Consequently, there is a general lack of knowledge and data within this field. Particularly the lack of a common perception of textiles generates several problems e.g., to recognize the full material potential the fraction contains, which is cruel if the textile must enter the circular economy. This study aims to qualify a method to make the resources in textile waste visible in a way that makes it possible to move them as high up in the waste hierarchy as possible. Textiles are complex and cover many different types of products, fibers and combinations of fibers and production methods. In garments alone, there is a great variety, even when narrowing it to only undergarments. However, textile waste is often reduced to one fraction, assessed solely by quantity, and compared to quantities of other waste fractions. Disregarding the complexity and reducing textiles to a single fraction that covers everything made of textiles increase the risk of neglecting the value of the materials, both with regards to their properties and economical. Instead of trying to fit textile waste into the current primarily linear waste system where volume is a key part of the business models, this study focused on integrating textile waste as a resource in the design and production phase. The study combined interdisciplinary methods for determining replacement rates used in Life Cycle Assessments and Mass Flow Analysis methods with the designer’s toolbox to hereby activate the properties of textile waste in a way that can unleash its potential optimally. It was hypothesized that by activating Denmark's tradition for design and high level of craftsmanship, it is possible to find solutions that can be used today and create circular resource models that reduce the use of virgin fibers. Through waste samples, case studies, and testing of various design approaches, this study explored how to functionalize the method so that the product after the end-use is kept as a material and only then processed at fiber level to obtain the best environmental utilization. The study showed that the designers' ability to decode the properties of the materials and understanding of craftsmanship were decisive for how well the materials could be utilized today. The later in the life cycle the textiles appeared as waste, the more demanding the description of the materials to be sufficient, especially if to achieve the best possible use of the resources and thus a higher replacement rate. In addition, it also required adaptation in relation to the current production because the materials often varied more. The study found good indications that part of the solution is to use geodata i.e., where in the life cycle the materials were discarded. An important conclusion is that a fully developed method can help support better utilization of textile resources. However, it stills requires a better understanding of materials by the designers, as well as structural changes in business and society.

Keywords: circular economy, development of sustainable processes, environmental impacts, environmental management of textiles, environmental sustainability through textile recycling, interdisciplinary method development, resource optimization, recycled textile materials and the evaluation of recycling, sustainability and recycling opportunities in the textile and apparel sector

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Authors: Emrah Yildirim, Veli Ortacesme

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Manavgat region, located in Antalya province at South Turkey, has hosted many civilizations throughout the centuries. All of these civilizations cultivated the land in their surroundings by engaging in agriculture, livestock production and hunting. In the last 50 years, there have been dramatic changes in the region. The economy of the region switched from the agriculture to tourism. Due to the increase in the irrigable agricultural lands, several dams were built on Manavgat River. Developments in the agricultural mechanization and new product needs have changed the pattern of agriculture and regional landscape. Coastal zone of the region has transformed to tourism areas, Manavgat Town Center has grown up and the urbanization in general has increased. The population and urbanization have increased by 257 % and 276 %, respectively. The tourism and commercial areas cover 561,8 hectares today. All these developments had some negative effects on the environment. In this study, land use/land cover transformations were studied in Manavgat region by using aerial photos. The reasons and consequences of the land use transformations were discussed, and some recommendations regarding the sustainable use of this region’s landscape will be shared.

Keywords: land use, Manavgat region, south Turkey, transformation

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Authors: Sirus Sharifi, Arunima Haldar, S. V. D. Nageswara Rao

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This research analyzes the effect of credit risk management practices of commercial banks in India and the relationship with their non-performing assets (NPAs). Required data on credit risk performance was collected through a survey questionnaire from top risk officers of 38 Indian banks. NPA data (period from 2012 to 2016) was collected from Prowess database compiled by the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE). The model was assessed utilizing cross sectional regression method. As expected, the results indicate a negative significant relationship between credit risk management in India banks and their NPA growth. The research has implications for banks given the high level of losses in India and other economies as well, and the implementation of Basel III standards by the central banks. This research would be an evidence on credit risk performance and its relationship with the level of non-performing assets (NPAs) in Indian banks.

Keywords: risk management, risk identification, banks, Non-Performing Assets (NPAs)

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Authors: Gülcan Taşkıran, Ayla Bayık Temel

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Background: Florence Nightingale, the modern founder of the nursing, is most famous for her role as a nurse. But not so much known about her contributions as a mathematician and statistician. Aim: In this conceptual article it is aimed to examine Florence Nightingale's statistics education, how she used her passion for statistics and applied statistical data in nursing care and her scientific contributions to statistical science. Design: Literature review method was used in the study. The databases of Istanbul University Library Search Engine, Turkish Medical Directory, Thesis Scanning Center of Higher Education Council, PubMed, Google Scholar, EBSCO Host, Web of Science were scanned to reach the studies. The keywords 'statistics' and 'Florence Nightingale' have been used in Turkish and English while being screened. As a result of the screening, totally 41 studies were examined from the national and international literature. Results: Florence Nightingale has interested in mathematics and statistics at her early ages and has received various training in these subjects. Lessons learned by Nightingale in a cultured family environment, her talent in mathematics and numbers, and her religious beliefs played a crucial role in the direction of the statistics. She was influenced by Quetelet's ideas in the formation of the statistical philosophy and received support from William Farr in her statistical studies. During the Crimean War, she applied statistical knowledge to nursing care, developed many statistical methods and graphics, so that she made revolutionary reforms in the health field. Conclusions: Nightingale's interest in statistics, her broad vision, the statistical ideas fused with religious beliefs, the innovative graphics she has developed and the extraordinary statistical projects that she carried out has been influential on the basis of her professional achievements. Florence Nightingale has also become a model for women in statistics. Today, using and teaching of statistics and research in nursing care practices and education programs continues with the light she gave.

Keywords: Crimean war, Florence Nightingale, nursing, statistics

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Authors: Na Young Kim

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This is a study on the relation between the introduction bill of the Whistle Blowing Act and the CPI (Corruption Perception Index) from 1998 to 2019. It shows that the degree of corruption can be relatively lowered when WBA is introduced, and the system is matured. And when WBA was introduced at the national level and matured, it was found that it could have a greater impact on corruption. Secondly, it shows that OECD countries may have relatively low levels of corruption. In addition to the two variables representing democracy, when additional control variables (GDP (economic power), population size, HDI (education level), etc.) are controlled under the same conditions, the degree of corruption in countries with high political rights can be low (it means clean), while those with high civil freedom can be serious (it means not clean).

Keywords: Whistle Blowing Act, anti-corruption, CPI, GDP

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Authors: Luis A. Paipa-Galeano, Yavar Jarrah-Nezhad, César A. Bernal-Torres

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This paper presents a case study of four companies in an emerging economy to identify the key success factors and barriers to sustaining continuous improvement practices. The study analyzes the empirical evidence and compares it to the literature review to provide insights for companies looking to increase their maturity level in this area. The five success factors identified are the availability of resources, commitment and support from management, participation of employees in identifying tasks to improve, clear and realistic objectives for continuous improvement, and the existence of a leader or responsible for continuous improvement. The major barriers to success are a lack of alignment between the organization’s strategic objectives and continuous improvement objectives, a lack of motivation in the team, and resistance to change. The paper concludes with recommendations for companies to reduce the risk of improvement failure and increase their maturity level in continuous improvement.

Keywords: emerging economies, Kaizen, continuous improvement sustainability, maturity model

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Authors: Mohammad Irfan

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The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship among the key macroeconomic variables and Islamic stock market in India. This study is based on the time series data of financial years 2009-2015 to explore the consistency of relationship between macroeconomic variables and Shariah Indices. The ADF (Augmented Dickey–Fuller Test Statistic) and PP (Phillips–Perron Test Statistic) tests are employed to check stationarity of the data. The study depicts the long run relationship between Shariah indices and macroeconomic variables by using the Johansen Co-integration test. BSE Shariah and Nifty Shariah have uni-direct Granger causality. The outcome of VECM is significantly confirming the applicability of best fitted model. Thus, Islamic stock indices are proficiently working for the development of Indian economy. It suggests that by keeping eyes on Islamic stock market which will be more interactive in the future with other macroeconomic variables.

Keywords: Indian Shariah Indices, macroeconomic variables, co-integration, Granger causality, vector error correction model (VECM)

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Authors: Hugo Rodríguez

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The patenting of inventions is the result of an organized effort to achieve technological improvement and its consequent positive impact on the population's standard of living. Technology exports, either of high-tech goods or of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) services, represent the level of acceptance that world markets have of that technology acquired or developed by a country, either in public or private settings. A quantitative measure of the above variables is expected to have a positive and relevant impact on the level of economic development of the countries, measured on this first occasion through their level of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). And in that sense, it not only explains the performance of an economy but the difference between nations. We present an econometric model where we seek to explain the difference between the GDP levels of 178 countries through their different performance in the outputs of the technological production process. We take the variables of Patenting, ICT Exports and High Technology Exports as results of the innovation process. This model achieves an explanatory power for four annual cuts (2000, 2005, 2010 and 2015) equivalent to an adjusted r2 of 0.91, 0.87, 0.91 and 0.96, respectively.

Keywords: Development, exports, patents, technology

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Authors: J. BalaRaju, M. Govinda Raj, C. S. N. Murthy

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Every organization in the competitive world tends to improve its economy by increasing their production and productivity rates. Unequivocally, the production in Indian underground mines over the years is not satisfactory, due to a variety of reasons. There are manifold of avenues for the betterment of production, and one such approach is through enhanced utilization of mechanized equipment such as Load Haul Dumper (LHD). This is used as loading and hauling purpose in underground mines. In view of the aforementioned facts, this paper delves into identification of the key influencing factors such as LHDs maintenance effectiveness, vehicle condition, operator skill and utilization of the machines on performance of LHDs. An attempt has been made for improvement of performance of the equipment through evaluation of Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE). Two different approaches for evaluation of OEE have been adopted and compared under various operating conditions. The use of OEE calculation in terms of percentage availability, performance and quality and the hitherto existing situation of the underground mine production is evaluated. Necessary recommendations are suggested to mining industry on the basis of OEE.

Keywords: utilization, maintenance, availability, performance and quality

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Authors: Ozgu Hafizoglu

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An analogy is an essential tool of human cognition that enables connecting diffuse and diverse systems with physical, behavioral, principal relations that are essential to learning, discovery, and innovation. The Cognitive Model of Analogy (CMA) leads and creates patterns of pathways to transfer information within and between domains in science, just as happens in the brain. The connectome of the brain shows how the brain operates with mental leaps between domains and mental hops within domains and the way how analogical reasoning mechanism operates. This paper demonstrates the CMA as an evolutionary approach to science, technology, and life. The model puts forward the challenges of deep uncertainty about the future, emphasizing the need for flexibility of the system in order to enable reasoning methodology to adapt to changing conditions in the new era, especially post-pandemic. In this paper, we will reveal how to draw an analogy to scientific research to discover new systems that reveal the fractal schema of analogical reasoning within and between the systems like within and between the brain regions. Distinct phases of the problem-solving processes are divided thusly: stimulus, encoding, mapping, inference, and response. Based on the brain research so far, the system is revealed to be relevant to brain activation considering each of these phases with an emphasis on achieving a better visualization of the brain’s mechanism in macro context; brain and spinal cord, and micro context: glia and neurons, relative to matching conditions of analogical reasoning and relational information, encoding, mapping, inference and response processes, and verification of perceptual responses in four-term analogical reasoning. Finally, we will relate all these terminologies with these mental leaps, mental maps, mental hops, and mental loops to make the mental model of CMA clear.

Keywords: analogy, analogical reasoning, brain connectome, cognitive model, neurons and glia, mental leaps, mental hops, mental loops

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Authors: Fiona Curran-Cournane

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Soil quality monitoring is a science-based soil management tool that assesses soil ecosystem health. A soil monitoring program in Auckland, New Zealand’s largest city, extends from 1995 to the present. The objective of this study was to firstly determine changes in soil parameters (basic soil properties and heavy metals) that were assessed from rural land in 1995-2000 and repeated in 2008-2012. The second objective was to determine differences in soil parameters across various land uses including native bush, rural (horticulture, pasture and plantation forestry) and urban land uses using soil data collected in more recent years (2009-2013). Across rural land, mean concentrations of Olsen P had significantly increased in the second sampling period and was identified as the indicator of most concern, followed by soil macroporosity, particularly for horticultural and pastoral land. Mean concentrations of Cd were also greatest for pastoral and horticultural land and a positive correlation existed between these two parameters, which highlights the importance of analysing basic soil parameters in conjunction with heavy metals. In contrast, mean concentrations of As, Cr, Pb, Ni and Zn were greatest for urban sites. Native bush sites had the lowest concentrations of heavy metals and were used to calculate a ‘pollution index’ (PI). The mean PI was classified as high (PI > 3) for Cd and Ni and moderate for Pb, Zn, Cr, Cu, As, and Hg, indicating high levels of heavy metal pollution across both rural and urban soils. From a land use perspective, the mean ‘integrated pollution index’ was highest for urban sites at 2.9 followed by pasture, horticulture and plantation forests at 2.7, 2.6, and 0.9, respectively. It is recommended that soil sampling continues over time because a longer spanning record will allow further identification of where soil problems exist and where resources need to be targeted in the future. Findings from this study will also inform policy and science direction in regional councils.

Keywords: heavy metals, pollution index, rural and urban land use, soil quality

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Authors: Maria Luskova, Maria Hudakova, Katarina Buganova

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Established objective and subjective preconditions for entrepreneurship, forming the business organically related whole, are the necessary condition of successful entrepreneurial activities. Objective preconditions for entrepreneurship are developed by the market economy that should stimulate entrepreneurship by allowing the use of economic opportunities for all those who want to do business in respective field while providing guarantees to all owners and creating a stable business environment for entrepreneurs. Subjective preconditions of entrepreneurship are formed primarily by personal characteristics of the entrepreneur. These are his properties, abilities, skills, physiological, and psychological preconditions which may be inherited, inborn or sequentially developed and obtained during his life on the basis of education and influences of surrounding environment. The paper is dealing with issues of objective and subjective preconditions for entrepreneurship and provides their analysis in view of the current situation in Slovakia. It presents risks of the business environment in Slovakia that the Slovak managers considered the most significant in 2014 and defines the dominant attributes of the entrepreneur in the current business environment in Slovakia.

Keywords: entrepreneurship, innovations, opportunity, risk, uncertainty

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Authors: Samira Alvandi

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In the context of the circular economy, production planning aims to eliminate waste and emissions and maximize resource efficiency. Historically production planning is challenged through arrays of uncertainty and complexity arising from the interdependence and variability of products, processes, and systems. Manufacturers worldwide are facing new challenges in tackling various environmental issues such as climate change, resource depletion, and land degradation. In managing the inherited complexity and uncertainty and yet maintaining profitability, the manufacturing sector is in need of a holistic framework that supports energy efficiency and carbon emission reduction schemes. The proposed framework addresses the current challenges and integrates simulation modeling with optimization for finding optimal machine-job allocation to maximize throughput and total energy consumption while minimizing lead time. The aluminium refinery facility in western Sydney, Australia, is used as an exemplar to validate the proposed framework.

Keywords: smart production planning, simulation-optimisation, energy aware capacity planning, energy intensive industries

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Authors: Anna M. Pretorius

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The emerging markets category for portfolio investment was introduced in 1986 in an attempt to promote capital market development in less developed countries. Investors traditionally diversified their portfolios by investing in different developed markets. However, high growth opportunities forced investors to consider emerging markets as well. Examples include the rapid growth of the “Asian Tigers” during the 1980s, growth in Latin America during the 1990s and the increased interest in emerging markets during the global financial crisis. As such, portfolio flows to emerging markets have increased substantially. In 2002 7% of all equity allocations from advanced economies went to emerging markets; this increased to 20% in 2012. The stronger links between advanced and emerging markets led to increased synchronization of asset price movements. This increased level of stock market integration for emerging markets is confirmed by various empirical studies. Against the background of increased interest in emerging market assets and the increasing level of integration of emerging markets, this paper focuses on the determinants of stock market integration of emerging market countries. Various studies have linked the level of financial market integration with specific economic variables. These variables include: economic growth, local inflation, trade openness, local investment, budget surplus/ deficit, market capitalization, domestic bank credit, domestic institutional and legal environment and world interest rates. The aim of this study is to empirically investigate to what extent trade-related determinants have an impact on stock market integration. The panel data sample include data of 16 emerging market countries: Brazil, Chile, China, Colombia, Czech Republic, Hungary, India, Malaysia, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Russian Federation, South Africa, Thailand and Turkey for the period 1998-2011. The integration variable for each emerging stock market is calculated as the explanatory power of a multi-factor model. These factors are extracted from a large panel of global stock market returns. Trade related explanatory variables include: exports as percentage of GDP, imports as percentage of GDP and total trade as percentage of GDP. Other macroeconomic indicators – such as market capitalisation, the size of the budget deficit and the effectiveness of the regulation of the securities exchange – are included in the regressions as control variables. An initial analysis on a sample of developed stock markets could not identify any significant determinants of stock market integration. Thus the macroeconomic variables identified in the literature are much more significant in explaining stock market integration of emerging markets than stock market integration of developed markets. The three trade variables are all statistically significant at a 5% level. The market capitalisation variable is also significant while the regulation variable is only marginally significant. The global financial crisis has highlighted the urgency to better understand the link between the financial and real sectors of the economy. This paper comes to the important finding that, apart from the level of market capitalisation (as financial indicator), trade (representative of the real economy) is a significant determinant of stock market integration of countries not yet classified as developed economies.

Keywords: emerging markets, financial market integration, panel data, trade

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Authors: M. C. Theong, F. L. Ang, G. J. Muga

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Growth of firms is influenced by environmental changes such as the global and national economy. On the other hand, it indicates the economic situation of a country. Therefore, it is imperative for firms to be sensitive to changes and to stay competitive and remain compatible with the environment. The Malaysian construction industry is prone to environmental changes due to its complexity. In order to survive in the construction industry, focus on the development of the firms themselves to achieve long term their long term goals is vital besides maximizing profits. The objective of this paper is to measure growth of the public listed construction companies in Malaysia and to investigate the development of the companies with highest, moderate and lowest growth. Growth is measured based on the companies' sales between year 2008 and 2012 collected via secondary data collection method. Findings show that the highest average growth created is 235.20 % while the lowest average growth is -22.75%. The construction companies remained active in the construction industry by implementing different sets of strategies and involving in several types of construction projects.

Keywords: growth, Malaysian construction industry, public listed companies, sales

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Authors: Mausumi Chetia

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One of the main causes of impoverishment of the rural areas of Assam has been the recurrent floods and riverbank erosion. One of the life-changing consequences is displacement. This results not only in a loss of livelihoods but also has wide-reaching socio-economic and cultural effects. Thus, due to such disasters, not only families but communities too are being displaced at large. This compels them to find temporary shelter and begin life from scratch. The role of the state has been highly negligible, with a displacement not being perceived as an ‘issue’ to be addressed. A more holistic approach is thus needed to take socio-economic, cultural, political as well as ecological considerations into account.

Keywords: displacement, policy-framework, human-induced disasters, marginalised communities, India, Assam

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Authors: Abobaker Mohammed Qasem Farhan, Olof M. A. Saif

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The demand for parking spaces in urban areas, particularly in developing countries, has led to a significant issue in the absence of sufficient parking spaces in crowded areas, which results in daily traffic congestion as drivers search for parking. This not only affects the appearance of the city but also has indirect impacts on the economy, society, and environment. In response to these challenges, researchers from various countries have sought technical and intelligent solutions to mitigate the problem through the development of smart parking systems. This paper aims to analyze and design three models of parking lots, with a focus on parking time and security. The study used computer software and Uppaal tools to simulate the models and determine the best among them. The results and suggestions provided in the paper aim to reduce the parking problems and improve the overall efficiency and safety of the parking process. The conclusion of the study highlights the importance of utilizing advanced technology to address the pressing issue of insufficient parking spaces in urban areas.

Keywords: preliminaries, system requirements, timed Au- tomata, Uppaal

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Authors: Min Wei

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With the rapid development eco-tourism resources exploitation, the conflict between economy development and ecological environment is increasingly prominent. The environmental protection laws, however, are lack of necessary legal support to use market mechanism and economic means to carry out ecological compensation and promote the environmental protection. In order to protect the sustainable utilization of eco-tourism resources and the benign development of the interests of various stakeholders, protection of ecological compensation balance should be put on schedule. The main role of institutional guarantee in eco-tourism resources' value compensation mechanism is to solve the question 'how to guarantee compensation'. The evaluation of the game model in this paper reveals that interest balance of stakeholders is an important cornerstone to obtain the sustainable development. The findings result in constructing a sustainable development pattern of eco- tourism industry based on tripartite game equilibrium among government, tourism enterprises and tourists. It is important that the social, economic and ecological environment should be harmonious development during the pursuit of eco-tourism growth.

Keywords: environmental protection, ecological compensation, eco-tourism, market mechanism

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Authors: Fang Bin Guo, Emma Roberts, Haibin Du, Yonggang Wang, Yu Chen, Xiuli Ge

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This paper explores the findings so far from a major externally-funded project which operates internationally in China, Germany and the UK. The research team is working in the context of the redevelopment of post-industrial sites in China and how these might be platforms for creative enterprises and thereby, the economy and welfare to flourish. Results from the project are anticipated to inform urban design policies in China and possibly farther afield. The research has utilised ethnographic studies and participatory design methods to investigate alternative strategies for sustainable urban renewal of China’s post-industrial areas. Additionally, it has undertaken comparative studies of successful examples of European and Chinese urban regeneration cases. The international cross-disciplinary team has been seeking different opportunities for developing relevant creative industries whilst retaining cultural and industrial heritage. This paper will explore the research conducted so far by the team and offer initial findings. Findings point out the development challenges of cities respecting the protection of local culture/heritages, history of the industries and transformation of the local economies. The preliminary results and pilot analysis of the current research have demonstrated that local government policyholders, business investors/developers and creative industry practitioners are the three major stakeholders that will impact city revitalisations. These groups are expected to work together with asynchronous vision in order for redevelopments to be successful. Meanwhile, local geography, history, culture, politics, economy and ethnography have been identified as important factors that impact on project design and development during urban transformations. Data is being processed from the team’s research conducted across the focal Western and Chinese cities. This has provided theoretical guidance and practical support to the development of significant experimental projects. Many were re-examined with a more international perspective, and adjustments have been based on the conclusions of the research. The observations and research are already generating design solutions in terms of ascertaining essential site components, layouts, visual design and practical facilities for regenerated sites. Two significant projects undertaken by this project team have been nominated by the central Chinese government as the most successful exemplars. They have been listed as outstanding national industry heritage projects; in particular, one of them was nominated by ArchDaily as Building of the Year 2019, and so this project outcome has made a substantial contribution to research and innovation. In summary, this paper will outline the funded project, discuss the work conducted so far, and pinpoint the initial discoveries. It will detail the future steps and indicate how these will impact on national and local governments in China, designers, local citizens and building users.

Keywords: cultural & industrial heritages, ethnographic research, participatory design, regeneration of post-industrial sites, sustainable

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Authors: Adebowale Olukayode Efunnowo

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This study was carried out to assess the awareness and utilization of Social Network Tools (SNTs) among agricultural science students in Colleges of Education in Ogun State, Nigeria. Simple random sampling techniques were used to select 280 respondents from the study area. Descriptive statistics was used to describe the objectives while Pearson Product Moment Correlation was used to test the hypothesis. The result showed that the majority (71.8%) of the respondents were single, with a mean age of 20 years. Almost all (95.7%) the respondents were aware of Facebook and 2go as a Social Network Tools (SNTs) while 85.0% of the respondents were not aware of Blackplanet, LinkedIn, MyHeritage and Bebo. Many (41.1%) of the respondents had views that using SNTs can enhance extensive literature survey, increase internet browsing potential, promote teaching proficiency, and update on outcomes of researches. However, 51.4% of the respondents perceived that SNTs usage as what is meant for the lecturers/adults only while 16.1% considered it as mainly used by internet fraudsters. Findings revealed that about 50.0% of the respondents browsed Facebook and 2go daily while more than 80% of the respondents used Blackplanet, MyHeritage, Skyrock, Bebo, LinkedIn and My YearBook as the need arise. Major constraints to the awareness and utilization of SNTs were high cost and poor quality of ICTs facilities (77.1%), epileptic power supply (75.0%), inadequate telecommunication infrastructure (71.1%), low technical know-how (62.9%) and inadequate computer knowledge (61.1%). The result of PPMC analysis showed that there was an inverse relationship between constraints and utilization of SNTs at p < 0.05. It can be concluded that constraints affect efficient and effective utilization of SNTs in the study area. It is hereby recommended that management of colleges of education and agricultural institutes should provide good internet connectivity, computer facilities, and alternative power supply in order to increase the awareness and utilization of SNTs among students.

Keywords: awareness, utilization, social network tools, constraints, students

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Authors: Charles A. Khamala

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In 2003, constrained by an absent “rule of law culture” and negative economic growth, the new Kenyan government chose to pursue incremental judicial reforms rather than comprehensive constitutional reforms. President Mwai Kibaki’s first administration’s judicial reform strategy was two pronged. First, to implement unprecedented “radical surgery,” he appointed a new Chief Justice who instrumentally recommended that half the purportedly-corrupt judiciary should be removed by Presidential tribunals of inquiry. Second, the replacement High Court judges, initially, instrumentally-endorsed the “radical surgery’s” administrative decisions removing their corrupt predecessors. Meanwhile, retention of the welfare-reducing Constitution perpetuated declining public confidence in judicial institutions culminating in refusal by the dissatisfied opposition party to petition the disputed 2007 presidential election results, alleging biased and corrupt courts. Fatefully, widespread post-election violence ensued. Consequently, the international community prompted the second Kibaki administration to concede to a new Constitution. Suddenly, the High Court then adopted a non-instrumental interpretation to reject the 2003 “radical surgery.” This paper therefore critically analyzes whether the Kenyan court’s inconsistent interpretations–pertaining to the constitutionality of the 2003 “radical surgery” removing corruption from Kenya’s courts–was predicated on political expediency or human rights principles. If justice “must also seen to be done,” then pursuit of the CJ’s, Judicial Service Commission’s and president’s political or economic interests must be limited by respect for the suspected judges and magistrates’ due process rights. The separation of powers doctrine demands that the dismissed judges should have a right of appeal which entails impartial review by a special independent oversight mechanism. Instead, ignoring fundamental rights, Kenya’s new Supreme Court’s interpretation of another round of vetting under the new 2010 Constitution, ousts the High Court’s judicial review jurisdiction altogether, since removal of judicial corruption is “a constitutional imperative, akin to a national duty upon every judicial officer to pave way for judicial realignment and reformulation.”

Keywords: administrative decisions, corruption, fair hearing, judicial review, (non) instrumental

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Authors: Akhter Hussain Najar

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Honey bees are the best insect grown on earth and are taking the lead in the global ecosystem. Life on earth depends upon honey bees pollinating each and every flower in its reign. The global economy is balanced by providing financial attribute due to the use of valuable resources generated from honey bees like honey, royal jelly, bee venom, propolis, bee wax even queens from parent colonies is now in demand. Livelihood stability is also maintained by the rearing of honey bees; beekeeping became a new professional work to be cared for by the experts. Indigenous methodologies are used to rear honey bees. The rearing of honey bees showed variation in different states like Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana, Punjab, Jammu, Kashmir, etc. The production of honey depends upon the area and the availability of crops and the colonies of beekeepers in these states. However, the kind of honey from Jammu and Kashmir, like Accacia and Solai, has different color and odour from the honey generated in the rest of the states. However, the nature and viscosity vary from state to state. But in the last few years, the honey from Jammu and Kashmir has given different shapes when kept at room temperature due to unconditional rainfall during honey peak season in J&K.

Keywords: ecosystem pollen, pollination, honey bee

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Authors: Luciano Batista, Sylvia Saes, Nuno Fouto, Liam Fassam

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This paper introduces the theoretical and methodological basis of an analytical framework conceived with the purpose of bringing industrial ecology perspectives into the core of the underlying disciplines supporting analyses in studies concerned with environmental sustainability aspects beyond the product cycle in a supply chain. Given the pressing challenges faced by the food sector, the framework focuses upon waste minimization through industrial linkages in food supply chains. The combination of industrial ecology practice with basic LCA elements, the waste hierarchy model, and the spatial scale of industrial symbiosis allows the standardization of qualitative analyses and associated outcomes. Such standardization enables comparative analysis not only between different stages of a supply chain, but also between different supply chains. The analytical approach proposed contributes more coherently to the wider circular economy aspiration of optimizing the flow of goods to get the most out of raw materials and cuts wastes to a minimum.

Keywords: by-product synergy, food supply chain, industrial ecology, industrial symbiosis

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Authors: S. Murr, S. Phillips

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One of the biggest challenges entering a market with a carsharing or any other shared mobility (SM) service is sound investment decision-making. To support this process, the authors think that a city index evaluating different criteria is necessary. The goal of such an index is to benchmark cities along a set of external measures to answer the main two challenges: financially viability and the understanding of its specific requirements. The authors have consulted several shared mobility projects and industry experts to create such a Shared Mobility City Index (SMCI). The current proposal of the SMCI consists of 11 individual index measures: general data (demographics, geography, climate and city culture), shared mobility landscape (current SM providers, public transit options, commuting patterns and driving culture) and political vision and goals (vision of the Mayor, sustainability plan, bylaws/tenders supporting SM). To evaluate the suitability of the index, 16 cities on the East Coast of North America were selected and secondary research was conducted. The main sources of this study were census data, organisational records, independent press releases and informational websites. Only non-academic sources where used because the relevant data for the chosen cities is not published in academia. Applying the index measures to the selected cities resulted in three major findings. Firstly, density (city area divided by number of inhabitants) is not an indicator for the number of SM services offered: the city with the lowest density has five bike and carsharing options. Secondly, there is a direct correlation between commuting patterns and how many shared mobility services are offered. New York, Toronto and Washington DC have the highest public transit ridership and the most shared mobility providers. Lastly, except one, all surveyed cities support shared mobility with their sustainability plan. The current version of the shared mobility index is proving a practical tool to evaluate cities, and to understand functional, political, social and environmental considerations. More cities will have to be evaluated to refine the criteria further. However, the current version of the index can be used to assess cities on their suitability for shared mobility services and will assist investors deciding which city is a financially viable market.

Keywords: carsharing, transportation, urban planning, shared mobility city index

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Authors: Elena Tkachenko, Elena Rogova, Daria Koval

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The paper examines the ways of cash flows forecasting in the dynamic external environment. The so-called new reality in economy lowers the predictability of the companies’ performance indicators due to the lack of long-term steady trends in external conditions of development and fast changes in the markets. The traditional methods based on the trend analysis lead to a very high error of approximation. The macroeconomic situation for the last 10 years is defined by continuous consequences of financial crisis and arising of another one. In these conditions, the instruments of forecasting on the basis of fuzzy sets show good results. The fuzzy sets based models turn out to lower the error of approximation to acceptable level and to provide the companies with reliable cash flows estimation that helps to reach the financial stability. In the paper, the applicability of the model of cash flows forecasting based on fuzzy logic was analyzed.

Keywords: cash flow, industrial enterprise, forecasting, fuzzy sets

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Authors: Paul Gurr, Maik Moser

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In Europe, some countries recently abolished air passenger taxes (APT), while others issued or consider issuing an APT. From a fiscal perspective, APT can benefit the environment, while generating a vast amount of tax revenue with relatively low administration costs. However, they may have significant negative effects on the economy. Focusing on the German air passenger tax issued 2011, this work estimates the elasticity of tourism outflows using data on passenger departures from German airports between 2010 and 2016 aggregated by destination country. The results are obtained by estimating a model of the demand for outbound tourism. In line with theory, the regression results indicate a negative relationship between taxes and departures from Germany. Furthermore, on average, an increase of the air passenger tax rate results in a relatively higher decrease of passenger departures. The elasticity of tourism outflows can be used to estimate tax revenue changes and hence evaluate possible policy actions. Neglecting environmental reasons, the results suggest that tax revenue might be maximized by reducing the air passenger tax rate. Besides Germany, this work is also important for countries which have or consider implementing APT.

Keywords: air passenger tax, Germany, Outbound tourism, panel data

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Authors: Irina Rönnqvist

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The world is constantly changing; therefore previous views or cultural patterns and programs formed by the “old world” cannot be suitable for solving actual problems. Indeed, reformation of an education system is unlikely to be effective without understanding of the processes that emerge in the field of employment. There is a problem in overcoming of the negative trends that determine imbalance of needs of the qualified work force and preparation of professionals by an education system. At the contemporary stage of economics the processes occurring in the field of labor and employment reproduce the picture of economic development of the country that cannot be imagined without the factor of labor mobility (e.g. migration). On the one hand, adult education has a significant impact on multifaceted development of economy. On the other hand, Sweden has one of the world's most generous asylum reception systems and the most liberal labor migration policy among the OECD countries. This effect affects the increased productivity. The focus of this essay is on problems of education and employment concerning social inclusion of migrants in working life in Sweden.

Keywords: migration, adaptation, formal learning, informal learning, Sweden

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Authors: Andreas Johansson

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Conceptual understanding needs to be grounded on observation of physical phenomena, experiences or metaphors. Observation of physical phenomena using demonstration experiments has a long tradition within physics education and students need to develop mental models to relate the observations to concepts from scientific theories. This study investigates how live and video experiments involving an acoustic trap to visualize particle-field interaction, field properties and particle properties can help develop students' mental models and how they can be used differently to realize their potential as teaching tools. Initially, they were treated as analogs and the lesson designs were kept identical. With a design-based approach, the experimental and video designs, as well as best practices for a respective teaching tool, were then developed in iterations. Variation theory was used as a theoretical framework to analyze the planned respective realized pattern of variation and invariance in order to explain learning outcomes as measured by a pre-posttest consisting of conceptual multiple-choice questions inspired by the Force Concept Inventory and the Force and Motion Conceptual Evaluation. Interviews with students and teachers were used to inform the design of experiments and videos in each iteration. The lesson designs and the live and video experiments has been developed to help teachers improve student learning and make school physics more interesting by involving experimental setups that usually are out of reach and to bridge the gap between what happens in classrooms and in science research. As students’ conceptual knowledge also rises their interest in physics the aim is to increase their chances of pursuing careers within science, technology, engineering or mathematics.

Keywords: acoustic trap, design-based research, experiments, variation theory

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Authors: Masnur Marzuki

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As in other democratic countries, the constitutional court of Indonesia has the role of interpreting and applying the Constitution in order to preserve its supremacy testing the constitutionality of statutes. With its strong power to enforce and guard the Constitution, the court is now challenged to provide people an opportunity to understand their constitutional rights close up. At the same time, the court has built up an enviable reputation among constitutional courts in new democracies for the technical quality of its legitimacy in the legal sense. Since its establishment in 2003, the Constitutional Court of Indonesia has decided more than 190 statutes in judicial review case. It has been remarkably successful to make a credible start on its work of guarding the Constitution. Unsurprisingly, many argue that the Court has elevated Indonesia’s democracy to a whole new level. In accomplishing its roles judicial review, the basic principle that can be identified is that the Constitutional Court must always be subordinated to the Constitution. It is not being allowed to invade the field of the legislator. In doing so, the court does not have any discretionary political basis in order to create legal norms or provisions that could not be deducted from the Constitution itself. When interpreting a statute “in accordance with the constitution”, the court recognizes and reasserts that it is strictly forbidden to extend the scope of a legal provision in such a way that would create a general norm not established by the law-maker. This paper aims to identify and assess the latest role of Indonesian Constitutional Court in interpreting and applying the Constitution. In particular, it questions 1) the role of the Constitutional Court in judicial review; and 2) the role of the court to assist the legislators in the accomplishment of their functions in order to preserve its supremacy testing the constitutionality of statutes. Concerning positive legislator, jurisprudential and judicial review theories will be approached. The empirical part will include qualitative and comparative research. Main questions to be addressed: Can the Constitutional Court be functionalized as positive legislator? What are the criteria for conducting role of Constitutional Courts as Positive Legislators and how can it be accepted? Concerning the subordination of Constitutional Courts to the Constitution and judicial review, both qualitative and quantitative methods will be used, and differences between Indonesia and German Constitutional Court will be observed. Other questions to be addressed: Can Constitutional Courts have any discretionary political basis in order to create legal norms or provisions that could not be deducted from the Constitution itself. Should the Constitutional Court always act as a negative legislator? However, the Constitutional Court in Indonesia has played role as positive legislators which create dynamic of Indonesian legal development. In performing the task of reviewing the constitutionality of statutes, the Constitutional Court has created legal norms or provisions that could be deducted from the Constitution itself.

Keywords: constitution, court, law, rights

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Authors: Ciolomic Ioana Andreea, Farcas Teodora, Tiron-Tudor Adriana

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Investments in research and innovation are widely acknowledged as being crucial drivers for economic growth, for job-creation and to secure social and economic welfare. The aim of this article is to disseminate the results of a Leonardo da Vinci Innovation Transfer project, AdapTykes Adaptation of trainings based up on the Finnish Workplace Development Programme. This project aims to analyses the adaptability of the Finnish model to the economic and political environment of the two emergent countries Romania and Hungary, in order to develop workplace innovation. The focus of this paper is to present the adaptability of the Finnish model to the Romanian context.

Keywords: innovation, human resources, education, tools

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