Search results for: government support for start-ups

Authors: Ivan M. Taremwa, Scholastic Ashaba, Harriet O. Adrama, Carlrona Ayebazibwe, Daniel Omoding, Imelda Kemeza, Jane Yatuha, Thadeus Turuho, Noni E. MacDonald, Robert Hilliard

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Background: The burden of malaria in Uganda remains unacceptably high, especially among children and pregnant women. To prevent malaria related complications, household possession and use of Insecticide Treated mosquito Nets (ITNs) has become a common practice in the country. Despite the availability of ITNs, the number of malaria cases has not gone down. We sought to explore knowledge, attitude, and behaviour towards the use of ITNs as a nightly malaria prevention strategy among pregnant women and children under five years of age in rural southwest Uganda. Materials and Methods: This was a community based, descriptive cross-sectional study, in which households with children under 5 years, and/or pregnant women were enrolled. We used a structured questionnaire to collect data on participants’ understanding of the causes, signs and symptoms of malaria; use of ITNs to prevent malaria; attitudes and behaviours towards the use of ITNs. We also conducted key informant interviews (KIIs) to get in-depth understanding of responses from the participants. We analysed quantitative data using STATA version 12. Qualitative findings from the KIIs were transcribed and translated, and manually analysed using thematic content analysis. Results: Of the 369 households enrolled, 98.6% (N=363) households had children under five. Most participants (41.2%, N=152) were in the 21-30 years of age category (mean age; 32.2). 98.6% (N=362) of the respondents considered ITNs a key malaria prevention strategy. The ITN possession rate was 84.0% (N=310), of these, 67.0% (N=205) consistently used them. 39% of the respondents did not have a positive attitude towards ITNs, as they considered more the perceived effects of ITNs. Conclusions: Although 84.0% of the respondents possessed ITNs, many were not consistently using them. There is need to engage all stakeholders (including cultural leaders, community health workers, religious leaders and the government) in the malaria prevention campaigns using ITNs through: a) government’s concerted effort to ensure universal access of good quality ITNs, b) end-user directed education to correct false beliefs and misinformation, c) telling the ITN success stories to improve on the usage.

Keywords: ITNs use, malaria, pregnant women, rural Uganda

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Authors: Zsuzsa Szakaly

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Several constitutions have explicit or implicit eternity clauses in the European Union, their classic roles were analyzed so far, albeit there are new possibilities emerging in relation to the identity of the constitutions of the Member States. The aim of the study is to look at the practice of the Constitutional Courts of the Member States in detail regarding eternity clauses where limiting constitutional amendment has practical bearing, and to examine the influence of such practice on Europeanization. There are some states that apply explicit eternity clauses embedded in the text of the constitution, e.g., Italy, Germany, and Romania. In other states, the Constitutional Court 'unearthed' the implicit eternity clauses from the text of the basic law, e.g., Slovakia and Croatia. By using comparative analysis to examine the explicit or implicit clauses of the concerned constitutions, taking into consideration the new trends of the judicial opinions of the Member States and the fresh scientific studies, the main questions are: How to wield the double-edged sword of eternity clauses? To support European Integration or to support the sovereignty of the Member State? To help Europeanization or to act against it? Eternity clauses can easily find themselves between a rock and a hard place, the law of the European Union and the law of a Member State, with more possible interpretations. As more and more Constitutional Courts started to declare elements of their Member States’ constitutional identities, these began to interfere with the eternity clauses. Will this trend eventually work against Europeanization? As a result of the research, it can be stated that a lowest common denominator exists in the practice of European Constitutional Courts regarding eternity clauses. The chance of a European model and the possibility of this model influencing the status quo between the European Union and the Member States will be examined by looking at the answers these courts have found so far.

Keywords: constitutional court, constitutional identity, eternity clause, European Integration

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Authors: R. Tariq, R. Lee

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Background: Additional demands placed on senior clinical teams with ongoing COVID-19 management has accelerated the need to harness the wider healthcare professional resources and upskill them to take on greater clinical responsibility safely. The UK NHS Long Term Plan (2019)¹ emphasises the importance of expanding Advanced Practitioners’ (APs) roles to take on more clinical diagnostic responsibilities to cope with increased demand. In acute settings, APs are often the first point of care for patients and require training to take on initial triage responsibilities efficiently and safely. Critically, their roles include determining which onward services the patients may require, and assessing whether they can be treated at home, avoiding unnecessary admissions to the hospital. Dem Dx is a Clinical Reasoning Platform (CRP) that claims to help frontline healthcare professionals independently assess and triage patients. It guides the clinician from presenting complaints through associated symptoms to a running list of differential diagnoses, media, national and institutional guidelines. The objective of this study was to compare the clinical referral rates and guidelines adherence registered by the HMR Urgent Community Care Team (UCCT)² and Dem Dx recommendations using retrospective cases. Methodology: 192 cases seen by the UCCT were anonymised and reassessed using Dem Dx clinical pathways. We compared the UCCT’s performance with Dem Dx regarding the appropriateness of onward referrals. We also compared the clinical assessment regarding adherence to NICE guidelines recorded on the clinical notes and the presence of suitable guidance in each case. The cases were audited by two medical doctors. Results: Dem Dx demonstrated appropriate referrals in 85% of cases, compared to 47% in the UCCT team (p<0.001). Of particular note, Dem Dx demonstrated an almost 65% (p<0.001) improvement in the efficacy and appropriateness of referrals in a highly experienced clinical team. The effectiveness of Dem Dx is in part attributable to the relevant NICE and local guidelines found within the platform's pathways and was found to be suitable in 86% of cases. Conclusion: This study highlights the potential of clinical decision support, as Dem Dx, to improve the quality of onward clinical referrals delivered by a multidisciplinary team in primary care. It demonstrated that it could support healthcare professionals in making appropriate referrals, especially those that may be overlooked by providing suitable clinical guidelines directly embedded into cases and clear referral pathways. Further evaluation in the clinical setting has been planned to confirm those assumptions in a prospective study.

Keywords: advanced practitioner, clinical reasoning, clinical decision-making, management, multidisciplinary team, referrals, triage

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Authors: Vida Dones-Jimenez

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The main purpose of this study is to determine the preschool teachers’ technology and 21st-century skills and its relation to teachers’ performance. The participants were 94 preschool teachers and 59 school administrators from the CDAPS member schools. The data were collected by using 21st Century Skill, developed by ISSA (2009), Technology Skills of Teachers Survey (2013) and Teacher Performance Evaluation Criteria and Descriptors (200) was modified by the current researcher to suit the needs of her study and was administered personally by her. The surveys were designed to measure the participants’ 21st-century skills, technology skills and teaching performance. The result of the study indicates that the majority of the preschool teachers are the college graduate. Most of them are in the teaching profession for 0 to 10 years. It also indicated that the majority of the school administrators are masters’ degree holder. The preschool teachers are outstanding in their teaching performance as rated by the school administrators. The preschool teachers are skillful in using technology, and they are very skillful in executing the 21st-century skills in teaching. It was further determined that no significant difference between preschool teachers 21st-century skill in regards to educational attainment same as with the number of years in teaching, likewise with their technology skills. Furthermore, the study has shown that there is a very weak relationship between technology and 21st-century skills of preschool teachers, a weak relationship between technology skills and teaching performance and a very weak relationship between 21st-century skills and teaching performance were also established. The study recommends that the preschool teachers should be encouraged to enroll in master degree programs. School administrators should support the implementation of newly adopted technologies and support faculty members at various levels of use and experience. It is also recommended that regular review of the professional development plan be undertaken to upgrade 21st-century teaching and learning skills of preschool teachers.

Keywords: preschool teacher, teaching performance, technology, 21st century skills

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Authors: Naziema B. Jappie

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Over the last 23 years leaders in government, political parties and universities have been spending much time on identifying and discussing various gaps in the system that impact systematically on students especially those from historically Black communities. Equity and access to higher education were two critical aspects that featured in achieving the transformation goals together with a funding model for those previously disadvantaged. Free education was not a feasible option for the government. Institutional leaders in higher education face many demands on their time and resources. Often, the time for crisis management planning or consideration of being proactive and preventative is not a standing agenda item. With many issues being priority in academia, people become complacent and think that crisis may not affect them or they will cross the bridge when they get to it. Historically South Africa has proven to be a country of militancy, strikes and protests in most industries, some leading to disastrous outcomes. Higher education was not different between October 2015 and late 2016 when the #Rhodes Must Fall which morphed into the # Fees Must Fall protest challenged the establishment, changed the social fabric of universities, bringing the sector to a standstill. Some institutional leaders and administrators were better at handling unexpected, high-consequence situations than others. At most crisis leadership is viewed as a situation more than a style of leadership which is usually characterized by crisis management. The objective of this paper is to show how institutions managed catastrophes of disastrous proportions, down through unexpected incidents of 2015/2016. The content draws on the vast past crisis management experience of the presenter and includes the occurrences of the recent protests giving an event timeline. Using responses from interviews with institutional leaders and administrators as well as students will ensure first-hand information on their experiences and the outcomes. Students have tasted the power of organized action and they demand immediate change, if not the revolt will continue. This paper will examine the approaches that guided institutional leaders and their crisis teams and sector crisis response. It will further expand on whether the solutions effectively changed governance in higher education or has it minimized the need for more protests. The conclusion will give an insight into the future of higher education in South Africa from a leadership perspective.

Keywords: crisis, governance, intervention, leadership, strategies, protests

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Authors: Ernest Nweke, Enkhtuya Bavuudorj

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The harsh realities of the scandalous failure of several notable corporations in the past two decades have inextricably resulted in a surge in corporate governance studies. Nevertheless, little or no attention has been paid to corporate governance studies in Mongolian firms and much less to the comprehension of the correlation among ownership structure, corporate governance mechanisms and trend of innovative activities. Innovation is the bed rock of enterprise success. However, the funding and support for innovative activities in many firms are to a great extent determined by the incentives provided by the firm’s internal and external governance mechanisms. Mongolia is an East Asian country currently undergoing a fast-paced transition from socialist to democratic system and it is a widely held view that private ownership as against public ownership fosters innovation. Hence, following the privatization policy of Mongolian Government which has led to the transfer of the ownership of hitherto state controlled and state directed firms to private individuals and organizations, expectations are high that sufficient motivation would be provided for firm managers to engage in innovative activities. This research focuses on the relationship between ownership structure, corporate governance on one hand and the level of innovation on the hand. The paper is empirical in nature and derives data from both reliable secondary and primary sources. Secondary data for the study was in respect of ownership structure of Mongolian listed firms and innovation trend in Mongolia generally. These were analyzed using tables, charts, bars and percentages. Personal interviews and surveys were held to collect primary data. Primary data was in respect of corporate governance practices in Mongolian firms and were collected using structured questionnaire. Out of a population of three hundred and twenty (320) companies listed on the Mongolian Stock Exchange (MSE), a sample size of thirty (30) randomly selected companies was utilized for the study. Five (5) management level employees were surveyed in each selected firm giving a total of one hundred and fifty (150) respondents. Data collected were analyzed and research hypotheses tested using Chi-Square test statistic. Research results showed that corporate governance mechanisms were better and have significantly improved overtime in privately held as opposed to publicly owned firms. Consequently, the levels of innovation in privately held firms were considerably higher. It was concluded that a significant and positive relationship exists between private ownership and good corporate governance on one hand and the level of funding provided for innovative activities in Mongolian firms on the other hand.

Keywords: corporate governance, innovation, ownership structure, stock exchange

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Authors: Narges Ebadi, Davod Ahmadi, Hiliary Monteith, Hugo Melgar-Quinonez

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Migration cannot necessarily relieve pressure on water resources in origin communities, and male out-migration can increase the water management burden of women. However, inflows of financial remittances seem to offer possibilities of investing in improving drinking-water access. Therefore, remittances may be an important pathway for migrants to support water security. This paper explores the association between water access and the receipt of remittances in households in sub-Saharan Africa. Data from round 6 of the 'Afrobarometer' surveys in 2016 were used (n= 49,137). Descriptive, bivariate and multivariate statistical analyses were carried out in this study. Regardless of country, findings from descriptive analyses showed that approximately 80% of the respondents never received remittance, and 52% had enough clean water. Only one-fifth of the respondents had piped water supply inside the house (19.9%), and approximately 25% had access to a toilet inside the house. Bivariate analyses revealed that even though receiving remittances was significantly associated with water supply, the strength of association was very weak. However, other factors such as the area of residence (rural vs. urban), cash income frequencies, electricity access, and asset ownership were strongly associated with water access. Results from unadjusted multinomial logistic regression revealed that the probability of having no access to piped water increased among remittance recipients who received financial support at least once a month (OR=1.324) (p < 0.001). In contrast, those not receiving remittances were more likely to regularly have a water access concern (OR=1.294) (p < 0.001), and not have access to a latrine (OR=1.665) (p < 0.001). In conclusion, receiving remittances is significantly related to water access as the strength of odds ratios for socio-demographic factors was stronger.

Keywords: remittances, water access, SSA, migration

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Authors: Jamshid Hussain, Kuen Song Lin

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Over one thousand tons of pig hair biowaste (PHB) are produced yearly in Taiwan. The improper disposal of PHB can have a negative impact on the environment, consequently contributing to the spread of diseases. The treatment of PHB has become a major environmental and economic challenge. Innovative treatments must be developed because of the heavy metal and sulfur content of PHB. Like most organic materials, PHB is composed of many organic volatiles that contain large amounts of hydrogen. Hydrogen gas can be effectively produced by the catalytic gasification of PHB using a laboratory-scale fixed-bed gasifier, employing 15 wt% NiO/Al₂O₃ catalyst at 753–913 K. The derived kinetic parameters were obtained and refined using simulation calculations. FE–SEM microphotograph showed that NiO/Al₂O₃ catalyst particles are Spherical or irregularly shaped with diameters of 10–20 nm. HR–TEM represented that the fresh Ni particles were evenly dispersed and uniform in the microstructure of Al₂O₃ support. The sizes of the NiO nanoparticles were vital in determining catalyst activity. As displayed in the pre-edge XANES spectra of the NiO/Al₂O₃ catalysts, it exhibited a non-intensive absorbance nature for the 1s to 3d transition, which is prohibited by the selection rule for an ideal octahedral symmetry. Similarly, the populace of Ni(II) and Ni(0) onto Al₂O₃ supports are proportional to the strength of the 1s to 4pxy transition, respectively. The weak shoulder at 8329–8334 eV and a strong character at 8345–8353 eV were ascribed to the 1s to 4pxy shift, which suggested the presence of NiO types onto Al₂O₃ support in PHB catalytic gasification. As determined by the XANES analyses, Ni(II)→Ni(0) reduction was mostly observed. The oxidation of PHB onto the NiO/Al₂O₃ surface may have resulted in Ni(0) and the formation of tar during the gasification process. The EXAFS spectra revealed that the Ni atoms with Ni–Ni/Ni–O bonds were found. The Ni–O bonding proved that the produced syngas were unable to reduce NiO to Ni(0) completely. The weakness of the Ni–Ni bonds may have been caused by the highly dispersed Ni in the Al₂O₃ support. The central Ni atoms have Ni–O (2.01 Å) and Ni–Ni (2.34 Å) bond distances in the fresh NiO/Al₂O₃ catalyst. The PHB was converted into hydrogen-rich syngas (CO + H₂, >89.8% dry basis). When PHB (250 kg h−1) was catalytically gasified at 753–913 K, syngas was produced at approximately 5.45 × 105 kcal h−1 of heat recovery with 76.5%–83.5% cold gas efficiency. The simulation of the pilot-scale PHB catalytic gasification demonstrated that the system could provide hydrogen (purity > 99.99%) and generate electricity for an internal combustion engine of 100 kW and a proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) of 175 kW. A projected payback for a PHB catalytic gasification plant with a capacity of 10- or 20-TPD (ton per day) was around 3.2 or 2.5 years, respectively.

Keywords: pig hair biowaste, catalytic gasification, hydrogen production, PEMFC, resource recovery

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Authors: E. Asadollahi-Yazdi, J. Gardan, P. Lafon

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Nowadays, manufactures are encountered with production of different version of products due to quality, cost and time constraints. On the other hand, Additive Manufacturing (AM) as a production method based on CAD model disrupts the design and manufacturing cycle with new parameters. To consider these issues, the researchers utilized Design For Manufacturing (DFM) approach for AM but until now there is no integrated approach for design and manufacturing of product through the AM. So, this paper aims to provide a general methodology for managing the different production issues, as well as, support the interoperability with AM process and different Product Life Cycle Management tools. The problem is that the models of System Engineering which is used for managing complex systems cannot support the product evolution and its impact on the product life cycle. Therefore, it seems necessary to provide a general methodology for managing the product’s diversities which is created by using AM. This methodology must consider manufacture and assembly during product design as early as possible in the design stage. The latest approach of DFM, as a methodology to analyze the system comprehensively, integrates manufacturing constraints in the numerical model in upstream. So, DFM for AM is used to import the characteristics of AM into the design and manufacturing process of a hybrid product to manage the criteria coming from AM. Also, the research presents an integrated design method in order to take into account the knowledge of layers manufacturing technologies. For this purpose, the interface model based on the skin and skeleton concepts is provided, the usage and manufacturing skins are used to show the functional surface of the product. Also, the material flow and link between the skins are demonstrated by usage and manufacturing skeletons. Therefore, this integrated approach is a helpful methodology for designer and manufacturer in different decisions like material and process selection as well as, evaluation of product manufacturability.

Keywords: additive manufacturing, 3D printing, design for manufacturing, integrated design, interoperability

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Authors: Klara Królewiak-Detsi, Anna Orylska, Anna Gorgolewska, Marta Boczkowska, Agata Graczykowska

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This study investigates the communication between students and teachers in inclusive education in Poland. Specifically, we examine the communication and interaction of students with special educational needs during online learning compared to traditional face-to-face instruction. Our research questions are (1) how children with special educational needs communicate with their teachers and peers during online learning, and (2) what strategies can improve their communication skills. We conducted five focus groups with: (1) 55 children with special educational needs, (2) 65 typically developing pupils, (3) 28 professionals (psychologists and special education therapists), (4) 16 teachers, and (5) 16 parents of children with special educational needs. Our analysis focused on primary schools and used thematic analysis according to the 6-step procedure of Braun and Clarke. Our findings reveal that children with disabilities faced more difficulties communicating and interacting with others online than in face-to-face lessons. The online tools used for education were not adapted to the needs of children with disabilities, and schools lacked clear guidelines on how to pursue inclusive education online. Based on the results, we offer recommendations for online communication training and tools that are dedicated to children with special educational needs. Additionally, our results demonstrate that typically developing pupils are better in interpersonal relations and more often and effectively use social support. Children with special educational needs had similar emotional and communication challenges compared to their typically developing peers. In conclusion, our study highlights the importance of providing adequate support for the online education of children with special educational needs in inclusive classrooms.

Keywords: Inclusive education, Special educational needs, Social skills development, Online communication

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Authors: Afri Ananda Nugroho

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Privatization is one of the public policies closely related to the role of government in the economy due to the failure of the centralized system in the communist countries. This paper will discuss the basic issues of privatization as a global trend, the purpose of privatization, implementation, and impact on the success of State-Owned Enterprises (BUMN) in Indonesia. The analysis is done by looking at some important issues about the privatization problem, and some public policies are being applied such as why and how privatization is necessary and what impact it has. This paper also discusses the implications for top leaders of State-Owned Enterprises.

Keywords: privatization, state-owned enterprises, Indonesia, public policy

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Authors: D. Supaporn, B. Julaluk

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The purposes of this study were to study symptom cluster, functional status and quality of life of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and to examine factors related to and predicting symptom cluster, functional status and quality of life of COPD patients. The sample was 180 COPD patients multi-stage random sampling from 4 hospitals in the eastern region, Thailand. The research instruments were 8 questionnaires and recorded forms measuring personal and illness data, co-morbidity, physical and psychological symptom, health status perception, social support, and regimen adherence, functional status and quality of life. Spearman rank and Pearson correlation coefficient, exploratory factors analysis and standard multiple regression were used to analyzed data. The findings revealed that two symptom clusters were generated: physical symptom cluster including dyspnea, fatigue and insomnia; and, psychological symptom cluster including anxiety and depression. Scores of physical symptom cluster was at moderate level while that of psychological symptom cluster was at low level. Scores on functional status, social support and overall regimen adherence were at good level whereas scores on quality of life and health status perception were at moderate level. Disease severity was positively related to physical symptom cluster, psychological symptom cluster and quality of life, and was negatively related to functional status at a moderate level (rs = .512, .509, .588 and -.611, respectively). Co-morbidity was positively related to physical symptom cluster and psychological symptom cluster at a low level (r = .179 and .176, respectively). Regimen adherence was negatively related to quality of life and psychological symptom cluster at a low level (r=-.277 and -.309, respectively), and was positively related to functional status at a moderate level (r=.331). Health status perception was negatively related to physical symptom cluster, psychological symptom cluster and quality of life at a moderate to high level (r = -.567, -.640 and -.721, respectively) and was positively related to functional status at a high level (r = .732). Social support was positively related to functional status (r=.235) and was negatively related to quality of life at a low level (r=-.178). Physical symptom cluster was negatively related to functional status (r= -.490) and was positively related to quality of life at a moderate level (r=.566). Psychological symptom cluster was negatively related to functional status and was positively related to quality of life at a moderate level (r= -.566 and .559, respectively). Disease severity, co-morbidity and health status perception could predict 40.2% of the variance of physical symptom cluster. Disease severity, co-morbidity, regimen adherence and health status perception could predict 49.8% of the variance of psychological symptom cluster. Co-morbidity, regimen adherence and health status perception could predict 65.0% of the variance of functional status. Disease severity, health status perception and physical symptom cluster could predict 60.0% of the variance of quality of life in COPD patients. The results of this study can be used for enhancing quality of life of COPD patients.

Keywords: chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, functional status, quality of life, symptom cluster

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Authors: Miriam Palomo-Nieto, Adrian Agricola, Rudolf Psotta, Reza Abdollahipour, Ludvik Valtr

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The importance of vision and the visual control of movement have been labeled in the literature related to motor control and many studies have demonstrated that children with low motor competence may rely more heavily on vision to perform movements than their typically developing peers. The aim of the study was to highlight the effects of different visual conditions on motor performance during walking in children with different levels of motor coordination. Participants (n = 32, mean age = 8.5 years sd. ± 0.5) were divided into two groups: typical development (TD) and low motor coordination (LMC) based on the scores of the Movement Assessment Battery for Children (MABC-2). They were asked to walk along a 10 meters walkway where the Optojump-Next instrument was installed in a portable laboratory (15 x 3 m), which allows that all participants had the same visual information. They walked in self-selected speed under four visual conditions: full vision (FV), limited vision 100 ms (LV-100), limited vision 150 ms (LV-150) and non-vision (NV). For visual occlusion participants were equipped with Plato Goggles that shut for 100 and 150 ms, respectively, within each 2 sec. Data were analyzed in a two-way mixed-effect ANOVA including 2 (TD vs. LMC) x 4 (FV, LV-100, LV-150 & NV) with repeated-measures on the last factor (p ≤.05). Results indicated that TD children walked faster and with longer normalized steps length and strides than LMC children. For TD children the percentage of the single support and swing time were higher than for low motor competence children. However, the percentage of load response and pre swing was higher in the low motor competence children rather than the TD children. These findings indicated that through walking we could be able to identify different levels of motor coordination in children. Likewise, LMC children showed shorter percentages in those parameters regarding only one leg support, supporting the idea of balance problems.

Keywords: visual information, motor performance, walking pattern, optojump

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Authors: Govind Kumar

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The concept of ‘e-governance’ that was brought about by the new wave of reforms, namely ‘LPG’ in the early 1990s, has been enabling governments across the globe to digitally transform themselves. Digital transformation is leading the governments with qualitative decisions, optimization in rational use of resources, facilitation of cost-benefit analyses, and elimination of redundancy and corruption with the help of ICT-based applications interface. ICT-based applications/technologies have enormous potential for impacting positive change in the social lives of the global citizenry. Supercomputers test and analyze millions of drug molecules for developing candidate vaccines to combat the global pandemic. Further, e-commerce portals help distribute and supply household items and medicines, while videoconferencing tools provide a visual interface between the clients and hosts. Besides, crop yields are being maximized with the help of drones and machine learning, whereas satellite data, artificial intelligence, and cloud computing help governments with the detection of illegal mining, tackling deforestation, and managing freshwater resources. Such e-applications have the potential to take governance an extra mile by achieving 5 Es (effective, efficient, easy, empower, and equity) of e-governance and six Rs (reduce, reuse, recycle, recover, redesign and remanufacture) of sustainable development. If such digital transformation gains traction within the government framework, it will replace the traditional administration with the digitalization of public administration. On the other hand, it has brought in a new set of challenges, like the digital divide, e-illiteracy, technological divide, etc., and problems like handling e-waste, technological obsolescence, cyber terrorism, e-fraud, hacking, phishing, etc. before the governments. Therefore, it would be essential to bring in a rightful mixture of technological and humanistic interventions for addressing the above issues. This is on account of the reason that technology lacks an emotional quotient, and the administration does not work like technology. Both are self-effacing unless a blend of technology and a humane face are brought in into the administration. The paper will empirically analyze the significance of the technological framework of digital transformation within the government set up for the digitalization of public administration on the basis of the synthesis of two case studies undertaken from two diverse fields of administration and present a future framework of the study.

Keywords: digital transformation, electronic governance, public administration, knowledge framework

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Authors: Zhikang Rong

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The 4th industrial revolution has introduced technologies like interconnectivity, machine learning, and real-time big data analytics that improve operations and business efficiency. This paper examines how these advancements have led to a concentration of wealth, specifically among the top 1%, and investigates whether this wealth provides value to society. Through analyzing impacts on employment, productivity, supply-demand dynamics, and potential externalities, it is shown that successful businesspeople, by enhancing productivity and creating jobs, contribute positively to long-term economic growth. Additionally, externalities such as environmental degradation are managed by social entrepreneurship and government policies.

Keywords: wealth creation, employment, productivity, social entrepreneurship

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Authors: Nimrod Bantigue

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The Department of Education is continuously providing safe teaching-learning facilities and hazard-free environments to the learners. To achieve this goal, teachers’ awareness of DepEd’s DRRM programs and activities is extremely important; thus, this descriptive correlational quantitative study was conceptualized. This research answered four questions on the profile and level of awareness of the 153 teacher respondents of Oriental Mindoro National High School for the academic year 2018-2019. Stratified proportional sampling was employed, and both descriptive and inferential statistics were utilized to treat data. The findings revealed that the majority of the teachers at OMNHS are female and are in the age bracket of 20-40. Most are married and pursue graduate studies. They have moderate awareness of the Department of Education’s DRRM programs and activities in terms of assessment of risks activities, planning activities, implementation activities during disaster and evaluation and monitoring activities with 3.32, 3.12, 3.40 and 3.31 as computed means, respectively. Further, the result showed a significant relationship between the profile of the respondents such as age, civil status and educational attainment and the level of awareness. On the contrary, sex does not have a significant relationship with the level of awareness. The Support School DRRM program with Utilization Guide on School DRRM Manual was proposed to increase, improve and strengthen the weakest areas of awareness rated in each DRRM activity, such as assessment of risks, planning, and implementation during disasters and monitoring and evaluation.

Keywords: awareness, management, monitoring, risk reduction

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Authors: Victor Osaghae

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In 2005, the CIA published a report warning that Nigeria, the seventh most populous country in the world, could disintegrate within 15 years. Nigeria experiences civil unrest, violence and strikes. Nigeria has one of the highest rates of internal violence in the world, only unlike others with similar levels of bloodshed such as Colombia or Chechnya, there is not a civil war going on. The types of unrest observed in Nigeria from literatures consulted can be categorized into five namely: religious, social, political, labour, and communal or ethnic unrests. The cuases of the unrests are as follows: injustice, unemployment, religious intolerance, illiteracy and government not filling agreements reached with unions. The cost due to these unrests cannot be quantified because it affects human, material/properties and money.

Keywords: unrest, conflicts, Boko Haram, disturbance

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Authors: M. Govindarajan

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One of the major developments in machine learning in the past decade is the ensemble method, which finds highly accurate classifier by combining many moderately accurate component classifiers. In this research work, new ensemble classification methods are proposed with homogeneous ensemble classifier using bagging and heterogeneous ensemble classifier using arcing and their performances are analyzed in terms of accuracy. A Classifier ensemble is designed using Radial Basis Function (RBF) and Support Vector Machine (SVM) as base classifiers. The feasibility and the benefits of the proposed approaches are demonstrated by the means of standard datasets of intrusion detection. The main originality of the proposed approach is based on three main parts: preprocessing phase, classification phase, and combining phase. A wide range of comparative experiments is conducted for standard datasets of intrusion detection. The performance of the proposed homogeneous and heterogeneous ensemble classifiers are compared to the performance of other standard homogeneous and heterogeneous ensemble methods. The standard homogeneous ensemble methods include Error correcting output codes, Dagging and heterogeneous ensemble methods include majority voting, stacking. The proposed ensemble methods provide significant improvement of accuracy compared to individual classifiers and the proposed bagged RBF and SVM performs significantly better than ECOC and Dagging and the proposed hybrid RBF-SVM performs significantly better than voting and stacking. Also heterogeneous models exhibit better results than homogeneous models for standard datasets of intrusion detection. 

Keywords: data mining, ensemble, radial basis function, support vector machine, accuracy

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Authors: Thien Bach Nguyen, Nhu-Van Nguyen, Phi-Minh Nguyen, Minh Hien Dao

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The external store safe separation evaluation process implementing CFD and MIL-HDBK-1763 is proposed to support the evaluation and compliance of the external store safe separation with the extensive using CFD and the criteria from MIL-HDBK-1763. The criteria of safe separation are researched and investigated for the various standards and handbooks such as MIL-HDBK-1763, MIL-HDBK-244A, AGARD-AG-202 and AGARD-AG-300 to acquire the appropriate and tailored values and limits for the typical applications of external carriages and aircraft fighters. The CFD and 6DOF simulations are extensively used in ANSYS 2023 R1 Software for verification and validation of moving unstructured meshes and solvers by calibrating the position, aerodynamic forces and moments of the existing air-to-ground missile models. The verified CFD and 6DoF simulation separation process is applied and implemented for the investigation of the typical munition separation phenomena and compliance with the tailored requirements of MIL-HDBK-1763. The prediction of munition trajectory parameters under aircraft aerodynamics interference and specified rack unit consideration after munition separation is provided and complied with the tailored requirements to support the safe separation evaluation of improved and newly external store munition before the flight test performed. The proposed process demonstrates the effectiveness and reliability in providing the understanding of the complicated store separation and the reduction of flight test sorties during the improved and new munition development projects by extensively using the CFD and tailoring the existing standards.

Keywords: external store separation, MIL-HDBK-1763, CFD, moving meshes, flight test data, munition.

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Authors: Tamil Chelvi Vadivelu, Nurazean Maarop, Rasimah Che Yusoff, Farhana Aini Saludin

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Implementing a remote healthcare system needs to consider many security features. Therefore, before any deployment of the remote healthcare system, a feasibility study from the security perspective is crucial. Remote healthcare system using WBAN technology has been used in other countries for medical purposes but in Malaysia, such projects are still not yet implemented. This study was conducted qualitatively. The interview results involving five healthcare practitioners are further elaborated. The study has addressed four important security features in order to incorporate remote healthcare system using WBAN in Malaysian government hospitals.

Keywords: remote healthcare, IT security, security features, wireless sensor application

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Authors: Jireh Reinor L. Vitto, Mylene S. Gumarao, Levy M. Fajanilan, Sheryll Ann M. Castillo, Leonardo B. Dorado, Miriam P. Narbarte

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Human trafficking may happen to anyone. The study aimed to explore the experiences of victim witnesses of human trafficking. It utilized a qualitative phenomenological study design. Eighteen women, 15 to 46 years old, had experienced human trafficking (sex or labor trafficking), and with a filed case or not. An in-depth semi-structured, open-ended interview was employed to gather information. Guardians were also interviewed for triangulation purposes. Findings showed that the participants experienced fatigue and abuse for their physical aspect and gained negative feelings such as burdened, sad, scared (fear), stress, anger, trauma, depress and suicidal thoughts for their psychological aspect. For the spiritual aspect, the participants concluded to have enhanced spiritual life where they knew about God, became closer to God, and learned how to pray. They also faced challenges such as dysfunctional family, delinquent friends, exploitation, problems kept from the family, and poverty, which resulted in their becoming victims of human trafficking. To cope with the situation, they utilized family support, prayers, guts or courage (lakas ng loob), negotiation with their employer, and support from kababayans. Their practices and mechanisms to recover were the Blas Ople Center, rescue/entrapment operation, shelter, and embassy. After the incident, the participants shared that they earned to have thoughts of having a good life without going abroad/makabayan, knowledge of overseas Filipino workers, wise choice of friends, contentment, and value for the family.

Keywords: victim-witnesses, human trafficking, lived experiences, challenges, coping strategies

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Authors: Adam Gushgari

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The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has catalyzed the rapid adoption of wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) methodologies both domestically and internationally. To support the rapid scale-up of pandemic-response wastewater surveillance systems, multiple federal agencies (i.e. US CDC), non-government organizations (i.e. Water Environment Federation), and private charities (i.e. Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation) have funded over $220 million USD supporting development and expanding equitable access of surveillance methods. Funds were primarily distributed directly to municipalities under the CARES Act (90.6%), followed by academic projects (7.6%), and initiatives developed by private companies (1.8%). In addition to federal funding for wastewater monitoring primarily conducted at wastewater treatment plants, state/local governments and private companies have leveraged wastewater sampling to obtain health and lifestyle data on student, prison inmate, and employee populations. We explore the viable paths for expansion of the WBE m1ethodology across a variety of analytical methods; the development of WBE-specific samplers and real-time wastewater sensors; and their application to various governments and private sector industries. Considerable investment in, and public acceptance of WBE suggests the methodology will be applied to other future notifiable diseases and health risks. Early research suggests that WBE methods can be applied to a host of additional “biological insults” including communicable diseases and pathogens, such as influenza, Cryptosporidium, Giardia, mycotoxin exposure, hepatitis, dengue, West Nile, Zika, and yellow fever. Interest in chemical insults is also likely, providing community health and lifestyle data on narcotics consumption, use of pharmaceutical and personal care products (PPCP), PFAS and hazardous chemical exposure, and microplastic exposure. Successful application of WBE to monitor analytes correlated with carcinogen exposure, community stress prevalence, and dietary indicators has also been shown. Additionally, technology developments of in situ wastewater sensors, WBE-specific wastewater samplers, and integration of artificial intelligence will drastically change the landscape of WBE through the development of “smart sewer” networks. The rapid expansion of the WBE field is creating significant business opportunities for professionals across the scientific, engineering, and technology industries ultimately focused on community health improvement.

Keywords: wastewater surveillance, wastewater-based epidemiology, smart cities, public health, pandemic management, substance abuse

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Authors: Bilge Kaan Tekelioglu, Mehmet Celik, Mahmut Ali Gokce, Ladine Celik, Yusuf Uzun

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A male mature barn owl (Tyto alba) was brought to Cukurova University Ceyhan Veterinary Medicine Faculty at the beginning of January 2017. The bird was found at a local state elementary school’s garden where had been terribly damaged by metal wires. On the clinical examination, the animal was in shock and atonic position at arrival and seems to have feather problems and severe injuries. The ears, eyes, claws and wounded areas were checked and no signs of viral, microbial or ecto-parasitic infection were observed. The bird has been declared by U.S. wild life Office as endangered species. At first, the owl was kept in silent, warm and darkened cabinet against shock and warmed fluid replacement was started by % 5 dextrose solution per orally. On the second day, we started per oral forced feeding with chicken flesh meat dipped into the dextrose solution. On the third day, the bird was continued to be fed with fresh meat. At the fourth day, the owl was started to be fed with chicks during the next 3 days died by natural means which has been supplied by a local breeder. At the first 3 days 1 chick per day and the following days 2 chicks per day has been given per orally. The tenth day we started flying exercises in a small and non-windowed room safely. The saved owl was kept in this room for 10 more days. Finally, the owl was released at the habitation where it had been found injured. This study has one more time proved that, if you save one, you can save more. Wild life is in danger all over the world. Every living creature has right and deserves a chance to live.

Keywords: wild life, barn owl, Tyto alba, rescue, life support, feeding

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Authors: Y. N. Shashidhara, B. S. Shakuntala

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Introduction: Nursing practice is undergoing tremendous changes and challenges. In order to meet social challenges and needs, nursing practice must be research based. Research is needed to evaluate the effectiveness of nursing treatment modalities, to determine the impact of nursing care on the health of the patients or to test the theory of nursing practice. Objective of the study to explore the attitude of staff nurses on Nursing research and its utilization Methodology: The descriptive study design was adopted and 300 staff nurses were selected by systematic random sampling technique from eight hospitals. The attitude on nursing research was assessed by validated and reliable self-administered attitude scale which consists of 40 items. Results: The overall attitude mean score 130.2 (SD 11.5) regarding attitude on Nursing research and its utilization. Some of the findings are the majority of staff nurses (51% agreed and 18.3% strongly agreed) that they have all the motivation to use research findings if they get support. Nearly 25.3 percent of staff nurses agreed and 10.7 percent strongly agreed that they do not have time to conduct research. The majority of staff nurses 53.7 percent agreed that research will help in updating Nursing profession. Nearly 32.6 percent of staff nurses agreed and 20.5 percent strongly agreed that being able to use will make them better nurses. About 45.3 percent and 17.3 percent agreed and strongly agreed that knowledge gained through experience is more useful than research. Most (40%) of nurses agreed that thy do not have the authority to change the patient care practice. The majority of staff nurses (45.7 percent agreed and 13 percent strongly agreed) feel the research will consume their personal time. Majority, 50 percent of staff nurses agreed and 16.7 percent strongly agreed that to conduct and utilize research findings requires financial support. Majority 50 percent of staff nurses agreed and 12 percent strongly agreed that physicians will cooperate and value nursing research findings. Majority 67.3 percent of staff nurses had moderate positive and 32.7 percent of staff nurses had highly positive attitude towards Nursing research and its utilization. Conclusion: With this study we understanding that, the staff nurses have positive attitude regarding nursing research. If the nurses are supported and motivated for research utilization we can improve the patient care.

Keywords: nurses, attitude, nursing research, research utilization

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Authors: Dewan Ali Ahsan

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Hilsa (Tenualosa ilisha) is one of the most important anadromous fish species of the trans-boundary ecosystem of Bangladesh, India and Myanmar. Hilsa is not only an economically important species specially for Bangladesh and India, but also for the integral part of the culture of the Bangladesh and India. This flag-ship species in Bangladesh contributed alone of 10.82% of the total fish production of the country and about 75% of world’s total catch of hilsa comes from Bangladesh alone. As hilsa is an anadromous fish, it migrates from the Bay of Bengal to rivers for spawning, nursing and growing and for all of these purposes hilsa needs freshwaters. Ripe broods prefer turbid, fast flowing freshwater for spawning but young prefer clear and slow flowing freshwater. Climate change (salinity intrusion, sea level rise, temperature rise, impact of fresh water flow), unplanned developmental activities and other anthropogenic activities all together are severely damaging the hilsa stock and its habitats. So, climate change and human interferences are predicted to have a range of direct and indirect impacts on marine and freshwater hilsa fishery, with implications for fisheries-dependent economies, coastal communities and fisherfolk. The present study identified that salinity intrusion, siltation in river bed, decrease water flow from upstream, fragmentation of river in dry season, over exploitation, use of small mesh nets are the major reasons to affect the upstream migration of hilsa and its sustainable management. It has been also noticed that Bangladesh government has taken some actions for hilsa management. Government is trying to increase hilsa production not only by conserving jatka (juvenile hilsa) but also protecting the brood hilsa during the breeding seasons by imposing seasonal ban on fishing, restricted mesh size etc. Unfortunately, no such management plans are available for Indian and Myanmar territory. As hilsa is a highly migratory trans-boundary fish in the Bay of Bengal (and all of these countries share the same stock), it is essential to adopt a joint management policy (by Bangladesh-India-Myanmar) for the sustainable management for the hilsa stock.

Keywords: hilsa, climate change, south-east Asia, fishery management

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Authors: N. A. Badrul

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People are concerned that they are vulnerable as a result of what is exposed about them on the internet. Users are increasingly aware of their privacy and are making various efforts to protect their personal information. However, besides individuals themselves, organisations are also exposing personal information of their staff to the general public by publishing it on their official website. This practice may put individuals at risk and particularly vulnerable to threats. This preliminary study explores explicitly the amount and types of personal information disclosure from organisational websites. Threats and risks related to the disclosures are discussed. In general, all the examined organisational websites discloses personal information with varies identifiable degree of data.

Keywords: personal information, privacy, e-government, information disclosure

Procedia PDF Downloads 318

Authors: Francis Zerd, Brian E. Moore, Atuganile E. Malango, Patrick W. Hosokawa, Kevin O. Lillehei, Laurence Lemery Mchome, D. Ryan Ormond

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Introduction: Since neuropathologic diagnosis in the developing world is hampered by limitations in technical infrastructure, trained laboratory personnel, and subspecialty-trained pathologists, the use of telepathology for diagnostic support, second-opinion consultations, and ongoing training holds promise as a means of addressing these challenges. This research aims to assess the utility of static teleneuropathology in improving neuropathologic diagnoses in low- and middle-income countries. Methods: Consecutive neurosurgical biopsy and resection specimens obtained at Muhimbili National Hospital in Tanzania between July 1, 2018, and June 30, 2019, were selected for retrospective, blinded static-image neuropathologic review followed by on-site review by an expert neuropathologist. Results: A total of 75 neuropathologic cases were reviewed. The agreement of static images and on-site glass diagnosis was 71% with strict criteria and 88% with less stringent criteria. This represents an overall improvement in diagnostic accuracy from 36% by general pathologists to 71% by a neuropathologist using static telepathology (or 76% to 88% with less stringent criteria). Conclusions: Telepathology offers a suitable means of providing diagnostic support, second-opinion consultations, and ongoing training to pathologists practicing in resource-limited countries. Moreover, static digital teleneuropathology is an uncomplicated, cost-effective, and reliable way to achieve these goals.

Keywords: neuropathology, resource-limited settings, static image, Tanzania, teleneuropathology

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Authors: Ahmed A. Alghamdi

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Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) are an outstanding material for applications in thermoelectric power generation, nanoelectronics, electrochemical energy storage, photovoltaics, and light emission. They are ultra-lightweight and possess electrical as well as thermal conductivity, flexibility, and mechanical strength. SWCNT is applicable in water treatment, brine desalination, removal of heavy metal ions associated with pollutants, and oil-water separation. Carbon nanotube (CNT) is believed to tackle the trade-off issue between permeability, selectivity, and fouling issues in membrane filtration applications. Studying these CNT structures, as well as their interconnection in nanotechnology, assists in finding the precise position to be placed for water desalination. Reverse osmosis (RO) has been used globally for desalination, resulting in purified water. Thin film composite (TFC) membranes were utilized in the RO process for desalination. The sheet thickness increases the salt rejection and decreases the water flux when CNT is utilized as a support layer to this membrane. Thus, through a temperature-induced phase separation technique (TIPS), axially aligned SWCNT (AASWCNT) is fabricated, and its use enhances the salt rejection and water flux at short reaction times with a modified procedure. An evaluation was conducted and analogized with prior works in the literature, which exhibited that the prepared TFC membrane showed a better outcome.

Keywords: single-walled carbon nanotubes, thin film composite, axially aligned swcnt, temperature induced phase separation technique, reverse osmosis

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Authors: Moujib Bahri, Ouafa Sakka, Kallel Rahim

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This study builds on the literature about the effects of corruption on economic growth at the firm level, which analyzes how the payment of bribes affect organizational performance. Traditionally, the literature distinguishes two points of view regarding the impact of corruption: grease view and sand view. The grease view is based on the idea that corruption can compensate for the negative effect of red tape on firms’ activities such as innovation and exports. Therefore, some firms will be motivated to pay some additional money to officials in order to reduce the delay related to bureaucratic procedures. On the contrary, the second point of view considers that corruption sands the wheels of the economy and distorts resource allocation because it increases agency and transaction costs and reduces the returns on the investment. We have tested the effect of corruption on innovation and export activities on a sample of 537 Tunisian manufacturing small and medium enterprises (SMEs) using structural equation modeling and path analysis. Tunisia has undergone a revolution in 2010 and since then, the country is experiencing a political instability and economic hardships. Our results do not support the greasing hypothesis suggesting that corruption can reduce the negative effect of bureaucratic delays and the hard access of companies to public services related to exports. Instead, our results support the sanding hypothesis according to which corruption hinders SMEs’ exports through its negative influence on innovation. Furthermore, our results show that the interaction between excessive bureaucratic red tape and corruption has a negative effect on exports. However, the interaction between political instability and corruption increases exports.

Keywords: corruption, exports, SMEs, economic conditions

Procedia PDF Downloads 176

Authors: Ming-Chien Su, Yi-Zih Chen, Nien-Hsin Kao, Hideaki Shibata

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The major component of the atmosphere is nitrogen, yet atmospheric nitrogen has limited availability for biological use. Human activities have produced different types of nitrogen related compounds such as nitrogen oxides from combustion, nitrogen fertilizers from farming, and the nitrogen compounds from waste and wastewater, all of which have impacted the environment. Many studies have indicated the N-footprint is dominated by food, followed by housing, transportation, and goods and services sectors. To solve the impact issues from agricultural land, nitrogen cycle research is one of the key solutions. The study site is located in Hualien County, Taiwan, a major rice and food production area of Taiwan. Importantly, environmentally friendly farming has been promoted for years, and an environmental indicator system has been established by previous authors based on the concept of resilience capacity index (RCI) and environmental performance index (EPI). Nitrogen management is required for food production, as excess N causes environmental pollution. Therefore it is very important to develop a roadmap of the nitrogen footprint, and to integrate it with environmental indicators. The key focus of the study thus addresses (1) understanding the environmental impact caused by the nitrogen cycle of food products and (2) uncovering the trend of the N-footprint of agricultural products in Hualien, Taiwan. The N-footprint model was applied, which included both crops and energy consumption in the area. All data were adapted from government statistics databases and crosschecked for consistency before modeling. The actions involved with agricultural production were evaluated and analyzed for nitrogen loss to the environment, as well as measuring the impacts to humans and the environment. The results showed that rice makes up the largest share of agricultural production by weight, at 80%. The dominant meat production is pork (52%) and poultry (40%); fish and seafood were at similar levels to pork production. The average per capita food consumption in Taiwan is 2643.38 kcal capita−1 d−1, primarily from rice (430.58 kcal), meats (184.93 kcal) and wheat (ca. 356.44 kcal). The average protein uptake is 87.34 g capita−1 d−1, and 51% is mainly from meat, milk, and eggs. The preliminary results showed that the nitrogen footprint of food production is 34 kg N per capita per year, congruent with the results of Shibata et al. (2014) for Japan. These results provide a better understanding of the nitrogen demand and loss in the environment, and the roadmap can furthermore support the establishment of nitrogen policy and strategy. Additionally, the results serve to develop a roadmap of the nitrogen cycle of an environmentally friendly farming area, thus illuminating the nitrogen demand and loss of such areas.

Keywords: agriculture productions, energy consumption, environmental indicator, nitrogen footprint

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