Search results for: public financial policy

Authors: Reham Barakat

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Over the last few decades, the influence of International Financial Institutions (IFIs), especially the World Bank (WB), has significantly increased. Since the early 1980s, IFIs have assumed greater role, especially in developing countries; their total lending has dramatically increased, affecting billions of people in their Borrower States. Though the purpose of the development assistance provided by IFIs is to alleviate poverty and promote economic and social development in their member countries, IFIs have been subject to massive criticism by civil society institutions, international NGOs and local communities for the harmful environmental, social and economic impacts resulting from their development interventions in borrower countries, such as deforestation, displacement of indigenous peoples, and unemployment. While the role of IFIs has expanded over time, affecting billions of people, their accountability mechanisms remained behind and were criticized for lacking sufficient independency and enforceability. The serious adverse environmental impacts of the World Bank’s funded projects, along with their weak accountability mechanisms, raises the question of 'To what extent IFIs should be held internationally responsible for the harmful environmental consequences arising from their development interventions?'. This paper argues that IFIs are legally responsible for the harmful environmental consequences arising from their development interventions. The study (i) identifies the applicable laws and relevant primary rules from which the international environmental obligations of IFIs towards their borrower countries are derived (ii) assesses the World Bank’s compliance to the principles of the International Environmental Law including the precautionary principle, the polluter pays principle, and the principle of Good-Neighborliness, (iii) assesses the World Bank’s current internal accountability mechanisms for harmful environmental impacts resulting from the World Bank’s funded projects, and finally (iv) identifies the appropriate dispute settlement mechanisms to which states and non-state actors could raise their claims against IFIs for harmful environmental consequences arising from their interventions.

Keywords: international environmental law, international financial institutions, international responsibility, world bank, environmental and social safeguards

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Authors: Wheyming Tina Song, Chi-Hao Hong

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In this study, we investigate the effect of a new boarding policy - short stay, on the overcrowding efficiency in emergency department (ED). The decision variables are no. of short stay beds for least acuity ED patients. The performance measurements used are national emergency department overcrowding score (NEDOCS) and ED retention rate (the percentage that patients stay in ED over than 48 hours in one month). Discrete event simulation (DES) is used as an analysis tool to evaluate the strategy. Also, common random number (CRN) technique is applied to enhance the simulation precision. The DES model was based on a census of 6 months' patients who were treated in the ED of the National Taiwan University Hospital Yunlin Branch. Our results show that the new short-stay boarding significantly impacts both the NEDOCS and ED retention rate when the no. of short stay beds is more than three.

Keywords: emergency department (ED), common random number (CRN), national emergency department overcrowding score (NEDOCS), discrete event simulation (DES)

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Authors: Mohammad Ashraful Alam, Biro Judit

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Fear of gender-based crime and fear of crime victimization for women is a major concern in the urban areas of Bangladesh. Based on the recent data from various human rights organizations and international literature the study found that gender-based crime especially sexual assault and rape are increasing in Bangladesh at a significant rate in comparison to other countries. The major focus of the study was to identify the relationship between fear of gender-based crime and women empowerment. To explore the fact the study followed the mixed methodological approach comprising with quantitative and qualitative methods and used secondary information from national and international sources. Corresponding global pictures the present study found that gender, age, complexion, social position, and ethnicity were more common factors of sexual assault and victimization in Bangladesh which lead to women become more fearful about crime victimization than men. Fear of gender-based crime traumatizes women which leads to withdrawal of their non-essential everyday works and some time from the essential works based on their social position, financial status, and social honor in the society. The increasing crime rate also increases the propensity to fear of criminal victimization, traumatization, and feeling of helplessness which make them vulnerable. The patriarchal culture and practices in Bangladesh based on religious culture and established social norms women always feel defenseless therefore they withdraw themselves from various social activities and own interest. Women who have already victimized feel more fear and become traumatized, and who do not victimize yet but know the severity of victimization from the media and others’ have the feeling of fear of crime. Women who find themselves as weak bonding and low networks with their neighbors and living for a short duration have a feeling of more fear and avoid visiting a certain place in a certain time and avoid some social activities. The study found the young women have more possibilities to become victimized through the feeling of fear of crime is higher among elderly women than young. Though women feel fear of all kinds of crime but usually all aged women are more fearful of sexual assault and rape than other violent crimes. Therefore, elderly women and another person in the family does not allow younger girls to go and involve outside activities to secure their family status. On the other hand, fear of crime in public transport is more common to all aged women at a higher level and sometimes they compromise their freedom, independence, financial opportunities, the job only to avoid the perceived threat, and save their social and cultural honor. The study also explores that fear of crime does not always depend on crime rate but the crime news, the severity of the crime, delay justice, the ineffectiveness of police, bail of criminals, corruption and political favoritism, etc. Finally, the study shows that the fear of gender-based crime and violence is working as a potential barrier to ensuring women's empowerment in Bangladesh.

Keywords: compromise personal freedom, fear of crime, fear of gender-based crime, fear of violent crime victimization, rape, sexual assaults, withdrawal from regular activities, women empowerment

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Authors: Hiroaki Nasu, Ryota Miyamoto, Yuta Kodera, Yasuyuki Nogami

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To promote Industry 4.0 and Society 5.0 and so on, it is important to connect and share data so that every member can trust it. Blockchain (BC) technology is currently attracting attention as the most advanced tool and has been used in the financial field and so on. However, the data collaboration using BC has not progressed sufficiently among companies on the supply chain of manufacturing industry that handle sensitive data such as product quality, manufacturing conditions, etc. There are two main reasons why data utilization is not sufficiently advanced in the industrial supply chain. The first reason is that manufacturing information is top secret and a source for companies to generate profits. It is difficult to disclose data even between companies with transactions in the supply chain. In the blockchain mechanism such as Bitcoin using PKI (Public Key Infrastructure), in order to confirm the identity of the company that has sent the data, the plaintext must be shared between the companies. Another reason is that the merits (scenarios) of collaboration data between companies are not specifically specified in the industrial supply chain. For these problems this paper proposes a Business to Business (B2B) collaboration system using homomorphic encryption and BC technique. Using the proposed system, each company on the supply chain can exchange confidential information on encrypted data and utilize the data for their own business. In addition, this paper considers a scenario focusing on quality data, which was difficult to collaborate because it is a top secret. In this scenario, we show a implementation scheme and a benefit of concrete data collaboration by proposing a comparison protocol that can grasp the change in quality while hiding the numerical value of quality data.

Keywords: business to business data collaboration, industrial supply chain, blockchain, homomorphic encryption

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Authors: Charles Mazhazhate

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This study interrogates and analyses the intricate kin- and- kith network patterns of corruption and mismanagement of resources prevalent in public sector supply chains bedeviling the developing economies of Sub-Saharan Africa with particular reference to Zimbabwe. This is forcing governments to resort to harsh fiscal policies that see their citizens paying high taxes against a backdrop of incomes below the poverty datum line, and this negatively affects their quality of life. The corporate world is also affected by the various tax-regime instituted. Mismanagement of resources and corrupt practices are rampant in state-owned enterprises to the extent that institutional policies, procedures, and practices are often flouted for the benefit of a clique of individuals. This interwoven in kith and kin blood human relations in organizations where appointments to critical positions are based on ascribed status. People no longer place value in their systems to make them work thereby violating corporate governance principles. Greediness and ‘unholy friendship connections’ are instrumental in fueling the employment of people who know each other from their discrete backgrounds. Such employments or socio-metric unions are meant to protect those at the top by giving them intelligent information through spying on what other subordinates are doing inside and outside the organization. This practice has led to the underperforming of organizations as those employees with connections and their upper echelons favorites connive to abuse resources for their own benefit. Even if culprits are known, no draconian measures are employed as a deterrence measure. Public value along public sector supply chains is lost. The study used a descriptive case study research design on fifty organizations in Zimbabwe mainly state-owned enterprises. Both qualitative and quantitative instrumentations were used. Both Snowball and random sampling techniques were used. The study found out that in all the fifty SOEs, there were employees in key positions related to top management, with tentacles feeding into the law enforcement agents, judiciary, security systems, and the executive. Such employees in public seem not to know each other with but would be involved in dirty scams and then share the proceeds with top people behind the scenes. The study also established that the same employees do not have the necessary competencies, qualifications, abilities, and capabilities to be in those positions. This culture is now strong that it is difficult to bust. The study recommends recruitment of all employees through an independent employment bureau to ensure strategic fit.

Keywords: corruption, state owned enterprises, strategic fit, public sector supply chains, efficiency

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Authors: Eriberto R. Astorga Jr., Herbert D. Vertucio, Evelyn M. Polison

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This study was conducted in order to determine the analysis with regards to the Characterization of Self-Esteem of EARIST Students according to their origin of self-esteem and low self-esteem as well as its causes. The respondents of this study are three thousand three hundred twenty three (3,323) randomly selected students from eight colleges of EARIST such as Arts and Sciences, Education, Public Administration and Criminology, Business Administration, Hospitality Management, Architecture and Fine Arts, Engineering, and Industrial Technology. A survey was conducted by using a validated questionnaire for information gathering about respondents profile and different factors relating to self-esteem of students such as self-origin, familial and social relationship, financial situation and education. Frequency, percentage, ranking and standards deviation, standard t-test and ANOVA were applied to investigate the differences of the answers of the respondents to the origin of their self-esteem and the reasons for low self-esteem. The results revealed that there are no significant differences in the origin of their self-esteem and the reasons of low esteem as to the eight group of respondent’s. Moreover, most causes of low esteem are caused by hearing a comment or experiencing an incident that has a negative impact student mentally and emotionally, poor health, being bullied, lack of support from family, friends, and job loss, experiencing verbal and sexual abuse and are in a violent relationship, feelings of isolation, divorce, dysfunctional family, death and lack of achievement at work and at school, trying to conform to stereotypes and prove our independence from our parents.

Keywords: characterization, plan of action, profile, self-esteem

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Authors: Lucy Novianti

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The purpose of this study is to determine the effect of corporate governance, ownership structure, and cash holdings on firm value, either direct or indirect through profitability as an intervening variable for non-financial companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange during 2006 to 2014. Samples of 176 firms are chosen based on purposive sampling method. The results of this study conclude that profitability, the size of Audit Committee, audit quality, and cash flow have positive effects on firm value. This study also shows that the meeting frequency of the Board of Directors and free cash flow have negative effects on firm value. In addition, this study finds that the size of the Board of Directors, Independent Commissioner, and ownership structure do not have significant effects on firm value. In this study, the function of profitability as an intervening variable can only be done on the impact of the meeting frequency of the Board of Directors and cash flow on firm value. This study provides a reference for management in decision making concerning the application of corporate governance, cash holdings, and financial performance. Moreover, it can be used as additional information for investors in assessing the feasibility of an investment. Finally, it provides a suggestion for the government regarding the regulation of corporate governance.

Keywords: cash holdings, corporate governance, firm value, ownership structure, profitability

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Authors: P. Viduthalai, A. K. Divakar, V. Natarajan

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Media is one of the powerful tools that manipulate the world in numerous aspects especially in the form of a communication process. For instance, the concept of the public sphere, which was earlier represented by landlords and elites has now transformed into a virtual public sphere, which is also represented by marginalized people. Unfortunately, this acquisition is still paradoxical. Though the media proliferation and its effects are humongous, still it has not been the same throughout the world. Inequality in access to media has created a technological divide among people. Finally, globalization and approach by the government towards using media for development communication has significantly changed the way in which the media reaches every nook and corner. Monarchy, oligarchy, republic and democracy together form the basis of most governments of the world. Of which, democracy is the one with the highest involvement and participation of the people. Ideally, the participation of the people is what, that keeps the democracy running. A healthy democracy is possible only when people are able to access information that makes citizens responsible and serves to check the functioning of their elected representatives. On one side the media consumption of people plays a crucial role in the formation of the public sphere, and on the other side, big media conglomerates are a serious threat to community participation, which is a goal that the media should strive for in a country like India. How different people consume these different media, differs greatly from length and breadth of the country. Another aspect of this media consumption is that it isn’t passive. People usage and consumption of media are related with the gratification that they derive from the particular media. This aspect varies from person to person and from society to society according to both internal and external factors. This article sets out from the most underlying belief that Malayali Tribes have adopted television and becomes a part of daily life and a day never passes without it especially after the introduction of Free Television Scheme by the past state government. Though they are living in hilly and socially isolated places, they too have started accessing media for understanding about the people of the plains and their culture, dictated by their interest. Many of these interests appear to have a social and psychological origin. The present research attempts to study how gratification of these needs lead Malayali Tribes to form such a virtual public sphere where they could communicate with people of the plains. Data was collected through survey method, from 300 respondents on “Exposure towards Television and their perception”. Conventional anthropological methods like unstructured interviews were also used to supplement the data collection efforts in the three taluks namely Yercaud, Pethanayankkanpalayam and Panamaraththuppatty in Salem district of TamilNadu. The results highlight the role of Television in gratifying needs of the Malayali Tribes.

Keywords: democracy, gratification, Malayali Tribes and television, virtual public sphere

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Authors: Elham Fakhrpoor, Daryush Mohammadi Zanjirani, Maziyar Nojaba

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Business process reengineering is one of the most important strategies in banks in recent years that not only it increases customers’ satisfaction, but also it increases performance of banks. The purpose of elementary (initial) business process reengineering is reinforcing banks abilities to obtain new customers and making long-term relationships with existed customers and increasing customers’ satisfaction among service quality in global level. Banks specially the private ones are the main streams of state, because cash flow is necessary to survive a state. What guarantees survival and permanency of financial institutes’ activities is providing favorite, certain, and proper services. Capital market being small and state financial system being bank-oriented needs optimum usage from banks. According to this fact and role and importance of developing banking system, the present study tried to offer a constructed model using Lisrel and also spss software to evaluate effects of business process reengineering on performance of private banks. We have one min hypothesis and four sub-hypotheses. The main hypothesis says reengineering factors have positive effects on bank performances (balanced- scores card aspects). These hypotheses were tested by structural equations modeling.

Keywords: effect, business, reengineering, private bank

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Authors: B.-Y.-S. Lau, Y.-C.-T. Jonathan, M.-S. Alias

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Heritage trees are natural large, individual trees with exceptionally value due to association with age or event or distinguished people. In Malaysia, there is an abundance of tropical heritage trees throughout the country. It is essential to set up a repository of heritage trees to prevent valuable trees from being cut down. In this cross domain study, a web-based online expert system namely the Heritage Tree Expert Assessment and Classification (HTEAC) is developed and deployed for public to nominate potential heritage trees. Based on the nomination, tree care experts or arborists would evaluate and verify the nominated trees as heritage trees. The expert system automatically rates the approved heritage trees according to pre-defined grades via Delphi technique. Features and usability test of the expert system are presented. Preliminary result is promising for the system to be used as a full scale public system.

Keywords: arboriculture, Delphi, expert system, heritage tree, urban forestry

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Authors: Karl Baker-Green, Ian Woolsey

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Historically, a variety of methods have been used to access the student voice within higher education, including module evaluations and informal classroom feedback. However, currently, the views articulated in student-staff-committee meetings bear the most weight and can therefore have the most significant impact on departmental policy. Arguably, these forums are exclusionary as several students, including those who experience severe anxiety, might feel unable to participate in this face-to-face (large) group activities. Similarly, students who declare a disability, but are not in possession of a learning contract, are more likely to withdraw from their studies than those whose additional needs have been formally recognised. It is also worth noting that whilst the number of disabled students in Higher Education has increased in recent years, the percentage of those who have been issued a learning contract has decreased. These issues foreground the need to explore the educational experiences of students with or without a learning contract in order to identify their respective aspirations and needs and therefore help shape education policy. This is in keeping with the ‘Nothing about us without us’, agenda, which recognises that disabled individuals are best placed to understand their own requirements and the most effective strategies to meet these.

Keywords: education, student voice, student experience, student retention

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Authors: Zubair Ahmad

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Specific activities of the natural radionuclides 238U, 232Th and 40K were measured by using γ - ray spectrometric technique in soil samples collected from the city of Dhanbad, which is located near coal mines. Mean activity values for 238U, 232Th and 40K were found to be 60.29 Bq/kg, 64.50 Bq/kg and 481.0 Bq/kg, respectively. Mean radium equivalent activity, absorbed dose rate, outdoor dose, external hazard index, internal hazard index, for the area under study were determined as 189.53 Bq/kg, 87.21 nGy/h, 0.37 mSv/y, 0.52 and 0.64, respectively. The annual effective dose to the general public was found 0.44 mSv/y. This value lies well below the limit of 1 mSv/y as recommended by International Commission on Radiological Protection. Measured values were found safe for environment and public health.

Keywords: coal city Dhanbad, gamma-ray spectroscopy, natural radioactivity, soil samples

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Authors: Mohamamd Ayish

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This study addresses media diplomacy as an integral component of public diplomacy which emerged in the United States in the post-World War II era and found applications in other countries around the world. The study seeks to evolve a conceptual framework for understanding the practice of public diplomacy through social networks, often referred to as social engagement diplomacy. This form of diplomacy is considered far more ahead of the other two forms associated with both government controlled and independent media. The cases of the Voice of America Arabic Service and the 1977 CBS interviews with the late Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin are cited in this study as reflecting the two traditional models. The new social engagement model sees public diplomacy as an act of communication that seeks to effect changes in target audiences through a process of persuasion shaped by discourse orientations and technological features. The proposed conceptual framework for social, diplomatic engagement draws on an open communication environment, an empowered audience, an interactive and symmetrical process of communication, multimedia-based flows of information, direct and credible feedback, distortion and high risk. The writer believes this study would be helpful in providing appropriate knowledge pertaining to our understanding of social diplomacy and furnishing concrete insights into how diplomats could harness virtual space to maximize their goals in the global environment.

Keywords: diplomacy, engagement, social, globalization

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Authors: Raúl Jiménez Vilches

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Native (L1) speakers can mark prosodically one part of an utterance and make it more relevant as opposed to the rest of the constituents. Conversely, non-native (L2) speakers encounter problems when it comes to marking prosodically information structure in English. In fact, the L2 speaker’s choice for the prosodic realization of focus is not so clear and often obscures the intended pragmatic meaning and the communicative value in general. This paper reports some of the findings obtained in an L2 prosodic training course for Spanish learners of English within the context of public speaking. More specifically, it analyses the effects of the course experiment in relation to the non-native production of the tonic syllable to mark focus and compares it with the public speeches delivered by native English speakers. The whole experimental training was executed throughout eighteen input sessions (1,440 minutes total time) and all the sessions took place in the classroom. In particular, the first part of the course provided explicit instruction on the recognition and production of the tonic syllable and how the tonic syllable is used to express focus. The non-native and native oral presentations were acoustically analyzed using Praat software for speech analysis (7,356 words in total). The investigation adopted mixed and embedded methodologies. Quantitative information is needed when measuring acoustically the phonetic realization of focus. Qualitative data such as questionnaires, interviews, and observations were also used to interpret the quantitative data. The embedded experiment design was implemented through the analysis of the public speeches before and after the intervention. Results indicate that, even after the L2 prosodic training course, Spanish learners of English still show some major inconsistencies in marking focus effectively. Although there was occasional improvement regarding the choice for location and word classes, Spanish learners were, in general, far from achieving similar results to the ones obtained by the English native speakers in the two types of focus. The prosodic realization of focus seems to be one of the hardest areas of the English prosodic system to be mastered by Spanish learners. A funded research project is in the process of moving the present classroom-based experiment to an online environment (mobile app) and determining whether there is a more effective focus usage through CAPT (Computer-Assisted Pronunciation) tools.

Keywords: focus, prosody, public speaking, Spanish learners of English

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Authors: Fatma Faheem, K. Abduraheem

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Museums are custodians of natural and cultural heritage. Objects like tribal dresses, headgears, weapons, musical instruments, manuscripts and other ethnocultural materials housed in museums are prized possessions of intellectual and cultural property of people. Tropical countries like India have a favorable climatic condition for biodeterioration. Organic materials such as leather and parchment objects which form a substantial part of natural history collections of museums across the world are promptly infested by insects like dermestid beetles, tenebrionides, silver fishes, cockroaches and other micro-organisms. The environmental problems caused due to the overuse of pesticides and other non-degradable chemicals have been the matter of serious concern for both the scientists and public in recent years. Synthetic pesticides are very expensive and also highly toxic for humans and its environment. Due to its high health risk factor government has taken severe initiatives on policy of banning it. In order to overcome the problems of biodeterioration, natural biocides should be applied. In this paper, comparative study has been done to investigate the toxic efficacy of Myristica fragrans and Syzygium aromaticum oil in variation with contact and stomach toxicity against larvae of Anthrenus verbasci.

Keywords: biodeterioration, contact toxicity, cultural heritage, natural biocides, natural heritage, stomach toxicity

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Authors: Hugo Ribadeau Dumas

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In India, cities represent intense battlefields where patriarchal norms are simultaneously defied and reinforced. While Indian metropolises have witnessed numerous initiatives where women boldly claimed their right to the city, urban spaces still remain disproportionately unfriendly to female city-dwellers. As a result, the presence of strees (women, in Hindi) in the streets remains a socially and politically potent phenomenon. This paper explores how, in India, women engage with the city as compared to men. Borrowing analytical tools from urban geography, it uses Hindi cinema as a medium to map the extent to which activities, attitudes and experiences in urban spaces are highly gendered. The sample consists of 30 movies, both mainstream and independent, which were released between 2010 and 2020, were set in an urban environment and comprised at least one pivotal female character. The paper adopts a quantitative approach, consisting of the scrutiny of close to 3,000 minutes of footage, the labeling and time count of every scene, and the computation of regressions to identify statistical relationships between characters and the way they navigate the city. According to the analysis, female characters spend half less time in the public space than their male counterparts. When they do step out, women do it mostly for utilitarian reasons; inversely, in private spaces or in pseudo-public commercial places – like malls – they indulge in fun activities. For male characters, the pattern is the exact opposite: fun takes place in public and serious work in private. The characters’ attitudes in the streets are also greatly gendered: men spend a significant amount of time immobile, loitering, while women are usually on the move, displaying some sense of purpose. Likewise, body language and emotional expressiveness betray differentiated gender scripts: while women wander in the streets either smiling – in a charming role – or with a hostile face – in a defensive mode – men are more likely to adopt neutral facial expressions. These trends were observed across all movies, although some nuances were identified depending on the character's age group, social background, and city, highlighting that the urban experience is not the same for all women. The empirical pieces of evidence presented in this study are helpful to reflect on the meaning of public space in the context of contemporary Indian cities. The paper ends with a discussion on the link between universal access to public spaces and women's empowerment.

Keywords: cinema, Indian cities, public space, women empowerment

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Authors: Anouschka Swart

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In 2023, sport faces a plethora of challenges including but not limited to match-fixing, corruption and doping to its integrity that, threatens both the commercial and public appeal. The continuous changes and commercialisation that has occurred within sport have led to a variety of consequences resulting in the need for ethics to be revived, as it used to be in the past to ensure sport is not in danger. In order to understand governance better, the Institute of Directors in Southern Africa, a global network of professional firms providing Audit, Tax and Advisory services, outlined a process explaining all elements with regards to corporate governance. This process illustrates a governing body’s responsibilities as strategy, policy, oversight and accountability. These responsibilities are further elucidated to 16 governing principles which are highlighted as essential for all organisations in order to achieve and deliver on effective governance outcomes. These outcomes are good ethical culture, good performance, effective control and legitimacy therefore, the aim of the study was to investigate the general state of governance within the clubs affiliated with a rugby club in South Africa by utilizing the King IV Code as the framework. The results indicated that the King Code IV principles are implemented by these rugby clubs to ensure they demonstrate commitment to corporate governance to both internal and external stakeholders. It is however evident that a similar report focused solely on sport is a necessity in the industry as this will provide more clarity on sport specific problems.

Keywords: South Africa, sport, King IV, responsibilities

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Authors: Luigi Pintacuda

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What characterize the phenomenology of Bucharest is that all operations of modernization have never been completed, creating a city made up of fragments. Understood this fragmented nature, the traces and fractures, the acceptance of their scars must represent the basis for the design of development for Bucharest. From this insight comes a new analysis of this city: a city of two million inhabitants that does not need a project on an urban scale (as all other major projects for the city have failed), but, starting from the study of all these interstitial spaces of public property, it must find its own strategy, a strategy on a large-scale that reflects on the sites on an architectural one. It is a city composed by fragments, not waste, but places for the project: ‘waiting spaces’ for a possible continuation of the process of genesis of a city which is often incomplete.

Keywords: public spaces, traces fractures, urban design, urban development

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Authors: Farnaz Farhangi

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Many people in New Zealand believe that the access to water is inexhaustible, and it comes from a history of virtually unrestricted access to it. For the region like Hamilton which is one of New Zealand’s fastest growing cities, it is crucial for policy makers to know about the future water consumption and implementation of rules and regulation such as universal water metering. Hamilton residents use water freely and they do not have any idea about how much water they use. Hence, one of proposed objectives of this research is focusing on forecasting water consumption using different methods. Residential water consumption time series exhibits seasonal and trend variations. Seasonality is the pattern caused by repeating events such as weather conditions in summer and winter, public holidays, etc. The problem with this seasonal fluctuation is that, it dominates other time series components and makes difficulties in determining other variations (such as educational campaign’s effect, regulation, etc.) in time series. Apart from seasonality, a stochastic trend is also combined with seasonality and makes different effects on results of forecasting. According to the forecasting literature, preprocessing (de-trending and de-seasonalization) is essential to have more performed forecasting results, while some other researchers mention that seasonally non-adjusted data should be used. Hence, I answer the question that is pre-processing essential? A wide range of forecasting methods exists with different pros and cons. In this research, I apply double seasonal ARIMA and Artificial Neural Network (ANN), considering diverse elements such as seasonality and calendar effects (public and school holidays) and combine their results to find the best predicted values. My hypothesis is the examination the results of combined method (hybrid model) and individual methods and comparing the accuracy and robustness. In order to use ARIMA, the data should be stationary. Also, ANN has successful forecasting applications in terms of forecasting seasonal and trend time series. Using a hybrid model is a way to improve the accuracy of the methods. Due to the fact that water demand is dominated by different seasonality, in order to find their sensitivity to weather conditions or calendar effects or other seasonal patterns, I combine different methods. The advantage of this combination is reduction of errors by averaging of each individual model. It is also useful when we are not sure about the accuracy of each forecasting model and it can ease the problem of model selection. Using daily residential water consumption data from January 2000 to July 2015 in Hamilton, I indicate how prediction by different methods varies. ANN has more accurate forecasting results than other method and preprocessing is essential when we use seasonal time series. Using hybrid model reduces forecasting average errors and increases the performance.

Keywords: artificial neural network (ANN), double seasonal ARIMA, forecasting, hybrid model

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Authors: Antonia Egli, Theo Lynn, Pierangelo Rosati, Gary Sinclair

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The World Health Organization (WHO) defines vaccine hesitancy as the postponement or complete denial of vaccines and estimates a direct linkage to approximately 1.5 million avoidable deaths annually. This figure is not immune to public health developments, as has become evident since the global spread of COVID-19 from Wuhan, China in early 2020. Since then, the proliferation of influential, but oftentimes inaccurate, outdated, incomplete, or false vaccine-related information on social media has impacted hesitancy levels to a degree described by the WHO as an infodemic. The COVID-19 pandemic and related vaccine hesitancy levels have in 2022 resulted in the largest drop in childhood vaccinations of the 21st century, while the prevalence of online stigma towards vaccine hesitant consumers continues to grow. Simultaneously, a second disease has risen to global importance: Monkeypox is an infection originating from west and central Africa and, due to racially motivated online hate, was in August 2022 set to be renamed by the WHO. To better understand public reactions towards two viral infections that became global threats to public health no two years apart, this research examines user replies to threads published by the WHO on Twitter. Replies to two Tweets from the @WHO account declaring COVID-19 and Monkeypox as ‘public health emergencies of international concern’ on January 30, 2020, and July 23, 2022, are gathered using the Twitter application programming interface and user mention timeline endpoint. Research methodology is unique in its analysis of stigmatizing, racist, and hateful content shared on social media within the vaccine discourse over the course of two disease outbreaks. Three distinct analyses are conducted to provide insight into (i) the most prevalent topics and sub-topics among user reactions, (ii) changes in sentiment towards the spread of the two diseases, and (iii) the presence of stigma, racism, and online hate. Findings indicate an increase in hesitancy to accept further vaccines and social distancing measures, the presence of stigmatizing content aimed primarily at anti-vaccine cohorts and racially motivated abusive messages, and a prevalent fatigue towards disease-related news overall. This research provides value to non-profit organizations or government agencies associated with vaccines and vaccination programs in emphasizing the need for public health communication fitted to consumers' vaccine sentiments, levels of health information literacy, and degrees of trust towards public health institutions. Considering the importance of addressing fears among the vaccine hesitant, findings also illustrate the risk of alienation through stigmatization, lead future research in probing the relatively underexamined field of online, vaccine-related stigma, and discuss the potential effects of stigma towards vaccine hesitant Twitter users in their decisions to vaccinate.

Keywords: social marketing, social media, public health communication, vaccines

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Authors: Heba Elbibas, Esra Gnijeewa, Zedan Hatush

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This paper presents research on occupational safety in construction projects, where the importance of safety management in projects was studied, including the preparation of a safety plan and program for each project and the identification of the responsibilities of each party to the contract. The research consists of two parts: 1-Field visits: which were field visits to three construction projects, including building projects, road projects, and tower installation. The safety level of these projects was evaluated through a checklist that includes the most important safety elements in terms of the application of these items in the projects. 2-Preparation of a questionnaire: which included supervisors and engineers and aimed to determine the level of awareness and commitment of different project categories to safety standards. The results showed the following: i) There is a moderate occupational safety policy. ii) The preparation and storage of maintenance reports are not fully complied with. iii) There is a moderate level of training on occupational safety for project workers. iv) The company does not impose penalties on safety violators permanently. v) There is a moderate policy for equipment and machinery safety. vi) Self-injuries occur due to (fatigue, lack of attention, deliberate error, and emotional factors), with a rate of 82.4%.

Keywords: management, safety, occupational safety, classification

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Authors: Maxwell Ladogo Abilla

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

Keywords: sustainable, food security, development, institutional

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Authors: Drishti Sharma, Mona Duggal

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Background: WhatsApp can serve as a cost-effective, scalable, convenient, and popular medium for public health management related communication in the developing world where the existing system of communication is top-down and slow. The product supports sending and receiving a variety of media: text, photos, videos, documents, and location, as well as voice/video calls. With growing number of users of smartphones and improving access and penetration of internet, the scope of information technology remains immense in resolving the hurdles faced by traditional public health system. Poor infrastructure, gap in digital literacy, faulty documentation, strict organizational hierarchy and slow movement of information across desks and offices- all these, make WhatsApp an efficient prospect to complement the existing system for communication, feedback and leadership for public health system in India. Objective: This study investigates the benefits, challenges and limitations associated with WhatsApp usage as a public health management tool. Methods: The study was conducted within the Chandigarh Union Territory. We used a qualitative approach and conducted individual semi-structured interviews and group interviews (n = 10). Participants included medical officers (n 20), Program managers (n = 4), academicians (n=2) and administrators (n=2). Thematic and content qualitative analyses were conducted. Message log of the WhatsApp group of one of the health program was assessed. Results: Medical Officers said that WhatsApp helped them remain in touch with the program officer. They could easily give feedback and highlight those challenges which needed immediate intervention from the program managers, hence they felt supported. Also, the application helped them share pictures of their activities (meetings and field activities) with the group which they thought inspired others and gave themselves immense satisfaction. Also, it helped build stronger relationships and better coordination among themselves, the same being important in team events. For program managers, it had become a portal for coordinating large scale campaigns. Its reach and the fact that the feedback is real-time make WhatsApp ideal for district level events. Though the easy informal connectivity made them answerable to their staff but it also provided them with flexibility in operations. It turned out to be an important portal for sharing outcome and goals related feedback (both positive and negative) to the team. To be sure, using WhatsApp for the purpose of public health program presents considerable challenges, including technological barriers, organizational challenges, gender issues, confidentiality concerns and unplanned aftereffects. Nevertheless, its advantages in a low-cost setting make it an efficient alternative. Conclusion: WhatsApp has become an integral part of our lives. Use of this app for public health program management within closed groups looks promising and useful. At the same time, addressing the challenges involved would make its usage safer.

Keywords: communication, mobile technology, public health management, WhatsApp

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Authors: Ilhan Keskin, Hasan Bulent Kantarci

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In this study, one of the tools of Islamic financing known as “Sukuk” a non-interest bearing investment which has started to be implemented in Turkey and the world as a whole is discussed. In order to increase the vitality and efficiency of the economy, by taking lessons from the recent economic crisis new developments in the banking and investment sector are being expanded. The purpose of all investors is to obtain more revenue through the use of capital. The inability of traditional investment tools to meet the expectations of investors and the interest based financial system where one investor benefits at the expense of another there has been the need for a different, reliable and non-interest bearing financial market that is consistent with the Islamic rule. As a result an alternative and more reliable interest free financing tool “Sukuk” rental certificates covering people who are sensitive to Islamic rules, appeal to all segments, hidden remaining capital that contributes to the economy, reduce disparities in income distribution, common risk sharing system of profit and loss sharing has emerged. Today, for the structural countries by examining the state of the world market economy the applicability, enactment and future issues associated with this attractive kind of Islamic finance namely the “Sukuk” market has been explained.

Keywords: Islamic finance, islamic markets, non-interest bearing, rental certificates

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Authors: Diego Roberto Goncalves De Pontes, Sergio Donizetti Zorzo

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Studies show that most users do not read privacy policies from the online services they use. Some authors claim that one of the main causes of this is that policies are long and usually hard to understand, which make users lose interest in reading them. In this scenario, users may agree with terms without knowing what kind of data is being collected and why. Given that, we aimed to develop a model that would present the privacy policies contents in an easy and graphical way for the user to understand. We call it the Privacy Label. Using information recovery techniques, we propose an architecture that is able to extract information about what kind of data is being collected and to what end in the policies and show it to the user in an automated way. To assess our model, we calculated the precision, recall and f-measure metrics on the information extracted by our technique. The results for each metric were 68.53%, 85.61% e 76,13%, respectively, making it possible for the final user to understand which data was being collected without reading the whole policy. Also, our proposal can facilitate the notice-and-choice by presenting privacy policy information in an alternative way for online users.

Keywords: privacy, policies, user behavior, computer human interaction

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Authors: Mehwish Sarfaraz Ahmad

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Background: There is a prevailing perception in Pakistan that private hospitals offer better services than government hospitals. Unfortunately, Pakistan faces challenges in providing efficient healthcare due to limited resources and management capabilities, resulting in demotivation among healthcare workers. Aim: The purpose of this study was to conduct a comprehensive assessment of the occupational health and well-being of healthcare workers in both public and private sector tertiary care hospitals in Lahore, Pakistan, to compare the well-being of healthcare professionals in these two sectors and investigate the influence of workplace culture and experiences on their overall health. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted using a validated International Questionnaire, and data from 440 participants was collected using a stratified random sampling technique from a diverse group of healthcare professionals from the public and private tertiary care hospitals in Lahore, Pakistan. The researcher conducted a comparative analysis using appropriate statistical tests, such as Anova, t-tests, chi-square tests, and regression analysis, to explore potential relationships between various factors. Results: The majority of respondents (70.2%) reported their health as "Good" or "Very good, a small percentage (8.2%) rated their health as "Poor," while 24.1% considered their health as "Fair". 39.6% reported being satisfied with their workplace culture, while a majority of 60.4% indicated being unsatisfied with their workplace culture. Results showed that workplace culture has a positive correlation with the overall health and well-being of healthcare professionals. The study found significant differences in health ratings, prevalence of chronic health conditions, workplace culture, and safety perceptions between healthcare professionals in public and private sector tertiary care hospitals. Conclusion: The study's findings emphasize the significance of promoting a positive workplace culture, ensuring workplace safety, and addressing chronic health conditions among healthcare workers.

Keywords: occupational health and well-being, workplace culture, frequency of fatigue, availabity of benefits

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Authors: Amarachukwu B. Isiaka, Vivian N. Anakwenze, Chinyere C. Ezemba, Chiamaka R. Ilodinso, Chikodili G. Anaukwu, Chukwuebuka M. Ezeokoli, Ugonna H. Uzoka

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Infectious diseases continue to pose significant threats to global public health, necessitating advanced and timely detection methods for effective outbreak management. This study explores the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) in the early detection and management of infectious disease outbreaks. Leveraging vast datasets from diverse sources, including electronic health records, social media, and environmental monitoring, AI-driven algorithms are employed to analyze patterns and anomalies indicative of potential outbreaks. Machine learning models, trained on historical data and continuously updated with real-time information, contribute to the identification of emerging threats. The implementation of AI extends beyond detection, encompassing predictive analytics for disease spread and severity assessment. Furthermore, the paper discusses the role of AI in predictive modeling, enabling public health officials to anticipate the spread of infectious diseases and allocate resources proactively. Machine learning algorithms can analyze historical data, climatic conditions, and human mobility patterns to predict potential hotspots and optimize intervention strategies. The study evaluates the current landscape of AI applications in infectious disease surveillance and proposes a comprehensive framework for their integration into existing public health infrastructures. The implementation of an AI-driven early detection system requires collaboration between public health agencies, healthcare providers, and technology experts. Ethical considerations, privacy protection, and data security are paramount in developing a framework that balances the benefits of AI with the protection of individual rights. The synergistic collaboration between AI technologies and traditional epidemiological methods is emphasized, highlighting the potential to enhance a nation's ability to detect, respond to, and manage infectious disease outbreaks in a proactive and data-driven manner. The findings of this research underscore the transformative impact of harnessing AI for early detection and management, offering a promising avenue for strengthening the resilience of public health systems in the face of evolving infectious disease challenges. This paper advocates for the integration of artificial intelligence into the existing public health infrastructure for early detection and management of infectious disease outbreaks. The proposed AI-driven system has the potential to revolutionize the way we approach infectious disease surveillance, providing a more proactive and effective response to safeguard public health.

Keywords: artificial intelligence, early detection, disease surveillance, infectious diseases, outbreak management

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Authors: Chibuzo Okoye Daniels, Gillian Glegg, Lynda Rodwell

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Marine debris from fishing nets to medical equipment to food packaging that play major roles in boosting the economy and protecting human health is now more than an environmental problem that can be solved by legislation, law enforcement and technical solutions. It has also been identified as a cultural problem that can only be addressed by identifying instruments that can be used to change human attitudes and behaviors. This may be through management approaches, education and involvement of all sectors/interests, including the public. To contribute to the sustainable development of coastal Nigeria, two case study areas (Ikoyi and Victoria Islands of Lagos State) were used to evaluate the socio-economic impacts of marine debris problem in coastal Nigeria. The following methods were used: (1) semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders and businesses on beaches, waterfronts and waterways within the study areas and (2) observational study of beaches, waterfronts and waterways within the study areas. The results of the study have shown that marine debris is a cultural and multi-sectoral problem that poses great threat not only to the environmental sustainability of the study areas but also to the wellbeing of its citizens and the economy of coastal Nigeria. Current solid waste and marine debris management practices are inefficient due to inadequate knowledge of how to tackle the problem. To ensure environmental sustainability in coastal Nigeria and avoid waste of scarce financial resources, adequate, appropriate and cost effective solutions to the marine debris problem need to be identified and effectively transferred for implementation in the study areas.

Keywords: sustainability, coastal Nigeria, study areas, aquaculture

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Authors: Anzor Abralava, Ketevan Kokrashvili, Rusudan Kutateladze, Nino Pailodze, Ketevan Kutateladze, Giorgi Sulashvili

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Nowadays when the integration of states is growing fast, it is urgent to study the rules of behavior which they resort to in case of conflicts and disagreements. The reason of disagreement in many ways is the Foreign policy carried out by separate countries, as the market participants define production and export capacity and structure as well as level of international division of labor due to the competition among them. We can say over and over again that outbreak of conflicts in Georgia displays the serious controversy between political and economic powerhouses. However, to tell the truth existence of the unsolved conflicts in Georgia is the result of weakness and inadequacy of Georgian politics. Today the main task of political quarters in Georgia should be a direction to Caucasus, as to the region burdened with the most complicated problems which blockade the settlement of conflicts and farther development of our country (or vice versa). In this situation rehabilitation of our authority, leading role and hegemony; expansion and consolidation of peacekeeping and other missions are considered as the exact activities for accomplishing all Georgian economic and political goals.

Keywords: Awara Group, political centers, administrative services, dynamic process

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Authors: D. Hilton

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The importance and significance of this research is based upon the fundamental knowledge reported in the scientific literature that physical activity is inversely associated with obesity. In addition, it is recognized there is a global epidemic of sedentariness while at the same time it is known that morbidity and mortality are associated with physical inactivity and as a result of overweight or obesity. Hence this small study in school students is an important area of research in our community. An application submitted in 2005 for the inaugural Public Health Education Research Trust [PHERT] Post Graduate Research Scholarship scheme organized by the Public Health Association of Australia [PHAA] was awarded 3rd place within Australia. The author and title was: D. Hilton, Methods to increase physical activity in school aged children [literature review, a trial using pedometers and a policy paper]. Third place is a good result, however this did not secure funding for the project, as only first place received $5000 funding. Some years later within Australia, a program commenced called the Global Children's Challenge [GCC]. Given details of the 2005 award above were included an application submission prepared for Parkhill Primary School [PPS] which is located in Victoria, Australia was successful. As a result, an excited combined grade 3/ 4 class at the school [27 students] in 2012 became recipients of these free pedometers. Ambassadors for the program were Mrs Catherine Freeman [OAM], Olympic Gold Medalist – Sydney 2000 [400 meters], while another ambassador was Mr Colin Jackson [CBE] who is a Welsh former sprint and hurdling athlete. In terms of PPS and other schools involved in 2012, website details show that the event started on 19th Sep 2012 and students were to wear the pedometer every day for 50 days [at home and at school] aiming for the recommended 15,000 steps/day recording steps taken in a booklet provided. After the finish, an analysis of the average step count for this school showed that the average steps taken / day was 14, 003 [however only a small percentage of students returned the booklets and units] as unfortunately the dates for the program coincided with school holidays so some students either forgot or misplaced the units / booklets. Unfortunately funding for this program ceased in 2013, however the lasting impact of the trial on student’s knowledge and awareness remains and in fact becomes a good grounding for students in how to monitor basic daily physical activity using a method that is easy, fun, low cost and readily accessible.

Keywords: walking, physical activity, exercise, Australian school

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