Search results for: local stakeholders

Authors: Anandhi Santhosh

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In order to describe various real-world problems in physical and engineering sciences subject to abrupt changes at certain instants during the evolution process, impulsive differential equations has been used to describe the system model. In this article, the problem of approximate controllability for nonlinear impulsive integrodifferential equations with state-dependent delay is investigated. We study the approximate controllability for nonlinear impulsive integrodifferential system under the assumption that the corresponding linear control system is approximately controllable. Using methods of functional analysis and semigroup theory, sufficient conditions are formulated and proved. Finally, an example is provided to illustrate the proposed theory.

Keywords: approximate controllability, impulsive differential system, fixed point theorem, state-dependent delay

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Authors: Ashkan Javadzadegan, Aitak Javadzadegan, Babak Fakhim

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One of possible ways to retard movement of fluid is through applying an external magnetic field. In this regard, this study is focused on the effect of a uniform transverse magnetic field on fluid flow behavior inside a channel with a local symmetric constriction. Also, Ellis Non-Newtonian model is implemented to address the effects of shear-dependent viscosity. According to the results, the flow separation downstream of the constriction can be controlled by applying an external magnetic field and/or manipulating the shear-thinning degree of fluid. It is also demonstrated that pressure drop increases by an increase in the strength of the magnetic field.

Keywords: magnetic field, non-Newtonian, separation, shear thinning

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Authors: Manpreet Kaur

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When legitimate credit card users are mistakenly labelled as fraudulent in numerous financial delated applications, there are numerous ethical problems. The innovative machine learning approach we have suggested in this research outperforms the current models and shows how to model a data set for credit card fraud detection while minimizing false positives. As a result, we advise using random forests as the best machine learning method for predicting and identifying credit card transaction fraud. The majority of victims of these fraudulent transactions were discovered to be credit card users over the age of 60, with a higher percentage of fraudulent transactions taking place between the specific hours.

Keywords: automated fraud detection, isolation forest method, local outlier factor, ML algorithm, credit card

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Authors: Ana Julia C. Kfouri

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A prerequisite of any building design is to provide security to the users, taking the climate and its physical and physical-geometrical variables into account. It is also important to highlight the relevance of the right material elements, which arise between the person and the agent, and must provide improved thermal comfort conditions and low environmental impact. Furthermore, technology is constantly advancing, as well as computational simulations for projects, and they should be used to develop sustainable building and to provide higher quality of life for its users. In relation to comfort, the more satisfied the building users are, the better their intellectual performance will be. Based on that, the study of thermal comfort in educational buildings is of relative relevance, since the thermal characteristics in these environments are of vital importance to all users. Moreover, educational buildings are large constructions and when they are poorly planned and executed they have negative impacts to the surrounding environment, as well as to the user satisfaction, throughout its whole life cycle. In this line of thought, to evaluate university classroom conditions, it was accomplished a detailed case study on the thermal comfort situation at Federal University of Parana (UFPR). The main goal of the study is to perform a thermal analysis in three classrooms at UFPR, in order to address the subjective and physical variables that influence thermal comfort inside the classroom. For the assessment of the subjective components, a questionnaire was applied in order to evaluate the reference for the local thermal conditions. Regarding the physical variables, it was carried out on-site measurements, which consist of performing measurements of air temperature and air humidity, both inside and outside the building, as well as meteorological variables, such as wind speed and direction, solar radiation and rainfall, collected from a weather station. Then, a computer simulation based on results from the EnergyPlus software to reproduce air temperature and air humidity values of the three classrooms studied was conducted. The EnergyPlus outputs were analyzed and compared with the on-site measurement results to be possible to come out with a conclusion related to the local thermal conditions. The methodological approach included in the study allowed a distinct perspective in an educational building to better understand the classroom thermal performance, as well as the reason of such behavior. Finally, the study induces a reflection about the importance of thermal comfort for educational buildings and propose thermal alternatives for future projects, as well as a discussion about the significant impact of using computer simulation on engineering solutions, in order to improve the thermal performance of UFPR’s buildings.

Keywords: computer simulation, educational buildings, EnergyPlus, humidity, temperature, thermal comfort

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Authors: Juan Manuel Brito-Diaz

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The emergence of urban environmentalism in Spain is related to the processes of economic transformation and growing urbanization that occurred during the end of the Franco regime and the democratic transition. This paper analyzes the urban environmental mobilizations and their impacts as relevant democratizing agents in the processes of political change in cities. It’s an under-researched topic and studies on environmental movements in Spain have paid little attention to it. This research takes as its starting point the close link between democratization and environmentalism, since it considers that environmental conflicts are largely a consequence of democratic problems, and that the impacts of environmental movements are directly linked to the democratization. The study argues that the environmental movements that emerged in Spain at the end of the dictatorship and the democratic transition are an important part of the broad and complex associative fabric that promoted the democratization process. The research focuses on investigating the environmental protest in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria—the most important city in the Canary Islands—between 1970 and 1983, concurrently with the last local governments of the dictatorship and the first democratic city councils. As it is a case study, it opens up the possibility to ask multiple specific questions and assess each of the responses obtained. Although several research methodologies have been applied, such as the analysis of historical archives documentation or oral history interviews, mainly a very widespread methodology in the sociology of social movements, although very little used by social historians, has been used: the Protest Event Analysis (PEA). This methodology, which consists of generating a catalog of protest events by coding data around previously established variables, has allowed me to map, analyze and interpret the occurrence of protests over time and space, and associated factors, through content analysis. For data collection, news from local newspapers have provided a large enough sample to analyze the properties of social protest -frequency, size, demands, forms, organizers, etc.—and relate them to another type of information related to political structures and mobilization repertoires, encouraging the establishment of connections between the protest and the political impacts of urban movements. Finally, the study argues that the environmental movements of this period were essential to the construction of the new democratic city in Spain, not only because they established the issues of sustainability and urban environmental justice on the public agenda, but also because they proposed that conflicts derived from such matters should ultimately be resolved through public deliberation and citizen participation.

Keywords: democratization, environmental movements, political impacts, social movements

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Authors: S. Ping Ho, R. Dahal

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The global economy has drastically changed how firms operate and compete. Although the construction industry is ‘local’ by its nature, the internationalization of the construction industry has become an inevitable reality. As a result of global competition, staying domestic is no longer safe from competition and, on the contrary, to grow and become an MNE (multi-national enterprise) becomes one of the important strategies for a firm to survive in the global competition. For the successful entrance into competing markets, the firms need to re-define their competitive advantages and re-identify the sources of the competitive advantages. A firm’s initiation of internationalization is not necessarily a result of strategic planning but also involves certain idiosyncratic events that pave the path leading to a firm’s internationalization. For example, a local firm’s incidental or unintentional collaboration with an MNE can become the initiating point of its internationalization process. However, because of the intensive competition in today’s global movement, many firms were compelled to initiate their internationalization as a strategic response to the competition. Understandingly stepping in in the process of internationalization and appropriately implementing the strategies (in the process) at different stages lead the construction firms to a successful internationalization journey. This study is carried out to develop a model of the internationalization process, which derives appropriate strategies that the construction firms can implement at each stage. The proposed model integrates two major and complementary views of internationalization and expresses the dynamic process of internationalization in three stages, which are the pre-international (PRE) stage, the foreign direct investment (FDI) stage, and the multi-national enterprise (MNE) stage. The strategies implied in the proposed model are derived, focusing on capability building, market locations, and entry modes based on the resource-based views: value, rareness, imitability, and substitutability (VRIN). With the proposed dynamic process model the potential construction firms which are willing to expand their business market area can be benefitted. Strategies for internationalization, such as core competence strategy, market selection, partner selection, and entry mode strategy, can be derived from the proposed model. The internationalization process is expressed in two different forms. First, we discuss the construction internationalization process, identify the driving factor/s of the process, and explain the strategy formation in the process. Second, we define the stages of internationalization along the process and the corresponding strategies in each stage. The strategies may include how to exploit existing advantages for the competition at the current stage and develop or explore additional advantages appropriate for the next stage. Particularly, the additionally developed advantages will then be accumulated and drive forward the firm’s stage of internationalization, which will further determine the subsequent strategies, and so on and so forth, spiraling up the stages of a higher degree of internationalization. However, the formation of additional strategies for the next stage does not happen automatically, and the strategy evolution is based on the firm’s dynamic capabilities.

Keywords: construction industry, dynamic capabilities, internationalization process, internationalization strategies, strategic management

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Authors: Bashir Ahmad, Daneji, Hamidu Aminu, Ahmad, Aliyu Mukhtar, Daneji, Haruna Mohammed

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It has been established and universally agreed that vibrant Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) play significant roles in economic growth and development. In Nigeria, MSMEs are not playing the expected roles. Notable among the plethora of reasons is lack of prompt and sufficient finance. Government and other stakeholders attempted in several ways at different times to provide the required finance to MSMEs but the results were not encouraging and consequently, many failed. In recent past, Islamic financing emerged world over as promising alternative source of financing. However, its awareness among MSMEs entrepreneurs in north east region of Nigeria stands to be questioned. This study explored the 'Demographic Factors Influence on Awareness of Islamic Financing among MSMEs entrepreneurs in the North East Region of Nigeria'. The primary data used in this study were collected through questionnaire. In analyzing the collected data, the study used frequency, percentages, Pearson correlation, ANOVA and test of homogeneity test (Levene’s test) parameters generated from SPSS (version 15). The findings of the study revealed that entrepreneurs’ age, state of origin, religion and educational level influence their MSMEs awareness of Islamic Financing in the north east region of Nigeria. The study recommended that Islamic Financing institutions, government and relevant agencies should do more to enhance the awareness of Islamic financing among MSMEs entrepreneurs in the north east region of Nigeria.

Keywords: awareness, demographic factors, entrepreneurs, Islamic financing

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Authors: Neelam Kadyan, Pratima Ranga, Yogender

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Indigenous people are the One who are affected by the climate change the most, although there have contributed little to its causes. This is largely a result of their historic dependence on local biological diversity, ecosystem services and cultural landscapes as a source of their sustenance and well-being. Comprising only four percent of the world’s population they utilize 22 percent of the world’s land surface. Despite their high exposure-sensitivity indigenous peoples and local communities are actively responding to changing climatic conditions and have demonstrated their resourcefulness and resilience in the face of climate change. Traditional Indigenous territories encompass up to 22 percent of the world’s land surface and they coincide with areas that hold 80 percent of the planet’s biodiversity. Also, the greatest diversity of indigenous groups coincides with the world’s largest tropical forest wilderness areas in the Americas (including Amazon), Africa, and Asia, and 11 percent of world forest lands are legally owned by Indigenous Peoples and communities. This convergence of biodiversity-significant areas and indigenous territories presents an enormous opportunity to expand efforts to conserve biodiversity beyond parks, which tend to benefit from most of the funding for biodiversity conservation. Tapping on Ancestral Knowledge Indigenous Peoples are carriers of ancestral knowledge and wisdom about this biodiversity. Their effective participation in biodiversity conservation programs as experts in protecting and managing biodiversity and natural resources would result in more comprehensive and cost effective conservation and management of biodiversity worldwide. Addressing the Climate Change Agenda Indigenous Peoples has played a key role in climate change mitigation and adaptation. The territories of indigenous groups who have been given the rights to their lands have been better conserved than the adjacent lands (i.e., Brazil, Colombia, Nicaragua, etc.). Preserving large extensions of forests would not only support the climate change objectives, but it would respect the rights of Indigenous Peoples and conserve biodiversity as well. A climate change agenda fully involving Indigenous Peoples has many more benefits than if only government and/or the private sector are involved. Indigenous peoples are some of the most vulnerable groups to the negative effects of climate change. Also, they are a source of knowledge to the many solutions that will be needed to avoid or ameliorate those effects. For example, ancestral territories often provide excellent examples of a landscape design that can resist the negatives effects of climate change. Over the millennia, Indigenous Peoples have developed adaptation models to climate change. They have also developed genetic varieties of medicinal and useful plants and animal breeds with a wider natural range of resistance to climatic and ecological variability.

Keywords: ancestral knowledge, cost effective conservation, management, indigenous peoples, climate change

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Authors: Harriet Kebirungi, Majaliwa Jackson-Gilbert Mwanjalolo, S. Livingstone Luboobi, Richard Joseph Kimwaga, Consolata Kabonesa

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This paper assessed gender responsiveness of water and sanitation policies and legal frameworks at Makerere University, Uganda. The objectives of the study were to i) examine the gender responsiveness of water and sanitation related policies and frameworks implemented at Makerere University; and ii) assess the challenges faced by the University in customizing national water and sanitation policies and legal frameworks into University policies. A cross-sectional gender-focused study design was adopted. A checklist was developed to analyze national water and sanitation policies and legal frameworks and University based policies. In addition, primary data was obtained from Key informants at the Ministry of Water and Environment and Makerere University. A gender responsive five-step analytical framework was used to analyze the collected data. Key findings indicated that the policies did not adequately address issues of gender, water and sanitation and the policies were gender neutral consistently. The national policy formulation process was found to be gender blind and not backed by situation analysis of different stakeholders including higher education institutions like Universities. At Makerere University, due to lack of customized and gender responsive water and sanitation policy and implementation framework, there were gender differences and deficiencies in access to and utilization of water and sanitation facilities. The University should take advantage of existing expertise within them to customize existing national water policies and gender, and water and sanitation sub-sector strategy. This will help the University to design gender responsive, culturally acceptable and environmental friendly water and sanitation systems that provide adequate water and sanitation facilities that address the needs and interests of male and female students.

Keywords: gender, Makerere University, policies, water, sanitation

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Authors: Khrystyna Pavlyk

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In the OECD countries, percentage of adults with higher education degrees has increased by 10 % during 2000-2010. Continuously increasing demand for higher education gives universities a chance of becoming key players in socio-economic development of a territory (region or city) via knowledge creation, knowledge transfer, and knowledge spillovers. During previous decade, universities have tried to support spin-offs and start-ups, introduced courses on sustainability and corporate social responsibility. While much has been done, new trends are starting to emerge in search of better approaches. Recently a number of universities created centers that conduct research in a field social entrepreneurship, which in turn underpin educational programs run at these universities. The list includes but is not limited to the Centre for Social Economy at University of Liège, Institute for Social Innovation at ESADE, Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship at Oxford, Centre for Social Entrepreneurship at Rosklide, Social Entrepreneurship Initiative at INSEAD. Existing literature already examined social entrepreneurship centers in terms of position in the institutional structure, initial and additional funding, teaching initiatives, research achievements, and outreach activities. At the same time, Universities can become social enterprises themselves. Previous research revealed that universities use both business and social entrepreneurship models. Universities which are mainly driven by a social mission are more likely to transform into social entrepreneurial institutions. At the same time, currently, there is no clear understanding of what social entrepreneurship in higher education is about and thus social entrepreneurship in higher education needs to be studied and promoted at the same time. Main roles which socially oriented university can play in city development include: buyer (implementation of socially focused local procurement programs creates partnerships focused on local sustainable growth.); seller (centers created by universities can sell socially oriented goods and services, e.g. in consultancy.); employer (Universities can employ socially vulnerable groups.); business incubator (which will help current student to start their social enterprises). In the paper, we will analyze these in more detail. We will also examine a number of indicators that can be used to assess the impact, both direct and indirect, that universities can have on city's economy. At the same time, originality of this paper mainly lies not in methodological approaches used, but in countries evaluated. Social entrepreneurship is still treated as a relatively new phenomenon in post-transitional countries where social services were provided only by the state for many decades. Paper will provide data and example’s both from developed countries (the US and EU), and those located in CIS and CEE region.

Keywords: social enterprise, university, regional economic development, comparative study

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Authors: Linh Tong

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This paper aims to contribute to the understanding of key education reforms in Vietnam from 1945 to 2017, which reflects an evolution of socio-political needs of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam throughout this period. It explores the contextual conditions, motivations and ambitions influencing the formation of the education reforms in Vietnam. It also looks, from an applied practical perspective, at the influence of politics on education policy-making. The research methodology includes a content analysis of curriculum designs proposed by the Ministry of Education and Training, relevant resolutions and executive orders passed by the National Assembly and the Prime Minister, as well as interviews with experts and key stakeholders. The results point to a particular configuration of factors which have been inspiring the shape and substance of these reforms and which have most certainly influenced their implementation. This configuration evolves from the immediate needs to erase illiteracy and cultivate socialist economic model at the beginning of Vietnam’s independence in 1945-1975, to a renewed urge to adopt market-oriented economy in 1986 and cautiously communicate with the outside world until 2000s, and to currently a demonstrated desire to fully integrate into the global economy and tackle with rising concerns about national security (the South China Sea Dispute), environmental sustainability, construction of a knowledge economy, and a rule-of-law society. Overall, the paper attempts to map Vietnam’s socio-political needs with the changing sets of goals and expected outcomes in teaching and learning methodologies and practices as introduced in Vietnamese key education reforms.

Keywords: curriculum development, knowledge society, national security, politics of education policy-making, Vietnam's education reforms

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Authors: Atef Aladwan

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This research will focus on stimulating greater freedom and facilitating small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Jordan to create jobs, as it is emerging as a key development issue. It will highlight the importance of integrating SMEs into development strategies. Jordan has potentially a large market for its products as a result of proximity to developed country markets, signing of various free trades agreements with European countries, cheap energy sources and vast sovereign funds willing to invest in the development of local enterprises. It is beginning to be accepted by governments that SMEs rather than government need to be the main player in domestic economic activity, especially as providers of employment opportunities, and hence generators of sources of income for many households. To foster SME development, it is generally recognised that reforms are needed in Jordan in order to bring about a more globally competitive and business-friendly environment.

Keywords: SMEs, competitiveness, entrepreneurship, jordan, development

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Authors: A. Jatau, H. M. Bandiya, Q. Majeed, M. A. Yahaya

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An investigation on the insect infestation of stored seeds of cowpea seeds varieties (Sokoto Loacal and Kanannado) was carried out in Sokoto central market, Sokoto. Two insects' species, Callosobrunchus maculatus and Callosobrunchus chinensis were found on the stored seeds with C. maculutus found to be the most prevalent. The rate of infestation of the cowpea seeds by the two insect species were significantly (P< 0.05) higher in Sokoto local than in Kanannado variety. The result shows that kanannado variety is more resistance to cowpea seeds weevils, hence should be used for long storage in Sokoto.

Keywords: insect, infestation, cowpea seeds, grainaries

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Authors: I. Benkaddour, Y. Benkaddour, A. Benk Addour

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The structural, elastic, Thermal, electronic, and magnetic properties of intermetallic RMn₂Ge₂ (R= Ca, Y, Nd) are investigated by density functional theory (DFT), using the full potential –linearised augmented plane wave method (FP-LAPW). In this approach, the local-density approximation (LDA) is used for the exchange-correlation (XC) potential. The equilibrium lattice constant and magnetic moment agree well with the experiment. The density of states shows that these phases are conductors, with contribution predominantly from the R and Mn d states. We have determined the elastic constants C₁₁, C₁₂, C₁₃, C₄₄, C₃₃, andC₆₆ at ambient conditions in, which have not been established neither experimentally nor theoretically. Thermal properties, including the relative expansion coefficients and the heat capacity, have been estimated using a quasi-harmonic Debye model.

Keywords: RMn₂Ge₂, intermetallic, first-principles, density of states, mechanical properties

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Authors: A. Sathiya Susuman

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Background: The importance of maternal and child healthcare services cannot be stressed enough. These services are very important for the health and health outcomes of the mother and that of the child and in ensuring that both maternal and child deaths are prevented. The objective of the study is to inspire good quality maternal and child health care services in Swaziland. Specifically, is Swaziland on track with the 2015 Millennium Development Goals? Methods: The study used secondary data from the Swaziland Demographic and Health Survey 2006-07. This is an explorative and descriptive study which used pre-selected variables to study factors influencing the use of maternal and child healthcare services in Swaziland. Different types of examinations, such as univariate, bivariate, and multivariate statistical analysis were adopted. Results: The study findings showed a high use rate of antenatal care (97.3%) and delivery care (74.0%), and a low rate of postnatal care use (20.5%). The uptake childhood immunization is also high in the country, averaging more than 80.0%. Moreover, certain factors which were found to be influencing the use of maternal healthcare and childhood immunization include: woman’s age, parity, media exposure, maternal education, wealth status, and residence. The findings also revealed that these factors affect the use of maternal and child health differently. Conclusion: It is important to study factors related to maternal and child health uptake to inform relevant stakeholders about possible areas of improvement. Programs to educate families about the importance of maternal and child healthcare services should be implemented. Swaziland needs to work hard on child survival and maternal health care services, no doubt it is on track with the MDG 4 & 5.

Keywords: maternal healthcare, antenatal care, delivery care, postnatal care, child health, immunization, socio-economic and demographic factors

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Authors: M. H. Abedi, A. Jalilvand

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The economic development benefits of wind energy may be the most tangible basis for the local and state officials’ interests. In addition to the direct salaries associated with building and operating wind projects, the wind energy industry provides indirect jobs and benefits. The optimal planning of a wind farm is one most important topic in renewable energy technology. Many methods have been implemented to optimize the cost and output benefit of wind farms, but the contribution of this paper is mentioning different types of service providers and also time of installation of wind turbines during planning horizon years. Genetic algorithm (GA) is used to optimize the problem. It is observed that an appropriate layout of wind farm can cause to minimize the different types of cost.

Keywords: renewable energy, wind farm, optimization, planning

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Authors: Cristian F.T. Montenegro, Luís F. N. Lourenço, Maurício B. C. Salles, Renato M. Monaro

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More PV systems have been connected to the electrical network each year. As the number of PV systems increases, some issues affecting grid operations have been identified. This paper studied the impacts related to changes in solar irradiance on a distribution/sub-transmission network, considering variations due to moving clouds and daily cycles. Using MATLAB/Simulink software, a solar farm of 30 MWp was built and then implemented to a test network. From simulations, it has been determined that irradiance changes can have a significant impact on the grid by causing voltage fluctuations outside the allowable thresholds. This work discussed some local control strategies and grid reinforcements to mitigate the negative effects of the irradiance changes on the grid.

Keywords: reactive power control, solar irradiance, utility-scale PV systems, voltage fluctuations

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Authors: Hao-Wei Fu, Chung-Feng Kao

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In the era of rapid technological advancement, information technology (IT) has become integral to modern life, exerting significant influence across diverse sectors and serving as a catalyst for development in various industries. Within agriculture, the integration of IT offers substantial benefits, notably enhancing operational efficiency. Real-time monitoring systems, for instance, have been widely embraced in agriculture, effectively improving crop management practices. This study specifically addresses the management of rice panicle fertilizer, presenting the development of a web application tailored to handle data associated with rice panicle fertilizer management. Leveraging the normalized difference red edge index, this application optimizes the quantity of rice panicle fertilizer used, providing recommendations to agricultural stakeholders and service providers in the agricultural information sector. The overarching objective is to minimize costs while maximizing yields. Furthermore, a robust database system has been established to store and manage relevant data for future reference in rice cultivation management. Additionally, the study utilizes the Representational State Transfer software architectural style to construct an application programming interface (API), facilitating data creation, retrieval, updating, and deletion for users via the HyperText Transfer Protocol methods. Future plans involve integrating this API with third-party services to incorporate it into larger frameworks, thus catering to the diverse requirements of various third-party services.

Keywords: application programming interface, HyperText Transfer Protocol, nitrogen fertilizer intelligent management, web-based application

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Authors: Mahsa Mahjoub Laleh, Nasser Dasht Peyma

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This paper explores Marie Jones’s Stones in His Pockets in the light of the postcolonial notion of hybridity. The play is a tragicomedy about a small village in Ireland where many of the locales are extras in a Hollywood film. The actions of the play revolve around a local teenager named Sean who has been vilipended by a famous film star. The Sean character commits suicide by drowning himself with stones in his pockets. This paper explored how the attempts to gain cultural identity is manifested in Marie Jones’s play and how authority causes a change in the culture and destiny of people. Apparently, the play demonstrates that the political, economic and social realities directly affect people’s destiny and identity.

Keywords: cultural identity, hybridity, identity, postcolonial

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Authors: Bhavneet Bharti, Prahbhjot Malhi, Vandana Thakur

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Introduction: Children of the urban migrant laborers have great difficulty in accessing government programs which are otherwise routinely available in rural settings. These include programs for child care, nutrition, health and education. There are major communicative fault-lines preventing advocacy for these marginalized children. The overarching aim of this study was to investigate the role of an innovative strategy of children’s drawings in supporting communication between children, social workers, pediatricians and other child advocates to fulfil their fundamental child rights. Materials and Methods: The data was collected over a period of one-year April 2015 to April 2016 during the routine visits by the members of the Social Pediatrics team including a social worker, pediatricians and an artist to the makeshift colony of migrant laborers. Once a week a drawing session was organized where the children including adolescents were asked to any drawing and provide a narrative thereafter. 5-30 children attended these weekly sessions for one year. All these drawings were then classified into various themes and exhibited on 16th April 2016 in the Govt. College of Art Museum. The forum was used for advocacy of Child Rights of these underprivileged children to Secretary social welfare. Results: Mean (SD) age of children in present observational study was 8.5 (2.5) years, with 60% of the boys. Majority of children demonstrated themes which were local and contextualized to their daily needs, threats and festivals which clearly underscored their fundamental right to basic services and equality of opportunities to achieve their full development Drawings of tap with flowing water, queues of people collecting water from hand pumps reflect the local problem of water availability for these children. Young children talking about fear of rape and murder following their drawings indicate the looming threat of potential abuse and neglect. Besides reality driven drawing, children also echoed supernatural beliefs, dangers and festivities in their drawings. Anyone who watched these children at work with art materials was able to see the intense level of absorption, clearly indicating the enjoyment they received, making it a meaningful activity. Indeed, this self-advocacy through art exhibition led to the successful establishment of mobile Anganwadi (A social safety net programme of the government) in their area of stay. Conclusions: This observational study is an example of how children were able to do self-advocacy to protect their rights. Of particular importance, these drawings address how psychologists and other child advocates can ensure in a child-centered manner that the voice of children is heard and represented in all assessments of their well-being and future care options.

Keywords: child advocacy, children drawings, child rights, marginalized children

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Authors: Müberra Yüksel, Ömer Faruk Görçün

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The purpose of the present study is to investigate the role of strategic human resource management (SHRM) in constructing "employer branding" in logistics. Prior research does not focus on internal stakeholders, that is, employees. Despite the fact that logistic sector has become customer-oriented, the focus is solely on service quality as the unique aspect of logistic companies for competitive advantage. With an increasing interest lately in internal marketing of the employer brand, the emphasis is on the value that human capital brings to the firm which cannot be imitated. `Employer branding` has been the application of branding and relationship marketing principles for competitive advantage in SHRM. Employer branding is an organizing framework for human resource managers since it represents an organization’s efforts to promote, both within and outside, a coherent view of what makes the firm different and desirable as an employer, i.e., the distinct “employer brand personality” and "employee value propositions" (EVP) offered. The presumption of employer branding enhanced by internal marketing is to make customer-conscious employees to handle services better by being aligned with business mission and goals. Starting from internal customers and analyzing the gaps of EVP by using analytical hierarchy process methodology (AHP) and inquiring whether these brand values are communicated and conceived well may be the initial steps in our proposal for employer branding in logistics sector. This empirical study aims to fill this research gap within the context of an emergent market- Turkey, which is located at a hub of transportation and logistics.

Keywords: Strategic Human Resource Management (SHRM), employer branding, Employee Value Propositions (EVP), Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP), logistics

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Authors: T. Hopkin, S. Lu, P. Rogers, M. Sexton

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Housing Associations (HAs) contribute circa 20% of the UK’s housing supply. HAs are however under increasing pressure as a result of funding cuts and rent reductions. Due to the increased pressure, a number of processes are currently being reviewed by HAs, especially how they manage and learn from defects. Learning from defects is considered a useful approach to achieving defect reduction within the UK housebuilding industry. This paper contributes to our understanding of how HAs learn from defects by undertaking an initial round table discussion with key HA stakeholders as part of an ongoing collaborative research project with the National House Building Council (NHBC) to better understand how house builders and HAs learn from defects to reduce their prevalence. The initial discussion shows that defect information runs through a number of groups, both internal and external of a HA during both the defects management process and organizational learning (OL) process. Furthermore, HAs are reliant on capturing and recording defect data as the foundation for the OL process. During the OL process defect data analysis is the primary enabler to recognizing a need for a change to organizational routines. When a need for change has been recognized, new options are typically pursued to design out defects via updates to a HAs Employer’s Requirements. Proposed solutions are selected by a review board and committed to organizational routine. After implementing a change, both structured and unstructured feedback is sought to establish the change’s success. The findings from the HA discussion demonstrates that OL can achieve defect reduction within the house building sector in the UK. The paper concludes by outlining a potential ‘learning from defects model’ for the housebuilding industry as well as describing future work.

Keywords: defects, new homes, housing association, organizational learning

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Authors: Amrita Sen

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In the face of a growing insurgent movement and the perceived failure of the state and the market towards sustainable resource management, a range of decentralized forest management policies was formulated in the last two decades, which recognized the need for community representations within the statutory methods of forest management. The recognition conceded on the virtues of ecological sustainability and traditional environmental knowledge, which were considered to be the principal repositories of the forest dependent communities. The present study, in the light of empirical insights, reflects on the contemporary disjunctions between the preconceived communitarian ethic in environmentalism and the lived reality of forest based life-worlds. Many of the popular as well as dominant ideologies, which have historically shaped the conceptual and theoretical understanding of sociology, needs further perusal in the context of the emerging contours of empirical knowledge, which lends opportunities for substantive reworking and analysis. The image of the community appears to be one of those concepts, an identity which has for long defined perspectives and processes associated with people living together harmoniously in small physical spaces. Through an ethnographic account of the implementation of Joint Forest Management (JFM) in a forest fringe village in Sundarban, the study explores the ways in which the idea of ‘community’ gets transformed through the process of state-making, rendering the necessity of its departure from the standard, conventional definition of homogeneity and internal equity. The study necessitates an attention towards the anthropology of micro-politics, disaggregating an essentially constructivist anthropology of ‘collective identities’, which can render the visibility of political mobilizations plausible within the seemingly culturalist production of communities. The two critical questions that the paper seeks to ask in this context are: how the ‘local’ is constituted within community based conservation practices? Within the efforts of collaborative forest management, how accurately does the depiction of ‘indigenous environmental knowledge’, subscribe to its role of sustainable conservation practices? Reflecting on the execution of JFM in Sundarban, the study critically explores the ways in which the state ceases to be ‘trans-national’ and interacts with the rural life-worlds through its local factions. Simultaneously, the study attempts to articulate the scope of constructing a competing representation of community, shaped by increasing political negotiations and bureaucratic alignments which strains against the usual preoccupations with tradition primordiality and non material culture as well as the amorous construction of indigeneity.

Keywords: community, environmentalism, JFM, state-making, identities, indigenous

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Authors: Baikuntha Prasad Acharya, Elizabeth Halpenny

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Small tourism enterprises (STEs) are primary providers of services and attractions in many destinations of less developed countries; they are considered the lifeblood of tourism sector. Furthermore, in rural community destinations of such countries including Nepal, STEs are regarded as alternative tools for advancing economic and sociocultural transformations. Many families in rural Nepali destinations are venturing into small tourism entrepreneurship so that their poverty can be reduced and they can live a sustained life. Most these communities are utilizing their lifestyles and natural and cultural heritages as tourism attractions. This study aimed to understand the sustainability of the STEs in rural destinations by synthesizing observations from Ghalegaon and Ghandruk of the Annapurna Conservation Area in western Nepal. Ghalegaon has community-based homestays and Ghandruk has independently owned and operated small tourism businesses such as cafes, tea houses, lodges, guest houses, and hotels, etc. The community-based homestays of Ghalegaon are compared with the independently owned and operated STEs of Ghandruk. The data were collected through multiple sources: 1) survey of tourists (n=112) and households (n=191); 2) interviews (n=14) with the locals, 3) group discussions (n=10) with different local groups including that of regional tourism players, experts and policy makers, 4) observations, and 5) document analysis. The STEs of both communities were first analyzed by understanding their level of sustainability as businesses, and then were explored how they were impacting on respective communities’ sustainability. The survey indicators and guidelines for interviews and group discussions were adapted to the Nepalese context based on four pillars of sustainability: economic, social, cultural and environmental; an additional dimension of management was also included, particularly for the STEs. The findings have shown a weaker economic and management dimensions of Ghalegaon’s Homestay than that of Ghandruk’s STEs. Some interesting social complexities of rural tourism and entrepreneurship were also revealed. This study’s findings do not much resonate to what Nepal government’s current rural tourism strategies that have been envisioned and prioritized for, particularly that the rural homestay tourism opportunities enhance inclusiveness of women and other deprived communities by spreading the benefits to the grassroots level. The study has highlighted several important applied implications to the local tourism management committees, tourism operators and associations, and regional and national tourism authorities. Further studies are advisable in other similar contexts in Nepal and in other countries to see whether there are variances in the findings.

Keywords: Nepal, rural tourism communities, small tourism enterprises, sustainability

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Authors: Shefali Nayak

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The architectural appeal, familiarity, and idiom of culturally significant structures are due to societal attachment to various movements, historical association or deviation. Generally, the urge to preserve a building in the northern part of India is driven either by emotional dogma or rational thinking, but, it is also influenced by traditional affinity. The northern region of India has an assortment of palaces and Havelis belonging to various time periods and families with vernacular yet signature style of architecture. Many of them are either successfully conserved by being put into adaptive reuse and some of them have been midst controversies and continued to remain in ruins. The research focuses on comparing successful examples of adaptive reuse such as Neemrana, Mehrangargh Fort palace with a few other merchant havelis converted into heritage hotels. Furthermore, evaluates the architectural aspects of structure, materials, plumbing and electrical installations, as well as specific challenges faced by heritage professionals practicing sustainability, while respecting traditional feelings of various stakeholders. This paper concludes through the analysis of the case study that, its highly unlikely for sustainable design cannot be used as a stand-alone application for heritage structures or cities, it needs the support of architecture conservation to be put into practice. However, it is often demanding to fit a new use of a building into an aged structure. This paper records modern-day generic requirements that reflect challenges faced by different architects, while conserving a heritage structure and retrofitting it into today's requisites. The research objective is to establish how conservation, restoration, and urban regeneration are closely related to sustainable architecture in historical cities.

Keywords: architecture conservation, architecture heritage, adaptive reuse, retrofitting, sustainability, urban regeneration

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Authors: Nitish Suvarna, Anjali Awasthi

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In an era marked by rapid technological advancements, the integration of Autonomous Vehicles into supply chain networks represents a transformative shift, promising to redefine the paradigms of logistics and transportation. This thesis delves into a comprehensive assessment of the impact of autonomous vehicles on supply chain performance, with a particular focus on network design, operational efficiency, and environmental sustainability. Employing the advanced simulation capabilities of anyLogistix (ALX), the study constructs a digital twin of a conventional supply chain network, encompassing suppliers, production facilities, distribution centers, and customer endpoints. The research methodically integrates Autonomous Vehicles into this intricate network, aiming to unravel the multifaceted effects on transportation logistics including transit times, cost-efficiency, and sustainability. Through simulations and scenarios analysis, the study scrutinizes the operational resilience and adaptability of supply chains in the face of dynamic market conditions and disruptive technologies like Autonomous Vehicles. Furthermore, the thesis undertakes carbon footprint analysis, quantifying the environmental benefits and challenges associated with the adoption of Autonomous Vehicles in supply chain operations. The insights from this research are anticipated to offer a strategic framework for industry stakeholders, guiding the adoption of Autonomous Vehicles to foster a more efficient, responsive, and sustainable supply chain ecosystem. The findings aim to serve as a cornerstone for future research and practical implementations in the realm of intelligent transportation and supply chain management.

Keywords: autonomous vehicle, agri-food supply chain, ALX simulation, anyLogistix

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Authors: Pui Hong Chung, Cyrus Leung, Jun Li, Kin On Kwok, Ek Yeoh

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Introduction: Studies for TB control in intermediate tuberculosis burden countries (IBCs) comprise a relatively small proportion in TB control literature, as compared to the effort put in high and low burden counterparts. It currently lacks of consensus in the optimal weapons and strategies we can use to combat TB in IBCs; guidelines of TB control are inadequate and thus posing a great obstacle in eliminating TB in these countries. To fill-in the research and services gap, we need to summarize the findings of the effort in this regard and to seek consensus in terms of policy making for TB control, we have devised a series of scoping and Delphi studies for these purposes. Method: The scoping and Delphi studies are conducted in parallel to feed information for each other. Before the Delphi iterations, we have invited three local experts in TB control in Hong Kong to participate in the pre-assessment round of the Delphi study to comments on the validity, relevance, and clarity of the Delphi questionnaire. Result: Two scoping studies, regarding LTBI control in health care workers in IBCs and TB control in elderly of IBCs respectively, have been conducted. The result of these two studies is used as the foundation for developing the Delphi questionnaire, which tapped on seven areas of question, namely: characteristics of IBCs, adequacy of research and services in LTBI control in IBCs, importance and feasibility of interventions for TB control and prevention in hospital, screening and treatment of LTBI in community, reasons of refusal to/ default from LTBI treatment, medical adherence of LTBI treatment, and importance and feasibility of interventions for TB control and prevention in elderly in IBCs. The local experts also commented on the two scoping studies conducted, thus act as the sixth phase of expert consultation in Arksey and O’Malley framework of scoping studies, to either nourish the scope and strategies used in these studies or to supplement ideas for further scoping or systematic review studies. In the subsequent stage, an international expert panel, comprised of 15 to 20 experts from IBCs in Western Pacific Region, will be recruited to join the two-round anonymous Delphi iterations. Four categories of TB control experts, namely clinicians, policy makers, microbiologists/ laboratory personnel, and public health clinicians will be our target groups. A consensus level of 80% is used to determine the achievement of consensus on particular issues. Key messages: 1. Scoping review and Delphi method are useful to identify gaps and then achieve consensus in research. 2. Lots of resources are put in the high burden countries now. However, the usually neglected intermediate-burden countries with TB is an indispensable part for achieving the ambitious WHO End TB 2035 target.

Keywords: dephi questionnaire, tuberculosis, WHO, latent TB infection

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Authors: Jamil Ahmed, Li P. Wong, Yan P. Chua

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The United Nation's sustainable development goals include the target to ensure access to water and sanitation for all; however, very few studies have assessed school-based drinking water in Pakistan. The purpose of this study was to characterize water quality in primary schools of Pakistan and to characterize how recent WASH interventions were associated with school water quality. We conducted a representative cross-sectional study of primary schools in the Sindh province of Pakistan. We used structured observations and structured interviews to ascertain the school’s WASH conditions. Our primary exposures of interest were the implementation of previous WASH interventions in the school and the water source type. Outcomes of interest included water quality (measured by various chemical and microbiological indicators) and water availability at the school’s primary drinking water source. We used log-binomial regression to characterize how WASH exposures were associated with water quality outcomes. We collected data from 256 schools. Groundwater was the primary drinking water source at most schools (87%). Water testing showed that 14% of the school’s water had arsenic above the WHO recommendations, and over 50% of the water samples exceeded recommendations for both lead and cadmium. A majority of the water sources (52%) had fecal coliform contamination. None of the schools had nitrate contamination (0%), and few had fluoride contamination (5%). Regression results indicated that having a recent WASH intervention at the school was not associated with either arsenic contamination (prevalence ratio=0.97; 95% CI: 0.46-2.1) or with fecal coliform contamination (PR=0.88; 95% CI: 0.67-1.17). Our assessment unveiled several water quality gaps that exist, including high heavy metal and fecal contamination. Our findings will help various stakeholders to take suitable action to improve water quality in Pakistani schools.

Keywords: WASH interventions, water quality, primary school children, heavy metals

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Authors: Bekir Dogan

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The genus Jurinea is one of the larger genera within Asteraceae, comprising about 200 species. Jurinea is naturally distributed in central Asia, Turkey, Iran and the Mediterranean region. Jurinea has 23 species within the Mediterranean and Irano-Turanian phytogeographic regions of Turkey. Jurinea brevicaulis is locally endemic in Turkey. It grows Erzincan province in Turkey. Between 2005 and 2007, as a part of a revisional study of Jurinea in Turkey, the author carried out extensive field studies and herbaria and collected an enough number of specimens. In the field, the specimens' GPS coordinates, habitat and relevant field observations were recorded. International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) threat category was given. The present study reviews the chorology of the Jurinea brevicaulis in Turkey based on recent taxonomic revision and available specimen data.

Keywords: Asteraceae, endemic, Jurinea, Turkey

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Authors: Ewa M. Boryczka

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Contemporary city is a subject to rapid economic and social changes. Therefore it requires an active policy designed to meet the diverse needs of their residents, build competitive position and capacity to compete with other cities. Competitiveness of cities depends largely on their resources, but also to a large extent, on the policies and performance of local authorities. Cooperation with private and social sectors also plays an important role, as it affects the use of resources and builds an advantage over other cities. The subject of this article is city's contemporary problems of development with particular emphasis on central areas. This issue is a starting point for reflection on the process of urban regeneration in medium size cities in Poland, as well as cooperation between various actors and their roles in the revitalization processes of Polish cities' centres.

Keywords: city, cooperation between sectors, crisis of city centres, revitalization

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