Search results for: economic feasibility

Authors: Adeyinka Adeniran, Omowunmi Bakare, Esther Oluwole, Florence Chieme, Temitope Durojaiye, Modupe Akinyinka, Omobola Ojo, Babatunde Olujobi, Marcus Ilesanmi, Akintunde Ogunsakin

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Introduction: Globally, COVID-19 has greatly impacted the human race physically, socially, mentally, and economically. However, healthcare workers seemed to bear the greatest impact. The study, therefore, sought to assess the impact of COVID-19 on the primary healthcare workers in Ekiti, South-west Nigeria. Methods: The study was a cross-sectional descriptive study using a quantitative data collection method of 716 primary healthcare workers in Ekiti state. Respondents were selected using an online convenience sampling method via their social media platforms. Data was collected, collated, and analyzed using SPSS version 25 software and presented as frequency tables, mean and standard deviation. Bivariate and multivariate analyses were conducted using a t-test, and the level of statistical significance was set at p<0.05. Results: Less than half (47.1%) of respondents were between 41-50 age group and a mean age of 44.4+6.4SD. A majority (89.4%) were female, and almost all (96.2%) were married. More than (90%) had ever heard of Coronavirus, and (85.8%) had to spend more money on activities of daily living such as transportation (90.1%), groceries (80.6%), assisting relations (95.8%) and sanitary measures (disinfection) at home (95.0%). COVID-19 had a huge negative impact on about (89.7%) of healthcare workers, with a mean score of 22+4.8. Conclusion: COVID-19 negatively impacted the daily living and professional duties of primary healthcare workers, which reflected their psychological, physical, social, and economic well-being. Disease outbreaks are unlikely to disappear in the near future. Hence, global proactive interventions and homegrown measures should be adopted to protect healthcare workers and save lives.

Keywords: Covid-19, health workforce, primary health care, health systems, depression

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Authors: Selvam M., Vadthya Poornachandar, Surender Singh

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These Reclaimed Asphalt Pavement (RAP) aggregates are generally dumped in the open area after the demolition of Asphalt Pavements. The utilization of RAP aggregates in cement concrete pavements may provide several socio-economic-environmental benefits and could embrace the circular economy. The cross recycling of RAP aggregates in the concrete pavement could reduce the consumption of virgin aggregates and saves the fertile land. However, the structural, as well as functional properties of RAP-concrete could be significantly lower than the conventional Pavement Quality Control (PQC) pavements. This warrants judicious selection of RAP fraction (coarse and fine aggregates) along with the accurate proportion of the same for PQC highways. Also, the selection of the RAP fraction and its proportion shall not be solely based on the mechanical properties of RAP-concrete specimens but also governed by the structural and functional behavior of the pavement system. In this study, an effort has been made to predict the optimum RAP fraction and its corresponding proportion for cement concrete pavements by considering the low-volume and high-volume roads. Initially, the effect of inclusions of RAP on the fresh and mechanical properties of concrete pavement mixes is mapped through an extensive literature survey. Almost all the studies available to date are considered for this study. Generally, Indian Roads Congress (IRC) methods are the most widely used design method in India for the analysis of concrete pavements, and the same has been considered for this study. Subsequently, fatigue damage analysis is performed to evaluate the required safe thickness of pavement slab for different fractions of RAP (coarse RAP). Consequently, the performance of RAP-concrete is predicted by employing the AASHTO-1993 model for the following distresses conditions: faulting, cracking, and smoothness. The performance prediction and total cost analysis of RAP aggregates depict that the optimum proportions of coarse RAP aggregates in the PQC mix are 35% and 50% for high volume and low volume roads, respectively.

Keywords: concrete pavement, RAP aggregate, performance prediction, pavement design

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Authors: Hamidreza Joudaki, Yousefali Ziari

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The appearance of city and urbanism is one of the important processes which have affected social communities. Being industrialized urbanism developed along with each other in the history. In addition, they have had simple relationship for more than six thousand years, that is, from the appearance of the first cities. In 18th century by coming out of industrial capitalism, progressive development took place in urbanism in the world. In Iran, the city of each region made its decision by itself and the capital of region (downtown) was the only central part and also the regional city without any hierarchy, controlled its realm. However, this method of ruling during these three decays, because of changing in political, social and economic issues that have caused changes in rural and urban relationship. Moreover, it has changed the variety of performance of cities and systematic urban network in Iran. Today, urban system has very vast imbalanced apace and performance. In Isfahan, the trend of urbanism is like the other part of Iran and systematic urban hierarchy is not suitable and normal. This article is a quantitative and analytical. The statistical communities are Isfahan Province cities and the changes in urban network and its hierarchy during the period of fifty years (1956 -2006) has been surveyed. In addition, those data have been analyzed by model of Rank and size and Entropy index. In this article Iran cities and also the factor of entropy of primate city and urban hierarchy of Isfahan Province have been introduced. Urban residents of this Province have been reached from 55 percent to 83% (2006). As we see the analytical data reflects that there is mismatching and imbalance between cities. Because the entropy index was.91 in 1956.And it decreased to.63 in 2006. Isfahan city is the primate city in the whole of these periods. Moreover, the second and the third cities have population gap with regard to the other cities and finally, they do not follow the system of rank-size.

Keywords: urban network, urban hierarchy, primate city, Isfahan province, urbanism, first cities

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Authors: Tongpong Sriboon, Prapita Thanarak, Chaitawatch Khunrangabsang

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Nowadays, the usage of power generated from photovoltaic system has been promoted significantly in Thailand. The targeted result which is to increase the Solar Power Generation in 2036 to 6000 megawatts (MW) was planned by Alternative Energy Development Plan (AEDP 2015) and Power Development Plan (PDP 2015). The solar rooftop 200 MW was promoted and supported under the Feed-in Tariff scheme (FiT) in two phases; phase I in 2012 and phase II in 2015. However, the number of people interested in supporting the projects reduced due to many reasons which range from the first process to the last that is to sell electricity back to Electricity Authority. This paper will review this situation especially in total electricity generated from solar rooftop system during the day that has been sold back to the grid utility in different capacity FiT rates. With many stakeholders involved, the regulations and criteria were established to maintain the standard of the system. Besides, lots of problems have occurred during the processes including reliability and quality. These problems were shortly followed by other irrevocably issues concerning politics, social, economic etc. In order to effectively develop solar PV power system in Thailand, the problems and solutions were compared to those from six countries including Japan, Australia. America, China, German and Malaysia. This paper particularly focuses on policies and measurement implemented to encourage the rising in solar PV system interest. This review enables one to gain insight into the nature of the changes that have taken place in each and every country mentioned above as well as the underlying reasons behind them. Brief analysis is carried out on identify key challenges and opportunities for solar PV application. This could help create a development path that is suitable with situations to enhance the overall performance of solar PV power generating system in Thailand.

Keywords: solar PV rooftop, PV policy, self-consumption, solar PV power generation

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Authors: Gulfam Hasan, Ijaz Ashraf, Saleem Ashraf, Muhammad Rafay Muzammil, Salman Asghar, Shafiq-Ur-Rehman Zia

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The word “climate change” has become the most popular term when anyone observes any uncertain climate variation in their respective region. Asian countries are more prone to the impact of this phenomenon, and Pakistan is the leading affected country. Last few years, governments all over the world have been trying to cater to this issue for the best entrust of their population, especially agriculture. Now the farmers in Pakistan are fully aware of the term “climate change” and are more concerned about its solutions. On the other hand, developed countries like the USA are setting a benchmark for developing countries in every sphere of life. Based on cultural and other variations, the research was carried out to identify the behavior of farmers regarding the same issue. Cross-sectional survey research was designed for an in-depth study of relevant research questions. Face-to-face interviews were conducted in Pakistan, while virtual and face-to-face interviews were conducted in the Indiana State of the USA. The results of the present study and the responses of farmers were very interesting. The common climate change mitigation strategies suggested by farmers of both countries were less use of motor vehicles (replacement with bicycles in the circle of 10 Km), less dependency on chemical fertilizers (increased use of Manure, Bio-fertilizer, Compost), and plantation of the tree. The difference of opinion was in less government interest, lack of farmers’ education, political instability (views of Pakistani farmers), awareness of local communities, self-satisfaction, and economic disparities (views of USA farmers). Based on the given evidence, it was recommended that there is a dire need to address the climate change issue all over the world without discrimination of race, color, region, or religion. Because it will affect not only agriculture but also the real effect will be on HUMANITY.

Keywords: climate change, mitigation strategies, forests, biodiversity

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Authors: Mateusz Szul, Tomasz Iluk, Aleksander Sobolewski

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Small-scale, distributed energy systems enabling cogeneration of heat and power based on gasification of sewage sludge, are considered as the most efficient and environmentally friendly ways of their treatment. However, economic aspects of such an investment are very demanding; therefore, for such a small scale sewage sludge gasification installation to be profitable, it needs to be efficient and simple at the same time. The article presents results of research on air gasification of sewage sludge in fixed bed GazEla reactor. Two of the most important aspects of the research considered the influence of the composition of sewage sludge blends with other feedstocks on properties of generated syngas and ash sintering problems occurring at the fixed bed. Different means of the fuel pretreatment and blending were proposed as a way of dealing with the above mentioned undesired characteristics. Influence of RDF (Refuse Derived Fuel) and biomasses in the fuel blends were evaluated. Ash properties were assessed based on proximate, ultimate, and ash composition analysis of the feedstock. The blends were specified based on complementary characteristics of such criteria as C content, moisture, volatile matter, Si, Al, Mg, and content of basic metals in the ash were analyzed, Obtained results were assessed with use of experimental gasification tests and laboratory ISO-procedure for analysis of ash characteristic melting temperatures. Optimal gasification process conditions were determined by energetic parameters of the generated syngas, its content of tars and lack of ash sinters within the reactor bed. Optimal results were obtained for co-gasification of herbaceous biomasses with sewage sludge where LHV (Lower Heating Value) of the obtained syngas reached a stable value of 4.0 MJ/Nm3 for air/steam gasification.

Keywords: ash fusibility, gasification, piston engine, sewage sludge

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Authors: Gülşen Kocaevli

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This paper aims to conduct a comparative analysis on the reflections of cultural elements such as language, festival, and food both in the case of Turkish immigrants in Germany and Mexican immigrants in the United States within a historical perspective. These reflections will be studied first by giving a certain background information on the migratory history of the two nations, Mexican immigration to the US, and Turkish immigration to Germany, respectively. These two cases were picked as the analytical subjects of this paper because both nations first migrated to the related country to constitute a labor force since there was a huge need for that due to several reasons such as the loss of manpower after certain wars or revolutions. At the end of this comparative study, it is speculated to be found that there are certain parallels between these two immigrant societies in the way that they reflect their cultures in the receiving country since both nations have a conventionalist nature which makes them tend more to protect their cultures and pay less effort to integrate into the society in which they are living. Even though this integration might be realized in certain fields like economic status and exogamy, it does not cover all segments nor is there any desire of the receiving government to integrate the immigrants but rather they make policies to assimilate them. This research paper will use a qualitative method which is fundamentally based on the interpretative data drawn from several sociological or ethnographic studies conducted in the related field. The primary and secondary resources of this paper will cover academic books, journal articles, particularly those reporting interviews with the immigrants, and certain governmental documents as well as publicized statistics regarding the subject of analysis. By the use of the aforementioned methodology and resources, the conventionalist nature of the two immigrant nations is aimed to be presented as the unifying factor in the way that Mexicans in the US and Turks in Germany reflect and protect their cultures in the form of language, festivals, and food.

Keywords: assimilation, culture, German-Turks, immigration, Mexican Americans

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Authors: Babak Nemat Shahrbabaki, Arezo Fallahi, Masoomeh Hashemian

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Introduction: Health and safety are basic components of civil right. Health care systems in different countries were influenced by political, economic and cultural circumstances. In order to health services to people, these systems are organized with different forms, methods such as: prevention, treatment and rehabilitation and in this among, public satisfaction with the services provided is important. This study aimed to determine client satisfaction with family physician and relationship with physician’ demographic variables in health care centers of Jiroft county, Iran. Methods: This is a descriptive-analytical study. The collective data tool was a self-made questionnaire with two parts. The first part comprised demographic characteristics, and the second part contained 11 items for the assessment of satisfaction with family physician from different aspects. In addition, questionnaire, reliability and validity were confirmed. Random simple sampling method was used to determine samples. 234 people referred to the health centers filled questionnaire. The data were analyzed using SPSS software, and inferential statistical analysis was performed. Findings: The majority of the study population were women, married, and aged between 18 and 62 years (mean= 30.09±10.71). Total average satisfaction score was 42.63±3.68. Overall satisfaction averages were 9.47% very high, 30.04% high, 33.09% moderate, 15.12% low, and 12.28% very low. Except lodge on of family physician none of physician’ demographic variables did not effect on satisfaction index. Discussion & Conclusion: The Results showed that mean of satisfaction indexes of family physicians was high and lodge on of family physician effected on this index. Informing people about the main goals of family-doctor program will help to promote the quality of program and increase people satisfaction.

Keywords: family physician program, satisfaction, health-care centers, client

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Authors: Narupot Putwattana

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Changes in global situation such as environmental and economic crisis brought the new perspective for science education called integrative biology. STEM has been increasingly mentioned for several educational researches as the approach which combines the concept in Science (S), Technology (T), Engineering (E) and Mathematics (M) to apply in teaching and learning process so as to strengthen the 21st-century skills such as creativity and critical thinking. Recent studies demonstrated STEM as the pedagogy which described the engineering process along with the science classroom activities. So far, pedagogical contents for STEM explaining the content in biology have been scarce. A qualitative literature review was conducted so as to gather the articles based on electronic databases (google scholar). STEM education, engineering design, teaching and learning of biology were used as main keywords to find out researches involving with the application of STEM in biology teaching and learning process. All articles were analyzed to obtain appropriate teaching and learning model that unify the core concept of biology. The synthesized model comprised of engineering design, inquiry-based learning, biological prototype and biologically-inspired design (BID). STEM content and context integration were used as the theoretical framework to create the integrative biology instructional model for STEM education. Several disciplines contents such as biology, engineering, and technology were regarded for inquiry-based learning to build biological prototype. Direct and indirect integrations were used to provide the knowledge into the biology related STEM strategy. Meanwhile, engineering design and BID showed the occupational context for engineer and biologist. Technological and mathematical aspects were required to be inspected in terms of co-teaching method. Lastly, other variables such as critical thinking and problem-solving skills should be more considered in the further researches.

Keywords: biomimicry, engineering approach, STEM education, teaching and learning model

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Authors: P. J. Kagosi, M. Mndolwa, E. Japhate

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The study was conducted to communities adjacent MNR, Lushoto district, Tanzania. The MNR is one of the nine nature reserves in the Eastern Arc Mountains of Tanzania with an area of 8,700ha with high biological diversity. However, biodiversity in MNR have been threatened by increasing human activities for livelihood in 1970s. The AF systems in the study area was practised since 1980s however, no study was conducted on AF impacts. This paper presents the influence of AF on livelihood of communities adjacent MNR and biodiversity conservation. Qualitative and quantitative data were collected using socio-economic survey and botanical surveys. Data were analysed using Statistical Packages for Social Sciences and content analysis. The study found that in 1970s free livestock grazing caused considerable surface runoff, soil erosion and reduction of crop production. Since 1980s, the study area received various interventions based on the land conservations and improved livelihood through practising AF systems. It was further found that the AF farming improved crop productivity, reduced soil erosion, increased firewood (80.2%) and other forest products availability and AF encouraged community members practicing indoor livestock keeping.The dominant agroforestry tree found in the study area is grevillea reported by 74.1% of respondents planting an average of 40 trees. The study found that the AF reduced pressure to MNR as forest products and fodders were obtained from community's farms in turn, currently water flow from MNR has been increased. Thus AF products support livelihood needs and conserve biodiversity. The study recommends continuity education on new AF technology packages.

Keywords: impact of agroforestry, biodiversity management, communities’ livelihoods, Magamba nature reserve

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Authors: K. Vrinda

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Coastal ecosystems across the world are facing a lot of challenges due to natural phenomena as well as from uncontrolled human interventions. Here, Alappad, a coastal island situated in Kerala, India is undergoing significant damage and is gradually losing its environmental and social sustainability. The area is blessed with very rare and precious black mineral sand deposits. Sand mining for these minerals started in 1911 and is still continuing. But, unfortunately all the problems that Alappad faces now, have its root on mining of this mineral sand. The land area is continuously diminishing due to sea erosion. The mining has also caused displacement of people and environmental degradation. Marine life also is getting affected by mining on beach and pollution. The inhabitants are fishermen who are largely dependent on the eco-system for a living. So loss of environmental sustainability subsequently affects social sustainability too. Now the damage has reached a point beyond which our actions may not be able to make any impact. This was one of the most affected areas of the 2004 tsunami and the environmental degradation has further increased the vulnerability. So this study focuses on understanding the concerns related to the resource utilization, environment and the indigenous community staying there, and on formulating suitable strategies to restore the sustainability of the area. An extensive study was conducted on site, to find out the physical, social, and economical characteristics of the area. A focus group discussion with the inhabitants shed light on different issues they face in their day-to-day life. The analysis of all these data, led to the formation of a new development vision for the area which focuses on environmental restoration and socio-economic development while allowing controlled exploitation of resources. A participatory approach is formulated which enables these three aspects through community based programs.

Keywords: Community development, Disaster resilience, Ecological restoration, Environmental sustainability, Social-environmental planning, Social Sustainability

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Authors: Maffo Maffo Nicole Liliane, Mounmeni Kpoumie Hubert, Mbaire Matindje Karl Marx, Zapfack Louis

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Sacred forests play a valuable role in conserving local biodiversity and provide numerous ecosystem services in Cameroon. The study was carried out in the sacred forests of Bandrefam and Batoufam (western Cameroon). The aim was to estimate the diversity of woody species, carbon stocks and degradation factors in these sacred forests. The floristic inventory was carried out in plots measuring 25m × 25m for trees with diameters greater than 10 cm and 5m × 5m for trees with diameters less than 10 cm. Carbon stocks were estimated using the non-destructive method and the allometric equations. Data on degradation factors were collected using semi-structured surveys in the Bandrefam and Batoufam neighborhoods. The floristic inventory identified 65 species divided into 57 genera and 30 families in the Bandrefam Sacred Forest and 45 species divided into 42 genera and 27 families in the Batoufam Sacres Forest. The families common to both sacred forests are as follows: Phyllanthaceae, Fabaceae, Moraceae, Lamiaceae, Malvaceae, Rubiaceae, Meliaceae, Anacardiaceae, and Sapindaceae. Three genera are present in both sites. These are: Albizia, Macaranga, Trichillia. In addition, there are 27 species in common between the two sites. The total carbon stock is 469.26 tC/ha at Batoufam and 291.41 tC/ha at Bandrefam. The economic value varies between 15 823 877.05 fcfa at Batoufam and 9 825 530.528 fcfa at Bandrefam. The study shows that despite the sacred nature of these forests, they are subject to degradation factors such as bushfires (35.42 %), the creation of plantations (23.96 %), illegal timber exploitation (21.88 %), young people's lack of interest in the notion of conservation (9.38 %), climate change (7.29 %) and growing urbanization (2.08 %). These factors threaten biodiversity and reduce carbon storage in these forests.

Keywords: sacred forests, degradation factors, carbon stocks, semi-structured surveys

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Authors: Roopa Singh, Anurag Singh, Ajay

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Agriculture contributes a major share in the national economy of India. A major portion of Indian economy (about 70%) depends upon agriculture as it forms the main source of income. About 43% of India’s geographical area is used for agricultural activity which involves 65-75% of total population of India. The given work deals with the Fast moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) industries and their inventories which use agricultural produce as their raw material or input for their final product. Since the beginning of inventory practices, many developments took place which can be categorised into three phases, based on the review of various works. The first phase is related with development and utilization of Economic Order Quantity (EOQ) model and methods for optimizing costs and profits. Second phase deals with inventory optimization method, with the purpose of balancing capital investment constraints and service level goals. The third and recent phase has merged inventory control with electrical control theory. Maintenance of inventory is considered negative, as a large amount of capital is blocked especially in mechanical and electrical industries. But the case is different in food processing and agro-based industries and their inventories due to cyclic variation in the cost of raw materials of such industries which is the reason for selection of these industries in the mentioned work. The application of electrical control theory in inventory control makes the decision-making highly instantaneous for FMCG industries without loss in their proposed profits, which happened earlier during first and second phases, mainly due to late implementation of decision. The work also replaces various inventories and work-in-progress (WIP) related errors with their monetary values, so that the decision-making is fully target-oriented.

Keywords: control theory, inventory control, manufacturing sector, EOQ, feedback, FMCG sector

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Authors: Bereket Amare Mulu

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Ethiopia is one of the countries that consists of a huge variety of botanical resources as compared to the world. The agroclimatic is suitable for a variety of plants to grow effectively throughout the year. Sources of food plants are basic items for people in the world. Production of food items is a prior activity and needs more resources and attention to produce a huge amount of production. The local food is rich in nutrition and healthful foods. The local food is fresh and not exposed to infections easily. The community can easily get the food items in their surroundings. The local food sources are not expensive when it is compared to the other proceed food items, and it is affordable to the community purchasing power. The food is very tasty and palatable capacity by the whole community categories. The basic problems in Ethiopia are the community experiences some of the common food source items. On the contrary, inefficient food production, low economic growth, and climate variability affected food production. This leads to serious food shortages and acute health problems. The objective of the study is to identify local food sources and analyze the advantage and benefits of local food sources. Casava is one of the root crop plants in Ethiopia and easily adapts to any type of agroecology in every place in the country. 50 community members have been identified to prepare casava in different forms of food items. They have prepared in the forms of Bread, Injera, Porridge, Boiled casava, fried chips Casava, and Cocktails. The prepared food items have been exposed to the community as a food festival to eat and taste how much interesting Even though there is a cultural barrier to eating the food items, the community had the food and tasted it the food. The result showed that community awareness is still not addressed the benefits of local food sources yet. The local food has high nutritional value and healthful foods. The local food sources are fresh and easily produced in every place of the country.

Keywords: bread, cassava, injera, nutrition

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Authors: Tris Kee

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This research investigates social sustainability factors in transitional housing projects and their impact on fostering healthy living environments that promote physical activity and social interaction for residents. Social sustainability is integral to individual health and well-being, as emphasized by Goal 11 of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which highlights the importance of safe, affordable, and accessible transport systems, green spaces, and public spaces catering to vulnerable populations' needs. Communal spaces in urban environments are essential for fostering social sustainability, as they serve as settings for physical activities and social interactions among diverse socio-economic groups. Factors such as neighborhood social atmosphere, historical context, social disparity, and mobility can influence the relationship between existing and transitional communities. Mental health effects can be measured through housing segregation, mobility and accessibility, and housing tenure. A significant research gap exists in understanding the living environment of transitional housing in Hong Kong and the social sustainability factors affecting residents' mental and physical health. To address this gap, our study employs a mixed-methods approach combining survey questionnaires and interviews to gather both quantitative and qualitative data. This methodology will provide comprehensive insights into residents' experiences and perceptions. Our research's main contribution is identifying key social sustainability factors in transitional housing and their impact on residents' well-being, informing policy-making and the creation of inclusive, healthy living environments. By addressing this research gap, we aim to provide valuable insights for future housing projects, ultimately promoting the development of socially sustainable transitional communities.

Keywords: social sustainablity, affordable housing, transitional housing, high density housing

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Authors: Jubril Olatunbosun Akinde

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Unplanned population growth are mostly attributed to a lack of infrastructural facilities and poor economic condition in the rural dwellings and the incidence of rural-urban migration, which has resulted in severe housing deficiency in the urban centre, with a resultant pressure on housing delivery in the cities. Affordable housing does not only encompass environmental factors that make living acceptable and comfortable, which include good access routes, ventilation, sanitation and access to other basic human needs, which include water and safety. The research assessed the housing affordability and safety measures in the varied residential area of lagos by examining the demographic and socioeconomic attributes of residents; examining the existing residential safety measures; by examining the residential quality in terms of safety; the researcher therefore examined if relationship between housing affordability and safety in the varied residential areas. The research adopted the bartlett, kotrlik and higgins (2001) method of t-test to determine the sample size which specifies different populations at different levels of significance (α). The researcher adopted primary data which was sourced from a field survey where the sample population was simply randomly selected to give a member of the population an equal chance of being selected, therefore, the sample size for the field survey was two hundred (200) respondents, and subjected to necessary testing. The research come to conclusion that housing safety and security is the responsibility of every resident, the landlords/landladies possess a better sense of security in their neighbourhood than renters in the community, therefore they need to be aware of their responsibility of ensuring the safety of lives and property.

Keywords: housing, housing affordability, housing security, residential, residential quality

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Authors: Yu-Yao Wang, Xiao-Meng Hu, Joanne Yeung, Xiao-Yan Li

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The high private cost and unquantified external cost limit the development of reclaimed water. In this study, an integrated framework comprising life cycle assessment (LCA), quantitative microbial risk assessment (QMRA), and life cycle costing (LCC) was developed to evaluate both costs of reclaimed water supply in water systems of various scales. LCA assesses the environmental impacts, and QMRA estimates the associated pathogenic impacts. These impacts are monetized as external costs and analyzed with the private cost by LCC to count the total life cycle cost. The framework evaluated the Hong Kong urban water system in the baseline scenario (BS) and five wastewater reuse scenarios (RS). They are RSI: substituting freshwater for toilet flushing only, RSII: substituting both freshwater and seawater for toilet flushing, RSIII: using reclaimed water for all non-potable uses, RSIV: using reclaimed water for all non-potable uses and indirect potable uses, and RSV: non-potable use and indirect potable use by conveying 100% reclaimed water to recharge the reservoirs. The results show that substituting freshwater and seawater for toilet flushing has the least total life cycle cost, exhibiting that it is the most cost-effective option for Hong Kong. Meanwhile, the evaluation results show that the external cost of each scenario is comparable to the corresponding private cost, indicating the importance of the inclusion of comprehensive external cost evaluation in private cost assessment of water systems with reclaimed water supply.

Keywords: life cycle assessment, life cycle costing, quantitative microbial risk assessment, water reclamation, reclaimed water, alternative water resources

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Authors: Jayakant Singh, Enu Anand

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Background: Child marriage is widely prevalent in India. It is a form of gross human right violation that succumbs a child bride to be subservient to her husband within a marital relation. We investigated the relationship between age at marriage of women and her level of empowerment with physical violence experienced 12 months preceding the survey among young women aged 20-24 in two culturally distinct states- Bihar and Tamil Nadu of India. Methods: We used the information collected from 10514 young married women (20-24 years) at all India level, 373 in Bihar and 523 in Tamil Nadu from the third round of National Family Health Survey. Empowerment index was calculated using different parameters such as mobility, economic independence and decision making power of women using Principal Component Analysis method. Bivariate analysis was performed primarily using chi square for the test of significance. Logistic regression was carried out to assess the effect of age at marriage and empowerment on physical violence. Results: Lower level of women empowerment was significantly associated with physical violence in Tamil Nadu (OR=2.38, p<0.01) whereas child marriage (marriage before age 15) was associated with physical violence in Bihar (OR=3.27, p<0.001). The mean difference in age at marriage between those who experienced physical violence and those who did not experience varied by 7 months in Bihar and 10 months in Tamil Nadu. Conclusion: Culture specific intervention may be a key to reduction of violence against women as the results showed association of different factors contributing to physical violence in Bihar and Tamil Nadu. Marrying at an appropriate age perhaps is protective of abuse because it equips a woman to assert her rights effectively. It calls for an urgent consideration to curb both violence and child marriage with stricter involvement of family, civil society and the government. In the meanwhile physical violence may be recognized as a public health problem and integrate appropriate treatment to the victims within the health care institution.

Keywords: child marriage, empowerment, India, physical violence

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Authors: D. Tappi

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In the past decades, the idea of innovation moved from being considered the result of development to being seen as its means. Innovation and its diffusion are indeed keys to the development and economic catch-up of a country. However, the process of diffusing existing innovation in low income countries has demonstrated dependent on inadequate infrastructures and institutions. The paper examines the role of disruptive innovation in bridging the technology gap between high- and low-income countries, overcoming the lack in infrastructures and institutions. In particular, the focus of this paper goes to the role of disruptive innovation in people transportation in Nigeria. Uber, Taxify, and Smartcab are covering a small and interesting market that was underserved, between the high-end private driver markets, the personal car owners and the low-priced traditional cab and the Keke (tricycle). Indeed the small Nigerian middle class and international community have found in the sharing people transportation market a safe, reasonably priced means of transportation in Nigerian big cities. This study uses mainly qualitative data collection methods in the form of semi-structured interviews with major players and users and quantitative data analysis in the form of a survey among users in order to assess the role of these new transportation modes in shaping the market and even creating a new niche. This paper shows how the new sharing economy in people transportation is creating new solutions to old problems as well as creating new challenges for both the existing market players and institutions. By doing so, the paper shows how disruptive innovations applied to low income countries, not only can overcome the lacking infrastructure problem but could also help bridge the technology gap between those and high income countries. This contribution proves that it is indeed exactly because the market presents these obstacles that disruptive innovations can succeed in countries such as Nigeria.

Keywords: development, disruptive innovation, sharing economy, technology gap

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Authors: Ismaila Oladunni Muhammed, Adegbenga Raphael Ashiru

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Construction industry has been attributed to be the engine growth of Nigerian economic and infrastructural development. It promotes infrastructural development and grows an average output of Nigerian Gross Domestic Profit. However, from this great prospect, yearly reports show that consistent accidents on construction sites in Zamfara State has affected a substantial number of workers as they become temporarily or permanently disabled, thereby making many construction sites a death trap. This posed a great threat to the industry’s sustainability, de- motivate workers from working in the industry, and further have negative impact on the economy as well. It is as a result of high construction site accident currently experiencing in Zamfara state that this research was carried out to appraise the sustainability of health and safety of construction workers on sites. The proper practice and compliance to Construction Health and safety laws are very vital to the output and growth of Zamfara State construction sector. However, a quantitative approach was adopted to justify the aforesaid statement which will provide a broader understanding of the study. Descriptive statistical analysis was obtained through Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS Version 20). Furthermore, the findings from the research highlighted that the performance and output of construction workers on construction sites depends on the proper practice of health and safety. The research findings also recommended ways to enhance employers and employee’s compliance with existing laws guiding health and safety on Zamfara State construction sites. Nevertheless, the purpose of the paper is to appraise the sustainability of Health and Safety on Zamfara State construction sites. This study further provided thorough information for resolving challenges of construction sites accidents to improve construction firm productivity and also ensured construction worker’s safety on site.

Keywords: construction industry, health and safety regulations, causes of accident, construction safety practices

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Authors: David P. Horton, Gary Lynch-Wood

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Western populations are aging, prone to various lifestyle health problems, and increasing their demand for health and social care services. This demand has created enormous fiscal and regulatory challenges. In response, government institutions have deployed strategies of behavior modification to encourage people to exercise greater personal responsibility over their health and care needs (i.e., welfare responsibilisation). Policy strategies are underpinned by the assumption that people if properly supported, will make better health and lifestyle selections. Not only does this absolve governments of the responsibility for meeting all health and care needs, but it also enables government institutions to assert fiscal control over welfare spending. Looking at the regulation of health and social care in the UK, the authors identify and outline a suite of regulatory tools that are designed to extract and manage the resources of health and social care services users and to encourage them to make (‘better’) use of these resources. This is important for our understanding of how health and social care regulation is responding to ongoing social and economic challenges. It is also important because there has been a failure to systematically examine the relevance of resources for regulation, which is surprising given that resources are crucial to how and whether regulation succeeds or fails. In particular, drawing from the regulatory welfare state concept, the authors analyse the key legal and regulatory changes and mechanisms that have been introduced since the 2008 financial crisis, focusing on critical measures such as the Health and Social Care Act and regulations introduced under the National Health Service Act. The authors show how three types of user resources (i.e., tangible, labor, and data) are being used to assert fiscal control and increase welfare responsibilisation. Amongst other things, the paper concludes that service users have become more than rule followers and targets of behavioral modification; rather, they are producers of resources that regulatory systems have come to rely on.

Keywords: health care, regulation, resources, social care

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Authors: Soumya Pugal

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The traditional lake system of an ancient town is a network of water holding blue spaces, erected further than 2000 years ago by the rulers of ancient cities and maintained for centuries by the original communities. These blue spaces form a micro-watershed wherein an individual tank has its own catchment, tank bed area, and command area. These lakes are connected by a common sluice from the upstream tank, thereby feeding the downstream tank. The lakes used to be of socio-economic significance in those times, but the rapid growth of the city, as well as the change in systems of ownership of the lakes, have turned them into the backyard of urban development. Madurai is one such historic city to be facing the issues of finding a balance to the social, ecological, and profitable requirements of the people with respect to the traditional lake system. To find a solution to problems caused by the neglect of vital ecological systems of a city, the theory of transformative placemaking through water sensitive urban design has been explored. This approach re-invents the relationship between the people and the urban lakes to suit the modern aspirations while respecting the environment. The thesis aims to develop strategies to guide the development along the major urban lake of Vandiyur to equip the lake to meet the growing requirements of the megacity in terms of its recreational requirements and give a renewed connection between people and water. The intent of the design is to understand the ecological and social structures of the lake and find ways to use the lake to produce social cohesion within the community and balance the city's profitable and ecological requirements by using transformative placemaking through water sensitive urban design..

Keywords: urban lakes, urban blue spaces, placemaking, revitalisation of lakes, urban cohesion

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Authors: Benedict O. Muyale, Emmanuel S. Murunga

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Cities have always been the loci for nationals as well as growth of cultural fusion and innovation. Over 50%of global population dwells in cities and urban centers. This means that cities are prolific users of natural resources and generators of waste; hence they produce most of the greenhouse gases which are causing global climate change. The root cause of increase in the transport sector carbon curve is mainly the greater numbers of individually owned cars. Development in these cities is geared towards economic progress while environmental sustainability is ignored. Infrastructure projects focus on road expansion, electrification, and more parking spaces. These lead to more carbon emissions, traffic congestion, and air pollution. Recent development plans for Nairobi city are now on road expansion with little priority for electric train solutions. The Vision 2030, Kenya’s development guide, has shed some light on the city with numerous road expansion projects. This chapter seeks to realize the following objectives; (1) to assess the current transport situation of Nairobi; (2) to review green transport solutions being undertaken in the city; (3) to give an overview of alternative green transportation solutions, and (4) to provide a green transportation framework matrix. This preliminary study will utilize primary and secondary data through mainly desktop research and analysis, literature, books, magazines and on-line information. This forms the basis for formulation of approaches for incorporation into the green transportation framework matrix of the main study report.The main goal is the achievement of a practical green transportation system for implementation by the City County of Nairobi to reduce carbon emissions and congestion and promote environmental sustainability.

Keywords: cities, transport, Nairobi, green technologies

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Authors: Musa Sekamatte

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Background: Zoonotic diseases continue to be a public health burden in countries around the world. Uganda is especially vulnerable due to its location, biodiversity, and population. Given these concerns, the Ugandan government in collaboration with the Global Health Security Agenda conducted a zoonotic disease prioritization workshop to identify zoonotic diseases of concern to multiple Ugandan ministries. Materials and Methods: The One Health Zoonotic Disease Prioritization tool, developed by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), was used for prioritization of zoonotic diseases in Uganda. Workshop participants included voting members representing human, animal, and environmental health ministries as well as key partners who observed the workshop. Over 100 articles describing characteristics of these zoonotic diseases were reviewed for the workshop. During the workshop, criteria for prioritization were selected, and questions and weights relevant to each criterion were determined. Next steps for multi-sectoral engagement for the prioritized zoonoses were then discussed. Results: 48 zoonotic diseases were considered during the workshop. Criteria selected to prioritize zoonotic diseases in order of importance were (1) severity of disease in humans in Uganda, (2) availability of effective control strategies, (3) potential to cause an epidemic or pandemic in humans or animals, (4) social and economic impacts, and (5) bioterrorism potential. Seven zoonotic diseases were identified as priorities for Uganda: anthrax, zoonotic influenza viruses, viral hemorrhagic fevers, brucellosis, African trypanosomiasis, plague, and rabies. Discussion: One Health approaches and multi-sectoral collaborations are crucial in the surveillance, prevention, and control strategies for zoonotic diseases. Uganda used such an approach to identify zoonotic diseases of national concern. Identifying these priority diseases enables the National One Health Platform and the Zoonotic Disease Coordinating Office to address the diseases in the future.

Keywords: national one health platform, zoonotic diseases, multi-sectoral, severity

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Authors: Marcelo T. Okano, Oduvaldo Vendrametto, Osmildo S. Santos, Marcelo E. Fernandes, Heide Landi

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The literature on the interorganizational relationship between companies and organizations has increased in recent years, but there are still doubts about the various settings. The interorganizational networks are important in economic life, the fact facilitate the complex interdependence between transactional and cooperative organizations. A need identified in the literature is the lack of indicators to measure and identify the types of existing networks. The objective of this research is to examine the interorganizational relationships of two milk chains through indicators proposed by the theories of the four authors, characterizing them as network or not and what the benefits obtained by the chain organization. To achieve the objective of this work was carried out a survey of milk producers in two regions of the state of São Paulo. To collect the information needed for the analysis, exploratory research, qualitative nature was used. The research instrument of this work consists of a roadmap of semistructured interviews with open questions. Some of the answers were directed by the interviewer in the form of performance notes aimed at detecting the degree of importance, according to the perception of intensity to that regard. The results showed that interorganizational relationships are small and largely limited to the sale of milk or dairy cooperatives. These relationships relate only to trade relations between the owner and purchaser of milk. But when the producers are organized in associations or networks, interorganizational relationships and increase benefits for all participants in the network. The various visits and interviews in several dairy farms in the regions of São Pau-lo (indicated that the inter-relationships are small and largely limited to the sale of milk to cooperatives or dairy. These relationships refer only to trade relations between the owner and the purchaser of milk. But when the producers are organized in associations or networks, interorganizational relationships increase and bring benefits to all participants in the network.

Keywords: interorganizational networks, dairy chain, interorganizational system, São Pau-lo

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Authors: Ubaid Ur Rahman, Waqar Younas, Sooraj Kumar Chhabira

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Environmentally sustainable building construction has experienced significant growth during the past 10 years at international level. This paper shows that the conceptual framework adopts sustainability techniques in construction to develop environment friendly building called green building. Waste occurs during the different construction phases which causes the environmental problems like, deposition of waste on ground surface creates major problems such as bad smell. It also gives birth to different health diseases and produces toxic waste agent which is specifically responsible for making soil infertile. Old recycled building material is used in the construction of new building. Sustainable construction is economical and saves energy sources. Sustainable construction is the major responsibility of designer and project manager. The designer has to fulfil the client demands while keeping the design environment friendly. Project manager has to deliver and execute sustainable construction according to sustainable design. Steel is the most appropriate sustainable construction material. It is more durable and easily recyclable. Steel occupies less area and has more tensile and compressive strength than concrete, making it a better option for sustainable construction as compared to other building materials. New technology like green roof has made the environment pleasant, and has reduced the construction cost. It minimizes economic, social and environmental issues. This paper presents an overview of research related to the material use of green building and by using this research recommendation are made which can be followed in the construction industry. In this paper, we go through detailed analysis on construction material. By making suitable adjustments to project management practices it is shown that a green building improves the cost efficiency of the project, makes it environmental friendly and also meets future generation demands.

Keywords: sustainable construction, green building, recycled waste material, environment

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Authors: Mengdie Ruan

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The authors investigate how subjective well-being (SWB) and social trust changed in China over the period 2010–2020 by relying on data from six rounds of the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS), then re-examine Easterlin’s hypothesis for China, with a more focus on the role of social trust and estimate income-compensating differentials for social trust. They find that the evolution of well-being is not sensitive to the measures of well-being one uses. Specifically, self-reported life satisfaction scores and hedonic happiness scores experienced a significant increase across all income groups from 2010 to 2020. Social trust seems to have increased based on CFPS in China for all socioeconomic classes in recent years, and male, urban resident individuals with higher income have a higher social trust at a given point in time and over time. However, when we use an alternative measure of social trust, out-group trust, which is a more valid measure of generalized trust and represents “most people”, social trust in China literally declines, and the level is extremely low. In addition, this paper also suggests that in the typical query on social trust, the term "most people" mostly denotes in-groups in China, which contrasts sharply with most Western countries where it predominantly connotes out-groups. Individual fixed effects analysis of well-being that controls for time-invariant variables reveals social trust and relative social status are important correlates of life satisfaction and happiness, whereas absolute income plays a limited role in boosting an individual’s well-being. The income-equivalent value for social capital is approximately tripling of income. It has been found that women, urban and coastal residents, and people with higher income, young people, those with high education care more about social trust in China, irrespective of measures on SWB. Policy aiming at preserving and enhancing SWB should focus on social capital besides economic growth.

Keywords: subjective well-being, life satisfaction, happiness, social trust, China

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Authors: Alireza Taghdiri, Sara Ghanbarzade Ghomi

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Existing buildings are permanently subjected to change, continuously renovated and repaired in their long service life. Old buildings are destroyed and their material and components are recycled or reused for constructing new ones. In this process, importance of sustainability principles for building construction is obviously known and great significance must be attached to consumption of resources, resulting effects on the environment and economic costs. Utilization strategies for extending buildings service life and delay in destroying have positive effect on environment protection. In addition, simpler alterability or expandability of buildings’ structures and reducing energy and natural resources consumption have benefits for users, producers and environment. To solve these problems, by applying theories of open building, structural components of some conventional building systems have been analyzed and then, a new geometry adaptive building system is developed which can transform and support different imposed loads. In order to achieve this goal, various research methods and tools such as professional and scientific literatures review, comparative analysis, case study and computer simulation were applied and data interpretation was implemented using descriptive statistics and logical arguments. Therefore, hypothesis and proposed strategies were evaluated and an adaptable and reusable 2-dimensional building system was presented which can respond appropriately to dwellers and end-users needs and provide reusability of structural components of building system in new construction or function. Investigations showed that this incremental building system can be successfully applied in achieving the architectural design objectives and by small modifications on components and joints, it is easy to obtain different and adaptable load-optimized component alternatives for flexible spaces.

Keywords: adaptability, durability, open building, service life, structural building system

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Authors: Chun-Min Lin, Yuh-Jen Wu, Ching-Ting Chung

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The formulation of tourism policies requires objective academic research and evidence as support, especially research from local academia. Taiwan is a small island, and its economic growth relies heavily on tourism revenue. Taiwanese government has been devoting to the promotion of the tourism industry over the past few decades. Scientific research outcomes by Taiwanese scholars may and will help lay the foundations for drafting future tourism policy by the government. In this study, a total of 120 full journal articles published between 2008 and 2016 from the Journal of Tourism and Leisure Studies (JTSL) were examined to explore the scientific research trend of tourism study in Taiwan. JTSL is one of the most important Taiwanese journals in the tourism discipline which focuses on tourism-related issues and uses traditional Chinese as the study language. The method of co-word analysis from bibliometrics approaches was employed for semantic analysis in this study. When analyzing Chinese words and phrases, word segmentation analysis is a crucial step. It must be carried out initially and precisely in order to obtain meaningful word or word chunks for further frequency calculation. A word segmentation system basing on N-gram algorithm was developed in this study to conduct semantic analysis, and 100 groups of meaningful phrases with the highest recurrent rates were located. Subsequently, co-word analysis was employed for semantic classification. The results showed that the themes of tourism research in Taiwan in recent years cover the scope of tourism education, environmental protection, hotel management, information technology, and senior tourism. The results can give insight on the related issues and serve as a reference for tourism-related policy making and follow-up research.

Keywords: bibliometrics, co-word analysis, word segmentation, tourism research, policy

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Authors: Muhammad Sohail Sajid, Mahvish Maqbool, Hafiz Muhammad Rizwan, Muhammad Saqib, Haroon Ahmad

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Ticks are blood-sucking ectoparasite that causes a decrease in production and economic losses and affects mammals, reptiles, and birds. Hyalomma anatolicum is the main vector for CCHF transmission and Pakistan has faced several outbreaks of CCHF in the recent past. Ferritin (fer)is a highly conserved molecule that is ubiquitous in most tick tissues and responsible for iron metabolism and storage. It was hypothesized that the development of acaricidal resistance and residual effects of commercially used acaricides could be controlled by using alternative control methods, including RNA interference. The current study aimed to evaluate the fer silencing effects on tick feeding, average body weight, egg mass index, and mortality. Ticks, collected through the standard collection protocols were further subjected to RNA isolation using the Trizol method. Commercially available kit procedures were followed for cDNA and dsRNA synthesis. The soaking/Immersion method was used for dsRNA delivery. Our findings have shown a 27% reduction in body weight of fer silenced group and showed a significant association of fer and body weight. Silencing of fer had a significant effect on the engorgement percentage (P= 0.0007), oviposition (P=0.008), egg mass (P= 0.004) and hatching (P= 0.001). The soaking method was used for dsRNA delivery and 15°C was found to be an optimum temperature for inducing gene silencing in ticks as at this temperature, maximum survivability after immersion was attained. This study along with previous studies, described that iron toxicity due to the silencing of fer could play an important role in the control of ticks and fer can be used as a potent candidate for vaccine development.

Keywords: ticks, iron, ferritin, engorgement, oviposition, immersion, RNA interference

Procedia PDF Downloads 63