Search results for: ethical and social issues

Authors: M. J. Cunha

Abstract:

The aim of this paper is to understand how peers can influence adolescent girls- dieting behaviour and their body image. Departing from imitation and social learning theories, we study whether adolescent girls tend to model their peer group dieting behaviours, thus influencing their body image construction. Our study was conducted through an enquiry applied to a cluster sample of 466 adolescent high school girls in Lisbon city public schools. Our main findings point to an association between girls- and peers- dieting behaviours, thus reinforcing the modelling hypothesis.

Keywords: Modelling, Diet, Body image, Adolescent girls, Peer group.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1753

Authors: S. Lemoussu, J. C. Chaudemar, R. A. Vingerhoeds

Abstract:

The aeronautics sector is currently living an unprecedented growth largely due to innovative projects. In several cases, such innovative developments are being carried out by Small and Medium sized-Enterprises (SMEs). For instance, in Europe, a handful of SMEs are leading projects like airships, large civil drones, or flying cars. These SMEs have all limited resources, must make strategic decisions, take considerable financial risks and in the same time must take into account the constraints of safety, cost, time and performance as any commercial organization in this industry. Moreover, today, no international regulations fully exist for the development and certification of this kind of projects. The absence of such a precise and sufficiently detailed regulatory framework requires a very close contact with regulatory instances. But, SMEs do not always have sufficient resources and internal knowledge to handle this complexity and to discuss these issues. This poses additional challenges for those SMEs that have system integration responsibilities and that must provide all the necessary means of compliance to demonstrate their ability to design, produce, and operate airships with the expected level of safety and reliability. The final objective of our research is thus to provide a methodological framework supporting SMEs in their development taking into account recent innovation and institutional rules of the sector. We aim to provide a contribution to the problematic by developing a specific Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) approach. Airspace regulation, aeronautics standards and international norms on systems engineering are taken on board to be formalized in a set of models. This paper presents the on-going research project combining Systems Engineering and Project Management process modeling and taking into account the metamodeling problematic.

Keywords: Aeronautics, certification, process modeling, project management, SME, systems engineering.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1408

Authors: Sasitorn Chetanont

Abstract:

The objectives of this study are to study Chinese tourist’s Behaviors towards travel and shopping in Bangkok. The research methodology was a quantitative research. The sample of this research was 400 Chinese tourists in Bangkok chosen by the accidental sampling and the purposive sampling. Inferential Statistics Analysis by using the Chi-square statistics. As for the results of this study the researcher found that differences between personal, social and cultural information, i.e., gender, age, place of residence, educational level, occupation, income, family, and main objectives of tourism with behaviors of Chinese tourists in Bangkok towards travel and shopping in Bangkok.

Keywords: Tourists’ behavior, Chinese tourists, travelling, expenses in travels.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 4670

Authors: S. Pechpoothong, M. Kopystecki

Abstract:

The eco-efficient use of “waste" makes sense from economic, social, and environmental perspectives. By efficiency diverting “waste" products back into useful and/or profitable inputs, industries and entire societies can reap the benefits of improved financial profit, decreased environmental degradation, and overall well-being of humanity. In this project, several material flows at Company Limited were investigated. Principles of "industrial ecology" were applied to improve the management of waste rubbers that are used in the jewelry manufacturing process. complete this project, a brief engineering analysis stream, and investigated eco-efficient principles for more efficient handling of the materials and wastes were conducted, and the result were used to propose implementation strategies.

Keywords: Rubber, ecology, waste.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 3805

Authors: Nael Hirzalla

Abstract:

The legality of some countries or agencies’ acts to spy on personal phone calls of the public became a hot topic to many social groups’ talks. It is believed that this act is considered an invasion to someone’s privacy. Such act may be justified if it is singling out specific cases but to spy without limits is very unacceptable. This paper discusses the needs for not only a simple and light weight technique to secure mobile voice calls but also a technique that is independent from any encryption standard or library. It then presents and tests one encrypting algorithm that is based of Frequency scrambling technique to show fair and delay-free process that can be used to protect phone calls from such spying acts.

Keywords: Frequency Scrambling, Mobile Applications, Real- Time Voice Encryption, Spying on Calls.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2546

Authors: Michelle J. Miller

Abstract:

Millions of girls are forcibly married during the transitional period between puberty and adulthood. At a stage of vulnerability cultural practices, religious rights and social standards place her in a position where she is catapult into womanhood. An advocate against forced child marriage could argue that child rights, cultural rights, religious rights, right to marry, right to life, right to health, right to education, right to be free from slavery, right to be free from torture, right to consent to marriage are all violated by the practice of child marriage. The author is this advocate and this paper will present how some of these rights are violated and establish the need for change.

Keywords: Child marriage, forced child marriage, child rights, protection, religious rights, cultural rights, right to life, human rights.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 3239

Authors: Shorena Tsiklauri, Avtandil Sulaberidze, Nino Gomelauri

Abstract:

In the years followed independence, an economic crisis and some conflicts led to the displacement of many people inside Georgia. The growing poverty, unemployment, low income and its unequal distribution limited access to basic social service have had a clear direct impact on Georgian population dynamics and its age-sex structure. Factors influencing the changing population age structure and urbanization include mortality, fertility, migration and expansion of urban. In this paper presents the main factors of changing the distribution by urban and rural areas. How different are the urban and rural age and sex structures? Does Georgia have the same age-sex structure among their urban and rural populations since 1950s?

Keywords: Age and sex structure of population, Georgia, migration, urban-rural population.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 3016

Authors: Juha Kettunen

Abstract:

This study analyzes collaborative and networked academic authorship in higher education. The literature review shows evidence that single authorship has made a gradual paradigm shift to joint authorship. The empirical evidence from the Turku University of Applied Sciences indicates that collaborative authorship has notably increased in the last few years. Co-authorship has extended outside the institution to other domestic and international academic organizations. Co-authorship not only increase the merits of academic scholars but builds and maintains networks of research and development. The results of this study help the authors, editors and partners of research and development projects to have a more concrete understanding of how co-authorship has developed and spread beyond higher education institutions.

Keywords: Co-authorship, social networking, higher education, research and development.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1075

Authors: Hoda Waguih

Abstract:

A serious problem on the WWW is finding reliable information. Not everything found on the Web is true and the Semantic Web does not change that in any way. The problem will be even more crucial for the Semantic Web, where agents will be integrating and using information from multiple sources. Thus, if an incorrect premise is used due to a single faulty source, then any conclusions drawn may be in error. Thus, statements published on the Semantic Web have to be seen as claims rather than as facts, and there should be a way to decide which among many possibly inconsistent sources is most reliable. In this work, we propose a trust model for the Semantic Web. The proposed model is inspired by the use trust in human society. Trust is a type of social knowledge and encodes evaluations about which agents can be taken as reliable sources of information or services. Our proposed model allows agents to decide which among different sources of information to trust and thus act rationally on the semantic web.

Keywords: Semantic Web, Trust, Web of Trust, WWW.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1523

Authors: Musbah M. Aqel, P. K. Mahanti, Soumya Banerjee

Abstract:

This paper describes a simulation model for analyzing artificial emotion injected to design the game characters. Most of the game storyboard is interactive in nature and the virtual characters of the game are equipped with an individual personality and dynamic emotion value which is similar to real life emotion and behavior. The uncertainty in real expression, mood and behavior is also exhibited in game paradigm and this is focused in the present paper through a fuzzy logic based agent and storyboard. Subsequently, a pheromone distribution or labeling is presented mimicking the behavior of social insects.

Keywords: Artificial Emotion, Fuzzy logic, Game character, Pheromone label

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1296

Authors: Fatema-Tuz-Zohra Khanam, Ali Al-Naji, Asanka G. Perera, Kim Gibson, Javaan Chahl

Abstract:

Conventional contact-based vital signs monitoring sensors such as pulse oximeters or electrocardiogram (ECG) may cause discomfort, skin damage, and infections, particularly in neonates with fragile, sensitive skin. Therefore, remote monitoring of the vital sign is desired in both clinical and non-clinical settings to overcome these issues. Camera-based vital signs monitoring is a recent technology for these applications with many positive attributes. However, there are still limited camera-based studies on neonates in a clinical setting. In this study, the heart rate (HR) and respiratory rate (RR) of eight infants at the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) in Flinders Medical Centre were remotely monitored using a digital camera applying color and motion-based computational methods. The region-of-interest (ROI) was efficiently selected by incorporating an image decomposition method. Furthermore, spatial averaging, spectral analysis, band-pass filtering, and peak detection were also used to extract both HR and RR. The experimental results were validated with the ground truth data obtained from an ECG monitor and showed a strong correlation using the Pearson correlation coefficient (PCC) 0.9794 and 0.9412 for HR and RR, respectively. The root mean square errors (RMSE) between camera-based data and ECG data for HR and RR were 2.84 beats/min and 2.91 breaths/min, respectively. A Bland Altman analysis of the data also showed a close correlation between both data sets with a mean bias of 0.60 beats/min and 1 breath/min, and the lower and upper limit of agreement -4.9 to + 6.1 beats/min and -4.4 to +6.4 breaths/min for both HR and RR, respectively. Therefore, video camera imaging may replace conventional contact-based monitoring in NICU and has potential applications in other contexts such as home health monitoring.

Keywords: Neonates, NICU, digital camera, heart rate, respiratory rate, image decomposition.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 529

Authors: K. Pandey

Abstract:

The present study is a functional analysis of the relationship between castes which indicates the dynamics of the caste structure in the rural setting. The researcher has tried to show both the cooperation and competition on important ceremonial and social occasions. The real India exists in the villages, so we need to know about their solidarity and also what the village life is and has been shaping into. We need to emphasize a microcosmic study of Indian rural life. Furthermore, caste integration is an acute problem country faces today. To resolve this we are required to know the dynamics of behavior of the people of different castes and for the study of the caste dynamics a study of caste relations are needed. The present study is an attempt in this direction.

Keywords: Hierarchial groups, jajmani system, functional dependence, commensalities.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2701

Authors: Marinela Istrate, Ionel Muntele, Alexandru Bănică

Abstract:

The authors propose the identification, analysis and prognosis of the quantitative and qualitative evolution of the elderly population in the functional urban areas. The present paper takes into account the analysis of some representative indicators (the weight of the elderly population, ageing index, dynamic index of economic ageing of productive population etc.) and the elaboration of an integrated indicator that would help differentiate the population ageing forms in the 48 functional urban areas that were defined based on demographic and social-economic criteria for all large and medium cities in Romania.

Keywords: Ageing, demographic transition, functional urban areas, spatial resilience.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2041

Authors: Lobat Taghavi, Najaf Hedayat

Abstract:

Renewable water resources are crucial production variables in arid and semi-arid regions where intensive agriculture is practiced to meet ever-increasing demand for food and fiber. This is crucial for the Dez and Moghan command areas where water delivery problems and adverse environmental issues are widespread. This paper aims to identify major problems areas using on-farm surveys of 200 farmers, agricultural extensionists and water suppliers which was complemented by secondary data and field observations during 2010- 2011 cultivating season. The SPSS package was used to analyze and synthesis data. Results indicated inappropriate canal operations in both schemes, though there was no unanimity about the underlying causes. Inequitable and inflexible distribution was found to be rooted in deficient hydraulic structures particularly in the main and secondary canals. The inadequacy and inflexibility of water scheduling regime was the underlying causes of recurring pest and disease spread which often led to the decline of crop yield and quality, although these were not disputed, the water suppliers were not prepared to link with the deficiencies in the operation of the main and secondary canals. They rather attributed these to the prevailing salinity; alkalinity, water table fluctuations and leaching of the valuable agro-chemical inputs from the plants- route zone with farreaching consequences. Examples of these include the pollution of ground and surface resources due to over-irrigation at the farm level which falls under the growers- own responsibility. Poor irrigation efficiency and adverse environmental problems were attributed to deficient and outdated farming practices that were in turn rooted in poor extension programs and irrational water charges.

Keywords: water delivery, inequity, inflexibility, conflicts, environmental impact, Dez and Moghan

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1507

Authors: S. Rathilal

Abstract:

Numeracy, like Literacy is considered to be a core value of modern societies. Most higher education institutions in South Africa include being numerate as an important graduate attribute. It is argued that a suitability numerate society contributes to social justice, empowerment, financial and environmental sustainability and a lack of numeracy practices can contribute to disempowerment. Numeracy is commonly misconstrued as a basic and simple practice, similar in nature to basic arithmetic. This study highlights the complexities of higher education numeracy practices by analyzing a programme in a higher education institution in South Africa using the New Literacies Studies perspective.

Keywords: Higher Education, New Literacy Studies, Numeracy Practices.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1894

Authors: Jie Liu, Xudong Luo, Pingping Lin, Yifan Fan

Abstract:

Facebook, Twitter, Weibo, and other social media and significant e-commerce sites generate a massive amount of online texts, which can be used to analyse people’s opinions or sentiments for better decision-making. So, sentiment analysis, especially the fine-grained sentiment analysis, is a very active research topic. In this paper, we survey various methods for fine-grained sentiment analysis, including traditional sentiment lexicon-based methods, ma-chine learning-based methods, and deep learning-based methods in aspect/target/attribute-based sentiment analysis tasks. Besides, we discuss their advantages and problems worthy of careful studies in the future.

Keywords: sentiment analysis, fine-grained, machine learning, deep learning

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2334

Authors: David E. Culler, Noah D. Anderson

Abstract:

Integrated systems for product design, manufacturing, and lifecycle management are difficult to implement and customize. Commercial software vendors, including CAD/CAM and third party PDM/PLM developers, create user interfaces and functionality that allow their products to be applied across many industries. The result is that systems become overloaded with functionality, difficult to navigate, and use terminology that is unfamiliar to engineers and production personnel. For example, manufacturers of automotive, aeronautical, electronics, and household products use similar but distinct methods and processes. Furthermore, each company tends to have their own preferred tools and programs for controlling work and information flow and that connect design, planning, and manufacturing processes to business applications. This paper presents a methodology and a case study that addresses these issues and suggests that in the future more companies will develop personalized applications that fit to the natural way that their business operates. A functioning system has been implemented at a highly competitive U.S. aerospace tooling and component supplier that works with many prominent airline manufacturers around the world including The Boeing Company, Airbus, Embraer, and Bombardier Aerospace. During the last three years, the program has produced significant benefits such as the automatic creation and management of component and assembly designs (parametric models and drawings), the extensive use of lightweight 3D data, and changes to the way projects are executed from beginning to end. CATIA (CAD/CAE/CAM) and a variety of programs developed in C#, VB.Net, HTML, and SQL make up the current system. The web-based platform is facilitating collaborative work across multiple sites around the world and improving communications with customers and suppliers. This work demonstrates that the creative use of Application Programming Interface (API) utilities, libraries, and methods is a key to automating many time-consuming tasks and linking applications together.

Keywords: CAD/CAM, CAPP, PDM, PLM, Scalable Systems.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1637

Authors: Debasis Sarkar, Jatan Talati

Abstract:

This paper is an attempt to develop an Integrated Mass Rapid Transit System (MRTS) for a smart city project in Western India. Integrated transportation is one of the enablers of smart transportation for providing a seamless intercity as well as regional level transportation experience. The success of a smart city project at the city level for transportation is providing proper integration to different mass rapid transit modes by way of integrating information, physical, network of routes fares, etc. The methodology adopted for this study was primary data research through questionnaire survey. The respondents of the questionnaire survey have responded on the issues about their perceptions on the ways and means to improve public transport services in urban cities. The respondents were also required to identify the factors and attributes which might motivate more people to shift towards the public mode. Also, the respondents were questioned about the factors which they feel might restrain the integration of various modes of MRTS. Furthermore, this study also focuses on developing a utility equation for respondents with the help of multiple linear regression analysis and its probability to shift to public transport for certain factors listed in the questionnaire. It has been observed that for shifting to public transport, the most important factors that need to be considered were travel time saving and comfort rating. Also, an Integrated MRTS can be obtained by combining metro rail with BRTS, metro rail with monorail, monorail with BRTS and metro rail with Indian railways. Providing a common smart card to transport users for accessing all the different available modes would be a pragmatic solution towards integration of the available modes of MRTS.

Keywords: Mass rapid transit systems, smart city, metro rail, bus rapid transit system, multiple linear regression, smart card, automated fare collection system.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1208

Authors: Dinara B. Dauyen, Nurzhamal A. Aldabek

Abstract:

The purpose of this work is to identify the positive and negative aspects of parties- participation in the country-s modernization, which in turn, will help a country to determine the necessary steps to improve the social-economic development. The article considers a question of the role of the dominating party of Kazakhstan and ruling party of China in the country-s modernization. Using a comparative analysis reveals differences between the People's Democratic Party “Nur Otan" and the Communist Party of China. It is discussed the policy of carrying out of modernization, the main actions of political parties of both countries with a view of modernization implementation.

Keywords: China's modernization, dominant party, ruling party, modernization of Kazakhstan.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1514

Authors: Chimaobi V. Okolo, Kenneth A. Okpala, Johnbull S. Ogboi

Abstract:

A teeming set of doctors that graduated from various universities within and outside Nigeria with the hope of practicing in the country, has their hope shattered because of poor financing, lack of medical equipments and a very weak healthcare systems. Such hydra headed challenges, allows room for quackery which increasingly contributes to the cause of mortality in Nigeria. With a view of reversing the challenges of healthcare delivery and financing in Nigeria, African Health Market for Equity (AHME), a project funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation [With contribution from Department For International Development (DFID)] and currently implemented in three African Countries (Nigeria, Kenya and Ghana) over a Five (5) year period supports the healthcare sector via Medical credit fund (MCF). The study examines the impact of credit policy and medical credit funding on Nigerian health market. Ordinary least square analysis, correlation and granger causality tests were employed to measure the extent to which the Nigerian healthcare market has been influenced. Medical credit fund significantly and positively influenced average monthly turnover of private healthcare providers and Commercial bank’s lending rate had a weak relationship with access to credit/approved loans (13.46%). The programme has so far made 13.91% progress, which is very poor, considering the minimum targeted private health care providers (437.6) and expected number of loan approvals (180.4) for the two years. Medical credit policy in Nigeria should be revised to include private healthcare providers in rural area for more positive impact and increased returns. Good brand advert and sensitization of the programme to stakeholders and health pressure group, and an extension of the programme beyond five years is necessary to better address the issues raised in the study.

Keywords: Credit, health market, medical credit facility, policy.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1734

Authors: V. Boguslauskas, G. Jakstonyte, L. Giriunas

Abstract:

Many foreign and Lithuanian scientists, analyzing the evaluation of the tax system in respect of the burden of taxation, agree that the latter, in principle, depends on how many individuals and what units of the residents constitute a household. Therefore, the aim of scientific research is to substantiate or to deny the significance of a household, but not a resident, as a statistical unit, during the evaluation of tax system, to be precise, determination of the value of the burden of taxation. A performed scientific research revealed that evaluation of the tax system in respect of a household, but not a resident, as a statistical unit, allows not only to evaluate the efficiency of the tax system more objectively, but also to forecast practicably existing poverty line, burden of taxation, and to capacitate the initiation of efficient decisions in social and tax fields creating the environment of existence.

Keywords: burden of taxation, household, tax systemevaluation.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1443

Authors: T. Hussain, M. W. Siddiqi, A. Iqbal

Abstract:

The study is aimed to test causal relationship between growth and unemployment, using time series data for Pakistan from 1972 to 2006. Growth is considered to be a pathway to decrease the level of unemployment. Unemployment is a social and political issue. It is a phenomenon where human resources are wasted leading to deacceleration in growth. Johanson Cointegration shows that there is long run relationship between growth and unemployment. For short run dynamics and causality, the study utilizes Vector Error Correction Model (VECM). The results of VECM indicate that there is short and long run causal relation between growth and unemployment including capital, labor and human capital as explanatory variables.

Keywords: Economic Growth, Unemployment, Cointegrationand Causality.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 3154

Authors: I. M. Mungadi, M. S. Argungu

Abstract:

This study delves into the transformative impact of telecommunication in Africa, illuminating its role in connecting nations and empowering lives across the continent. Over recent decades, the rapid expansion of telecommunication infrastructure has become a powerful force, fostering socio-economic growth and development. Beyond the exchange of information, this digital revolution has influenced education, healthcare, commerce, governance, and social interaction. The abstract explores the multifaceted dimensions of telecommunication's influence on Africa, addressing both its positive transformations and the challenges it presents. By examining the dynamic interplay between technological advancements and societal changes, this research contributes to a nuanced understanding of how telecommunication is shaping a more interconnected, informed, and empowered Africa.

Keywords: Transformative, telecommunication, nations, empowering, connecting.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 99

Authors: Hilmi Yazıcı

Abstract:

M. Kemal Ataturk was a great leader who was fond of art and he had displayed his being fond of art many times. In his speeches and writings you can see that he had showed his approval to art and the importance of artists and art for the society. During the foundation of republic, he also wanted renovation in art as in other fields and ordered many novelties both in art and society. One of the greatest steps in realizing this was to prepare a national Turkish opera. In this study, it was studied how a Turkish opera, Özsoy was prepared in the context of social and political conditions of that time and what kind of processes it passed. As a result, it is seen that there was two main aims for Ataturk with this opera. First, Ataturk wanted to abolish the sectarian conflict between Iran and Turkey going on for centuries. The second and maybe the most important is that he wanted to make a revolution in the field of art and aimed to reach the level of civilized countries.

Keywords: Opera, Atatürk, Özsoy, Adnan Saygun, The first Turkish opera.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 3797

Authors: M. Olmedilla, M. R. Martinez-Torres, S. L. Toral

Abstract:

Electronic Word-Of-Mouth (eWOM) communities represent today an important source of information in which more and more customers base their purchasing decisions. They include thousands of reviews concerning very different products and services posted by many individuals geographically distributed all over the world. Due to their massive audience, eWOM communities can help users to find the product they are looking for even if they are less popular or rare. This is known as the long tail effect, which leads to a larger number of lower-selling niche products. This paper analyzes the long tail effect in a well-known eWOM community and defines a tool for finding niche products unavailable through conventional channels.

Keywords: eWOM, Online user reviews, Long tail theory, Product categorization, Social Network Analysis.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2328

Authors: Hui Tag, Jambey Tsering, Pallabi Kalita Hui, Baikuntha Jyoti Gogoi, Vijay Veer

Abstract:

The food security issues and its relevance in High Mountain regions of the world have been often neglected. Wild edible plants have been playing a major role in livelihood security among the tribal Communities of East Himalayan Region of the world since time immemorial. The Eastern Himalayan Region of India is one of the mega diverse regions of world and rated as top 12th Global Biodiversity Hotspots by IUCN and recognized as one of the 200 significant eco-regions of the Globe. The region supports one of the world’s richest alpine floras and about one-third of them are endemic to the region. There are at least 7,500 flowering plants, 700 orchids, 58 bamboo species, 64 citrus species, 28 conifers, 500 mosses, 700 ferns and 728 lichens. The region is the home of more than three hundred different ethnic communities having diverse knowledge on traditional uses of flora and fauna as food, medicine and beverages. Monpa, Memba and Khamba are among the local communities residing in high altitude region of Eastern Himalaya with rich traditional knowledge related to utilization of wild edible plants. The Monpas, Memba and Khamba are the followers Mahayana sect of Himalayan Buddhism and they are mostly agrarian by primary occupation and also heavily relaying on wild edible plants for their livelihood security during famine since millennia. In the present study, we have reported traditional uses of 40 wild edible plant species and out of which 6 species were analyzed at biochemical level for nutrients contents and free radical scavenging activities. The results have shown significant free radical scavenging (antioxidant) activity and nutritional potential of the selected 6 wild edible plants used by the local communities of Eastern Himalayan Region of India.

Keywords: East Himalaya, Local community, Wild edible plants, Nutrition, Food security.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 4047

Authors: L. Godinho, N. Teixeira

Abstract:

Nowadays, massification of Internet access represents one of the major challenges to the traditional powers of the State, among which the power to control its external image. The virtual world has also sparked the interest of social sciences which consider it a new field of study, an immense open text where sense is expressed. In this paper, that immense text has been accessed to so as to understand the perception Internet users from all over the world have of Portugal. Ours is a quantitative and qualitative approach, as we have resorted to buzz, thematic and category analysis. The results confirm the predominance of sea stereotype in others' vision of the Portuguese people, and evidence that national image has adapted to network communication through processes of individuation and paganization.

Keywords: Internet, national image, perception, web analytics.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1044

Authors: A. Kourou, A. Ioakeimidou, E. Bafa, C. Fassoulas, M. Panoutsopoulou

Abstract:

The role of volunteers in disaster management is of decisive importance and the need of their involvement is well recognized, both for prevention measures and for disaster management. During major catastrophes, whereas professional personnel are outsourced, the role of volunteers is crucial. In Greece experience has shown that various groups operating in the civil protection mechanism like local administration staff or volunteers, in many cases do not have the necessary knowledge and information on best practices to act against natural disasters. One of the major problems is the lack of volunteers’ education and training. In the above given framework, this paper presents the results of a survey aimed to identify the level of education and preparedness of civil protection volunteers in Greece. Furthermore, the implementation of earthquake protection measures at individual, family and working level, are explored. More specifically, the survey questionnaire investigates issues regarding pre-earthquake protection actions, appropriate attitudes and behaviors during an earthquake and existence of contingency plans in the workplace. The questionnaires were administered to citizens from different regions of the country and who attend the civil protection training program: “Protect Myself and Others”. A closed-form questionnaire was developed for the survey, which contained questions regarding the following: a) knowledge of self-protective actions; b) existence of emergency planning at home; c) existence of emergency planning at workplace (hazard mitigation actions, evacuation plan, and performance of drills); and, d) respondents` perception about their level of earthquake preparedness. The results revealed a serious lack of knowledge and preparedness among respondents. Taking into consideration the aforementioned gap and in order to raise awareness and improve preparedness and effective response of volunteers acting in civil protection, the EVANDE project was submitted and approved by the European Commission (EC). The aim of that project is to educate and train civil protection volunteers on the most serious natural disasters, such as forest fires, floods, and earthquakes, and thus, increase their performance.

Keywords: Civil protection, earthquake preparedness, volunteers.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1198

Authors: A. Bodak, A. Cierniak-Emerych, M. Gableta, A. Pietroń-Pyszczek, K. Piwowar-Sulej

Abstract:

Modern organizations operate under the pressure of dynamic and often unpredictable changes, both in external and internal environment. Market success, in this context, requires a particular competence in the form of flexibility, interpreted here both on the level of individuals and on the level of organization. This paper addresses the changes taking place in the sphere of employment, as observed in economic entities operating on Polish market. Based on own empirical studies, the authors focus on the progressing trend of ‘flexibilization’ of employment, particularly in the context of transformations in organizational structure, designed to facilitate the transition into management by projects and differentiation of labor forms.

Keywords: Flexibility of employment, changes in organizational structure, forms of employment, social effects of flexibility.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1667

Authors: R. Malisa, E. Schwella, K. I. Theletsane

Abstract:

Due to climate change, population growth and rapid urbanization, the demand for water in South Africa is inevitably surpassing supply. To address similar challenges globally, there has been a paradigm shift from conventional urban waste water management “government” to a “governance” paradigm. From the governance paradigm, Integrated Urban Water Management (IUWM) principle emerged. This principle emphasizes efficient urban waste water treatment and production of high-quality recyclable effluent. In so doing mimicking natural water systems, in their processes of recycling water efficiently, and averting depletion of natural water resources.  The objective of this study was to investigate drivers of shifting the current urban waste water management approach from a “government” paradigm towards “governance”. The study was conducted through Interactive Management soft systems research methodology which follows a qualitative research design. A case study methodology was employed, guided by realism research philosophy. Qualitative data gathered were analyzed through interpretative structural modelling using Concept Star for Professionals Decision-Making tools (CSPDM) version 3.64.  The constructed model deduced that the main drivers in shifting the Stellenbosch municipal urban waste water management towards IUWM “governance” principles are mainly social elements characterized by overambitious expectations of the public on municipal water service delivery, mis-interpretation of the constitution on access to adequate clean water and sanitation as a human right and perceptions on recycling water by different communities. Inadequate public participation also emerged as a strong driver. However, disruptive events such as draught may play a positive role in raising an awareness on the value of water, resulting in a shift on the perceptions on recycled water. Once the social elements are addressed, the alignment of governance and administration elements towards IUWM are achievable. Hence, the point of departure for the desired paradigm shift is the change of water service authorities and serviced communities’ perceptions and behaviors towards shifting urban waste water management approaches from “government” to “governance” paradigm.

Keywords: Integrated urban water management, urban water system, waste water governance, waste water treatment works.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1067