Search results for: rural areas

Authors: Fiona Curran-Cournane

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Soil quality monitoring is a science-based soil management tool that assesses soil ecosystem health. A soil monitoring program in Auckland, New Zealand’s largest city extends from 1995 to the present. The objective of this study was to firstly determine changes in soil parameters (basic soil properties and heavy metals) that were assessed from rural land in 1995-2000 and repeated in 2008-2012. The second objective was to determine differences in soil parameters across various land uses including native bush, rural (horticulture, pasture and plantation forestry) and urban land uses using soil data collected in more recent years (2009- 2013). Across rural land, mean concentrations of Olsen P had significantly increased in the second sampling period and was identified as the indicator of most concern, followed by soil macroporosity, particularly for horticultural and pastoral land. Mean concentrations of Cd were also greatest for pastoral and horticultural land and a positive correlation existed between these two parameters, which highlights the importance of analysing basic soil parameters in conjunction with heavy metals. In contrast, mean concentrations of As, Cr, Pb, Ni and Zn were greatest for urban sites. Native bush sites had the lowest concentrations of heavy metals and were used to calculate a ‘pollution index’ (PI). The mean PI was classified as high (PI > 3) for Cd and Ni and moderate for Pb, Zn, Cr, Cu, As and Hg, indicating high levels of heavy metal pollution across both rural and urban soils. From a land use perspective, the mean ‘integrated pollution index’ was highest for urban sites at 2.9 followed by pasture, horticulture and plantation forests at 2.7, 2.6 and 0.9, respectively. It is recommended that soil sampling continues over time because a longer spanning record will allow further identification of where soil problems exist and where resources need to be targeted in the future. Findings from this study will also inform policy and science direction in regional councils.

Keywords: Heavy metals, Pollution Index, Rural and Urban land use.

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Authors: Marinela Istrate, Ionel Muntele, Alexandru Bănică

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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.

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Authors: Khalid Hussein, Waleed Abdalati, Pakorn Petchprayoon, Khaula Alkaabi

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In this study, we integrated ASTER thermal data with an area-based spatial insolation model to identify and delineate geothermally active areas in Yellowstone National Park (YNP). Two pairs of L1B ASTER day- and nighttime scenes were used to calculate land surface temperature. We employed the Emissivity Normalization Algorithm which separates temperature from emissivity to calculate surface temperature. We calculated the incoming solar radiation for the area covered by each of the four ASTER scenes using an insolation model and used this information to compute temperature due to solar radiation. We then identified the statistical thermal anomalies using land surface temperature and the residuals calculated from modeled temperatures and ASTER-derived surface temperatures. Areas that had temperatures or temperature residuals greater than 2σ and between 1σ and 2σ were considered ASTER-modeled thermal anomalies. The areas identified as thermal anomalies were in strong agreement with the thermal areas obtained from the YNP GIS database. Also the YNP hot springs and geysers were located within areas identified as anomalous thermal areas. The consistency between our results and known geothermally active areas indicate that thermal remote sensing data, integrated with a spatial-based insolation model, provides an effective means for identifying and locating areas of geothermal activities over large areas and rough terrain.

Keywords: Thermal remote sensing, insolation model, land surface temperature, geothermal anomalies.

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Authors: S. Pazi, C. Chatwin, R. Young, P. Birch

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Tanzania is a developing country, which significantly lags behind the rest of the world in information communications technology (ICT), especially for the Internet. Internet connectivity to the rest of the world is via expensive satellite links, thus leaving the majority of the population unable to access the Internet due to the high cost. This paper introduces the concept of an optical WDM network for Internet infrastructure in Tanzania, so as to reduce Internet connection costs, and provide Internet access to the majority of people who live in both urban and rural areas. We also present a proposed optical WDM network, which mitigates the effects of system impairments, and provide simulation results to show that the data is successfully transmitted over a longer distance using a WDM network.

Keywords: Internet infrastructure, Internet access, Internettraffic, WDM.

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Authors: Natasha Bhate

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Contraception is important in helping to reduce maternal and infant mortality rates by allowing women to control the number and spacing in-between their children. It also reduces the need for unsafe abortions. Women worldwide use contraception; however, the contraceptive prevalence rate is still relatively low in Central American countries like Guatemala. There is also an unmet need for contraception in Guatemala, which is more significant in rural, indigenous women due to barriers preventing contraceptive use. The study objective was to investigate and analyse the current barriers women face, in Guatemala, Panajachel and the surrounding areas, in using contraception, with a view of identifying ways to overcome these barriers. This included exploring the contraceptive barriers women believe exist and the influence of males in contraceptive decision making. The study took place at a charity in Panajachel, Guatemala, and had a cross-sectional, qualitative design to allow an in-depth understanding of information gathered. This particular study design was also chosen to help inform the charity with qualitative research analysis, in view of their intent to create a local reproductive health programme. A semi-structured interview design, including photo facilitation to improve cross-cultural communication, with interpreter assistance, was utilized. A pilot interview was initially conducted with small improvements required. Participants were recruited through purposive and convenience sampling. The study host at the charity acted as a gatekeeper; participants were identified through attendance of the charity’s women’s-initiative programme workshops. 20 participants were selected and agreed to study participation with two not attending; a total of 18 participants were interviewed in June 2017. Interviews were audio-recorded and data were stored on encrypted memory sticks. Framework analysis was used to analyse the data using NVivo11 software. The University of Leeds granted ethical approval for the research. Religion, language, the community, and fear of sickness were examples of existing contraceptive barrier themes recognized by many participants. The influence of men was also an important barrier identified, with themes of machismo and abuse preventing contraceptive use in some women. Women from more rural areas were believed to still face barriers which some participants did not encounter anymore, such as distance and affordability of contraceptives. Participants believed that informative workshops in various settings were an ideal method of overcoming existing contraceptive barriers and allowing women to be more empowered. The involvement of men in such workshops was also deemed important by participants to help reduce their negative influence in contraceptive usage. Overall, four recommendations following this study were made, including contraceptive educational courses, a gender equality campaign, couple-focused contraceptive workshops, and further qualitative research to gain a better insight into men’s opinions regarding women using contraception.

Keywords: Barrier, contraception, machismo, religion.

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Authors: Saleeza. S.N.R., Norma-Rashid Y, M. Sofian–Azirun

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Larval survey was carried out in 6 localities in the urban areas (Putrajaya) and suburban areas (Kuala Selangor) from January until December 2010. A total of 520 representative households in 6 localities were selected. Breeding habitats were sampled outdoors in the surroundings of housing areas. The study indicated that the most predominant species found in both areas was Aedes albopictus with the gardening utensil as a preferred breeding microhabitat for Putrajaya, in contrast to the artificial containers for Kuala Selangor. From a total of 1083 mosquito larvae species, 984 were Aedes albopictus larvae, 67 positive larvae of Aedes aegypti and 32 of Culex larvae. Aedes Index and Container Index were elevated in Putrajaya with 13% and 11% respectively which is higher than the standard given by the Ministry of Health, Malaysia. This results implicating dengue-sensitive skewed to the urban areas. Breteau Index result also above the standard in both study locations.

Keywords: Aedes albopictus, Aedes aegypti, Aedes Index (AI), Container Index (CI), Breteau Index (BI)

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Authors: Davinder Singh, Jaimal Singh Khamba, Tarun Nanda

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The importance of MSMEs in India became crucial in rural areas because it promoted economic growth. MSMEs play a significant role in the economic growth of the country owing to production, exports and employment. Technology development reflect a critical way in which organization respond to either technological or market challenges. The present survey examines the characteristics of technology development in MSMEs. The results show that Indian MSMEs do not co-operate with universities and R&D institutes. Government policies also affect the technology development activities. The awareness about the R&D infrastructure is very low as shown by the results in the study. There is a need to understand and assess the real needs of the MSMEs and accordingly devise approaches that ensure their sustainable growth.

Keywords: MSMEs, technology development, networks, financial management and R&D infrastructure.

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Authors: K. Pandey

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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.

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Authors: Cheon Sik Min, Hyeong Wook Song, Sook Yeon Shim, Hoon Chang

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The purpose of this study was to analyze the correlation between permitted building areas and housing distribution ratios and their fluctuation, and test a distribution model during 3 successive governments in 5 cities including Bucheon in reference to the time series administrative data, and thereby, interpret the results of the analysis in association with the policies pursued by the successive governments to examine the structural fluctuation of permitted building areas and housing distribution ratios. In order to analyze the fluctuation of permitted building areas and housing distribution ratios during 3 successive governments and examine the cycles of the time series data, the spectral analysis was performed, and in order to analyze the correlation between permitted building areas and housing distribution ratios, the tabulation was performed to describe the correlations statistically, and in order to explain about differences of fluctuation distribution of permitted building areas and housing distribution ratios among 3 governments, the goodness of fit test was conducted.

Keywords: The Permitted Building Areas, Housing Distribution Ratios, the Structural Fluctuation.

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Authors: M. Rehor, V. Ondracek

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Restoration research has become important on principle recently in Czech Republic. The reason is simple. More than 70 % of mined brown coal comes from the North Bohemian Basin these days. Open cast brown coal mining has lead to large damage on the landscape. Reclamation of phytotoxic areas is one of the serious problems in the North Bohemian Basin. It mainly concerns the areas with the occurrence of overburden rocks from the coal bed enriched with coal. The presented paper includes the characteristics of the important phytotoxic areas and the methodology of their reclamation. The results are documented with the long term monitoring of physical, mineralogical, chemical and pedological parameters of rocks in the testing areas.

Keywords: Brown coal, dump, methodology, restoration.

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Authors: Faride Peña, Teresita Castillo, Concepción Campo

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Sexual violence, and particularly child sexual abuse, is a serious problem all over the world, México included. Given its importance, there are several preventive and care programs done by the government and the civil society all over the country but most of them are developed in urban areas even though these problems are especially serious in rural areas. Yucatán, a state in southern México, occupies one of the first places in child sexual abuse. Considering the above, the University Unit of Clinical Research and Victimological Attention (UNIVICT) of the Autonomous University of Yucatan, designed, implemented and is currently evaluating the program named “Sharing Mouth to Mouth: My Body, Nobody Can Touch It”, a program to prevent child sexual abuse in rural communities of Yucatán, México. Its aim was to develop skills for the detection of risk situations, providing protection strategies and mechanisms for prevention through culturally relevant psycho-educative strategies to increase personal resources in children, in collaboration with parents, teachers, police and municipal authorities. The diagnosis identified that a particularly vulnerable population were children between 4 and 10 years. The program run during 2015 in primary schools in the municipality whose inhabitants are mostly Mayan. The aim of this paper is to present its evaluation in terms of its effectiveness and efficiency. This evaluation included documental analysis of the work done in the field, psycho-educational and recreational activities with children, evaluation of knowledge by participating children and interviews with parents and teachers. The results show high efficiency in fulfilling the tasks and achieving primary objectives. The efficiency shows satisfactory results but also opportunity areas that can be resolved with minor adjustments to the program. The results also show the importance of including culturally relevant strategies and activities otherwise it minimizes possible achievements. Another highlight is the importance of participatory action research in preventive approaches to child sexual abuse since by becoming aware of the importance of the subject people participate more actively; in addition to design culturally appropriate strategies and measures so that the proposal may not be distant to the people. Discussion emphasizes the methodological implications of prevention programs (convenience of using participatory action research (PAR), importance of monitoring and mediation during implementation, developing detection skills tools in creative ways using psycho-educational interactive techniques and working assessment issued by the participants themselves). As well, it is important to consider the holistic character this type of program should have, in terms of incorporating social and culturally relevant characteristics, according to the community individuality and uniqueness, consider type of communication to be used and children’ language skills considering that there should be variations strongly linked to a specific cultural context.

Keywords: Child sexual abuse, evaluation, PAR, prevention.

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Authors: Y.S. Lea

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This paper investigates the agricultural rituals in relation to the historical continuity of cultural ideology concerning the praxis of cultural sustenance of the indigenous Mayas. The praxis is delineated in two dimensions: 1) The ceremonial and quotidian rituals of the rural Q’eqchi’ Mayas in Lanquin, Guatemala; 2) The indigenous Maya resistance of 2014 against the legislation of the 'Law for the Protection of New Plant Varieties,' commonly known as 'the Monsanto Law' in Guatemala. Through the intersection of ideology in practice, the praxis of cultural sustenance is construed.

Keywords: Q'eqchi' Mayas, San Agustin Lanquin, Alta Verapaz, Guatemala, Maya animism, Q’eqchi' deities, Tzuultaq'as.

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Authors: Ayman M. Mansour

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In this paper, we propose an intelligent system that is used for monitoring the health conditions of patients. Monitoring the health condition of patients is a complex problem that involves different medical units and requires continuous monitoring especially in rural areas because of inadequate number of available specialized physicians. The proposed system will improve patient care and drive costs down comparing to the existing system in Jordan. The proposed system will be the start point to faster and improve the communication between different units in the health system in Jordan. Connecting patients and their physicians beyond hospital doors regarding their geographical area is an important issue in developing the health system in Jordan. The ability of making medical decisions, the quality of medical is expected to be improved.

Keywords: GSM, SMS, Patient, Monitoring system, Fuzzy Logic, Multi-agent system.

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Authors: Malika Fekih, Mohamed Saighi

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Many methods exist for either measuring or estimating evaporation from free water surfaces. Evaporation pans provide one of the simplest, inexpensive, and most widely used methods of estimating evaporative losses. In this study, the rate of evaporation starting from a water surface was calculated by modeling with application to dams in wet, arid and semi arid areas in Algeria. We calculate the evaporation rate from the pan using the energy budget equation, which offers the advantage of an ease of use, but our results do not agree completely with the measurements taken by the National Agency of areas carried out using dams located in areas of different climates. For that, we develop a mathematical model to simulate evaporation. This simulation uses an energy budget on the level of a vat of measurement and a Computational Fluid Dynamics (Fluent). Our calculation of evaporation rate is compared then by the two methods and with the measures of areas in situ.

Keywords: Evaporation, Energy budget, Surface water temperature, CFD, Dams

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Authors: Libin Ouyang

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China has experienced a very fast urbanization process in the past two decades. Due to the uncoordinated characteristics of regional development in China, a large number of people from rural areas or small towns have flooded into regional central cities, which are building new cities around them due to the shortage of construction land or the need for urban development. However, the construction of some new cities has not achieved the expected effect, the absorption capacity of industry and population is limited, and the phenomenon of capital and land waste is obvious. This paper takes Xixian New Area in Shaanxi Province, an inland area in Northwest China, as an example, and tries to analyze the reasons for the lack of vitality in Xixian New Area from the perspectives of land use layout and urban design. This paper will also select the Energy-Finance-Trade Start-up Area in Xixian New Area as an important research site, and study how to optimize the land use layout and urban design to ease the population of big cities, effectively solve the problems of big cities, improve the vitality and attractiveness of the new city, and promote the sustainable development of the new city. The study can provide reference for urban planning practitioners and policy makers, provide theoretical help for the construction of new cities in other underdeveloped regions of China, and provide certain case references for the construction of cities in other developing countries in the process of rapid urbanization.

Keywords: New city, land use layout, urban design, urban planning.

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Authors: Luis F. Beltrán-Morales, Dalia Bali Cohen, Enrique Troyo-Diéguez, Gerzaín Avilés Polanco, Victor Sevilla Unda

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This study aims to assess the potential of solar energy technology for improving access to water and hence the livelihood strategies of rural communities in Baja California Sur, Mexico. It focuses on livestock ranches and photovoltaic water-pumptechnology as well as other water extraction methods. The methodology used are the Sustainable Livelihoods and the Appropriate Technology approaches. A household survey was applied in June of 2006 to 32 ranches in the municipality, of which 22 used PV pumps; and semi-structured interviews were conducted. Findings indicate that solar pumps have in fact helped people improve their quality of life by allowing them to pursue a different livelihood strategy and that improved access to water -not necessarily as more water but as less effort to extract and collect it- does not automatically imply overexploitation of the resource; consumption is based on basic needs as well as on storage and pumping capacity. Justification for such systems lies in the avoidance of logistical problems associated to fossil fuels, PV pumps proved to be the most beneficial when substituting gasoline or diesel equipment but of dubious advantage if intended to replace wind or gravity systems. Solar water pumping technology-s main obstacle to dissemination are high investment and repairs costs and it is therefore not suitable for all cases even when insolation rates and water availability are adequate. In cases where affordability is not an obstacle it has become an important asset that contributes –by means of reduced expenses, less effort and saved time- to the improvement of livestock, the main livelihood provider for these ranches.

Keywords: Solar Pumps, Water Security, Livestock Ranches, Sustainable Livelihoods.

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Authors: L. Salvati, D. Smiraglia, S. Bajocco, M. Munafò

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This paper focuses on Land Use and Land Cover Changes (LULCC) occurred in the urban coastal regions of the Mediterranean basin in the last thirty years. LULCC were assessed diachronically (1975-2006) in two urban areas, Rome (Italy) and Athens (Greece), by using CORINE land cover maps. In strictly coastal territories a persistent growth of built-up areas at the expenses of both agricultural and forest land uses was found. On the contrary, a different pattern was observed in the surrounding inland areas, where a high conversion rate of the agricultural land uses to both urban and forest land uses was recorded. The impact of city growth on the complex pattern of coastal LULCC is finally discussed.

Keywords: Land use changes, coastal region, Rome, Attica, southern Europe.

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Authors: S. N. F. Mohd Fauzi, N. Yusof, N. Zainul Abidin

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The Build-Then-Sell (BTS) is a novel system implemented in Malaysia after a number of complaints have been received from buyers in the preceding Sell-Then-Build (STB) system. When the government announced the implementation of the BTS in 2007, proponents of BTS have asserted that the new system will provide houses with low level of defects. Their argument however is not supported by any empirical data. Hence, this study is conducted to evaluate the housing defects in BTS houses. Six BTS residential areas have been surveyed to collect the defects data. Questionnaires were administered directly to the occupiers in each of the BTS houses through door-to-door visits. The result has shown that the rate of defects for the six residential areas is ranged from minor to slight, which only affect the aesthetic value of the house.

Keywords: Build-Then-Sell houses, housing defects, residential areas, occupiers

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Authors: Boci J., Çabeli P., Shtylla T., Kumbe I.

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The development of the poultry industry in Albania is mainly based on the existence of intensive modern farms with huge capacities, which often are mixed with other forms. Colibacillosis is commonly displayed regardless of the type of breeding, delivering high mortality in poultry industry. The mechanisms with which pathogen enterobacters are able to cause the infection in poultry are not yet clear. The routine diagnose in the field, followed by isolation of E. coli and species of Salmonella genres in reference laboratories cannot lead in classification or full recognition of circulative strains in a territory, if it is not performed a differentiation among the present microorganisms in intensive farms and those in rural areas. In this study were isolated 1.496 strains of E. coli and 378 Salmonella spp. This study, presents distribution of poultry pathogenosity of E.coli and Salmonella spp., based on the usage of innovative diagnostic methods.

Keywords: poultry, E.coli, Salmonella spp., Enterobacter

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Authors: Mevlüt Gül, Hilal Yılmaz, M. Göksel Akpınar, Ayse Karadağ Gürsoy, Özge Bayındır

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Milk is a very important nutrient. Low productivity is a problem of Turkish dairy farming. During recent years, Turkish government has supported cooperatives that assist milk producers and encouraged farmers to become cooperative members. Turkish government established several ways to support specially smallholders. For example Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs (MARA) provided two to four cows to villagers on a grant or loan basis with a long repayment period at low interest rates by cooperatives. Social Support Project in Rural Areas (SSPRA) is another support program targeting only disadvantaged people, especially poor villager. Both programs have a very strong social support component and similar objectives. But there are minor differences between them in terms of target people, terms and conditions of the credit supplied Isparta province in Mediterranean region of Turkey is one of the supported regions. MARA distributed dairy cows to 1072 farmers through 16 agricultural cooperatives in Isparta province in the context of SSPRA. In this study, economic-social impacts on dairy cattle project implemented through cooperatives were examined in Isparta. Primary data were collected from 12 cooperatives- president. The data were obtained by personal interview through a questionnaire and to cooperatives and given to farms benefiting from the project in order to reveal the economic and social developments. Finding of the study revealed that project provided new job opportunities and improved quality of livestock. It was found that producers who benefited from the project were more willing to participate in cooperative or other producer organizations.

Keywords: ooperative, Dairy Cattle, Economic Impact, Livestock Support Project, Social Impact.

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Authors: Edward A. Osifodunrin, Jose Manuel Dias Lopes

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In Nigeria, enormous efforts/resources had, over the years, been expended on promoting financial inclusion (FI); however, it is seemingly discouraging that many of its self-declared targets on FI remained unachieved, especially amongst the Rural Dwellers and Actors in the Informal Sectors (RDAIS). Expectedly, many reasons had been earmarked for these failures: low literacy level, huge informal/rural sectors etc. This study posits that in spite of these truly-debilitating factors, these FI policy failures could have been avoided or mitigated if the principles of active and better-managed citizens’ participation had been strictly followed in the (re)design/implementation of its FI policies. In other words, in a bid to mitigate the prevalent financial exclusion (FE) in Nigeria, this study hypothesizes the significant positive impact of involving the RDAIS in policy-wide decision making in the FI domain, backed by a preliminary empirical validation. Also, the study introduces the RDAIS-focused Participatory Financial Inclusion Policy (PFIP) as a major FI policy regeneration/improvement tool. The three categories of respondents that served as research subjects are FI experts in Nigeria (n = 72), RDAIS from the very rural/remote village of Unguwar Dogo in Northern Nigeria (n = 43) and RDAIS from another rural village of Sekere (n = 56) in the Southern region of Nigeria. Using survey design (5-point Likert scale questionnaires), random/stratified sampling, and descriptive/inferential statistics, the study often recorded independent consensus (amongst these three categories of respondents) that RDAIS’s active participation in iterative FI policy initiation, (re)design, implementation, (re)evaluation could indeed give improved FI outcomes. However, few questionnaire items also recorded divergent opinions and various statistically (in)significant differences on the mean scores of these three categories. The PFIP (or any customized version of it) should then be carefully integrated into the NFIS of Nigeria (and possibly in the NFIS of other developing countries) to truly/fully provide FI policy integration for these excluded RDAIS and arrest the prevalence of FE.

Keywords: Citizens’ participation, development, financial inclusion, formal financial services, national financial inclusion strategy, participatory financial inclusion policy, rural dwellers and actors in the informal sectors.

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Authors: Aditi Bhadra, Sutapa Choudhury, Daita Kar

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Flood zoning studies have become more efficient in recent years because of the availability of advanced computational facilities and use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS). In the present study, flood inundated areas were mapped using GIS for the Dikrong river basin of Arunachal Pradesh, India, corresponding to different return periods (2, 5, 25, 50, and 100 years). Further, the developed inundation maps corresponding to 25, 50, and 100 year return period floods were compared to corresponding maps developed by conventional methods as reported in the Brahmaputra Board Master Plan for Dikrong basin. It was found that, the average deviation of modelled flood inundation areas from reported map inundation areas is below 5% (4.52%). Therefore, it can be said that the modelled flood inundation areas matched satisfactorily with reported map inundation areas. Hence, GIS techniques were proved to be successful in extracting the flood inundation extent in a time and cost effective manner for the remotely located hilly basin of Dikrong, where conducting conventional surveys is very difficult.

Keywords: Flood hazard mapping, GIS, inundation area, return period.

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Authors: Kamolchanok Panishkan, Kanokporn Swangjang, Natdhera Sanmanee, Daoroong Sungthong

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The objective of this research is to study principal component analysis for classification of 67 soil samples collected from different agricultural areas in the western part of Thailand. Six soil properties were measured on the soil samples and are used as original variables. Principal component analysis is applied to reduce the number of original variables. A model based on the first two principal components accounts for 72.24% of total variance. Score plots of first two principal components were used to map with agricultural areas divided into horticulture, field crops and wetland. The results showed some relationships between soil properties and agricultural areas. PCA was shown to be a useful tool for agricultural areas classification based on soil properties.

Keywords: soil organic matter, soil properties, classification, principal components

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Authors: Raquel P. F. Guiné, Daniela V. T. A. Costa, Paula M. R. Correia, Moisés Castro, Luis T. Guerra, Cristina A. Costa

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The aim of this work was to characterize a potential target group of people interested in participating into a training program in organic farming in the context of mobile-learning. The information sought addressed in particular, but not exclusively, possible contents, formats and forms of evaluation that will contribute to define the course objectives and curriculum, as well as to ensure that the course meets the needs of the learners and their preferences. The sample was selected among different European countries. The questionnaires were delivered electronically for answering on-line and in the end 135 consented valid questionnaires were obtained. The results allowed characterizing the target group and identifying their training needs and preferences towards m-learning formats, giving valuable tools to design the training offer.

Keywords: Mobile-learning, organic farming, rural development, survey.

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Authors: Duan Huanyun, Xu Rui, Li Jianchang, Yuan Yage, Wang Qiuxia, Nomana Intekhab Hadi

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BioEnergy is an archetypal appropriate technology and alternate source of energy in rural areas of China, and can meet the basic need for cooking fuel in rural areas. The paper introduces with an alternate mean of research that can accelerate the biogas energy production. Tithonia diversifolia or the Tree marigold can be hailed as mesophillic anaerobic digestion to increase the production of more Bioenergy. Tithonia diversifolia is very native to Mexico and Central America, which can be served as ornamental plants- green manure and can prevent soil erosion. Tithonia diversifolia is widely grown and known to Asia, Africa, America and Australia as well. Nowadays, Considering China’s geographical condition it is found that Tithonia diversifolia is widely growing plant in the many tropical and subtropical regions of southern Yunnan- which can have great usage in accelerating and increasing the Bioenergy production technology. The paper discussed aiming at proving possibility that Tithonia diversifolia can be applied in biogas fermentation and its biogas production potential, the research carried experiment on Tithonia diversifolia biogas fermentation under the mesophilic condition (35 Celsius Degree). The result revealed that Tithonia diversifolia can be used as biogas fermentative material, and 6% concentration can get the best biogas production, with the TS biogas production rate 656mL/g and VS biogas production rate 801mL/g. It is well addressed that Tithonia diversifolia grows wildly in 53 Counties and 9 cities of Yunnan Province, which mainly grows in form of the road side plants, the edge of the field, countryside, forest edge, open space; of which demersum-natures can form dense monospecific beds -causing serious harm to agricultural production landforms threatening the ecological system as a potentially harmful exotic plant. There are also found the three types of invasive daisy alien plants -Eupatorium adenophorum, Eupatorium Odorata and Tithonia diversifolia in Yunnan Province of China-among them the Tithonia diversifolia is responsible for causing serious harm to agricultural production. In this paper we have designed the experimental explanation of Biogas energy production that requires anaerobic environment and some microbes; Tithonia diversifolia plant has been taken into consideration while carrying experiments and with successful resulting of generating more BioEnergy emphasizing on the practical applications of Tithonia diversifolia. This paper aims at- to find a new mechanism to provide a more scientific basis for the development of this plant herbicides in Biogas energy and to improve the utilization throughout the world as well.

Keywords: Biogas Energy Production, Tithonia diversifolia, Energy Development, Ecological Agriculture, Eupatorium adenophorum, Eupatorium odorata, Anaerobic Fermentation, Biogas Production Potential, Mesopilic Fermentation.

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Authors: D. Onanena Adegono, P. Altinsoy, A. Schuster, P. Schäfer

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Autonomous vehicles look set to drastically alter the way we move people and goods, in urban as well as rural areas. However, little has been written about Africa with this regard. Moreover, in order for this new technology to be adopted, user acceptance is vital. The current research examines the user acceptance of autonomous minibus shuttles, as a solution for first/last mile public transport in Pretoria, South Africa. Of the respondents surveyed, only 2.31% perceived them as not useful. Respondents showed more interest in using these shuttles in combination with the bus rapid transit system (75.4%) as opposed to other modes of public transportation (40%). The significance of these findings is that they can help ensure that the implementation of autonomous public transport in South Africa is adapted to the local user. Furthermore, these findings could be adapted for other South African cities and other cities across the continent.

Keywords: Autonomous buses and shuttles, autonomous public transport, urban mobility, user acceptance.

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Authors: Zhaojun Wang, Zongdi Sun, Yongjie Chen, Manman Chen, Linghui Wang

Abstract:

This paper uses the analytic hierarchy process to study the execution effect of the minimum purchase price of grain in different regions and various grain crops. Firstly, for different regions, five indicators including grain yield, grain sown area, gross agricultural production, grain consumption price index, and disposable income of rural residents were selected to construct an evaluation index system. We collect data of six provinces including Hebei Province, Heilongjiang Province and Shandong Province from 2006 to 2017. Then, the judgment matrix is constructed, and the hierarchical single ordering and consistency test are carried out to determine the scoring standard for the minimum purchase price of grain. The ranking of the execution effect from high to low is: Heilongjiang Province, Shandong Province, Hebei Province, Guizhou Province, Shaanxi Province, and Guangdong Province. Secondly, taking Shandong Province as an example, we collect the relevant data of sown area and yield of cereals, beans, potatoes and other crops from 2006 to 2017. The weight of area and yield index is determined by expert scoring method. And the average sown area and yield of cereals, beans and potatoes in 2006-2017 were calculated, respectively. On this basis, according to the sum of products of weights and mean values, the execution effects of different grain crops are determined. It turns out that among the cereals, the minimum purchase price had the best execution effect on paddy, followed by wheat and finally maize. Moreover, among major categories of crops, cereals perform best, followed by beans and finally potatoes. Lastly, countermeasures are proposed for different regions, various categories of crops, and different crops of the same category.

Keywords: Analytic hierarchy process, grain yield, grain sown area, minimum grain purchase price.

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Authors: Bijaya Krushna Mangaraj, Deepak Kumar Das

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Sustainability in rural production system can only be achieved if it can suitably satisfy the local requirement as well as the outside demand with the changing time. With the increased pressure from the food sector in a globalised world, the agrarian economy needs to re-organise its cultivable land system to be compatible with new management practices as well as the multiple needs of various stakeholders and the changing resource scenario. An attempt has been made to transform this problem into a multi-objective decisionmaking problem considering various objectives, resource constraints and conditional constraints. An interactive fuzzy multi-objective programming approach has been used for such a purpose taking a case study in Indian context to demonstrate the validity of the method.

Keywords: Land re-organisation, Crop planning, Multiobjective Decision-Making, Fuzzy Goal Programming.

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Authors: Imad M. Assali

Abstract:

Recently, the world main problem is a global warming and climate change affecting both outdoor and indoor environments, especially the air quality (AQ) as a result of vast migration of people from rural areas to urban areas. Therefore, cities became more crowded and denser from an irregular population increase, along with increasing urbanization caused many problems for the environment such as increasing the land prices, changes in life style, and the new buildings are not adapted to the climate producing uncomfortable and unhealthy indoor building conditions. As interior environments are the places that create the most intimate relationship with the user. Consequently, the indoor environment quality (IEQ) for buildings became uncomfortable and unhealthy for its occupants. The symptoms commonly associated with poor indoor environment such as itchy, headache, fatigue, and respiratory complaints such as cough and congestion, etc. The symptoms tend to improve over time or even disappear when people are away from the building. Therefore, designing a healthy indoor environment to fulfill human needs is the main concern for architects and interior designer. However, this research explores how occupant expectations and environmental attitudes may influence occupant health and satisfaction within the context of the indoor environment. In doing so, it reviews and contributes to the methods and tools used to evaluate only the indoor environment quality (IEQ) components of building performance. Its main aim is to review the literature on indoor human comfort. This is followed by a review of previous papers published related to human comfort. Finally, this paper will provide possible approaches in design level of healthy buildings.

Keywords: Sustainable building, indoor environment quality (IEQ), occupant's health, active system, sick building syndrome (SBS).

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Authors: Nese Dikmen

Abstract:

Post-disaster reconstruction projects offer opportunities to facilitate physical, social and economic development and to reduce future hazard vulnerability long after the disasters. Sustainability of post-disaster reconstruction project conducted in the villages of Dinar following the 1995 earthquake was investigated in this paper. Officials of the Government who were involved in the project were interviewed. Besides, two field surveys were done in 12 villages of Dinar in winter months of 2008. Beneficiaries were interviewed and physical, socio-cultural and economic impacts of the reconstruction were examined. The research revealed that the postdisaster reconstruction project has negative aspects from the point view of sustainability. The physical, socio-cultural and economic factors were not considered during decision making process of the project.

Keywords: Dinar, Post-disaster reconstruction, Sustainable development, Turkey.

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